Page 5

Jackson

Six weeks later.

I can’t figure out what’s up with me today.

I’ve had this weird, anticipatory sensation running up my spine since I woke up this morning.

Like I’m going on the best trip of my life, but I don’t know where to or how I’ll get there.

My wolf’s been yipping at me all day, restless, trying to push me toward something, but I can’t tell what.

All I know is the energy thrumming through my veins is unbearable.

I wasn’t supposed to be on patrol tonight—but I need to run this off before I climb the walls.

When I arrive at the first patrol outpost, my best friend, Ryan, is already there, arms crossed and rolling his eyes like the long-suffering Alpha he is. If only he wasn’t also such a colossal pain in my ass, too.

“You’ve been on patrol the past six nights, Jack,” he says while throwing a glare at me. I wince a little under the pressure of his alpha aura.

“I get it, man. I should take a break tonight, but I’m antsy. My wolf needs the run.”

“You’re always fucking antsy,” he mutters, running his hands through his messy hair. “How much longer will you keep punishing yourself? It wasn’t your fault.”

I glance away, jaw clenching, as the two nearby warriors busy themselves pretending not to listen but hearing our every word. I wish I could believe him when he tells me not to blame myself. Goddess, it would be so much easier to deal with the pain if it hadn’t been all my fault.

“I’m not punishing myself,” I snap. “I need the run. I might as well be useful while I’m at it.”

Ryan sighs, heavy and frustrated. He’s worried about me, but he doesn’t need to be. I’m fine. It’s been years. But I need everyone else to be fine too, and I can’t guarantee that if I’m sitting around. The last time I dropped the ball… well, I’m never going to do that again .

“You’ll be of no use to anyone if you burn yourself out.”

“I’m fine!” I snap again, pacing back and forth because I can’t stand still.

This sensation is too intense to ignore.

It’s pounding in my chest, rattling my bones.

The need to get out into the woods is unbearable.

“It’s been seven years, and I haven’t burned out yet.

Are you pulling rank here, man? Are you saying I can’t go on patrol? ”

“No, of course I’m not going to stop you going on patrol, I just think…” His mouth opens to say more, but I don’t give him a chance to finish his sentence.

“Okay then. I’m going.”

I let my wolf loose and shift on the spot, tearing my clothes to shreds. The brief pain of my bones cracking and reshaping is welcome—it slices through the anxious buzz clouding my mind. I’m sick of talking. I need to run, and I’m not waiting for Ryan to tell me otherwise.

The second my paws hit the forest floor, a flood of relief washes over me.

The fresh air fills my lungs, invigorating me with a renewed sense of energy.

I’m finally on the right path. This is exactly where I should be.

The rustling leaves and gentle breeze speak to me, soothing the restlessness within me.

I take off, pushing myself to my limits as my paws pound the earth of the pack perimeter through the trees and around the bank of the lake. It’s as if my body is preparing for an imminent adventure, ready to embrace the unknown.

With each step on the forest floor, the tension in my muscles dissipates, replaced by a comforting warmth that spreads through my body. The joy of running in my wolf form is a balm for my racing thoughts, grounding me in the present moment.

Ryan pushes at the mindlink, but I block him out.

I need to run. Ryan keeps pushing, so I finally let him in.

It’s only going to keep distracting me otherwise.

Plus, we might be friends, but he’s still my alpha.

“Lunar Eclipse has been your home for your whole life, Jack. Same as me and Luca. I understand how important the pack is to you.” I don’t respond, there’s no need to.

Of course the pack is important to me. It’s my home and I’ve rarely left.

Why would I want to go anywhere else anyway?

Ryan keeps talking through the mind link about how he gets it. We have something special here. Something worth protecting. “You don’t need to tell me that,” I snap through the link. “I might have fucked up before, to an almighty level, but I’ll never let anyone threaten the pack again.”

“I know you won’t. But I want you to realize you don’t have to kill yourself to do that.

