I can't do this! The moment I stepped through the door and saw the three burly strangers standing with the Alpha, my stomach flipped, and I wanted to bolt. They were totally unknown variables, and I had no idea how they would act. But I knew that I was valuable to Alpha Greyson and to Logan, so I could only hope that I would be somewhat protected if they chose to attack. The door closed behind me, and I felt trapped as three heads turned towards us. “Ah, here they are now!” Alpha Greyson proclaimed wearing a large smile. “Gentlemen, this is my son Logan and his lovely mate-to-be, Silver. Logan, these men are from the White Mountain Pack to the south.” I did my best to keep my chin up as befitting a Luna in training, but I couldn't bring myself to look any of them in the eye as I gave them all a timid smile. Instead, I followed Logan to the coffee table between two couches on the left-hand side of the room to set down the tray I held. Logan, now free of his burden, quickly turned
"It's a Kindness, really.” Tyler chirped, snapping my attention to the overly relaxed and cheerful male. “A mercy killing if you will.” He twirled a hand and shrugged with a small smile.This one, who seemed so warm and charming, was too flippant on the topic of death. He was too casual. This one…I blinked, trying to cover my revulsion as realization struck me like a lightning bolt. This one relished in the hunt. He enjoyed watching life slip away with every fading beat of the heart. This one was a killer.“While he may be callous, Tyler is correct.” Nick spoke then for the first time since introducing himself. “They are tortured souls suffering for their sins, often driven to violence by their pain. So don't go on any runs alone until we catch this beast, little miss. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you.”Logan's grip around me tightened slightly. Whether protective or possessive, I wasn't sure, but I spoke quickly to put everyone at ease.“Oh, I won't be going very far from
As promised, I was permitted to go back to sleep once the guests had left. I wasn't tired anymore, but if I was going to run tomorrow, I was going to need my rest to gather all of the strength that I possessed. I managed to nap a little, but mostly, I thought about how I would escape. Patrols would be doubled with the lykaon nearby, and those four males hunting it could also pose a problem. I either needed to get enough of a head start that they couldn't catch up or find a way to slow them down. Pondering my options, my mind drifted to a little plant that I had thought of using on myself, but Silver had never allowed it. Now, it might give me the time I needed. The little wolfsbane had grown considerably despite my best attempts to prune it back to keep it hidden. It looked lush and vibrant, tucked against the wall where it grew despite the late February chill. The small buds had barely begun to form, but when they opened in several months, they would open into beautiful purple b
Skye gestured for me to follow him from the office to a small adjoining room that held a sink in the corner. “Thanks.” I gave my hands a hasty scrub with the antibacterial soap under some very hot water. When a quick sniff check confirmed that I had gotten all of the plant juice off my fingers, I sighed and dried my hands on my shirt, leaving dark smudges on the gray fabric. “Okay, well, if we're going to be leaving soon, we should probably start making a plan and packing supplies.” Skye mused. He folded one arm across his chest, tucking that hand in the elbow of his adjacent arm while tapping his chin with the other hand. His hazel eyes sought the ceiling in thought. “Do you know how long we'll be traveling?” He asked, turning his gaze to meet mine briefly. I shook my head, and he hummed. “We won't need a tent or sleeping bags since we can sleep in our fur. I won't be able to run on four legs, so stealth will have to be our prerogative.” “My wolf should be big enough for you t
The Healer and I mirrored each other as our heads whipped to face the speaker, identical expressions of horror marring our features. There in the open doorway stood Alpha Greyson, and he was pissed. I could only imagine how much of our conversation he had overheard since I was so engrossed in storytelling that I hadn't heard, or even sensed, his approach. Dread settled in my stomach like a ball of iron and turned my knees to jelly. How could I have been so careless? I was usually so alert! “Fuck.” The word spilled from my mouth and cracked through the still air like a whip. This was exactly the kind of thing that I was hoping to avoid. Greyson growled low in his throat, expecting me to drop my gaze and show my belly like a good little submissive wolf, like the weak pathetic thing he had tried to make me. “No time to pack, Skye. We go, now.” I growled back at Greyson and shifted. I quickly realized that not taking my clothes off before shifting was a huge mistake as the fa
I could see the path weaving through the trees, laid out before me like a silver glowing ribbon. The moon's pale light gave my tired body enough strength to dart beyond the jaws snapping in my wake.I ran as I had never run before, still breathing hard but no longer feeling faint.The pure terror that had gripped me lessened its chokehold as the fluttering of Hope began to unfurl in my chest, yearning to take flight. The Moon Mother was with us. She was guiding us to freedom. She was guiding us…To a chasm!The path before us clearly led to a wide yawning mouth in the earth from which the sound of rushing water assaulted my ears.But there! The path led over the rift by way of a decaying Fir tree. It would be extremely risky, but the Goddess was on my side. She had led us here. So we had to make it, right?“Oh fuck!” Skye whimpered, barely audible over the blood rushing in my ears and the river roaring from its bed. “No, no. Kendra, no!”But my paws had already hit the gertiatric log
