Page 2 of Cursed (Blood Moon Pack #1)

N ori wakes with a start, shivering from the cold stone floor beneath her. She pushes herself up, leaning on one arm to look around. She’s a little dizzy from the aftereffects of the drugs those Enforcers gave her.

She is in about a five-foot by five-foot cell with three stone walls, the stone floor, metal bars, and a bucket. Without a window, she’s guessing she’s been out for several hours. Someone also threw a blanket over her. She smiles and laughs out loud.

“Oh great, Aylin! We have a bucket and a blanket.” Still chuckling, Nori inspects the blanket more closely. “ This blanket is nicer than the one we had in our tiny room back home.”

Aylin’s voice grumbles in her mind, sounding dejected. “ It’s not much nicer.”

“Hey now. It’s a pretty warm blanket. And what do you know, we aren’t dead! ” Nori looks around the cell again. “ I think this cell might actually be larger than our room back home. ”

“ Not much larger, and at least our room back home didn’t have bars. ” Aylin’s tone is bitter.

Tilting her head, Nori sighs heavily at Aylin’s less-than-joyful attitude.

“ Yes, Aylin, our room back home had bars; you just couldn’t see them.

We were just as trapped there as we are here, now.

Not to mention, we spent plenty of hours in our own dungeons back home.

As far as cells go, this one isn’t even that bad. ”

She takes a deep breath, wrinkling her nose. “ It does smell pretty bad in here, though. Damp and mildewy. ”

Aylin snorts with a mental grin. “ Not as bad as we do. ”

“ That’s the spirit! ” Nori cracks a smile and giggles again.

Standing to get a better look at her surroundings, the world tilts. She waits for the dizzy feeling to fade before taking her first step. She walks to the bars and looks up and down the hallway of empty cells.

“ Guess we’re the only criminals here today. ”

Grabbing the blanket, Nori takes a seat against the back wall.

She adjusts the thick blanket so that she can sit on it, keeping her bare butt off the cold floor while still having enough fabric to wrap around her naked body.

She pulls her knees in to keep warm, grateful the blanket isn’t too scratchy on her skin.

Aylin groans loudly in Nori’s mind. “ Seriously, you are way too cheery for our current situation. ”

“ The reason I am so cheery, as you say, is because we are doing remarkably well. We’ve achieved many of our goals. ”

Nori starts counting, holding up her fingers.

“ First Goal: escape our Pack and the constant beatings and abuse. Check! Second Goal: Don’t get killed or die from starvation in the woods while we search for another Pack.

Check! Third Goal: Find another Pack; hope they don’t immediately kill us, and hope they take us in.

Check! Well, I guess that one is really still in progress, but we are halfway there. ”

Aylin finally relents. “ Alright, yeah, we’re doing great, ” she says, sounding only slightly less depressed.

Nori’s voice in Aylin’s mind grows softer.

“ I know we are in a dungeon and have no assurances that they won’t kill us, but on the bright side, we haven’t taken a beating in weeks.

So, even though we are sitting in this smelly cage with nothing but this crappy blanket, which is actually nicer than ours at home, and even though we are really fucking hungry, we are still alive! ”

Aylin reluctantly agrees. “ Yes, alright. I agree. ”

Nori can feel her wolf’s mood lighten just a little, and she smiles.

Aylin’s tone changes from depressed to determined. “ We should think about what we are going to say next. You cannot tell them who we are. They’ll kill us for sure then. ”

Nori breathes a sigh of relief, grateful that Aylin is starting to cheer up.

Her shoulders drop, relaxing against the stone wall.

“ Yup, can’t go around saying I’m the she-wolf who killed her parents.

Parents who were previously the Alpha and Luna of her Pack.

And oh, by the way, I belong to the Starfall Pack, whose new Alpha was suspected of instigating the Vampire Wars.

Nope. We definitely need a better story than that. ”

“ Agreed! Hey, I smell a male down the hall; maybe it’s a Guard and he can bring us some damn food or water. ”

Just as Nori is about to call for the Guard, she hears the heavy thud of footsteps coming down some stairs to her left. Taking a deep breath in through her nose, she smells mint and citrus and male.

The heavy thuds stop, and a loud, gruff voice reverberates down the hall. “Is the prisoner awake?”

Another male voice, which must be the Station Guard, responds, “Afternoon, Beta Garek. Yes, I heard her moving around in her cell. She’s been laughing now and then, which I thought was weird.”

Beta Garek cocks his head, puzzled. “Strange. I’ll check on her.” His footsteps resume, echoing off the dungeon walls.

Nori and Aylin both think to each other, “ Oh shit! ” at the same time.

Trying to sound nonchalant, even though her stomach churns at the thought of meeting the Pack Beta, Nori shrugs and says, “ So, they sent their second in command to check on us. I guess now is as good of a time as any to ask for sanctuary. ”

Aylin's voice sounds worried. “ Hopefully, this Beta is not into beating women like our last one. ”

The memory of the Starfall Beta’s fist striking her face on more than one occasion flashes through Nori’s mind. “ Agreed. ”

The footsteps get louder and heavier until they stop in front of Nori’s cell.

