Page 223 of Alpha Mates

I’m not just angry. I’m sad. I’m hurt. I’m terrified. I’m desperate enough to doanythingto find my mate, and she sees that.

“You will become the very thing you hate. Rogues,” I promise as I stalk closer. “You will have no pack, no home, and that will haunt you for the rest of your days, if you don’t go mad first.”

Fear rolls off them as I stalk closer, propelling all my hysteria and mania onto them. It rides the tides of our pack bonds, rattling it like a train off course. The air fills with my pheromones, and I watch as beads of sweat collect above their brows.

“Julian—”

“Alpha,” I correct sharply. “I am your alpha, and if you wish for it to remain that way, you will tell me right now. Where. Is. My. Mate?”

A second passes, and that’s already too much. I take a step forward, fingers twitching.

“We really don’t know!” his father blurts out as he cranes his head even lower. “We don’t know if he’s there for sure. We can’t imagine why he’d want to be there—”

“Where isthere?” I snap. This is a location, finally something.

“It was an old mill,” he prattles quickly.

“Samson!” Aiden’s mother curses, but her mate continues.

“Out of state—fifty miles east. In the direction of the Ambersy Pack’s territory,” he finishes with a heaving chest.

That’s all I need.

I turn, already heading towards the closest pack gates.

“Beckett,” I call, and he immediately fills the space beside me. “Keep them in sight. Don’t let them leave the pack. Make sure all the packs in that direction know that I’ll be in the area but won’t cross into their lands.”

“You want me to stay?” He gapes with alarm. “Julian, you’ll never make it as you are.”

“You’re staying here,” I say, leaving no room for opposition. “Keep the pack together. Keep them here. I’ll make it.”

Because there’s no other option.

Thedays blur together again, but this time, I’m conscious of their passing.

My mind is the only thing still sharp, and I make sure it stays that way as I weave through unfamiliar lands and around claimed ones.

Finding Aiden is all that matters, and I’m not going to stop until I do.

On the third day, I know I’m where I’m meant to be—not because I see any old mill or remnants of one, but because Ismellit. Apples and pine.

I run harder, burning every last drop of strength until my legs finally give out. But I’m close, so close, and maybe that’s why I buckle. Through my slitted, hazed eyes, I look across the open meadow of wild hemlock, where a small hut stands alone in the middle.

It looks peaceful, like a corner of Goddess’s Resplendent Plains, but I’m not there yet, and I don’t deserve any blessings.

My shift comes unbidden, forcing me out of the comfort of my fur and into bare skin that shivers in the open air. I reach for it, wanting the extra strength granted only in that form, but I can’t shift without Alex, and even with my hope revitalised, he remains mute.

Curling in on myself, I fight to stay conscious. The shadows creep in anyway, swallowing the edges of my vision until I barely register the figure closing in. It’s too late to muster up a defence—but there’s no need.

“Aiden,” I breathe as the scent of pine washes through and around me.

The weight of my relief buckles the rest of my mind. My eyes close, and I slip into darkness.

Coughing seizes me by the gullet, dragging me awake. I double over from the force of it. My throat aches, dry and brittle, as I look around. Light filters through the glass panes overhead and I shut my eyes tight and swallow, but my mouth is parched.

Where am I? What happened? Where’s Aiden?

“Drink.”