Page 21

Juk

M y hearts ache as I watch Leesa leave the cave. My Seeker follows her stiff movements as she leaps up from the fire and disappears into the icy tunnel. I long to follow her, but my alpha keeps my attention.

It is a fine line to walk, I am learning. Who comes first: my alpha or my mate? Before having a mate, the answer was easy. But now that I have one, it is not as black and white as I would have once thought.

But I know my Leesa. Even though our time together has been short, I know if I were to follow her out now, she would rebuff me. She has pride, my mate. She will need a moment alone, under the watch of Vekao, to collect her thoughts and sort her feelings. It will be harder to comfort her if she is not ready to share her feelings. She will be too busy denying them, and it will only result in arguing.

No, she needs a moment. And I understand this. As much as my hearts long to follow after her, to wrap my arms around her and let her cry into my chest, she is not ready to do this. Not yet. I know she will be safe outside, as Tabros is watching over the sled and guarding the cave’s entrance. He will not let anything befall her.

“This is not the news we hoped for,” my alpha murmurs. He crosses his arms as his eyes rake over the hoo-mans by the fire. I follow his gaze. His mate has her arms wrapped around the newcomer, Jay-ed, who sobs uncontrollably. Tears streak down Ee-vee’s face, and her eyes meet Axyll’s.

“And you’ve been on your own since?” Ee-vee asks gently when there is a break in Jay-ed sobs.

Jay-ed’s answer is obvious to me. I do not need to see her nod to know she has been barely surviving, on the brink of death. Her skin is sallow, and her arms are nothing but bone. It is a miracle she has survived, and I silently thank Vekao for keeping her safe. From the look on Kalpa’s face, he is also thankful—very thankful.

Vekao has kept her alive for a reason, as another gift to the Snowscape Pack.

Jay-ed sniffles, her face streaked with snot and tears. She nods her head as she whimpers. “I thought I was going to freeze to death.”

“How did you end up in this cave?” Ee-vee asks.

“Once the ship collapsed into the gorge and the ground stopped shaking, I went to investigate. But, I couldn’t even glimpse the ship down there. The gorge is so steep...” She takes a deep breath, more tears spilling from her face. “I knew I couldn’t stay out in the open. I didn’t know what to do. I figured the best thing to do was wait nearby and see if Raegan returned—”

“Right, you said she was missing,” Ee-vee sighs.

Jay-ed blinks and wipes her tears away. She sits a little taller as she nods. “Yes. The second day after the crash, she suggested one of us should go out for help and look for food. Allison volunteered to go with her, but she insisted on going alone. She sometimes would re-appear to drop off food and meat, but for the most part she was gone. It’s been four days since we last saw her...”

She sighs. I glance towards the alpha. His face is stone as he faces the hoo-mans, but I know what he is thinking.

More of them are scattered now. There may be bodies to retrieve from the second crash site. Hopefully, instead, there are more hoo-mans. More females to rescue and bring back to the safety of our pack. And then there is still the one who landed in Stygian territory, and the other whose survival is unknown.

Add on Kay-tee and Hazen’s separation from us, that is too many new females spread out across the territories unprotected. The only ones who are safe are the three with us, and the sullen one back at the den. I wonder if Brex and his cheerfulness have broken her yet.

“Anyway, I found this cave and was able to start a fire, but I guess an avalanche or storm blocked the entrance while I slept. I woke up to complete darkness and thought.. thought this would be my grave.”

Ee-vee pulls her in again for a tight hug, and the two of them begin to murmur between each other. She is a good leader, the alpha’s mate. She is soft and gentle, a different type of leader than my Leesa. She is gentle like our healer, but without the powers of a Seeker.

Axyll looks over at his mate with a gaze of pride, before turning to look at me. We speak in our Celetan tongue.

“We will need to go and check the gorge that she speaks of,” he says. I nod in agreement. “Not just for the hoo-mans, but to see how it has affected the territory border.”

“Do you think the Stygians are aware of the shift?” I ask. The last thing I want is to come face to face with the Stygian Pack while my mate is with me. Those beasts would not hesitate to capture all the hoo-mans and take them for themselves. Females are scarce amongst all three of the packs.

Axyll strokes his smooth chin. “It is hard to say. Their den is quite far from here and underground, from what I know. It will depend on if they felt the earth’s shaking under the surface.”

Those barbarians. Living under the earth, snubbing Vekao and Jaci... just thinking of them makes my blood boil. With any hope, the crack in the earth pulled the hoo-mans further into our territory and away from their clutches—or killed all the hoo-mans by Vekao’s mercy otherwise.

