Realizing I was staring like some kind of creep, I tore my gaze away with a ragged breath. As quietly as possible, I stepped behind a tree and wondered what I should do. It would be hard to hike back down without making any noise, and even the smallest crackle of leaves or snap of a branch would alert his wolf senses. It was a miracle I hadn’t stepped on any on the way up.
As I tried to slink away, a twig snapped under my foot and my theory was confirmed as he turned, eyes narrowed, searching me out. Definitely a shifter, and now he knew I was here. He lifted his head as if trying to catch my scent. I chewed on my lip, trying to figure out my next step. From where I was it looked like I was hiding, or even spying on him. I huffed in frustration. There was no good way out of this.
Before I could decide, he shifted. It was so easy, so smooth that I almost missed it. A huge black wolf with brilliant blue, intelligent eyes prowled directly toward me. There was no way I could outrun him on foot, not when he was in his wolf form. I stepped out from behind the trees, holding my hands up to show I wasn’t carrying any weapons.
A low growl overpowered the thunder of the falls, and he crouched down, heavy muscles bunching as if he was preparing to attack.
“Dammit,” I muttered. Without any Cancer armor, I didn’t stand a chance against his wolf’s teeth, and since I didn’t have my own wolf yet—really poor timing, Ayla—I’d have to depend on his mercy alone. “I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’m just hiking—”
The huge wolf lunged toward me, and I let out a startled cry as he rammed into me and knocked me to the forest floor. I tried to wriggle away from his sharp fangs and claws, but then he shifted back. Now a hard and very naked human body had me pinned beneath him. His knees dug into my thighs, and he captured each of my wrists with his hands. His tanned face was close enough that I could see that his eyes were just as blue as when he was a wolf, and he had some rugged scruff along his jaw that only made him sexier.
Stop it, I told my brain. You shouldn’t be noticing how hot he is, you’re seconds away from getting your throat ripped out if you say the wrong thing.
But as our eyes met, something passed between us, something that made my heart race faster and my breathing catch. Something that tugged on my soul and said this one. Desire and yearning like I'd never known before flared inside me, and I wondered if he felt it too.
“What are you doing out here?” His eyes dropped to my lips like he couldn't help himself, and then his face lowered, his nose slowly brushing against my neck, sending a shiver through me. I thought he might press his lips there next, but then he pulled back. “Cancer pack?” he snarled it like an insult. “You should be down with the others.”
“I’m hiking, not lost,” I said again, trying not to let the words tremble like my body was doing, while the pulse at my throat beat rapidly. I was all too aware that he was completely naked, and I kept my gaze pinned on his face, not daring to look down. He’d notice, and I didn’t know if I could look away from his body if I broke his gaze. He radiated heat and it soaked all the way into my bones from where we touched. Even though I was terrified, I couldn’t stop the rush of warmth pooling between my thighs from the feel of his hard body on top of mine.
"Hiking?" he asked as if he didn't believe me.
“Before the ritual tonight I wanted to take some time by myself. That’s allowed, isn't it?” I felt a little braver, and my smart mouth was back online. “This is all neutral land.”
“Yes, but surely you have pack members who are missing you.”
I wanted to roll my eyes. Right. Mira was too busy chasing after anything that smiled at her and Wesley was probably lapping up Dad’s praise. “No one would miss me.”
“Funny." His tone was patronizing, as was the slight smirk on his face as he took the rest of me in. His eyes lingered, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was checking me out. “And here I thought the Cancer pack was pretty tight-knit.”
I snorted at that, unable to help myself. “You obviously don’t know anything about me.”
The man’s face darkened. “And I don’t want to. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll forget you ever saw me.”
“Or what? You’ll kill me? Please, go ahead. I’d like to see you explain how you killed someone in Sun Witch territory during the Convergence. I’ll laugh at you from the afterlife.”
His gaze darkened further, his blue eyes going almost black. “You have a death wish, little wolf.”
Somehow that rankled more than mutt or half-breed. He couldn’t have been much older than I was. “No, I’ve just got nothing to lose.”
