Pack Captive (Moon Called Book 1), page 5
Ayla turned her head aside, refusing to look at me. “You can go now.”
I turned towards the tent door, my veins humming. “I've changed my mind,” I said.
“About what?” She gave me a suspicious look, but I didn't miss the fact that she quickly took her hand away from where she'd been touching her lips.
So she had enjoyed kissing me.
I grinned at her. “When we get to Lykos, you'll be living in the Alpha Quarters with me.”
6
Ayla
I scrubbed myself angrily, trying not to replay his words in my mind and failing miserably.
How dare he assume that I would live with him? Maybe he'd said I wouldn't need to be his whore, but I didn't believe him for a heartbeat.
Especially after the way he kissed me, and I thought my heart might explode right then and there in my chest.
There was a voice of reason very deep inside me that whispered, it's not wrong to want a male from outside your pack.
I shoved that voice away, locking it in a box and dropping that box into a void where I would never think of it again.
It wasn't that he was from outside my pack, although that did have something to do with it.
It was because he assumed that I would live in his quarters.
He assumed that I would be happy to serve Lykos, whether I wanted to or not.
And he’d assumed that I would run away to save myself and leave my pack at their mercy.
I dipped the cloth in the basin, also trying not to be grateful for the hot water. It had been months since I've had anything but a quick scrub in a cold creek, and even those brief baths had vanished when the water ran dry.
The shadow wolves tended to be drawn to large fires, so in recent months we had taken to eating raw food in our wolf forms, and I had only ever lit small candle flames during the necessary lunar rituals.
Then I noticed the cake of soap he had left beside the washcloth.
I lifted it to my nose, inhaling the creamy scent of spiced honey and vanilla. It smelled so good it was actually mouthwatering.
He was bribing me.
And I didn't appreciate it one bit.
I drew back my hand to throw it to the other side of the room, then I slowly lowered it, and lathering up in the basin.
Blood was still caked on me from the shadow wolf dragging me across the ground, even blood dried into my hair. There wasn't much I could do about my torn, stained clothes, but the rest of me didn't have to feel so filthy.
And it’d be a waste of hot water to not use it.
Excuses, my voice of reason whispered. You like the attention and care.
Shut up, I silently whispered back.
By the time I was done with my makeshift bath and wringing out my hair over the basin, I almost felt like a whole new wolf. It was hard to believe what hot water and a full stomach could do for you.
And, to my credit, I'd only thought of escaping once during the entire wash. It was only the fact that I knew that Ryden hadn't made an idle threat that I didn't seriously consider attempting it. Being run down in my own valley had been bad enough.
One of the Guardian-caste wolves came in to take the basin when I was done, and brought me a plate piled with more food, and a pot of ointment.
I ignored the medicine and drew the plate closer, examining the fresh roasted meat, a chunk of bread, and even a small bowl of ripe purple berries.
It wouldn’t kill me to accept his offerings. After all, it didn’t mean I had to like him.
I ate rapidly and was actually starting to feel at ease with my circumstances, but when the same Warrior wolf came in to take the empty plate and bowl, Calian came in with him.
I knew exactly what he was there for. My dark mood returned, settling on my shoulders like a thundercloud.
I obediently held out my wrists.
Calian knelt next to me, but this time, instead of roughing me up, he gently wrapped the ropes around my wrists, and didn't put them behind my back.
“See? Good behavior earns you rewards.”
I couldn't believe that only a few short minutes ago, I’d actually been in a decent mood. I’d even considered forgiving Calian for his behavior.
Clearly, I'd been wrong. Soap and food were not good excuses for magnanimity.
“Don't talk to me like I'm a dog.” I met his gaze. It was getting easier and easier to stare these presumptuous males down. “You will not train me into doing anything you like.”
I sucked in a breath when Calian put his fingers under my chin and tipped my face up towards his.
He’d only touched me before to tie my wrists and feed me. This pose was too intimate for my liking.
“I'm not trying to train you. I'm trying to show you that we're not your enemy, and the sooner you get that in your head, the better off you'll be. Yours isn’t the only pack we’ve ever brought back from a raid. The rest of them were fucking overjoyed to stand a chance against Fenris.”
I was past the point of making arguments. If they couldn't understand that tying someone's hands was not a way to make them your ally, then they would never get it.
But right now, it was hard to look beyond the fact that Calian was only inches away. I'd never seen eyes so dark; they were like the sky on a moonless night.
He made me furious, but he still had a face to make any wolf envious. He even smelled delicious, like he was designed to rattle my senses.
The memory of him feeding me popped back into my head unbidden, the gentleness of his fingers against my lips.
I tried to push it away, but it seemed firmly lodged there. Of course I would now be having vivid images of what his actual lips would taste like against mine.
And it was all because of the damn Alpha kissing me.
Calian seemed to know what I was thinking.
“Good night,” he whispered with a slight smirk. He released my chin, grabbed my hand, and brought it up to his mouth, pressing a kiss against my knuckles.
