Page 9 of Alpha's Fate

“Yeah. I think that’s what makes it so creepy. That and I just can’t see… like the eyes are everywhere.” He glanced around us and I finally looked away from our path to see them. Eyes all around us in the depths of the woods. Whatever the eyes belonged to was deep in the shadows but the shine of the eyes gleamed softly. Some glowed, some had sclera, some were solid, some were round… it was like thousands of creatures had gathered to watch us. Like a spider with a thousand eyes. “It can come from anywhere and I wouldn’t necessarily notice.”

“Damn. I didn’t even see them I was so focused on the sunlight. They’re not in front of us,” I gestured slightly to where there was a wide gap in the eyes. “We must be going the right way.”

“Or wherever they want us to go.” His voice was uneasy, and I understood why. But far in front of us, almost out of sight,hopped a small white rabbit with tiny antlers like those of a deer. It paused to look back at us, gently glittering as if covered in the morning dew. I pointed slowly and carefully to keep from spooking it.

“No, we’re on the right path.” I insisted, and he nodded slowly as the tiny creature got up and ran out of sight and into the shadows beyond the sun. “We just have to keep going. We have to. We’ve come this far, and the forest has protected us this whole time- we’re just now reaching a point where things are getting scary. That doesn’t make us run. Fright will never make us run,” I nearly shouted the last part. “We go without fear in search of something more! You’re not going to intimidate me.”

Weston smiled down at me and as I searched the forest, I saw some of the eyes blink out. I meant it, too. I wouldn’t be intimidated by a bunch of eyes in the dark. Never. Not with my mate and my magic guarding us. I might be nervous, I might feel creeped out and watched and afraid, but I would never run. The task was too important. It was too great. We had to find the Unseen and we had to make peace or find a way to coexist. There was no way of knowing what would happen if we didn’t. Whether the curse would affect us.

The curse could also be affecting the Unseen as well. Honestly, I wasn’t willing to allow another Pack to suffer either. Not when we could do something about it. There wasn’t anything in me that wanted another to suffer unless I knew firsthand that it was necessary and warranted. This time I didn’t know. The Unseen had come to see us, but we didn’t know why. What if it was to seek help? With our status, tenure, and estate we may have seemed to be the perfect place to go to for help. Perhaps once they got there they just didn’t know what to do. Their Pack had a stigma in the community after all, a vision of how they were that intimidated others. I wasn’t personally afraid so much as I wasskeptical of them. Either way if they needed us we would help them.

I’d rebuilt the reputation and status of the Onyxfangs from the ground up. I had spent too much time working toward oneness in Schuylkill to let a Pack fall through the cracks. Whatever happened, whether they needed us or not, I had every intention of fighting for them, not against them. Until they showed outright aggression and threatened war I was going to assume the best and treat them as nothing less than equals. Together with Weston and our newly joined Pack we would make sure that our progress wasn’t for nothing.

And I would go forth with no fear. I didn’t shrink back from challenges no matter how spooky and gloomy. Nothing would stop me from the task at hand. As we got in deeper our protection would wane, I thought, but it might not leave us entirely. It might fade into nothing, and it may not spread to the territory of the Unseen, but it didn’t matter. We could protect each other in the face of anything. We’d done it before, willing to die for one another in the face of insurmountable odds, and even then, I’d laughed in the face of my attacker. I wouldn’t give in then and I wouldn’t now.

“You’re the scariest thing in this forest, I think,” Weston smiled down at me and I snickered in return. “With that expression on your face I think you could intimidate God. I guess I shouldn’t be creeped out with you by my side.” He grinned and I returned it, kissing him softly.

“I’d never let anything happen to you, my love.” I squeezed his hand gently. He nodded and smiled softly.

“I know. Same.” He nodded. “So we’re thinking we’re prepared enough, right?” he asked, tilting his head at me. “I mean I don’t think there’s anything else we need to do or say right? I think what we came up with was good. I guess I’m just second guessing myself, I think. I’ve never done anything this official before soit’s just intimidating. Maybe it’s the anxiety as well, I don’t know.”

“Probably both. But I do think it’s well done. I think that you and I put together a really good proposal and we’re ready. It’s up to them how they respond if they respond. Whatever will happen, will happen. It’s just a matter of getting there, setting the proposal where we think they’ll find it, and move on. We just have to see where it goes from there and whether they make contact.” I shrugged, slowing my pace slightly. “It’s just important that we at least try. This proposal is professional, lays out our side of the terms, and invites them to contact us. We’ll keep an eye on the note and if it vanishes and they don’t reach out for a day or two we’ll just leave. It’s just important that we do our part.” I said, pursing my lips slightly. “I won’t have my clan ignore theirs. Especially if they may need help.”