I found myself cradled to Skye's warm chest instead of falling to my doom as he shuffled along the fallen giant. The Healer kept his weight balanced and low, moving with slow deliberation so as to not stress the fracture that I had made. “What…?” Was all I could manage through the tears as I looked up at the taller male. “You carried me this far. I can carry you across one stupid ravine.” Skye's jaw was set in pain, and I didn't need his gift to know that his left arm was causing him tremendous pain with every subtle movement. Over his shoulder, the three pursuing wolves were gaining on us, and more had begun to clamber up the gnarled exposed root ball of the old Fir. We weren't going to reach the other side. “You have to leave me, Skye.” I begged, tugging on the front of his shirt like a child. “You can make it out of here, but not like this. Not with me weighing you down.” “Shut up.” Skye growled and clutched me tighter. “I'm not leaving you.” “But-” “God dammit, Ken
A fearful yip tore from me as I felt Skye move but instead of falling away from me, he began to climb. Hand over hand he pulled himself up my body, his shoes digging uncomfortably into my ribs. I just had to hold on until he reached the top but the flailing limbs made the task exceedingly difficult. One foot landed in my eye making me yelp and then he was gone, rolling away from the edge. He had made it. I shed my fur and sunk my fingers into the ferns anchoring myself to the earth. I wasn't strong enough to pull myself up right now but I wasn't in danger of falling to my death for the time being. Behind me at the far side of the crevasse, yips and barks of terror filled the air as our persuitors clamored their way for the safety of solid ground. Fading howls told me that several had fallen. “Skye?” I called. I couldn't see him over the ferns I clung to. I couldn't see anything past the arching fronds. Had he left me? No, he wouldn't do that. Would he? “Skye!” “I'm here! I'
When my vision finally shifted back into regular sight, the forest had already begun to thin. I stumbled, but only for a moment. With less to distract me, I ran even harder.More howls sprung up out of the night, but they were further away now and seemed to be veering north and away from us.Had our watcher led them away?I shook my head and focused on the slope ahead. Soon, we started up towards the towering ice spires. Boulder fields where in the spring marmots might have screamed at us gave way to steep slopes of unreliable frozen shale that bit into my paws.Occasionally, the shale would shift and send me sliding on my stomach several paces down the incline. As soon as we stopped moving, I got back up and continued on our way. It was no longer safe to run, but I trudged on as quickly as I dared.Finally, my weary paws met snow. At first, it was only a few inches, but as I walked, the snow grew deeper. I spread my toes, trying to stay atop the ice crust, but every few paces, one p
Skye opened his eyes and carefully lifted his head, peering around us into the night.“What's out there?” He asked in a whisper.“I don't know.” I replied. “The silence woke me. It could be anything. Mountain lion, one of the Shaded Paws Pack, even…” Icy dread seeped into my veins, and I shivered.“Even what?” Skye pressed closer to my side.“Lykaon.” The word crept from my thoughts as if even thinking about the cursed being would summon it from the shadows.Skye looked at me from the corner of his eye. “Like that king in mythology who served his son to the gods and was punished?”Now, it was my turn to look carefully at him. “You know about the curse?” Surprise colored my words.“Wait… what curse? I just took a mythology class once.”I suppressed a snort. Of course, there was some overlap. Hell, werewolves were mythology to most humans.“It's likely the same source. We can ask when we get home. All I know is that if we knowingly kill a member of our family, we get cursed to live in a
By the end of the next day, the mountain range loomed before us and my home was somewhere on the other side. Maybe some smell tickled the back of my mind or maybe the moon Mother was still guiding us. I wasn't sure how I knew where home was, but I knew. “That's going to be a bitch to get over.” I grumbled mentally. "Depending on how fast we cross and how much we eat beforehand," Skye jumped down off my back, reaching both arms up to crack his spine. "It shouldn't be too bad." He smiled and headed behind a maple tree to remove his clothes and don his fur in place of skin. I wondered briefly if he was self conscious of his scars or just shy and didn't want me to see him naked. I knew that humans likely had different views of nudity but I wasn't entirely sure what those views were. Maybe I'd ask Skye some time. While I waited for the Healer, I occupied myself by making a nest in the ferns, circling to trample them flat. I hoped we weren't too much farther from home. The longin
