Alek took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to connect with Wolf. His animal’s mind was so full of pride and resentment that it was a difficult place for Alek to inhabit. He preferred his isolation instead of being subjected to Wolf’s toxicity. Alek’s mind was naturally full of love, understanding and empathy. While he and Wolf didn’t always agree on most things, one thing that was important to both of them was keeping the fury of Hell away.
Alek tamped down enough of his own sadness to link his mind with Wolf and thrust them the last few hundred yards until they came to the trap door buried beneath years of falling leaves, withered branches and dirt.
Get ready to shift, Alek.
I am. He could feel Wolf’s distaste at his sullen mood but he didn’t care. Alek knew his job. He would have to be the one to unlock the door and get them inside before havoc was again unleashed upon their lands.
With the ease and grace of a gazelle, Wolf shifted them in mid-stride—the pain non-existent this time when they were linked—causing Alek’s naked body to skid along the forest floor. The moment Alek was human again, urgency slammed into him, and he almost turned to run back to his mate, but the cracking of two more of his ribs brought that idea to an agonizingly, screeching halt.
Alek dropped down at the opening, scurrying to remove the combination padlock and yank the door open. Stale musk, sweat and terror rushed up to greet him, welcoming their return in the manner fitting of a prison. He hurried and closed them inside, but was unable to latch the door as he was thrown off the ladder, landing chest-first onto the hard concrete. Alek stumbled into the first set of steel bars. Tears rushed to his eyes while pain attacked every part of his body. That thing was trying to tear him into pieces, barreling his way through bones, organs and muscles to get out. Doing any and everything necessary to take the surface. Alek got them behind the first barrier, the door clanking shut loudly behind him. Alek imagined it was what any jail cell doors would sound like. Into the next barrier, Alek hollered out for Wolf’s energy as he scrambled to put in the combination to open the final set. Wolf snarled and fought inside, pushing enough energy to give Alek just enough oomph needed to shoulder open the last door and kick it shut. He dropped to both knees, calling on Wolf to shift… but it was too late. Alek let go of a soul-agonizing, painful wail into the darkness as fire and brimstone descended upon him. His only comfort was that he was ten feet underground and no one could hear his screams.
YOU’VE DAMNED US ALL, it told them.
Alek and Wolf retreated far into the depths of their mind where the heat and flames couldn’t reach them.
Bell stood at the edge of the tree line, hollering Alek’s name until his throat was raw, but his beloved never answered. Never came back. He didn’t know how long he’d stood there staring at the burned foliage and singed tree trunks where Alek had once been. A blazing path lit the way he’d gone, but the heat was so consuming that no one could follow. What in all the gods was that? What just happened?
“Belleron. Come back inside. You shouldn’t get too much sun exposure too fast,” Wick said softly. “And I think you might want to talk with Justice.”
The sound of the AZ’s name had Bell spinning and glaring in his direction. Why had he run off his brother that way? How dare any of them step in and intervene when he’d had the situation under control. For the most part, anyway. The spectators had made it worse. Enough to agitate Wolf. Now he was in charge and gone with Alek.
Bell didn’t want to converse with any of them but he needed answers, and talking to Alek’s family was the only way to get them. Returning to the great hall, Justice sent the other officers away to console the anxious pack, leaving just him, Wick and Alek’s siblings around the table. Bell sat rigid with his hands clasped in front of him, his mind reeling from all the possibilities to explain what’d just happened outside. And each one made less sense than the last.
“I think we should go after him. He needs us. He needs comfort,” Farica weighed in as soon as her ass touched the chair. “This is what started all this mess.”
“I can’t allow that. I have no clue if it’s Alek or Wolf… or…” Justice sighed. “I can’t take that risk, Farica. It hurts me to say this just as much as it’s hurting you, but no one is to go after him. Alek will come back when he can.”