Chapter 34

LLOYD

The sun was high by the time I woke. I blinked at the unfamiliar view until I realized I was in the loft where I’d cornered Misty.

Sitting up, I cradled my head in my hands in utter misery. I tried so hard to keep Misty away from me, but now I had no choice but to hunt her.

Even though the barn was invisible, I could smell her for miles, her scent an aphrodisiac that fired the blood in my veins. Her link only pointed me in the right direction, as though I could feel her physical presence in my head and knew which way to go. The emotions coming through the bond had cut me to the quick, more painful than a silver knife.

I countered the alpha command as much as possible, taking my time and moving much slower than usual, but Vetus didn’t make it any easier.

Each step felt like a struggle against an invisible force, the weight of the alpha’s command pressing down on me.

My muscles strained with the effort of resisting, every movement deliberate and slow, a silent rebellion against the compulsion.

Vetus nudged me forward with insistent prods, his instincts driving him to follow orders swiftly and efficiently.

I could feel the tension between us, a push and pull of wills. The alpha’s power was like a heavy fog clouding his mind. I would not be consumed by the alpha command or Vetus, but when in wolf form, it became harder and harder to resist.

I was born of old blood with a much stronger and more controlling wolf than most, especially in this situation. He could not disobey an alpha command even though his power exceeded the king’s.

It was a clever spell, and Misty had been quick-witted, pushing Adam out of the way, but I could taste her fear and fucking hated myself.

Her beautiful gray eyes were wide as she chanted—her voice rising in panic. She burned with the brightest flame, and if I extinguished that, I would never be able to live with myself.

Since she broke the spell on the crystals, I needed sleep, and Misty putting me to sleep meant I was now well-rested and ready to hunt.

Hatred flared up deep inside me, and when I finally killed Axel, I would do the same to him as his order demanded—breaking every single bone in his body.

The chances of breaking the curse had decreased, especially since we had no idea what item was used to bind me.

Climbing down the ladder, I surveyed the barn and found where Misty had slept. My T-shirt was lying across a mattress; the thought that she slept in it provided little comfort.

After this, there was a real chance she could reject me. The vise around my heart grew tighter.

~“She knows this is not our fault,”~ Vetus growled. ~“Let’s apportion blame where it’s due…”~

“Fuck!” I shouted in frustration. I knew too much, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out where she’d run, but it would take me a couple of days, and hopefully, she would put safeguards in place.

~“Let’s link her,”~ Vetus said, and I despaired.

~“I don’t want to taunt her any more than I have to. I feel like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde… But she’s well out of linking range by now.”~

~“Let’s hunt.”~

~“You mean for food…”~

Vetus chuckled. ~“You’re so literal sometimes…”~

I shifted, and Vetus ran through the fields. As expected, there wasn’t much besides mice, and they weren’t worthwhile.

By evening, we hit a forest, and Vetus stalked a deer. I would have preferred boar, but there were none in the area. We gorged on deer meat and finally felt satiated.

We ran through the night, and I kept Vetus at a sedate pace, which he tried to counter constantly.

I hoped that the prisoners and she-wolves got away.

Even though King Axel had sent half of his troops to search for Misty, there were still enough in the palace. If I happened upon any, I would kill them, but I assumed he would have called them back now that he ordered me to kill her.

Just thinking it caused me pain, and I couldn’t understand how Vetus managed to ignore she was our mate.

~“I’m not,”~ he growled. ~“You know I can’t help it. My baser instincts take over.”~

Before dawn, we ran past a diner and gas station, and I could smell Misty. They must have stopped here to refuel and eat.

She was still out of range, and so was the palace, which was just as well because my rage toward King Axel was like a tidal wave. When the day came, I would enjoy every minute of torturing him.

Finding a convenient spot hidden from humans, we curled up, and Vetus was asleep in seconds while I recounted every memory I had of Misty.

***

I woke at midday, the sky deep blue with hardly a cloud in sight. Vetus trotted to a nearby dwelling and found a barrel cut in half filled with water to slake our thirst.

The barren and unforgiving area offered little in the way of sustenance. Hunting here was futile, and we set off, moving parallel to the highway and just out of sight, using the shadows to blur my outline.