“What is the plan?” Ee-vee asks loudly. She and Jay-ed look over at us expectantly.

“Tomorrow we will return to the gorge and assess the situation,” Axyll says.

Ee-vee bites her lip. Her arm around Jay-ed tightens. She tilts her head, her eyes saying something her mouth does not. My alpha knows his mate and his Seeker is wise. Without even speaking the words, he knows what Ee-vee is communicating.

He clears his throat. “Let me clarify. Juk, Baz, Tabros, and I will travel to the gorge and find the sheep . I am sending you and Jay-ed back to the den with Kalpa.”

Jay-ed’s eyes grow as big as Vekao at her fullest. The fear there is palpable. Kalpa lets out a whine so quiet, I know only the Celetans can hear. Her distress makes him uneasy.

“The rest of us will travel to the crash site and assess,” Axyll concludes.

Ee-vee frowns at this. It ruffles my fur—even metaphorically—whenever someone questions the alpha’s wishes. Even when it is his mate. While more females for the pack would be a blessing, I cannot help but feel weary about the constant pushback our alpha may face. These hoo-mans do not seem to have as high regard for the pack’s hierarchy. It does not run through their veins like a Celetan.

“The other women will likely be nervous and afraid of you,” Ee-vee says slowly with caution. Her continued optimism that the others have survived is something to behold.

“There is little doubt that Leesa will want to come with us,” Axyll says smoothly. He is not wrong. I can already hear the argument my mate would put forth at the suggestion she return to the den with the others. We have come so far to help her people, she will see them dead or alive.

Ee-vee frowns. She glances towards the tunnel and then back to us. I take a step forward, standing tall. “I will go ask her.”

As Axyll moves towards the fire to sit with his mate and discuss their new travel plans, I make my way outside of the cave. The icy walls of the tunnel I carved bite into the warmth of my palms as I drag myself out. It is a tight squeeze for me, even in my ancestral form.

The night air is brisk and refreshing from the stuffy cave. The sky is clear, Vekao’s bright presence a welcome sight. Tabros lifts his head as I appear through the tunnel. He snuffs at me and nods his head to my right. I do not need him to tell me where my mate is—I can sense her.

Leesa sits on a small rock nearby. Her breath puffs in front of her quietly, as she stares up into the sky. Her dark eyes scan the stars, the moons’ glowing in reflection of the dark pools of her irises.

I am silent as I approach her. She looks so small and fragile in this moment. Her legs are pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them as she stares up. I wonder if she is asking for Vekao’s guidance. I know it is unlikely, as the hoo-mans do not share the connection and devotion to her as the pack.

She does not move as I slowly sit down next to her. There is no space left on the rock, so I sit in the snow beside it. My tails keep me warm, providing a fluffy seat. The broken one is sore, but it is bearable.

Sitting next to her, I come up to her waist. Even on the rock, my mate is small. I gaze at her, at her beauty, her fragility. I wait patiently for a sign that she is ready to talk, to discuss this upsetting news. This is not the outcome she wanted. Leesa did not want to be a hero—I know that. This has nothing to do with pride, and all to do with looking after those she loves and wants to protect. She already wrestles with the guilt of losing two of her pack—her kroo , as she calls them—and now there is this.

Finally, she lets out a small sigh. It is quiet, but enough. I know she is ready.

“The alpha is sending Ee-vee and Jay-ed back to the den tomorrow,” I say quietly. “Jay-ed cannot survive out here much longer and needs proper care from the healer. She is skittish without Ee-vee at her side.”

Leesa nods. This is not new information to her so I continue.

“The rest of us will continue on to the territory border and see where things stand. It will take less than half a day to get there.”

Quietly, Leesa slips off the rock and into my lap. She does not shiver, but her body feels chilled from the night’s cold. I wrap my arms around her as she leans into the warmth of my chest. I push her dark, straight strands of hair out of her face, and tuck them behind her small rounded ear.

“I’m going with you to the crash site,” she says at last. This is the answer I expected. I nod and rest my chin atop her head.

We stay silently sitting in company for a while. I do not push Leesa any further to release her feelings. She will do so when she is ready, and I love that about her. Because I am the same way. I will not yield when pushed, only when I am ready.

“Do you... do you think there’s a chance they’re alive?” she whispers.

My arms tighten around her. I wish to tell her what she wants to hear. To reassure her that everything will be ok. But the truth is that I do not know. And I know Leesa enough that what she wishes to hear is not a false lie. It is not the answer her single heart desires, but it is the truth.

“I am not sure.”