Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack #1)(65)

As we drove away, a thought struck me. “Will they be able to track us back to Coronis?”

“Nope,” Harper said. She was sitting beside me in the van this time, with Tanner in the back. “They won’t be able to track us once we get back into pack territory.” She cocked her head, studying me with an odd expression on her face.

“What?” I asked.

“You saved my life. I thought I was going to be hit with the Aries’ ram charge for sure, but you knocked me out of the way. It was a damn fool thing to do. You almost got hit yourself.”

“I’ve been hit with it before, and I walked away.” Not without Kaden’s help, my mind helpfully reminded me, but I shoved that thought out of the way. I didn’t need to be thinking anything at all about Kaden right now. He wasn’t even here. “No one else should have to go through that pain.”

Harper observed me for a few moments longer, and then turned to look out the window. She didn’t say another thing for the rest of the drive, and I found that I already missed her tough smile. Everyone was pretty subdued, in fact. I wanted to talk with them to help the jitter of the fight fade, or to apologize for putting everyone in danger, but I didn’t want to interrupt their thoughts.

We got back to Coronis on a return trip that seemed to take twice as long as the one to the storage facility, and Clayton pulled right back up into Kaden’s driveway. Where Kaden stood with his arms crossed, his muscles bulging, and his jaw clenched.

As we began piling out, I watched Kaden’s face. His frown deepened as he took in our half-dressed states and the blood all over us—and then he charged forward. He grabbed my arm and dragged me to the side, his gaze raking down my body, which I'd wrapped up as best I could in a small blanket.

"What happened?" he growled. "Are you injured?"

I yanked my arm away from him and adjusted the blanket, covering myself better. "We were attacked, but I'm fine. I don't need you to heal me, if that's what you're worried about."

His lips pressed into a tight line, and then he asked, "Aries again?"

"And some Taurus too."

He swore under his breath and turned to Harper, who watched us with wide eyes. "Did you ask her?”

Harper stood a little taller under her alpha's scrutiny and nodded. “I did, but she refused. She said she wants to remain with the pack.”

What? I blinked between them, my brain still struggling to catch up. Surely, surely, this wasn’t what it sounded like.

“How did she perform in a fight?” Kaden asked.

Harper grinned. “Good. Better than good, actually. She saved my life and even killed one of the Aries wolves.”

"What are you talking about?" I asked, getting right up in Kaden's face. "Was this some kind of test?"

Kaden looked down at me with no emotion on his perfect face. I could hardly believe that only hours earlier we’d been naked together. “Yes, a loyalty test for potential recruits. Everyone has to go through it. The way is cleared for the recruit to leave and even betray the pack if they wanted to, so we can see their true loyalties and motivations."

"And the attack?" I practically spat at him. "Was that part of the test too?"

“No, the attack wasn’t part of it, but now no one will doubt you.”

“No one will doubt me? Who would be left to doubt me if they’d all been killed?" I shoved my finger into his chest. "You put everyone in danger just to prove my loyalty. Your stupid test could have cost all of them their lives!"

"Careful," Kaden growled deep in his chest. “Remember who you’re talking to.”

Part of me wanted to back down in the face of that power. He’d threatened to kill me for less before, but now I didn’t care. Besides, I knew he would never really hurt me. Not physically anyway. And I was exhausted, covered in blood, and really sick of his fucking attitude.

I put my hands on my hips. "Oh, I remember, alpha. I just watched members of your pack fight for their lives, all to defend me in a battle that didn't need to happen. You should never have let me leave the pack lands, or at the very least you could have had the balls to come with us since you knew what might happen. So you can shove your authority up your ass."

His eyebrows darted up at that, and all the other shifters gaped at me like I'd lost my damn mind. Fuck it, I was pretty sure my mind was long gone at this point, and I was beyond caring. I just didn't want anyone else to die for me.

I was pretty sure Kaden was about to snap and go off on me, and I knew his anger would be terrifying. But he just crossed those meaty arms and stared at me so long I thought he wasn't going to answer at all.

"You're right," he said, and my mouth fell open. Was the sky falling, or had Kaden just admitted I was right? "I shouldn't have put you or the others in danger," he continued, while his hand reached up like he was going to touch my face before he dropped it again. "At the very least, I should have been there to protect you. But I had to be sure you were loyal before I could invite you to join the pack.”

I took a step back. "You...what?"

Kaden’s eyes had a certain gleam to them, one I hadn’t seen before. It looked almost like satisfaction. “You’ve proven your loyalty, and passed all of our tests. I'm inviting you to become a true member of the Ophiuchus pack, if you so desire."