I supposed that made sense. The Cancer pack protected its lands too, including the wildlife—especially the crabs—in the area. "Even Kaden?"
"Oh yeah, he was the best at it," Jack said with a grin.
I could hardly imagine a young Kaden stopping traffic to help a snake cross a highway. Then again, he was the same person who had a telescope up on the roof of his house to look at the stars. There was so much more to him below the grumpy surface, and I desperately wished I could get to know that side of him. Not that you’ll get a chance now, my brain made sure to supply. I shoved the thought away and made an awkward joke instead. "And here I thought there was another reason they called you snake charmers."
Harper waggled her eyebrows at me. "From what I heard, you're the one charming snakes. Kaden's snake, anyway."
The entire van chuckled at that and I grinned and shook my head. The laughter died down when Clayton called out, “Be on the lookout. We’re leaving pack lands.”
I peered out of the windows, but all I saw was forest on either side of the road. Everyone seemed to have a sixth sense about it, and I had no clue how they could tell. There weren’t any visible markers, and I didn’t see any of the other shifters looking for visible clues. They all just nodded, and Tanner clenched his hand into a fist.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“It’s a pack thing,” Tanner said. Wasn’t he just being Mr. Forthcoming with his information today?
“The alpha marks the territory,” Jack added.
“You mean marks like...he pees?” I asked. All six of them laughed, and I looked around at them, waiting for them to tell me.
Jack shook his head and his elbow found my side. “Do they do that in the Cancer pack? I know the Zodiac Wolves are backward, but I didn’t think they were that backward.”
I huffed out a breath and shook my head. Fine, let them keep their secrets. It was probably just another thing that only pack members knew about.
We idly chatted as we drove and I was surprised by how easy it was to talk to them. They didn’t exclude me from the conversation. If I’d been with my old pack, it would have been a silent, long drive and it would have been made extremely clear that I wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone, and no one would talk to me.
We arrived at a city after about an hour, and Clayton pulled into a storage facility area. It was huge, rows upon rows of metal buildings. I’d never think that a storage facility could take up an entire block, but I'd never spent much time in a city either.
Clayton backed the van up to a storage unit. We’d taken so many turns I had no doubt I would get lost trying to get out on my own. When he parked, everyone jumped into motion.
“Up and at ‘em,” Jack said, as I took my seatbelt off. “We don’t have all day.”
We all quickly unloaded from the van. Clayton unlocked the storage unit and pulled it open, while Dane, the quiet one, opened the back of the van. The unit was stuffed with boxes, and they started piling them into the back of the van. I went to help, but then the hairs stood up at the back of my neck, and I looked around. That usually only happened when someone was watching, but I couldn’t see anyone. The other shifters seemed immune to it, and I shook the feeling off.
I grabbed a box, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Harper motioned me a few feet away. I frowned at her. “What is it?”
The joking air that seemed to surround the female shifter had all but evaporated. She looked at me, and her eyes suddenly seemed much older than her years. I didn’t know how old she was, but with those eyes alone, I would have said at least forty, though she didn’t look a day over her mid-twenties. “If you want to leave, now would be the best time."
I stared at her, mouth wide open. Her words didn’t quite compute.
“None of us will try to stop you," she added. "We don’t think it’s right that Kaden’s forcing you to stay with us like a prisoner. He’s a good alpha but he gets ideas in his head about the Leo pack, and he won’t see reason when it comes to them.”
It hit me all at once. I’d been so caught up in training and everything else that I’d managed to forget I’d spent the first few days with the Ophiuchus pack in a cell. “You mean, run away?” I asked. “How would you even explain it to Kaden?”
“We’ve all agreed that we'll say you slipped past us at a gas station after asking to go to the bathroom. By the time we thought to check on you, you were long gone.”
“You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?” I cocked my head at her, surprised and also pleased by her kindness. It was comforting to know they'd thought about me long enough to realize I might not be comfortable being held captive in their pack lands.
