I admit that he does have a point. That does not make me any more comfortable with this decision.
“That reasoning is the only thing that persuades me to hear you out without their presence at this late hour,” Fahuri reminds them impatiently. “So, if you insist on conversing in secrecy, away from our companions and mates, let’s get this over with.”
Vrox has the grace to look embarrassed for a moment before he continues. “From the best that we can tell, we are already several miles into the Warue territory. I am honestly surprised and concerned that we haven’t seen any sign of the tribe. Although rumor says that they have migrated to the far northern reaches of their territory, this seems drastic, given that we have made no other forays into their land. I had thought it must have been exaggerated, but seeing this profitable business such as it is established in their territory where it would never have been permitted before is a sure sign that something is wrong.”
Rashi nods. “This place seemed to spring up almost overnight. I happened to come across it on one of my rare scouting trips, when Eral sent me into Warue territory. I didn’t go any further north than this point but made a mental note of it to check on if I passed this way again. I wasn’t sure if it would still be standing, to be honest.”
I frown, my fur prickling. “That doesn’t make sense,” I mumble. “The Warue have always been a stubborn and resilient tribe. They’ve proved that through generations of skirmishes with us. I had thought perhaps we just had been lucky to avoid encountering them. What would cause an entire tribe to flee the most habitable parts of their territory? The Ice Steps is no place to raise kits and the hunting is lean. What are they afraid of?”
Tas gives me a curious look. “An interesting way to put it. It does strike me as if they are hiding. They were fearless last time we met. I hold that we only won because we had trolls and orcs fighting on our side in numbers that exceeded their warriors and a couple of ogres unfortunate to be there at the wrong time.”
“What problems do you anticipate us encountering?” I ask Vrox directly.
He hesitates before finally shaking his head in defeat. “I don’t know, and that is what worries me. When we started on this venture, we assumed that we were dealing with known variables. There is no way to know what we are going to be walking into as we venture closer to ogre territory at the northwestern border of Warue lands.”
“I say we turn back,” Gorn states firmly, his arms crossing over his chest. “It would be foolish for us to jump into to gods know what and hope for the best. We have a better chance if we return to our territory, close our borders, and increase patrols. Issue mandatory breeding among the females with an eye to the future to increase our ranks of warriors and make patrolling mandatory for all males of age.”
“You would send an omega out?” Fahuri stares at him aghast. “Omegas are nurturers. They do not have the temperament for battling. They will protect those in their care under dire circumstances, but if you send them out to the borders it will only confuse and terrify them.”
“Then they need to be stronger if they expect to be fed by the warriors,” Gorn snaps.
Rashi pushes his body between Fahuri and Gorn, his fur bristling as he snarls threateningly. Fahuri puts a hand on Rashi’s arm to calm him but the other male bristles in turn, escalating the tension in the room. Their eyes don’t break until Gorn’s brothers pull him away. Only then does Rashi relax into Fahuri’s touch and turn to check on her.
“If you insist on continuing on this insane course,” Gorn growls, “then I suggest that we split up to cover more ground. Mentep, Etier, and I can venture north to search for any trace of the Warue while Tas and Vrox accompany you to the ogre caverns. We will be able to travel quicker and meet you at the caverns with our findings. If we can locate the Warue tribe, they may have useful information to divulge.”
Vrox scowls. “We did not discuss this, brother.”
“We did not,” he agrees. “But I refuse to walk into uncertain circumstances where we can all be picked off at once. This is a smarter move. I will go by myself if you think you need Mentep and Etier to guard the humans,” he sneers.
Vrox bristles at the other male’s tone, but he casts a questioning glance to Mentep and Etier. The males grimace but Mentep steps forward.
“We will go with him to be certain that he returns safely and to glean what information we can. Three of us searching for answers will be more profitable than Gorn venturing on his own.”
“Especially with his temper,” Etier mumbles. He receives an ugly look for his trouble but smiles at Gorn without a trace of shame.
