Page 128 of The Alpha’s Heir

47

Roman

Crows cawing pulled me from the depths of sleep. I almost thought I’d imagined it because Meg—whose shifter hearing would’ve picked the sound up well before I did—was still nestled peacefully in my arms.

Then I heard it again.

It’d been an adjustment learning to sleep out here with all the different noises of the wild going bump in the night. I was still learning what was a threat, what was food, and what was both. We didn’t have many birds in Ethica that I was aware of, but even I could tell this one didn’t sound like anything natural.

Another caw. More urgent this time.

It felt dreamlike as I crawled from the warmth of the furs and Meg’s body, pressing a kiss to her forehead before I left our bed.

I always did that now. Just in case.

The cold hit my bones as I set my bare feet on the ground, but it wasn’t enough to shock me fully awake.

Meg’s breaths were still soft and even. Neither she nor her wolf stirred as I stood. I knew I was stealth, but there weren’t many things you could slip past a wolf-shifter.

She still didn’t move as I pulled on my pants and boots, then pushed open the tent flap.

I slung the rifle strap over my shoulder as I peered into the darkness, trying to recall who was on watch tonight. Sleep clung to me, threatening to drag me back under, and I shook it off.

It’d been weeks since I slept as deeply as I had tonight. The exhaustion was bound to catch up. I rationalized the dreamlike haze in as many ways as my human brain could think of.

Breath misted around my face as the chilling cold cut through my thin clothes. My uniform would’ve been thicker, but I pushed that thought far away. Later, I’d process all that had happened in the last few weeks.

I needed to keep moving forward.

But I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going.

An eerie fog had rolled in over the hill and settled on the trees, dripping from the branches and pooling on the brown grass underfoot.

A caw sounded again and a rustle in the woods drew my attention. Clouds parted overhead, revealing a slowly sinking moon in a clearing between two pines.

And then I knew I was dreaming.

“Dad?” My whisper was a hoarse and broken thing. He stood tall. An echo of the man he once was, with straight back and broad shoulders and a smile that brightened his weary face.

I ran to him, not caring if I was still asleep. Science couldn’t bring my father back, but maybe the magic of the dream world would. If I could just see him for a moment. Speak with him again…

I burst through the clearing as a cloud passed over the moon. The vision disappeared into thin air.

“Pity.” A female voice spoke.

I spun to face the sound with my rifle ready.

The Morrigan leaned against a tree, inspecting her nails.

I guessed our luck had run out.

“What’s a pity?” I barked at her, trying to shove the hope I’d felt somewhere deep where it wouldn’t hurt so much again.

“You.” Morrigan’s dark eyes cut straight through me. “I thought you’d be stronger than this.”

“I don’t understand.” I lowered my weapon, keeping it ready just in case. She wouldn’t bleed, like Ares hadn’t bled, but it still wasn’t completely useless.

She sighed. “You were never supposed to. But I guess I can’t fault you in the end.”