My heart rate slowed a little. I’d been expecting so much worse. Like, I don’t know … for her to tell me she needed my skin or kidney or something for a spell.
“Okay, well, are we tethered now? I mean, you’re okay, right?” It dawned on me that she might be about to drop a bomb and tell me that she was about to die.
She nodded. “I’m good now that you’ve claimed me and we are tethered.”
Whew. “Cool.”
She chewed her lip. “But the rest of the pack will lose their magic if you don’t claim them as well. Their wolves will slowly die until they become weak humans. Our land has already started dying.”
I squirmed. This was nothing she hadn’t basically told me before, and I’d accepted when I said I would stay and help that I’d have to become alpha of these people. Claiming them all? It was a bit insane, but if it would save their magic…
“I’ll do it,” I said, waiting for the relief to show on her face.
The look never came. Instead her mouth twisted into a grimace.
“What’s wrong?”
She reached out and grasped my hands. “In order to become our alpha, you have to prove yourself to the land, the magic, the people, the Father.”
I could actually feel the frown pulling my face into a scowl. Is that why Rab called me a trial alpha? He didn’t think I could pass the test or whatever.
Oh fuck that. The best way to make sure I did something was to tell me I wasn’t capable.
“Bring it,” I told her. “I’ll prove myself.”
She squeezed my hands, giving me a small smile. “You are so brave, Alpha. I knew the second I met you that you and your lineage would be the one to lead us for generations. I believe in you.”
Nervousness crawled through me and I wondered if it was me or her. “So what do I need to do to prove this? A fight?”
I didn’t want to kill Rab. He was Arrow’s brother, and although he was a bit of a douchebag I knew he was just protecting his people.
She sighed. “You will have to journey through the Dark Woods alone, to the Cave of Magic.”
I gulped. Alone? Dark Woods? Cave of Magic? Okay, shit just got a little scarier than I was expecting. “What’s in the cave?”
Astra shrugged. “I don’t know. The only people to make it back alive are dead now.”
My eyes widened. “Red Moon?”
She nodded. “And Run, your father. Only alphas can enter the Dark Woods and go searching for the cave.”
“Biological father,” I corrected her, not wanting to discount the man who raised me, the man I considered to be my dad.
She bobbed her head up and down. “It’s supposed to be a three-day journey in and out … if you don’t get lost.” She paused and I raised an eyebrow.
“Get lost? Has anyone ever … gotten lost?” Her hands clamped down on mine as if willing me to stay on this couch with her. Then her eyes seared into my soul with an astonishing flaming gold as her wolf came to the surface.
“Run got lost … and came back three years later. Some say the Dark Woods will hide the cave from you, only revealing it when you are ready. You could be gone years.”
What. The. Fuck. Did she just say?
I yanked my hands out of hers and stood, backing up to the wall. “Whoa, you never said anything about being goneyears.”
She shook her head. “It’s just a possibility.”
Hah! I barked out a laugh. “I could justpossiblyget lost for three years? No way.” I pointed to the ring on my finger. “I am marrying the love of my life and if I am gone for three years his entire family will die,including him, because of a curseyourpeople put on him!” I yelled and she bowed her head in submission, which made me immediately feel guilty.
“Shit, I’m sorry.” I stepped closer to her, then rubbed my face, trying not to have a panic attack. Dark Woods for three years to save thousands of people? Pass. HARD PASS. “I just … I can’t, Astra. It’s asking too much. If you could guarantee me I would be in and out in three days, I would totally do it, but the thought of getting lost for years … I can’t.”
