39. Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Locke

M y mate cried until she passed out in my arms. I sat there for a while longer mulling over what the hell happened. It all happened so fast, I'm not sure if I could explain it.

Idris was there, and then he was not. Was he dead? We thought he was when the fire consumed him, but now he was taken into the lake. Anaki came the fuck out of nowhere and drowned the fucker.

"Anaki?" I linked. I waited for him to respond. Now he was mated, and to make it even more surprising, he was mated to my mate's sister. I'm going to be honest. I thought it was a great pairing. The two of them were made for each other. Anaki was overly helpful to her, even when she was trying to push him away. The dragon never learned how to take a hint.

Did any of us?

I waited a little longer before I reached out to him again. It has been a while since either of us established a connection and I was not sure if it was even possible between a wolf and a dragon. I heard Bear quite well, but Anaki—he was a reptile. Reptiles and mammals were different. Their mating practices, and their mannerisms. I've never indulged in my curiosities with him. None of us really do.

" Alpha-" His voice was deeper than it usually was. More serious. "I apologize, it's been a while since I've had to control my instinctual side."

I inhaled, feeling the crisp air fill my lungs, and shifted my posture to face the tranquil lake. Gradually, his head emerged from the water, its sheer size obscuring the moon's delicate glow and the fading wisps of clouds.

"I get it. But where the hell is Idris? He better be buried underneath a rock in the deepest part of the lake." I spoke aloud.

Anaki's large serpentine head looked back. "His heart stopped beating and I held him in my mouth, but he disintegrated. Is that how the fae die?"

I snarled and ran my claws through the fur between my ears. "I don't know. We will have to speak to Bram. He knows more. Where is your mate, and her son?"

Anaki's long forked tongue whipped across his lips. "Safe within my cave. Her grandmother ran off and said she must fulfil her destiny. I tried to stop her—"

I shook my head and held up my hand. "She fulfilled it. But, she is no longer with us."

Anaki's dragon slumped and turned away. "I failed her."

"No—" I shook my head. "It had to be done. It was her destiny and I'm sure the Goddess will bless her in the afterlife."

Anaki left me on the shore. I held my mate for a few minutes longer as I prepared myself for the aftermath. All that we have worked so hard for, I knew, would be gone.

The trek back was far quicker than I wanted it to be. All I wanted was my mate in my arms and a nest to hold her in. Her body was weak, her mind even more so and my rage was still brewing below the surface.

I would have to take care of my needs later, and the only solution seemed to be having sex with her. I was a simple male, but now that I was mated, I had to think of her.

As I approached the clearing, I knew I needed to assess the damage of the cabins and the packhouse, but first I took in the men and women that I once called a club—now formed as a pack.

As I looked around, the sight of many individuals, their bodies bleeding and fighting for their lives, was disheartening. However, there was a glimmer of hope as they were recovering, at a swifter pace than usual. The air was filled with the sound of murmurs, groans and the occasional gasp of pain. The scent of antiseptic and medicine lingered. Despite the progress, we still had a long and challenging journey ahead.

Grim sauntered up to me, Journey by his side, as always. "It was won as soon as the link was established."

As I surveyed the cabins, a somber sight greeted my eyes. The vast majority lay in ruin, particularly the unclaimed ones, leaving behind a sense of time and energy. However, the true devastation unfolded before me as I approached the packhouse. The third floor, where I had painstakingly crafted my den in the past few days during my mate's heat, and my rut, was fucking ruined. All efforts were in vain.

"My old sleuth will be here at dawn. They will help put it back together. They work fast, you know that." Bear came up beside me and patted my back. "We can't have our alpha and luna without a proper place to stay."

Nadia placed a blanket over my naked mate's body, and I nodded my head in thanks.

Any other time I believe I would have snarled and slashed anyone for looking at my mate's body, but I had too many things on my mind.

My wolf was terribly silent—pacing inside me. He wanted more blood. He wanted Idris' head. An unsettling feeling settled in my stomach.

Pack members continued to take the dead bodies of the enemy and put them into the fire. To my surprise, we didn't lose manyif any. Sizzle was still counting, and Bones was patching up the wounded.

"Everyone did well, especially when the fae arrived. If we didn't have them, I don't know if we would have lasted until the link was established." Hawke said. "That headache was so bad we couldn't even shift."

I continued to walk with my mate in my arms to survey the damage.

"Where were the fae, what happened with them?"

Hawke picked up a broken limb in our path and threw it into the forest. "Idris rounded them up, his men and witches had fire torches, and threatened to burn up the whole place. You know fae and nature. They don't want to see nature suffer because of them."

I hummed in agreement; spring and summer fae had a weakness for nature. Flooding or fire to any of their creations and they throw a fit. They must have realized they were outnumbered and under-prepared. Fae don't have the muscle power, and they liked to plan strategically.

"There were magical cages just out of the camera's view and the enemy locked them up so they couldn't join the fight."

"Sneaky bastard," I mumbled under my breath. "So, who freed them?"

"Emm's grandmother," Hawke said in surprise. "Don't ask me how." He threw his hands up. "But she did."

My mate groaned in my arms, and I sighed heavily. I needed to tend to her. "Anything else?"