He curled his lips back in another snarl. He looked ready to say something else, but his attention suddenly shifted elsewhere, his piercing blue eyes focusing on the brush a few feet back.
I heard it a moment later than he did, the rustle of something moving within them, something obviously human. I tensed immediately. I’d been in enough fights to know that the arrival of someone else wasn’t always a good thing. Especially this far out from my own pack. It would more than likely be someone from his pack, whichever one that was.
“Let me go,” I said, squirming in his hold once more, trying to get the heavy press of his body to give. No such luck, and all it did was rub me against every naked, hard inch of him. And oh god, he was definitely hard. And big too. Lust flared inside me like a bonfire sparking to life. I'd never felt anything like it before, and it made me gasp. He glanced down at me, lips ghosting up into a dark smile like he knew exactly what I was thinking about, before pushing himself away from me.
"Get out of here, little wolf," he said. "And forget you ever saw us."
Before I could look him over further, he shifted back into his wolf and greeted the other two males who melted out of the brush with a soft chuff. I scrambled to my feet, stepping back toward the trail. Another low growl resonated from his wolf’s lips, warning me away. The two males looked between him and me, but I didn’t recognize either of them. It was likely I just hadn’t seen them before, but something about this whole situation set my teeth on edge. What were they all doing so far away from the Convergence?
Now that his body wasn't on top of mine, a semblance of reason returned to my stupid head. Without looking back, I turned tail and fled, sprinting back down the way I’d come, trying to put as much distance between us as I could. It was only after I’d slowed to a slow trot that I stopped to wonder which pack they’d been from. The man had smelled like the forest, woodsy and heady, but I couldn’t yet recognize scents like full shifters could. I cursed my lack of wolf for the second time. If I’d been able to shift, I could have unpinned myself, and my keener senses would have alerted me to his presence before I’d stumbled upon him in the first place.
The strange sensation stayed with me the whole way down. There was something odd about that wolf and the two males who had been with him.
Something my gut told me was trouble.
Chapter Five
It was nearly dark by the time I emerged from the woods. I’d had to slow down for a lot of the trail. Once the adrenaline had worn off, I’d been tired and kept stumbling. I’d almost twisted my ankle a few times. The edges of the camp were all but deserted, and I hurried through them toward the dull roar of voices. The area where the babies were blessed this morning had been widened, the food tents pushed out of the way, and the place thronged with shifters. The twelve packs were all arranged in a circle facing inward, where the ritual would be performed.
I searched out my family, finding Wesley seated beside our dad. At my arrival, Dad looked up and his eyes flashed, and I realized that I’d made a mistake showing up after everyone was already gathered.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
I sucked in a breath. Surely he’d keep his voice down? “I was walking through the forest.”
“You didn’t embarrass me in front of anyone, did you?” He still hadn’t lowered his voice, and the nearby packs were going silent, most looking at us. Usually
he made it a point to keep up the act in front of everyone, but I realized this was an exercise in humiliation. I hadn’t followed orders, and he was punishing me for it. Showing how tough he was as an alpha.
“No,” I said. “I didn’t talk to anyone at all.” Anyone except a hot male I can't stop thinking about.
Dad raised his eyebrows. “So you were being antisocial then. You’re representing our pack tonight, even if you aren’t really a Cancer. You disappoint me constantly, Ayla.”
“You make sure of that." The words slipped out as I looked up at him defiantly. He just had to make sure everyone knew I was an outcast. “If you hadn’t screwed around with a human, maybe you’d have a daughter you could be proud of.”
Dad’s eyes flashed, and for a moment I thought he’d hit me right in front of everyone. But no. That would admit that I’d gotten to him. He’d never show that kind of weakness in front of this many shifters. He simply sneered at me and gave me another alpha command, just because he liked to see me bend to his will. “You’d better sit down now before you inconvenience us more.”
