Crossed Fates by Lexi C. Foss

Alaric

Makayla!I shouted her name as my paws pounded over the earth, my ears twitching for anything and everything around me.

But only the sounds of the night met my senses.

I spun around, tracking her scent, my heart in my fucking throat. Where are you? I demanded. Why can’t I feel you? It was like she’d been cut off.

Or maybe knocked out.

Shit, you’d better not be dead. We’d just met. If I lost her…No. I refused to follow that strand of thought. Not fucking happening.

Someone had taken her.

She’d called one of them “Bendy” because of his crooked snout. He had brown and gray fur. That didn’t help me much. Neither did his scent. I tracked it with my nose, unfamiliar with the owner. Definitely a Bitten wolf, but not one of mine.

I picked up the trace of his friend, the smoky undertones reminding me of the hybrid. Which was why she’d called him “Vex Junior.” It seemed my mate had a penchant for nicknames. I wonder what she called me when we met?

A question I’d ask when I found her.

Because I would find her. And I’d kill those who dared to take her from me.

Come on, Mak, talk to me.

Nothing.

Fuck!I howled, my wolf in agony over losing his mate. He could feel her life force, but it wasn’t enough. She wasn’t safe. Gone. Missing.

The realization crippled my ability to focus, my entire world standing still as I reacted to a loss unlike any I’d ever experienced. Tyler’s death had gutted me. But losing Makayla—it shredded apart my fucking soul.

How had someone I’d just met begun to mean so much to me?

This is fate, I realized. This is what fate does. How fate works. Why we know our mate upon sight. It was like our souls had been bonded in a previous life and had finally found each other again.

Only to be ripped apart.

Destroyed.

She’d only been in my head a day, and already I missed her.

How the hell will I survive if she actually leaves?

A concern for another day.

Right now, I needed to find her and annihilate those who dared to touch her. I also needed to trust in her own strength. She’ll survive this. She’ll find a way to contact me. Together, we will fix this.

I stole a deep breath, my chest aching from lack of oxygen because I’d forgotten to breathe. Think, Calder. Think. You’re smarter than this. You’re stronger than this. Locating people is what you do. You’re a damn wolf. An alpha. Cut the shit and find your girl.

My brother’s voice was loud in my head, his spirit heavy against mine.

He wasn’t really talking to me. I knew that. Yet, it was exactly what he’d say to me now. Or maybe it was just what I would say to myself.

Regardless, it worked.

I put my snout to the ground and tracked Makayla’s scent to a set of tire tracks in the dirt. I growled at the sight. Not only had someone taken my mate, but they’d also driven onto my land, during her patrol. Those patrol routes were brand new. No one knew about them except the inner circle. So how the hell did they—

A presence at my back had a snarl building in my throat.

Hardt.

Of course.

That son of a...

I turned on him without a second thought, pinning his wolf to the ground on a rumble of sound that came from my heart and soul. His yellow eyes immediately went to the side in a show of submission, his body entirely still beneath mine. Not fighting. Not attacking. Not doing anything at all.

He didn’t whine.

He didn’t growl.

He didn’t make a damn sound, just remained utterly still with my jaws exceptionally close to this throat.

What the fuck is wrong with you?I wondered. What are you doing here? Did you help them take her? Are you the fucking mole? Part of me knew these were unfounded questions based on an emotional reaction to Makayla’s disappearance. But his presence here was suspicious considering his patrol had been on the opposite side of the—

“Alaric.” The deep voice came from the forest.

Dad? I slowly lifted my gaze from Hardt to my father. He stood with his hands out in front of him, buck naked. He must have run here in wolf form. I cocked my head, confused. How did you—

The leaves shuffled as more wolves approached behind him, their auras all prickling through my conscious. More were on their way in animal form—a fact I felt more than knew.

I blinked, startled.

What are they all doing here?I slowly released Hardt, my mind swimming with questions and foreign words. Why can I sense them all?

I swore a few of them replied.

I heard them in my head, their concerns poking at my psyche and demanding they be heard.

What the hell is going on? I’d experienced emotional connections with my pack before, but nothing on this level. It resembled a web of unspoken thoughts, their auras painting my vision in bright colors and telling me exactly who joined me in this quadrant of the pack land.

I recognized them all. Every name. Every set of eyes. Every step.

My heart skipped a beat while my wolf took it all in stride, entirely at ease with the development. Like he’d expected it all along.

It seemed to soothe him, too. All my pent-up fury melted away, leaving me eerily calm, like their presence had helped me focus. Makayla’s gone. I need to find her. I can’t do that if I’m panicking.