"I think we can handle everything. Bones and Nadia are tending to the weak. The fae are helping with the cleanup. They are getting the forest to pick up shit." He rubs the back of his neck. "The clubhouse is quiet. Are you going to take the luna back there? I can make an effort to keep people's noise level to a minimum, until the cabins are rebuilt and the packhouse is somewhat livable.

I stared back at the packhouse. The outside was finished, but now there were smashed windows with burn marks up the side, and the third floor was completely missing. Even if the bear shifters worked their asses off, it would take at least two weeks.

With a link established, those who had never had a link before would have trouble filtering out thoughts. Their minds will not have learned to pull certain ‘communication wires' in the brain. Especially with Emm, when her wolf has not yet surfaced to help guide her. She will need to stay away from the packhouse so she doesn't hear everyone's thoughts.

I needed her to be resting and to mourn the loss of her grandmother, and reestablish our own connection.

"I've got a place where we can go. I'll need some supplies, though."

"Anything," Hawke said, glancing at his mate and pup. "You know, your mate ordered mine to get out of there. Delilah was in such shock. I don't think she would have moved away and who knows what would have happened to her."

I gave a smirk and rubbed my nose into Emm's hair. "That's what she's here for, to protect everyone."

"Just like you, huh? Crazy bastard." Hawke shoved my shoulder. "Even though you don't act much like one anymore."

I raised a brow. "Trust me, the crazy is still there. I'm just showing my best self for her."

"And I'm not good enough for you to show your best self?" Hawke ran his hand down his bare chest.

I glanced at Grim who was scowling at us and crossing his arms. "No, Grim is the only one that matches my vibe."

Hawke rolled his eyes and flipped me the bird. "You guys have a weird relationship, I fucking swear. You barely talk to each other but act like you fuck each other in the dark."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't knock it till you try it."

Hawke stepped away. "Fuck you, man." Hawke walked past Grim and stopped to stare at him.

Grim wiggled his eyebrows and Hawke gasped.

I threw my head back and laughed. Then laughed some more, thinking how ridiculous I probably looked standing in my lycan form laughing at some sick jokes.

Grim stepped up and jutted out his chin. "I stocked the cabin, after you switched back to being human."

While I was rabid and had to seek shelter from snow and rain, now sometimes I would wake up in the old cabin Grim and I built out of a scrap of logs when we first moved here. It wasn't much at first but we had a king bed, blankets, a kitchen and such, while we'd fixed up the bar.

From time to time there would be meat, and clean blankets for me to make a nest, while I was rabid. It calmed me enough smelling his scent, even though we were not blood brothers—we were brothers. He was the closest thing to my sister that I had.

I smiled, grabbed his forearm and shook it. "Thanks, brother. I owe you."

"Nah, I think I owe you. You helped give me a second chance. I'm just glad you got yours."

I nodded and grunted in agreement. "It's far from over. We have to help everyone else. Are you still in for that?"

Grim gazed around the scene, with every male and female helping each other.

"Never thought it would get this big, but yeah. I think so. Journey wouldn't have it any other way."

I huffed. "Yeah, neither would I."

We departed and I let my inner circle take care of the mess. I felt like an ass for leaving, but taking care of their luna was my priority. She'd been through hell and back today, and I would take care of what was mine.

So, I took the long trek up the hill, closer to the bar, where our old cabin sat. The forest was quiet besides the soft rustle of the leaves beneath my bare feet. I was grateful for the silence because could hear the small murmurs of my pack trying to understand how to use a link again.

As I neared the cabin, my eyes fixated on its weathered state. In my wolf form, I had never truly observed it from the outside. Time had not been kind to it, evident in its deterioration, yet it remained strong. Drawing closer, I observed the slithering vines, like serpents, coaxing through the broken windows, filling the gaps and weaving in and out from each other.

I shook my head and chuckled. Shhkuk was a saint, but I think he was going to get on my fucking nerves one day trying to help out my mate when it was my fucking job. The vines weaved in and out of the windows, giving me enough light so I could see inside. When I stepped in, dried leaves and dirt were scattered about, but the bed was clean with fresh linens and blankets.

I tilted my head in question, laying my mate's body on the bed and wrapping her body with the blankets. An envelope sat at the base of the mattress with a golden scale, a feather on one side, and gold coins on the other.

I hadn't seen an envelope like this since we had rescued Journey. Before I started having PTSD from seeing the damn thing, I snatched it up and ripped it open with my claw, to see neatly written scripted writing.

"Congratulations on your success, Alpha. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed by the Gods. Continue your valiant efforts, and in the afterlife, you will be justly rewarded."

My lip curled, and I crumbled the letter in my hands. I changed back into my human form. My mate and I were dirty, but I was too exhausted to care to clean either of us, or the cabin. Instead, I wrapped my body around my mate, my purr resonating loudly in the room. My wolf stopped his pacing, and he curled up in the back of my mind.

He remained unsatisfied. His thirst for blood was forever stronger. We still could not rest, would not rest.

Because we did not believe that Duke Idris was dead.

Thoughts of him remaining alive swirled in my mind as I held onto my mate. My hand slithered up her chest and onto her right breast, to remain calm.

I growled, my nose nuzzling into her mark. "My mate, my pack. We will destroy all who dare threaten them."