Page 42 of Forgotten Arcane (Broken Ashes #6)

Neith

“C an you ask him where the beta is?” Logan says, sounding nervous.

The other wolves shift nervously, clearly expecting something to happen.

River glances over at Logan and smiles. The smile is such a contrast to what he’s currently doing to the alpha, that it possibly makes this whole situation even more threatening.

“Good shout,” River replies, turning back to Derek.

The other wolves all freeze in what I can only be described as shock, and I know that it’s because Logan was listened to and not attacked for speaking to the shifter in charge.

“Where is the beta?” River asks Derek, using his alpha voice again, any sign of a smile or kindness gone from his expression.

“With the women and pups, if he’s still alive,” Derek growls. “Now let me go. You said that you wouldn’t kill me.”

River’s smile turns feral as his eyes switch to his kitsune's, and in one smooth move, he closes his fist and rips out Derek’s throat.

The Voices rise up into a frenzy, and my vision doubles. I try not to freak out. It has to be another vision, like the one that I got when River was in trouble.

The world seems to pause.

Everything around River and I stops moving, and I watch as River shifts, his Kitsune looks more like Senka than it does his normal solid form, and all nine of his tails are on show, one of them is completely black, and I can’t remember him having a black tail the last time that I saw all nine of them.

I start to panic that all of these wolves are going to see that he has nine tails, but then I look around and realize that we’re in some kind of alternative reality, or in-between world.

I can see both River and I standing behind me, as if we are frozen in time. The world around me is hazy with a blue hue tainting everything, and there are things here that aren’t there back in true reality, where our bodies are. I instinctively know that these things are no less real than we are.

Turning back around, I see that Derek is in this in-between reality as well, in his wolf form, his body looking like smoke.

He’s a spirit, but his spirit doesn’t look how it should, it’s marked with what look like dark and rotting spots, and when he turns to snarl at River and me, half of his face looks like it's rotting off.

It’s disgusting and incredibly disturbing.

River seems to be running on some sort of instinct because he launches himself towards Derek’s spirit and catches him around the back of his neck, and as he bites down, a blinding white light consumes Derek’s spirit, and it completely disappears.

River steps back, shifting back into his human form.

He immediately moves over to me, “Are you okay?”

His voice has an echoey quality to it that must be caused by whatever in-between that we’ve found ourselves in.

I nod, “I’m okay. What just happened?”

“I’m not entirely sure, I’m just following my instincts.

I think this is my death magic. When I had my hand on his neck, I could feel how truly evil he was.

I couldn’t allow him to live, but I also didn’t want to taint the Spirit Realm with him.

When I killed him, I felt new magic that was definitely mine, but nothing that I had ever felt before, and it brought me and apparently you, here.

After that, everything was pure instinct.

I knew that if I bit him, then his soul would be unmade and his energy would return back to the universe, he wouldn’t be able to taint anything else with his evil,” River explains.

I stare at him in awed shock, before I pull him down and kiss him.

“You are fucking amazing, River, I hope you know that,” I tell him, muttering against his lips, before I kiss him again. When I pull back, I add, “How do we get back?”

River’s eyes widen slightly as he looks around, “I’m hoping that my instincts will kick in again. Take my hand and don’t let go.”

I nod.

He concentrates, and I feel his magic build around us and then, just like that, we’re back in our bodies exactly where we were when we left.

I share a quick glance with River. We need to act as normally as possible and not let on to anyone that something just happened.

“Whoops, I lied,” River mutters, as he looks at the dead body of the alpha at his feet.

It takes me a moment, but I realize that he’s referring to him telling Derek that he wouldn’t kill him. He did far more than just kill him. He unmade him.

He glances at me, a worried expression in his eyes, and I’m assuming that it’s got something to do with the brutal way that he killed Derek, and then followed that up by un-making him.

His worry melts away as he sees me grinning at him.

Violence doesn’t scare me. You would think that it would after everything that I’ve been through, but it’s the opposite.

Violence is my happy place, and River definitely hasn’t scared me.

He could never scare me. Not even the way that he can now apparently unmake souls can scare me. He’s my River.

