“Was our mate injured?” Dario inquired, bringing Wylder and Mitch closer.
“None of the three were injured,” the troll replied.
“Three? Who’s with him?” Wylder blurted out.
“The shifter chosen, gargoyle, and dryad.” The troll held out his hand. “Coins please.”
Alek tossed the coins over to the troll.
“What dryad?” Wylder demanded.
“It couldn’t be Josh,” Alek told him. “Josh was with us when Theo would have crossed.”
“But another dryad is good, right?” Wylder insisted. “The dryads work with your family.”
Alek shook his head. “Dryads, like any fae, can be good or evil. Even the same family can produce both sides of dark and light. If Theo met a dryad in the dark forest, it wouldn’t be someone to help him.”
Wylder gasped. “But—”
“We need to find him,” Dario demanded. “We knew they were following someone in the forest. It had to be the dryad. And Theo would probably trust them since he knows Josh.”
“Especially if this dryad used Josh’s name,” Mitch added.
Alek turned to the troll. “We will cross now.”
“Don’t dawdle,” the troll told him. “I have drinks to buy!” He held his fist up happily.
They didn’t waste any time. Alek led the way across the bridge with Wylder and Dario following and Mitch bringing up the rear. They walked swiftly knowing that more danger could be waiting for them out of sight. They weren’t safe no matter how quiet the realm appeared.
There was no secret that the chosen had arrived.
“Wait!” Mitch grabbed his shoulder before Alek exited the bridge. “The meadow is to the south.”
Alek nodded. “Okay.”
“I can taste magic. I think as soon as we step off the bridge, someone is going to play a trick on us. The magic is the strongest right by the bridge,” Mitch told him.
“They want to confuse us,” Alek offered.
“Yes. Go south no matter what you see. It’s not real,” Mitch said.
Alek nodded. The unseelie wanted to play? Well they were going to find out what made Alek special.
Borrowing from his mage and angel fathers, Alek placed his hand over his eyes and muttered a spell. He turned and did thesame for each of his mates. The power in the fae realm was different than back at home.
Stronger in some ways but wonky.
Alek wasn’t an expert in magic or anything but did know how to borrow from Seb and used what he had access to. His spell gave them the sight to see the true path was instant and bright. A yellow glow flowed from the bridge and farther.
“What am I seeing?” Wylder asked, rubbing his eyes.
“The path to our mate,” Alek responded. “We have the mate bond that cannot be altered or manipulated. We follow that and use my fathers’ magic and we should find Theo.”
Wylder rolled his shoulders. “Okay.”
“The meadow that we’re about to reach is poisonous. No matter how much you want to enter it, you must resist,” Alek told his human. “The flowers will kill you.”
“I’ve always been more of a plant guy anyway,” Wylder said with a shrug.
