Page 114 of Untamed

"Alpha?" Elna interrupts hesitantly. I turn cold eyes her way. "Luna Jessie, she's not sane. She buried me alive when I wouldn't help her kidnap the luna. When I was with her, Alpha Blout called her. It was like a switch was flipped. She listens to him without question. She's crazy. She seems to really hate you and your mate for no reason."

I growl to my brother. "The Mauja fell without any real problem. I have a feeling it's the BlueSnout that will be the real war."

Rhet nods grimly.

---

Willa

I swallow against the bitterness in my throat. My stomach feels queasy. My eyes are burning with the tears I refuse to shed.

Mama is alive, but her words ruin the elation.

She was correct; the Pack is dangerous. They are liars and betrayers. I'm such a silly little female for forgetting. Pack males don't like females. Mama always said they use them for mating but only chose to Mark the most powerful females.

My eyes find Mactiir, and I wonder if he may be just...usingme. If you had asked me just a few hours ago, I would have insisted that we use each other. And it was perfect using.

I swallow my tears and rip my eyes off of the beautiful male whose father destroyed Mama's life even more than Father did.

Looking around the...Mauja...pack, I tremble at the destruction. Wolves from Mactiir's pack are forcing entire families from their homes. They are crying, protesting. Some are silent and white-faced.Shock, I think it's called. They refuse to even look at Mactiir. I know because I am watching them, the females, making sure none stare too long with oily looks.

I suppose they find himintimidating; frightening, menacing, terrorizing. He is alarming, with dried blood all over his copper skin and thick, black claws curling from the ends of his fingertips. His jawline protrudes a bit from his canines, but they are hidden in his mouth. Blue-Star tried to give him a pair of pants but got a curled lip that flashed those wicked-looking daggers in response. That's why I'm observing these females. No one is going to stare at my Mactiir's knobby-stick.

I glance at him talking to One-Eye. She's smartened up a bit, keeping her eye from my male, for the most part. She seems afraid of him. As for my Mactiir? Well, I found the she-wolf he was looking for, but he doesn't seem happy to see her. Odd male.

Abbi-Wolf is behind me, huddled in a tight ball with her arms wrapped around her knees, on the outside-floor of this house Mactiir deposited us on. I sat just a bit away from the house, on the ground, to feel the forest through the earth.

Abbi-wolf has gotten some looks filled with hatred from these wolves. I've had to growl at a few of them as they walk past us.Later I will ask One-Eye why Mactiir's knobby-stick isn't pointing up right now.

Mactiir's father made Father take my Mama to the wild.

I clamp down on the shivers, scolding the she-wolf who keeps whimpering in confusion inside my head. She doesn't understand. Mactiir is hers. The big, dumb Ogre has been thoroughly claimed...

"Mama?" my voice is raspy and filled with tears as a thought occurs to me.

"Yes, sweetpea?" Mama's voice has changed, too. Most likely from the injury to her neck.

"I've not Marked him, have I?" I can't really explain. Mama never taught me this, but the Moon told me about mating and Marks. I look around for her. So many of Mactiir's pack is here in this horrible Lake-place, but not the Moon.

I curl into Mama deeper as she looks at the Old Alpha. His eyes are soft on my Mama as he gives his head one quick negative shake.

"No, sweetpea."

"Should I?"

Her fingers brush the scar on my shoulder. "He Marked you," is her only response.

Older Alpha comes closer and crouches down. I eye him warily. He's not like any of the other males I've met at Mactiir's pack. He scents of sorrow and secrets and power. He is what I would have thought Mama would avoid as much as possible. He feels dangerous.

"Little Luna," he greets me softly. "I know you must be upset about your Mama's story, but Inuit and you are mates, sweetheart. That's a definite. Why don't you ask me any questions you have?"

His hands deftly unwrap something that smells good. My stomach growls slightly, but when he holds out the chicken and bread, I shake my hand.

He just smiles and hands it to Mama. I make a soft sound of distress in the back of my throat when she takes it, a blush on her cheeks, her eyes shifting away from me.

"I'll have In bring you another sandwich, alright little one?"

I have a hundred questions. The world is spinning around and around in my head. Too many questions to understand, so I retreat from them all. Digging my hands into the earth under my feet, I listen to the forest. The fires are sizzling, the rains sweeping through the sky last night banking the flames at least a little bit. It's a relief, along with the colder air sweeping in from the north. My forest won't burn for much longer.

---