I want to tell him I’m proud of him for the way that he has handled everything, but that can wait until later. I should have said something while we were in the blue in-between.

Right now, we need to rescue some wolves. It’s getting late, and we’re running low on time to get to them before the ones guarding them will expect Derek to check in with them, or they will kill them all.

We both turn around to face the other wolves.

All of them are still on the ground, although this time it’s voluntarily, and the guys are all standing again and smiling proudly at River. It takes me a moment to realize why the wolves are voluntarily on the floor with their necks exposed, and when I do realize, my eyes widen.

Oh, this could be a problem, a big one.

River killed their alpha, and if another shifter kills the alpha, then that shifter becomes the alpha.

Shit.

He knew what would happen if he killed the alpha. He knew that he would then be responsible for these wolves, which was something that he didn’t want, and something that would make working for SID and a whole host of other things so much more difficult, if not impossible.

Being an alpha is a full-time job. You can’t have a normal job and be an alpha at the same time. It’s not possible.

“We’ll deal with it after we’ve saved them,” River says quietly to me.

I nod, “I’m right beside you.”

His eyes flick to his kitsune's, and he swallows before he nods.

Turning back to face the wolves, he frowns, “Please, get up.”

It’s a request, it’s not an order, and there is absolutely no alpha power in it at all. It takes them a moment to decide that he’s being serious and he’s not trying to trick them, and Logan is actually the first one to stand up.

Once everyone is standing, I ask, “Does anyone know where those coordinates that dickhead gave us are?”

There are relieved snickers at my term from all of the wolves standing, the bound ones that are still sitting on the floor and looking absolutely terrified stay silent.

One of the wolves’ steps forward, looking nervous, “I do, Luna Regia. It’s quite a way from here. We’re going to have to move quickly if we want to get to them before the deadline that Derek mentioned.”

I tense at the use of the Alpha’s true mate title. It doesn’t mean anything. They are just assuming that I’m his mate because of where I’m standing.

My heart skips a beat though, and I try not to smile as the thought of being River’s true mate floods me.

I wish.

I can’t help but glance at River out of the corner of my eye, and I see a small smile playing around his lips as well.

Becoming serious he says, as he gestures to the guys and me, “We are all capable of going to get the rest of your pack. However, I know that some of you may want to come as well. I am asking,” he emphasizes the word asking, “if any of you would like to join us? Knowing that it could get dangerous and you could get hurt. If you would still like to, then you are more than welcome to come with us. So long as you listen to my team as well as me,” River says, loud enough to make sure that everyone can hear him.

“You’re giving us the choice?” someone asks incredulously.

River nods, “Of course I am.”

Logan smiles, “We’ve been under the tyranny of Derek for so long that some of us have forgotten what it’s like to have a real alpha.”

River nods, and doesn’t correct him, now is not the time.

“I understand that.” He replies. He continues, “I need people to stay here and guard the wolves loyal to Derek. I also don’t want his body moved.

We need to dispose of that properly. I need people to be on standby, and gathering more medical supplies, and then load up the jeeps that we saw on the way in and follow after us.

By the time that you get to us, we should be done dealing with the threat.

We will take what medical supplies that we can carry now, but we need to move quickly, so that means going on foot. ”

Logan is once again the one who answers for all of them, “We can do that.”

“Great. Logan, since you know the others better than I do, why don’t you organize them and split them into groups of who will do what we need them to do? I want to leave in five minutes,” River suggests.

Logan’s eyes light up, and he smiles, “Yes, Alpha.”

He immediately calls out some names and sends them to the pack's medical buildings to grab some medical packs for us to take. While he’s organizing everyone, the guys move closer.

“Ransom, can you put up the ward quickly?” River asks.

Ransom looks surprised at the question, but immediately nods, “Yeah, of course I can.”

His magic snaps out with ease, and we are soon surrounded by the familiar golden glow of Ransom’s ward. Some of the wolves look at us quizzically, but Logan quickly has them getting on with their tasks again, and I smile. He’s a good wolf.

“Good job, man,” Coen says to River with a smile. “I wasn’t expecting to be dropped to the floor like that. You know you shouldn’t be able to do that to me because Draith is technically an alpha, right?”