Page 4 of Pack Witch
And I had to reach my mate, no matter who stood between us. Though it was much harder to feel or even scent him now. What had happened to him?
As if I’d conjured them with my thoughts, a group of three male shifters appeared over the rise ahead, arguing loudly. I froze, still hidden by the shadows of the trees, my scent carried away from them by the breeze. I coaxed the magic out of the birch at my back to cover me as I listened.
The first one spoke with a local accent. “We need your help tracking him, Ruslan. The Occidens Mothers declared him our enemy, so he has to die.”
Another of the shifters spat on the ground. “Nyet.I’m no fool.”
The Occidens shifter’s voice was practically a whine. “Come on. He’s been kept chained for weeks, and he only escaped hours ago. He’ll be weak when we catch him.”
“Too dangerous to hunt, that one.” The Russian’s voice was accented, but I could understand every word. “Just because you wound a bear and trap it does not mean you should crawl into the cage howling your victory while he still breathes.”
The third man spoke. “Julian Rain’s not a fucking bear. May be as strong as one, but he’s mortal. He’s no danger, just a fucking loose cannon. A traitor.”
The Russian grunted. “A Moonblessed Warrior isalwaysa danger. He’s the last of your dead Alpha’s line. Strong and cunning. I cannot scent him or his magic even now. No, my men and I, we will not throw our lives away. You hunt him, youkill him, then we will march on the North together.” He walked away, leaving the others cursing.
As they dispersed through the trees, I plastered myself to the trunk of the birch, its papery bark cool and flaking against my shoulders, the faint scent of damp earth rising from its roots. One of the Occidens males held up a stick—a wand?—as he passed, mumbling to it. I wrinkled my nose. My parents had always taught me that true magic didn’t require a conduit, like the humans believed. Or magic words.
The male shoved the stick in his satchel. “He’s got to be close. Let’s try the storage buildings by the rim.”
They were gone in seconds, but I held still for much longer, my heart racing. I’d heard stories of the Moonblessed Warriors, and even seen them from a distance when I was a little girl. The Julian they were talking about was the only child of the old Alpha, Ithil Mar, and his mate Dahlia Rain, the Alpha Mother. They were legendary shifters, their story a terrible tragedy… and their son was being hunted by members of Occidens, his own pack. A pack that had allied with Russian magicians.
Maybe the other packs had been right after all. Maybe Occidenswascorrupt.
The scent of cedar, ink, and blood sharpened, pulling me from my thoughts. I blinked, seeing nothing.
Then suddenly, he was there. A tall, irregular shadow peeled away from the darkness, the air around it flicking like heat waves. My gaze kept slipping, as if something wanted me to look away—but each time I did, my wolf yipped, snapping my focus back.
A look-away spell. It had to be.
I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and let the scent root me. It was him.
When I opened my eyes again, my wolf looked with me. Together, we spotted him gliding between the trees, a few hundred feet away.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, more muscular than any male I’d ever seen. Dark pants, black shirt, sleeves rolled up. His skin was newly-marked in strange, swirling patterns across his forearms, neck, and face. As he came closer, I knew that was where the scent of ink and blood had come from.
Why had he done that? Shifters didn’t scar easily, but these markings were very definitely scars. Tattoos made with silver, maybe? Or magic, though I couldn’t sense any magic in his aura at all. How was he suppressing it? He had to be very powerful.
I couldn’t stop staring. His hair was dark and thick, falling down his back as he strode toward me, his eyes blazing with sparks of amber. I thought he’d seen me, since he stopped walking to inhale deeply, and looked around. But then a woman’s voice had him turning away.
“Julian.” A tall woman stepped soundlessly from the trees, her dark hair pulled back to reveal cheekbones unmistakably carved from the same mold. His twin. She carried a canvas bag and handed it to him with a low, urgent whisper. “I’ll distract them. Promise me you won’t come back. Not until it’s safe.”
“I promise, Meli. Don’t let them catch you, or Lily.”
“Never.” The word was a quiet vow.
“I’ll find you again. The Mountain Alpha might listen...” His voice broke as his sister embraced him, her shoulders shaking with silent tears.
In seconds, his twin had run away, and in a few more, I heard an outcry from the direction she’d vanished. Before I could think, Julian was only a few feet ahead of me, moving toward the stand of birches. He must have seen me, or sensed me under the magic I’d woven.
Of course he had. He was one of the most powerful shifters alive. And he wasmine. My wolf gave a silent, joyful howl.
“Hello?” I whispered, ready to introduce myself quickly. He was running away, and I would need to go with him. I could help him call on the magic of the earth to soften our footsteps and encourage the breezes to whisk our scent away from the hunters.
I might be from a weaker line of magic wielders, but I’d learned to pull from the earth, and I was very good at concealment. Maybe too good. Judging by the way he was scanning the trees around me, sniffing the air with sharp, frustrated breaths, he couldn’t see me at all.
“Who are you?” he growled into the darkness.
He didn’t know me?
