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A smirk curled at the corner of his lips, and he cocked an eyebrow. “You’re right. My apologies, my Queen.”
I felt Cassian tense beneath my arm that rested against him. I don’t know how I knew, but I could sense it. He wanted the intimacy that a pet name provided and was jealous of Griffin’s “term of endearment” for me.
After two of the most prolonged hours, we’d finally arrived, and Cassian couldn’t be happier.
The GPS led us to a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Cassian had to back up until we could get enough service to call Alpha Radolph.
“Keep going,” he said over the speakerphone. “It looks like you’re driving into the forest, but you’re on the right track. After a few miles, you’ll see the sign.”
After another 15 minutes of driving at a snail’s pace, we saw the sign: Ash Hounds. We continued along, and soon the road opened up to a clearing with a small village. Vehicles were parked in orderly rows on a gravel parking lot surrounding their town. The village itself had a few more significant buildings and a bunch of small houses and cottages, all in one large oval with an inner sidewalk. In the center of the oval were a small playground, training ground, flower garden, and crops.
It was as if we’d stepped into another world—an ancient one that had a touch of modern technology strewn about. Old meets modern.
We parked in the closest open space and walked toward the largest building, which we assumed to be a town hall of sorts. Waiting outside the building was a large, burly man, with wild red hair and a frizzy red beard to match.
Alpha Radolph was enormously tall with a big belly and broad shoulders. He reminded me of a giant teddy bear. Despite having an intimidating look, I wanted to give him a big hug.
He gestured us closer, and when we finally reached him, the familiar thick Scottish accent came from his mouth.
“Hello, little pups. I’m Alpha Radolph. Now, which one of you is Alpha Cassian?”
“I am Cassian Knox of the Knox Pack. This is Emily, my luna and mate.”
“Our mate,” Griffin corrected, stepping forward to offer his hand to shake. “Griffin Langston.”
Radolph shot him a glare. “The Langston Pack?”
“Not anymore. I left them.”
“Ah,” he said, stroking his beard. “A rogue. And you’re both mated to her?”
Cassian nodded. “In a sense. She’s our mate, but we are not mated.”
My cheeks flushed at the realization of what he’d said. I guess it was common for wolves to be so open about their mating. Why was it everyone’s business that we hadn’t mated yet?
“Emily is possibly rooted to your pack,” Cassian said. Alpha Radolph looked confused by the comment, so Cassian continued. “You see, we were told by a fortune teller to seek the Ash Hounds. At the time, I had no idea that it was your pack. But when you told me about your previous alpha, the story lined up so well with Emily’s own father. A man falls in love with a witch, Samara killed him… We thought it might be related.”
“Hm, the similarities are there….” Alpha Radolph muttered and stepped closer to me. He leaned in and sniffed me, cocking his head to the side as if trying to place my scent. After a moment, he shrugged. “Let’s head to our meeting room, shall we?”
Damn.I was hoping to learn more about my father and the possibility of this mystery man being him.
We stepped inside the community center. Or that’s what it looked to be, though he never outright said it. He led us down a hall and to a large open room with a round table in the center and chairs.
“Based on what both you and Emily told me, I’d say Samara’s getting out of hand again.” Alpha Radolph sat with his elbows on the table. We were all clustered to one side so we could speak without shouting. “I may have some information that can help. Our elder wolf, Silas, knows a member of the High Council who once told him of a special warlock. This warlock was said to be powerful, unmatched by most covens out there. He had plans to end Samara, and everyone believed he would be able to stop her.”
“So what happened?” Cassian asked.
Alpha Radolph shrugged. “No one knows. He went up against her and never returned. His family used tracking spells to find his body, hoping he would be alive, but they only found dead ends. Nothing to link them to his body. So, they tried connecting with his soul by contacting him through the spiritual plane and even visiting the Underworld. Still, nothing.”
No idea what the spiritual plane or the Underworld was, but I didn’t want to interrupt. It was fascinating but left me uneasy.
“With no body, and no soul, what was left to track? It was as if he’d simply vanished from existence. You can track one or the other in any realm, but he was nowhere. Anyway, if you can find that warlock, he may know how to take that bitch down.” He turned to face me and added, “Excuse my language.”
I shook my head, unphased by swear words, especially after being around Ember. She swore a lot.
“There’s one other problem—a new one, that arose just before we came here,” Cassian said, changing the subject. He explained the recent events to Radolph, ending with, “After we trapped Morgan, Samara left us a gift. If we don’t figure out this weird puzzle box, then we run the risk of the wolves being cursed in feral form forever.”
Alpha Radolph took a deep breath, and his lips pulled tight. “Now we definitely need to figure out how to take that bitch down.”
