Page 23

Juk

I have never known true happiness until this moment. My hearts beat wildly as Leesa lies on top of me, panting just as heavily. My good tail thumps next to me, the motion out of my control. My limp one tries to follow, pushing through the pain, but it is pitiful in comparison. Any smile or feeling of joy before mating with Leesa pales to how I feel now. Now, I feel whole.

Leesa’s finger swirls absentmindedly on my chest. The feeling is sensual and content. I wish to lie here forever next to her, to freeze this moment in time. But we both knew this was meant to be quick.

When the alpha murmured to me that my mate’s aura was basked in pink, with arousal, it only solidified what I knew. What I could smell in the air, what made my cock twitch and my heart race. The perfume of it was so overpowering, I could barely respond when he said he would get the others to leave the cave to give us a few private moments. A short time together to consummate and release the tension building between us.

I never expected it to be that intense, though. Not that good. Even my wildest dreams could not compare. Even now, as I glance down at my mate lying on top of me, her black hair spilling over one of her shoulders while her tawny skin is pressed against mine, I cannot believe it. I thought it would take endless moon cycles before Leesa truly gave into our mating. And I would have gladly waited for her.

A small sigh escapes between her lips, and she sits up.

“We need to get ready. I need to say goodbye to Evie and Jade before they leave,” she says, somewhat begrudgingly. Her eyes meet mine briefly, a furrow between them. Already, her mind goes back to the others waiting, to the endless guilt and worry she feels over the rest of her kroo . She is a protective leader, my mate.

“You dress and head outside. I will tidy up the cave and put out the fire, and shift in here,” I answer. The sound of my bones snapping will be muffled from the outside, and not bother her with the haunting memories of her fallen packmate.

Leesa is quick to dress. She closes the mysterious black garment that covers her head to toe, and I wrap an extra fur around her shoulders. I do not believe such a thin, flimsy material can keep her warm, and now that we are mated, I hope she will let me fuss over her a little more. I want to take care of my mate, even if she is strong.

With the fur cape wrapped around her shoulders, Leesa presses up on her toes to reach up for a kiss. I cannot help but chuckle, as it does little to add to her height. I wonder, should we be blessed with cubs, if they would have her small stature. Would they have tails? Would their skin be my bright colour or her muted one? What colour would their hair be, and would they be able to shift? All these things would be left up to Vekao, who would know best.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Leesa has only just accepted her fate to stay here with me, as part of the pack. There is no point in bringing up cubs, as we do not know yet if the hoo-mans are able to breed with us. But it is no matter. I will love my mate into an old and cub-less age with nothing but happiness.

I bend down to press my lips to Leesa’s. She lingers for a moment, her eyes closing. My scent is all over her, mingling with hers, and it makes me want to howl with delight. This is how it should be, my scent on her. Marking her as my territory, as mine . Scenting her so that everyone knows it, and should anyone try to take her away, they will have me to deal with.

As Leesa leaves the cave, her crawling up the tunnel giving me a nice view of her backside, I straighten. My back cracks and my tails twitch. Pain radiates through the broken one, though it grows milder and milder each day. I will need to see Nyfer as soon as we return, as I fear it is healing unnaturally. She will probably need to break it back into place, which I do not look forward to. I briefly remember something similar happening to my father, many, many cycles ago.

Once the fire is smothered, nothing but embers dying in the pit, I start to shift. My leg bones snap first, bringing me to my knees as they change their position. Next, my elbows snap and bow out, before straightening backwards. My nose elongates and skull contorts as coarse white fur spurts from all over my body. Finally, my tails grow out in length. The broken one feels a bit of relief in my celestial form. Perhaps shifting more will help it heal properly, and Nyfer won’t have to do anything. Transformation complete, I stand. The pain and adrenaline disappear quickly, and I shake all over. The stuffy cave air runs through my fur, and my skin itches underneath. It is too hot in here for my celestial form.

Without a second glance, I bound toward the tunnel, and carefully crawl through its icy walls. The morning’s brisk air hits my nose first, and I mentally sigh in relief as I push through the other end. The tunnel is tight around me, my back legs scrabbling to push forward, but I make it out and shake the ice from my fur once outside.

The day is overcast with a familiar grey gloom. Tabros and Baz are in their celestial forms already. Baz snuffs in my direction, and I nod my head at him. He can smell my scent on Leesa and knows of our mating. It will be obvious to everyone in the pack gifted with a celestial scent—which will be all the Celetans and none of the hoo-mans. Or at least, it is my assumption that hoo-mans cannot smell as well as we can. I can’t imagine their tiny noses do much.

In the near distance, I can hear bones snapping. Another is shifting, and by the quick glance around, it must be Kalpa. Axyll is nearby, murmuring to Ee-vee and Leesa. Jay-ed sits in the sled. She looks small and frail compared to the piles of supplies built around her.

All that preparation, all those supplies ready to rescue the hoo-mans... and now, those furs may be nothing more than shrouds for their bodies. It is a grim thought, but I pause as I think on it. My intuition does not react. Any thought or glance in the direction of the newly form gorge does not elicit a reaction. Perhaps things are not as dire as we believe them to be. Or perhaps it is too soon for my Seeker to know.

