Chapter Thirty-One

Willow

It’s hard to believe we’ve been travelling for days. The forest looks the same out here than it did back at the cabin. Tall. Tangled.

Frozen.

Every shiver seems more violent than the last, wracking through me like I’m about to keel over. I need to eat, to keep my calories up, but I’ve been sick twice already. I can’t afford to lose any more fluids.

Something is wrong , my inner omega urges. And I think you know what .

“Hey—Will!”

I come to just as Kane grabs my shoulder, saving me from walking face-first into a branch.

He feels down my arms. “You hurt?”

I shake my head. “Sorry. Must’ve spaced out.”

“Fuckin’ understatement, omega.”

“I’m fine .”

“You can’t even walk straight!”

I bristle. Alpha … angry with me ? No. He’s probably just grumpy because he didn’t get any sleep last night.

“We’re not stopping,” I say at last. When I sense he’s about to protest, I add, “By all means, you stay, start a fire. But I want to get to the bottom of this mountain.”

Kane’s jaw flexes. Suddenly he swings the pack around, hanging it off his chest. Then, before I even realize what’s happening, he hoists me onto his back, hooking his arms under my thighs.

I start. “Kane!”

“Enough,” he growls. “Not another word.”

He starts walking, pumping out his scent with every step. I let myself sink into his warmth, but somehow, it feels more like a distraction than a cure. Whatever’s wrong—my head spinning, my stomach twinging—isn’t going away.

Snap !

I gasp, turning.

“What is it?” Kane demands.

My inner omega screams wordlessly. What is she trying to tell me? What can she sense that I can’t?

“There’s something out there,” I whisper.

Instantly Kane bristles. He presses against a tree, scanning our surroundings. I look. I listen. Finally I shake my head, feeling like I’ve swallowed a lump of clay. “I’m sorry. You must think I’m losing it.”

He relaxes slightly. “No, bunny. This is rogue territory—or it was, last I checked. Guess you sense it, too.”

He’s wrong. What I’m sensing is too close. Too familiar.

Silas.

Finally my omega finds her voice. Every other thought comes to a stand-still. Silas. Silas. Is he here? Is that why she’s so upset? Or she upset because … he’s not?

Kane keeps walking. I don’t know how far he takes me, or which direction we’re travelling. Not even his scent is enough to soothe me now.

Snap! I jump again.

“Omega—” Kane starts.

Omega. I hallucinate the same word, the same summons, in a deeper, measured voice. His voice.

Without warning, a sob wrenches out of me, my heart pounding hard against Kane’s back.

He hastily puts me down, catching me as I crumple. The both of us kneel into the frosted forest floor. I wrap my arms around my stomach, desperate to hold myself together.

“Willow. Willow, look at me,” Kane urges.

This is wrong , my omega moans. It’s all wrong .

He curses. “You gotta talk to me, bunny. Where’s it hurt?”

It doesn’t hurt. I … I don’t know what it feels like. Just wrong.

“Dammit,” he snaps. “I knew you shouldn’t have drunk that fucking tea.”

“It’s not the tea,” I rasp out.

He feels my forehead. “No fever.” Checks my fingers. “Not frostbite. There’s gotta be a reason you’re like this, and it all started with the tea.” His lip curls. “With him .”

I double over, the mere mention of Silas like a blow. Kane grasps my shoulders.

“Just breathe. I’m gonna figure this out.” He glances around, like a cure will magically appear. “Gotta get you to shelter.”

Murmuring soothing words I don’t understand, Kane carries me on and on and on. His breathing is sharp. I cling to the sound, letting it ground me. Alpha’s here. He’s going to keep me safe.

But what about the other one?

It feels like an eternity before Kane stops. I lift my head, examining the rocky formations wrapped around us. The air feels different. Warmer. Smokier.

“I’ll start a fire,” Kane announces. He goes to lie me down, when suddenly we hear it.

Kane springs up. I cling to his chest, feeling the harsh vibration when he snarls.

“Well, well.” Three males in fur cloaks venture out from around the boulders—two on the left, the one speaking to us on the right. He’s stocky, face weathered, with a dark, thick beard. “We weren’t expecting visitors so late in the year.”

Kane snarls again. “Don’t get any closer.”

The male—an alpha, without doubt—growls. “This is claimed territory.”

“Which makes you a trespasser,” another one adds.

“You and your omega,” from the third.

This is my fault. Kane tried to tell me we were in rogue lands, and I barely heard him. All I could think about was … was …

My stomach twists. I smother a cry.

I can feel every muscle in Kane’s body tensing. Preparing to run. Or fight. I want to use my voice, or, god, my legs , and actually be of some help to him. He can’t take three alphas alone. I know that.

If Silas were here …

This time I can’t swallow back my whimper. All four alphas tense, their attention fixed on me.

“She’s sick,” one of them accuses.

“Get her out of here,” the first demands. “Want you off my territory, now .”

He’s letting us go—that’s good, right? The way Kane is still growling, his body coiled, makes me unsure.

“Now, now, alphas,” a new voice pipes up. Female. Gentle.

Omega .

I watch as a tanned omega with long brown hair peers around the boulders. Then I notice her stomach—the delicate bump beneath her dress. Pregnant. No wonder her alphas are so wary.

“Omega,” the first alpha, probably their pack leader, rumbles. “Go back inside.”

She smiles. “I will. Once I’ve welcomed our guests.”

Kane adjusts his arms around me, like he’s not sure what to make of this. Neither am I. But seeing another omega instinctively puts me at ease. She reminds me of a deer, with round eyes and tentative motions. I feel I can trust her.

Though I can’t say the same for her mates.

“Kane,” I whisper, my voice hoarse. “Put me down.”

He growls warningly.

“Kane.” I look up at him. “Please.”

Still growling, deliberating, he reluctantly lowers me to my feet, keeping one arm around my waist so I don’t topple.

The omega approaches, taking her head alpha’s arm. “Hello, dear. You look like you could use a hot drink.”

Her grumbling alphas sure don’t seem to agree, nor does mine, but there’s something comforting about her soft voice. I’d forgotten how easy it is to be around omegas. How safe.

I swallow the lump in my throat. “I …”

My knees buckle. I try to turn to Kane, to warn him, but it’s too late.

As my vision goes dark, the last thing I see is that omega’s face. Her big doe eyes. And for some reason the only thing I can think of is a name, haunting me to the very edge of unconsciousness.

Silas.