“I don’t know, Daddy, but it’s all going to be okay. You have to put me down and trust me.”
He swallowed hard, kissed her on the forehead, and lowered her to her feet. She rose onto her tiptoes, grabbed him around the neck, kissed him on the lips, and smiled at him. “We will live a long, happy life together, Daddy. But first, I have to take care of this.”
He choked up as he let his mate of twenty-four hours turn and walk away from him. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t spot her. She was wearing the red outfit he’d put on her intentionally so he could see her at all times.
She joined the other women in the center of the circle at the same time as every other mate—Suzette, Olivia, Leah, Khloe, and Jezebel.
All of the women stood together, huddled really, touching each other. They gasped in unison but didn’t share what they seemed to collectively know. Whatever powers they each held seemed to sort of coalesce, as if by holding hands they could share information between each other.
Jayce knew all this without knowing a thing. He simply knew. His heart was racing. He sensed all the rest of the Alpha Protectors having the same panic attack.
There was a sense of impotency. For centuries, the Alpha Protectors had existed for the purpose of ensuring the safety of the rest of their extended pack in the valley. They had patrolled these mountains day and night to make sure no creature—shifteror otherwise—broke their ranks and upset the peaceful existence of the inhabitants of the valley.
Suddenly, the power was shifting. Nine women had all the knowledge, and they were going to put an end to this looming threat, whatever it was.
Jayce was humbled and proud. His mate was both his Little girl and a powerful wolf in her own right. All of these women were.
Chapter Fifteen
Sienna was not afraid. She couldn’t explain why, but for some reason, her shyness vanished as soon as Leah clasped her hand. There was a power sizzling through the nine of them. She wasn’t just holdingLeah’shand. She was holding all of their hands. They were linked in a chain, staring into the distance, watching things unfold.
Although Sienna didn’t understand her role or her power yet, it didn’t matter. She absorbed everyone’s power, and she knew the same was true for each of them. She could see what Amber saw, smell what Rylee smelled, hear what Molly heard.
Their attention homed in on a large cage that was holding a man. She understood from the women’s collective thoughts the man was Drow. He was a bear shifter who had recently killed another bear—Firat. He was being held until the council of bears could decide what to do.
But things were about to change. The cage suddenly opened. No one touched it. No one unlocked it. The door simply swung open. Drow turned around and stared at the opening for a few seconds before darting out of the cage and racing into the forest.
The two men guarding the cage didn’t seem to notice his escape as if they were temporarily blinded to that event. Theygave no indication they saw or heard the door open, nor did they pay any attention to the rogue bear as he shifted and took off.
A loud roar seemed to shake the mountain, causing the women to almost lose their footing, but they held on to each other.
Sienna wondered if the Alphas had also heard the roar, but she couldn’t break her concentration to turn and look at any of them, not even her own mate.
The roar did not come from the bear. She squeezed Leah’s hand as she acknowledged that fact. She was certain they all squeezed each other. The roar came from a lion. She’d only heard that sound one other time, in her latest vision.
But where was he? Why couldn’t they see him? They could see the bear now, running hard in his shifted form. He kept twisting around, looking for the source of the noise because he, too, could hear the lion. But he couldn’t see him. None of us could.
Was the lion even in the vicinity? How far did his voice travel?
Sienna scanned the area. She had taken on Amber’s ability to see long distances. No lion. Only the bear.
Another loud growl sounded and then another and then several more. When Sienna shifted her attention back to the open cage, she was aware of several bears bounding around the area. They were shifted. They were also angry.
On top of that, shocking Sienna further, they were communicating telepathically with one another. Wolves could not do that. But Olivia had the ability to understand them. She could also speak to them in her mind if she needed. Now all the women were listening to the bears.
“How did he escape?”
“What were the two of you doing instead of watching him?”
“Which direction did he go?”
“We need to go after him.”
“What the fuck was that sound? A lion?”
They all paused, their gazes darting around as they heard the roar of the lion in the distance.
Sienna switched her attention back to Drow. He was running as fast as he could. Bears could apparently move with great speed if they needed to. But how long could he keep it up?
