Page 18 of Marked By Moonlight
Could Emeric be my mate, the one I’ve been looking for?I trust him inherently. I barely know him, but the only person I’ve ever trusted more in my life is Kael.
Kael, where is he? Is he here somewhere? Or is he still following Nyx’s alpha command and running as far away from here as possible?
We walk a bit further, past tent after tent filled with glowing eyes from the other wolf shifters staring at us as we pass. But Emeric puts me at ease by distracting me with his charming smile, calming touch, and a quick history of the different packs here. But I barely register anything after he tells me he’s the beta of the Moonlight wolves. I found them, finally.
I can break the curse. I can restore the Wintermoon pack name into one that is worthy of being remembered for saving the packs instead of destroying them.
We stop on the other side of a clearing where the edge of the forest starts again. Emeric is still holding my hand in his casual way, and then I see what appears to be an opening to a cave.
My heart thunders in my chest, telling me not to enter.
“What’s the offering, again?” I ask him, knowing he’s not telling me everything. My trust in him vanishes as my instincts kick back in and alarm bells sound in my head.
“There’s nothing to worry about, Lumi. Trust me.”
“Well, what should I be worried about?”
Emeric doesn’t answer me. Instead, he continues guiding me to the entrance of the cave.
“No!” I shout, trying to break free of his hold, trying to run. I try to turn into my wolf form, but I don’t feel so much as a tingle in my body. I scream for help from Kael if he’s nearby or from anyone willing to help me. But I barely get a solid scream out. Emeric is infinitely stronger than me. I’m powerless.
He shoves me into the cave as easily as if he were batting a fly off his shoulder.
I immediately turn and try to run out of the cave, but I slam into an invisible wall.
What the hell?
“It’s spelled by a witch. You can’t get out, so don’t waste your strength trying.” Emeric looks at me with a deep sadness, as if he truly wishes things were different. A second later, the look is gone, replaced by a determined gaze.
“Liar. You’re worse than Nyx.”
He shakes his head. “No one is worse than Nyx, but I’m sure you’ll figure that out soon enough.” He pauses. “I’m truly sorry. I know you don’t understand, and unfortunately, I don’t havetime to explain everything. But you really don’t have anything to worry about. You’ll survive—I can feel it.”
“What does that mean? Survive what?”
But Emeric’s gone, and I’m left alone in this damn spelled cave.
“Survive the offering,” a feminine voice sounds from behind me.
I turn and see more than a dozen other young women in the cave with me. Fear marks several of their faces, but excitement is plain across the others.What could make some of them terrified and others excited?
“You’re a true offering, it seems. I’m sorry that your choice was taken from you—most of us chose this,” a woman with auburn hair and warm honey-brown eyes says.
“Chose what exactly? What is the offering? What’s about to happen?” I ask.
The woman smiles as she looks from the others to me. Most are smiling now, with a relaxed, fated look.
“We’re being offered to the alphas of the packs in hopes that one of us will become their mate and break the curse,” she says.
I stare at them, and my heart rate speeds. That isn’t the whole story. There’s definitely something they are leaving out. What they said is what I came here to do. I shouldn’t be afraid of being offered to the other male alphas to see if I can be mated to any of them.
“So what exactly happens?” I ask.
“One by one, we stand before all the alphas for their review. If any of the alphas feel the tug of the mating bond pulling them to you, they mark you as their mate.”
“Mark you? What does it mean to be marked?”
“They sink their canines deep into our flesh, severing the carotid artery. If you’re really mates, the mating bond willappear and heal your wound, keeping you alive. It will be clear to everyone. Once a mated couple is found, the curse will vanish.”
