Page 12 of Mated By the Pack
Then it creeps toward me, slithering against the ironwood. For some reason, I’m not sure if it’s real or a dream. I don’t feel threatened. I feel almost at peace. The vine stops a few inches from my hand. It twists and weaves itself into the shape of a key.
“What the…” I whisper.
Then I wake up. It’s daylight. I was dreaming. My lip twitches slightly and I exhale sharply.
Except…
There’s something in my hand.
A vine—still green, still pulsing with life—twisted into a shape. I blink, bringing it closer and squinting. It’s thick, like the summer vines children used to braid into bracelets back in Haven North.
Only this isn’t a bracelet. It’s a shape I recognize. The same shape from my dream.
A key.
CHAPTER 4
Gideon
Her scent still flourishes in my nostrils.
It’s everything I’ve craved since The Tangle swallowed my family whole.
Turned us into the something…else.
“Gideon, stop, I don’t understand!”my brother Jace shouts at me through our shared mental link. “You’re acting crazy like you’ve gone feral!”
I stop abruptly and spin around, shifting from wolf to man in a matter of seconds.
“I haven’t gone feral!” I roar. “She’s different. She’s not like other humans.”
Jace stops in front of me, shifting like I did. Our three brothers catch up, shifting as they skid to a stop. Jace’s purple-gold eyes flicker, like he wants to challenge everything I’m saying. Knoxmoves to the side in case he needs to step between us. He’s had to do that before, when things have gotten tense.
“You saw what was protecting that camp, right? And I’m not talking about the crazy asshole with a rifle!” Jace fires back. “The last time we fought a Gen-Lion, we lost three of our brothers!”
“That’s why we’re not fighting him, Jace,” I growl, leaning closer. “But we will if we have to.”
“You’re not our leader, Gideon,” my brother Knox says, putting a hand on Jace’s chest. “We agreed after Silas died. No more leaders.”
I stare at my brothers. I wish there was a way to explain it. Our youngest brother Vance looks like he wants to say something, but he shakes his head and nudges a plant with his toe. Caleb is stoic and silent, which isn’t unusual for him. He doesn’t say much these days. Silas’s death hit him harder than the rest of us. We all feel our eldest brother’s absence, but Caleb doesn’t just feel it. Hecarriesit.
“You’ll sense it soon enough.” I start shifting. “You all will.”
I continue on, letting them make their own decision about following me. Howls echo on my heels. Then paws. Then silence. The silence of a pack traveling in unison.
We left them last night after the crazy asshole—Carl, they called him—started shooting rounds into the darkness. It’s morning now, so they should be moving. I’m sure they’re headed to The Outpost. They look like slavers, and if they’re paying a Gen-Lion to stand guard, there’s only one cargo worth that much in The Tangle.
Women.
My brothers and I don’t usually hunt this far north. We like to stay away from Haven North. Too many bad memories. But we see slavers passing through The Tangle fairly often. We usually give them their berth. We don’t interfere in human affairs anymore.
But I got close enough to catch the scent of something intoxicating. Something primal and raw, that echoes in my soul. I don’t know why my brothers can’t sense it yet, but they will. Soon. Maybe it hit me first because I’m the oldest. The oldest one left, at least. If Silas was still around, I might be questioning his sanity like Jace is questioning mine.
I shift into my human form as I get close to the campsite. The slavers and their cargo are already gone. That’s okay. We’ll catch up to them easily. I go straight to the spot where the cart stayed through the night and inhale what is left of her sweet scent. Every drop of it from the air. It’s too delicious to waste.
“You’re acting like a fucking teenager,” Jace grumbles, looking around the campsite. “There’s nothing here. Let’s go.”
“There’s something,” Vance says, motioning to the foliage at the edge of the campsite where the cart was. “I thought I saw it last night, but I wasn’t sure. This is spikeshade. All around here. It’s naturally aggressive.” Vance takes a step back when a vine slithers toward him. “Especially toward humans.”
