Page 101 of Untamed

"Try to keep yourself level-headed, In," Rhet says softly, keeping his voice even. I snarl in response. The closer we get to the Lake at the edge of Mauja land, the more I can feel my mate. She'scold. And hungry. And sad... so sad, my pretty cat. It makesmehungry, too... for BlueSnout hearts on the ends of my claws. What's there to be level-headed about?

Our little caravan winds through the trees. We have four pick-up trucks and eighteen wolves. Our official alliance with my uncle’s pack means that we can bring as many wolves with us as we want. We shored up the patrols and gathered as many wolves as Jax, and I think we can spare. We left Devel Grim's unit behind with Jax. They can help protect RustClaw against Orion Ferax, who is still running loose in the north like a specter hanging over us.

We are traveling east, so when the sun rises, it comes up quickly, barely dawn before it's morning. Lining the road into Mauja are wolves, mostly on paws. I can see the wariness in their eyes even from inside the truck. My wolf can't stop snarling at them, snapping his canines in their direction. Are they warm? On paws with their fur coats? Because my sweet little hellcat is cold, these bastards.

Rhet's hands are tight on the wheel, but he doesn't spare me a glance. Wise of my brother to avoid looking at me. Even my family needs to be careful around my wolf. He has concerns for only one female right now.

Thoughts of my female start to drown out the feeling of her, just inside my heart. The heavy thud of my heartbeat, thick and sluggish, echos in my ears. I rein in the rage as much as I can. Soon, I promise myself, my alpha-wolf, soon I can dine on the carcass of our enemies. Our mate will be by our side, where she belongs. We will feast together.

The central town of Mauja is a dry, barren place. Here, the heavy forest gives way to empty clearings of shortened, sparse brush trees. It's a northern desert, cold and hostile. The elevation of the land is too high to support the teeming life of the RustClaw lands just a little farther west. These plains are nature's reminder of the continent-building ice flows that shaped this land thousands of years ago. The churning mass of ice and snow that carved out Adsun Lake and the hills and valleys of RustClaw, pushing up the mountains in the west, left this high plateau behind.

The town is only two roads, running perpendicular to each other in a cross with their main square smack in the middle. One road seems to be more commercial while the other holds houses, primarily small, pioneer-style cottages with sharply sloped dark roofs and sided with white-painted wood planks. The houses are built in the same style, two stories, symmetrical. Some have covered porches or collonades. All of them are weathered and beaten down. The white paint is grey and peeling. The stonework of the foundations is losing mortar and green with moss in several places. Not much grows in the flat, square yards.

It's interesting how ugly I find this place. As ugly as the wolves who live here. My family. When I step out of the truck, I don't know what I expect, but it's not the sense of hushed fear I can practically taste in the Mauja air. The stench of it fills my nose, almost making me gag. I don't vomit, thank the goddess for small favors, but I feel my lip curl into a silent snarl of disapproval. This place is foul.

"Tarkik."

I let the smile curl over my lips. I barely know my uncle, Kallian. He doesn't look like me. I look like Pa, none of the light-brown hair or light eyes Ma shared with her brother.

"Uncle," I drawl the word out, making it clear that while I share blood with him, I don't consider him family.

"You're here for your luna," he states.

I can see flecks of blue in the hazel brown irises through short eyelashes. He's clean-shaven. Odd, up here, for males to shave clean when fall is right around the corner. It's a vanity that some long-ago childhood memory associates with my mother's wolves.

I laugh mockingly. My control is on a razor-thin edge. "I am here for mymate," I tell him. I smile wider, flashing my canines in his direction. A few warning grumbles slide out from the trees. Mauja doesn't appreciate the disrespect for their alpha.

Two young wolves step out of the forest to stand on my uncle's left and right. My cousins, I suppose. They are alpha-blood, but my wolf dismisses them with a glance. They are not our equals. We will eat them if they stand in our way.

Ourway? I shake my head, just a slight bit. Since when do I refer to my wolf and me as if we are only one spirit?

"Look at you, Tarkik," my uncle says warily. "Exactly what your grandFather wanted. A king amongst wolves.” His lies taste bitter in the air.

I inhale slowly to make sure my brother is still with me. Rhet is on my left, the low rumble of his wolf a comfort that we aren't alone. The burning need to find my mate is doused just a little by my uncle's bizarre proclamation. My grandfather? I assume my mother's father, another wolf I barely know and haven't seen in a decade.

"I've been waiting nearly a decade to see you again," Kallian continues. "Waiting for you to come home and swear your allegiance to the pack."

Myallegiance? Enough of this.

"Where is my luna?" I roar. Several wolves hit the ground hard. A few cover their heads with their hands. My so-called uncle stumbles back.

"Ease up, In," Rhet cautions me.

Fury wells up when not one wolf has the guts to step forward. "Where is my mate?" I demand answers from the cowering wolves.

Something in me snaps. It unfurls from my chest, my alpha-wolf seeking his female. It finds her in between one heartbeat and the next. I shudder. A wave of warmth washes over my heart. My Qitsuk is growing warmer. My wolf hums with pride, and all eyes turn back to me. "My mate has escaped," I boast softly to my brother.

Rhet chuckles in low amusement before throwing his own words at my uncle. "What is this, Kallian? Is it another war you're after? Inuit won’t swear allegiance to you." He sneers, just a bit, letting the Mauja know just who he thinks the winner of a battle between the RustClaw and Mauja would be.

My uncle glares at Rhet as if the male stolehisfemale. "Tarkik-"

"My name is Inuit," I cut off Kallian's words."Where is my female?” I can feel her. I know she's close. Free, I think, but then why isn't she coming to me? Is she lost? Hurt?

"It would be best if you returned our future luna to us," Rhet tells Kallian.

My uncle stops glaring at Rhet long enough to look back at me. "Your mate... Not much on words, is she? You are meant for more than that pack, than that female," my uncle tells me.

Anger slowly rises, black wings beating in my periphery. "Am I?

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