Then he left the tent. I sat in silence for a moment, completely bewildered by what had just happened, and then the first of the pups came crashing in.
Within moments I was covered with flailing arms and legs, and trying to get them to settle down on the furs. The elders joined us shortly after.
That night, I hardly slept. I couldn't say if I thought of the Azurans and their Alpha, or of my future in Lykos more.
We reached Lykos early the next evening.
My mouth dropped open when the city walls came into view. The wastelands had vanished this morning, left behind when we loped into green fields and dense forests.
The Azurans seemed to know their way through by heart, following a hidden path through the forest.
Then came the rivers, and the crashing waterfalls. I quickly realized that what we had in the valley had been a tiny, insignificant stream next to the city’s resources.
It made me wonder why we had never left for something better.
Lykos itself was built on an island in a broad lake, an enormous, walled city of white stone that had waterfalls spilling from its edges. Around it, steep green hills rose into mountains, and another river cut through them, crashing down into rapids.
Ryden shifted into his human form as we drew closer to the city, holding me near him.
“The Fenris wolves don't like water.” He nodded towards a bubbling pond as we passed it. “It won't hold them back entirely, but they take much longer to cross it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had deliberately blocked your little creek from outside the valley to make their path easier.”
I held back a scowl at the sight of lush pink lilies floating on the pond, their petals edged in deep orange.
If we'd known that, we could have moved our pack out of the valley and into a more defensible area. Half the year, the stream dried to a slow trickle, and the other half of the year it was barely waist deep.
To think those creatures had been plotting to dry it up...it scorched my insides with rage
“The Elder Caller will probably bring you out here for your training,” he continued. “Water helps conduct the power of the Moon.”
Shock jolted through me. I'd never heard that before.
On the other hand, he wasn't a Caller himself. Maybe he was lying, trying to make himself look better so I would be inclined to stay.
But my gut feeling told me that he genuinely believed what he was telling me.
And if that was the case, that meant he had even more knowledge of my powers than I did.
It was galling. As much as I loved my home, had I been short-changed by staying there my entire life?
The Azurans led our pack down a winding path of bridges over the lakes and ponds, heading towards the gates of the city.
The wall around Lykos dripped with water and climbing ivy, tall enough that the shadow wolves would never be able to penetrate it except by sheer force of numbers.
I knew that the elders around me were also staring up at it, their mouths all open with awe, but I kept my jaw firmly shut, refusing to be impressed by it.
Wolves paced the top of the wall, both in animal and human form. The ones who were wearing their human skins were wearing shiny, scaled armor, armed with bows and arrows.
Several of them gathered near the top of the gates as our packs approached, and the enormous doors slowly began to slide inward, revealing the city’s interior.
It was almost painful to my ears. I’d never heard this much noise at once in my life; the sounds of all the people packed into the city rivaling the clap of a thunderstorm.
Ryden strode in like a conquering hero. I tried to make myself invisible at his side, but it was impossible.
I had the marks of a Caller clearly outlined on my leg, visible through the rips in my pants. What felt like the weight of thousands of eyes landed on me, and I wished I could turn invisible.
Especially when I realized Ryden hadn't been lying.
It seemed that everywhere I looked, every female wolf was dressed in beautiful clothes, dripping with jewelry, their hair shining.
For the first time in my life, I felt lesser. Like I didn't belong, a clod of dirt that had accidentally crept into the city on the Alpha’s heels.
A band of Warriors waited just inside the city's entrance, their eyes on the Alpha who had just arrived.
They bore the lunar runes of born Warriors, but there were also pitch-black claw marks tattooed over their shoulders and down their arms.
Ryden tilted his head towards my pack as we approached them. “We brought back potential warriors,” he told the leader. “Untrained, raw material.”
The head warrior, who wore armor carved with images of snarling wolves, looked over the Vesperans, particularly the runed pups, as we passed. They must be the Claws, who were going to try to take them.
I bristled under the weight of his assessment. They were my pups. I wasn't going to hand them over like they had never been part of my pack.
But it was clear that in Lykos, nothing was going to go my way. This was a city unlike anything I had ever seen before, and Ryden obviously ruled everything.
I wished someone in my pack had told me about all of this.
Instead of stewing on it, I found a clear line of sight towards the apex of the city, where a white castle of spires and gently arched windows waited for us.
That must be the Dawn Palace, where I would be kept a prisoner—but in luxury instead of a tent.
It was in that exact direction that Ryden led us.
The castle itself was built on an island within another, smaller lake, and he halted in front of an arched bridge that led to its fortified doors.
From here, I could see that a portion of the palace was nothing but a crumbled ruin. White stones and boulders lay in a strewn mess that tumbled towards the lake’s edge, and even a portion of the enormous wall behind the palace was cracked and shattered.
Ryden turned to look at me. There was something in his gaze that I didn't like at all.
“Welcome to your new home,” he purred.
I wish he could have just been honest with both of us.
He should have called it a prison.
