Rejected And Claimed By Her Trio Alpha Mates

chapter 59

He cackles and dances away, holding up both hands in supplication. The fear I saw earlier returns to his eyes, and I start to think he really must be a little unbalanced if he thinks it’s smart to play with fire like this. He knows we’re shifters, and even if he doesn’t know that the men are something even more powerful and dangerous than that, he should think twice about pissing off three wolves.

“It was a joke!” he insists quickly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”

Kian snarls and snatches at Harry’s tank top, pulling him up to his tiptoes. “You want to discuss payment? How about we let you live? Is that good enough for you?”

“Kian,” I bite out, a warning in my voice. “Put the crazy man down.”

He bares his teeth at me. “Not until he tells us what we need to know.”

Sighing, I dig into my back pocket for my wallet and open it to take inventory of the contents. “All right, old man. I’ve got fifty bucks. Will that work?”

Crazy Harry grins at me over Kian’s arm, his weight dangling from his shirt. “Works just fine, little lady.”

I tap Kian on the shoulder. “Drop him.”

The massive shifter glares at me, his fingers tightening on Harry’s tank top. The gold rings around his rich brown eyes glint like the aura around a dying sun, and his brows pull together.

“Drop. Him,” I repeat, feeling like I’m arguing with a damn brick wall.

Snarling again, Kian releases Harry’s shirt, and the old man hits the ground on his bare feet, then falls backward onto his ass.

I offer Harry the bundle of bills. “Tell us what you know.”

He nods, counts the bills, then shoves them in his pocket. His hand re-emerges a moment later with a pack of cigarettes.

“In the northernmost part of the state, the Rocky Mountains,” Harry says, popping a thin white roll that is most definitely not a cigarette between his lips. “There’s a place called the Devil’s Teeth,” he adds, a gleam of mania in his eye. He clicks his lighter, then draws in a deep breath of smoke.

“Is it on a map?” I cut in.

Harry shakes his head and blows out the plume of white smoke. He still hasn’t gotten up off the ground. “No. But you can find it. The mountains look like a bottom jaw with sharp teeth and two prominent, vampire canines.” He leaves the joint between his lips and holds up his two pointer fingers, pointing at the sky in a kind of curved, toothy look. “Inside the bowl formed by the teeth is a ravine. The Tree of Life is said to grow in a deep, shadowed part of that ravine, somewhere north of the Devil’s Teeth.”

“How far north?” Frost asks.

Crazy Harry shrugs, and his beard quivers with the motion. “Don’t rightly know. I’ve never seen it.”

I thank Harry for his time, then we leave him sitting on the ground, smoking his joint while the ducks swim leisurely nearby.

Malix falls into step beside me. “Are we seriously listening to the crazy guy?”

“Yes, we’re listening to the crazy guy,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Not all crazy people are crazy. Sometimes, they just know things they’re not supposed to know and other humans don’t believe them. You’re a supernatural creature. You should know that.”

“The place isn’t even on a map.”

“Look,” I say irritably, “I grew up in the mountains. There are plenty of places that haven’t made it onto maps for whatever reason—especially places infused with magic. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there. And it doesn’t mean you can’t find them. It’s just more difficult. We still have to try. What do we have left to lose?”

Kian scoffs from ahead of us, his voice dark and hard. “There’s always something left to lose.”

We gas up the bikes then head north on the highway. I’m forced to ride with Kian this time, while Malix and Frost carry our supplies. The moment I slide on the back of his motorcycle, I stiffen and attempt to keep space between us.

Tension hums through his body too as he kicks the bike into gear. “Stop f*****g around,” he snaps over his shoulder. “Hold on or fall off, your choice.”

I grit my teeth and slither my arms around his waist. Considering I’ve already done the bike wreck thing and established that, while I didn’t die, it hurt like hell, I don’t want to do it again. But I still try to keep space between us for as long as I can.

I hate that there’s no way to turn off my attraction to them. Even worse, the longer I’m with them, the stronger the feeling becomes. As we hit our traveling speed, I end up sliding against the vinyl until I’m pressed up against Kian’s back, my legs wide on his hips. And f**k if I don’t like it. I like touching him, straddling him, lying my head against his back as time passes and my eyelids grow heavy.

I want to hate it, but being close to him feeds a part of my soul and soothes my wolf. It’s not smart. It’s definitely not what I should be doing, because heaven forbid I get at all attached to these assholes, but here I am.

In the quiet parts of my mind where I can admit the truth to myself, I know that part of my soul will always want them.

Even though they’ve rejected me.

Even though they’re my enemies.

Since we can’t afford to waste time, we don’t. It’s a day’s journey to the Rockies, and then from there, god knows how long it’ll take us to find the Devil’s Teeth and walk the ravine to the tree. The sun’s setting before we finally take a bathroom break and snag some dinner from a fast-food place right off the interstate. Then we’re back on the road as the stars begin to come out.

