Page 64 of His to Claim
"I am sorry Aila. Please forgive me but the mating ceremony has to stop," I say to her. She looks at me sadly.
"It is all right, Dhakar. I understand," she replies quietly. "You must go now."
"Thank you." I bow to her one last time before running out of the temple.
Emma is on Valkrya, waiting to become mated to Anil'ha. I have to stop this at once. I can't lose her.
"We have to leave right away," I tell Torr. He nods and follows me.
"You're coming too," I say to Hexal. He stands with us, his eyes wide. "We have to hurry, or we may miss the ceremony."
Hexal grunts. "Let's get moving. We have a long journey ahead of us," he says.
We head for the portal that will transport us to Valkrya. As we approach, the ground begins to rumble.
"No! This isn't going to work!" Hexal yells. "We need to find another way!"
"Just hold on," I tell him. We get to the portal just as it shuts down.
"This is no good. There's nothing we can do now," Torr says.
I shake my head. "There is always something we can do. There has to be another portal."
"Where?" Hexal asks.
"I'm sure there's one in the mountains somewhere," I say. "We'll have to travel there and then search for it."
"Can we do it?" Torr asks.
"Yes, I'm sure we can," I reply confidently. "We just have to find the right path."
"I hope you know what you're doing," Hexal says.
"I do," I tell him.
"Then let's go," Torr says.
As we climb the mountain, I watch the sky. I see a flash of light in the distance. It's the portal.
"There!" I yell. Torr and Hexal follow me to the spot where the portal was.
"It's gone!" Hexal yells.
I look around. "There has to be another one here," I say.
"I don't think so," Torr says. "There's no way we can find it."
"We can," I argue. "I've been in this place before. If we just keep climbing, we're bound to pass it."
"I don't think so," he insists.
"I do," I say stubbornly. "Look, there's the path up, let's follow it."
"Fine," he says and turns away. "But if we don't find it, there's no point in continuing."
We start walking up the mountain. I glance over my shoulder every few minutes, looking for the portal. After an hour of walking uphill, I see the glow of the portal.
"There it is!" I say. "We made it."
