Page 44 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

AUDREY

We continued in silence, everyone tense, including Cyrus, searching the shadows for danger. Power rolled off him as well as Bishop and Deacon, crackling against my senses, but thankfully not compelling me to do anything… well, maybe it was. I couldn’t stop peering into the shadows as well, twitching every time I thought I heard or saw something. And oftentimes, that something was the rusty fur of one of the hunt team members who followed on either side of us, weaving between the trees and bushes.

I wasn’t sure how long we walked before we reached a break in the trees. According to my feet and legs and back, it was all day, but it couldn’t have been since Cyrus had said we’d reach Anakar by noon. Beyond, bathed in brilliant sunlight, was a large stone arch carved with images of people in agony, welcoming us to the partial ruins of a large town… or was it a temple complex?

The trail widened, becoming the remains of an old road paved with wide, flat stones, although at least half of the stones were missing or covered in layers of dirt and debris. Two dozen wide, shallow steps led up to a courtyard-type area with the crumbling remains of what once had been a large fountain with an enormous statue — now worn beyond recognition by the elements. It sat in the courtyard’s center, surrounded by crumbling one- and two-story buildings, some no more than just a partial wall and the outline of where the other walls had stood.

Beyond that, towering above the remains of the buildings, was the temple, an intricate structure with dozens of spires and gaping black windows.

Deacon took the lead, taking us past the courtyard into a maze of narrow streets littered with rubble and forest debris. Mist curled among the stones where the sunlight couldn’t reach and the dark power pressing against my senses grew stronger.

Then the maze opened up into a grander, bigger courtyard with a fountain and statue right in front of the temple. Unlike the statue in the previous fountain, this one was in good condition, clearly showing the monster that Sterling had summoned.

My pulse lurched as I looked up at the thing that had tried to eat me and had eaten Merrick while he was still alive.

Its leathery wings were spread wide, and his head, with its ram horns curling from his forehead, was tipped back, his mouth open. He had a person in each hand, their expressions filled with horror, and one hand was raised up to his mouth to devour the unfortunate soul.

That had almost been me.

And from what Sterling and Royce had said, they’d known that was going to be my fate. They really were psychopaths and I hoped to God that thing had eaten them as well. It would have served them right.

Four pillars, carved showing more people in pain, stood around the fountain marking a large square in the center of the courtyard, and between the two on my left, hanging in the air, was a tall shimmering thread.

“That’s definitely magic,” Whil said, heading toward the shimmering thread. Cyrus and Deacon followed her, stopping a good distance from whatever it was to examine it.

“Do you know what it is?” Cyrus asked.

“It’s a rip in our realm,” Whil replied, keeping her distance as well and slowly circling the rip.

Beyond the rip, the forest had taken over the buildings, crowding close to this one side of the courtyard.

I walked to the trees’ edge and peered into the shadows. I couldn’t see more than a few feet into the gloom, but when I closed my eyes and concentrated, I could hear the rushing of fast-moving water.

“It’s the rip I came out of,” I said, a confusing mix of hope and fear and frustration churning inside me.

“Does this mean Audrey can go home?” Bishop asked.

Did I want to go home?

No. I was happier here than I’d ever been back home.

But once the mating bond was broken and I was back to just being a powerless shifter would Bishop and Cyrus treat me like Sterling and Royce had? Would I want to return home then?

The rip’s shimmering brightened and instead of just rippling air that distorted the statue beyond it — like the air over hot asphalt on a summer’s day — a forest grove appeared, one that looked a lot like my old pack’s sacred grove.

Now that I could get a good look at it, I could see that the window was tall, stretching taller than the statue but only a foot wide, and as I watched, a sparrow, chased by a crow, darted through the rip. The crow swooped after it, but one of its wings clipped the milky, shimmering edge of the rip and burst into flames, burning so hot and fast the bird was complete ash before it could hit the ground.

My churning emotions shifted to fear and, much to my surprise, disappointment. Maybe I did want to go home.

No, it wasn’t going home that I wanted, but to show Bishop my realm. He’d been so interested in hearing about TV and I knew he’d be amazed to actually see it.

“She’s not going home through that,” Cyrus said, his voice gruff.

“Then how did she make it through?” Bishop asked.

“It was probably wider when it was first made,” Whil replied. “But there’s nothing maintaining it so the magic that created it is fading, and the rip is shrinking. Eventually, it’ll disappear.”

Cyrus gave Whil a nod and grunted then shielded his eyes and looked up. “We have a little time before we have to move out. Audrey, eat something. Bishop, you’re with me and the hunt team. I want to search the area for trouble. Deacon, you’re with Whil.”

He jerked his chin and two of the wolves from the hunt team followed him across the courtyard and around the edge of the temple.

Bishop drew up close to me and slipped his hand under my shirt, pressing his palm against the small of my back.

My churning emotions eased and a flicker of that warmth and calm I’d felt last night replaced them.

“You okay?” he asked, his eyes soft and sad. “I know you weren’t happy in your pack, but it’s still home.”

“There are things I wish I could show you, but I’d much rather be here than there.” I shrugged and gave him my warmest smile. His eyes darkened and my body heated.

With a groan, he yanked his attention away and cleared his throat.

“You should eat and I should patrol,” he said, then he marched away before I could respond.

I sat in the shade on a chunk of stone at the edge of a crumbled building, pulled out my bag of dried fruit and meat, and stared at the strip of green in the rip.

Whil walked around the rip a couple more times then, with Deacon at her side, headed to the temple. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but I had to remember that her trip here wasn’t about finding me a way home. It was about determining if the magic that had brought me here had awakened the malicious god and taken him to my realm.

From the dark, ominous power pressing against my senses, I suspected the god was still here, and from the fact that we hadn’t been attacked or heard of attacks in the last few days since I’d come here, he was still asleep. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t close to waking up.

Fear shivered down my spine. Merrick, my old pack’s alpha, hadn’t stood a chance against that monster, and while Cyrus, Bishop, and Knox were all more powerful than Merrick, I had no idea if they’d be able to kill it.

Could someone even kill a god? Not to mention even if they did win, no one would get out of that kind of fight without injury, most likely life-changing injury.