Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack #1)(63)

“What happened?” I asked. Garter snakes were everywhere, why would they be concerned about conservation? “To the snakes, I mean. Why do they need conservation?” I added when Harper cocked her head at me in a silent question.

“Big frost killed a bunch of them before they could winter down a couple of decades ago, and some ecologists got worried. Highway 17 cuts right across their path to the dens, and nearly ten thousand were hit by cars every year until we made tunnels for the snakes to go under. Now it’s a bad year if even a thousand are hit.” She sounded proud of the fact like it was something she'd helped with.

"How do you know all of this?” I knew the Ophiuchus pack was called the "snake bearers," and Kaden had that snake tattoo on his arm, but I didn't know much more than that.

“The Narcisse Snake Dens are part of Ophiuchus pack lands, along with the other wildlife areas around it," Harper said. "One of the tasks we give teen pack members is to run maintenance on the fences to stop the snakes from getting hit."

I supposed that made sense. The Cancer pack protected its lands too, including the wildlife—especially the crabs—in the area. "Even Kaden?"

"Oh yeah, he was the best at it," Jack said with a grin.

I could hardly imagine a young Kaden stopping traffic to help a snake cross a highway. Then again, he was the same person who had a telescope up on the roof of his house to look at the stars. There was so much more to him below the grumpy surface, and I desperately wished I could get to know that side of him. Not that you’ll get a chance now, my brain made sure to supply. I shoved the thought away and made an awkward joke instead. "And here I thought there was another reason they called you snake charmers."

Harper waggled her eyebrows at me. "From what I heard, you're the one charming snakes. Kaden's snake, anyway."

The entire van chuckled at that and I grinned and shook my head. The laughter died down when Clayton called out, “Be on the lookout. We’re leaving pack lands.”

I peered out of the windows, but all I saw was forest on either side of the road. Everyone seemed to have a sixth sense about it, and I had no clue how they could tell. There weren’t any visible markers, and I didn’t see any of the other shifters looking for visible clues. They all just nodded, and Tanner clenched his hand into a fist.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“It’s a pack thing,” Tanner said. Wasn’t he just being Mr. Forthcoming with his information today?

“The alpha marks the territory,” Jack added.

“You mean marks like...he pees?” I asked. All six of them laughed, and I looked around at them, waiting for them to tell me.

Jack shook his head and his elbow found my side. “Do they do that in the Cancer pack? I know the Zodiac Wolves are backward, but I didn’t think they were that backward.”

I huffed out a breath and shook my head. Fine, let them keep their secrets. It was probably just another thing that only pack members knew about.

We idly chatted as we drove and I was surprised by how easy it was to talk to them. They didn’t exclude me from the conversation. If I’d been with my old pack, it would have been a silent, long drive and it would have been made extremely clear that I wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone, and no one would talk to me.

We arrived at a city after about an hour, and Clayton pulled into a storage facility area. It was huge, rows upon rows of metal buildings. I’d never think that a storage facility could take up an entire block, but I'd never spent much time in a city either.

Clayton backed the van up to a storage unit. We’d taken so many turns I had no doubt I would get lost trying to get out on my own. When he parked, everyone jumped into motion.

“Up and at ‘em,” Jack said, as I took my seatbelt off. “We don’t have all day.”

We all quickly unloaded from the van. Clayton unlocked the storage unit and pulled it open, while Dane, the quiet one, opened the back of the van. The unit was stuffed with boxes, and they started piling them into the back of the van. I went to help, but then the hairs stood up at the back of my neck, and I looked around. That usually only happened when someone was watching, but I couldn’t see anyone. The other shifters seemed immune to it, and I shook the feeling off.

I grabbed a box, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Harper motioned me a few feet away. I frowned at her. “What is it?”

The joking air that seemed to surround the female shifter had all but evaporated. She looked at me, and her eyes suddenly seemed much older than her years. I didn’t know how old she was, but with those eyes alone, I would have said at least forty, though she didn’t look a day over her mid-twenties. “If you want to leave, now would be the best time."

I stared at her, mouth wide open. Her words didn’t quite compute.

“None of us will try to stop you," she added. "We don’t think it’s right that Kaden’s forcing you to stay with us like a prisoner. He’s a good alpha but he gets ideas in his head about the Leo pack, and he won’t see reason when it comes to them.”

It hit me all at once. I’d been so caught up in training and everything else that I’d managed to forget I’d spent the first few days with the Ophiuchus pack in a cell. “You mean, run away?” I asked. “How would you even explain it to Kaden?”