We haven’t had an attack since that night.

We have the best trained warriors on the entire west coast, thanks to the time you have put in.

But at some point, you’re going to have to take a step back from this schedule you have yourself on. ”

I don’t reply.

How can I? He doesn’t get it. I can never allow myself to get complacent. Never be responsible for anything like what I brought to the pack seven years ago.

I’m about two hours into my patrol when I pick up an unfamiliar scent; sharp, sweet and delicious, and definitely not belonging here. I mindlink Ryan and Luca, warning them that the pack borders have been breached and we need to prepare for the worst.

As Alpha, Ryan is caring and worries about everyone, including other packs.

He is always trying to build alliances and lately he has been visiting other packs a lot more.

He is most likely to know where she is from.

Luca, our other best friend and pack Beta, is gruffer and a hell of a lot less friendly to outsiders.

He balances Ryan’s almost too kind approach.

My mind races through all the possibilities as my wolf leaps into action, galloping toward the scent. It’s mouthwatering; sweet and altogether too enticing. But I’m not going to let myself get distracted from finding its source just because the scent is so damn appealing.

It doesn’t take long for me to find what I’m looking for because right in front of me is a tiny white she-wolf.

She’s so small that she could pass for a regular wolf.

I recognize her scent is juvenile now that I’m closer, which means she’s under twenty-one.

Shit, she’s so little, she must be a child.

A child shouldn’t be a threat to the pack, but they also shouldn’t have made it inside the pack borders without the warriors noticing.

What is she doing here? It could be a diversion or a trap.

With a surge of urgency, I send a mindlink to the warriors, demanding increased vigilance against any outsiders who might be lurking.

There will be hell to pay tomorrow when I tear into them for letting a fucking unknown child onto the pack lands.

But we need to the determine the level of threat first.

I’m on high alert, but I don’t sense any other unfamiliar threats around. I bring my attention back to the wolf in front of me.

She’s not in good shape. Her white fur is a mess of dirt and dried blood.

Her back leg is mangled, dragging uselessly behind her.

My wolf is whimpering at the thought of her out here, alone and injured.

I can’t comprehend how, but something about her makes him certain that she’s not a threat to the pack .

My wolf is telling me she needs our help. I inch closer to her and notice her looking all around. Her eyes are wide, and her fur is standing on edge everywhere it hasn’t been matted with blood. She’s a shifter, but I’m going to treat her as a wounded animal because she’s that, too.

Luca and Ryan arrive and toss me a pair of shorts, so I dip behind a tree to shift into my human form. Sometimes nudity can’t be helped for shifters but we usually try to keep it to a minimum here.

The little wolf’s panic seems to have gone through the roof at the arrival of a beta and alpha wolf.

She emits a high-pitched whining noise. Even if she’s still a child, she can sense their dominance, and she's shaking violently under the weight of it.

The idea of her being any real threat shrivels and dies the second I see her trying—and failing—to stand her ground.

She must know she hasn't a hope. Instead, she lowers her body, tucking her tail, and gazing at the ground, avoiding eye contact.

My wolf part wants to take care of her, but the human part of me is perturbed. What if she’s a distraction? Shit, what if it’s a trap and now I’ve got the Alpha, Beta, and Delta of the pack here and away from the more vulnerable members? I mindlink Ryan with my thoughts, but he shakes his head.

“Excuse me, miss, are you okay?” Ryan calls out.

“I don’t like this,” Luca says. He is looking around and scenting the air. He shares the same suspicions as I do.

The little wolf can’t even look at them and she won’t be able to communicate by mindlink in wolf form because she’s not from our pack. That thought sobers me again. I don’t know her or her motives for being here. But I can’t afford to get taken in by her lost puppy act.

My fists clench, the frustration burning in my veins, as I wrestle with the conflicting emotions of protective rage and bitter mistrust. I see her looking around and backing away from us.

I can’t let her leave. Either she’s dangerous or she needs our help, and we need to find out which.

