Alpha Asher by Jane

Read Alpha Asher by Jane Doe Chapter 205

I didn’t hesitate to bound into the forest, chasing the sound of Breyona’s voice, the taste of her fear ripe on my tongue.

There was something wrong, something so very wrong with the way her voice coiled around my thoughts and squeezed the life out of them. It wasn’t through mind-link that I was hearing her, I was sure of it. No matter how hard I tried to dig past her wailing, to the connection that spanned between us, I just couldn’t.

Thoughts refused to form, each and every one shattering under the grip of her pleas.

‘It hurts, Lola! It hurts so bad—so bad.’ She sobbed and screamed.

I couldn’t think, not even to figure out where the h**l I was going or whether or not I should slow down.

The forest cracked and trembled beneath my feet. Limbs like outstretched arms reached to grab me, tearing away bits of my fur and drawing blood. Even the pain was dull, like it too was smothered by Breyona’s voice.

Suddenly, she went silent.

It should’ve occurred to me that the wrongness in the air went further than Breyona begging for her life, for her best friend to come and save her, but I was too slow at recognizing it.

Beams of moonlight speared through the treetops, hitting the ground in slender rays that gave off just enough light to keep from tripping over my own two feet. Shadows writhed and danced in the spaces in between, where the moonlight could not reach. The glint of silver blended in perfectly with both shadow and light, making it far too late for me to react in time.

I felt the sudden burst of pain before I scented the blood.

There was no stopping. Not with Breyona’s life on the line, not with that deafening silence so close to s********g me whole.

At first, I thought I’d been hit by a dagger thrown through the air, but the force behind it was hard enough to slice through flesh and muscle, all the way down to bone.

A second one hit, then a third, and a fourth.

I twisted my head to the side to catch a glimpse of an arrow protruding from my back. It was accompanied by three others, each one jutting from various places around my spine like the b****y barbs of a porcupine.

When a fifth hit, this one spearing me in between my ribs, Maya and I went down.

We bounced and skidded along the forest floor, kicking up rocks and dirt as we disrupted those silvery beams of moonlight. My fur was receding, sinking back into my body as my bones shrunk and contorted, bringing on another wave of fear. There was too much silver in my body to keep up my wolf form. It took one last desperate thought to make my clothing reappear as I landed in a broken, b****y heap of torn flesh and exposed bone.

instantly knew that this was not good. Every square inch of my flesh felt raw, like it had been

out with my mind and

way of contacting the others for help. Even my odd attachment to Breyona felt just out

no way I could stay here. Bleeding, with arrows still lodged in my body that scalded my flesh and sapped my strength, I forced myself onto my hands. My arms trembled painfully, wobbling so much that I had to grind my teeth together to

and out, I breathed. Each time picturing Asher, using his face as an anchor to keep me from

when stone and earth dug into my flesh, but it

I’d been blinking away sweat and

everything began to double and triple. Tree’s multiplied, then died

hooded cloak she wore, but it did nothing to hide her face. Every single one of her features was hard, sharpened

said nothing as

with an arrow tipped

curled her thin lips back and b***d her teeth, lowering herself to the dirt floor like she was greeting

been punished for their failure. Tessa and Ember are talented for their ages, but we cannot allow failure this far along. Can we,

about training and those two

of darkness, far colder than the shadows, began to fill my vision. They grew and multiplied, each one draining what

dirt like a prisoner of war—which I had a feeling I’d soon become. Even

out—blacked out for even a second, these witches would take me. I’d be gone, lost a second time and Asher would be the one to

mind. He’d storm this entire forest, uproot every single tree, and leave no stone unturned as he searched and searched like a madman

as the people we loved surrounded him and tried to reign him back in. It wouldn’t work,

That left one option.

let them

cool earth. There would be

writhed in the darkness, watching all of this unfold with heady interest, whispering in voices so fast I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Only a croak left my lips, a wet one that was chased by a

with my blood as I coughed and spat, unable to call the

head out. The sooner we get back, the faster we can get this done with.” The witch snapped. “And someone get a healer. If she dies before we get

by the animalistic urge to live, to survive and evade capture. I was a wolf, a beast, and huntress in my

sound he’d make when he found all the blood

leave, Lola. You promised

hear him as though he were standing right here, hovering over my shoulder as he watched me bleed and bleed and bleed. I could feel his fractured heart like it were my own, and

k**l my people, and ruin my life? The families they’ve shattered were wounds that went even deeper than the ones on my