Star Cursed (Zodiac Wolves #2)(14)

"Oh, Ayla. Your pants." She gestured toward me, and I looked down at my pale jeans and spotted blood between my thighs.

"Oh shit." Panic filled me as I stared down there. "Why am I bleeding?"

Mira's face turned sympathetic. "You got your period. That's all."

"I...how?" I thought periods were something only humans got. I'd lived my entire life without one, as had Mira, as far as I'd known.

"Did you go into heat at the last full moon?"

My cheeks turned red at the memory. "I did, yeah."

"Now that you're mated, you'll get your period after your heat, if you don't get pregnant during it." She cocked her head, her eyes filled with pity. "Didn't your stepmom tell you about this?"

"No, we didn't exactly have that kind of relationship," I muttered, my head swirling with this new knowledge—something I should have known all along, it seemed. I'd never thought I could actually get pregnant from all the sex I had with Kaden, but now that I knew for certain I wasn't, I felt the loss deep in my chest.

Mira stood and walked toward me, sensing my turmoil. "Are you okay? I get the feeling you're upset about more than just a little blood."

"I had sex with Kaden during the full moon. A lot of sex. And I guess a part of me hoped I was pregnant, and that I carried a bit of him with me still." I shook my head, blinking back tears. "It's stupid, I know. He's not my mate."

She wrapped her arms around me. "Oh, Ayla. I'm sorry. But you know that even if he was your mate, it's still rare for shifters to get pregnant when we go into heat."

I sniffed, leaning against her. Most shifters only had one child, or if they were really lucky, they'd be blessed with two. The one exception was the Gemini pack, of course, since they always had twins. "Really, it's better this way. I'm way too young to be a mother, and being pregnant here among the Leos would be a nightmare. Can you imagine?"

Mira rubbed my back. "It'll happen someday when you're ready for it. Come on, let's get you cleaned up. I have some pads you can use."

I gripped her arm, a new, horrible thought occurring to me. "Mira, I don't want to have Jordan's baby."

"You won't," she said. "We'll be long gone before the Leo heat comes on in the fall."

I swallowed and hoped she was right—but summer was already flying by, and my window for escape was growing shorter by the minute.





The next few days passed in relative bliss compared to the ones before. I didn’t wake up in a cell, no Sun Witches came to squeeze magic out of me, and the best part of all was that I had Mira in my life again. It didn't even matter that we weren't allowed to leave the house, because we spent the days catching up and trading stories of how our time apart had gone.

I told Mira about the Ophiuchus pack, about Kaden and Stella, about the wolf cubs, and about how gay mate bonds were possible. I told her stories of how I’d been trained to fight, about practicing my moon powers, and learning about the stars on Kaden’s rooftop.

Mira in turn shared stories about the Pisces pack. How they were similar to the Cancer pack, living up on the coast of Alaska in a fishing village, and how Aiden seemed dead set on providing everything he could for her. I still ached when she talked about how perfect of a match they were, but I managed to smile and actually feel happiness from her. She deserved it, after all. She’d always been so kind to me, so accepting and willing to back me up. Of course she deserved to have a perfect mate.

But didn't I?

As I spent time in the house, I began to feel more like a real person again instead of a prisoner and found a sort of clarity I’d been missing ever since waking up in the Leo pack’s cells. It was August now, which meant Leo season was still in full swing, and the full moon was approaching too.

I began to form a plan, but I didn't have much to go on. We still weren't allowed outside, but I stared out of every window on the second story and tried to memorize the layout of the town. Beyond that, I didn’t know where exactly we were, just that we were somewhere near Phoenix. But how near? Close enough for me to run to, or did I need to steal a vehicle? I cursed myself for not learning more about the other packs from my father, though he'd never been very forthcoming with info either.

Mira seemed dead set on helping me escape, which I was grateful for, but now I had two of us to worry about. I'd never used my Moon Touched gift on someone else, and I wasn't sure if it was possible, but I had to try. It was the only way we'd make it. We were surrounded by the enemy, and they never let me forget it. Everyone I’d seen gave me suspicious, hostile looks. Not exactly the kind of welcome wagon I’d have hoped for, but I was used to it. I’d spent most of my life growing up in a pack that had treated me a lot like this.

Being here in the Leo pack made me ache for the Ophiuchus pack even more. Even when I hadn’t been trusted and Kaden had made sure that I had two guards at all times, I was still treated with basic respect. No one glared at me or whispered about me behind their hands to their friends as I passed, vicious words they knew I could pick up with my wolf hearing. They were my home, my family, and I hoped that soon I could return to them with Mira in tow.

Every night, Jordan had dinner with me in the small backyard of the house under the stars and the waxing moon. I tried to soak up the moon's energy, but it only seemed to taunt me as it grew larger and rounded every night. The worst part was that every night spent with him put me more in danger of losing myself. The mating bond grew harder and harder to resist, and some nights I wondered if I was making a mistake by continuing to fight it. And after Jordan left, I'd return to my room and collapse in bed, twitching with desire, unable to fully satisfy myself, knowing he was probably doing the same thing.