Page 30 of Alpha Exile

"Kayla, Peter, down!"

Both wolves flatten to their bellies. Gathering firepower within me, I draw it down to my fingertips and throw a small, controlled fireball above their heads. It hits three vampires at the front of the pack and burns them to a crisp, leaving behind two piles of ash and one very wild-looking vampire.

The burnt vamp is taken out by another warrior. Kayla nods her head to me in thanks, while Peter jumps into the fray.

All my warriors are blood-splattered and covered in ash now, their feet firmly planted and their lust for battle high. They've found the feral vampires' weaknesses and are exploiting them: unlike other vamps, who seem to die well enough if they're beheaded or heavily injured, these mostly turn to dust only when ripped in two.

Something they’re becoming quite adept at.

Of course, it helps that Delphine doesn't seem to be here to stitch them back together with her magic. I've been eyeing the crowd for her, my pulse racing at the thought of a face-to-face battle, but she isn't here.

Too bad for my dagger, which lusts for her blood.

Spotting a warrior fall in the center of the tunnel, I raise my hands to my mouth and shout a command that reverberates through the pack threads. "Fall back!"

My warriors obey, making room. The fallen warrior is a pale tan wolf—Taryn, her sides heaving, blood slicking her paws as she tries, and fails, to stand up. Weaving my fingers together, I bring the firepower to my skin, thread it in a weft that Kerry showed me, and push it out as a shield in front of her.

Just in time. One of the feral vamps, hungry for her blood, pounces. Instead of digging into her weakened flesh, he hits my shield of flames—and collapses in a hissing pile of ash instead.

Two of her fellow warriors drag Taryn back through their lines so she can rest and heal. Others fill the gap she left behind, and I let the shield fall, releasing fangs and claws on vampire limbs. Thankfully Taryn heals up quickly; whatever venom was infecting the warriors' wounds last night, it's gone.

Something else to blame Delphine for.

I mentally add another stabbing to my list. I owe her several by now. When I'm done with her body, it'll be in many, many pieces.

I weave several more fire shields like the first as we move forward, protecting my injured warriors and helping us drive the vampires back. Now that we're getting closer, I keep hoping for a sign of my mates, but I haven't seen them yet.

This has to be where they are, though.

We hunted all night, pushing through to the edge of morning, exhausted but determined. I covered every place we saw a sign of Delphine: the woods where those odd traps were, the abandoned factory where I heard spell chanting, and the caverns where she was once captured and held.

It was in the caverns that I spotted it, stretching across the ground down one of the many tunnels we searched for hours.

A single, tiny thread, silver and unbearably beautiful.

I called the warriors to me then, and we pushed down the tunnel, racing as fast as we could go. It was nearly an hour before we caught any trail scent, and more than once, that tiny silver thread winked out, only to reappear down a bend in the tunnels.

Because no matter what anyone might think, my mates were meant for me, and I was meant for them. We'll find each other in the deepest darkness, no matter the distance or how many obstacles are between us. I am meant for my mates, and they are meant for me.

Just like the dagger sheathed at my hip is meant for Delphine's heart.

My warriors and I push through row after row of vampires, fighting further through the tunnel and closer to the source of the mating thread unspooling at my feet. I throw fireballs and send out shields where needed, frustrated to be in the back of the action, hungry to get close and find Delphine. But we're almost there, and I have to believe that on the other side of this mayhem are my mates.

As the battle rages, something changes.

I feel it suddenly. A snap in the air. A shift in the winds. My feet nearly go out from under me, and I have to throw the fireball prepped in my hand before it incinerates my flesh from being held too long.

Taking in a deep, gulping breath of air, I look around for the source of the change—

And see them, in the hundreds. The thousands, even.

Gold threads. Blue threads. Black threads, and white threads. More silver threads than I can count, all of them twisting towards me and arching through the air.

Seeing them is like breathing for the first time. Like gulping down water in the middle of the desert. I feel alive, like my skin is on fire with sensation, and so muchmorethan I was before.

"Keep going!" I shout to the warriors, readying a fireball in each hand. "We won't stop now. Duck!"

They flatten as one, used to the rhythm and flow of fighting with a fire-powered wolf-witch hybrid by now. I throw first one fireball, then another, taking out five vampires and sending flames scorching down the tunnel towards more.

---