Page 57 of The Alpha's Reclaimed Mate

“A mate bond can only form if both shifters feel the connection.”

A flurry of butterflies erupted in my chest, once more tying up my tongue. It was futile denying it now. After the moment we shared earlier and after all the time we’ve spent together, I knew I had feelings for Lucas.“This is real, then.”

“I’m glad it is.”

I wished we were back in our human forms so I could kiss him, hold his hand, anything. All I could do was meet his eyes, but doing so was enough to open my soul to him. We stopped walking for a moment just to revel in the truth of our new bond. I couldn’t put into words the magnitude of joy it woke in me.

Lucas Black wanted to be my mate, and I wanted to be his. This night was ours, and ours alone. It was a dream.

But all dreams were destined to end eventually.

We walked side-by-side, touching each other as much as we could, laughing, joking, and forgetting why we were here in the first place. And then we woke from our dream when the air turned sour with the stench of death, and we remembered the heavy cloud hanging over our heads, threatening to burst into a downpour.

Chapter 27: Aria

As a wolf, I had encountered a lot of strange smells in my lifetime. The smell of fresh blood, old blood, the musk of prey, the bitter and sweet pheromones of my packmates. The smell of a kill buried under dirt. The smell of old bones bleached under the sun.

But the rancid stink of a decaying human corpse was something else entirely.

A sense of doom gripped us both as we followed the smell through the trees, inching closer to Hale Stone with each step. Lucas took the lead, cautiously clearing the way for me behind him, both of us watching the trees for evidence of an ambush. But, for once, there was no sign of rogues or the Grey Creek Pack lurking, just the chilling, empty stillness surrounding the smell.

As the first beams of scarlet sunrise poured through the forest, the body appeared in a crumpled heap partially obscured by a rotting log. With the sight of the body came all other identifying smells too, and I could tell from the twist in Lucas’ gut that he recognized it.“No,”he muttered under his breath, pain threading his voice as he drew closer.“It can’t be...”

As Lucas stalled in shock, I came up beside him to get a better look. Leathery purple skin was stretched over a bloated gut, peeling away and missing holes like a moth-eaten fabric. Exposed muscle was turned brown, and yellowed bone was gnawed, stained with coagulated black blood. Animals had chewed the stiff limbs splayed in the grass while the head was turned toward us, hollow eyes and gaping mouth contorted in the final gasp of death. The grey hair on his head defined his age, and the sentiment flooding through Lucas pinpointed further that this wasn’t just any elder male.

“Father,”he croaked, suffering a step closer, afraid that getting too close would deepen the already mortal wound of death upon his heart.

I wanted to cry for the man beside me. Tears were already threatening to spill down my cheeks. But he had been so strong for me this entire time; now, I had to show him I could be the strength for us both.

“Lucas, I’m so sorry,”I murmured, pressing my shoulder against his.

He stared down at the body for a long few minutes of silence, squeezing his eyes shut, but tears still trickled free. We sat together as he let his grief run its course. Through our bond, I felt everything that plagued him: the heavy guilt that he hadn’t been able to help his father, the numbing sorrow of his loss, the sharp stinging anger that came last—anger at whoever had done this. Finally, he breathed in and looked at me.“This was no natural death,”said Lucas.“Somebody did this to him.”

“The Rogues,”I suggested.

Lucas nodded.

There was no question that the Rogues were launching attacks against the packs of Alsa Stone. Now it had become a matter of finding out why and what Oswald had to do with it. His behaviour and the evidence that he’d been interacting with the rogues proved his involvement. If I had never left the Grey Creek Pack, would I have been subjected to their madness too?

I couldn’t imagine losing my mind the way he did.

The rest of the walk was somber but not quiet. Discovering Lucas’ father was a cutting awakening from the exhaustion that gripped us earlier in the night.“I wonder if they’re trying to usurp one of the pack territories,”I said.“Or maybe it’s some kind of infection or someone controlling them.”

“Maybe they’re just out for blood,”Lucas added bitterly.

Our conversation was interspersed with speculation, theory, and recollections of Lucas’ childhood, veering back and forth between mourning and blame. When we finally spotted the metal sign welcoming us to Hale Stone, our determination became concentrated into blazing and righteous ambition focused on the Council.

In human form, dressed in clothes tucked away in a cache only the wolf shifters of Alsa Stone knew about, we knocked on the door of an old two-story house and held our breaths, waiting.

The door opened to an old woman with wiry silver hair pinned back on her head. Her expression hardened among wrinkles and furrowed eyebrows. “Alpha Black. Aria Gunn. Come in.” As she gestured for us to follow, the old woman spoke over her shoulder, “Were circumstances kinder, I’d offer you a cup of tea. But I’m afraid your arrival bodes darkly for us all.”

“I apologize for this, Magnolia,” said Lucas. “I wouldn’t call an emergency meeting with the Council unless it was serious. And it is.”

“We’re just waiting for your father,” she said, leading us into a large room populated with five others seated around a long oak table.

“You need not wait any longer.” Lucas stood before them all, planting his palms on the table. “My father is dead.”

A round of gasps and wide eyes exclaimed the same shock that gripped Lucas and me earlier.

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