Pack Captive (Moon Called Book 1), page 3
The Caller needed to eat, one way or another. Alpha’s orders.
She was sitting at the very edge of the camp, her arms bound behind her back, black hair spilling down her back in a waterfall of tangles.
In fact, it was the first time I’ve ever seen a Caller look like anything less than perfection.
This didn’t sit well with Ryden. Our own Callers back in Lykos were some of the most revered wolves in the pack.
They were given their own quarters in the Dawn Palace, and Ryden had given the orders to have their new Moon Temple built three years ago.
Soon, this Caller, Ayla, would be established with them. Living a life of luxury at the top of the pack’s food chain.
“What have they been doing with her?” he’d growled at me when she’d shifted back to her human form during a rest break, revealing her too-thin form and unbrushed hair.
I’d just shrugged at him.
From the looks of it, their little village had been harried on a near-constant basis by Fenris’s shadow wolves. Getting dressed up was likely the least of this woman’s worries.
That was when he’d ordered the tent set up so she could bathe privately, and then the tent would be given to the elders. And then he’d ordered that I make sure she eat something.
It disturbed me how much he treated her like more than just a Caller.
It was like he was trying to court a mate.
I brought the Caller her roasted deer, holding it out without ceremony. The golden bracelet chained around her ankle was the only clean and shiny thing about her right now.
She looked up at me, her dark blue eyes full of a banked but still simmering rage.
For a single second I knew exactly how that felt. I’d once gone through the same thing myself.
It hurt to lose your only home. But now she had no choice.
Not with those starving pups in tow.
She looked down at the meat I held out to her, and I could tell from the way her lips tightened that she was hungry.
Or maybe it was just the enormous growl her stomach let out.
“Dinner,” I said, refusing to serve her deferentially the way our last young Caller, Tyra, had demanded. “Open up. The Alpha orders you to eat.”
Earlier in the day, after one too many attempts from her to veer away from the pack and take the shackle off, Ryden had ordered her arms bound behind her back. A Guardian had carried her on his back, much to her rage.
She sneered at me and turned away.
“If you untie me, I’ll hunt for my own food,” she said stiffly.
Even though I was full of anger that she’d reject it after the pack had made the effort to hunt it down, I shrugged nonchalantly.
“More for me, then,” I said, taking a bite.
Her stomach growled again. It would’ve been funny, but I glanced over at the main part of the camp.
The pups had fallen on a deer by themselves, their sharp little milk teeth ripping into it. I knew that feeling as well as I knew the sadness of losing your home.
And starvation was always worse.
The Caller’s nose twitched as I took another bite of the meat.
She was too thin. We needed her in top shape if she was going to help us defend Lykos.
That was the only reason I offered again. We needed her power desperately.
It wasn’t because she was beautiful under the dirt, or because she looked forlorn, or because the fucking shackle was too big around her ankle.
“Last chance,” I said, holding it out once again. “I’m not going to baby you. Eat or starve, it’s all the same to me.”
“I didn’t ask you to baby me,” she snapped, but her eyes were on the food, and didn’t pull away. They were too big, her sockets nearly hollow, just like the pups. “All I wanted was the option to choose to go with you. You didn’t have to leash me like a pet.”
I couldn’t tell her the real reason why she didn’t get a choice.
It had nothing to do with the Alpha’s sudden interest—although I was sure that played a role—but the fact that we’d lost Tyra recently.
She’d gone out with the patrol. A third of them had returned, and she wasn’t among them.
We’d been down one Caller who was of mating age, which was a huge blow, until today, when our runes had lit up with the presence of a new Caller.
The Alpha had tracked her relentlessly all the way into the valley.
I would worry about Ryden’s personal interest in Ayla later. Right now, all we cared about was making sure that Lykos was defended against Fenris, and that we got this one back safely.
I’d lost too much, and sacrificed too much, to let one Caller’s hurt feelings get in our way now.
“Just eat it,” I said, feeling tired. “You’re not going to make it another day if you don’t.”
Maybe she hadn’t made the best first impression on me, but I had to give it to her, she had some common sense.
She could’ve chosen to struggle, to turn her pack against us, but instead she’d gritted her teeth, sucked it up, and told them it was safe.
It was safe, because Ryden would never have slaughtered innocents, but technically she couldn’t know that.
She finally gave in, leaning forward and taking a huge bite of the meat. I had to hold my hand still, making sure she wasn’t struggling without her own hands to help her.
Less than a second later, she went in for a second bite, chewing so rapidly she looked like a mouse.
I didn’t want to like her. After all, a Caller was too high in the pack hierarchy for the likes of an orphaned wolf, even if I was a Second, and besides...she was so fucking stubborn.
But the sight of her chewing so quickly was pretty funny. I bit back a chuckle, hoping she wouldn’t notice.
“It’s not bad, huh?” I prodded.
She chewed, swallowed, and examined the roasted deer. “Better than a lot of what we’ve had lately,” she said quietly.
There it was again. That annoying pang of sympathy in my chest.