Jay-ed’s eyes widen as I walk by the sled. It seems a waste to send all those supplies back to the den when the rescue mission may not yet be lost. But it will be best to know what we are dealing with. Kalpa will return the alpha’s mate and Jay-ed, and send the sled back with one of the other deltas. Perhaps Amble. Something tells me Kalpa will not want to leave while Jay-ed is becoming acquainted in the den.

I approach my mate from behind, and nuzzle her with my nose. I take a deep whiff of her scent by her ear, taking in the smell of our scents tangled together. It is intoxicating. I can still smell our mating on her, the sweat and soot from the cave. I wish to bathe in it, to drink it until there is nothing left for anyone else to detect.

Leea squirms slightly from the affection, the movement so miniscule only I notice it. She reaches her hand up and pats my muzzle.

“Be safe,” Ee-vee says. She pulls Leesa into an embrace, and for a moment, it looks like my mate will not return the affection. But her arms wrap around Ee-vee’s taller frame, and she grips her fiercely. Whatever quarrel was between them a few days ago seems to be forgotten.

“You too,” Leesa says. “Keep an eye out for Katie on your way back.”

“She is safe with Hazen,” Axyll reassures her, and offers her a pat on the shoulder. I know he is my alpha, with a mate of his own, but in my newfound state of mated bliss and possession, the tiniest of growls releases from my lips at the contact of his hand on her shoulder. Leesa is mine, not his.

Axyll chuckles as his eyes turn to mine. One of his brows lifts, an amused smirk on his lips. I am being ridiculous. He knows this. I know this. It is instinctual, a growl I did not even feel coming. If he were not alpha, he would feel the same way if any other male touched his mate. But he is the alpha. No one would dare do such a thing, should they wish to be exiled like Joval.

As though to prove my point, Axyll scoops Ee-vee into his arms. She smiles and laughs as he carries her over to the waiting sled. Their kiss is long and lingering, and Leesa makes a face and turns away.

“PDA much?” she murmurs to me. The words are foreign to me, and yet I understand her meaning. She is uncomfortable with such broad shows of affection, yet she reaches up and scratches behind my ears as she watches them, disgusted. Little does she know just how intimate the touch is when a mate is in one form and the other in the other.

Her touch is soothing and affectionate, and I nudge my head into her hand, demanding more when she stops. She chuckles now, and we stay like this, her scratching and petting behind my ear, as we watch the alpha tuck his mate into the sled.

Soon Kalpa returns from shifting, and takes up the sled’s command. The alpha belays one last message of safety and importance to him, and Kalpa nods his head before they take off.

The alpha’s mate waves to me and Leesa one more time, and we watch as they disappear further in the distance, soon nothing but a small speck in a sea of white.

As soon as the alpha shifts, we are off. He takes the lead, Baz and Tabros flanking on either side, while Leesa and I stay behind him. She sits atop me, as light as a blanket. If not for the slight pinching of her grip on my fur, I would forget she was there.

With no sled to pull or hoo-mans walking, it takes us no time to get the territory border. The sun is still hidden behind the clouds, but no snow falls on this day. The winds are still and silent, and yet, my Seeker feels on edge.

Axyll slows and all but abruptly stops as we become within sight of the border. I inhale sharply as I come to a stop beside him.

The landscape is unrecognizable. The few trees that spotted the border are all ripped from their spots in the earth. Large roots snake out from the disturbed snow. Beyond, is a forest that leads into the start of the Stygian territory... except now, that forest, that small patch of wood has disappeared. Swallowed into the earth as though it never existed.

The chasm is bigger than I imagined. A wide stretch of darkness now separates our territory from the Stygian’s. It is jagged and uneven, as though the frozen ground opened its mighty jaws to show off its teeth.

Axyll glances towards me. His Seeker meets mine briefly, their eye contact direct.

It is right down the middle.

As though Vekao herself carved a line between the two.

He nods at my response. The contact breaks between us, and he returns to survey the new lay of the land.

As my eyes move from one end of the chasm to the other, I spot something poking out from the snow. Leesa stiffens atop me, as though she notices it at the same time. A small strip of black metal. My nostrils flare, taking in the scent of the earth, snow, and cold. And tangled among it all is the familiar metallic scent of the sheep.

“Oh my...” Leesa whispers, the end of her expression swallowed by a sharp intake of breath.

Before I can stop her, Leesa slides off my back and races towards the strip of metal. I bound past her, catching up in an instant due to my long legs. I skid forward in the snow and stop in front of the black shard.

My nose digs into the snow as I sniff around it. The metallic smell here is sharp and bitter. There are no other lingering scents, anything else left behind has been swept away by the wind in the recent storms.

Leesa stands next to me. She places her hand on my shoulder, gripping it to steady herself. I can smell the grief and uncertainty on her, and a small whine escapes me.

With a small pat, she kneels down in the snow and picks up the piece. It is thin and jagged, about the same length as one of my legs.