7
Ayla
I didn’t realize what he was planning until he gestured to someone behind us. I turned, realizing that some of the Claws had followed us to the palace, but they weren’t looking at the palace itself.
Their eyes were still on my pack, appraising the pups.
My lips drew back over my teeth in a snarl even as the Alpha gestured to the children, his eyes on the Claw leader.
Two of his Warriors fell from his pack, herding my people together along with the Claws.
"Pack Vesper is to stay together," he told them. "Take the elders into the city and find them quarters. Have the Claws check the pups for potential. Any pup not taken under apprenticeship is to be returned to their pack and assessed by an artisan."
I was ready to launch myself at them and do whatever I could—which wasn't much—to stop them from taking the pups, but Ryden reached out and caught my ropes with a casual twist of his wrist.
To my surprise, it was Reeva who stepped away from the pack and planted her hands on my shoulders.
She drew in close, her hair tickling my bare shoulders, breath in my ear.
"Don't do this, Ayla. You've done all you could; now it's time to let the pack go."
Tears pricked the backs of my eyelids.
This was the end for me; I had done all I could for my pack, and now even they saw I was a useless Caller and were cutting me loose.
Reeva seemed to sense my feelings even though I'd blinked hard, refusing to cry in front of these new wolves.
"This is the chance of a lifetime for you," she told me softly. "Gods know I loved your mother, but... she wasn't what you needed, and I won't stand back and let you die like her. Your best chance to shine the brightest lies here, with this pack."
She gestured to the Alpha and Calian, who were both watching us intently. I bowed my head, exhaling deeply.
I'd had a deeply buried fear that Reeva would blame me for the decimation of our pack before we were separated.
What I hadn't expected was for her to voice the same feelings I'd been harboring from the moment we walked into Lykos.
My mother hadn't taught me much. Certainly not enough to empower our pack against Fenris.
Whoever Ryden's Elder Caller was, surely she could teach me more than my mother had.
"Take care of the pups, Reeva," I said, my voice raspy. "Don't let them run wild."
She smiled, and Fenn stepped up on my other side. His hand was a warm, comforting presence on my shoulder.
"It's for the best, Ayla," he told me.
I knew what they were trying to do, but bitterness welled up in me, nonetheless.
They weren't the ones who were bound or had been promised to live in the Alpha's quarters whether they wanted it or not.
I forced a smile on for their benefit, and they stepped back, herding the pups into the center of the pack. The Claws and Ryden's Warriors led them away, towards a long road that led down into the heart of the city.
I watched them until they were out of sight, taking slow, measured breaths.
"It's a huge honor to be chosen to apprentice with the Claws."
I almost jumped. Calian's approach had been silent.
He gave me a sidelong look, those black eyes impenetrable.
"You don't need to worry. Your pack will be kept together, and if any pup is chosen for the Claws, they'll earn a stipend for your pack and return a Warrior the likes of which you've never seen." Calian's jaw flexed as he looked down the road where they'd vanished. I'd never seen him with his shirt off. Maybe there were claw marks tattooed over his shoulders and sides. "They're the elite, the first line of defense against Fenris."
He was searching my face as he spoke, but I refused to look at him directly. "I thought that was the Caller and Warriors' job?"
Calian let out a soft laugh. "You'll be working in close proximity with them once you're trained."
I almost gritted my teeth. I'd thought I was enough to take care of my pack, but all the wolves from Lykos seemed to regard me as completely incapable.
Maybe they were right.
Calian reached out to take my shoulder, and this time I watched as his shirt sleeve rose just above his forearm.
There was a quick flash of a dark streak, there and gone as he turned me towards the Dawn Palace. The edge of a claw tattoo.
Alpha Ryden gave orders to the rest of his Warriors, who scattered, some towards the Palace and some towards Lykos.
He reached out with a smile, and I found myself trapped between both men as they steered me over the bridge. Their warmth surrounded me, annoyingly welcome against the chill coming with the breeze of the lake.
For a person who was supposedly of high rank, they spent a lot of time directing me on where to go and how fast I should do it.
I put my chin up, refusing to go creeping into their palace like a little mouse.
More Warriors and Guardians protected the doors, wearing the same scaled armor as those on the walls. From this close, I could tell the armor wasn't just steel—it had a pearly tinge that glowed a faint blue, like the stone set in my tracking bracelet.
Again, that sense of disquiet settled in me. They had a Caller who seemingly imbued all sorts of objects with lunar power—whereas I'd only ever accomplished imbuing the ritual water during full moons.
The gap in my education was galling. If my own mother had taught me these things, I might've been able to keep my Warriors alive, and hold off both Fenris and Azura.
The Guardians at the door were built like giants, men who would dwarf me in their wolf forms. They didn't wait for the Alpha's orders.
One raised a fist, and the palace doors slowly opened, swirls of shimmering light fading in the air as the gap widened.
Ryden and Calian steered me through, and I felt that shimmer prickling over my skin as we moved. It was lunar magic; I bit down on another burst of envy at the Elder Caller's skills.