We journeyed through the desolate landscape for miles until the scenery began to transform, and I could see a forest on the horizon. I didn’t know the area, and by the smell, there was a pack nearby.

I’d been to Monolith only once, and we’d come from a different direction, but after so many centuries, everything looked different. If my calculations were correct, Monolith was beyond the forest and we would reach it by evening.

Now that we were so close, I had to fight Vetus to link her. We’d been in wolf form for days, and the alpha command affected him more and more, and he didn’t want to warn her.

I planned to walk into Monolith as a human and keep Vetus at bay.

This is precisely why I had shifted into human form at the palace and the barn. Although Vetus wouldn’t have been able to climb the ladder, he would have tried.

~“I’m going to be hateful if I link her,” ~Vetus warned.

~“Even if you are, we will phrase it so she knows our approximate arrival and can prepare,” ~I ordered.

~“Let’s wait until we hit the forest.”~

It was late afternoon when we finally hit the tree line, and Vetus immediately veered off at the smell of wild pig, but I stopped him when I saw it was a sow with a litter.

~“No, find something else.”~

We trotted through the forest and eventually found a boar who scurried through the undergrowth. Vetus gave chase, and we ran him down and feasted, much closer to the pack now. Misty’s scent wafted through the area.

I forced Vetus to lie down.

~“Misty?”~ I linked. ~“I’m getting closer, and no matter how you PREPARE, I will make you feel pain like you’ve never known, and then I will feast on your entrails.” ~Vetus added the last part of the phrase, annoying the hell out of me.

There was silence, and I could feel her anxiety, but then she spoke. ~“How long do I have to pray?”~

My mate was clever and caught on quickly. Thoughts of love swirled through my brain. My protective instincts were in direct contrast to my orders and Vetus.

~“You better use the next couple of hours to pray, but I will have you by nightfall, and your screams will be music to my ears.”~

The words were alien in my ears, and I hated saying them but she understood, and I hoped like hell she had found something to stop us.

I didn’t want to kill any more warriors while pursuing her. I made Vetus curl up and wait for nightfall, my mind spiraling.

When the sun went down, we stalked through the forest, and the urge to fulfill the alpha command consumed my mind.

~“Vetus,”~ I shouted. ~“You’re letting your baser instincts take over. Snap out of it. We will walk willingly into whatever trap she’s laid, understand?”~

~“Of course, I understand, but I can’t help it,” ~he growled.

~“Well, think of Calamity. Do you want to see that sleek, black little she-wolf again?”~

~“Goddess yes, but I can’t seclude myself, you know that, and when I spot her, no matter which form she is in, I don’t know if I will be able to control myself.”~

~“Well, you better fucking try. If you force a shift on me and kill our mate, I will make your life a misery,”~ I threatened.

~“Maybe we should shift now because all I can think of are the king’s orders.”~

~“Fine.”~

I shifted and walked through the forest, taking much longer than I would in wolf form. But I had to keep Vetus thinking rationally, and that wasn’t possible in wolf form.

His impatience reached an all-time high when I saw the twinkling lights of Monolith. Skidding down the embankment, I walked nude down the road so everyone could see me and warn Misty.

The place was overflowing. I spotted movement here and there, but they kept out of my way.

Her smell guided me through a sea of tents and down a vaguely familiar path. My focus sharpened as Vetus tried to take over. I pushed him back, but the growl that left my throat was all him.

~“Vetus, NO!” ~I yelled, but it was too late, and I couldn’t hold him back.

We shifted, and he immediately masked his scent and became invisible.

~“Vetus! Think!”~

But he was beyond thinking. His only goal was to fulfill his orders with a frightening single-mindedness—to hunt and kill Misty.

It only took minutes until we came to the Monolith, the two halves precisely as I remembered them, the image of my father’s head rolling to the ground as clear as the day it happened.

She stood alone, cell phone in her hand, turning in a circle, her eyes straining, but she could not smell or see us coming. I hesitated and tried to keep Vetus back, a feeling of déjà vu assailing me.

Vetus was impossible to stop, and I capitulated. The alpha command consumed me—and we became one.

With a feral growl, we lunged, flying through the air, claws extended…