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She lost count of the days as they passed; she tried to take quick naps to ward off the extreme exhaustion from forcing herself to stay awake at night, even knowing she didn’t have to worry about Akoro appearing anymore. And he stayed true to his word. He didn’t visit, didn’t even look her way each morning as he mounted the nnirae.
But that didn’t matter. She had to remind herself what was at stake. Ultimately, if she had to experience that or worse again, to find out more about the beast and his people, she would. Even though it was a hit to her pride and devastating to know she would never be with her true mate, she now knew more about the Alpha she was dealing with. She would stop him or die trying.
On the ninth or tenth morning of travel, she woke to a dusky blue sky stretched overhead with golden light bleeding in from the horizon’s east. Relieved she hadn’t dreamed, she sat up and stretched. Low murmurs drifted through the air as the camp packed away blankets and cooking equipment.
The beast was nowhere to be seen, but when her cart was being attached to his nnirae, the animal behaved differently. He shook his head and stomped his hooves, then his ears flickered, his tail swished, and a growly bellowing sound rose in the air.
The people attaching her cart paused and shared a look, but they continued to fix the cart to him with great difficulty. Naya couldn’t see why he had such a problem this morning.
When they were ready to leave, it was as if the entire caravan of animals and carts suddenly stalled. The riders were on their nnirae, the carts were packed and ready, and yet nothing moved.
After a short while, the beast came striding toward her cart surrounded by the same group he always walked with—three women and three men, including the stout healer. They stopped next to his nnirae and continued their conversation, their body language tense and their words hard and clipped.
Naya watched them. Something was happening.
They turned to look out at the landscape, but four of them glanced at her. The beast turned back and said something to the group, and they all moved in different directions at once.
The beast transferred items from a nearby cart into sacks on his nnirae. The healer and one of the other men unattached her cart from the animal and disabled the magical dome. Three others walked through the carts, calling across the fleet. The riders slid down from their nnirae and made their way over to them. As the trio spoke to them, the riders’ body language turned tense and fidgety.
The beast appeared at her cart when the dome came down. Without a word, he leaned over and he picked her up, one arm under her knees, the other supporting her back.
Naya stiffened. “What are you doing?” She’d asked a question, but he seemed too preoccupied to realize it.
He carried her to his nnirae, and placed her on the huge saddle. Naya clung to the creature’s silky neck, suddenly alarmed. Whatever was happening had to be serious. The beast climbed up behind her, his thick arm caging her as he grabbed the reins.
Naya tried not to breathe him in while he spoke with someone on the ground, but it was almost impossible not to. His scent pressed in all around her. Thick, heady, and beautiful. She leaned forward and lifted her head, trying to find fresh air, but it wasn’t enough.
Suddenly they began moving.
Naya turned to look at what the rest of the fleet was doing, but the beast growled and forced her body to face the front. Annoyed, she twisted the other way and saw the fleet breaking off in different directions. Four others, who looked like guards, rode next to them on their own nnirae and with no carts attached.
She watched them ride alongside, questions cramming into her mind. Where did the fleet go? Why did they split up? Were they being chased? She tried to think back to when everyone started acting strangely.
In the distance, dark clouds caught her eye. Underneath them, the sand churned, swirling wild and high. Naya leaned forward, trying to see what was causing the sand to kick up like that, but the beast slipped his arm around her and pulled her back against his chest, punctuating the action with a low warning growl.
Naya breathed shallowly, her mind racing. Either there was a violent sandstorm or a large group of people were heading straight for them. She wasn’t sure how she felt about either. Other people could be useful, but without her magic, she didn’t have a way to protect herself against a large group of them, and she was still physically weak. A bad storm might kill her—but it could also mask an escape for when she had a plan. Then again, if the beast had enemies, that could provide an excellent opportunity to disrupt his plans or destroy him.
She filed away that information for another time, unable to think of anything else but the hard ride and the Alpha, whose scent she was trying not to breathe. The beast leaned forward, and the nnirae galloped even faster than when he was attached to her cart. The wind and sand hit her face so strongly she could barely breathe, but the beast wrapped a cloth around her lower face, like she’d seen the riders wearing.
They rode for hours, only stopping for short times to give water to the nnirae. Finally, as the sun began to inch toward the horizon, tall buildings of a city rose in the distance.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The city was, in fact, just a collection of decayed structures—slabs of rock, shapeless and worn. They were built on strange angles, as though following a design that was no longer visible.
The beast and his companions slowed down and weaved through them. But as they progressed, making their way through intricate dusty paths, the chunks of rock took on form and shape until they became intact ruins.
The placement of the buildings and the way the roads interlocked had been designed with intention and expertise. Although crumbling and in disrepair, they’d been designed to be aesthetically pleasing, with shapely roofs, carvings, and decoration. This had once been a beautiful city.
They continued through the roads and the ruins gradually improved, until they came upon several of them that weren’t ruins at all but a series of buildings, untouched by decay.
They formed a circular labyrinth of homes, their surfaces painted in shades of orange, brown, and yellow, which the late afternoon sun transformed into a breathtaking display of amber, russet, and gold. It was a gorgeous sight. The homes were small and homely, framed with pots of plants and decoration, and children ran between them.
People came out into the road and called out to the beast, waving and bowing as he passed, but they also stared at Naya. The faces here were a stark contrast to those at the camp. This time, tense expressions of bewilderment, fear, and anger suggested a collective concern. Had they been told she would be kidnapped?
Naya watched them back, meeting their eyes with her own determination. If they knew she was taken, then escaping would mean working against the entire city, not just the beast, who definitely appeared to be an important figure to them.
She kept her chin up, and her expression blank, but her mind raced.
