Page 5 of Moon Cursed
I spent that moment wondering where Kane had been. I needed to know what was going on if I was going to survive this.
And if I’d learned anything throughout my life, it was never to trust a wolf.
My crazy Aunt Daliah had warned me not to be deceived by their beauty. It was as if she had known the wolves more intimately than other humans.
Given everything that had happened… I had a few questions for her if I ever managed to see her again.
Like how the fuck I had been born with a dormant wolf’s soul.
And how the fuck I was compatible with the alpha of every pack—even the Outcasts.
I glanced up at Kane. Magic swarmed over his skin like an inky tapestry made of light. His muscles bulged as he seemed to root himself to the ground.
He’d said that I was going into heat, but claiming me when it wasn’t the High Moon would be “premature,” whatever the fuck that meant.
Based on how his body responded, his wolf didn’t want to wait. I was going into heat, which meant I was primed for an alpha’s claim.
But if he claimed me… it would be forever.
Perhaps the truth was that he didn’t intend to mate me in a way that would be permanent.
Maybe… he wanted to use me.
His nostrils flared as if he could scent my distrust. I continued to pick through everything that he’d told me while my moment of lucidity lasted.
He said that Althea had spoken of a vision that showed her I would have died had he been in the forest last night. The other alphas would have killed us, but what about when I had first arrived? He should have been waiting for me if what he said was true. Instead, I’d met his pack under Althea’s strenuous protection and eaten an entire meal.
He hadn’t appeared until I’d drank something she’d given me.
Kane had embraced our bond… and I’d accepted him like an idiot without knowing the first thing about it.
I’d been listening to my heart—but now I realized that my wolf owned my heart. She couldn’t understand deception. Wolves weren’t capable of such an emotion.
But Kane was only part wolf. The other part was most certainly capable of using me for some greater purpose.
All of this could have been planned, somehow, and I’d played right into the wolves’ claws.
And now I would pay the price for my moment of weakness.
Pain lanced through my body, this time settling on my face as my nose broke and pushed outward.
“Take her to the caves,” Kane growled. His voice had turned more wolfish than human and the rumble of it made my stomach flip.
Althea’s eyes grew wide at his order. “But—”
“Do it,” he snapped, then shoved one of the other shifters toward us. “Take Nina with you. You’re going to need help securing her.”
Securing me…?I wondered, but I was unable to dissect that bit of significant information because pain stabbed through my skull.
The petite female that he had chosen didn’t seem capable of securing anyone or anything. Instead, her long white eyelashes batted over her cheeks as she fumbled with her hands. “At once, Alpha,” she whispered before scurrying to my other side, somehow managing to wrap one of my twisted arms over her delicate neck.
I was almost more afraid of breaking her than I was of her doing anything to me.
Althea gave Kane a scathing look, but when he growled, she seemed compelled to obey.
She dragged me toward the back of the hall and opened a door to the outside, letting in cool air.
I didn’t know if the protective barrier extended to some back portion of the mansion, or if we’d just exposed ourselves to the other alphas lying in wait.
