Page 24 of Owned by Four Alphas (Silverthorn Alphas #2)

Malek’s hunt was swift and bloody, several deer falling to his swiping claws. He didn’t waste time, as soon as he had eaten his fill, he raced back towards the village from the rolling fields.

As he padded through the buildings, ears flicking for any strange sounds, he stopped short. There were no sounds. None at all.

With a rumbling growl, he leapt forward, striking down the door of the building where he had left Selena and the male.

It was empty.

He tore through the building, hunting for any sign of her, dread sinking deep into his bones. With every empty room, every silent doorway, his panic increased. As did his madness.

He had half-razed the village to the ground by the time he finally got a grip of himself, chest heaving and heart pounding.

She was gone.

He shouldn’t have left her. He shouldn’t have left her. He should have stayed, should have insisted, should have ensured her safety.

Snarling, he whipped around, anger and pain and panic tumbling through his head.

There was no sign of her at all, no scent trail, no lingering magic. The male had done his job well. But why? Why risk taking her? He was an omega; as a weak male Fae, he stood to gain nothing from taking another omega. If it was power he was after, influence perhaps, he already had it. Selena had called him his friend.

There was something else going on. Malek knew that in his bones. But he didn’t know what. And he needed help.

It was time to reunite with his brothers.

Looking up at the dark sky, he knew it wouldn’t be long before another patrol would sweep over. He hadn’t recognized Kaelen among any of them so far, but it was better than nothing. He sat, his eyes trained on the stars, ears flickering and nose twitching for any sign of movement.

Come on, Kaelen, come on.

After perhaps twenty minutes, he heard the first sign. Far away, still invisible, but there nonetheless. The beating of leathery wings to the south.

He looked around. If they came across him, would they know who he was? Would they know him to be Malek, or would they assume he was just another Nightwalker prowling through an empty village, hunting for prey? He had to be sure.

Letting his human disguise creep over his muscles, fur giving way to pale skin, he swept up some discarded straw and set it against the fallen thatched roof of one of the abandoned buildings.

He looked up. They were getting closer now, their forms visible against the clear sky. Four of them. Not Kaelen.

He grit his teeth. No matter.

A strike of his claws against stone sent a few sparks skittering across the floor, but the straw didn’t light. He growled, and struck harder, glancing back at the dragons. Still, the fire didn’t catch.

On the third try, a large spark landed in the midst of the straw, and it crackled to life, a sudden blast of heat from the embers waving over him. He grinned, blowing on it, fanning it with waves of shadow.

An ember turned into a small flame, which soon caught the summer-dried thatch of the roof and exploded upwards, a great column of fire into the sky. With another wave, he sent the flames blowing around, catching more buildings, until three were alight. Then five. Then ten. More and more caught, the fire spreading, roaring, and crackling and mighty.

He looked up. The dragons had noticed, their wings turning as they changed course towards him, fire brimming in their throats, ready to face any enemy.

He breathed in, unbothered by the smoke, forcing his human skin to stay in place.

One by one, the dragons thundered to the ground, hissing and spitting fire, their wings arched out behind them. Malek emerged from the smoke and shadow, the blazing heat at his back.

“You’re Kaelen’s men, correct?” he yelled, his voice thunderous.

“We are,” the largest one spat, “and you are?”

“I am Malek, King of the Nightwalkers, mate to the queen. Pack brother to your king.”

The dragons exchanged glances, their hostile stances easing slightly, although their eyes still flashed with suspicion.

“And why have you signaled to us, King?” the largest one said again.

“Selena,” he replied, his voice cracking slightly, “I need my pack. The queen was here mere hours ago. I’ve been travelling with her. But she was betrayed by a friend. And now she is truly missing.”

The dragons reared back in shock, their eyes wide. The largest turned, wasting no time in giving orders.

“You, fly east; our king’s patrol should be over the Blacklan River. You, north. Ronan is negotiating with the wolf clans. You, come with me back to the palace, Lord Elian is there. Instruct them to come here immediately.”

“But…” One of them glanced at Malek. “But what if this is a trap?”

Malek roared, splitting out of his human skin and lunging forward teeth gleaming. “You tell my pack brothers,” he hissed, “they will come.”

The dragon backed away, taking to the skies. The largest narrowed his eyes, “The king will not be pleased with you.”

“I care not for Kaelen’s petty anger,” Malek snarled. “I serve the queen. He knows that.”

The dragon bowed his head. “As you wish, King Malek.”

The remaining three dragons took flight, their muscled forms like darts against the night sky.