I couldn't deny that the idea of going somewhere else was tempting. I’d be free from Kaden and his moods, free from being the town's janitor, free from working so hard to prove myself worthy. But then I thought about leaving Coronis and my chest clenched. The small town had grown on me, and all of its occupants had as well. I’d take it all, even if it included being bait for the Leo pack.
Even if it meant putting up with Kaden's rejection.
I shook my head and smiled at Harper. “Thank you for the offer, I really appreciate it. But I think I’ve finally found my place, and it’s with the Ophiuchus pack. I hope one day I'll be allowed to join you as a full member.”
"I hope so too." Harper patted me on the shoulder before turning to go help with the rest of the boxes.
As I went to join her, movement caught at the corner of my eye. I swiveled my head around to catch the sight—and scent—of new shifters. There were six of them, and they weren’t from the Ophiuchus pack.
I had a feeling they were here for me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Adrenaline coursed through my body as the six wolves began stalking toward us. As they got closer, I saw that several had Aries symbols like the shifters in the woods, but there were a few that had Taurus symbols as well. A spike of anger followed hot on the adrenaline. Still no Leos. Jordan wouldn’t send any of his own pack after me, just his grunts. I wasn’t worth his own time either, that much was clear.
When I glanced around, I realized that everyone but me had shifted. I let my wolf unfurl, bones reforming, fur covering my skin, teeth turning to fangs. It happened quickly now, my clothes tearing and falling off me as my body changed. When I was standing on four legs instead of two, I let off a long, menacing growl at the wolves surrounding us.
Everyone suddenly jumped into action, leaping forward, teeth bared. The air filled with the sounds of fighting, growling, and snapping. Harper burst out from the storage container, and I watched as she snarled and threw herself directly into the path of the attacking Aries shifters. I was in the thick of it too, ready to defend myself and the people I'd endangered by being with me. As members of the same pack, they could communicate telepathically, all except for me. But I wouldn't let that stop me.
Kaden should never have let me out of the pack lands, I thought, as I chomped on the leg of a Taurus wolf.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an Aries shifter preparing to charge right for Harper, and I felt the ghost of the pain from when I'd been hit by that same move in the woods. Harper would be knocked head-on with it.
No! I leaped forward before I could think to do anything else, and slammed into Harper just as the ram charge hit, knocking her out of the way. For a moment, I didn’t feel anything as we fell in a tangle of fur and limbs. I braced for the overwhelming pain of before, but it felt mild in comparison. The charge must have just clipped me, the rest of it hitting dead air.
I nuzzled Harper with my nose, smelling her for injury, checking to see if she was all right. She nudged her head against me, her caramel-colored tail swishing, and in her eyes, I saw gratitude. We both turned back, preparing to join the fight again.
I had one thing going for me: they wanted me alive. I had the best chance of surviving out of anyone here, and even though I wasn't an official pack member yet, I felt a strong sen
se of loyalty to the others.
The wolf that had charged us had already joined the fight again, going against Clayton with another Aries wolf. No, you don’t, I thought. You’re not hurting anyone else.
I watched, enhanced senses picking up the perfect time to duck in. There. An opening. I lunged forward and bit into the neck of the Aries that had attacked Harper. He was so focused on fighting Clayton that he didn’t notice that he’d left himself wide open for a side attack. There was a crunch and the soft give of flesh beneath my jaws, along with the taste of hot blood coating my tongue. The Aries shifter yelped and ripped himself out of my grip in a feeble attempt to escape. It did nothing but hasten the shifter’s death, and I didn’t even have time to watch him fall to the ground before I joined the fighting once more.
My contribution seemed to have done something because the Ophiuchus wolves were winning, I saw two more of the wolves on the ground, unmoving. The rest of the Taurus and Aries wolves stepped back as we swelled together, growling and snapping at the wolves, and they turned tail and ran. I watched them go, satisfaction thrumming through my veins alongside the rush of adrenaline.
