Page 14 of Marked By Moonlight
“How?”
“Your scent. I can’t always tell. Most wolves wouldn’t let me get close enough for long enough to be able to scent them in this way. But I know now. You’re Wintermoon.”
I freeze, unsure how he’s going to react to that information. When he doesn’t immediately kill me after a minute, I try to explain. “Kael and I are looking for the Moonlight wolves. We’re here to help break the curse.”
He stills, my words landing, but he doesn’t say anything.
“Kael is running north through the woods to an area where there are no human trails, no pack territories, and little chance he can harm anyone. He’ll keep running until morning, when he’s most likely to shift back into his human form.”
I stare at him, unblinking.
“I gave him a command, and since he’s alpha-less, he followed it,” he says.
“You’re an alpha?”
He doesn’t answer me.
“Does that mean Kael belongs to your pack now?”
Again, he doesn’t answer my question.
“I have one more question for you. When Kael was attacking you, why didn’t you turn?” he asks.
I blush bright red and look away, unable to tell him the truth. Now that Kael can, I’m probably the only wolf shifter on the planet who has grown to adulthood and not figured out how to shift. I’m an outlier. There’s something very, very wrong with me.
But I can’t tell this stranger any of these things.
I turn back to this nameless man with rippling muscles, a thick cock, and a hint of evil in his eyes. He may have saved me, but I don’t trust him. He’s told me practically nothing, and his effect on my body is strange. But I trust my gut, and it’s telling me that he’s up to no good.
“Thank you for saving me,” I say.
That wicked grin creeps up his face again.
“Oh, my naive snow wolf, I’m not saving you. I’m taking you.”
My eyes widen, and I struggle beneath his hold. Something sharp sinks into my neck, and everything goes black.
Chapter 6
Lumi
Startling awake, I find myself sliding off the muscled surface I’m lying on. I dig my fingers in to keep myself from falling and get a fistful of midnight black fur.
It’s then that I realize where I am or, rather, who I’m on top of. I’m riding the back of the wolf who rescued me. I try to pull my hands apart, but they’re stuck together by rough vines roped tightly around my hands and ankles. It’s a miracle I’ve managed to stay on top of the wolf the entire time I’ve been passed out.
How long have I been out?
Minutes, hours, days? I have no way of knowing.
Kael?
“Kael?! Where’s Kael?” I scan the forest, and that’s when I see them—at least a dozen other wolves jogging beside us. None are as large as the alpha I’m riding on, but the others look healthy. Their numbers are good too, not dwindling like our pack.
My eyes dart from wolf to wolf. There are several wolves whose fur is a similar brown shade to Kael’s, but none seem quite right. And when I look at them, none look back at me with the recognition I would expect from Kael.
The alpha doesn’t answer my question, and neither do any of the other wolves. They’d have to shift back into human form to answer me, but it doesn’t stop me from asking everything that’s racing through my mind.
“Where are you taking me?