“I don’t like it, but if Gorn insists on scouting further north, it is the most sensible option available to us,” Fahuri joins in. Her eyes slide over to me.
“What of you, brother? Would you rather return to the tribe with your mate or do you still intend to push north into ogre territory?”
I know what her question is really asking, but she won’t say it in front of the betas. I smile at her and shake my head.
“While I would prefer to have my mate safely in my den, I think our course from here will be something I need to discuss with her further. I will not make decisions for her that might risk her wellbeing. That said, I suspect, knowing my mate as I do, that she will wish to continue north to keep Jinx out of trouble.”
Fahuri’s mouth quirks up at the corners and her eyes soften with pleasure. “That is all, then. Get out now so that I may rest with my males. Daylight waits for no one. Arawl, a moment longer, if you will.”
I nod and watch the betas file out, my posture relaxing once they are gone. I turn to Fahuri. I do not expect her to throw her arms around me and hug me tightly to her. She hasn’t done so since we were kits. I nuzzle her gently.
“Is everything all right?” I whisper for her ears alone.
She nods against my shoulder. Although she is larger than Ana, she is still no bigger than a large human male. I want to beat Gorn for distressing her.
“Yes, I think so. But all of this has made me realize just how much we both risk losing if something goes wrong,” she says, her expression bleak. She turns to look at Rashi and her face softens. “I don’t want to waste any more time being scared. I suspect you feel the same,” she finishes with a small smile.
I chuckle. “Yes. I realized that myself. I spoke with Ana just a short while ago. We aren’t going to seek out the wizard after all.”
She leans back and smiles. “That is such wonderful news. See? I told you so. All you had to do was talk to her.”
“You are unfathomably wise and know all things,” I tease.
She shoots me a dirty look before pushing me away to return to Rashi’s side. “Go back to your mate, Arawl and send Jinx to me. I hope he got some rest; he might be awake for a while longer yet.”
“Fahuri, don’t tell me such things.” I groan.
Her laughter follows me out the door. Still, I am smiling as I go down the hall to my own room. Fahuri is healing and finding happiness with her mates, and I have Ana now to be mine forever. The ogres’ caverns loom over us like a shadow I cannot ignore. I don’t like the idea of bringing my mate into such a dangerous situation, but I also know we cannot just go home and ignore it. I think I know Ana well enough to know that she would feel the same.
There are females missing and more possibly in danger. No one will be safe if we do not find what is going on. Taking Ana back to my den does not guarantee that she will remain safe while Baru is picking off females. If we do not find any clues among the ogre caverns, there are other places around our territory that we can look. Yet, given our history, I suspect the ogres are involved in some way or another.
I feel it.
As I near my door, my fur stands on end as I catch sight of a shadow huddled near my door—where it did not belong. Rushing forward quietly, I yank the interloper off the ground by the neck with enough force that he bellows in surprise only for a second before I slam him into the wall, knock
ing the breath from his lungs. I compress my fingers around his thick neck, and he wheezes, his cloven hooves kicking at the air helplessly.
I loosen my grip so he is aware of just how easy it can tighten and cut off his air once more. He gasps, drawing in deep breaths of air as I glare at him.
“What were you doing outside my door?”
“Would you believe washing the floorboards?” he wheezes.
I tighten my grip again until his eyes widen before loosening it.
“Do not make me ask again,” I growl.
“I was paid!” he whimpers. “I don’t know who it was. They were expensively clothed. Fine boots and breeches from what little I could see and wearing a high-quality cape that covered much of their body. I couldn’t get a good look at him beneath the hood. I suspect it was glamoured. He said he just wanted to check on the female and gave me the coin to check on her and report back to him what room she is in where in the room he could find her. I swear I wasn’t going to do anything to hurt her.”
“But you were fine with selling information that could possibly be used to endanger her?” I growl menacingly.