She involuntarily jerks backward against the wall and wraps the blanket tighter around her trembling body.

Making herself as small and as non-threatening as possible, Nori gets her first look at the very large, very muscular Beta.

Sounding alarmed, Aylin is loud in Nori’s head. “ Wow, he is huge! He looks pissed, too. He’s totally going to kill us. ”

Nori rolls her eyes. “ Seriously? We’ll be fine. Now quiet down. ”

The minty-smelling Beta is easily the largest male Nori has ever seen.

He’s dressed all in black, similar to the Enforcers, except he wears jeans and a t-shirt under his fitted leather jacket, bearing that same red and silver patch on his shoulder that the Enforcers had.

Fully armed with a short sword and an enormous gun on his hips, he looks every bit like the warrior he probably is.

He has shaggy brown hair, brownish-green eyes, and the hint of a beard on his squared-off jaw. He might have been quite attractive if he wasn’t staring at her with that look of disgust on his face.

The Beta’s dominance is indisputable; an invisible stream of power crackles in the air around Nori. He barks angrily at her, “Who are you? Why are you here? And what is that dreadful odor?”

Nori jumps and lets out a little squeak from his harsh tone. She looks at the Beta but keeps her eyes focused slightly underneath his because of her first rule when dealing with wolf shifters:

Rule #1: Never look an angry wolf in the eyes.

Since she can’t give him the information he wants, she decides to answer his questions with a question. Nori stammers, “Where...Where am I?”

With a smirk, he says, “You are in the dungeon.”

Aylin lets out a low growl. “ Asshole. ”

Taking a breath, Nori tries again. “What Packlands have I stumbled into?”

A menacing smile spreads across the Beta’s face. “Ah, you have stumbled into the Blood Moon Packlands. Where we kill first and ask questions later.”

Nori’s heart races, thudding against her ribs as his words sink in. She hangs her head, clenching her fists. “ Gods Dammit! This is bad, Aylin! ”

Could her luck get any worse? She has unknowingly stumbled into the lands of the Cursed Prince.

There’s no way they will let her live, much less stay here.

Everyone knows the Cursed Prince is vicious and does not tolerate anyone breaking shifter laws, and Nori had broken a big one.

As far as she knew, it was against the law for slaves to run from their Packs.

She finally finds her voice and says, “I...I should thank you then, for sparing my life and for dealing with the Rogue that was chasing me.” She takes a steadying breath and continues, “Can I have some water? And maybe some food?”

Beta Garek's face splits into a genuine grin, thoroughly pleased with the she-wolf’s increased heart rate and the fear in her voice. “I see you’ve heard of us. I assume you know who our Alpha is?”

Nori nods her head. “Yes. The Cursed Prince.”

“Then, tell me. Who are you? Why are you here?” The Beta’s voice is sharp, grinding out his words.

Nori simply stares at the floor, weighing her options—truth or lie?

Aylin suggests, “ How about neither? ”

“ Works for me! ”

Beta Garek snarls at her when she doesn’t respond. “And don’t lie! I’ll know if you do.”

Nori’s eyes grow wide, staring up at the menacing Beta. Pursing her lips, she remains silent. In any other situation, she would follow her second rule:

Rule #2: Always answer an angry wolf when questioned directly.

But she can’t tell him who she is, and apparently, she can’t lie. She simply cannot answer those questions.

Leaning against the bars casually, Beta Garek tries again, but this time with his best fake-nice tone.

“Look, do yourself a favor and answer my questions. Otherwise, you can sit here and wait for the Alpha Prince to question you. And believe me, you do not want that. His Alpha Influence can be quite...uncomfortable.”

A chill spreads through Nori. Her hands shake involuntarily at the thought of meeting the Cursed Prince. Panic grips her as she shouts to Aylin, “ Shit! Shit! Shit! What do we do? ”

Aylin has an idea. “ Ignore Rule #2. Instead, officially request asylum. ”

Nori looks up, still not quite looking the male directly in his eyes, and straightens her shoulders. “I am officially seeking refuge in the Blood Moon Pack, and I request an audience with His Royal Highness, Prince Drakemoor. ”

The Beta throws his head back and laughs out loud. “OK. OK.” He turns to walk back toward the exit. “It’s your funeral.”

Nori yells after him as he’s leaving, “What about the food? Or at least some water?”

His only response is the regular thud of his footsteps back down the hall and up the stairs.

A Guard comes by a few minutes later with a bottle of water and a sandwich, tossing them into her cell. So, they are not totally heartless here.

Nori drinks half the bottle straight away, then leans against the hard stone wall to eat the sandwich. “W ell, that could’ve gone worse. ”

“ Yup, and we are still alive! ” Aylin laughs softly, sounding smug.

With a small smile, Nori cheers, “ Go us! ”