He sighs. “You can’t live under the same roof with a woman like that and expect anything else.”
A woman like me. What does that mean? I don’t even know what kind of woman I am, so how can he know?
“This stops right now,” Warrick growls when no one answers him. “We’re brothers. We walk to the depths of hell to protect each other. Nothing and no one comes between us. Have I made myself clear?”
Silence so fragile it could shatter shrouds the front room.
Once again, it’s come down to this-it’s my presence that stirs conflict. I know what I have to do. Tears track down my cheeks as I pad to the back door on silent, bare feet. I can hear Ethan accusing Callan of “doing it first” again as I ease open the screen door and slip outside. I don’t let the screen door thwack shut. I guide it closed, so it doesn’t make a sound.
Outside, I take a shaky breath and sink to the ground, ignoring the mosquitoes that swarm in for a taste of my blood. It’s been a month since I shifted, a month that I’ve been here. A month to learn human manners and grow to love these big, stubborn, strong, grumpy men. But now it’s time to leave them.
I shift into my wolf form, relieved that the pain in my chest dulls when I’m a wolf. Wolves love, but they don’t feel the other complicated emotions humans do. Things are simpler this way. The moon guides me as I shift and run. I race for the creek that splits the property and wade into the knee-deep water. Then, I head downstream so they won’t be able to track my scent. When I’ve gone far enough, I scramble onto the opposite bank and run.
I don’t think about where I’m going. My wolf knows where home is.
She leads me to Bogbeast Waters, the full moon lighting our way.
The glowing orb is lowering toward the horizon, and the first birds of morning have begun to call by the time I reach our old place. I scent my way there, pulling myself from the water and onto the dry land and shaking off. Even with my wolf eyes I can tell something is wrong. Our tiny house, the one I built when I was turning from a child to a woman and patched a hundred times… It’s gone.
I know I’m in the right place. My nose wouldn’t lie, and even if it did, I can see the remnants of our home scattered around our little island. Twisted tin and splintered wood poke up from the ground. The scent of molding cloth under the pile tells me they didn’t take anything. They just tore it all down, destroyed the only home I have left.
Pain strikes through my wolf heart, and I tip back my head and howl. It’s a mournful howl encompassing everything I’ve lost, from Mama to Axel to the triplets to my home, my heart, my roots.
An answering howl issues forth from the woods to my right, startling me back to reality.
I crouch, ready to slink in the opposite direction and fade into the night. The last thing I expected was another wolf out here in the Waters, risking gators and ogres and bog beasts.
I lift my nose, scenting the air and catching something familiar. Did one of the triplets follow me without my noticing?
Suddenly, a large wolf leaps onto my island and shakes, water spraying from his pelt. I bare my teeth, growling as my hackles rise. I’ll fight to the death to protect this tiny hillock of land, all I have left, even if there’s nothing else left of my home.
The wolf shifts with majestic grace, and Axel stands before me in all his naked glory.
My wolf cowers to her belly, a low whine escaping my throat as pain spirals into my chest. I never thought I’d see him again, never wanted to. Seeing him, it all rushes back-the wonderful part before the mating, the painful mating, the bond and the breaking, and worst of all, watching Mama die after everything. When it all bursts to the surface like a gator snatching prey, I want to die all over again.
“Easy, Luna,” Axel says, palms outstretched.
I throw back my head and howl again, this time for the echoes of the True Mate bond that linger in my bones. I want him out of me forever, but he’s still in there, clinging to my bones.
He seems to know what this plaintive cry means, or maybe he feels it, too. He sways on his feet, then goes to his knees in front of me so he’s on my level.
“Luna, stop,” he says in a choked voice. “I came to make amends, and when I saw your house had been torn apart… I’ve been out here every
night looking for you, hoping that I could warn you if you came back. Whoever was here… They might be hunting you. You’re in danger, Luna. You need to come with me. Come back to the pack. We can protect you.”
I back away from him, snarling.
“I understand you hate me. I don’t blame you. What I did to you…” Axel shakes his head. “What I did to you was as painful for me as it was for you. So I know how much I hurt you.”
More low growls rumble in my throat. He can’t begin to know the pain I’ve felt. It’s not possible. He would die. A loud splash comes from the nearby swamp, but my eyes remain glued to Axel’s.
“You have every right to be angry,” he says, still holding out a hand. I could bite that hand off, and he knows if. But he’s letting me know he trusts me, even if I can’t do the same. “I made a mistake. I realize that now. But your life is in danger, and that’s more important than my pride-or yours. Come with me.”
Callan explained wolf dominance to me, how a stronger wolf can enforce their will the way Warrick does. He uses it to keep order in his household. I’ve felt it many times since moving in. But Axel has never commanded me that way, never forced his will on me. I could feel he had it, but he never made me behave, even when I was acting wild in front of the pack. And even now, as I tense, waiting for the push of his wolf’s
dominance, I feel only his pleading eyes on me. After a long moment, he shifts back into his wolf. The sight of it sends another spear of agony through my wolf’s heart. She loves this wolf.
He gives me one last searing gaze, then turns and pads away. When he reaches the edge of my tiny island, he stops and pivots his head to look at me. His wolf eyes catch the moonlight and reflect the calming silvery glow at me. He won’t force me to go. He’s showing me that. This is my choice.
I stand pinned to the boggy marsh ground, caught in a web of indecision and regret, past hurts and future fears. I tear my gaze from his and back to my destroyed home. Another splash erupts from the swamp, only it’s closer now. There’s nothing for me here, no safety. I’ll be exposed, food for gators and swamp monsters.
I turn back to Axel.
Come.
I startle at the clarity of his intention, as if I heard him speak aloud. But he’s still not using his dominance to force me. I can be stubborn and stay here to be attacked, or I can go with him, to a pack that’s already cast me out and done worse than attack me. All I have is his word, and I know how little that counts.
There’s no chance of survival out here by myself, though. I no longer want to die. No matter how sad I am about leaving the triplets’ house, it didn’t crush me the way Mama’s death did. There is still reason to live.
And there’s a chance that can happen with Axel. So, when he turns away and bounds onto the next hillock, I hesitate for only a moment more, and then I follow.