Adres considered that but rebutted, “I was thinking more like the Olympian games in Athens.”
“In 1334.”
“No. 1514.”
Hadeon gave him a sneer as his eyes lit up with fire, “You really are back.”
“This time for good.”
No sooner had Adres opened Justice’s front door and released the barrier a large gray wolf leapt towards the opening as the omega’s smell filtered outside. Wrath caught the animal in midair, and Adres summoned enough wind to blow the wolf to the other side of the compound.
The shifters were delirious. It only took one for Adres to make an example out of for the other wolves to stop. They stood startled for a moment before more barks and howls were hurled at them. Wrath gazed towards the sky as billowing, black smoke formed a large mushroom cloud over the compound, completely blocking the moon’s light.
The wolves whimpered and growled as they aimed their muzzles towards the sky, that was now a dark, angry blanket of wrath.
“The omega is fated to your alpha, Taleb. He is also injured,” Adres informed them, trying to be fair, not wanting to hurt any of them. “I know you are all curious about his presence. Your AZ will be out to speak with you all soon.”
The crowd began to slowly disperse, and Wrath opened the sky back up. Some of the shifters ran into the woods while others lay down near the cabin to wait for answers. As long as they were no longer trying to tear the house down, Adres would allow them to remain there. He was on his way back inside when he heard a long, melancholy howl coming from near the top of the Osceola Mountain that made him stop in his tracks.
There was no mistaking it. Beloved.
Desire gathered and solidified in his stomach as Macauley called to him again. The pull to go to him was unbearable, and he knew he could no longer stay away.
“Go to him, Orestes,” Wrath said from beside him.
Adres was actually nervous. “A mate. Me.” Now that he knew who and what he was, he never thought it possible.
“He is a good match for you.” Wrath’s voice was rough, as if it was difficult to speak on the subject. “I fought alongside Macauley when I rescued Belleron from the Dales. He is fierce in battle. His energy can target those that are good and amplify their abilities as they fight.”
Adres thought of when Macauley had touched him with his righteousness just before he chased down and killed multiple assassins at once without ever becoming winded. But the idea of being a good partner to someone who was damn near perfect was the most intimidated he’d ever been.
“Are you happy?” he asked Wrath bluntly.
“I’ve never asked for nor have I ever desired happiness. I only needed someone I could trust. A person who would never betray me.”
“Are you what they call in love?”
Wrath seemed to think for a moment. “Perhaps, if I was mortal, a human, then I would use that phrasing. But for us, Orestes, our mates will make us quite content for our last centuries.”
“It is almost our time to go, old friend.”
“And fate has made it so that we don’t have to do it alone.”
Adres touched Wrath’s shoulder. “Maybe we did do enough good in this world after all.”
Wrath knocked his hand off and grumbled, “Speak for yourself.”
Macauley howled again, a higher-pitched moaning that made Adres’s dick get thicker in his pants.
“You fucking stink. Go on,” Wrath urged.
Adres glanced at the front door and the many wolves still lying around.
“I’ll stand sentinel over the omega until Taleb arrives. I watched you rescue him and was forbidden to intervene or assist. I was captive for over three hundred years before the Mother came and put me in here.” Wrath gestured at Aleksei’s body.
“I believe we are here together again for a greater purpose, Hadeon.”
They didn’t say anything else to each other as Wrath went back inside the cabin, and Adres used his speed to get up the mountain, unable to get to his cherished fast enough. He flew past shifters, moving too quickly for them to notice him. He followed Macauley’s scent to the top of the mountain, so far that he began to shiver from the freezing temperature. Adres didn’t slow down until he heard a waterfall and the sound of wood crackling in a fire. He lightened his steps as he crept closer to the cliff which had a spectacular view of the city below.
Macauley was lying on the ground near a small camping fire in his wolf form, his muzzle turned towards the sky. The smell of raw meat still lingered in the air as if he’d just finished dinner.
Adres stood behind the wide base of an aspen tree a few feet away and observed his cherished in all of his magnificence. He caught a whiff of Macauley’s scent, and he almost hissed in discomfort. He wanted him with a desperation so frightening that it made his knees weak. He wanted what Wrath had with Belleron, and even Aleksei. He wanted his own special way of communicating with his beloved as well. He and Macauley had tried it once, but it was not as successful or powerful as it could’ve been.