Free Jewel of Darkness by Quinn Loftis

door opening and closing behind her. She turned to see seven very ticked off looking male Canis lupus glaring at her.
    “What’s happened now?” Peri wasn’t really sure she wanted to know the answer. What she really wanted to do was tell them to go lick themselves because she had more important things to do than pat their heads and tell them all would be well, but that was before Kale spoke.
    “Costin, Gustavo, and the two lasses are gone.” Kale’s Irish accent had grown thick with his irritation.
    “Gone? As in gone, gone?” Peri was pretty sure she’d never sounded more like an idiot, but the shock of Kale’s declaration had momentarily, and much to her chagrin for the second time that day, struck her dumb. “Where did they go?”
    When none of them answered, Peri narrowed her eyes on them. She met each of their gazes until finally landing on Antonio, Gustavo’s Beta.
    “Do you have any idea where they might have gone?” Peri asked him and before he could answer she held up her hand. “And please don’t lie to me. My patience is at an all-time low and it really won’t take much to make me go back on my decision not to turn any wolf who annoys me into a new rug. Why a rug, you ask? Because there is nothing so therapeutic as wiping my feet on the beast dumb enough to not take my threats seriously. Now” ― she waved her hand ― “please answer the question. Do you, Antonio, have any idea where your Alpha might have trotted off to?”
    The other males turned to look at the Beta, their face tight with frustration. Antonio shifted and took a subtle step away from the group. Peri realized that the Beta did indeed know something and was a little worried as to how the others were going to react. She reached out her hand and muttered a few words. She nearly laughed at the shocked expressions of the males as their bodies went rigid.
    “You can answer the question without fear of them going postal on you, wolf,” Peri told him. “They can’t move, not until I release them.”
    “My Alpha is going to kill me,” Antonia breathed out as his shoulders slumped just a little. “Gustavo has been feeling the pull of his true mate. It was getting stronger and he mentioned that he thought that something was amiss with her. He didn’t tell me exactly that he was going to go and try and find her, but I didn’t get the impression that he was going to wait around much longer.”
    Peri mentally smacked herself in the forehead. She was pretty sure that the wolves were determined to test her until she finally snapped. “Okay,” she mumbled as she began to pace. “Okay, so Gustavo must have convinced Costin to take him to the Pixie realm, and Sally, being the semi-smart female that she is, took Kara with them so that she wouldn’t be left here with a bunch of unmated males. So the question is, how long have they been gone? If it hasn’t been very long , then they are still in the forest.”
    “We realized they were gone a couple of hours ago,” Antonio told her.
    So then they were definitely still in the forest. Making her decision, Peri snapped her fingers, causing the gaze of all of the wolves to fall on her. “I’m going to release you. Do not retaliate against Antonio. He has no control of his Alpha and , therefore, is not responsible for Gustavo’s actions. If I find out that you have taken action against the Beta because you’re all pissed off that you didn’t think to go after one of the females yourselves, then I will give you the worst case of jock itch, crabs, and scabies known to man, complete with flea infestation. And I’ll throw in some lice so that no itching bug gets its feelings hurt from being left out.” She waited a few heartbeats letting her threat set in before releasing them from the binding.
    “What are you going to do?” Kale asked as he rolled his shoulders. Peri imagined if he’d been in his wolf skin he would have given himself a good shake to rid himself of the effects of her