This girl had obviously been starving as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had given up her own food rations to the pups.
Surprising even myself, I sat down beside her on the sandy, scrubby grass.
Despite her anger, she was like a pinpoint of strange calm, accepting everything that happened to her and making the best of it so far.
Before us, the wastelands were a vast stretch before we reached Lykos. It was a hot, grueling, and thankless run to come out this far.
It had only been because we’ve been hunting several of the Fenris wolves that had skirted too close to the river bordering Lykos that Ryden had even considered the direction that had led to her.
The Caller gave me an annoyed look, as though I’d sat far too close to her despite the arm’s length distance between us. “Why are you out here with me?”
I shrugged again, not really sure what to tell her.
Or rather, I wanted to tell her that she should be grateful she had a second chance. Not everyone got that.
Instead, I chose to nod at the remains of ruins out in the distance.
It was nothing more than a fallen stone wall, where Fenris had come through and eaten everything in his path. My own home had looked a lot like that by the end.
“That’s what would’ve become of your village. You couldn’t have stayed behind.”
She followed my gaze, and her eyes narrowed.
“I’m well aware of that,” she said, her voice as cold as ice. “If you came out here to rub it in, you can just leave. Trust me, your stupid shackle keeps me from going anywhere.”
I looked down at the bracelet around her skinny little ankle. Her skin was already a little red beneath it from the number of times she’d decided to test it.
Ryden had been irritated that he’d had to force her to have her hands tied, but he wasn’t willing to risk her damaging herself. I knew that the shackles hurt like a bitch.
And Elder Yasemin herself, our oldest Caller, had enchanted this one. It would pack a hell of a punch if Ayla tried to run.
“You need to eat more,” I told her, my gaze still locked on her thin legs and the sting-reddened skin. “Quit worrying about running, and just worry about taking care of your pack.”
She tucked her leg under herself, hiding it from my view.
“That’s all I worry about,” she told me. I leaned over and popped the last of the meat into her mouth, and she gnawed on it, obviously trying to chew slowly and make it last.
I guess I could’ve told her that much better food was available in Lykos, but there was a stubborn streak in me, too.
If I told her that and gave her something to hope for, I could as good as admit that I liked her grit. And I still didn’t want to like her.
She was still chewing when she spoke next. “I’ve been surviving for much longer than you think. My pack has depended on me for years. I don’t need you walking in and treating us like we don’t know how to take care of ourselves.”
“Where were your Warriors?” I glanced at her and found myself unable to look away. Even covered in dirt, with her hair unbrushed, she would be beautiful when she was washed and dressed like a true Caller. “All you have are your elders. You wouldn’t have survived for much longer.”
Ayla stopped, going as still as a statue.
She chewed one or two more times, made a face, then spit the last bite out into the grass below the ridge. Then she stood suddenly, wobbling from getting up without the help of her hands, and looked down at me imperiously.
“I need privacy for a moment,” she said.
I stared at her blankly. “This is as private as it’s going to get. It’s a camp.”
She’d been fine a moment before. It wasn’t until I mentioned her Warriors…
They were gone. She would’ve been the one to bury them and hold all the rites herself, taking on the burden alone that was meant for a full pack to bear.
I wished I could take back my question.
She shook her head, not meeting my eyes. “No, I need to pee. Do I need your Alpha’s permission to do that now?”
Oh, that’s what it was. In fact, the Alpha did need to know if any of us were leaving the camp.
But speak of the wolf and it shall appear.
Ryden’s tall form strode towards us, backlit by flickering campfire light.
His blue runes were glowing brightly, much more brightly than we’d ever seen—another thing I wasn’t going to tell the Caller until she was safely locked in the Dawn Palace.
Ever since we’d come across her, the pack Warriors’ runes had been lit up like we were fresh out of a full moon ritual.
There was definitely something about her, and it would’ve taken a thousand Fenris wolves to keep Ryden from stealing her.
That fight in the valley had been nothing while we were mainlining power straight from Ayla.
Instead of waiting for permission, she gave him a filthy look, then turned and marched straight out into the wastelands, finding a stand of scraggly trees at the bottom of the hill.
I looked after her in frustration.
She was going to be treated like a princess in Lykos. We were doing her a favor.
Ryden couldn’t take his eyes off her. “Let her go,” he said. “The rest of her pack is here. She’s not going anywhere.”
“Not to mention the bracelet,” I murmured, watching her vanish into the stand of trees. Now that it was dark, she blended in with the shadows.
It was the only thing that was going to keep her from sneaking off on us, besides the pups being here, but Ryden shook his head. “Not when we have her people. We don’t even really need the bracelet.”
“True.” She would clearly follow them to hell and back. The bracelet was more to warn us if someone else stole her.
Ryden pushed his hair out of his face, looking at where she’d vanished with concern. “Did she eat?”
I nodded, scanning the darkness of the wasteland. “A little.”
It didn’t look like anything was moving out there, but the Fenris wolves had proven that they were as sly as the shadows they were made of.
