There’s a dominance in his tone that only an alpha can lean on. Simply hearing the words is enough to make my wolf whimper and cower in submission. Based on the suddenly pale color of Pax’s tanned face, he feels similarly. So I stay silent as he’s marched out of the meeting hall, knowing he’ll be unable to stay nearby without his wolf objecting.
I’m well aware of what it feels like to try to go against the wolf’s instincts. For five years, I’ve had to deal with mine pacing and thrashing, whining and howling, angry and resentful at turns. If only it could be some other way…
But it can’t. So there’s no use dwelling on it. The mate I have is the one I’m stuck with, and there’s no way around that, no matter how much I wish there were some other way.
So I sit through the rest of the meeting. I listen to suggestions and plan my investigation. And I bide my time, reaching up occasionally to scratch at the scar on my cheek, which runs from the base of my eye socket to my jaw, and itches at times like this.
After sunset, I make my move. Deep in the quiet sanctuary of my house, which is just next door to my father’s but is at least my own—something I insisted was necessary to give me “authority over the pack”—I grab a black backpack and stuff it with whatever I can find. Some spare clothes, a first aid kit, bottles of clean water, granola bars, homemade deer jerky, travel toiletries, and just because, a small bottle of tequila.
Slinging the back over my clothes, which I’ve picked for maximum nighttime camouflage, I wait by the front door of my house until an entire changing of the guard patrol happens. There are more pack guards near the center of the territory, where my father and I live, along with many of the elders and more experienced warriors. Once I’m sure no one will see, I head off.
My wolf gives me the ability to see in the dark far better than a human, but even without that sense, I know these lands so well that I could make my way through them with my eyes closed. The scent I’m tracking is easy enough to follow, and the faint whiff of fae helps me untangle it from the rest.
There’s a chill in the summer air by the time I find Pax, sitting quietly by the side of the road, just outside the border of our land, near the outskirts. He seems to be considering his options; he’s still barefoot and wearing the spare shirt and boxers I gave him, making me glad I grabbed an extra set of sneakers and several pairs of socks, just in case his shoe size is smaller than mine.
“Are you here to threaten me on your father’s behalf?” His voice is calm and assured, letting me know he’s not in the middle of another one of his fits. “Or have your people changed their mind, and decided to put me out of my misery? Because I don’t know what caused it, and I don’t know how to make it go away. The madness, I mean. So even if I return, and my pack is still there…”
“They may not accept you back. I know.” Kneeling beside him, I study the direction he’s looking in, wondering what he’s been thinking. But it’s just empty road and dark woods. “You could’ve gotten miles away by now. Why haven’t you?”
Pax looks over at me with the moon reflected in his pupils. “I was just trying to figure out which way to go if I want to survive.”
Swallowing, I motion toward the southwest. “Almost no one goes that way because of the ranchers and the coyotes. Neither are big fans of us, especially in our wolf forms.” Slinging the backpack off my shoulders, I pass it over to him and mention casually, “It’ll be easier to go in human form. Especially with a good pair of shoes. I can’t guarantee they’ll fit, but…”
“Better than nothing. And I’ll be able to blend in with the humans. Although it’s a slow way to travel.”
Shrugging, I point out, “They’ll execute you on sight.”
“How many? And how far do I have to go to get past them?”
Considering my father’s habits, I reach for the pack bond, and swivel my head around to scent the wind. “There are at least seven, maybe eight. It’s hard to tell sometimes since Jasper and his brother, Jarrod, have such similar scents. And it’s less about how far you need to go and how long you need to hold out before they’ll give up looking for you. I’d say as long as you make it to midday tomorrow, you’ll probably be fine, but if I were you I’d hunker down for at least a day or two. Some of my father’s favorites are… determined, when they’re given leave to kill.”
“And here I was hoping they were just planning on throwing me a surprise goodbye party.” He sighs, digging the shoes out and pulling them on with a small grimace. “They’re a little tight, but they’ll do.”
I frown at him, feeling a prick of surprise, and just a tiny bit of… jealousy? Surely not. “They’re a size fourteen.”
He shrugs, standing up fluidly, and I realize as I stand up beside him that he’s nearly an inch taller than me.
“My shoe size is fourteen and a half.” Grinning affably, he pats me good-naturedly on the shoulder. I try not to growl in response. “Thank you for the help. I’ll be sure to tell any other shifters I meet that the future alpha of Pack Jade is merciful and kind.”
“And if I find a way to cure the madness, I’ll try to look you up,” I tell him, my wolf relaxing a little in response to his easy acceptance that one day, we’ll be the alpha. “I hope that there’s a home for you, in Pack Amethyst or elsewhere. And you should know that my father is sending one of his best warriors to Pack Amethyst lands to aid any survivors and investigate what happened.” I don’t mention that warrior is me.
“The warrior he didn’t send to execute me, you mean.” Pax snorts in dark amusement at his own observation, then pull the straps of the backpack tight and inclines his head to me. “Until I see you again.”
I nod back, then watch him cross the road and melt into the woods until he’s too far away, and swathed too deeply in darkness, for even my eyes to pick him out.
Then I make my way back toward home, stopping each time I sense one of my father’s guards crossing through the woods, searching for an enemy in the darkness.
I hope I don’t regret what I’ve just done. The elders seemed confident that the madness isn’t contagious, and if it’s really caused by the fae, killing Pax would be unnecessary.
It was the right thing to do.
But even if it wasn’t, I can’t say that I’ll care too much if it makes my father mad.
Chapter 3
Aurora
Summoned.
