I don't know how long we slept, no sun was peeking into our little hiding spot to give me a hint, but I didn't care; there was no way I could continue this journey being severely weakened. I move my shoulder, it's a little stiff, but the discomfort doesn't bother me. I try to look at my other wounds, but it's dark in this thicket. My werewolf sight gives me a general idea that they've all closed, though.
When I go to get up, I realize there's a warmth sitting next to me. The fuck? Did Bambi come home last night or some shit? The little ball of warmth moves, and I realize it's a cat. It stretches out and then comes up to me, purring and rubbing itself all over me. How did a cat get in here? I knew we were near a pack and not in the middle of nowhere anymore, but I didn't expect to wake up to a cat next to me. But regardless, I pet the little furball anyways.
"How did you get here, little one? You know I don't have any food for you." I say while scratching its chin.
The mention of food makes my belly rumble, and I realize I don't have any food for me either. Deciding it was time to get up, I threw my duffel bag out of the small hole in the thicket and looked back at the little kitty.
"Changed my mind, if you want some food, I'll share," I tell it before I climb out.
I wait by the entrance for a minute, squinting my eyes at the brightness of the outside. I looked around, knowing that a stream was nearby. I could probably catch something and share it with my new buddy. I hoped he or she would come out; despite being a whole-ass wolf, I considered myself a cat person. Sure enough, a few seconds later, the cat comes crawling out.
It's an all-black cat with a tiny white spot on its chest; it walks in front of me just as I'm wondering whether it's male or female and shows off a massive pair of balls. Well, that answers that.
I walk over to the stream with the little guy following me before I realize I've never fished a day in my life before.
'Uh, Tamisra, a little help here,' I say to my wolf, who was trying to go back to sleep.
She groans and tells me to let my claws out and reach into the water. I do that and fail miserably as a fish slips right past my claws, and then another one does the same when I reach in with my other hand.
'Useless human, here, give me control,' Tamisra says as I huff at her remark internally.
She effortlessly catches 3 fish and uses my claws to descale them. I hand one to my friend while I let my canines out and start eating one of the others. I'm so hungry that I don't even notice that I'm literally eating raw fish, gourmet sushi, I guess?
"We have to come up with a name for you if you want to stay with me," I tell the cat, who couldn't care less about my presence while he chows down.
Using my nonfish hand, I start petting him and thinking about random names. I actually always wanted a pet cat, but my mom never liked them, and I never even thought about asking Felix. As odd as it sounds, werewolves still had pets. We crave companionship just as much as regular humans who have pets. Thankfully, hunting dogs, cats, and birds is illegal, given that they might be someone's pet. The whole idea actually came from witches and their familiars. Werewolves and witches have been at peace for over a hundred years now. When the witches were allowed in our territory, they would bring their familiars with them. The werewolves soon realized they liked having pets around just as much as the witches.
"Hmmm, how about Nisha? You look like a Nisha," I say as if he would respond.
We finish our breakfast, and I realize if I want him to stay with me, I'll have to figure out how to carry him in wolf form. I reach over to my duffel bag and move some things around, piling my clothes up to make a cushion for him. I lift him into the bag and zipper it so only his head sticks out. Should I go away to shift? I don't want to scare him. None of the other cats back in the pack were bothered by wolves, so I just decided to shift.
I look at him through Tamisra's eyes as he lets out a big lazy yawn and closes his eyes. Well. That was easy. Tamisra picks up our bag, and we start in a slow jog, not wanting to make Nisha motion sick, but eventually, she starts running at full speed.
'How are the lands we will travel through in terms of safety?' I ask Tamisra, shuddering at my memory of the rogue territory.
'Safe as far as I know, we'll travel through some of the allies' neutral territory, which no rogues or vampires camp out on. There's some territory I'm not sure of, but I doubt it will be anything like the rogue lands. We should be there by tomorrow night. Seth is probably worried about us; we slept for 36 hours.'
My jaw drops
'36 hours?! Worried is an understatement. He'll be freaking out! I can't believe we're a whole day and a half behind,' I say, shocked.
'We had some serious wounds; it was for the best. Thankfully that thicket was well hidden. You sleep like the dead, you know.'
'Shut up, we share a brain; that makes you no different.' I say, and she laughs in my head
We run for hours; Nisha just sits in his little bed, enjoying the ride. He's a pretty tame cat, I hope I'm not taking anyone's pet, but I didn't notice any werewolf scent on him, so I shrug it off. As night falls, we slow down our run into a trot, but neither of us is tired.
'We made good time today; if we keep going, I can have us there by morning,' Tamisra says.
'How about we eat and take a break and then go?' I respond
She obliges, shutting me out and only giving me control when she tries to get Nisha back into the duffel. I roll my eyes and shift back, picking him up and securing him inside. We shift back to our wolf form and start running again, praying we don't run into any more issues along the way.