A startled deer bolted across my path and I gave chase, momentarily forgetting about Skye on my back. She swerved around trees and jumped fallen logs, nimble legs drumming pointed hooves into the dirt as she fled, but I was hot on her heels chasing the uplifted white flag of her tail. The deer was fast, but I was born for the hunt, designed by nature to pursue prey over vast miles, so it didn’t take long for me to snag an ankle and drag the doe to the ground. Soon I had my jaws clamped around her throat, hot blood filling my mouth, rich and full of life. It promised meat that would sedate the growing hunger in my belly. I could taste the doe's pulse fluttering on my tongue. She kicked frantically, trying to escape, trying to survive. But I was also trying to survive. With a quick twist of my head and a crunch of my jaws, I broke the doe's neck ending her life. She was a beautiful creature in the prime of her life. Strong and sleek with wide brown eyes that stared back at me in
A fearful yip tore from me as I felt Skye move but instead of falling away from me, he began to climb. Hand over hand he pulled himself up my body, his shoes digging uncomfortably into my ribs. I just had to hold on until he reached the top but the flailing limbs made the task exceedingly difficult. One foot landed in my eye making me yelp and then he was gone, rolling away from the edge. He had made it. I shed my fur and sunk my fingers into the ferns anchoring myself to the earth. I wasn't strong enough to pull myself up right now but I wasn't in danger of falling to my death for the time being. Behind me at the far side of the crevasse, yips and barks of terror filled the air as our persuitors clamored their way for the safety of solid ground. Fading howls told me that several had fallen. “Skye?” I called. I couldn't see him over the ferns I clung to. I couldn't see anything past the arching fronds. Had he left me? No, he wouldn't do that. Would he? “Skye!” “I'm here! I'
I found myself cradled to Skye's warm chest instead of falling to my doom as he shuffled along the fallen giant. The Healer kept his weight balanced and low, moving with slow deliberation so as to not stress the fracture that I had made. “What…?” Was all I could manage through the tears as I looked up at the taller male. “You carried me this far. I can carry you across one stupid ravine.” Skye's jaw was set in pain, and I didn't need his gift to know that his left arm was causing him tremendous pain with every subtle movement. Over his shoulder, the three pursuing wolves were gaining on us, and more had begun to clamber up the gnarled exposed root ball of the old Fir. We weren't going to reach the other side. “You have to leave me, Skye.” I begged, tugging on the front of his shirt like a child. “You can make it out of here, but not like this. Not with me weighing you down.” “Shut up.” Skye growled and clutched me tighter. “I'm not leaving you.” “But-” “God dammit, Ken
I could see the path weaving through the trees, laid out before me like a silver glowing ribbon. The moon's pale light gave my tired body enough strength to dart beyond the jaws snapping in my wake.I ran as I had never run before, still breathing hard but no longer feeling faint.The pure terror that had gripped me lessened its chokehold as the fluttering of Hope began to unfurl in my chest, yearning to take flight. The Moon Mother was with us. She was guiding us to freedom. She was guiding us…To a chasm!The path before us clearly led to a wide yawning mouth in the earth from which the sound of rushing water assaulted my ears.But there! The path led over the rift by way of a decaying Fir tree. It would be extremely risky, but the Goddess was on my side. She had led us here. So we had to make it, right?“Oh fuck!” Skye whimpered, barely audible over the blood rushing in my ears and the river roaring from its bed. “No, no. Kendra, no!”But my paws had already hit the gertiatric log
The Healer and I mirrored each other as our heads whipped to face the speaker, identical expressions of horror marring our features. There in the open doorway stood Alpha Greyson, and he was pissed. I could only imagine how much of our conversation he had overheard since I was so engrossed in storytelling that I hadn't heard, or even sensed, his approach. Dread settled in my stomach like a ball of iron and turned my knees to jelly. How could I have been so careless? I was usually so alert! “Fuck.” The word spilled from my mouth and cracked through the still air like a whip. This was exactly the kind of thing that I was hoping to avoid. Greyson growled low in his throat, expecting me to drop my gaze and show my belly like a good little submissive wolf, like the weak pathetic thing he had tried to make me. “No time to pack, Skye. We go, now.” I growled back at Greyson and shifted. I quickly realized that not taking my clothes off before shifting was a huge mistake as the fa
Skye gestured for me to follow him from the office to a small adjoining room that held a sink in the corner. “Thanks.” I gave my hands a hasty scrub with the antibacterial soap under some very hot water. When a quick sniff check confirmed that I had gotten all of the plant juice off my fingers, I sighed and dried my hands on my shirt, leaving dark smudges on the gray fabric. “Okay, well, if we're going to be leaving soon, we should probably start making a plan and packing supplies.” Skye mused. He folded one arm across his chest, tucking that hand in the elbow of his adjacent arm while tapping his chin with the other hand. His hazel eyes sought the ceiling in thought. “Do you know how long we'll be traveling?” He asked, turning his gaze to meet mine briefly. I shook my head, and he hummed. “We won't need a tent or sleeping bags since we can sleep in our fur. I won't be able to run on four legs, so stealth will have to be our prerogative.” “My wolf should be big enough for you t