Chapter Nineteen

‘Don’t shift, don’t shift.’

I told herself begging Solar to retreat.

‘I have to do this, they will welcome us.’

Solar huffed, but I could feel her need for Midnight; my wolf was desperate to mate with the big black male; all her animal instincts were telling her it was the right thing to do. I, on the other hand, was totally perplexed by all Kaiden’s talk of ‘Fated Mates’ and his need for me, His need to claim me and make me his Luna. He was so beautiful, so commanding, and it was not lost on me the way every female he met looked at him as if he was piece of prime steak they wanted to gobble up. I  could not understand what he wanted with me. All my life, I had been told I was nothing, a worthless, dirty slave no one could ever love. At least this Pack was prepared to give me a chance at a ‘normal’ life, whatever ‘normal’ was. I knew I wasn’t his Luna, so I planned to get a job, any job I  could find, work hard and find my own little piece of happiness. Nowhere in my thoughts was there a space for a male, any male, least of all this powerful Alphja filling her head with nonsense. I was never going to submit to being any man's servant ever again, and that was all a wife/mate was in my mind.

The females in the Mountain Top Pack lost everything when they ‘mated/married’; they were expected to produce offspring regularly and stay at home to look after their men. It was drilled into them from birth that they were not equal to the male Werewolves; they would be looked after and protected. Emancipation and equal rights had not reached many Packs. They preferred the old ways and enforced it with their sheer physical strength, and to be fair, most of the females were happy to do as they were told. They had a good life; most Packs were rich, and the females lived a good life except for those like Dakota, who, for one reason or another, found themselves forced into slavery. This could occur when Alphas challenged each other, when an Alpha was beaten, his Pack became the property of the winning Alpha. Most Alphas integrated the Packs, but a few enslaved the losing Pack; the females were forced into slavery and sold to the highest bidders. It was also common practice for an Alpha to sell his daughters into marriage with rival Alphas to secure borders and improve the status of their Packs. These outdated practices were frowned on and discouraged by the Council of Werewolves, who wanted to bring them into the twenty-first century, but they were powerless to stop those Alphas who chose to go down that path.

I had only known the very worst of abuse from the males in Alpha Reynolds Pack, and I did not doubt that once I had turned eighteen, that abuse would have turned sexual. Both his sons had been sniffing around me even though the eldest was already mated.

‘No, I don’t want any of that.’

I thought of remembering how those two had worked their way through lots of the females in their Pack but they also took particular sadistic pleasure in picking up human females. They went to the human nightclubs confident in their perfect Werewolf good looks and always had the women falling over themselves to be chosen as their partners for the night. They were cruel to every human female they brought back to their little ‘clubhouse.’ They were forced to pleasure both young Alphas as well as any of their friends, and the sex was rough and demanding, often involving two of them taking the poor human at the same time. I had often heard their screams of pain and seen the way they were repeatedly raped in every way possible, and many of them were killed and disposed of while the Alpha turned a blind eye. Humans were plentiful and dispensable to these young Werewolves, and when I had turned sixteen, they had cornered me because they thought that I  was a human too and made it clear that the same fate would befall me when I turned eighteen.

‘This Pack is different.’

I told myself that as the guard held out my hand for the Alpha to complete the ceremony, I was trembling so much that he was having difficulty holding it still. Kaiden could see I was struggling; I was pale, and my breath was coming out in short, terrified pants. When it came to swearing my allegiance, my voice was barely a whisper. I could sense his desperate need to comfort her, take me in his arms and declare his love for me, but he knew it was not the right time. Most of his Pack already knew that I, his beautiful young outsider, was also his ‘fated mate’ and therefore would become their Luna when he claimed me fully. It hurt his wolf to see me suffering because I still didn’t understand what all this meant for me, refusing to accept who I was to him.

My eyes went wide as Kaiden lifted the ceremonial knife high above my head, making it glint in the moonlight, and the Pack fell silent as he spoke the ancient words.

‘Run.’

Solar was shouting in my head.

‘Run.’

I wasn’t the only one going into a complete panic at the sight of the silver blade flashing high above us, then she did a complete U-turn when Midnight growled a warning to her.

‘No, no, Solar don’t shift.’

He commanded her, but her only instinct was to protect Dakota, who was hyperventilating, her eyes were wild, and then we began to glow. At first, only Kaiden could see it, but as my fear heightened, it began to glow brighter. Instinct told him to get this ceremony finished quickly and get his little mate out of the spotlight.