Page 16 of Moon Guardian
Bite.
Claim.
I growled, the sound rumbling in my throat, soon joined by the other alphas who worked into a crouch, but none of us approached her.
The packs around us fell into the wave of magic that lingered in the air. Even though this human had destroyed our most valuable power, the ceremony had reached its apex.
It was time to mate.
They howled, crying for us to begin the chase so that they could begin theirs. Those with mates already would join us as well, indulging the chase and the claim once again to propagate our species. We could only bring new pups into the world with the blessing of our Goddess.
I hoped She still watched down on us, even after this.
“Blasphemy,” Ryker growled, venom dripping from his tone.
“You should have listened to me,” Shadow said, disappointment and disbelief furrowing his brow. “She should have been dead already. Then this wouldn’t have happened.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about the loss of the Crescent. That was the least of our concerns.
Because somehow, I had mated to the human.
As had all the alphas.
Katlyn
My heart slammed in my chest, my murderous instinct from a moment before fading as the magic rippled away from me, visible on the horizon and in the skies.
Whatever power I had absorbed, it had left me on that wave, at least some of it.
And now I felt a new connection, one to each alpha who snapped their teeth at me, their dark eyes promising to devour me.
Although the hunger in their gaze suggested something had changed.
Something I didn’t know how to handle, because I felt the same hunger towards them.
And it sickened me.
“Mated,” one of the males spat with disbelief. “Not only all of us to the same female, but to ahuman?”
The male with a silver strand through his hair snapped his teeth, taking a step closer, but he didn’t come within reach, not yet. “Perversion. Destroying the heart of our goddess cannot be forgiven. We should rip open her chest and take hers as a replacement.”
“I’m not sure that’s how that works,” a male with green eyes said, his emerald gaze cool and steady. I knew instantly not to underestimate him. Out of all the alphas, he was perhaps the most deadly.
“I will take responsibility, Vern,” my captor said, his lethality comparable to the green-eyed male. He flinched as a crack resonated through his body. “We cannot allow her to live, regardless,” he said through gritted teeth as he clenched his fists. “I will take her heart.”
He’s going to shift,I realized, a spike of terror ripping through my body.
The one named Vern held up a hand, ordering the alpha to pause. “We cannot kill her this way. We must follow tradition if we wish to maintain the goddess’s blessing.” He glanced back at the unsettled group of shifters. They had begun a painful keening that clawed against my senses, urging me torun.
Although I knew the second I gave in to that instinct, something would unfold that couldn’t be stopped.
The one who had suggested ripping out my heart snarled. “And risk the mating reaching its completion?”
“There’s another way,” my captor said, approaching me.
I held my breath when sandalwood and spice wrapped around me, making my nostrils flare.
You.
