Where once there had been only his single set of footprints, suddenly there were multiple, appearing from nowhere. The trees, I knew, must have hidden them. Had the alphas ambushed him? What had become of the dakmu?

I stopped abruptly, sniffing again, listening, reaching through the bond. It left my ears twitching, a distant sound carrying my way.

It was his voice, piercing the depths of the jungle.

"Rolec!" His name sprang from my lungs, echoing off the trees as I plowed through the underbrush in hot pursuit.

In the next breath, I had broken through.

Far ahead, the omega screamed. He choked on a gasp as his wide-eyed stare fell on me. His expression flitted from terrified to relieved in the matter of only a moment.

"Vex!"

Rolec was slung over the shoulder of a strange alpha, flanked by five other gakh. They were each of them dressed in flexible leathers, similar to those of the scouts from my own village. All around them hung the heavy scent of dakmu and blood, the picture clearly painted across their bodies.

The dakmu had taken Rolec, and these gakh had slain the dakmu.

Had they thought to claim the omega as their prize?

My eyes fixed squarely on the gakh holding Rolec, a threatening rumble starting deep within my chest. "Let him go."

The lead alpha turned with narrowed eyes, tail lashing violently behind him. "Was it you?" he asked, ignoring my demand. "The one who forcibly marked the omega?"