Malek could do nothing but pace and wait, the fire still burning bright behind him. He couldn’t be bothered to smother it. At any rate, it would light the way. At their fastest, his pack brothers could cover the length of the realm in two or three days. He could only pray they weren’t too far away.

Elian was the first to reach him, a sleek golden bird shooting out of the morning rays down towards him, swerving to avoid the acrid black plumes of smoke.

“We’ve been wondering where you were,” Elian said, shifting into his Fae form, his normally luxurious clothes replaced by spartan leathers and numerous blades. “What happened, where is she?”

“One of yours,” Malek growled, rising to greet him, “a Fae omega. The one who worked in the library with Selena.”

“Castien?” Elian sounded genuinely surprised. “Why on earth would Castien take her?”

Malek didn’t reply as Elian’s gaze misted over, his lips moving slightly as he searched his mind for any clue, any indication of Castien’s motivations.

“He must be a member of the Order of Theldir,” he said eventually, “sent to ensure Selena found her way to him.”

“Theldir?” Malek said, his voice a low growl.

Elian narrowed his eyes, “You missed a few things gallivanting around with our mate. Selena hasn’t been having dreams or visions of her father. Theldir is a Dreamwalker. He’s been posing as her father in her dreams to lure her towards him. Our best guess is that he wants her, or the child, or both in order to break free.”

Malek snarled, “What?”

“I’ll explain more when the others get here,” said Elian. “I’ve discovered a thing or two that may help us find him. Now be quiet. I’m going to try and trace her magic.”

That was the end of the conversation. Elian sat cross-legged on the ground, his eyes screwed shut in concentration, his shadows murmuring around him. Malek ignored the prickling feeling of his magic, the whispering of his flesh.

Kaelen was next, shooting through the clouds and landing in the ruins of the village, unbothered by the fire and smoke. Ronan was not long behind him, descending from the mountains and loping through the fields towards them.

“Malek,” Ronan roared, skidding to a halt. “What the fuck, why didn’t you alert us the second you found her? How long have you been with her?”

Malek narrowed his eyes, his hackles rising. “I’ve been with her since the night she left. I found her in her village, weeping over the destruction. Weeping over the state of her pack.”

“You’ve known where she is since the first night ?”

“I owe you nothing,” Malek snarled, snapping his jaws at Ronan. “I follow her. I obey her. She wanted to leave. So I went with her.”

“You fucking idiot, it’s your fault she’s been taken! You left her alone!”

“Maybe if you hadn’t been so focused on challenging Kaelen and Elian, you would have seen the warning signs that she wanted to leave in the first place. I was respecting her wishes.”

“And Elian shot her with magic, and I was too controlling, and, and, and— ” Kaelen roared, pushing Ronan and Malek apart. “We’re all to blame. Some more than others. I know if I had listened to her the first time she accused me of controlling her, none of this would have happened. We failed her. We can’t undo that, all we can do is make sure we don’t fail her again.”

Ronan still snarled, but he backed off slightly, yellow eyes flashing.

“Malek, I will have time to be furious later, but for now, we need to pick up her trail. Tell us exactly what happened,” Kaelen said.

Malek walked them through the whole day, from seeing the village, to meeting Castien, to leaving to hunt.

Kaelen’s brow rose, “She really told you to summon me if something went wrong?”

“She’s been debating messaging you for days. She was going to when we found her father.”

Kaelen swallowed, lifting his eyes up to the sky, blinking a few times, a thousand expressions flitting across his face.

Eventually, he took a deep breath. “Alright. Elian, have you been able to find any trace of her magic?”

“Unfortunately not, but there is another way.”

“Well?”

“I think I can locate an entrance to a series of underground tunnels that lead through the mountains. It’s a maze, and I don’t know the way through, but perhaps once inside the Order didn’t believe it was worth wasting masking her magical energy anymore. It would take a tremendous amount of power to hide a signature as powerful as hers for so long. We might be able to pick up her scent.”

“Then that’s where we’ll go,” said Kaelen.

Malek shook his head, muscles flexing, ready to set off, when Kaelen held up a hand.

“Wait. Before we go in there, before we face…whatever it is we have to face, I need to say something.”

They turned to him, anxious to set off, but nevertheless surprised by the thickness in his voice.

“We nearly tore each other apart,” Kaelen said, his fists clenching. “That was a mistake. We are stronger together. And if we get through this… when we get through this…I won’t forget.”

“Neither will I,” said Ronan, bowing his head slightly. “Whatever we need to do, we’ll do it. It’s not too late to fix things.”

“Agreed,” said Elian, free from his usual sardonic tone.

“Agreed, said Malek.

Together, they set off towards the mountains, the glimmering threads of the pack bonds between them sparking to life once more.