Page 8 of The Fated Hunter Wolf
“Sable, can we please go live with the Orions now?”
“You know we can’t.”
Astrid sat down in front of me and crossed her legs. “Why not?” she asked, more demanding than I was used to hearing from her. “Whycan’twe go to the Orions? They’ve already got Heraclids there. It’s not like we’d stand out any more than we already do.”
I sighed, dragging a hand through my hair. “I’m at risk there. And if I’m at risk, you are too.”
“You’ve been saying that for years. I know you’ve been looking out for Eve, and she seems to be doing perfectly fine there.” My mouth dropped open in spite of myself. “Yeah, you’re not so good at hiding things from me as you think. And now she’s Alpha Logan’s mate. Just tell her what you’ve done for her andboom, we’ll practically be royalty over there.”
I didn’t know how to tell her I had made myself appear like Eve’s enemy in order to create a safe space around her. And people don’t forget when you’ve been their enemy. Especially when their wolves get involved.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Of course it’s not.” Astrid’s voice rose. “It’s never that simple with you. You always have some reason, some excuse, to stay hidden. Ever since the packs combined, we’ve been in this hole,living like escaped criminals. But we aren’t, Sable, and it’s time we live as the wolves we are.”
I blinked, surprised by the edge in her voice. She rarely challenged me like this, but when she did, it was like looking at a younger version of myself. I knew the anger in her.
“Tell me the truth, Sable. Why?Why can’t we live with the Orions?”
Astrid’s question hung in the air. Why couldn’t we just go to the Orions? Why couldn’t I let her have the safety and comfort she deserved? It wasn’t like I hadn’t asked myself the same thing a hundred times before.
The truth was, I had no idea what safety looked like anymore. Not for someone like me and not for someone like Astrid.
For ten years, I’d lived with one purpose: find the Crux wolves, save them, keep them hidden. Most Shadow Moon packs pretended Crux didn’t exist anymore, like our bloodline was a bedtime story for pups.
I knew better. My mother had made sure of that before the fates took her from me.
The Crux wolves were out there, scattered and broken, hiding in plain sight or buried under the weight of lies they didn’t even know they carried. And I was going to find every last one of them and deliver them home.
That was the dream, anyway, and I would do everything in my power to make it so until I breathed my last breath.
The packs didn’t make it easy. Some of them knew they were girls with strange abilities, pups who didn’t fit the mold. Others just saw potential, something they could use or break as they saw fit, like Eve. It didn’t matter. They all risked ending up the same way, locked in rooms or cages or worse, if I couldn’t save them and get them into our Crux network. Just like Eve—strung up by Grayson, forced to marry Damian, oracle abilities twisted to one pack’s alpha desires.
And Eve wasn’t just any Crux. She was the alpha’s daughter. The minute I scented her, I knew I had been brought to Heraclid pack to protect her.
I couldn’t let anyone know about it, and it had to be me. No one else could save her.
No one else would.
And now she was rightly with the Orions. It made quite the riddle.
The Orions might have been safe for now, but safety was temporary. Fragile. If I brought Astrid there, what would happen when the truth came out? When they realized what she was—or what I was? The Crux weren’t just wolves. We were weapons, created in secrets and shadows, and people didn’t like weapons they couldn’t control.
I couldn’t risk it. Not for me, not for Astrid, and not for the others.
No, we weren’t going to the Orions. Not yet. Not until I knew, without a doubt, that they’d fight for us as fiercely as I fought for Eve. Until then, I’d keep doing what I’d always done.
Keep finding the Crux. Save them. Protect them.
That was who I was, who I’d always been.
Astrid was quiet for a long moment. Then, her sharp blue eyes searched mine. “I know you want to protect me. But keeping me here, isolated from everyone and everything… there’s no future in that.” She touched my arm. “You’ve done your job, Sable. You don’t have to feel that burden anymore.”
“It’s not just a job,” I said, my voice steady. “It’s who Iam. If we go to the Orions now, we risk being outed. If we’re wrong—if they can’t protect us—I lose my chance to protect the others.”
“You can’t save everyone, Sable.”
“I know.” A lump stuck in my throat. “But I can try.”
