Rise of the Dark Alpha

Chapter 334 Females in Thana

~ ZEV ~

At Yhet's news, Zev had sent Dunken back to the City to notify the guard and any warriors that weren't already patrolling. And to have Oska get the news out to anyone else who might not hear the announcement.

Then, racing to the Village to gather the last of the team who'd planned to go with him across the Gateway, they found Lhars with Kyelle. Zev vaguely registered a strange mix of emotions on them both, but there was no time to analyze it.

Yhet relayed his story to them—he'd been running to the Gateway to join the guard in preparation for Zev's crossing, only to find a group of females, half of them in shock, and more coming through every few minutes. The moment she heard the males had already been notified, Kyelle leapt into her bird and was flying for the Cave.

Zev and the others shifted and ran, covering the ground faster than he thought he ever had. Zev's heart almost exploded when they ran up the trail towards the cave mouth and found females, bewildered and milling around the cave entrance and the trailhead. Zev shifted back, staggering to a halt as his nose filled with the scent of Chimera females.

He couldn't believe his eyes. Females... dozens of them. On all sides.

It had been three years... Heart skipping and racing, he breathed, "Sasha?" and inhaled deeply, searching for her, but he couldn't catch her scent—and then he realized there was no bond in his chest, no warm bloom of her return.

His blood ran cold. But there was no time to let himself consider what might be happening, because there were already thirty or forty females there, most dressed like humans and not nearly warm enough for the Thana winter.

How had Sasha gotten them all free? How had his magnificent mate achieved the impossible?

And where the fuck was she?!

Zev started walking among them, searching. They milled around, some in clusters and groups, others just standing, turning around and staring. Some with their eyes closed and inhaling the scents…

One knelt in the snow on the trail in nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, her hands buried into the snowbank, sobbing and staring at chunks of snow she pulled out of it as if she couldn't believe them, the skin on her hands and arms a brilliant red from the dangerous cold.

The Chimera were better equipped for the cold than a human, but if her system was in shock. Zev hurried to her, pulling her to her feet.

But when he touched her, she shrieked and pulled away from him, snarling and snapping into her wolf-form before he could even say a word.

They ended facing each other, Zev's hands up and open in surrender, her lips curled back from her fangs, a snarl rolling in her throat.

"I'm sorry I startled you," he said softly. "It's me, Zev. You're here. You're safe. We won't hurt you. You're safe!"

Her wolf nostrils flared and she blinked and licked her lips, her ears coming slowly forward.

Kyelle appeared from nowhere, back in human form, and she approached the female slowly, murmuring, cutting a glance at Zev and tipping her head for him to move on.

So he did. But he found himself just walking up the trail slowly, turning, hands in his hair, staring at the females and trying desperately to believe that any of this was real.

And where was Sasha? Where was his mate?

It was chaos. The females seemed rudderless, alternating between staring at Thana with wide eyes and open mouths, and huddling together for warmth, their heads ducked low.

Zev came alive suddenly.

The females were here. They needed help. And Sasha wasn't, but he would find out… were they still arriving? Might she still show up?

He began to weave between them, murmuring assurance to any that met his eyes, and avoiding touching any that flinched away. Kyelle raised her voice to call them all to gather with her, together, to keep themselves warm and put those who were dressed in the center.

Then he was in the cave where there were fewer females, but the ones that were there seemed truly disoriented—some hanging onto a wall. One frozen at the center of the cave, staring at the light and apparently unable to move toward it. A handful speaking to two of the spluttering guards that had been in the cave—and four more of the guards gathered around another near the back.

Zev rushed forward. "Don't hold any of them, they're in shock—"

"She stopped breathing, but she's back now," was the reply from the Lieutenant among them, and Zev slid to a halt next to them.

Behind the guard who'd spoken he saw a young female—a goat, he thought—laying on the stone floor of the cave. One of the guards had placed his jacket over her. She was staring at him, nodding in answer to his questions, but her eyes were wide, as if she didn't quite believe he was real.

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. They were really here.

And they were seriously hurt.

"Where's Sasha?" he blurted, but the males all avoided his eyes. Except the Lieutenant.

"She hasn't come through yet. But we're getting new ones every minute or two. So it won't be long," he said encouragingly. "We need to get them back to the village. I assume you want the guard to stay here in case humans come through, but you're going to need—"

"There's a team here. Coming," Zev corrected himself, frowning at the Gateway, willing it to open and reveal his mate. "The males we'd prepared to go through tonight. They're here. Or on their way. We'll get them back. I mean, yes… yes you're right."

Zev growled at himself and closed his eyes. He needed to focus.

Sasha wasn't here. Yet. But she would be. He would hold onto that.

"She's coming after the humans," the female said quietly, being helped to her feet by the guards.

Zev whirled. "What did you say?"

The female looked at him and smiled, pride and disbelief in her eyes. "She convinced them to let us come home," she whispered, tears welling. "She's coming. There's two humans and she didn't trust them, so she was going to come through after them, I think."

Zev's throat convulsed. "She was at the Gateway with you?"

The female nodded. "She's coming, Zev. She's amazing. She got us all here. Thank you for bringing her. Thank you." And the female threw herself into his chest, sobbing. "Please, don't make us go back. Please!"

Zev gaped at the guards who stared back at him, stunned.

The females thought he'd sent them through?