Chapter 2

With her gaze fixed on Rodyn, she struggled to maintain her composure as her heart pounded against the memories of their last encounter.

It was the night before she left for Broiia. She was fourteen; Rodyn seventeen– and they both planned to visit Eleadoí–the capital–in the fall. Their relationship was never meant to be: Emory knew Rodyn would never be her mate even without needing to tap into her wolf — she had never felt that spark ignite with him.

They had both been through certain life-altering changes in the last few months leading up to that day and they both knew they didn’t belong together. But their chemistry kept drawing them back to each other. He was hot, exciting — and completely wrong for her.

The morning after she left Krelon, it still didn’t feel real. Rodyn was impossible to keep track of, and not just because Aunt Kinshra wouldn’t let her. Five years ago, Rodyn vanished from the map of the Empire of Morrian, and rumours spread that he had gone rogue.

“Rodyn we talked about–”

“Stop talking, Trey,” Emory shouted, her nails digging into the palms of her hands as she clenched them into fists beside her.

“Emory,” Trey said softly.

“At least attempt to salvage what’s left of my dignity!”

“This isn’t about you. It’s about keeping the last two packs in this fight true to their cause! Emory, you owe your family this.”

Oh, how that senseless statement of his just blew her lid right off.

“Family? I haven’t had one since our parents died because you were more interested in being Alpha and fighting wars. You ripped me away from everything I knew now you speak of debt to my family?”

“Emory,” Trey called.

“What? Are you about to tell me everything you’ve done was to protect me? You don’t even know me. In nine years, neither you nor my supposed family ever visited me. Not once!” Emory looked at him, scowling.

Trey stood right in front of her, eyes firmly fixed on her with such merciless aggression that if he wasn’t her brother, she would be scared. Through his link as Alpha, he commanded her with a glint in his green eyes.

Sit down and listen to me.

With gritted teeth, she walked to the table in the middle of the room, took a deep breath and sat down. That was the first time she’d felt a connection to her pack, to her Alpha, to anything in nine fucking years. With a glare and a growl, she looked at Trey.

“Could I speak with Emory? ” Roydn asked.

“I have nothing to say to you, Rodyn.” Emory’s words were sharp, full of spite. “Believe me, if I had known Trey’s intention for inviting me was to offer me as a means to an end, I wouldn’t have shown up. I have no interest in being your mate.”

The fact that he got another chance to reject her and he took it was more than she could handle. The asshole just had to do all this with a bunch of other people present in the room. Running her fingers through her hair, she huffed out her irritation at everything.

“I believe that,” Rodyn said quietly.

“Trey and I have several years' worth of catching up to do, and I have brothers to mourn.” Moving from the chair, she walked over to two longtime friends who had much more to talk about than the current commotion about forcing a bond through marriage.

Like the real reason, she came back to Krelon in the first place. There was more to it than finding out why Trey didn’t respond to her messages from Broiia, including the urgent one she sent after the Hunter’s Moon celebration.

Rodyn folded his arms. “You’re not going to make this easy for me are you?”

Her lips curled in a smirk, but her eyes maintained their stern glint. “There is nothing more annoying than the fact that you think everything revolves around you. Some things never change.”

Rodyn walked up to her and she swallowed as she regarded him. “Emory, we’ve always known we’re not mates. That’s why I cannot possibly agree to such a strategy, particularly with you.”

“Rodyn we talked about this. It’s not about what either of you wants. This is about winning this war,” Trey said glaring at them.

“The wolves seem to have lost faith in this fight, but I- …”

“Can you blame them?” Emory’s words were solemn as she addressed Rodyn’s assertion.

“I understand them. They want peace, even if that means serving under the tyranny of the Lycian king again.” She walked to the edge of the beams by the window and rested her arms on top; for a moment, she stared at the pictures on the wall.

“Anything short of victory would make us pawns in their game! The Lycians targeted the Chavére!” Trey said. “Those self-exalted assholes murdered our family, Emory. Giving up would mean letting them get away with it. I won’t allow that to happen.”

