Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack #1)(75)

That ended the kissing.

Kaden's eyes narrowed. “Don’t make me force you."

"Force me?" I scoffed, and then realized what he meant. Now that I was a member of the pack, he could make me do anything he wanted using his alpha command. I’d never seen him use it before on anyone, which said a lot about him as an alpha. Dad had gone around flinging commands at everyone, and I had no doubt the Leo alpha did the same.

"Go with Stella," he commanded, his words sounding like a guttural growl, something halfway between man and beast.

I felt the power in his voice and gritted my teeth, waiting for the compulsion to overtake me, but it never did. Huh. That was new. I lifted my chin. "No."

Kaden stared at me with his brow furrowing. "It didn't work on you. That shouldn't be possible."

Suddenly a howl went through the air, loud and clear as a bell. The hairs rose on my neck, and Kaden swore under his breath, shoving me behind him.

That was all the warning we got before a huge attack force entered the town. Wolves poured in, alongside humans that hadn’t shifted yet, bearing Leo, Aries, and Taurus pack marks. Walking behind them was a group of robed women—the Sun Witches. Shit, they were here too? That must be how the attackers got through Kaden's wards.

Then I felt a sudden awareness inside me, and all the feelings I'd kept at the back of my mind since the Convergence suddenly flared to life. Jordan. He was here, and my eyes couldn't help but seek him out like I was hungry for the sight of him.

There. Standing beside his father, the Leo alpha, at the edge of the forest.

He'd come for me.





Chapter Thirty-One





I hadn't seen Jordan since the night of the Convergence, and the tug at the base of my spine from the bond nearly knocked me over. Damn, he was gorgeous. I'd forgotten how pretty he was while I'd been apart from him, and now I soaked up the sight of his perfect blond hair and chiseled jawline. Heat pulsed inside me, drawing me toward him like a dog on a leash.

As if he’d felt it too, Jordan’s eyes met mine and he gave me a cocky smile. He looked at me like I was something he owned, and the bond made me want that too. Everything inside me screamed for me to run to him, and I clenched my fists as I resisted the pull. Fuck. Maybe I should have gone with Stella after all.

I turned back toward Kaden and some of the haze cleared. He was the one I wanted. Not Jordan. As long as I focused on that, I'd make it through this fight.

Wolves surrounded us from every side, while our own warriors charged forth to meet them. Kaden leaped from my side, not even bothering to shift as he knocked into one of the enemy wolves and sent it flying. The shifter yelped and didn’t get up again.

A male Leo opened his mouth and used his lion roar to scatter our forces as we met them head-on. I felt the urge to run deep in my bones, muscles tensed to do just that, but I gritted my teeth and weathered it. When I looked up again, Kaden was the only other one who hadn’t fled, and he ripped into the Leo with his bare hands with a snarl. Other wolves immediately charged him.

I stepped up to help him, but a movement out of the corner of my eye distracted me. A group of wolves was headed after Stella’s group. Aries wolves. Getting ready to do their ram charge.

“Oh, no you don’t,” I muttered and sprinted after them, stripping my shirt off as I did so. I shifted since I could get to them faster on four legs instead of two, and instantly felt more alert as a wolf. Since it was daytime, there was no way I’d be able to use my moon magic, but I still had the powers of the Ophiuchus pack.

I leaped onto the back of the first wolf and bit into him, deep and hard. Poison seeped from my fangs, and I made sure it was enough to kill. He fell, and I stepped in front of Stella, who was shielding some pups with her body in her wolf form. She was black, like her brother, though not nearly as huge. I snarled at the rest of the wolves. Another one jumped forward, and I took him down, too. I was vicious, just like Stella and Kaden had taught me to be, but I'd sooner die than let these wolves hurt my pack's pups.

Thank you, Stella's voice said in my head. It took me a second to remember that as a member of the pack, I could communicate with them as a wolf now.

Go, I told her, as I snapped at another wolf, daring her to get close enough for me to use my teeth on her. Stella nudged the wolf pups away, and they disappeared into the woods with her.

A wolf I now instinctively recognized as Harper jumped in and helped me defeat the last of the wolves trying to go after the pups. Then we gave each other a quick nuzzle of solidarity with our snouts, before running back to the center of town.

I caught sight of Kaden in the center of the town. He was still in human form and covered in blood, surrounded by dead wolves he must have somehow killed with his bare hands. Pride welled up inside me—that was my alpha.

“Dixon!” he shouted over the din of the fight. “Come out, you fucking coward, and fight me. Alpha against alpha, like in the old days. Or are you afraid I'll beat you?”

The fighting paused, wolves dropping their prey and turning to face their respective leaders. Dixon laughed from the edge of the battle, where he'd been watching it all. “I’m not afraid, but you should be."

The Leo alpha shifted with a roar, becoming a huge wolf, his fur a reddish-gold that always seemed to catch the sunlight. He was so large and ferocious he almost looked like a lion himself.