“I’m Samuel Marsh and this is my brother Nathaniel,” I said, pointing at Nate. “We’re your son’s mates, through Luna.”
Alice’s face went blank. It was hilarious, and it made the whole conversation worth it. Truth be told, if she hadn’t been so close-minded, she would have realized it already. Our scents had changed, and it wasn’t exactly subtle. Then again, the scent of blood was still very potent, and it might have covered everything else.
“I remember you,” the Firewolf Rowan had called Albert muttered. “You were in the settlement during the ceremony. You’re a Wolfsbane.”
“We were,” Nate answered. “Not anymore. Now, it doesn’t really matter what we are, as long as we have our mate.”
For the longest time, we all just stared at one another. In Alice’s stance, I could see she wanted to lunge at Luna, but she didn’t dare to risk it, not with Nate and me there. She had five other wolves with her, but they weren’t as strong as Rowan was. Our confrontation with the Firewolves had been short, but we’d made an impression. Overall, Alice was at a disadvantage.
“For the record, Mother, I don’t want to fight you,” Rowan finally said. “I’m going to ask you nicely, one more time. Go back to the pack. There’s nothing you can say that can convince me to leave my true mate.”
At last, Alice gave up. “Fine. But you’ll regret this.”
She shifted into her lupine form and jerked her head at the others. As Alice howled, the Firewolves gathered around her. Without looking at us, they headed back the way they’d come.
As I watched them go, I couldn’t help but think this was only beginning. Alice wouldn’t give up so quickly. Firewolves didn’t make idle threats. Time would tell if we were strong enough to face whatever she threw at us.
* * *
Luna
As soon as Alice left, the weight of what had just happened settled on my shoulders. I couldn’t believe I’d taunted the female werewolf like that. I hadn’t told her anything untrue, but even so, she was Rowan’s mother, and I should have been a little more tactful.
I turned toward Rowan and shot him a sheepish look. “I’m sorry about—”
“Don’t even finish that sentence,” Rowan cut me off. “You did great. My mother was out of line. She had no right to question our bond.”
“Do you suppose your brother will give up after this?”
Rowan let out a deep sigh. “I honestly don’t know what will happen. If there’s a pack war going on, he might prioritize that. But our battle in the settlement makes things complicated. Our best bet is still to leave the valley.”
Everyone agreed, and together, we continued heading north. The day passed without further incident, although it seemed to be getting hotter and hotter. This time, it wasn’t just because I was in heat. The chaos was making things extra difficult.
Eventually, we had to stop and catch our breaths. Nate and Sam tracked down another small spring, and we cooled ourselves off a little.
“How long do you suppose it’ll take for us to reach the other side of the valley?” I asked.
“It depends,” Nate answered. “We have to go around a lot, and we don’t know what the other rogues and packs in the area are doing. I feel like the next couple of days are the most dangerous ones.”
“Everything and everyone will be unpredictable,” Sam added. “But don’t worry, Luna. We’re with you.”
I nodded, although I suddenly felt very anxious. I couldn’t be sure why. I just knew something wasn’t quite right. There was danger nearby.
I hadn’t felt that way when Alice had approached us. Even if she’d been a threat to me, she hadn’t scared me. I’d known my mates would protect me from her, and I frankly had a feeling I might have been able to fight her even if Nate, Sam, and Rowan hadn’t been there.
But this was different, and I staggered back, feeling the urge to hide. “Luna? What’s…”
Rowan trailed off when the sound of revving engines reached my ears. Nate and Sam went rigid. “Bone Crushers!” Sam spat. “Fuck!”
The Bone Crushers were one of the biggest packs in the Badlands. I knew little about them, beyond the fact that, unlike us Wolfsbanes and Firewolves, they liked to travel using their bikes. My brother had sometimes made comments about it when he came back from his longer trips. I didn’t understand why a werewolf would need a bike, but I supposed everyone was different.
Either way, their arrival was bad news for us, since it meant we’d failed in our plan to avoid being spotted. Sure, there was still a chance that they were just passing by and hadn’t sensed us approach, but that was unlikely.
We had no intention of waiting to see what the Bone Crushers were doing here. Abandoning our bags, we shifted into our wolf forms and fled.
Our panicked response didn’t help us. Maybe my mates might have been able to escape if they’d been on their own, but we were forced to stick together, and even now, I wasn’t as fast as they were.
The Bone Crushers caught up with us in less than five minutes. Worse still, there seemed to be more than one group, since we had several bikes coming toward us from behind, and another, smaller patrol cutting us off and keeping us from advancing.
