Page 11 of Moon Guardian
Moments passed as my heartbeat thundered in my ears.
One foot in front of the other.
Another street.
Another building.
I hadn’t run into anyone yet. A sinking feeling in my stomach told me this wasn’t right. I should have encountered someone by now. Humans didn’t simplywalkinto the Epicenter. That’s what we called it, because it was where the storms always came from, where it swirled around, and where all of this had started.
A long, long time ago. Humans had ruled, and then the wolves took everything.
It’s all they knew how to do.
Take.
So I would take back what was mine, and see how they liked it.
The buildings crowded in on each other, giving me only one path to choose as I made my way to the beam of light.
Swallowing hard, I drew an arrow from my quiver. Surely I would have to fight my way in now.
When I reached the next path, it opened up into a street and I froze, staring at the impossible.
More shifters, dead.
They all suffered slashes and bleeding wounds, their eyes frozen on the sky as they lifelessly stared at the heavens.
My mind raced, trying to make sense of it. I knew the wolves were a violent race. Their hierarchy ran on violence and fear. Perhaps this gathering had brought too many packs together and they were killing each other off.
It was as good a guess as any, so I kicked one in the ribs for good measure and continued on.
Less for me to deal with.
When I rounded the next bend, I entered the true epicenter of the city and drew in a sharp breath. My victory was short-lived, because there were plenty of wolves to deal with.
Too many.
A sea of shifters formed a massive circle around the beam shooting into the sky with four males standing around a dial.
I stared at them, both mesmerized and terrified. Their bodies rippled with raw muscle, their forms lithe and perfect, and larger than any human male I had ever come across.
They towered like lethal monsters.
Their faces deceptively gorgeous, as all monsters were.
I preferred the wolves in their beast form, even though the few wolves I had seen in my life were breathtakingly beautiful creatures.
Graceful.
Ethereal.
Deadly, of course, but captivating. It was a trait that had given them the edge in the beginning, at least that’s what Aunt Daliah had told me.
Never judge based on their beauty,she’d warned me, holding up her arm to show me the long scar she’d earned in her youth.Judge their actions.
The drums stopped, making me press my back against the nearest wall as all the shifters looked skyward. I held my breath, hoping that the wind would continue moving south, taking my scent away from the hundreds of shifters that would maul me in a second. It was my only edge, one that I would make use of while I could—
The moonbeam flickered, and then the winds changed.