We reach the southernmost mountains early the next morning and find a visitor center in a quaint town at the foot of the first peaks. The sweet little old lady at the counter has never heard of the Devil’s Teeth, but she gives us information on the biggest Rocky Mountains visitor center in the area. Unfortunately, the Rockies cover quite a large area, and we need more to work on than we have.

At the next visitor center, we hit pay dirt. The park ranger running the information desk knows the Devil’s Teeth, though he’s always known them as the Devil’s Fingers. They’re a myth, he tells us, but legend says they can be found near Black Mountain.

Black Mountain sits way off the beaten path. We park in a small town called Red River, load up our packs, and disappear into the woods on foot. Once out of sight, we shift and begin the upward trek.

It feels good to be in wolf form, racing through the wilderness. Here, the desert is a distant memory, and the air is cold and bracing when it blows through my fur. I feel more in my element now. Less connected to the emotional human side of me, even though my wolf still can’t stop yearning for the feral shifters. At least in wolf form, I can focus on the ground beneath my feet and drown out the way my soul screams for them.

We reach the foot of Black Mountain just before sundown and shift back to human form briefly while we gaze up at it.

Malix sucks at his teeth, then remarks, “Don’t know about you all, but I don’t see anything remotely toothlike.”

I can’t help but agree. The mountains here are smoother and more rounded than I expected, all of them covered in dense forest that stunts their mountainous appearance even further. These rounded mounds rise all around us, but none of them are the sharp, jagged fingers we were told to expect.

Kian grunts. “We’ll have to search on foot.”

“After we rest,” Frost adds, giving Kian a look I can’t read. I wonder if he’s hurting, then I wonder why I care.

We hunt for dinner, the four of us working much more seamlessly together than I want. After feasting on some of the fattest deer I’ve ever seen, we catch some sleep and set out again at first light.

On our second day in the mountains, I have another poison attack.

We’re halfway up the peak of Black Mountain in the hope that a more aerial view will help us find the Devil’s Teeth, when the pain hits without warning.

I yelp and collapse to the ground, desperately trying to shift back to human form so my wolf doesn’t get hurt. Agony ripples through me, all the muscles in my body responding by twitching and seizing. My magic struggles to take hold through the white-hot pain. I cry out, the sound inhuman, my limbs caught mid-shift, my fear rising.

Fuck. What if this is it? What if this is the end?

Then Malix leans over me in human form, concern evident on his face. “Look at me, Amora.”

I can’t move my limbs or my head, but I still have control of my eyes. I try to focus on him, but he’s just out of comfortable viewing range. So he moves closer and carefully lifts my head onto his bare thigh. He cups my face and angles me so that our eyes can meet.

“Breathe, kitty,” he murmurs. “Breathe with me.”

Even as my body continues to twitch and the pain sears my insides, I follow his instructions.

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Over and over.

His sunshine and fresh air scent swirl around me. That scent falls into me, chasing away the worst of the pain and helping me finish shifting back to my human form.

Finally, the attack ends. I don’t sit up right away—I feel weaker than before, like the poison did more damage to me this time.

Like I’m running out of time.

Frost kneels beside me and holds out a bottle of water. “Drink. Flush your kidneys.”

Malix helps me sit up, and I take the water from Frost’s hands. He looks pale, the golden tan of his skin taking on an almost ashen hue.

“Frost?” I murmur. “Are you okay?”

He frowns and shakes his head, then lays his hand over his abdomen. “It’s hurting me too.”

Kian barrels over and crouches next to his brother, his hands fluttering almost uneasily over Frost’s body. “What can I do?”

Frost waves him off. “We find the Tree of Life. It’s all we can do. For me and Amora.”

Kian palms Frost’s head with a grunt that sounds more affectionate than irritated, then he stands and walks away. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen Kian have an “older brother” vibe with Frost and Malix, but it’s the first time I saw real fear on his face. If I’ve interpreted their stories correctly so far, the three of them were “made,” and by default, there’s no one else like them in the world.

Kian has been the de facto leader of their merry band of villains since I showed up, and I wonder how he ended up playing that role. They’re all the same, so what makes Frost and Malix look to him for leadership? Just his overwhelmingly large and intimidating personality? Or something more?

Whatever it is, they’re all obviously close, and each time I see that affection between them, it warms me. And bothers me.

Because if they’re capable of loving each other—needing each other, like Kian said—then they’re capable of empathy and kindness. Which also means they’re capable of being shifted off their destructive path.

I get to my feet, ignoring Malix’s hand as he offers to help me up. Then I move away, needing a little space between them and my senses. We all shifted back from wolf when the attack hit me, which means we’re all naked, and my libido wants to throw a f*****g party.

I circle around some exposed rocks and lean against the rock wall, breathing through my muddled thoughts. The view from here is beautiful, all open sky, rolling mountains, and so much green. Green like home.

And green like… teeth. About five miles away in a valley.

“Hey, guys,” I call over my shoulder as I shove away from the rocks. “I think we found the Devil’s Teeth.”