Elijah
Elijah closed his fist around Lily’s garnet ring. It gave him strength; his own had depleted, seeping away with every passing hour that she was gone. He had not eaten or slept since Ieun had entered the room, his fate, his downfall, held like a bomb in the palm of his hand.
With one day until the full moon, Elijah had a plan.
“There have been no further reports of Red Ripper near our borders or territory,” said Caslein, sliding one of his rings up and down his finger. “As impossible as it sounds, they seem to have just disappeared.”
“Taking Lily with them,” said Elijah, staring desolately out of the window.
“You need to snap out if it.” Ithia took his hand, closing her fingers around his white-knuckled fist. “Self-loathing and regret won’t bring her back.”
Closing his eyes, Elijah nodded. She was right. “I know. I know, I do. But I’ve let a day pass, and done nothing.”
“If I may, Alpha,” interjected Conall, “you were right to do nothing. Lily is more than capable of handling herself. We’ve all seen the way she works: she is careful, thoughtful. She may not be able to fight them off, but she will have used her wits to her advantage. I trust her.”
“As do I,” said Ithia.
Elijah nodded again. Even his broken heart could still swell at the vote of confidence his pack afforded his mate. “And I do, of course. But my worry is not unfounded.”
“Obviously.” Caslein shook his head. “So we go, and we find her. There has been no word on the Blood Moon pack’s movements as of yet either.”
"I agree.” Elijah looked over at Caslein. “I recommend that we leave the majority of our Warrior Wolves here to defend and protect our people and our land. But I can use the mate bond to find Lily, and I know I won’t be able to fight until I know she is safe. I am, at present, a liability.”
“No offense, Alpha, but I’m with you on that.” Somehow, despite any and all circumstances, Caslein was still able to produce a shit-eating grin. Ithia rolled her eyes, but the tension in the room shattered.
It was time to split the pack.
* * *
In the end, Elijah had decided that both Ithia and Caslein must remain. He had asked for just two volunteers to accompany him to follow Red Ripper’s trail, and he had to hope that they would be enough. To bring any more would only alert their presence to scouts and spies he was sure filled the woodland surrounding Sea Pine. It was dangerous enough for him alone to go, with Blood Moon so close to their territory.
Lily was worth the risk.
He wore her ring on his finger, and his other hand remained open and empty – ready to draw his sword at a second’s notice. He had equipped the two wolves with him, Conall and another, younger she-wolf, Devyn, with weapons of their choosing.
Consumed with guilt, barely able to think beyond the flare of panic that flooded his mind with red light, Elijah ducked into the pine forest.
He opened his heart to hers, letting her echoing heartbeat resonate loud against his skull. The thrum of it called to him, as it had when he had found her, alone in Oakhame once before. It was different, this time. Now he knew her, knew he loved her. There was a certainty that accompanied the bond, the sweet feeling of coming home at the end of a long day to familiar arms and gentle forehead kisses.
She had not run. Elijah was sure of it. She had left, but she had not intended to go so far. Shoving aside his fear at what he might find – at best, scorn in her eyes; at worst, her lifeless body – he focused on the pulse of her heart, and allowed it to guide him to her.
Elijah nodded to Conall and Devyn, guiding them to the left. They remained silent, using hand gestures and body language to communicate as the veil of night draped itself low across the sky. Soon, it would be too dark even for their wolf eyes to pick out such simple movements, but as there were so few of them Elijah hoped that even when murmuring directions they would traverse through the forest unnoticed.
And if Red Ripper were to discover them, then they would be one step closer to Lily – though hopefully not dead. Blood Moon were a different matter, but as none of his scouts or spies had seen them approach in the last twenty-four hours, Elijah was positive that they were still too far to be a threat. For now, at least.
Lily’s heart thumped in his chest. It raced, and panic set in anew. Where was she? What was happening to her? The only comfort afforded to him was the knowledge that she was alive, although that brought with it new fears.
What were they keeping her alive for? Had she joined their crusade? Would she turn against him? Or, worse – was he walking into a trap?
It didn’t matter to Elijah. She was all that mattered to him now.
They walked until the forest became too dense for them to move through, the spindly trees appearing stacked on top of one another. Night had fallen hours before, long shadows stretching across the forest floor until shadow and darkness had been indistinguishable from one another.
They came to an unsteady halt, turning in place, looking in all directions for a way forwards. Elijah could feel Lily, could feel her heartbeat, but the urge to move halted as firmly as the line of trees before them stood.
“Alpha,” whispered Devyn. Elijah couldn’t see her, couldn’t see her long, swinging braid or her dark eyes which, based on the tremble in her voice, he imagined would be wide with fear.
“Yes?” he whispered back.
“Look to your right.”
He turned.
An ethereal purple light hung across the forest. It had not existed seconds before, and yet now it glittered, as real as the dark figures of his Warrior Wolves beside him. At last he could see their faces, see the shock there that surely mirrored his own.
It folded and draped much like fabric, though it was light as lace, as air.
“It has to be a trap, Alpha,” said Conall. “Some of their strange magic.”
But Elijah’s heart pushed him to walk towards it. His fingertips brushed over the light: it was cool to the touch, and refreshing as fresh-squeezed lemonade on a dry, hot summer’s day.
“Elijah…” Conall warned.
Elijah ignored him. Drawing his sword, he stepped into the purple light.