Page 3 of Moon Cursed
“A level head? I only see a hard one,” he said, smirking as he looked down at my proud cock. “You deny what your wolf knows is true. Why aren’t you listening? What’s he saying now?”
I couldn’t answer that because I was still erecting a solid wall between myself and my wolf.
I added another mental brick until I could only see his eyes blazing gold in the darkness.
Vern’s nostrils flared as if he sensed the change. “You cage him… brother?”
We hadn’t called each other brothers in a long time.
We’d always been close. As pups, we’d made a blood pact, vowing to look out for one another no matter what the future might hold. It was uncommon for packs to work together, but Vern and I had always found a way.
A vow he intended to remind me of by calling me brother.
Except… we weren’t pups anymore. A vow made in innocence wasn’t made to last.
“I am an alpha now, Vern,” I snarled, butting against his chest with mine.
“As am I,” he countered.
Itsked. “And have you forgotten why that is?” He wasn’t supposed to be alpha. He was just the only option. “We have another enemy to deal with…brother. We don’t have time for this distraction.” I pointed a finger at the source of emanating energy. “Someone killed our alphas, and I think we’ve just found its stronghold.”
“On your lands,” Shadow quietly added. “How do we know that you’re not behind this?” He stalked closer to us and tilted his head. His dark hair fell into his eyes at the motion, making him look devious. “You expect us to believe that a human crossed our territory, entered the Crescent City, and just walked up to our most sacred ceremony unimpeded? Then stole the Goddesses magic, and figured out how to trap us all under her spell?” He lifted his lips, revealing his sharpened teeth. “Sounds like the work of the Mercury Mystics to me. Cowardly deeds. Something meant to confuse us.” He glanced around. “When does your pack arrive? Did you plan on killing us off now that we’re alone on your territory?”
The others stiffened at his accusation.
The suggestion was preposterous.
But also completely logical.
There was a reason the packs didn’t come together very often. It wasn’t just because we didn’t get along. If one alpha killed another, he could lay claim to the rival pack.
Or three rival packs… as it were.
We hadn’t had a king in a very long time.
“I have no desire to become king,” I informed him truthfully. I backed away, giving Vern some space before glancing meaningfully at Dash. “And I wasn’t the one to bring her to the moondial, now was I?”
Shadow turned his glare onto the Soldier Alpha who frowned in response.
“You were out past the ceremony’s start,” Shadow agreed. “What were you doing out there?” He glanced at me as if I wasn’t off the hook yet. “Maybe there’s an alliance between the two of you I should consider.”
Vern brushed past us as if the whole conversation was a minor irritant. “You’re reaching. Schemes are your pack’s strong suit. If Ryker needed an ally—which he wouldn’t—then he would have picked you… or me, for that matter.” He glanced over his shoulder. The golden band around his iris burned with magic that he accepted far too freely. “We’ve worked together before.”
As pups,I thought to myself, but didn’t say aloud.
I wouldn’t interrupt Vern when he was making a good point.
For once.
Shadow’s nostrils flared and he brushed his fingers through his hair. “Then perhaps I’m the target and the three of you plan on splitting up my territory.” He growled as he uncurled his fists. “Well don’t wait for your packs to show up. Take me on now you—”
Dash shot up a hand. “Shut up,” he snapped as his gaze snapped north.
There shouldn’t have been anything that way. The border of my territory ran up against land devastated by the storms.
Except the breeze brought a new scent.
One that I only knew by instinct passed down by my ancestors’ genetic memory.