“You think they need us?” he asked, looking back at the sunlight glittering down between the leaves of the trees.

“I don’t know. But they’re somehow involved in this curse- it’s something that affects all of us. If something bad happens to one Pack, it happens to all of the Packs in Schuylkill. We’re the leaders, essentially, and it’s our responsibility to ensure everyone is safe. I’m trying to do that with the Unseen as well, you know? It’s important to me. We’ve established ourselves as the Pack to come to with problems and who has resources and solutions and if they are in trouble, it’s our responsibility to at least try to help.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I’m always a little amazed by the way you’ve changed everything and made it better. It’s really worth saying that I’m proud of you, of us, and of the parts of the Pack willing to put in the work so we can make things better.” He sounded pensive and I looked back up at him, stopping.

“I’m proud of you too, Weston. I know how hard you’ve worked as well in truly terrible circumstances. I’m incrediblyproud of how you’ve led your Pack and helped to join us all together. It’s amazing. You were left in terrible circumstances when your mother was killed, and you have frankly done better and done more than most could have. You always give US credit, but you rarely give it to yourself and you’ve earned it. You’ve done so well. I love you and you and I’m in awe of you for what you’ve managed to do.”

Chapter ten

Weston

Icould feel tears pricking at my eyes as Cora talked about me like I deserved praise. Like I was worth looking up to and someone who should be imitated. It was so hard to reconcile how I felt in my heart with what she was saying. It was crazy to me that she would think so highly of me when I really didn’t deserve it. Then again, if I didn’t believe it I would be calling her a liar and I knew she wouldn’t lie, not even to save my feelings.I just leaned in and kissed her softly, unsure of what to say in response to her. I tried to push all of my emotions into the kiss, just pulling her closer and further into my side.

We stood there for quite some time until we noticed the glimmering sunlight fading around us. When I looked around there were more eyes blinking in the darkness and I found myself unnerved again.

“We should go,” I said softly. “We need to move while we still have a guide. We need to follow it until it fades completely.”

“Yeah. Let’s get going.” Cora squeezed my hand again and I ran my thumb over her knuckles slowly.

We moved into the unknown of the forest and as we did, I could see things moving in the corner of my eye. Strange things that when I turned to look at them weren’t there.

Occasionally as we walked, we would see them- unnaturally large animals making their way around the forest and weaving between the glinting eyes around us. We made our way past them with care. I was startled into stillness again as a huge, ethereal moose passed before us in the darkness. Its hair was a deep, sickly green in color, and it was covered with moss, dripping from its antlers and onto the ground, replaced by sprouts of new grasses and lichen as it fell. It was fascinating to watch the thing, easily twice as tall as us, pass through the trees like a dancer. When it turned to look at us, I could see its eyes were a silvery white, glowing slightly while it took us in. The moment it looked away the eyes changed to coal black, and it just moved on with a bellow so loud that it shook me slightly.

“This place is fascinating,” Cora whispered, and I nodded. “Come on. Let’s be more careful.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be on the business end of something like that,” I said softly. “Weird creatures make sense out here, though.”

“They do.” Cora said with a small smile playing on her lips. I watched until the beast disappeared into the mists and their eyes, the discordant melody of the wind whipping up louder and stronger as we started to move deeper into the forest.

What spooked me the most were the creatures in the corners of my eyes seeming to crawl like a spider across the forest floor. The resulting shuffling threw me off so much because each time I looked nothing was there. It must be, though. The leaves rustled beneath it as it moved across the ground and when I looked there was a disturbed loam in its wake. I shivered slightly and just glanced around to keep them away because it seemed to work. They didn’t seem to like to be seen. That was just fine with me.

I wasn’t sure if Cora was seeing them too, but if she did, she wasn’t glancing around at them. She was simply moving forward as quietly as we could, trying to avoid making too much noise. The light dimmed and seemed to shimmer and shiver as the encroaching darkness took hold around us.

Shadows moved in the distance, like smoke and tendrils popping out of the ground that writhed and moved in alien ways. It was almost beautiful, but the eerie atmosphere around us made it just sinister. Everything about it creeped me out and by the way Cora’s hand tightened around mine slightly I could tell she was uneasy as well. Her face, though, stayed completely blank and straight as we walked on toward the darkness, the light beams from the sun blinking out one by one as if lights going out on a string.

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