Page 43 of Forgotten Arcane (Broken Ashes #6)

River nods, “Yeah, I know.”

I move closer and he wraps his arm around me, pulling me tight to his side, and once again making the guys smile.

“You’re fucking good at this,” Raiden adds, studying River’s expression. “You know what you did by killing the alpha?”

River nods, “I became their alpha. I couldn’t leave him alive, I could sense how dark he really was.

As soon as my hand was around his neck, I knew exactly what kind of wolf and leader he was.

All of these wolves need therapy. They need kindness and help.

That dick barely deserved to call himself a wolf, let alone an alpha. ”

“You could literally sense it?” Reed asks with a frown.

“That’s not all,” I say.

“What happened?” Doc asks, looking confused.

Raiden’s face drops into a frown, “I thought I felt a blip of death magic, but it literally lasted for maybe half a second, and then it was gone. I figured it was one of our new magics taking an interest because someone died.”

“Well, you’re not wrong, actually,” River replies, and then launches into a quick explanation of what happened.

“Wow,” Griff says.

“Yeah,” River replies.

“And you took Neith with you?” Van asks.

I interrupt, “I don’t know whether he took me with him, or whether my magic just decided it looked like fun and tagged along.”

The guys all crack smiles at my joke.

“Okay, well, we can look into it later. We need to find these wolves,” Raiden says.

“Agreed,” River says. “Let’s do this.”

Ransom nods and drops the barrier so that we can get this done.

Logan jogs over to River, “Everyone has jobs assigned. We have got enough medical packs so that we can each carry one on our backs and chests, and we have people loading up the jeeps to follow as soon as possible.”

“Great job,” River compliments immediately. “Well done, man. You’re good at this.”

Logan practically glows with pride at the response. “Thank you.”

“Where is the wolf who knew where the coordinates were?” River asks.

“That would be Dare,” Logan says with familiarity.

One of the wolves’ steps forward, looking nervous but not nearly as nervous as they all looked when we first arrived.

“Yeah, that was me. I know the coordinates, maps are kind of my thing, but there isn’t really anything there. There aren’t any buildings, or caves, or anything like that. So it doesn’t really make sense why he’s put them there,” Dare explains.

“Thanks,” River says. “That’s okay, we can figure out where exactly they are when we get there.”

“These are the wolves that have decided to come with us,” Logan tells River as he gestures to a group of six wolves standing behind him.

“Are you all sure? It is completely okay if you want to stay back here and help out instead,” River says.

All of the wolves’ nod, except one who seems to hesitate. He looks both very young and far too old at the same time. His eyes are giving away the amount of shit he’s already been through in his life.

I lock eyes with him and smile kindly, “It really is okay if you want to stay behind. Plenty of other wolves have, and as River has said, we’ve got this covered.”

He swallows thickly, my kind words seeming to take the breath out of him, and he looks at one of the other wolves, who also smiles and nods.

Looking back at me, he says, “Thank you, Luna Regia. Thank you, Alpha.”

“Please call us River and Neith,” River immediately replies, and the kid’s eyes widen before he turns around and jogs back to the group.

The other wolves chuckle as the one who nodded to him says, “I think that just broke the kid’s brain. He has only ever known Derek as an alpha. Kindness and informalities are an entirely new concept to him.”

“I can only imagine, I should have made his death last longer,” River replies with a heavy frown.

The wolves answering smiles are vicious, and I can’t help but smile too. I’ve always loved the brutality of shifters.

“Let’s go,” River says, getting us back on track, and he shifts into his Kitsune.

We really don’t have any time to waste.

He glances back at me, and I nod, right beside him. That’s where I said I would stay, and that’s damn well where I’m going to be. I nod and hope that he understands my silent response.

As a wolf, Dare quickly moves up to River and looks at him questioningly. River nods once, and then Dare takes off. He’s fucking quick, even for a wolf, but River keeps up easily, and to my surprise, so do I.

We run for miles, and I’m not even exaggerating. But even though we’re covering such a lot of ground, we’re doing it really quickly.

Finally, Dare stops and shifts back, prompting the others to do the same, and all of us stop to look at River, waiting to see what he’s going to say.

“The exact coordinates are just through that way. There’s a big cliff face, with a clearing in front, and trees on all sides. The cliffside is sheer, and there are no caves,” Dare says, immediately filling River in on the information that he needs to know.

“Great. Thanks, man,” River replies. “Alright, my team and I will head through first. Kill any wolf that attacks you. We don’t need any alive, and any wolf that would be loyal to that monster deserves to die too.”

“Agreed,” one of the wolves replies.

There’s no more time for talk, as I call for Asael, asking him to split into his two-sword form, which is my favorite way to fight with him.

The guys are all in their supernatural glory, except for Raiden, who hasn’t got his wings out.

We share a smile as we move forward. I’m not going to get mine out either.

The Voices warned against it, and unless I have no choice, I will be listening to them.

I’ve kept myself alive without the use of wings for this long.

Okay, that was an outright lie. I’ve died multiple times, but only on a couple of occasions would wings have helped me.

As soon as we break the tree cover, we find the wolves waiting for us.

There are no signs of the wolves that we’ve come to save, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t here.

In fact, I think we can be pretty much one hundred percent certain that we are in the right place because why would the wolves be here otherwise?