Page 53 of Owned By Four Alphas

“Actually, she could,” replied Elian, cursing every lesson he had given her, every trick he had taught her. “And she could have concealed herself, her scent. She did this. She left us.”

The words struck Ronan and Kaelen like fire, and they both stood unmoving for a few moments, unable to process his words, the devastation clear on their faces.

“Can you track her?” Kaelen’s voice was strangled, and Elian didn’t know who he was talking to.

He exchanged a glance with Ronan, “Not if she’s concealing her scent,” Ronan said.

“The same goes for her magic,” replied Elian, thinking through the thousand possibilities.

Kaelen took a breath, then another. Then another. His shoulders were shaking. “Where would she go?”

“She was researching her father,” Elian said, pacing the grass, his shadows lashing around him, “for months. Trying to make sense of the dreams she was having.”

“I thought you decided that those dreams were only manifestations of her magic?” Kaelen said, his voice rising with accusation.

“That’s what I thought, but…but what if it’s something else?”

“What else could it be?” Ronan growled, his tail thrashing, his lips peeled back over his teeth.

Elian stopped, the air catching in the back of his throat, dread exploding through him.

It couldn’t be. Surely not, surelyhewouldn’t have missed the signs?

But everything fell into place, everything made a sickening sort of sense.

“I think it’s time I told you where I’ve been going. What I’ve been doing.”

The answering snarls drew him short, and he looked between Kaelen and Ronan, their furious expressions, their spiking scents. It was the first time he’d seen them united on anything in months.

He’d have to tread carefully.

“I’d like to preface this by saying I wanted to present this to Selena once I knew it was actually a possibility,” he said slowly. “As it stands, I’m still not entirely sure. I haven’t been able to…confirm my theory. I still need to do more research, consult a few more ancient texts—”

“Quit stalling, Benellane,” Ronan growled.

Elian raised his hands, “Okay, okay. We’ve all been working towards unifying the Realm, right? And we assumed that the Forest God’s magic was enough to achieve that goal. But if the past few months have shown anything, it’s that the Realm is more divided than ever. The Forest God has been gone a long time, and people have lost respect for what it means to be ruled by one. Selena’s power, vast as it is, simply didn’t seem enough if she couldn’t control it.”

Kaelen nodded, but his eyes remained hard. Elian gulped.

“When the humans had the crown, when Damien and Phaendar captured Selena with the intent of stealing her magic from her, it gave me an idea. What if we could take the powerfrom another god, one altogether a little bit more…terrifying than the Forest God.”

Understanding dawned on Kaelen’s face, his mouth falling open. “Elian, tell me you weren’t thinking…”

“It was just an idea!” Elian said, “I would never have done it without the pack’s consent. The reason I didn’t tell you was because I still don’t know if it would be possible!”

“Ifwhatwould be possible?” Ronan growled.

“Elian wanted to find Theldir and steal his magic,” Kaelen ground out. “It continues to amaze me Benellane, how much of afucking idiotyou are—”

“What does this have to do with where Selena is?” Ronan said, his claws scraping through the mud.

Elian swallowed, his hands shaking, “Two days ago, I broke into the archives of the Palace of Embers.”

“What!?”

“Easy,” Elian held his hands up. “You have quite a few members of the Order of Theldir operating in there, Kaelen, might want to tighten up security. But that’s irrelevant. I was specifically researching the powers and abilities of gods so that we might know what to expect if Selena ever decided to pursue it as an option.”

“Fuck,” Kaelen said, his face growing pale, “Fuck! You don’t think…”

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