We took a turn off the main highway, following the signs, and headed into a heavily wooded area. The sun had set in the distance and by the time we finally reached Eagle Point, full darkness was upon us.
When Kyle pulled off the road to park beneath a tree and turned off the engine, silence descended.
I closed my eyes to steady myself. My heart was beating much harder than it should, but I was excited. Our pack was on the verge of extinction, and a single witch could be the key to unlocking it all.
“What if she wants the Alpha?” Kyle said out of nowhere.
I turned to him and frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The witch. It sounds like she cursed our pack because she loved the Alpha, and he married someone else. But he’s a widower now. So, what if the witch wants him back? What do we say?”
I shrugged. Until we spoke to the Alpha, we had no idea how he felt about her, or this whole situation. It seemed cowardly for him to have run away from a huge problem that he’d caused. To say I was currently disappointed with the man who’d been born to lead our pack was an understatement.
“We should tell her the truth—that he’s a wolf twenty-something days a month and we barely know where he roams. If she can find him, then we’ll see what we can do.”
I would try to fix things between them, but considering the curse she put on us showed her hatred of him more than anything, I couldn’t see her wanting him back.
“Let’s go.” I jumped out of the truck, my heart thumping against my ribs.
Was I leading Kyle into danger?
I had no intention of changing my mind, but my Beta didn’t have to follow me blindly into this quest. I couldn’t guarantee safety for either of us. I didn’t know what we were going to face; I only knew that I had to do something about the curse.
I paused, looking at him.
“We’re doing this, Xander,” he said, as if he could read my mind. “Both of us.”
I nodded.
“Thanks, man,” I said quietly.
We stripped off, locked our clothes in the car, and hid the keys nearby.
The wind bit into my skin. The temperature was colder here than it was at home, though the forest terrain looked similar.
“Hey,” Kyle said. “I know you asked me about fated mates, but you never said if you’d be happy with any old mate, or if you’re waiting for a fated mate.”
I stared up at the moon. There was only one sort of woman I wanted.
“Fated,” I said firmly. “Nothing less will do.”
A lot of guys would take anyone. To each their own when it came to the person they would spend the rest of their life sleeping next to.
But not me. It was all or nothing.
I looked to my Beta, whose frown was at odds with the excitement I was feeling. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head, staring out into the darkness. “Nothing. Let’s go.”
We’d parked close to the edge of Eagle Point, where there was a cliff, and a severe drop just ahead. Somehow, we had to find our way down there to the base of the cliff, before we could search in earnest for the coven.
I inhaled deeply as my wolf rose up and began to take over. The sweetness on the air was intoxicating, my shifter howling inside my mind.
“Can you smell that?” I managed to ask before my speech was lost.
I transformed into my large, black wolf as Kyle said, “Yeah. Wow, what is that?”
Then my Beta shifted into his silver wolf, slightly smaller than me, but strong and fast nonetheless.