Page 20 of Bound By My Alpha Mate

After I got something in my stomach, I could think a little more clearly, but anger won out. I was unbelievably mad at Colt, remembering how he’d spoken to me like he was on my side, like our fated mate bond was enough to make him want to defend me from his wicked family and the dragons. Obviously, he had been lying to me, which made it even worse that he dared get close enough to pleasure me. He was using me! Despite the inevitable blood poisoning, I wanted to sink my teeth into him and make him pay. But first, I had to find both him and my mother.

And how was I supposed to do that?

I was in the heart of Dalesbloom territory now. There was no sign of wolves or dragons here except for old, stale scents. All I could think to do was to scour the territory until I ran into them.

That became the rest of my day. Powered by vengeance, I ran the perimeter of Dalesbloom from the northwest to the northeast, only catching whiffs of day-old stench. I would have thought they’d visit their own borders, but it seemed they hadn’t come this way all day. Following the eastern perimeter south, I approached the neutral zone that met with Eastpeak’s territory, then headed west again. It seemed unlikely that I would encounter Dalesbloom or the Inkscales on the boundaries adjacent to Eastpeak or Grandbay, but I did catch a whiff of two things of interest.

They caught my scent at the same time.

Two voices barked through the trees as the sun sank westward. My fur bristled, body tensing as I zeroed in on the two approaching wolves: one, a delicate, golden palette clutching a backpack in her teeth; the other, a fiery auburn—both of them with tails wagging and ears pointed forward. I stood my ground as Billie and Aislin trotted up to me, sniffing and exchanging lupine whimpers of joy to see me.What do they care?But when their eyes quickly changed and showed worry, I realized they must have smelled Hexen Manor on me.

Raising my head, I conveyed without words that I still intended to hold them at arm’s length. The females pulled back; Billie dropped the bag before her tongue dashed out against her nose, and Aislin flashed her teeth with enthusiasm. Billie grabbed her backpack again, and they both turned away; then, they looked back at me, imploring me to follow them. I didn’t know what they intended to show me, but if they were taking me back to Alpha Everett’s place, I wasn’t going to stick around. Still, I supposed I’d see what they were up to, for now.

With me loping behind Billie and Aislin, we ventured into the mountainous terrain, approaching the junction of Eastpeak, Grandbay, and Dalesbloom territories. The area was still neutral ground—and for a good reason. The closer we got, the more I could feel discomfort in my veins, a ringing in my ears, and a bit of nose blindness that I wasn’t accustomed to. Something seemed to be distorting my senses, and I could tell the other two felt it, too.

Under a rocky ledge, the girls transformed. I took their cue and shifted into my human form, as well. Our naked bodies caught the faint glow of the waxing crescent, an omen of what little time we had left before the Lycan ritual.

“Half a mile away is an abandoned silver mine,” Aislin explained, pulling on shorts and a t-shirt from the backpack. It was much too cold on that autumn night for such sparse clothing, but she seemed unaffected by the chill. “Billie and I think that’s where they’re hiding.”

“Wouldn’t that be stupid of them? Wolves are vulnerable to silver,” I said.

“Exactly,” said Billie, now in leggings and a long-sleeved shirt. She handed me a pair of leggings and a t-shirt, too. “The silver ore masks their presence to wolves. We never would have been able to detect them. But Gavin told me he and Catrina used to go to the mine, which made me think the Hexens aren’t afraid of being there. Aislin and I decided to check it out, just to see; and if we find evidence of them, we’ll go back and tell everyone.”

As I finished pulling on the clothes Billie had given me, I said, “If we find them there, I’m going in. I have to rescue my mom.”

Billie’s eyes widened. “That would be suicide. We need to be strategic and enlist the help of Mythguard. If you just walk in, you’ll be handing yourself over to them.”

“But I have a feeling you might have already done that,” said Aislin, scrunching her nose.

“Colt captured me and locked me in his basement. I didn’t go with him by choice,” I said.

Aislin rolled her eyes. “Oh, of course. Fucking Colt.”

Lacking the patience to argue about my plan, I charged ahead, intent on investigating this silver mine.

“Wait,” said Billie.

I glanced back and saw her extending a handgun to me.

“I brought this just in case. I already know there’s no reasoning with you, so here. Take this to protect yourself.”

I grabbed the gun and weighed it in my hands. I’d never used one before. My thanks was expressed in a brisk nod before I continued, this time with Billie and Aislin following me. If Dalesbloom and the Inkscales were hiding in that mine, then my mother would be there, too, and I’d put a bullet in anyone who stood between us.

Chapter 14

Colt

The atmosphere in the silver mine had turned tense and strange. Lothair’s mate, Sibyelle, was dead, and their daughter, who was yet to be named, was clearly suffering in the darkness and dampness of the mine. I hadn’t been allowed to leave since she was born—. not to go to work, not to ostensibly search for Kiara, not to hunt. I couldn’t even retreat into my own thoughts in solitude.

All I’d been permitted to do was take a shower come nightfall. With my hair still wet, I made my way through the tunnels and into the room where I usually found my father working; this time, though, my father sat at the table, papers scattered in disinterest, with the infant in his arms. My skin prickled at the sight of the little girl, thin-limbed, pale, and finally quiet, swaddled in a grey, microfiber blanket. The way my father stared down at her instantly reminded me of his adoption of Billie, and I had an urge to snatch the little girl from him and hide her far away from his lecherous intentions.

“Has Lothair still not come back?” I asked.

David spared half a glance up at me. “No.”

Leaving his newborn daughter in our care, the dragon Alpha had departed with Sibyelle’s body so his clan could perform a burial somewhere in the mountains. While most of the dragons had already returned, Lothair was nowhere to be found. The baby had been crying when I’d left for my shower, but now she seemed to have fallen quiet, exhausting herself into sleep. I inched closer to get a better look at her chubby cheeks, her light eyebrows, and the thin, silky strands on her head. Only her face was visible amid the blanket. She looked terribly delicate, and I worried that an errant change in my father’s mood would cause him to crush her in his hands.

Footsteps rang through the tunnel behind us. Garrett appeared around the corner with a plastic bag in one hand and a steaming thermos in the other. I stepped aside, watching him unload two cans of powdered baby formula, a bottle, and a few loose diapers from the bag.

---