Page 35 of Brutal Alpha Beast
In half a second of my movement, he’s suddenly before me, close, towering above, and I can practically hear his heart beating. Or maybe that’s my own?
“No,” he commands. “You should rest.”
Something about his voice makes me want to obey him, but I know better. I’m not going to sit around and let him do all the work. I’m not as weak as he may think—although he may not respect our kind, Iama powerful, strong witch.
“I’m not as weak as you think I am, you know.”
He allows himself to smile just a little. “I know you’re a badass, Danielle, but-”
I shake my head. “No buts. If I add a subtle layer of magic to what you create, it’ll help. It needs to be subtle, in case anyone notices, I know. This isn’t my first time out in the wild trying to survive.”
He raises an eyebrow. “It’s not?”
“Penelope has us practice things,” I explain, rising on my toes and lifting my chin defiantly at him. “And none of those things include secretly spying on your pack.”
He shakes his head, and I can’t help but think that I’ve missed the way he quietly disapproves and concedes to me allat once. He’s smiling a little. Maybe he believes me, maybe he doesn’t. I was stupid to take back roads that someone like me, an outsider, shouldn’t know.
But all that’s in the past now. We exist somewhere else, and we need to work together if we want to make it through the night.
“Let’s do this, then,” he says.
It turns out the Alpha wolf is skilled at building things in nature and setting up traps—go figure. I always knew that he excelled at these sorts of things when we were younger, but obviously, after all this time, he’s improved.
Ellis builds a protective wooden barrier that circles around a spot of land. He does this quickly, as though it takes him little effort at all.
“Show off,” I mutter.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Next, I use the faintest bit of glow to add an extra protective layer to the barrier. The magic that holds it is not visible to the naked eye, but it’ll block anything from flying in at us, and will make a sound in case anything does, so that we can quickly get up.
Then we move onto the traps, Ellis has mapped out all the possible angles, and sets up objects that are covered with both of our scents—just in case any rogue wolves want to come get us.
At first, he wanted to create a contraption that would physically suspend anything that went near one of the objects in the air.
“No,” I tell him. “It’s better I lace the objects with magic so that if they cross it, it’ll lightly burn the thing that comes by. In that way, we’ll hear it coming, which is what we really want.”
He squints at me, looking amused.
“What?”
“Have you ever thought about burning me?”
I shrug. “Maybe a couple of times.”
Once we’re finished with the traps, I consider casting a spell to make the sleeping area a little more comfortable… but I know it’s risky.
“It’s not that bad,” Ellis says beside me, as though reading my thoughts. “I’ve slept on the forest floor without anything plenty of times.”
I exhale a small laugh. “Of courseyouhave.”
He rolls his eyes, “Just come on.”
We move through the barrier and settle down side by side on the floor. I’m facing up at the night sky, which is finally clear, and so is he.
My body tingles from us being so close.
