Page 67 of Dark Auctioned Mate

The following day, Alanis was getting ready to be an infiltrator.

She wore old clothing, which was an indication of a person who had led a rough life. She messed up her hair, smeared her face and arms with dirt.

Rael stared at her, looking grim. “Last chance to change your mind.”

“No.” She checked herself in the car’s mirror one more time. “How do I look?”

“Like you have gone through hell. Which I guess is the point.”

“Exactly.” She locked eyes with him. “I will be fine, Rael.”

“Don’t make promises you might not be able to keep.”

“Then I will give another promise.” She took his hand. “I will do all I can to get back to you. To live through this.”

Rael pulled her tightly into his arms. “Remember, three days. Not a day longer.”

“I know.”

Then she pulled away, squared her shoulders, and went into the woods.

The hike through the western edge took an hour or so. Alanis took the time to get into character, to recall how desperate and scared she was when she ran away at sixteen. She needed to embody who she was back then again. But only long enough to obtain what they needed.

The compound came into view through the trees. Alanis inhaled deeply. She approached the guard posts, walking clumsily.

She had gone as far as twenty feet when someone shouted.

“Stop right there!”

Alanis paused and put her hands up in the air. “Please—I’m lost. I have been walking for days. I-I need help.”

Two sentinels came out of the woods, both with weapons. One of them was an older one, whom she vaguely remembered. He stared at her face for a while, then his eyes widened.

“Holy shit. It’s her. It’s the Hester girl.”

The other guard, who looked younger, seemed to be perplexed. “Who?”

“The one who ran and put us all in deep shit all those years ago.” The older one aimed his gun at her. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I didn’t know where to go,” Alanis said, making her voice tremble and sound scared. “I have been trying to live out there, but I can no longer do it. I am fed up with running, fed up with being on my own. I just—I just want to come home.”

“Home?” He scoffed. “You think you can run away from this pack and just come back at your convenience?”

“I know there will be repercussions. But I would rather deal with that than be alone and struggling. Please, just take me to Alpha Gavin. Have him decide what to do with me.”

The guards looked at each other. Then the older one pulled out a radio.

“We have a situation at the western end of the line. You might want to see this.”

Gavin Caldwell came out ten minutes later, with Dominique and three other members of the pack, whom Alanis recognized.

Gavin looked older, with gray streaking through his hair, but his brown eyes were as cold as she recalled.

“Alanis Hester,” he sneered. “I never thought I would see you again. I thought you were dead out there in the human world.”

“I did almost die,” Alanis replied, sounding weak. “Several times. Turns out it is almost as bad as being shiftless in a pack.”

“So you came back on your hands and knees.” Dominique moved forward, her smile sharp. “You realized you wanted to be here after eight years of running?”