I’m sure Ryan will let me take the lead on this.

As Delta, pack security is my responsibility.

Something I’ve learned to treat very fucking seriously at all times.

“You’re going to need to come with us. We can take you to our pack doctor and get that leg looked at,” I encourage. Hopefully, I sound helpful rather than suspicious regardless of my suspicions. “Can you shift into your human form so we can talk?”

She shakes her head and continues to back away, but she’s dead on her feet. One of her back legs drags behind her at an awkward angle. There’s no way she could run away from us.

“We need you to shift, sweetheart,” Ryan says, voice soft but firm. “You can’t communicate otherwise and we need to talk to you.”

As Alpha, his instincts drive him to help those weaker.

He has shown over and over that he struggles to see any level of suffering without stepping in.

It’s part of what makes him an amazing alpha, but right now, it’s making me anxious.

I just feel like he needs to look at other possibilities, too.

He glances at Luca, and I can see the frustration he is feeling in his eyes.

The little wolf trembles but she shows no signs of shifting into her human form.

“Just do it, no point killing time,” Luca growls. Ryan rolls his head from side to side. He’s weighing up the options.

“Shift, now,” Ryan says, applying his alpha command. It’s only a hint at his full aura, but I can see the impact viscerally as it crashes over her.

She shakes and twists, trying to resist, but there’s no point; in less than a minute, she shifts into her human form.

Sitting on the ground, she wraps her arms around her chest and draws her good leg towards her.

I cringe as I realize this is an attempt to cover her body.

Her tiny, but definitely not childlike, body.

And fuck, we’re three ranked male shifters standing around a tiny omega.

A tiny, naked omega.

“Shirt,” I growl at Luca while moving to block her body from my friends. I’m taking a risk putting my back to her, but this isn’t right. She deserves dignity even if she could be a threat.

“Shit, sorry. I’m an asshole,” Ryan sighs while rubbing his hand down his face.

“Yeah, you are,” I agree. He narrows his eyes, but lets my comment slide.

It takes Luca half a second longer to realize the problem before he curses and takes off his shirt. He passes it to me, and I toss it behind me without looking. My wolf whines about her smelling like Luca, he thinks she should smell like us and it has me all kinds of confused.

I hear her catch the shirt and hurriedly pull it on. When I finally turn around again, I suck in a breath.

She’s beautiful—achingly beautiful.

Her long hair is matted and dirty, but I can see it’s a light blonde underneath.

Her eyes are a vibrant emerald green—the same as her wolf’s—and fanned by long eyelashes.

Even the dark shadows underneath them don’t take from their radiance.

She’s pale, far too pale, but a tint of blush clings to her cheeks.

Her scent, still enchanting, is bitter with pain, fear, and embarrassment.

Her lips are full, almost too big for her face and a deep, dusky pink.

Fuck, she’s stunning. She looks like a broken doll. This must be a trap. She’s way too good looking to be out here alone. My wolf whimpers, but I shove him down. Focus. Do your damn job. Ryan apologizes again, but I interrupt him. We need to not get taken in here.

“Can you walk on that leg?”

She glances up briefly before averting her gaze, hugging herself tighter as she clears her throat. She opens and closes her mouth a couple of times as if trying to remember how to talk. When she speaks a moment later, her voice is raspy and slow.

“Not in this form.”

“Okay.” I inch closer, careful not to crowd her. “You have to stay in your human form for now. We need to be able to communicate. Can I carry you?”

“Y… you’re asking me?” she asks and tilts her head to the side. “I didn’t think I had many choices here,” she says to herself more than us, and I wonder how long she’s been out here alone and where her pack is.

“You have choices,” I say, my voice rough. “Especially once you’re at the pack hospital and get that leg cleaned up. You’ll have a lot more options then, like leaving.”

I’m being an asshole. I know I am, and my wolf snarls in my head, pissed off with me for not being more welcoming. But I’m too on edge around her. Too drawn to her. What is it about her?