Page 25 of Moon Guardian
Now, I just needed to win the war.
Katlyn
The white wolf introduced herself as Althea. Her story was a riveting one, and despite my exhaustion, I listened to every word while I washed up in the icy cavern pools.
She came from a fifth sector in the wolves’ world, rejected outcasts like myself. They awaited the arrival of the Moon Guardian that would one day absorb the Goddess’s heart and unite all five packs.
Which meant she had been waiting forme.
“That’s a nice story,” I said, my sarcasm thick. “But you have the wrong girl.”
“Do I?” she asked, tilting her head as she stood, brushing small pebbles from her knees. “I must have imagined that you just healed all of your injuries, just like me.” She winked, and I realized the gash on her chest had smoothed over. She dipped her hair into the stream and cleaned the blood from her porcelain skin.
Glancing down, I turned over my palms, finding that she was right. All my cuts had healed, too.
She skipped over to a rock and pushed it aside, revealing a sack. She knelt and opened it, pulling out some clothes and something wrapped in paper.
After she tugged on the pants and pulled on the shirt, she offered me one of the paper-covered objects.
A sandwich, I realized as I unwrapped it, and my stomach roared in response. I gave her a sheepish grin, then indulged in a bite.
Heavenly.
“What is this?” I asked around a mouthful. Of course, she could try to poison me, but it wouldn’t have made much sense. She’d just faced off four pissed off alphas for my sake.
No, she wanted me alive, but it didn’t mean she could be trusted.
“Rabbit,” she said, straightening her spine with pride. “I killed it myself.”
I hummed in approval. Rabbits in wolf territory were faster than those in the human lands, and more delicious too, apparently.
While I ate, she braided her hair as she watched me, seemingly pleased with herself. “You’re not what I expected,” she admitted.
I chuckled. “What did you expect?” I asked, then took another bite.
She shrugged. “Someone taller, I suppose. Or at least a shifter.” She drew her finger across my chin, turning my face. “You’re pretty, but definitely human.”
I flinched away. “Is that a problem?”
She smiled. “No. I think it’s fascinating.”
A growl rumbled through the caves, signaling the alphas had found a foothold.
Althea turned to the noise and frowned. “We don’t have much longer before they break through. It’s time to move.”
Scarfing down the last of my sandwich for calories I desperately needed, I grabbed the second one and shoved it into my bag.
Following her through the tunnels, I kept close to her side, glancing back the way we’d come every few steps. The growling had stopped, but it didn’t mean we were safe.
“So, there are five packs?” I asked, hoping that conversation would provide a dual purpose. I needed to understand the wolves’ world if I intended to survive it, but I also needed a distraction.
Their growls called to a broken part of me, one shattered by their rejection. Pain sliced through me every step we took and I didn’t want to focus on it.
“There are many,” she said, not answering my question, “but in our realm, there are five packs that hold the Moon Goddess’s magic.”
“Does this pack of yours have an alpha?” I wondered. “There were only four at the ceremony.”
She rounded the corner and ducked into a new tunnel, this one smaller that required us to crouch. I disliked the way the walls closed in on us, as if slowly choking off our air, but I kept on.