The satyr shrugs. “It is what we do. Food and drink are expensive, so is buying favors from the females. Make coin where you can and chase your pleasures is the satyr way of life.”
“If I ever catch you anywhere near my room or mate again, your satyr way of life is going to be a very short one,” I snarl, exposing my fangs as I dropped my head menacingly near him. I can smell the terror on him and his head jerks in a quick nod.
“Y-you have my oath,” he stammers.
“Good,” I return as I drop him unceremoniously to the ground. He lies there for several moments, rubbing at his neck as he struggles to catch his breath. When he finally clatters to his hooves, he gives me a short, nervous bow as he backs away.
“My oath, I will tell him nothing. You won’t see me again,” he hastens to add. He spins around and springs down the stairs as if all the hounds of the underworld were giving him chase.
Once I am certain he is gone, I unlock my door and throw it open, relieved to see Ana still slumbering in the bed. Jinx is sprawled on a long bench against the wall, one foot hanging slack over the side. I pass by the bed silently as not to wake Ana and nudge the male’s arm. His eyes fly open and he startles but relaxes when his eyes adjust, and he sees me looming over him.
“Hey, Arawl. Are you done?”
“We are finished. Fahuri waits for you,” I reply quietly.
He smiles and stumbles on to his feet. “Ana didn’t wake once. Whatever you did made her sleep better than I’ve ever seen her rest, and no one came in. Entirely uneventful night. I will see you in the morning,” he says as he ambles toward the door.
I don’t tell him about the satyr that was lurking in the hall. I don’t want him feeling anxious for Ana. I am concerned enough. Who would want information on my mate?
Once Jinx is gone and the door firmly shut once more, I bolt the door and I crawl into the bed next to my female. She instinctively rolls over and snuggles into me and I sigh as I wrap my arms around her.
Anyone would be a fool to try to take her away from me.
Chapter 21
Ana
“We don’t have to do this,” Arawl says casually as he digs into his plate of food.
We sit by ourselves at a table in the tavern enjoying eggs, bread, and various types of meat whose origins I know nothing about. I’ve learned pretty quick not to be too fussy in this world. As good as the meal is, his announcement absorbs all of my attention. I raise my eyebrows.
“Well, that’s unexpected. Do what, exactly?”
He gestures vaguely with one hand. “Continue north. I know you volunteered mostly because we were looking for an excuse to go in this direction, but as that is no longer the case, we can return to the village if you like.”
“What of Jinx, Rashi, and Fahuri?” I leave out the betas because they’re under Eral’s orders and will likely do whatever the hell they’ve been told to do regardless of what our group decides.
An uncomfortable look passes over his face before it disappears again. It’s his ‘there’s nothing to see here’ face that he pulls whenever he thinks I might be alarmed by whatever he’s about to say. I can practically see the wheels in his head turning to find the least concerning way to put it.
“They will continue on, well protected under the guard of Vrox and Tas,” he says at last.
If he thinks that isn’t going to worry me, he failed on an epic level.
“What do you mean under the guard of Vrox and Tas? What the hell are Mentep, Gorn, and Etriel going to be doing? Going on vacation?” I demand.
“No. Gorn insists on continuing north to see why we haven’t run into any Warue. We are well into their territory. This establishment shouldn’t be here without their oversight and we should have run into scouts by now.”
“Arawl, we can’t go back,” I say urgently. “I mean, yeah, it would be nice to go back to our den and just close out the rest of the world for several days...”
“Like a proper mating,” Arawl cuts in with a small smile.
“Exactly,” I say, my face warming with the thought of spending some one-on-one time alone with Arawl. It is such a nice idea. “But we can’t leave them. They would lose over half the team. It wouldn’t be right.”