Everyone around me began to shift back, and I followed suit. I scanned over everyone, trying to see if anyone was hurt. No one seemed to be mortally wounded. Just a few scrapes and bruises. Jack and Clayton both were bleeding, but nothing that a shifter couldn't heal.
“Let’s get out of here,” Clayton said. “We don’t have much time before they come back with reinforcements."
We all voiced agreement before getting the rest of the supplies loaded up. We were all buck naked, but that didn't matter—what mattered was getting this done as quickly as possible. Once finished, Clayton passed out spare jackets and blankets to all of us, and we piled back into the van.
As we drove away, a thought struck me. “Will they be able to track us back to Coronis?”
“Nope,” Harper said. She was sitting beside me in the van this time, with Tanner in the back. “They won’t be able to track us once we get back into pack territory.” She cocked her head, studying me with an odd expression on her face.
“What?” I asked.
“You saved my life. I thought I was going to be hit with the Aries’ ram charge for sure, but you knocked me out of the way. It was a damn fool thing to do. You almost got hit yourself.”
“I’ve been hit with it before, and I walked away.” Not without Kaden’s help, my mind helpfully reminded me, but I shoved that thought out of the way. I didn’t need to be thinking anything at all about Kaden right now. He wasn’t even here. “No one else should have to go through that pain.”
Harper observed me for a few moments longer, and then turned to look out the window. She didn’t say another thing for the rest of the drive, and I found that I already missed her tough smile. Everyone was pretty subdued, in fact. I wanted to talk with them to help the jitter of the fight fade, or to apologize for putting everyone in danger, but I didn’t want to interrupt their thoughts.
We got back to Coronis on a return trip that seemed to take twice as long as the one to the storage facility, and Clayton pulled right back up into Kaden’s driveway. Where Kaden stood with his arms crossed, his muscles bulging, and his jaw clenched.
As we began piling out, I watched Kaden’s face. His frown deepened as he took in our half-dressed states and the blood all over us—and then he charged forward. He grabbed my arm and dragged me to the side, his gaze raking down my body, which I'd wrapped up as best I could in a small blanket.
"What happened?" he growled. "Are you injured?"
I yanked my arm away from him and adjusted the blanket, covering myself better. "We were attacked, but I'm fine. I don't need you to heal me, if that's what you're worried about."
His lips pressed into a tight line, and then he asked, "Aries again?"
"And some Taurus too."
He swore under his breath and turned to Harper, who watched us with wide eyes. "Did you ask her?”
Harper stood a little taller under her alpha's scrutiny and nodded. “I did, but she refused. She said she wants to remain with the pack.”
What? I blinked between them, my brain still struggling to catch up. Surely, surely, this wasn’t what it sounded like.
“How did she perform in a fight?” Kaden asked.
Harper grinned. “Good. Better than good, actually. She saved my life and even killed one of the Aries wolves.”
"What are you talking about?" I asked, getting right up in Kaden's face. "Was this some kind of test?"
Kaden looked down at me with no emotion on his perfect face. I could hardly believe that only hours earlier we’d been naked together. “Yes, a loyalty test for potential recruits. Everyone has to go through it. The way is cleared for the recruit to leave and even betray the pack if they wanted to, so we can see their true loyalties and motivations."
"And the attack?" I practically spat at him. "Was that part of the test too?"
“No, the attack wasn’t part of it, but now no one will doubt you.”
“No one will doubt me? Who would be left to doubt me if they’d all been killed?" I shoved my finger into his chest. "You put everyone in danger just to prove my loyalty. Your stupid test could have cost all of them their lives!"
"Careful," Kaden growled deep in his chest. “Remember who you’re talking to.”
Part of me wanted to back down in the face of that power. He’d threatened to kill me for less before, but now I didn’t care. Besides, I knew he would never really hurt me. Not physically anyway. And I was exhausted, covered in blood, and really sick of his fucking attitude.
