Chapter 287: Trails

AARYN

It was good to be outside, to run, to let his legs stretch, his lungs inflate. Too good. He reached the disformed cave too quickly and slowed before he took the path up the mountainside to it. He needed a moment before he had to face anyone.

There was a building tension that pressed on his chest and clamped on his spine. A boiling pot with a lid too tight. But he couldn't afford to let the lid off because if he did, everything inside would come out and he couldn't be weak that way. Not today.

So he swallowed it down and stalked up the path reminding himself that, at least for now, he was still Alpha. It was his role to help and protect the others—and discipline them where they were wrong. If they needed correction, he would be the one to do it. And if they did not, he would be their advocate.