Wh-why are you out here and not with the other packs?" Unless they are
rogue wolves and ostracized like me.
"Looks like the party is over," he says in a gravelly voice sending a vibration down my spine. It resonates in my chest, in my gut, condensing into a knot in my throat.
The howls of wolves and laughter
echo behind me and my shoulders slump. "No, they're just getting started.
You can make it to the celebration," my voice catches, "if you head in."
And I had foolishly thought I would be one of the ones joyously partaking tonight. I should've known better. Should've known that I've had to fight for every ounce of anything I've ever had.
He smiles and a vibrant pucker of scar tissue stretches from the corner of his right eye toward his ear. Making me take another step back. "Looks like there's a party right here."
Shit. Not even half an hour banished and already I'm going to have to fight. Female wolves outside of a pack have no protection, and no say if a random male wants to rut with them. No thank you.
I clench my jaw and raise my fists. There's no way I can keep him off me, but I sure as hell am going to
try whatever I can. "Touch me and you'll regret it."
"Oh?" he says in a mocking tone. Then he lifts his gaze and nods. "This one is extra feisty for a wolf who's banished."
Spinning around, I come face-to-face or rather, face-to-chest with Aspen and Dex. Both of them are a foot taller than me. "You three know each other? What pack are you from?"
And why were they out here and not enjoying the celebration with everyone else. The beat of the drums echoes behind me, tearing holes in my heart with each thump-thump-thump.
Whatever these wolves were doing out here can't be good.
Maybe it was a bad idea to agree to the banishment. Maybe I should've just claimed to be a witch like my mother believes and I'd already be dead and wouldn't have to worry about dying just outside the barrier.
"We're our own pack," a stranger says, and I whip my head around to face him, my stomach clenching.
"Rogues?" I swallow against my dry throat.
When I'd met Aspen and Dex earlier, I thought they were roamies... wolves who travel across the land with no real territory to call their own.
Rogue wolves were worse with too many Alphas fighting for dominance and killing anyone in their way. Except they traveled alone, in pairs and certainly not in threes. And they were known for rutting any females they found until they died from the abuse.
"Don't believe everything you hear," Dex says behind me.
"Easy for you to say." I take a step away from the three of them. Three wolves who look as different from each other as possible. Aspen with dark auburn hair and Dex with golden hair and now this third roamy with jet-black hair, dark skin and tattoos over his arms and neck.
Each of them looks like they could be the Alpha of a pack. So why are they together and why out here when they could take their pick of any of the available females.
"We're not going to hurt you, are we, Raven?" Aspen grins, his blue eyes darken, and my breath hitches.
"A girl out in the wilds all alone?" Raven rubs his chin, looking me up
and down in a way that makes my face heat.
His eyes are like an angry storm cloud, like an approaching thunderhead full of spite and foreboding. Everything in me says to run. That these wolves are more dangerous than anything I could face in the crowded, infected cities. But I can't move. My feet have taken on
roots.
"Nah," he says in a voice that rolls through me like thunder. "We can't allow that."
"I'm fine on my own." I lift my chin despite that I'm starting to shake all over. And for once, my wolf is utterly silent. Like she knows we're facing off with three predators that
we can't possibly win against. "And I'm a woman, not a girl."
"You're what... barely eighteen?" Raven raises a black eyebrow.
My stomach twists with how much money is... was wasted on booze to keep my stepmother happy. I know I'm thin, but I can eat. "I'll be twenty-one in a few months."
"That so?" He smirks like he doesn't quite believe me. "And you've never shifted?"
My stomach drops to the ground. Then a thought breaks through the gray clouds. All the stories I've heard of witches flicker.
If my real mom did spell me, then maybe that's why I can't become a wolf. I just need to unleash the magic she put on me and then I can go back. I can show Michael and Casey and everyone else that I am a real wolf.
"I want to hire you three to take me into the wilds."
"To do what exactly?" Dex frowns
. "Go shopping among the undead? Think you're better off staying near the other packs here in the woods."
"No." I shake my head. "I want you to help me find my real mother." Not that I have a cent to my name to pay them, but I'd figure that part out later
I stare at the girl who is way too
skinny for my taste and wonder what
the fuck Aspen and Dex are thinking
about involving a female in our group. Her request to find her mother hangs in the air between us.
"Why should we?" I ask, interested in how much it's going to take for her to break. She's already shaking and her eyes are red-rimmed from tears or the bonfire still blazing back behind the barrier.
"Raven," Aspen says in a biting tone. "Let up, will ya? She's just been rejected by her fated mate."
At his words, the girl's eyes blink rapidly, but she squares her shoulders like she's willing herself not to cry. Her blue hair is striking against her alabaster skin, and I wonder if she's dyed it that color on purpose. Not that I care.
Too many women have flaunted themselves to gain access to a more powerful Alpha. My own mother among them and I've had four different men claim to be my father, but I'm just a fucking bastard.
I've seen women spread their legs to whoever asks without loyalty. Just like my fated mate, Amii. My jaw tightens as I push the memory of her
from my mind and my wolf whimpers.
"Are you going to help me or not?" she asks, her chin trembles and she presses her lips together in a thin line.
I sniff the air, trying to make out what she is. Her scent is sweet and light compared to the black smoke. There is a hint of something else, something stronger, something different. Something I haven't smelled before. Exotic. Underneath it all is the faint trace of wolf.
Yet, she doesn't act like an Omega. I shake my head, unable to discern what she is. Those females cower too much and too soon. And while I can tell she's barely holding it together she's not falling apart. Good. Then she'll put up a fight and be a challenge to break. My wolf growls in agreement.
"Why should we?" I ask, crossing my arms.
Dex looks at me like I've lost my mind that I'm not actually entertaining this idea. But he and Aspen are the ones who brought out this female.
Does he really think she could be the one we can sacrifice to the
pe me one we can sacrifice to me witches to regain our honor? A wolf who is not a wolf, a girl who has not shifted past her due.
When Merida had told us this riddle, I wanted to gut her where she stood. Except, with her magic, we couldn't touch her. We've had to live like outcasts until we can rid ourselves of this curse.
And all because Dex had to get it on with the witch's triplet daughters. One for each of us, he'd said. The girls were promised to a powerful mage. Needless to say, the mage didn't like tainted goods and we've been up a shit creek ever since.
This is why this latest obsession of Dex has me wanting to haul her over my shoulder and toss her at the feet of her Alpha to make her stay with her pack.
It's fucking dangerous out here for just the three of us, not to mention a scrap of a girl.
She licks her lips, her gaze darting to the three of us like she's just realized we could be the big bad wolves in those stupid stories. "I-I'll pay you."
"How?" I laugh. There's no purse or even pockets in her outfit. Her shirt is white and soft cotton so thin I can