Page 32 of Untamed

I growl. He just scolded me like a pup! Mactiir starts to laugh so hard I'm worried he can't drive this vehicle properly as we pull away onto the road.

I settle back against Mactiir's chest, listening to his wolf sing to me. My she-wolf seems to be ignoring him, but every so often, her ears twitch, so I know she's listening. My first day with the Pack wasn't so bad. I hope Mactiir has real trees wherever he's taking me...

"Sleep my Bliss."

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Inuit

My phone vibrating in the truck's holster makes me cringe. Lyri's name lights up, "Luna" flashing across the screen.

I'm tempted to ignore it. I'm no coward, but I don't want to have this conversation with her. Rhet most likely called her as soon as we pulled out of town.

Shit.

Exhaling explosively, I hit the answer button and speak lowly, hoping that my exhausted mate doesn't wake up. "Hello?"

"'Sup, In?"

I feel relief flood me. Ezra. "You're using Lyri's phone?" I ask him.

"Couldn't find mine last night. Battery's dead," he replies nonchalantly. I roll my eyes, even if he can't see me. Good thing Lyri is responsible. Ezra can remember the names of every person he meets and never forgets a birthday or anniversary, but he loses everything.

"How's everything down there?" I ask him, getting down to business.

"Hearing rumors," he replies. "Shit's looking grim down here." He lets out a short laugh, "grim, get it?"

"With the GriMaw alpha-turned-beta?" I say, feeling pretty low myself.

"His pack, the ClearHowl, are like a boil on this council’s ass. Their alpha isn't the idiot that their council wishes he was," Ezra says cautiously. You never know who is listening when you're visiting another pack. “I hear they’re in contact with the council east of the lake, GriMaw, everywhere on the continent.”

"Is GriMaw not looking at their third option?" I say casually. GriMaw is the powerhouse of northwestern Canada. Their alphason, Teague, shifted MateLess nearly three decades ago. He left the pack and ended up much farther south in a new pack, ClearHowl. His younger brother, Mac, isn't a true alpha, and Mac's sons aren't either. The youngest brother, Devel, who's only a decade older than me, is part of a private counter-crime unit. As far as I know, he doesn't live with the GriMaw anymore.

"They aren't interested in him," Ezra says.

The GriMaw don't want Devel? That's... stupid, of them.

"Problem is, you're a powerful bloodline alphason," Ezra's voice drops low. "It's a powershift, how RustClaw is rising. Certain packs don't like it, and it’s becoming a trickle-down effect even this far south."

I huff out a breath. My cat shifts in my arms, her golden eyelashes fluttering. I gently adjust her so that her head doesn't slip down my chest. She's so damn beautiful she makes my heart ache. And another part of me.

"In?"

"Sorry, just thinking," I respond. "FeraxMaw? Who else?"

Ezra pauses. In that moment of quiet, I hear my own heart start to thunder. My muscles swell and tighten, and I feel an icy sense of foreboding. My wolf is watching, waiting.

"Members of the Mauja and former members of your birthpack, In. They claim to be Adlartok ."

I absorb the blow as if it's physical. The only thing that keeps me from crashing is the golden eyes, now open, staring up at me.

"You're awake,Qitsuk," I remark, using her presence to keep the threads of my sanity together.

"That's not what I expected you to say," Ezra says.

"I found my mate," I tell him. Idiot. Now Lyri will know if she didn't already hear the news.

"That's great, In," Ezra replies cautiously. I can tell by the tone of his voice that he has already heard the news of my cat.

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