Free The Alpha's Quest Collection by Jessica Ryan

had a human.
    * * *
    This is a nightmare, Hawk thought as he stopped for the umpteenth time and stared up at the sun, trying to find his way.
    Nightfall should have already come, but the sun still remained high overhead. Every patch of forest looked exactly the same and he couldn’t pick up any scent to lead him out of his endless loop.
    It was the evil presence, he knew it was. It was corrupting the forest and corrupting his mind. He was completely and utterly lost. He was the all-powerful watcher of Bucklin, but now he was completely and utterly blind—his worst nightmare.
    The incessant chattering and questioning from the human he had dragged along didn’t help matters, either. Were all humans this damn chatty and inquisitive? If so, he didn’t understand how Rowan put up with it, since he had even less tolerance for extraneous bullshit than Hawk did.
    He looked back at her as she smiled at him, still following closely behind. She was radiant in the sunlight, not letting the fact that they had been walking for close to fifteen hours get her down.
    Does she even know how long we’ve been walking? he wondered. She hasn’t even commented that night never fell. Does she know?
    Hawk was becoming even more convinced that this human was insane. Who knew what crazy thoughts were flying through her head?
    Was she going to brandish a knife and kill him the moment he let his guard down? Humans did love to kill each other for petty reasons. Or was she high on some sort of drug or alcohol? It was impossible for a werewolf to be affected by either due to their high metabolism, but he had heard plenty of stories about the way humans reacted to those things.
    “What?” she finally asked as he continued to stare at her.
    “Do you notice nothing?” he asked, doing nothing to hide the annoyance in his voice.
    “What do you mean?” she asked, looking confused.
    “Do you know how long we’ve been walking?” he asked.
    “A long time,” she said.
    “Try fifteen hours,” he said.
    “Fifteen hours?” she asked, her eyes growing wide. “It hasn’t been that long. I’d be dead if we’d been walking that long.”
    “It has been that long,” he insisted. “And you haven’t noticed something else?”
    “No. What?”
    “It should be nighttime.”
    “You’re right,” she answered, looking up at the sky. “Where’s the moon?”
    “Where’s the moon?” he asked, growing very annoyed. “How about why the hell is the sun still up?”
    “Oh yeah, that.”
    “Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Oh yeah!”
    “Whoa there, Mister Hawk,” she said, putting both hands out in a slow down motion. “Calm down. There’s no need to be shouting.”
    “What is with you?” he asked, grabbing at his hair. His calm and cool demeanor had completely left him now. He was powerless against the evil that was manipulating him and powerless against the human female. “Nothing seems to bother you at all. Does it not bother you that you’re on a quest with a werewolf to find a missing girl who was kidnapped by some bad dudes that could very well be waiting to do us harm?”
    “Yeah, you’re right,” she said, rubbing her chin as if she was deep in thought. “That is pretty bad.”
    “Are you insane?” he asked bluntly.
    “Excuse me?” she asked, finally growing angry. “What did you say to me?”
    “Are you a crazy person?” he asked, leaning over close to her face. He took his index finger and pressed it against her forehead, pushing her head back with it. “Are there five people running around up there telling you what to do?”
    “Why in the hell would you ask me that?” she asked, slapping his hand away.
    “Because you act like a crazy person,” he said.
    “Maybe you act like a crazy person to me,” she shot back.
    “This isn’t about me,” he said, crossing his arms in front of him. “This is about you and whatever mental issues you have. No human should be this calm and cool in the face of so much danger. No human should