Page 71 of The Alpha's Mates

“How is it possible?” I asked. It’d taken us a week to get out of those damn woods.

“Arune,” Reese said with a shrug.

“She was trying to make you miss the lunar eclipse.”

We all jumped and stared at the man sitting on top of the rock nearby with mistrust. The crow had vanished and he’d taken the bird’s place.

“It was all she could do while the Treaty had her bound.”

Soren stepped forward. “You’re Calix. The crow.”

“I am. I’m also a Demi-God,” he said with a blindingly bright smile. His black hair ruffled in the wind, much like it had when it’d been feathers.

“Good,” Soren snapped. “Then you can answer a few questions.”

“I can, though we don’t have much time if we’re going to get you to the sea-”

“You can answer our fucking questions,” Soren growled. “Fucking gods keep us in such a rush we can never get a straight answer as to what the fuck is going on. Pretty fucking convenient.”

Calix cocked his head, looking so much like his crow self, that I had to bite back a laugh. “Okay… Ask away.”

“Who trapped Arune?” Reese asked.

“It took many of us working together.”

“That’s vague and unhelpful,” I pointed out, crossing my arms over my chest. He merely shrugged and waited.

“Why did you do it?” Soren asked.

“She trapped her sisters. Tried to kill them. She was upsetting the balance of Elaria,” Calix told us. “If allowed to continue, she would have killed everything. Shifters. Humans. Animals. Plants. Elaria would have been a wasteland. Most of our kind love you,” Calix explained. “All of you. We don’t take sides so much as ensure balance. We’re protectors, nurturers of Elaria. We couldn’t allow her to kill off everyone. So we bound her until the time that the prophecy could be fulfilled.”

“What prophecy?” Calder asked.

“You know it already.”

Vera’s prophecy.I met Soren’s eyes and arched a brow. It had to be. “Can you tell us where Lyas is?”

“No. But I can show you the way.”

“It’s like speaking to a stone wall,” Calder muttered. “George would have been more helpful.”

“If you would rather find your own way-”

“No!” Reese said, elbowing Calder in the side. “We’re grateful for your help.”

“Good. We don’t have much time.” He jumped down off the rock and rubbed his palms together.

“What are you doing?” I asked, eyeing him as he lifted his hands to my chest.

“I can’t teleport. Not one of my skills,” he told me with another megawatt smile. “But you’re too damned slow.”

I bristled at that. My mates and I were the fastest shifters I knew. We weren’t fucking slow. We were exhausted.

“This will help.” He placed his hands on my chest, and then nodded in satisfaction as the glowing light left his hands and sank into me.

A warmth spilled through me, invigorating my tired muscles. I suddenly felt like I could run the length of Elaria for all eternity. He repeated the process with each of my cadre mates, then cocked his head again, studying his handiwork.

“Keep up.” With that, he shifted, this time a jet black wolf stood in front of us, waiting for us to be ready. Once we were, he darted off in the direction of the sea.

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