Chapter 3

I hardly take notice as the men who weren’t chosen are shuffled away off the field. I’ve paid attention to them in past years because they stay behind while the new mates go off on the hunt together. I’ve always observed how angry it makes them.

But tonight, my thoughts are a million miles away from them, because I’m about to have my own official first hunt with my mate.

“Bring out the quarry!” Bruce calls.

A group of five Moon Casters, bound at the wrists and attached to a long iron chain, are led out. It was a pure accident that we learned iron disrupts their magic, but I’m glad we know it—because it allows us to keep them captive.

These five would have been killed when they were caught if we hadn’t needed them for the hunt. As it is, we’ve been saving them all year.

Which means this isn’t going to be a real hunt. These prisoners aren’t anywhere near their full strength. They’ve been deprived of nutrition and sleep, unable to use their magic, for months. Maybe they hope to escape, but there’s no real chance for them.

This is just about the ceremony.

The newly mated couples turn to face their prey. Kaely flashes me a grin, and I return it. This is going to be fun.

The Moon Caster in front of us is a man maybe five years older than I am. He looks at me with an inhuman sort of panic in his eyes.

I don’t give a damn. He’s not human to me—not really. Every single Moon Caster on this planet deserves death for the things they did. If they hadn’t used their moon magic so greedily, drawn on the moon’s power so heavily that they actually pulled it out of its natural gravitational alignment, our world wouldn’t be falling apart.

“Release the prisoners,” Bruce orders.

The chains are removed. Immediately, the Moon Casters sprint away into the woods.

Kaely laughs.

I chuckle too. We both know they don’t have any chance at outrunning us.

“One kill per couple,” Bruce instructs. “When you’ve made your kill, bring the body back to the fire as evidence.”

He doesn’t say what comes next, but we know. After the hunt comes the first mating. That’s the part I’m really looking forward to.

“Go,” Bruce says.

And we’re off, stripping out of our clothes. I just have time for a glimpse of Kaely’s body before he shifts, taking on the form of a large gray wolf.

I let my own wolf rise beside his. It’s easier to focus on the hunt in this form. The wolf has things she wants more than Kaely’s body.

I keep pace with Kaely as we run, following the scent of the Moon Caster. He’s easy enough to track, even though I’ve only smelled him once. He’s been locked up so long that his stench is strong.

If they were smart, they would immediately do something to disguise their smell. They would immerse themselves in water, rub their skin in aloe, or do some of their magic. That would be a lot more effective than trying to outrun us.

Of course, if they were smart, they wouldn’t have broken the world in the first place. We wouldn’t have devoted ourselves to the cause of hunting them down.

Kaely runs faster, glancing over at me, and I can tell he’s daring me to try to keep up. It’s a challenge I’m up for. I push myself harder as well. I’m easily the fastest woman of my age. There’s a reason I was mated to our strongest fighter.

I think he might be testing me, and I’m determined to prove myself.

Kaely starts to veer off to the left—

I stop. He’s going the wrong way.

I don’t know how I know. I’m feeling a pull, and that heart flutter is there again, guiding me. He’s still following the scent. By all accounts, he’s doing exactly the right thing. And yet, I know, somehow, that the Moon Caster we’re looking for is ahead of us, not to the left. This is a trick.

He looks at me in exasperation.

I shake my head.

He rolls his eyes and follows me. I can tell he’s humoring me, that he’s fully expecting to mock me for this later. He’ll probably get to. There’s no way I can know this thing I think that I know.

And then I catch the scent again—and it’s right on top of us.

The Moon Caster was smarter than I thought. He must have looped outward and then doubled back, hoping to lose us. Maybe he really did cross through water and thought it would break the trail.

Maybe it would have, if we hadn’t gone this way.

He’s standing right in front of us, and when he sees us, he starts to rise up off the ground, hovering in the air. Freaky. I hate seeing them do this shit.

So it’s very satisfying to see what happens next.

Kaely is on him in a second, jaws clamped around his ankle, tugging him back down to earth.

I stand back and watch the fight because that’s my role in this—the women help with the tracking, but not with the actual killing. That’s the way the ritual is set up.

It sucks, though. I don’t like standing back here and watching. I want to help. I want to be in the thick of things, showing my new mate what I’m capable of. I’ve never killed a Moon Caster before—nobody does until after age twenty-three; only those who are of age go on the hunts. But I’m sure I could do it.

Kaely doesn’t have any trouble without me, though. The fight only lasts a minute. Then the Moon Caster is on the ground, blood pooling beneath him, eyes staring at nothing.

I look at him dispassionately.

He got what he deserved. I’m glad to see him dead.

Kaely shifts back to human form.

I do the same, and for a moment, we size each other up. I know he’s taking in my body, just as I’m taking in his. We both know what’s next.

“We better get this thing back,” he says, nudging the corpse with a toe.

I nod.

The hunt is over early. There’s only one thing left for us to do tonight—and we have hours and hours left to do it.

But I don’t want to wait any longer.

I want him now.