Page 12 of Moon Guardian
North.
“Shit,” I whispered, turning to flee.
But it was too late.
All the shifters paused, then their heads snapped to me as their nostrils flared.
I’d been caught.
Ryker
Jasmine and moonlight.
The enticing scents hit me the second the winds shifted, as if destiny had shown me my mate before the ceremony had been completed. The beam of moonlight singed the air, reminding me to keep my place at the moondial. The Goddess was listening to us, watching, and soon, she would offer her blessing.
If we were worthy.
This interruption didn’t settle right with me. I shouldn’t have been able to scent my mate before the ceremony had reached its completion.
Yet, something wasn’t right about this female who crouched in the shadows, a weapon in her hand. Wolves used weapons on occasion, but we preferred our teeth.
Perhaps she wasn’t a shifter, but she couldn’t be human, either. Not when she glowed with the power of the moon and her eyes shone with murderous rage.
As an alpha, nothing should have gotten to me, but when her gaze met mine, something in me reacted.
Not fear.
But desire.
The packs moved toward her, as if equally drawn by her allure.
Then she shot an arrow.
Her first kill went down without a sound and we all stared in silence at the impossible.
For a brief moment of clarity, I realized this wasn’t a supernatural creature at all. She glowed with the power of the moon because she’d been caught out in the storm. The sticky essence had infiltrated her skin, giving her a temporary boost of magic before it inevitably killed her.
Which meant a human had infiltrated the most sacred ceremony known to the wolves.
The High Moon Ceremony.
Blasphemy.
Outrage.
Yet, her scent held magic to it that confused me. I sluggishly responded when she sent another arrow flying, striking one of the Valiance wolves in the arm. She stepped out into the moonlight and pulled down her hood as if she wanted us to see her face, the rays catching in her golden hair as she took aim again.
“Bitch!” the wolf shouted, ripping the arrow from her flesh, not even flinching at the pain that must have caused.
An action that would have caught my interest, especially tonight. I had not taken a female in all of my twenty-three years in order to prepare for this moment. I wished to be a pure Alpha, untouched for my future mate in honor of our Goddess. There was no greater gift I could offer, and I had suffered gladly for this moment to eventually come.
Yet, my gaze remained on the mysterious female who sped through the compound with impossible speed.
I shifted my weight, my wolf reacting to the instinct to indulge in the chase.
“Not yet,” Vern told me, holding up a fist as a voiceless order to stay in place.
It had beenhispack that the female had attacked, so I respected his wish. The ceremony was still in process. The Crescent hadn’t yet descended, which meant we couldn’t step off of the dial without potentially angering the Goddess. A move that could prove detrimental when all of the packs required new alphas.
