Page 62 of The Alpha's Silent Mate

We’ve been walking for nearly two hours when another voice calls Aron.

He slows, and since he’s gripping my wrist in an unbreakable hold, much as he has been since we first set off in the morning, I stop too.

“What?” he snaps.

A blond man with a dark beard approaches with a lowered head, his steps hesitant.

He has bad news, and he doesn’t want to be the one to tell Aron.

From the dark glare on Aron’s face, he knows it.

“We’re missing more men,” the man murmurs, avoiding Aron’s gaze.

“How many?” Aron demands.

“Twenty.”

Aron doesn’t speak for several seconds, and I carefully keep my eyes on the blond man who looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here. I know the feeling.

“Where’s Isaac?” Aron snarls.

The blond man blinks. “Isaac?”

“He reported to me last.”

“He’s one of them.”

“One ofwhat?” Aron’s voice is a pure growl that I barely understand.

“One of the men who's missing.”

Aron’s grip tightens around my already bruised wrist, and I cry out. The man darts a glance at me but doesn’t say a word.

“You said twenty men were missing,” Aron prompts. “Explain.”

“Uh, yeah. Twenty men and Isaac. So, twenty-one… Alpha.”

No one speaks.

In the long silence, the men around us edge away from Aron as if they can sense he’s on the brink of an explosion.

“You’re telling me that twenty men leave to investigate, and not one of them comes back?”

The blond man clears his throat. “Uh, yes.”

“Get the fuck out of my sight,” Aron snarls.

The man swings around and moves at a near run back the way he came.

I watch him go. I’m still watching him when Aron shoves me so hard against a tree that I cry out.

But I soon forget the pain in my back when I glimpse the darkness forming in his eyes. Something is coming, and it’s not going to be good.

“Paul!” he snaps.

A man from near the front responds instantly. “Alpha?”

Aron doesn’t take his eyes off mine. “Take five men and scout ahead. Find a cave where we can spend the night. Let’s see if Lexa is just as attractive a prospect when she’s carrying another man’s child.”

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