“Portia!” I exclaim, my heart pounding as I spin around to face her. “I need another favor from you.”
Portia looks up from the kitchen sink. “What is it, honey?”
I quickly rush over to her and explain the arrival of the demon dog in Girdwood. I know what I must do to make up for what I did to hurt Brooks, and the only way I can do it is if I go after the demon now.
“I need you to go back and report this to Brooks. Tell him I’ve gone after the demon.”
“Rissa! It isn’t safe out there!” Portia calls out after me, but I’m already at the door, my heart drumming with adrenaline.
I have to prove myself to Brooks and hope that he forgives me.
“I have magic, I’ll be fine. Just get to Brooks and inform him of this. I know he’ll come for me. So will the others.”
With renewed faith in my mate and those I can trust, I rush out into the forest in the direction the demon had flown. I have to do this to make amends; it’s the only way I know how.
Chapter 24 - Brooks
Pacing the floor of my living room, my arms hang heavy at my sides with a different sense of grief that I’m meant to combat.
I thought that losing someone to death was an irreparable ache that needed time to be healed, but grieving the loss of someone who’s still alive feels like death itself.
I should have stopped her when she walked away, but I thought Rissa needed some time to cool off after jumping to conclusions and throwing accusations at me. But now she’s gone, and I don’t have it in my heart to go after her.
Gnawing on my bottom lip, I contemplate my hesitation. I know she’d be wiser than to run off into the woods and try to flee Girdwood again. She knows how dangerous it is out there.
Besides, Connor already informed me that she was last spotted heading toward her old cottage. Maybe that’s what she needs—to cool down in her own space where she doesn’t have to deal with me.
Making a fist, I’m about to throw a punch into the backrest of the couch when racing footsteps thunder outside before a series of urgent knocks rap on the door.
My heart skips a hopeful beat when I suspect it might be Rissa outside, so I rush to the front door and throw it open, disappointment weighing down on me when it’s not her.
“Portia…? What are you doing—”
“I’m sorry, Alpha Brooks,” the older lady wheezes as her breath comes out in unsteady pants as if she’s been running. “Rissa—
“What happened to Rissa?!” I roar when acrid bile rises to the top of my throat, my instincts screaming at me that something is wrong.
I can see it in Portia’s horror-stricken eyes.
“There’s a demon in the village down by the forest. Rissa saw it, and she went after it.”
As soon as Portia tells me this, I push past her onto the porch.
“She told me to come here and tell you that she’s going after it. She says she’ll use the trap to catch the demon,” Portia says behind me.
My pulse races with the thought of Rissa out there, chasing the demon all by herself. For the first time in my life, I’m afraid. I’m truly afraid. It’s the kind of fear that sends a werewolf into a spiral that can claim his life. I’ve seen it happen countless times—my own mother died because she couldn’t handle losing my father to natural causes.
Hanging on by a thread, I turn toward Portia, her voice so distant that I can’t make out what she’s saying. It takes every ounce of self-control I can muster to keep my head above water so I don’t drown in the emotional turmoil threatening to pull me under.
Now is not the time to let my emotional state consume me. I have to go out there and fight. I glance over my shoulder just as a screeching cry bleats through the air, signaling the approach of another demon as black waves of mist saunter toward the forest over my roof.
“Go inside,” I tell Portia, pushing her shoulder with enough force to let her know that I’m serious. I’ve just regained the courage of my innate alpha wolf’s sovereignty, and I need toride this wave until I get to my mate. “Stay inside and don’t come out. It’s not safe back there.”
Portia nods and locks the door behind her, and I set out toward the forest, shifting into wolf form on my way there and sending out an emergency signal with a howl toward the darkened sky.
As I race toward the woods on my toughened wolf paws, I send out a mind link to the other alphas as a call for help.
“Demons in the woods! Come now!”I call through the mind link, racing into the woods toward the signal of the colorful jets of light that filter through the trees. A trap has been activated, and the screeching, deafening wail of a demon means that it’s been caught.