Soon, we heard the faint noise of stone on metal coming from the stand of trees she’d chosen.
A wry grin crossed Ryden’s face. “She’s trying to take the bracelet off.”
“She’ll fail,” I said casually, unconcerned that she’d do any damage to it.
If she’d lost all her Warriors, she was clearly untrained. She didn’t have the skill to break through Yasemin’s enchantment.
But Ryden had stiffened next to me, staring hard, his body vibrating as he prepared to shift. I followed his eyes.
There was a shadow moving out there.
And it was heading straight for our Caller.
4
Ayla
I slipped behind a tree, making sure that I was perfectly hidden from view, and then slid down to my knees in the gritty dirt, pretending I was peeing like I’d told them I needed to do.
The wastelands were almost completely devoid of any living plants or trees. The one I hid behind was gnarled and dying, its branches blackened by a lightning strike, but it was wide enough to obscure me from the Azurans’ sharp eyes.
I smashed my ankle into a boulder, but I hadn’t expected the bracelet to break. After several more half-hearted kicks, I gave up and decided to go for the rope first.
There were small, chipped pieces of rock down at the base, scattered among its tangled roots, exactly what I was looking for.
I slid down low, my upper back braced against the tree to hold me upright while I searched.
I let my arms dangle down, using my sense of touch alone to shift through the rock shards in the dirt until I found one with a sharp enough edge.
It would never match a razor for efficiency, but if Calian left me alone for long enough, I might be able to saw through the ropes.
It was impossible to go on like this.
I couldn’t lie. I was grateful that they had taken in my pack.
But I would be damned if I let Ryden bring me back to his home like some war prize.
Especially if he had me tied up like I was no better than a pet dog and treated me like I would abandon my own pack.
I even hated myself a little for how attractive I found him. He’d stolen me from my home, without even giving me the chance to follow my own people. I shouldn’t feel anything at all.
Maybe he was gorgeous on the outside, but his inside would never match.
As for Calian, there was something magnetic about him. I thought he might have sympathy for me deep inside, but he’d ruined even that.
I couldn’t give him the chance to explain it. If I was going to Lykos, it would be on my own terms, or not at all.
I leaned against the tree, settling in as I kept the rock in my slowly numbing fingers, and began scraping it against the ropes binding my wrists.
It was unbelievable that they’d even send me out to pee while I was tied up, but at least I could use it as an excuse for why it was taking me so long.
I adjusted the rock, angling it against the tight knot Calian had managed, and found purchase.
The faint sound of scraping filled the air as I sawed desperately, trying to work fast, but also as quietly as possible.
I was torn. How could they be so kind to the children and elders of my pack, and yet tie me up and throw me over a Guardian’s shoulders like I was a sack of grain?
Maybe they were deliberately punishing me.
Maybe this was because I had failed my people so badly, I couldn’t even be trusted.
I’d never thought about how other packs might treat their Callers, but maybe I had done something terrible and wrong, and had never realized it.
Lost in my dark thoughts, I sawed even harder, and then felt the slightest give.
Biting back a gasp of surprise, I almost dropped the rock. The ropes must’ve been flimsier than I’d thought if it had worked that fast.
I pulled my wrists apart, testing the strength. There was definitely more give now. I could almost slip my hands out if I pulled hard enough.
I was so absorbed in seeing how far I had cut through the rope, I almost didn’t hear the muffled growl coming from the darkness.
The second growl was louder, only feet away from my tree. I nearly dropped my rock for the third time and crouched down as low as possible, peering out into the deep shadows of the wasteland.
There was something out there. No blue runes lit up the darkness, and whatever it was, it was slowly creeping behind a stand of trees.
By the light of the waning moon, I saw the briefest flash of blood red eyes.
My heart seemed to stutter to a halt, then came back to life with a vengeance, galloping against my ribs.
One of Fenris’s shadow wolves. It must have followed us all the way from the valley.
And here I was, huddled beneath a tree, with my hands tied behind my back.
Completely useless, unless I called for the Alpha or Calian.
I didn't want them to be the ones to save me again, but neither did I want to be torn apart, my body left in the wastelands for the birds to pick to the bone.
But this shadow wolf didn't attack. It crept around one of the trees, staring me down, its dark outline becoming more obvious in the moonlight.
I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that something was different about this one. The way it looked at me...it didn't have the usual look of blind rage and hunger.
I didn’t want to know what that meant. The shadow wolves always killed any other wolf they came across.
I clutched the rock tightly and began sawing desperately at the ropes, no longer trying to stay quiet.
My breath was coming faster, my heart pounding in my throat. It was only feet away, stalking towards me, its head ducked low to the ground as more rumbles emanated from its chest.
I should never have come out here alone. It seemed my choice was between captivity or death. There were no other options left.
My form shivered as my primal instincts urged me to shift, the only way I would be able to fight this creature off. My soft human form was defenseless.
It slunk closer, and I desperately tried to snap the ropes, my arm muscles screaming with the effort.