My fur smoothed, my breathing returned to normal, and I took another step away from the wolf on the ground, releasing Hardt entirely from my violent—and incredibly irrational—reaction. Did I still dislike him? Yes. But he hadn’t deserved to feel my teeth at his throat.

Hardt began to shift back into human form but remained on the ground. He immediately put his hands up like my dad. “I heard your call, Alpha. That’s why I’m here. It’s why we’re all here.”

My call?I shook my head, trying to clear it. What call? Do you mean my howl? And did you just call me “Alpha”?

He couldn’t hear me, of course. Yet I swore a flicker flashed through his eyes, almost as though he’d felt my questions.

Impossible.

Bitten wolves didn’t have a hive mind.

“Where’s Makayla?” my father asked, stepping out of the woods, his posture exuding dominance. And yet, I sensed his subtle submission toward me. It was a bizarre acknowledgment that hummed along the fringes of my awareness but wasn’t outwardly displayed.

I shoved the sensation aside and called upon my human form, shifting back to two legs in a handful of seconds. The energy shimmered along my skin, taking me to my full height as I crossed my arms and locked gazes with my father.

“A hybrid and a wolf entered our lands and took her,” I declared, not bothering to explain how I came to know those details.

I hadn’t told anyone about our telepathic link yet, mostly because I didn’t want to grow attached to something that might change. However, right now, I was exceptionally thankful for that connection to Makayla. I could feel her life force thriving with mine, confirming she was alive despite her inability to speak.

“Where’s Enrique?” I demanded, scanning the wolves in attendance.

No one answered.

“He’s supposed to be on patrol out here with Makayla,” I added on a low growl. “Find him. Now.”

Paul and Steve immediately took off at my command, searching for their missing colleague.

The others all exchanged a look, then Hardt knelt beside the set of tire tracks that I’d found, his expression thoughtful. “Definitely truck size, based on the treads. Want me to follow and see where these lead?” he offered in a calm voice, his gaze not meeting mine.

A show of submission.

Reverence.

Deferring to the one he considered alpha.

What the hell changed over the last day to earn that response from him? I dismissed the thought and instead nodded. It was a smart request, one worthy of a beta’s focus. “Yes. Report back what you find.”

He dipped his chin respectfully and shifted back into wolf form to take off through the woods.

Then two enforcers stepped forward, heads bowed. “Would you like us to do a thorough perimeter sweep, Alpha?”

I studied them, surprised by the address. Just like Hardt. Interesting. “Yes,” I said. “Take Colton with you, too.” I gestured to the third enforcer present, who had remained in wolf form near the trees. “Jinx, I want you to stay here.”

He was the fourth enforcer on-site, standing behind a large trunk and completely out of sight. Yet somehow I knew he was there, and it had nothing to do with my nose. He stepped out to acknowledge me with a subtle nod, his stance also reverent.

Had my agonized howl forced the entire pack into submission?

“What else?” my father asked, his expression expectant. “Where do you want the rest of us?”

I cleared my throat, thinking on my feet. “Jude’s still here, right?” I didn’t know why I asked because I sensed him on the property, too. An aura that didn’t quite fit yet wasn’t a threat. Something’s happening to me. Something… bizarre.

“He’s with Everly.”

I nodded. Because… again… I already knew that. I swore I could even hear her thinking about Jude and whatever he was saying to her. I shook my head again, this sensation insane, but not entirely unwelcome either.

Still, I needed to focus.

“All right. I want everyone back at the main camp. No wandering. No night runs. No leaving the central roads unless otherwise directed.” I met the gaze of each wolf nearby. “Make sure everyone knows.” It felt like a compulsion of sorts, like my command served as more than just words. I also swore my words traveled through the pack psyche, telling them all to congregate in the safety zone.

So damn weird.

“I need toys,” I continued, pushing the thoughts out of my mind. “Toys from Jude. Surveillance. All of it. There are security cameras on all the main roads near Silver Lake. That vehicle will be caught on one of those feeds, and we’ll track it.” Once we had that, I could use technology to pinpoint Makayla’s location until she woke up.

Pride colored my father’s expression. “Good. Anything else?”

I considered him for a moment, then decided to hell with it. I needed all the help I could get, and for that, I couldn’t hold myself back. Every detail was crucial, even ones that were hard to believe or potentially temporary.

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat again. “Makayla and I seem to have established a telepathic link via our mating. Once she wakes up, I’ll need to focus on whatever she has to say. So I need you to stay close and take charge when that happens.” It would leave me temporarily weak because I’d give her my complete attention, just as a mate should.

“Of course,” he agreed, not commenting on the telepathy. “Let’s get back to Jude.”

I nodded.

Shifted.

And ran back to his house.

All the while chanting, Wake up, Mak. Wake. Up.