Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack #1)(11)
“Before the ritual tonight I wanted to take some time by myself. That’s allowed, isn't it?” I felt a little braver, and my smart mouth was back online. “This is all neutral land.”
“Yes, but surely you have pack members who are missing you.”
I wanted to roll my eyes. Right. Mira was too busy chasing after anything that smiled at her and Wesley was probably lapping up Dad’s praise. “No one would miss me.”
“Funny." His tone was patronizing, as was the slight smirk on his face as he took the rest of me in. His eyes lingered, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was checking me out. “And here I thought the Cancer pack was pretty tight-knit.”
I snorted at that, unable to help myself. “You obviously don’t know anything about me.”
The man’s face darkened. “And I don’t want to. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll forget you ever saw me.”
“Or what? You’ll kill me? Please, go ahead. I’d like to see you explain how you killed someone in Sun Witch territory during the Convergence. I’ll laugh at you from the afterlife.”
His gaze darkened further, his blue eyes going almost black. “You have a death wish, little wolf.”
Somehow that rankled more than mutt or half-breed. He couldn’t have been much older than I was. “No, I’ve just got nothing to lose.”
He curled his lips back in another snarl. He looked ready to say something else, but his attention suddenly shifted elsewhere, his piercing blue eyes focusing on the brush a few feet back.
I heard it a moment later than he did, the rustle of something moving within them, something obviously human. I tensed immediately. I’d been in enough fights to know that the arrival of someone else wasn’t always a good thing. Especially this far out from my own pack. It would more than likely be someone from his pack, whichever one that was.
“Let me go,” I said, squirming in his hold once more, trying to get the heavy press of his body to give. No such luck, and all it did was rub me against every naked, hard inch of him. And oh god, he was definitely hard. And big too. Lust flared inside me like a bonfire sparking to life. I'd never felt anything like it before, and it made me gasp. He glanced down at me, lips ghosting up into a dark smile like he knew exactly what I was thinking about, before pushing himself away from me.
"Get out of here, little wolf," he said. "And forget you ever saw us."
Before I could look him over further, he shifted back into his wolf and greeted the other two males who melted out of the brush with a soft chuff. I scrambled to my feet, stepping back toward the trail. Another low growl resonated from his wolf’s lips, warning me away. The two males looked between him and me, but I didn’t recognize either of them. It was likely I just hadn’t seen them before, but something about this whole situation set my teeth on edge. What were they all doing so far away from the Convergence?
Now that his body wasn't on top of mine, a semblance of reason returned to my stupid head. Without looking back, I turned tail and fled, sprinting back down the way I’d come, trying to put as much distance between us as I could. It was only after I’d slowed to a slow trot that I stopped to wonder which pack they’d been from. The man had smelled like the forest, woodsy and heady, but I couldn’t yet recognize scents like full shifters could. I cursed my lack of wolf for the second time. If I’d been able to shift, I could have unpinned myself, and my keener senses would have alerted me to his presence before I’d stumbled upon him in the first place.
The strange sensation stayed with me the whole way down. There was something odd about that wolf and the two males who had been with him.
Something my gut told me was trouble.
Chapter Five
It was nearly dark by the time I emerged from the woods. I’d had to slow down for a lot of the trail. Once the adrenaline had worn off, I’d been tired and kept stumbling. I’d almost twisted my ankle a few times. The edges of the camp were all but deserted, and I hurried through them toward the dull roar of voices. The area where the babies were blessed this morning had been widened, the food tents pushed out of the way, and the place thronged with shifters. The twelve packs were all arranged in a circle facing inward, where the ritual would be performed.
I searched out my family, finding Wesley seated beside our dad. At my arrival, Dad looked up and his eyes flashed, and I realized that I’d made a mistake showing up after everyone was already gathered.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
I sucked in a breath. Surely he’d keep his voice down? “I was walking through the forest.”
“You didn’t embarrass me in front of anyone, did you?” He still hadn’t lowered his voice, and the nearby packs were going silent, most looking at us. Usually he made it a point to keep up the act in front of everyone, but I realized this was an exercise in humiliation. I hadn’t followed orders, and he was punishing me for it. Showing how tough he was as an alpha.
“No,” I said. “I didn’t talk to anyone at all.” Anyone except a hot male I can't stop thinking about.
Dad raised his eyebrows. “So you were being antisocial then. You’re representing our pack tonight, even if you aren’t really a Cancer. You disappoint me constantly, Ayla.”