Page 27 of Shadowlands Sector 2

Chapter 9

Dušan

Ifucking hate the woods. I never thought I’d admit that, considering I live in the Shadowlands forest, butfuck!

“Where the hell can Meira be?” I bark, frustrated to hell.

Meira is nowhere. I’ve only found these damn undead and a rogue we ran into. Kicked his ass and kept going. With our heightened sense of smell, we ought to have picked up on her scent by now. But that tells me we’re going completely the wrong way, even after changing directions several times.

“I bet Bardhyl found her,” Lucien murmurs. “He’s the luckiest of us. He always wins on card night.”

I cut him a glare, but hell, his reasoning might be more accurate than us wandering aimlessly through the woods. If Bardhyl tracks her first, he’ll keep her safe and protect her with his life. But not knowing if that’s the case is driving me insane.

A bird chirps somewhere around us, followed by another. There are no other animals. “We follow the river. She would have made stops to drink and wash, so we’ll pick up her scent.” My initial thought was that she’d gone to high ground, as there are pockets of caves up there, offering protection. Except I’d been mistaken.

“Agreed.” Lucien nods and we cover the ground quickly, sticking to the riverbank.

Aside from a few animal prints, the pebbled shore shows no marks. We’ve walked for a long while when Lucien asks, “What are we going to do with Mad?”

Just thinking about my stepbrother raises the hairs on the back of my neck. I never should have appointed him so highly in my pack or ever trusted him with delivering Omegas to our trade partners.

“He’ll have three options. He submits and will be under constant guard, he leaves, or he pisses me off so much I’ll kill him.” The words taste sour in my mouth, but he’s fucked up before and I always give him another chance. The fault is mine for treating him differently than my pack because he’s family. But my pack is family too, and I’ve had enough.

“About time,” Lucien snarls. He and Bardhyl have warned me about Mad for years, and I chose not to listen. Well, that shit changes now.

We push on, the surrounding trees swaying in the breeze. It feels like we’ve walked for hours when Lucien pauses and stares down at the bank. The ground is all torn up, footprints going in and out of the water. I crouch down and trace my finger along the edge of a bare footprint that’s too small to be male. The steps are perfectly aligned, no stumbling, meaning this hasn’t been made by the undead.

I take a deep inhale of the mud, the freshwater, the sweet grass, and beneath it all is another scent. It’s faint, but it carries a wolf signature and that sickly blood smell. It’s gone in seconds, but that’s all I need.

“She was here.” I shoot to my feet, scanning the area for a clue, something.

“Someone was with her,” Lucien states, pointing his chin at larger footprints. No shoes, either. “Told ya. Bardhyl got to her.”

Thank fuck, if that’s the case.

“These barefoot markings have them going into the river on purpose. To wash off blood, perhaps, and stop the undead tracking them. Or they had wolves on their heels and needed to hide their scent.”

“The tracks had to be made today. They’re still fresh,” I say. “We’re close.” Hope that we might finally find Meira spears through my chest.

We exchange quick glances and head down the river, toward the direction of our pack. It’s where Bardhyl would have taken her.

Together we pick up our pace. Lucien and I have been inseparable since we were kids. After losing his mate, he was withdrawn when it came to finding another partner. It didn’t stop him from seeking out Omegas to fuck—he never had a lack of females eager to fill his bed—but it’s never been anything more than one night.

Until now, with Meira. I should be furious that he touched what belongs to me, but fated mates don’t work that way, do they now? Wolves will choose each other irrespective of what the heart wants. Yeah, it fucking burns to picture him taking her.

What choice do I have if the wolves have picked their mates? I can’t lose Meira or my closest friend, so I swallow my damn pride. We’ll find a way to make this work.

“Who made the first move, you or Meira?” I can’t help myself and want to know.

He doesn’t meet my gaze when he responds, knowing too well what I’m asking. “Do you have an issue with us?”

I’ve always thought one day I’d find my fated mate and it would be just the two of us. But it’s rare for my dreams to become reality, as the universe likes to fuck with me.

“Fate has a wicked sense of humor and kicks you in the teeth when you least expect it,” I respond.

He throws me a stare from hooded eyes and huffs. “I knew you’d bring this up. I don’t need your jealousy crap. I just…” He glances up at the sky. “I don’t fucking know. It’s just that when I’m with her, the heaviness I’ve been carrying around with me lifts.” He shrugs. “I haven’t felt this for a very long time, Dušan. I would never step on your toes, you know that. You’re like my brother.”

When he meets my gaze again, there’s a hardness behind his eyes, like he doesn’t know what to make of his feelings. Of how Meira swept into his life and knocked him off his feet without warning. How both our wolves connect with her…

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