Page 36 of Alpha Exile

She could only have been after one thing: Roarke. Just like she was only after my mates this whole time.

And I was too busy cutting through vampires with balls of flame to notice she'd taken one of the things that matters to me most in this world.

"Let's go," I tell my mates, and we head out into the tunnel together, running through the darkness by the light of my flames. Their strong, four-legged bodies are fast, but even in human form I am too, the strength of my raging wolf pushing into my muscles and flowing through me.

She wants her fifth mate back. So do I.

Because if I've lost Roarke... then I've lost everything. My connection to the pack, his instinctual leadership, and most of all, that little part of me that beats for him, that isn't the same without him.

I don't have five mates because I'm too weak to pick between them. I have five mates because each of them offers me something unique, something different and necessary.

And I love him too much not to fight to get him back.

Therearevampires in the tunnels, hiding out from my flames and my mates' claws. We come across a large group of them. Before Lance can even leap on the first, I raise my hand, flick my wrist, and let the power of the flames pour out of me.

A dozen of them fall to ash at my movements, leaving nothing in our way as we move further into the tunnels.

Further down into the endless darkness, away from the pack, towards the beating heart of magic itself.

And I can't help but wonder what we're going to find.

Sixteen

Delilah

As we move deeper into the tunnels, I feel it compress around me, pushing in and burning against my skin.

Magic.

Old magic, wild magic with a mind of its own.

It's seeped into the very pores of these twisting tunnels, changing the lichen to an unnatural blue that sends out glowing light in every direction.

But it's not just the lichen that have changed because of the magic. My mates have changed too, telling me about their strange new powers as we walk together in our human forms, searching for signs of Roarke.

Finn can see the magic all around us, how it grows in power and strength the deeper we go. Kieran is somehow able to see into the past, spotting traces of figures moving through the tunnels. Bastian can see ghosts now, though I'm glad he doesn't seem to spot many at the moment. And Lance—well, Lance has grown even stronger, his muscles surging as he fights, blue light skimming his dark skin and lending him even more strength than before.

I haven't gotten the chance to ask what Roarke's new ability is. I want to hear him tell me from his own lips, and I'm afraid that if I ask too soon, I'll jinx our reunion.

"Which way?" We come to a crossroads, and I motion left and right, looking over at Kieran. "I can't see any signs of them."

"They passed through..." He squints, trying to access his new sight into the past. "It's harder now that we're going deeper. I swear, it's like the magic is resisting me or something. But I think they went this way."

He motions towards the right, and we go that way, my shoulders hunching as the ground slopes beneath us. I start to feel like a heavy weight is settling across my chest, making it hard to breathe. But Lance is looking at me in concern, and I don't want to worry him or any of the others, so I push past the sensation.

Even though I swear that down here, the magic is alive. It's watching us. Pressing up against us. And something tells me that it doesn't want us here—because this place is its home, and we are nothing but invaders.

We move further in, following Kieran's glimpses of the past, and the sensation grows. Soon I find myself clenching and stretching out my fingers, which burn and tingle. My breath catches as the fire power surges within me, and I try but fail to catch hold of it and control it.

Instead of obeying my will, the flames lick down my hands and pour out of me without being summoned.

Seeing Bastian up ahead, I scream out, "Watch out!"

He shoots to the right just as the fireball leaves my fingers and spurts through the tunnels. I hold my hands up and away from me, hissing as the flames scorch the air around my skin in a way they never have before. Their power and fury grows, shooting out of me, wild and out of control.

"Can you make it stop?" Finn shouts, his eyes widening.

"I'm trying!"

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