Page 63 of The Alpha's Mates

Giving her a wicked smile, I shrugged. "You'll get used to it."

"Also debatable," she echoed.

"Why do you think Arune showed up now?" Calder mused, drawing our attention back to the problem at hand.

"There was a minute..." Reese broke off, shaking her head.

"Go on," Atlas urged her.

"It was like we...connected. I think she's scared we'll accomplish what we've set out to do."

"Free Lyas," I stated.

She nodded. "And that will mess with her plans."

"Good," Calder spat. "Stupid bitch shouldn't have fucked with shifters."

"She's dangerous," I cautioned. "She's a Goddess."

"I got the feeling she couldn't touch us," I told them. "But then she cut me, so I don't know. I could be wrong about everything."

"We'll figure it out," Atlas told her in a soothing tone, brushing his hand up and down her back.

"We need to go," I told them. It was the last thing I wanted. I wanted to find a secluded cave and spend the next few hours showing my mate exactly how we felt about her. Explaining to her how she changed things for us. Just basking in the sight of her. Instead, we needed to run because we had a deranged Goddess and her humans on our heels.

Even as they nodded in agreement, the baying of a hound started up once again.

Calder shifted backto his human form, dropping onto his back on the ground. Reese collapsed to her belly near him, exhaustion pouring off her in waves. The only sound was our harsh breathing. We'd run all day and well into the next night without stopping for longer than it took to get some water and dried jerky. The humans had pursued us with a relentless focus that told me that Arune was behind it all.

The chase had forced us to keep going and had gotten us to the Dreiken Wood ahead of schedule. Atlas joked, “Man, next time we’re in a hurry to get somewhere let’s just find some humans to chase us.”

I took a few steps toward the line of trees. They were dark monsters, standing sentry as they guarded their home. The monster trees were gnarled and reached far into the sky. Once we entered the wood, those canopies would block out the sun and moon, leaving us to depend on our night vision.

Before the Sun Goddess had shown up, I'd known this was going to be the most dangerous part of our mission. Well, at least until we got to the end and whatever was waiting for us there. Now, the Dreiken Wood would keep our enemies at bay. All while revealing a whole new world of dangers.

I turned back to my mates. Reese was still in wolf form, her fur matted with sweat, and her sides heaving with each breath she took. Calder looked no better. He was sprawled out on his back, his eyes closed, and his face pale. Atlas was still on his feet, but even he looked tired. We all were. "We'll stay here for the rest of the night. Get a start into the woods in the morning."

The Dreiken Wood was a funny place. Though it was called a wood, it was magical. If you tried to walk around it, you'd find yourself spanning Elaria and ending right back where you first started. Yet, to cross it only took a little over twenty-four harrowing hours. That is, if the wood allowed you to leave at all. It wasn't the length of time that made it dangerous, though. It was the things that lived there.

I'd never been inside the wood myself, but I'd heard plenty about it from my fathers when I was growing up. Calder had gone through on his way to the Cobalt Sea and back. The wariness in his eyes had been apparent from the moment he heard our destination and knew he'd have to return to those dark depths once more. "Do you know a path through?" I asked him.

"No."

Atlas and I frowned at him. "What do you mean, no?" Atlas asked. "You were here just a few weeks ago."

He opened his mouth, then shook his head. "It's going to sound insane," he insisted, "but no two paths are the same. At least I wasn't able to find the path I used before, though I went back to the same area upon my return. It's like...the woods play with you. Put you on whatever path they deem."

Reese picked her shaggy head up at that and whined.That makes it sound like the woods are alive.

"I...think...they are," Calder replied to her mental statement with a shrug. "Or something within them controls the trees? I don't know."

"What are we getting ourselves into here, Calder?" I asked. We'd all heard the rumors of the Dreiken Woods. None of us were looking forward to going inside, but I needed to know if it was as bad as was said.

"I kept moving," he admitted, "even at night and just pushed through. I kept my head down and refused to look up." He gave our mate a sheepish smile. "I'm not afraid of much, but the things I heard in there-"

Reese squirmed closer to him, licking his hand, giving him reassurance that she didn't think any less of him for what he did.

"You can shift, you know," Atlas told her with a chuckle.