With his jaw clenched hard enough to break, Rodyn said, “All these years and you still don’t believe in this war.”

Not because she thought it was only a matter of time before the wolves lost their ranks and freedom and became subjugated to the Lycians again. That would eventually happen anyway: the Empire of Morrian had more Lycians than they had wolves.

“We were not created to win this war. To think we’ll survive this without suffering extinction is inconceivable, and in a way, it solves the wolf infestation problem for the Lycian king.” Emory finally spoke her mind. “I mean, the promise of the Hunter’s Moon didn’t raise an army of hunters for us. Isn’t that why you are left with forcing your estranged sister to mate with someone who doesn’t want her?”

“Our parents died for this fight, Emory. Our brothers! How can you speak such ugly words?” Trey went to her now, his green eyes dilating as he glared.

“I speak the truth. There’s not much left to fight with especially with the Alpha of Shreveport now serving on Morrian’s council. Your wolves are tired and need to let this go.” Emory returned.

“You don’t know them.” Trey shot. “You have no idea what we’ve faced, fought, and been through. Keep your will-shattering opinions to yourself.”

“Whose fault is it that I don’t know my pack?” Emory asked.

“Do not push me!” Trey growled. “Geary will take you to your room, where you will stay until I send for you.”

Emory sighed as she folded her arms across her chest. “You can’t keep me here against my will.”

“I can, and I will,” Trey countered. “Geary!”

Geary entered the room and stood at attention. “Yes, Alpha?”

“Take Emory to her chamber and remain near until you are certain that she is calm,” he commanded. “Do not leave her side until I ask you to bring her back here.”

Her stomach turned as Geary waved her to the door. Standing with his arms fastened behind him, Rodyn watched the disaster unfold.

“Trey, I know what happened to our family is terrible, but I can’t live here,” she said. “And I’m not trying to cause trouble. Let me pay my respects to Larc and leave.”

“You won’t be here long,” Trey promised glumly walking across the room to the round table. “Just until Larc’s funeral is over and Rodyn does his duty.”

With a grim look on his face, Rodyn made his way to the table and sat with Trey. “Geary, take Lady Chavère to her room now.”

As Emory shook her head with a hiss, she spun on her heels and strode out of the room. She was incredibly tired of everything and as she approached the wrought iron gate, her frustration only got worse. It was a mistake to come back here, but she was excited about seeing her brother again. At this point, she couldn’t help but laugh at herself.

From beside her, Geary said, “The guest house is that way.”

She glared at him fiercely. “I am not staying; I’ve already told you that!”

When Geary stepped in front of her, she took a deep breath. With the scent of her anger growing stronger, the crowd gathered in the vicinity of the compound turned to them.

“Get out of my way, Geary.”

“I can’t let you leave,” he said with a feeling of dread in his voice. “Please, come this way with me.” He motioned towards a picturesque detached guest house that was to their right as he spoke.

“Look, Geary.” Emory stepped up to him. “I don’t have time for this, and I don’t want to hurt you. Let Trey know I won’t be his pawn, and since he doesn’t regard me as a sister, he can forget he ever had one.”

There was a smile on his face. “Hurt me?”

She breathed in the crystalline air of the Mojave Forest behind the compound, moonlight flowing through her veins.

The crowd gasped, transfixed by the glow of Emory’s electric green eyes — eyes that matched those of the moon goddess Aworyn. She felt the furious power of the full moon course through her as she shifted into full hunter form: larger than the wolves, but not quite on par with the Lycians who retained their humanoid shape while transformed.

And the moonlight bathed her in an amber glow.

Geary and the others backed away.

For good reason.

As with the Lycians, her scratch and bite could also kill wolves.

After a bone-chilling howl, she waited. This was it, she thought—her big stand. She resolved to put Kedar in her memory. The hunter wolf without a pack, home, or family.

Then she leapt over the fence, going over eight feet high, and disappeared into the woods behind the Chavére compound.