Chapter Eleven
Alix
The moment I realized my mate had been taken, the entire forest had cowered in the face of my anger. My blood boiled and I fumed with a rage like I’d never experienced before. Ever since I had left the city and the suppressant had worn off, I felt emotions more keenly and this terrible fury hurtled through my veins with the power of a lightning strike. I felt more possessive of Raven, more protective and obsessed with her than ever before. I adored her. I loved her and she was mine forever. No one was going to change that, and I was going to destroy whoever was trying to.
Even now, I could feel her. Because of her distance from me, the pair bond was dulled, and I wondered if she was sleeping or someone had knocked her out. The only thing that kept me together was the fact that I knew she wasn’t dead.
I was supposed to protect her. Beside me, Wolfe and Ivan snarled with their own fury. All around us, the men of their pack had gathered. At least ten more alphas stood around us, furious that someone had broken the one crucial law of the Central Gathering, the robbery of a pair-bonded omega from her mates.
A whoosh of steam followed by a clanging sound echoed far off in the distance and my ears perked toward it. That wasn’t a sound I’d heard outside of the city, except from our own airship that we’d use to travel some of the wilds.
“Is there a place to land a large ship somewhere in that direction?” I asked, pointing toward it. Wolfe nodded and the three of us took off in a sprint, well aware that every second counted at this point. Behind us, the rest of the pack followed, silently vowing to help us retrieve our mate from whatever scum that had taken her from us.
A loud cranking sound echoed throughout the forest and I knew that meant that the ship was taking off and very soon at that. I had to move faster.
A surge of adrenaline hurtled through my body and I pressed even harder, swinging my legs wider and pushing my muscles to their very limits. I didn’t stop. My thighs burned and my core tightened, but it didn’t matter. I had to get her back.
Never again would I leave her alone. From now on, she would be always be protected by one of her mates. Whoever took her quite possibly wants her ruined, hurt, or dead and I feared the worst. I was going to hurt whoever had taken her. If they caused her pain? I’d rip them apart, limb by limb.
“None of the other packs would do something like this. Not this deep in our territory,” Ivan panted, and Wolfe agreed with a grunt.
“There should have been no danger for her here. We patrol these lands constantly. No one that isn’t part of the Thalos pack makes it this far,” Wolfe added.
“What about that ship?” I pressed. “That’s pretty damn obvious.” Behind me, one of the other members of the pack spoke up.
“Nothing like that noise has ever been heard here before,” he answered.
My mind stewed. I knew what that meant. Only the military and the very rich had access to technology like that. Who the fuck had the capital to invest in a steam airship and one with a fucking stealth mode module to hide their entry? If it had a stealth mode, it likely didn’t move as quickly as it did at full power, which was why we were hearing it now.
We ran hard and we finally made it to the rolling plains that the airship had been temporarily docked in.
Fuck.
It was already too late. The airship had already risen above the trees, pumping out steam in an effort to move at the highest speed imaginable and it was working. It was surging with power, rising higher and higher before it shot off to its destination, taking my mate with it.
My heart dropped, watching it sail off above the trees in the direction of the city.
“How many days on foot is it to Tharia?” I whispered furiously.
“At least a week,” Ivan responded, and Wolfe swore beside him.
I knew what would happen by that time and I feared by then she’d be lost to us for good. The suppressant was strong, and not only would it block our natural instincts, but it would also suppress our pair bond. I ground my teeth, trying to remain calm, and turned to the other men.
“It’ll be too late by then. She’ll reach the city in less than three days and by then, she’ll be breathing the air inside the dome. The suppressant will block our link to her and then we might never find her. Fuck,” I swore, and Wolfe laid his hand on my arm.
“No. We’re not going to go on foot. There’s another way,” Wolfe replied. His brow furrowed with determination and Ivan nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.
“We have to follow them,” I retorted, already frustrated that we were losing so much time just standing around talking. My blood boiled and I found it increasingly difficult to contain my fury at having my mate taken from me.
“The albatrosses will take us,” Wolfe added, and I turned toward him, narrowing my eyes in confusion. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me in the opposite direction; despite my reluctance, I followed. We ran off, fast and hard and the exertion seemed to calm my anger just a little bit.
If he had something else in mind that would get us to Tharia faster and back to my mate, I was all ears. I’d do whatever it took to get her back. I’d even tear Tharia apart if I had to.
* * *
Less than twenty minuteslater, we were standing at the foot of a steep incline up toward the top of a mountain, where I could just barely make out the lining of a cave. I hadn’t been able to see the mountain range due to the thick tree cover we’d been traveling beneath, but Ivan and Wolfe had known it was there. I would have never found it on my own.
“I thought the albatrosses went extinct at the time of the Great War,” I murmured as I caught my breath, and Wolfe shook his head.