An Alpha's Duty

Chapter 48

Lenah placed a soft kiss on Ryan's forehead before swinging her legs out from under the duvet and creeping towards her clothes, neatly folded on top of one of the chest of drawers.

Being careful not to disturb Ryan, she silently closed the door behind her and made her way through the empty pack house. Stepping on to the grass she felt the earth beneath her feet. The feel of the grass between her toes helped calm her nerves as she tried to forget the nightmare that had woken her.

Breathing deeply, she let the cool night air ease into her body and over her warm skin. The soft breeze was welcoming against the warm Texan night.

A flash of white caught her attention as she looked out towards the paddocks. They always shut the horses up during the night for their protection so she wondered what her sister was doing out here in the middle of the night.

Wasting no time, she began walking to a motionless Akari who sat on top of the paddock fence, her back leant against the gate pole.

"Bad dreams as well, sister?" Lenah had expected her sister to jump at her sudden appearance but Akari barely moved as her head turned to regard her before returning to look out over the farmland.

The look on her sister's face had Lenah's blood chilling in her veins. Climbing up the fence, she sat opposite her sister on the same wooden plank.

"I keep seeing her face always in my dreams." Lenah didn't have to ask who she was talking about.

It was the same face that was haunting her own dreams. She couldn't stop thinking about the other shadow walker.

"You saw her as well on the night we escaped." It was a statement not a question as Akari turned to look at her with a troubled expression.

"I thought I imagined it. I never thought what I saw was true..." Her sentence trailed off, and a frown descended on her face.

Lenah noticed her playing with the bottom edge of her dress so different to the worn pair of jeans that covered her own legs. She could tell that whatever Akari was thinking was unnerving her so rather than talking she waited for her sister to speak instead. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long.

"There is no way it could have been the same woman we saw in Poppy's dream. She'd be thousands of years old by now, not even our lifespans can do that." It was the same question that had been on Lenah's mind since she'd woken up in the tent.

She'd yet to tell Ryan about what she'd seen, hoping to have some time with her sister to determine if she'd seen the same thing, but time had not been on their sides, until now. She felt guilty about keeping things from her mate but until she figured out what she saw she didn't want to add to his worry.

"Not unless she tied her soul to the spell." Akari looked up, her own markings swirling dangerously as she thought about Lenah's words.

"That's not possible. Magic like that is impossible for us, for anyone. The soul cannot be tampered with like that." Akari's voice held anger as she thought about her sister's words.

Souls were precious magic in themselves, to corrupt and bond a soul to a spell was dangerous.

"It's the only thing that seems to make sense." Akari resisted her sister's imploring eyes as she turned away from her.

"It's not possible. No one could do such a thing."

"A desperate woman who had lost her mate just might. Akari, we're talking about a spell that has lasted for thousands of years, through many generations and never seems to have wavered."

"Then explain the gifted females Lenah. They are females who can shift, how has the spell not worked on them?" Lenah expected her tone to be smug, but it was only curious.