I gritted my teeth and sat next to Wesley. When I chanced a glance up at him, his lips were pressed together in a tight line, but he didn’t dare to speak up against an alpha command, especially in front of everyone. I wouldn’t get any help from him. Jackie was ignoring us entirely, staring into the fire in the center that illuminated the clearing. Probably for the best.
As true night fell and the moon peeked out of the clouds, the silence dragged on, and I felt all eyes on me. I burned with shame, even though I hadn’t actually done anything wrong. I wished I could sink into the ground and cease to exist. But no, that would give them all too much satisfaction.
I kept my chin held high as I glanced between the different packs, refusing to let them cower me. It was probably the one and only time I'd ever see them all gathered like this anyway, and I was curious. I spotted the Gemini pack, with their twin alphas—they always ruled in pairs—and the Virgo alpha, who was female and unmated. Unlike the rest of the packs, the Virgos were matriarchal and their women made all the decisions. I often secretly hoped I'd end up in their pack.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the Sun Witches arrived. They walked through the crowd, shifters moving out of the way for them. I relaxed a little as they passed by, and the rest of the attention was taken off of me.
One woman stood out from the cluster of warm-colored clothes. She was the only one in bright red robes and was practically dripping with gold jewelry. She was beautiful, platinum blonde, and pale, but she didn’t look human. It didn’t take extra senses to feel the power radiating off her. My teeth buzzed as I looked at her, and I found myself focusing on the other women around her, unable to keep staring at her for too long.
“Greetings,” the woman intoned as the other witches fanned out around her. “For those who are new, I am Evanora, the High Priestess of the Sun Witches, and it is my honor to lead this Convergence. This morning we welcomed the newest members of the packs, and tonight we will take those who have come of age and unlock their full potential.”
As she continued in her smooth, sonorous voice, I found myself looking around. I knew what would happen already—I’d been preparing and reading about it for years. The others were all enraptured by her voice, but I found my mind elsewhere. Where was the male I’d seen in the forest? He wasn’t with any of the alphas, and as I scanned faces, I didn’t see him or the other men he was with either. The strange feeling roiling in my gut intensified. There was something off about tonight.
“Once you’ve gained your wolf, there is the potential to meet your mate tonight,” Evanora said, and I felt her gaze heavy on me. A chill went through me as we locked eyes. Everything in me screamed to look down, to show my submission, but I froze in place, fighting the urge. Before I could look away, she moved on, her gaze finding the others who would be part of the ritual tonight. I drew in a breath. Maybe she hadn’t been singling me out, as I’d originally thought, just doing whatever it was that Sun Witches did to make us feel their power.
A gasp went through the crowd, and for a moment, I thought it was because they were reacting to what she said. It didn’t make sense, everyone knew of the ritual to meet their mate. It was what many of us looked forward to most at the Convergence, as much as unlocking our full powers.
Then I saw the movement. It came from the back, and I craned my neck to see what was happening. Evanora’s smooth voice cut off as she noticed, and the whispers increased.
The front line broke to allow four people through. My jaw dropped as I recognized the large, rugged male from the falls, along with the others I’d seen right before I’d turned tail and fled. There was a female with him as well, one that I didn’t recognize.
He was dressed this time, at least partially. No shirt, just dark ripped jeans, and the heavy muscles of his shoulders and chest looked even starker in the firelight than they had under the light of the sun. Now that he wasn’t pinning me to the ground, I saw that his pack mark was on his upper chest. All three of the wolves with him bore the same symbol—a ‘U’ shape with a snake running through it. It didn’t look like any of the twelve Zodiac signs I’d been surrounded by since birth, but it was a pack mark all the same.
Whispers rose up, replacing the stunned silence. I heard the word, “snake,” muttered over and over again, and I wondered if they were talking about the tattoo on the man’s upper arm, which twined around his skin as if it was a real animal, and not just ink. But no, they were looking at all of the new arrivals, not just him.
