“No,” he says flatly, continuing the journey ahead.
“This is ridiculous!”
“Not as ridiculous as you're trying to wiggle and squirm your way out of this,” he scoffs. “If you were trying to run away after last night, it’s not happening.”
“I wasn’t trying to run away!” I defend with a glare he can’t see.
“You can’t fool me, Aurora,” he retorts. “I know exactly what you were doing, wearing my sweatshirt and heading for the main door. But I’ll have you know that I’m not letting you out of my sight. Not until we get to Girdwood.”
So, he’s not letting his sacrifice get away? That’s what all of this is about, but I’m not ready to give up. Not after tasting the power I wielded in my palms last night. I know I’ll be able to find my way out there, if only he could set me down…
Grimacing and internally sulking, I try to calculate another method. If fighting with him isn’t working, perhaps if I beg, he’ll feel pity toward me.
“Please, Alpha Elias,” I begin sweetly. “Just put me down. I promise I won’t try to run away.”
He chuckles sardonically, then scoffs. “Even if you tried to run, I’d catch you in the blink of an eye, Aurora. Do you really wanna go there?”
“I don’t wanna go back to Girdwood…” I mumble under my breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” I reply quickly.
This back and forth is pointless, and by the time we cross the bridge leading over the river and onto the dirt road covered in a snow blanket on the outskirts of Girdwood, it’s too late for me. All I can do is purse my lips as I count the footprints Elias leaves behind in the snow like sheep, which does little to lull my trepidations. Not only am I on my way to my execution, but the silence between us is a deafening cry of what happened between us last night.
It doesn’t help that his arm is wound tightly around my waist to keep me pressed to his bare, muscular shoulder. It’s a wonder how he was able to carry me all this way, but there’s no time to mull over the fleetingly wonderful things the man is capable of when we arrive in Girdwood, entering the picket fence gates outside his grandfather’s stable.
Much like Hope, Girdwood appears like any ordinary residential town, except that it’s strictly populated by the werewolves of the Snehvolk Pack. Deemed the “snow wolves,” the only possibility of our true nature being found out by the humans is our ability to navigate the Alaskan cold conditions without the need for layers to keep us warm.
Our innate wolf’s extraordinary heat is enough to fend off the cold, but with my quiescent wolf often in hiding, I’m left to face the colder weather.
Like now, as Elias crosses the town square just as the sun rises, an icy chill travels up the length of my spine, causing me to shudder under the alpha’s arm. I don’t think he notices, but even if he did, he doesn’t show it.
Besides, he’s walking through the Alaskan snowfall shirtless, as if he can’t feel the biting wind that passes as if to welcome our arrival. The hostile air serves to foreshadow what is to come, and it lies inside the pack den where the elders and the other alphas are gathered underneath the logs that hold up the cabin’s ceiling. They’re seated around the fireplace in the center—a hole in the ground constructed to hold the fire for ancient rituals performed between them—but the only fire that exists burns in their scrutinizing eyes.
Elias must have called them here this morning through a mind link on our way back, citing his success in retrieving me from the forest and bringing me back to be sacrificed to the demon.
So, this is it, then.
I have to mentally brace myself for the impact and for failing to escape my demise. If I didn’t have faith in the Moon Goddess before, I beg her for forgiveness now, praying that she can get me out of this.
Only when Elias kicks his heel into the door to shut it does he finally set me on my feet. My knees are wobbly from being carried for some time, but Elias grabs my shoulder to steady me.
“Are you alright?” Elias whispers, and I’m taken aback.
What does it matter, anyway?
Soon, the elders and alphas will throw me to the demon dog, and I’ll be ripped to shreds just like the others were found.
Frowning, I manage a terse nod, noting that Elias slips his hand down to mine, curling his fingers around my wrist. When he turns to the gathering of Alphas and Elders, his grandfather clears his throat.
“Well done, Elias. You have returned the omega to the pack,” he praises, a quizzical glint in his eyes when he, too, notices Elias holding my hand.
“Now that the omega is back, we can proceed with the offering,” Elder Caius says as he proceeds to stand up. “We will prepare for the sacrifice tonight.”
My heart skips a beat before plummeting to the soles of my feet and shattering. What was I expecting, anyway?
Perhaps he senses my rising tension and the hopelessness I feel, because Elias glances at me briefly before becoming noticeably taller when he straightens up and puffs out his chest. His mere aura grows stronger, imposing, and frightfully determined when he clears his throat. It’s impossible to ignore his sovereignty when he employs it so effortlessly, and my eyes remain glued to him in awe as he speaks.
