Page 16 of The Alpha's Silent Mate

No. He’s alive. I feel it in my bones. He isn’t dead.

But he’s alone. What if—

A hand crashes down on my shoulder.

I shriek and throw myself to the right. The grip tightens, but I kick, punch, shove, and the hand falls away.

After scrambling to my feet, I take off again, back through the forest, further and further away from the courtyard. And Shay.

Deep male laughter rings out behind me. It bounces off the trees and into my face, taunting me. “That wasn’t nice Lexa. I missed your sweet voice. Come back and sing for me.”

Tears track down my face as I run.

At the next tree, I stop and tuck myself behind it. I could keep running, but eventually, he will catch up to me whether I was a wolf or a girl.

I consider shifting anyway. That way, I have teeth and claws to fight.

Fight? You mean like you did last time?

The memory of my dad’s eyes flashes in my mind. I squeeze my eyes tightly shut, but that doesn’t stop the tears.

“Lexa?” Aron calls out.

He’s closer now.

My eyes snap open. Running isn’t going to save me, so I have to use my brain.

Think, Lexa. Think.

All around me are trees, and I’ve always been a good climber.

It’s easy to grab the lowest branches of the tree at my back and pull myself up. The bark digs into my clammy palms, but the roughness helps me grip tighter.

Finally high enough that I don’t think he will see me if he were to look up, I move quickly, leaping from one tree to the next as I try to ignore Aron’s footsteps below me.

“Lexa.” Irritation fills his voice.

He can’t find me.

Good.

I leap to the next tree.

“Lexa!” he snaps.

My fingers miss the next branch, and I suck in a breath as I fall.Don’t scream, don’t scream.I grab at anything around me. As I plunge, a branch appears in front of my face, and I seize it with both hands.

Muscles tremble as I hold on, waiting to see if Aron heard anything.

Footsteps below continue past me, so I pull myself back up and make a seat for myself near the trunk of the tree.

There isn’t anything to hold on to, so I wrap my arms as best as I can around the wide trunk, my nose full of bark, ignoring the ants that crawl up my arms. Some are the red ones that bite, but I don’t brush them away, not even when they burrow under my hair and tickle against my nape. I just hold on.

No ant bite could be as bad as what’s waiting for me down there.

Minute by minute, the tension that grips me falls away. My hold on the tree loosens. Every moment that passes lifts my hope, my belief that Shay will find me, that I’m safe up here until he does.

I think of how easily he killed the man who pinned me against the tree. He shifted in a second, and then it was all over. And he’s the alpha in a pack of hundreds. He wouldn’t be if he wasn’t the best, or if he wasn’t the strongest. He can kill those wolves and he’ll be okay.

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