The other three hung back from the Sun Witches, but the man, who must have been their alpha, stepped right up toward Evanora. He took his time, looking around the gathered packs until his gaze stopped on me and lingered. My breath caught. Out of everyone in the crowd, somehow he’d found me. Had he been looking for me? I felt a bolt of fear go through me, and something else too—something like need. Another whisper went through the ranks of shifters gathered, but I couldn’t move under his piercing gaze, like he was holding me down in the forest all over again.
Then, just as quickly as he’d found me, he looked away. Evanora was radiating hatred, and I felt the tension rise in the shifters around us, caught on the precipice of action.
“The Ophiuchus pack demands to be recognized,” the man said, his voice carrying over everyone.
Shock spilled out, replacing the anticipation. The word Ophiuchus echoed inside my head, digging at old memories that I’d half-forgotten, folktales that I’d learned as a child and abandoned with age and maturity. Ophiuchus was the lost thirteenth Zodiac pack. They were legendary, known as the "snake bearers," and said to be vicious traitors who had no sense of obligation or loyalty. They lived outside of normal society and didn’t interact with anyone if they could help it.
They were also supposed to be myths. I couldn’t remember ever hearing of anyone seeing a member of the Ophiuchus pack in my lifetime. The only time they’d been mentioned was when we’d been children. Be good, the adults had told us, or the Ophiuchus pack will come to take you away. They’d been the bogeymen of our childhoods, always the shadowy figures that had grown less threatening the older I’d gotten.
Now they were here.
The fear I’d felt as a kid was visceral, and it returned as I looked at these strange shifters, outside of any pack I recognized. And the alpha who had pinned me down in the forest? He was the nightmares from my childhood come to life.
“Moon Witch lovers,” someone muttered, and I remembered the other part of the tale. The Ophiuchus pack had been part of the Zodiac Wolves once, but they began interbreeding with the Moon Witches, who had cursed us all those years ago. As a result, the Ophiuchus pack was banished from the Zodiac Wolves. No one had heard anything from them since.
Until now. They stood in front of us in the flesh, standing toe-to-toe with the most powerful Sun Witch. I wondered if any of the stories were true, and they did have Moon Witch magic running through their v
eins. Could this alpha take on the High Priestess?
Evanora was the first to speak into the stunned silence, loud enough for all of us to hear. “You aren’t welcome here,” she said and pointed at the alpha. It didn’t seem to have the effect she wanted, as he simply waited, shoulders drawn back, meeting her gaze. “If this wasn’t the Convergence, and bloodshed was allowed, I would have cut you down myself already.”
The alpha drew his lips back in a parody of a smile—all the right motions, but none of the humor. “I’m not here to fight,” he said, and his posture went from threatening to neutral in the blink of an eye. I remembered the graceful way he’d shifted and moved in the forest. This was an alpha who had utter control of his body, who commanded each muscle. “But it’s time that you allow us to rejoin the Zodiac Wolves.”
“Never,” Evanora hissed.
“I will discuss it with the alphas, Sun Witch,” the alpha said, his growl rumbling low in his chest. “We may be on your turf, but this is wolf business. Even you couldn’t hold back the force of all thirteen packs if we decided to turn.”
“You’ll never be one of us, snakes,” someone called. I recognized the voice and found the alpha of the Leo pack standing. Dixon Marsten looked like a Viking warrior of old with long blond hair and a thick beard, and I could see people shrinking back from the intimidating bellow of his voice. Beside him stood his son, Jordan, who had his arms crossed. He shot me a look that practically burned off my skin before he jerked his chin back to the events unfolding in front of us.
“For once, we agree on something,” Dad said, standing as well. “Get out of here, before we change our minds about the no bloodshed rule.” It was an empty threat, but it got the rest of the packs nodding and making noise. I heard more than one jeer come from the Cancer pack before it was picked up by other packs and passed along.
The Ophiuchus alpha glared at Dixon with such seething hatred it felt like waves of rolling heat. “If you won’t allow us to become your allies, then we will become your enemies.” His voice was so deep, it was practically a growl. The hair at the back of my neck stood at that noise, and the threat contained within it. “And you really don't want me as your enemy.”
Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack Book 1) Page 4