“It looks beat up,” she says quietly. A sad, soft chuckle follows, “Though, considering it was a stolen Skulcher ship, all their shit is beat up.”

She sighs as she shifts the piece of metal from one hand to the other. The alpha has wandered over now, and sniffs at the piece. His eyes then look to her, diverting to her lead.

A swell of pride rushes through me. The alpha is deferring to my mate. Mine. It is not often that he defers to another’s command or move, except for the healer and sometimes the elders. But in this moment, he looks to Leesa. They are her missing people. Her pack, her kroo.

Leesa looks over at Axyll. His Seeker is focused on her and her alone, while he holds her stare.

She lets the piece fall back into the snow and stands to survey the area. With a glance at me, she then turns her attention back to the alpha.

“I think this is a piece broken off from the crash two weeks ago,” she starts. She breaks his gaze and looks towards the newly formed cliff, only a few steps away. “It would not have fallen far from where the cargo hold was. And if Jade says the entire thing was swallowed by the split...”

With a steady hands, she points to a spot in front of us. A spot where the snow suddenly disappears into an abrupt cliff carved in the ground.

Axyll nods and slowly moves towards the spot. The rest of us all follow. Leesa walks beside me, her head just under my shoulder. I let her lead, staying a half step behind her.

Once at the cliff’s edge, she places her arm on my shoulder again. Another sharp intake of breath as she steadies herself, and together, we dare to look over the edge.

My hearts fall into the pit of my stomach. It is endless, this drop. My eyes lose focus as I try to find the bottom. It is nothing but dark, freshly exposed stone walls.

The earth’s wounds look raw and angry. I shake my head, trying to clear my mind and re-focus my eyes. Leesa kneels beside me, practically hanging off the edge of the cliff as she tries to see the bottom. Her hand is gripped on my foreleg, and I ensure my paw is planted firmly to support her weight. I do not need her to be added to this tragedy.

Unlike my eyes, however, my Seeker is trained on the bottom of the pit. It stays unblinking as it slowly searches the ground, focusing as hard as possible. A fine line of snow has littered the ground. The faint white line is all I can see. My Seeker follows it, and by the tilt of the alpha’s head, I sense he does as well.

Axyll suddenly chuffs. His eyes glance towards mine, and he nods his head at something ahead of us. His Seeker stays focused on what he has found, and I quickly follow his line of sight.

And there, closer to the opposite side of the chasm, is what looks like something that does not belong. It is hard to make out the shape of it, but it is clear what it is—the sheep . The kar-go-huld, they have been calling it. The back half of the sheep that we rescued the others from.

From up here, it is impossible to tell what kind of condition it is in. It looks nothing more than an extraordinarily large boulder, perhaps dented on a few sides. I can make out no hoo-mans or creatures around it. They would be too small to see from up here.

I let out a small noise, a cross between a whine and a gruff, and gently nudge Leesa with my snout. She pulls back from the edge and her dark eyes glance up at me. Air puffs out of my nostrils as I snuff and gently nudge her head towards the sheep . She watches me closely, my Seeker specifically, as she trains her own eyesight. She is so smart, my mate. It takes a few times of careful watching to follow my Seeker’s trail, but then it happens. She gasps and stands abruptly next to me.

I can hear her heartbeat thumping in her chest. It is strong and frantic, and worry etches across her face. Her features mimic the seedy feeling slowly growing in my stomach as my Seeker darkens. I do not know yet what it means, but I have a very clear idea.

Without warning, Leesa suddenly cups her hands to her mouth and shouts into the gorge, “IS ANYONE DOWN THERE?”

Axyll’s head snaps up at us, his eyes glowering. He lets loose a low warning growl, but it is too quiet for Leesa to hear. It is for my ears only, for me to get her to be quiet. Yelling into the chasm is dangerous. Not because of potential avalanches, but because of where we are.

Because the broken sheep lies on the Stygian’s side of the border.

As Leesa’s words echo down, down, down into the fissure, everyone holds their breath. Leesa for a different reason than the rest of the pack. We wait, my eyes now scanning the distant horizon for any movement. For any sign of the black wolves that prowl the now clear divide of our territory. But the snowbank and the distant trees stay quiet. No dark silhouettes appear, yet I continue to hold my breath.

And then, ever so quietly—nothing more than a whisper on the wind—there is a response. It is so soft, and feminine, that at first I feel I imagined it. My Seeker stays dark with worry, a warning that something bad is soon to pass. The Stygians, likely, I fear.

“...ello...?”

The soft voice, the question reaches the top of the cliffs, and Leesa all but collapses onto the ground. Tears fill her eyes, and she grips my foreleg again, and before I can stop her, she cups her hands again and shouts back into the void. “WE’RE COMING TO GET YOU! HOLD ON!”

I turn my gaze to Axyll. Our Seekers stay trained on the sight below, now moving to calculate how we might be able to get down. Quickly, safely, and without the detection of the Stygian’s. The alpha’s eyes meet mine, and though we cannot communicate through the properties his Seeker as alpha bestows upon him, the meaning is the same between us. It does not need to be said aloud.

They’re alive.