We're only about a mile or two away from the Ivory Moon's border when Tamisra tells me to shift back to human form and walk the rest of the way. Her legs were obviously tired, but she kept us going throughout the night. I would guess it's around 5 am because the sun is just starting to rise. It would only take me 20 minutes to get to the border, so I shift back and put on some clothes. I probably smell horrible and don't even want to know what's made its way into my hair. I get Nisha out of the duffel bag, and he stretches his legs before plopping on his side. "Seriously? You've been in that duffel bag for how long and still don't want to walk?" I say as I pick him up and hold him in both arms. He meows at me but then starts purring as I pet him while we walk. I eventually can make out the border, where two wolves and a female in her human form are patrolling. Luck is on my side; I thought I would have to wait around until border patrol crossed this way. As I approach, the wolves ra
His ice-blue eyes are cold and calculating. I feel like he's staring right into the depths of my soul. Refusing to show weakness, I hold his gaze, but Tamisra is going crazy in my head. 'Let me out, let me out! I need to see,' she says while pushing her way forward to share my sight. I'm too shocked to shove her back; she never acts like this. Her dark blue eyes must be swirling into my green because I see his ice blue eyes start to bleed brown, showing his wolf must have also come forward. I'm frozen as I take him in. He's all Alpha male, he has chestnut brown hair pulled into a man bun, and the scruff on his face is the same color. His jawline is so sharp it could slice through glass, and yeah I wouldn’t mind sitting on those perfect plump lips. His muscles are clearly straining against his black shirt and I do my best not to stare too hard at those delicious arms I feel my cheeks turn pink because of my dirty thoughts, and Tamisra sending me…interesting images of him isn't help
I watch as the girl and Seth walk out of my office. I was a little taken aback by her; I didn't expect her to be so…interesting? That's an understatement because I want to follow her to her room and listen to her talk in that angel's voice for hours. No woman has ever caught my attention like that before. I've had my fair share, but it was always hookups. I've never had trouble getting a woman; they're always willing to bed an Alpha. I only kept affairs outside my pack, though. That shit can get too messy, and I have way better things to worry about than catfights between pack members over petty love disputes. I pour myself a glass of bourbon while I think about this girl. If she wasn't Seth's sister, I'd be suspicious about her; a fake mate bond is no easy feat. But I didn't detect a lie, and I've heard her brother talk shit on the fake mate plenty of times before he even knew the mating bond wasn't natural. I growl when I think about her and another man, my wolf Adonis only feeding
My eyes flutter open, and I feel like I'm sleeping on a cloud. I stiffen, waiting for Felix to wrap his arm around my waist before I remember my current situation, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I feel Nisha stir and rub his head against my hand, purring contentedly. I sit up, run my hand through my hair, and look around my new room. I notice a cat tree in the corner with a water fountain and cat bowl next to it, and I squint my eyes. Fucking Seth! I would have to punch him later. Obviously, I would follow up with a hug and a thank you, but he has already done too much for me! I get out of bed, skip my morning self-pity ritual, and head to the shower. I take a nice, long, hot shower knowing there's no way Felix will interrupt my peace. I get out and groan when I realize I don't have anything for my skincare routine. Oh well, I'll order some when I'm deemed worthy enough to start getting paid. I walk out in a towel, trying to find my duffel bag, but I'm interrupted by a knock on my d
The anger I felt when I saw that filthy mark on her neck made me lose control. I snapped at her and felt fucking guilty for it. So then I tried to cover my anger with a pathetic excuse about her mate tracking her through the mark and I saw the guilt cross her face, showing me that I only made it worse. Fuck, I’m not trying to show her how jealous am but I’m clearly making her think I don’t give a fuck. Which is quickly proving to be not true. I don’t know what it is about her but when she’s near, I just want to follow. I’ve had two conversations with her, and here I am worrying about her and being jealous. Fuck I must need to get laid. She’s hot, yeah, but there’s no reason for me to be jealous. ‘You like her, fuckwad. That’s why’ Adonis remarks in my head but I block him out, not wanting to deal with his shit. I pick up a phone to make a call to Blair, one of the spirit witches who resides in my territory. Thankfully, her afternoon is free and she’ll see Amara. She’s a powerful wi
"The Alpha didn't give me any specifics, so what makes you require my services?" The witch asks me. I suck in a breath before telling her my reality. I should be used to it by now, given how many times I've had to discuss this, but I still hang my head in shame after I'm done. I look back up at her, and she grabs my hand. "I'm sorry that happened to you; this was a crime against your Goddess that should have never happened," she says before I feel calmness rush through me from whatever witchy thing she just did. My shoulders relax, and I let out a relieved sigh before she speaks again. "Come here; I need to touch your face to feel what kind of magic has been embedded in you," she says before reaching out and cupping my cheeks with her eyes closed. I feel a small buzz sound in my head; it's an odd sensation, but I don't fight it. After a few moments, her eyes open. I see a hint of nervousness cross her face, but it's gone as soon as I notice it, making me wonder if I only imagined
I lead Amara back to the pack house after we leave Blair's. We're both silent the whole way, other than her telling me she'll be in her room if I need her for anything. I wish I said something to make her feel better, but I was just as lost. I wasn't expecting Blair to say it wasn't witches' magic. There are a lot of possibilities on what it could be from then, but the question that remains is why Amara? I won't lie; I'm a little suspicious of her. It's possible that she really and truly has no idea what this is all about; she didn't even hesitate when I told her I was taking her to Blair; she actually looked eager until we found out it wasn't witches' magic. But I saw something cross in her eyes when Blair was talking to her. I've seen it plenty of times, and it looked like she was holding something back. I'll have to keep an eye on her and maybe spend more time around her. Which was certainly fine by me. I was also purposefully avoiding the fact that watching her in physical pain
I stayed in my room all day. I feel bad, I should be out there observing training, but I can't focus on anything except what Blair told me. I'm standing on my balcony, a glass of wine in hand-courtesy of Seth, the best big brother ever-trying to think of all the other supernatural creatures who wield black magic. I've never had any apparent interaction with any, certainly not a dragon. As far as I knew, they were endangered, and most lived in Michigan, Italy, or Switzerland. I've crossed paths with a demon or two, and then there were the vampires who attacked us, but again, never any interaction. Fae and Angels had light magic, so they weren't on my suspect list, and Angels never bothered with Earth; I've never even seen one in person. They were more of a mystery than the dragons.The werewolf community was really only open to witches. They help us keep our lands healthy and fertile, and we offer them shelter. Most live for free in exchange for their magic, but most have shops in the