Cult of the Moon by Alex J Wyatt

Author:Alex J Wyatt [Wyatt, Alex J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

SHEPHERD

The morning after Thrall left us, I'm out walking without any particular aim.

Pups run away from me down the path, yipping at one another. They play with me sometimes, when they're not shifted. In their wolf forms, they keep their distance, wary of me.

None of them know why, except a deep rooted discomfort that all wolves are born with for people like me.

Liars? the one inside me asks.

Oh, yes. He can talk.

Wolves speak to their human side with whines or growls or barks. My little inner demon speaks to me with words sometimes. When he feels like it.

He was bred to talk, by the humans who made my kind.

I don't like lying to them, he tells me.

You're not. I am. And if I didn't, they'd kill us both, so keep it quiet.

That shuts him up.

Truth be told, I don't like lying either. Me and my kind have been hunted by other shifters for so long, and these are good people. They don't deserve any of the trouble my shifting would bring on them. It's asking too much for people who've already risked everything to risk more on my account. Bad enough that bastard Thrall might try to kill them all at any time. It's better that they think I can't shift. Better than knowing the truth about what I am and what I can turn into.

I take in the scents of the path as I walk. I let my feet carry me where they want to, but I know where they're headed. Off to see her like always. Even when it's not my time to watch her, I still do. It gives me peace inside to see her. More than anything, I want to hear Piper tell me that it gives her peace inside to see me.

“Shepherd!”

Speak of the angel, and there she is.

Piper darts out of the woods, running for me. She's a sight to see, all her copper hair bouncing around her shoulders, her powerful athletic frame as she runs carrying her in huge strides. She's fast even in her human form, and strong.

When she gets to me, she leaps and throws her arms around me.

“I missed you!” she says.

I’m almost bowled over by the scent of her. Like lilac and oak. She was deep in the woods again. Spartan told me to keep her out of the deep woods. Something about a weird old witch out there. But Piper loves it, and I've been in those woods and sensed no danger at all from them.

I'm of the opinion that they're probably the safest place for her. Sometimes I think Spartan is too controlling. Piper needs freedom, and she needs us to know when to give it.

She's young still, and growing inside and out. She'll need to find herself, especially now.

“You ready for a rough afternoon?” I ask her, holding her tight to me for a little longer.

She feels the pause when I hold her and she lets me do it. I like that. Something about what I said made her blush, too, and she's gorgeous when she does that.

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