The tension seeps out of his muscles and his smile has a touch of relief to it. “I was hoping you would feel that way, but I didn’t want to take that choice from you.” His smile fades as he looks over at me solemnly from across the table. “You should know that I met with the others last night. Everyone is concerned that, with the Warue’s absence, we will have no idea of what may have moved into their territory. It makes our journey far more unpredictable and potentially dangerous than we were expecting. I won’t say that this doesn’t worry me.”
“All the more reason not to abandon them,” I say firmly. I’m glad that I sound a lot more certain than I am feeling at the moment. I was game when we knew what to expect but having a big question mark on the map and losing over half of our assigned guards? My stomach turns as my skin prickles with a short-lived attack of panic. My mate, however, doesn’t miss anything. He reaches forward to rub his hand on my forearm before he clasps my hand in his.
“Ana, if you are afraid...”
“I would be insane not to be,” I retort, but soften the sting by dropping my head to lay my cheek against his knuckles before I straighten and meet his eyes. “We need to do this,” I whisper. “Not just for Fahuri, Jinx, and Rashi, but for the tribe. I’m going to be staying here and I can’t run away knowing that the family I’m joining will be threatened and possibly harmed. I can’t leave those females to gods know what sort of fate.”
Arawl drops his head a little and draws a depth breath before letting it go. “You mean more to me than anyone else in the tribe. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you, but I also feel a need to protect my tribe. I’ve always thought it was a cosmic mistake that I was born the son of an alpha, but now... it is imperative that I protect them. I am not like Eral with his rigid discipline and sense of duty, but I want my people to look forward to a good future.”
“Words of a true alpha, brother,” Fahuri says as she approaches our table. Neither of us had noticed that she was approaching with Jinx and Rashi. Her gaze pierces him with an unwavering focus. “A good alpha sees to his people’s needs because it was ingrained into him to have that duty. A great alpha sees to his people’s needs, not because he enjoys his position, but because he cannot tolerate the idea of any one member to suffer. That is what all of our lore has said, and I tend to agree with it. More now than ever. I’ve seen the sort of alpha Baru makes and he’s been conditioned all his life for the role. I would see you as alpha, Arawl.”
“Fahuri,” Arawl says disapprovingly but she tosses her mane over her shoulder and gives him a pointed look.
“Just think about it,” she returns. “You have run aw
ay from responsibility your whole life in your desire to follow your heart and your own destiny, but brother, you were born to lead. The problem is that all your life you were always told that you were to follow and be thankful for everything that was demanded of you instead. Given the opportunity to be more, you demonstrate greater compassion and decisiveness for the good of our tribe. Nothing showed me that more than when you took the more difficult road to do what is right rather than to do what is easy and convenient.”
My mate stares at her a little dumbfounded but I am bursting with happiness and want to cry at the same time. That has been happening to me more frequently over the last several days. Ridiculously little things, like Arawl offering me an apple he finds. I burst into tears, leaving him staring at me as if he isn’t sure if he wants to comfort me or back away to safety. I’m just glad that someone else is voicing all the good that I’ve seen in him that betrays his prickly exterior.
I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye impatiently and lean forward to kiss his jaw. The gesture startles him and he peers at me for a moment before he smiles and runs his muzzle beneath my jaw affectionately. The touch is too brief for my liking but we’re in public, so there’s not much I can do about it. Arawl smiles knowingly and picks up a small, tart fruit in his claws which he offers me. I allow him to feed me bits of fruit while Jinx settles beside me. His tunic shifts and out of the corner of my eye I see another set of marks on the opposite side of his throat, these ones fresh. He mated with Fahuri. I’m so happy for him that I don’t wait to tell him so. Naturally, he just grins and makes adoring eyes at his new mate.
Our meal is nearly finished when we’re at last joined by Vrox and Tas. The other three brothers are nowhere in sight, but I imagine they probably left the tavern some time ago while everyone was sleeping to get a head start without worrying about traveling at a human’s pace. I swallow back the bitterness and greet the males. They both nod to me politely before extending the greeting to everyone else at the table.
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