Return to the Pack (Rejected Mate Book 3) by Alexa B. James & Calinda B

Author:Alexa B. James & Calinda B [James, Alexa B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Speak Now
Published: 2022-02-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Luna

Elder Amexaryl’s words slam into my belly like a missile. I can’t believe it. All those years living alone with my mother, taking care of her, dodging her attempts at my life when the voices in her head took over, all her rants about not trusting the pack, not trusting wolves… It was all a lie. She poisoned my mind against being able to trust a living soul, when the truth was, it wasn’t the pack at all. It was maneater wolves who killed my father.

And the same aberrant mutant wolves that are hunting me, murdered my father.

Why would she deny me a life with the pack? How dare she ruin my life this way? Was it just her addled mind mixing up mutant wolves with the pack? Or generalizing the danger and in her paranoia believing all wolves were dangerous?

Elder Amexaryl looks at me, concern creasing the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry, child.”

“Did she know it was one of those mutants who took my father’s life?” I say, sure my skin has drained of color.

“Yes,” the elder says, nodding. “She knew.”

My limbs begin to tremble as it sinks in. The walls seem to shrink, and suddenly, my clothes, this house, everything seems too tight. I bolt to my feet and race for the door, my wolf bursting forth.

“Luna! Wait! What’s going on?” Axel calls.

I let out a howl, shoving open the screen door and bursting out in my wolf skin.

Rex and Ralph leap from their positions in the corners of the door and scamper away.

I charge down the dirt driveway, heading for the woods, for somewhere I can clear my mind.

“Leave her be,” Elder Amexaryl says from what sounds like far behind me. “She needs time to process.”

“But…” Axel protests.

“No, Alpha. Don’t follow her,” Elder Amexaryl says in that voice of hers that could make you slit your own throat, the one even an Alpha must obey.

Shifting, I run as fast and as far as my legs will carry me. I propel my body beneath branches and over stumps. I swim through ponds and streams, heedless of my surroundings.

Once I come to a stop, I throw back my head and howl. “How could you do this to me, Mama? How could you keep me all to yourself? You knew the entire time it wasn’t the pack who betrayed you. It was the same bastards who are hunting me now.” I fall to my knees as sobs break through the rage. I feel betrayed by my mother and by the entire pack. Most of them must have been alive to tell the tale when I emerged from the woods and entered their world.

The stillness of the woods seems to cradle me in its arms, rocking me. I curl into a ball the same way I used to curl in our ramshackle shack, feeling alone and too young to care for my mother. Eyes squeezed shut, I listen to the birds fluttering about in the trees. Insects crawl across my skin, tickling me.

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