I put my hands on my hips. "Oh, I remember, alpha. I just watched members of your pack fight for their lives, all to defend me in a battle that didn't need to happen. You should never have let me leave the pack lands, or at the very least you could have had the balls to come with us since you knew what might happen. So you can shove your authority up your ass."
His eyebrows darted up at that, and all the other shifters gaped at me like I'd lost my damn mind. Fuck it, I was pretty sure my mind was long gone at this point, and I was beyond caring. I just didn't want anyone else to die for me.
I was pretty sure Kaden was about to snap and go off on me, and I knew his anger would be terrifying. But he just crossed those meaty arms and stared at me so long I thought he wasn't going to answer at all.
"You're right," he said, and my mouth fell open. Was the sky falling, or had Kaden just admitted I was right? "I shouldn't have put you or the others in danger," he continued, while his hand reached up like he was going to touch my face before he dropped it again. "At the very least, I should have been there to protect you. But I had to be sure you were loyal before I could invite you to join the pack.”
I took a step back. "You...what?"
Kaden’s eyes had a certain gleam to them, one I hadn’t seen before. It looked almost like satisfaction. “You’ve proven your loyalty, and passed all of our tests. I'm inviting you to become a true member of the Ophiuchus pack, if you so desire."
I stared at him for a few moments, elation running through my veins. This was all I had wanted for so long, ever since Stella had taken me on a tour of Coronis. My anger faded and a grin broke across my face as I took in the sincerity in Kaden’s voice. He was really offering this to me. Me, who had always been rejected and unwanted. Until now.
Before I could think better of it, I lunged forward and wrapped my arms around Kaden. "Thank you."
He huffed out a breath, caught off guard, standing as stiff as a board as I hugged him. “What the hell are you doing?”
“We call them hugs, Kaden,” I said. “They’re used to show gratitude among people who aren’t emotionally stunted.”
“You’re insufferable,” Kaden said, but he didn’t push me away either.
I pulled back and the other shifters came forward to congratulate me, welcoming me to the pack. Kaden watched us with a look on his face that I thought might actually be pride
. My alpha, I thought as warmth spread through me. But I couldn't stop the heartbreaking thought that followed it.
He should be my mate too.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Meet us in town at dusk, the note said. I’d read over it so many times, the words had all blurred together into a nonsensical mess in my head. After returning from our supply run, I'd had a quick lunch and taken a shower, then found the note waiting for me on my bed. It looked like Stella's handwriting, not Kaden's, and I wasn't sure what to make of it.
Once the sun dipped below the horizon, I finally left the house. As I stepped outside, I heard distant music, which sounded like it was coming from the center of town. I’d heard similar noise during the night of the full moon, but there wasn’t anything to celebrate today.
I stopped at the edge of the town square and stared. Every Ophiuchus shifter who lived in Coronis seemed to be there on the grass. Tables had been set up, laden with food and drinks, and I watched for a few moments as everyone milled around, chatting and smiling. The atmosphere was completely relaxed as if the entire day had been a bad dream.
Stella broke away from the crowd and began walking toward me with a huge smile. “Come on,” she said, motioning me toward the group of people.
I followed her toward the tables, and several shifters looked up at me. An older woman walked up to me, someone I’d never met before. “Ayla,” she said, grinning at me as if we were long-lost friends instead of complete strangers. “Welcome to the pack!”
“Thank you,” I said, and hurried after Stella toward the food table. If I was going to talk to everyone in the Ophiuchus pack, I at least wanted to eat while I was doing it. A few more shifters stopped me on the way, offering their congratulations, and it was all very kind but overwhelming too.
“Ayla!”
I turned to find Stella coming toward me with two plates of food and let out a relieved sigh.
She pushed one into my hands with a grin. "You look like you need this."
Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack Book 1) Page 20
