The Alpha's Daydream ✔️

Chapter 58

4525 words

The night is growing darker and more sickly the deeper into the forest we run.

My feet are aching and my lungs burn with cold air as I pant, taking deep breaths and feeling it bite its way down my throat. But I can't stop. I have to keep going. I get the strongest impression that many lives depend on whether I can get to Malachi soon enough.

Soon enough for what, I still don't know. But I can't shake the heavy feeling that everything is wrong and I have some power to stop it.

"Slow down! Not everyone can run as fast as you," Luci puffs and heaves behind me, grasping for my shoulder in an effort to stop me.

I shake her off. "Not my fault you're always checking out the guys at training instead of actually running. You'd be a lot fitter if you paid attention to the routines for once in your life," I throw back over my shoulder, picking up my pace when I cross the border between territories and feel the familiar tug on my heart.

Like an invisible thread, a small connection still exists between my mate and I. I feel it growing stronger, more tangible, more urgent. Though it is accompanied by a deep pain and sense of emptiness, I grasp hold of the thread and follow it with every sense and every instinct I have.

Tree branches swish around me, scratching at my bare legs and tugging sharply on my coat, but I push through them and keep going. The gullies steepen and grow more inclined as I traverse the hill that I know leads to the Alpha's mansion of DoubleEdge territory.

The fallen leaves and bracken underfoot crunch as Luci and Gabby follow behind me, keeping up as best they can. Straining my ears, I try and listen beyond us for any unwanted presence such as rogues. I know they are probably lurking nearby, daring to get as close as they can to the populated pack grounds. I also know the guards are doing their job well, but rumours of a planned rogue attack have plagued us for days. Their numbers have strengthened, and I believe the timing has to do with the full moon and blood eclipse.

And Malachi's twentieth birthday.

This is probably a test of his strength, a final challenge of his leadership that everyone is eager to see the outcome of.
Tonight was supposed to be a celebration and perhaps something more. I'd been hoping he would formally accept me as mate and publicly proclaim me as Luna of his pack.

Instead, he rejected me. I haven't accepted it yet, only prolonging the pain in my chest, yet I still believe I should hold onto what we have and see this night through.

Or die trying.
A black presence nudges at my conscience, prickling the hair on the back of my neck and sending shivers down my spine. I recognise the feeling, yet I still pray that demons aren't really nearby in this forest. Rogues are dangerous enough. Demons are deadly.

"Are we almost there? And what exactly do you plan on doing once we get there? This plan to dash madly through a dark forest is utterly ridiculous."

"Stop whining, Luc!" Gabby scolds her. "Aren't you the one who's always up for an adventure? Now just when this one counts for something, you turn chicken and slow us down. Move out of the way."

I try and dismiss the sounds of my friends bickering, then feel Gabby's warm breath on my shoulder as she overtakes Luci.

"Whatever happens tonight, Ari, I've got your back."

Her reassurance comforts me, and I smile in the eerie glow of the red haze coming from the moon. The shadow of the earth is halfway across its face, and I still don't know what I'm running towards or what I'm meant to do when I get there. But knowing my friends are with me is encouraging, and causes warmth to fill my bones.