Page 72 of The Alpha's Mates

CHAPTER 31

Reese

“Ican’t leave you,” I insisted, looking between my three mates, then over their broad shoulders to where my father, brothers, and all the warriors in The Silvest Pack stood. The hatred spanned the space between us as my eyes clashed with my father’s.

Calix, and his magic, had gotten us here just in time. We’d run without rest and now we stood on the hill above my village, with the moon rising in the dark night sky. It was the night of the lunar eclipse. The night that we either rescued Lyas, or lost to Arune.

They were waiting for my males to make a move, because with larger numbers they had the upper hand. At least that was what my father assumed. It was incorrect. Even with eleven wolves waiting for us, my mates would still beat them. Arune was nowhere to be found, but just the fact that they were waiting for us was damning. They were working with the Sun Goddess.

I knew it deep in my heart. That didn’t mean it wasn’t heartbreaking. Not because I really cared for them, but my family had already harmed the shifter community more than could be said, and here they were doing it again.

“You have to go,” Soren said, his stormy gray eyes settling on me. “You heard Celinda and Calix. Our only chance to save Lyas is during the lunar eclipse. The only time when Arune is prevented from interfering.”

“If you don’t go now,” Calder told me, “it’ll be over.”

Biting back a sob, I nodded. “Promise me,” I whispered, stepping closer to them, “that you’ll come back to me.”

“We promise,” Atlas said, pulling me into his arms.

“You make sure to do the same,” Calder demanded, taking me into his arms next. His inhale was huge and deep, telling me how much he didn’t want to let me go. But he handed me off to Soren.

I rested my cheek on Soren’s shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me. “Don’t you do anything stupid,” he warned. “If I have to battle Shroul to bring you back from death, I will. I just don’t want to.”

The laugh made its way out of my chest. Only these males could make me laugh at a time like this. “Same, my loves.”

They stilled, staring down at me. It wasn’t the first time I’d told them I loved them, but we hadn’t said it since my claiming. That felt like a lifetime ago.

I lifted my head and placed my hand on Soren’s cheek. “Be safe.” With that I turned and ran down toward the dock. Calix had disappeared into the shadows as we climbed the hill overlooking my childhood village. He couldn’t help us anymore. There were rules, he’d explained along the way. Many that a minor God couldn’t break. Many that one of the twelve themselves couldn’t break. We didn’t know all of these rules, but one of them was that Arune couldn’t interfere during the lunareclipse. Something about it being the one time where her two sisters ruled completely without input from Arune. It was the same for a solar eclipse. Lyas was temporarily powerless then, as Arune was now.

It was the reason that Arune had my father and his warriors ready to defend the sea. I still didn’t know where I was going, but I knew somehow the Cobalt Sea was a part of it. All I could do was hope to receive further help, or some kind of clue at the very least.

Glancing up, I gasped as I saw Elaria’s shadow creeping over the moon. I had to hurry. A loud cacophony of sound had me skidding to a halt. Looking back, I watched as my mates hit the line of warriors with loud snarls and snaps. My heart climbed into my throat, worried that I’d lose them.

Go.

Soren’s command filled my mind. His love warmed me, giving me strength and I jumped into the little wooden boat tied to the pier. If I didn’t find our Goddess, we’d all suffer.

Dropping the rope anchoring me to shore into the water, I picked up the oars and began rowing. The boats with sails were further up the beach, but it wouldn’t be worth running to them. There wasn’t a breath of wind in the air. I had to do this manually. It seemed appropriate that I had to put the effort in for this quest.

My arms burned and ached. I wasn’t sure how far I needed to go, but I didn’t want to be a few hundred feet short. Turning my face to the sky, my strokes stopped. My boat glided to a halt in the sea as I watched Elaria’s shadow cover the moon. It shone blood red in the sky. The water lapped lightly at the hull of my boat, but with the eclipse happening everything was dark. I could barely see my hand in front of my face.

Squinting into the darkness, I searched for anything that would guide me to Lyas. “I’m here!” I called out. My voiceechoed over the water. Tense and still, everything seemed so eerie with the moon bleeding overhead.

“You brought me here!” I shouted, anger overtaking me. “Whyam I here? Where are you!” Standing in the boat, I ignored the way it rocked. There had to be something here. Someone to tell me what to do. Why had Celinda brought us here? Was it possible she’d worked with Arune and sent us to our deaths?

Fear zipped down my spine. I’d left Emma suffering some unknown ailment to come here. If Celinda was really an enemy I could lose my best friend. I’d put my mates in danger. We could all die.

No. Katashi, Calix, even George, once he realized he was fighting the wrong people, had helped us. Why would they help us if they were working with Arune? I put aside my doubts, this was the place. It had to be.

“Must you yell?”

Yelping, I turned and then quickly shut my eyes. The blinding light before me was so out of place in the darkness it hurt my retinas. “Who are you?” Slowly squinting my eyes open, I waited until they were used to the white light to open them fully.

There was a man standing there. Wind whipped around him, even while the rest of the water stayed calm. He was in leather pants, a loose flowing shirt, and… I leaned forward, tilting my chin so I could see over the side of the boat. He was standing in the water. I was far enough away from the beach that the surf wasn’t rocking my boat. There was a mountain of rocks nearby, rising out of the sea and reaching for the sky. It was why I stopped. I could use it as a guide. But still the water could be anywhere from twenty feet deep to hundreds.

I met laughing green eyes. “Hello, Reese.”

“Uh. Hi.” I swallowed as a chill made the flesh on my arms raise in bumps.