Page 78 of Ember and Eclipse
He was looking toward the front of the house.
“What is it?” she asked, sleepiness quickly deteriorating.
He moved her off him gently but swiftly. “Stay here,” he commanded without looking at her. His head was cocked, listening to something that she couldn’t hear.
But what she did recognize was the unusual silence of the swamp. The absence of the constant hum and chatter of the wildlife felt like a void. Someone orsomethingwas here.
“That’s not how this works,” she ground out as she got out of the bed. “This is my home.”
“Fine. Bring your knives.”
Her shift was modest enough, though probably not the best for tromping through the wetland, but she didn’t want to waste any more time by changing out of it. They prepared swiftly in silence before heading into the night.
Devdan rowed them—the only sound was the oars cutting through the gently lapping waters. She hoped it was just someone who had gotten lost or a predator who hadn’t yet realized that this area held nothing for them. But as she studied Devdan, his rigidness exposing his state of high alert, she knew it wasn’t something as simple or innocent as that.
She followed him, trusting his senses to find the way. They were following the exact path that Devdan and the other hunters had taken into her swamp months ago, indicating that whoever it was had come from the northern border of the swamp.
From Romul.
When he abruptly stopped, he turned toward her, anger and heartache warring across his features before he conquered them. “It’s Lunae.” He said it in such a way that it sounded like he’d suspected it to be them but had been wishing it wasn’t.
“From your old pack?”
“Yes. You should return—”
“If you go, I go.”
“It could be dangerous. There is—”
“I said, if you go, I go.”
He huffed out a breath of a laugh before tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingertips lingering on her jaw for a moment. “Together, then.”
Rel slipped her hand into his, squeezing it with reassurance. Because, for once,heneeded it. He needed that warm tether. To know he wasn’t alone.
It wasn’t long before they entered the clearing where five Lunae waited. She recognized Bria and the man in the center. He was one of the wolves who had fought with Devdan outside of the temple.
They bristled on their side of the clearing as they looked them over.
Devdan marked each Lunae there. “Bria, Poroce, Varus, Havenar, and Mer. It is somehow not surprising that it is you five. I’d say you’re welcome here, but I don’t expect you’ll be staying long.”
Varus’ focus turned to Rel as he sniffed the air. “I understand now. A witch hunter with a witch as a mate, that’s fitting.”
“You wanted my attention, and now you have it. Why are you here?” Devdan said, drawing the other Lunae’s interest back to him.
Rel wanted to knowhowthey were there but wisely kept her mouth shut. Whatever this was, it had to do with pack politics that she didn’t fully understand.
“You’ve been hiding what you truly are. When Cassius died, the pack should have beenmine.” He pierced Devdan with a look of such disdain that her fingers itched for her knives. “There are only three ways to become pack leader—be born with thefas,by challenge,or the soul will choose after the leader dies. But you were born withfas,so the pack’s soul naturally wants to transition to you. Cassius knew it, too, didn’t he? And he hid it from us all. Knowing that you’re not only a bastard who killed his whore mother, but you were born on the sacred lunar eclipse, we would have torn you to shreds without thought.”
Devdan seemed unbothered by the insults. He had probably heard them before often enough. “So you followed the soul here forAemul. To challenge me so you can have the pack rightfully.”
“Since you ran like a coward,” Varus spat, “I had to hunt you down, but it’s no matter. We finish this here. The pack belongs to me.” He took a step forward, his muscles tensing.
Devdan laughed darkly—a sound she had once been on the receiving end of. “Running like a coward is an interesting way to say that you left me for dead after being unable to finish the kill because you were too weak from blood loss.”
Varus opened his mouth to retort, but Devdan continued. “If we are going to do this, we do it right. Choose your second.”
Varus motioned to Poroce, and he stepped forward. He held his arms as if his muscles were so large that he couldn’t relax them, and yet he was smaller than both Devdan and Varus.
