HUCK
We should have met our match today. We should have stumbled upon the beta, the delta, and an army of sentinels. It was harder to rob a baby than it was the future luna. Not that we robbed babies. Well, sometimes, indirectly, but only the rich ones, and even their parents had guards. She'd had no one to protect her, not even hours after. Why weren't they hunting us? The whole thing felt like a trap, and, for once, we weren't the target.
She was.
I bared my teeth and fisted my hands, my muscles tensing as my wolf fought for control. I couldn't shift. If I did, he'd take over and go after her. Damn the consequences. They could burn me slowly, and it would still be better than Titan's mark on her neck.
Everyone gave me a wide berth as we headed home, but I knew they all had questions. Like what I planned to do. There were people relying on me, families with children, and I'd just been handed a bomb I didn't know how to diffuse. If I let it blow up, it wouldn't just be me that suffered.
That should have been enough to make me accept her rejection. But it wasn't. As selfish as it was, I couldn't let her go. Not yet. Something wasn't right. I could feel it in my cells. Titan knew the road was dangerous, and he'd practically handed her to us.
Jewel caught up to my side. "You showed yourself today." Her voice was quiet, solemn.
I nodded. I wasn't a ghost any longer. "I know."
"At least he can't possibly know who you are, but there will be posters now. People will talk."
"I know."
"What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't," I said. "You know why." After all, I'd announced it in front of everyone, in the middle of a raid, not even caring what came of it. My mate. It had taken every ounce of willpower I had not to steal her too. But even my wolf wasn't that stupid. What would have happened if she hadn't rejected me? Nothing good.
"You got it together now?" Jewel asked.
"What do you think?"
She was quiet for a long moment, and the crunch of the forest floor seemed louder than it ever had before. "I'm sorry," she finally murmured.
I grunted. "Not your fault my mate is the future luna."
She cleared her throat, poorly covering a laugh. "You have to admit, the moon goddess has a great sense of humor."
"You're not helping."
"Not even I can help you this time."
She clasped her hand on my shoulder, leaning her weight on me, and for the first time in our lives, I noticed that she was naked. All the men drooled over Jewel. She had legs a mile long, and a smile that always looked ready to nibble, but it wasn't like that between us. If there was such a thing as fated friends, she would be mine. Every frosty night, every hunger pain, every loss, it'd been us against the world. She was my right hand in all things, and she'd saved my ass more times than I could count.
But, despite all that, I shrugged her off. My mate grew up on the mountain. She wouldn't understand, and my wolf refused to do anything that would make her question our loyalty, even if she wasn't around to see it.
Jewel lifted her hands and took a dramatic step sideways, putting another foot between us. "You can't be serious."
But I was.
"Don't be gross. You're like my brother, and even if you weren't, you're not my type."
"I know," I said. "But you saw her reaction when you touched me."
She scoffed. "Why do you think I did it?"
I sighed. I'd figured as much, and if it'd been someone else, I'd have probably laughed. But it wasn't someone else. "My wolf didn't like it."
"Yeah, well, my wolf didn't like the way she was talking." She straightened her spine and lifted an imaginary teacup, pinky pointed like a true debutante. "Mountain wolves would never be naked," she said in a high, bell-like voice. She dropped the cup and rolled her eyes. "Like they're born in three-piece suits or some shit."
Despite everything, my lip twitched. "You sound nothing like her, and it isn't her fault. If you'd been born on the mountain, you'd think the same way."
"I guess I never thought of it that way." She poked out her bottom lip. "Poor thing."
I gave her a flat look.
Jewel huffed. "Doesn't matter anyway. Even if she chose you, the alpha would never let it happen."
We reached the tree line, and the thousands of stumps between us and the dilapidated village seemed to sharpen her point. They had everything, yet they kept taking. They harvested our forest, then forbade us from hunting on the mountain. They sent their waste down the river, so even our water was poisoned. It was nothing short of murder, and I hadn't thought there was anything left for them to steal. Until today.
I closed my eyes, sinking into the memory of her scent, her breaths, her heartbeat. She'd hidden her feelings like a true luna, but nature didn't care about rank. The moon goddess had designed us as two halves of the same whole. Now that we'd found each other, neither of us would ever feel complete again. No matter how deadly she looked at me, she felt it too.
Had she made it to the castle yet? Was he comforting her? My claws extended, my wolf fighting for control at the thought of his blood-stained hands anywhere near her flesh. "I need her," I growled.
Jewel frowned, as if I had a severe wound, and she didn't know if I'd survive. "Taking a few pocketbooks is one thing, Huck, but the luna? He'd kill you! Hell, he'd kill us all just to ensure he got the right one." She heaved a breath and ran a hand roughly through her long, blonde hair, shoving it out of her face. "I get it. You need her." She looked at me, her gaze imploring. "But we need you."
"I know." If it wasn't for the things we stole, everyone in the valley would starve, but each time was riskier than the last. What we got today would supply us with enough food and water to make it through winter. But, without my mate, surviving that long seemed like torture.
"You know what happened the last time. I can't lose you too."
"It isn't the same."
"It is."
I sighed. It was, and I couldn't blame her for feeling the way she did.
"What do you plan to do?" Jewel asked.
I headed down the hill. "I don't know."
We made it to the village, our conversation ending as the children playing in the square rushed to welcome us.
"Huck!" Briar shouted. "Look what I won playing cards!" He held up a soccer ball.
"Only because you cheated!" Hazel cried, her tiny hands fisted on her hips.
"I didn't cheat!"
"Briar," I said, giving him a stern look. He had cheated. I knew because I'd taught him how only three days before. "Give it back to her."
"What?" His jaw dropped. "But I—"
"What was the number one rule?"
He glared at me.
"Briar?"
"Only hustle humans or mountain wolves." He studied the ball, reluctant to hand it over. "But I don't know any humans or mountain wolves!"
"When you're older, you will. Now, hand over the ball before I get Flora involved."
"Fine!" He tossed it at Hazel and stormed off.
I shook my head and pushed through the crowd, headed toward our dwelling.
"Dean would have let him keep the ball," Jewel murmured.
"Dean isn't here." Teaching Briar that trick had been bittersweet, and I remembered the day Dean taught it to me as if it were yesterday. I had no desire to think about him. Not now. I'd just been dealt one of the worst hands of my life, and he wasn't around to show me how to play it.
Flora rocked in her chair by the door, and I considered turning back around. She was the closest thing to a mother I'd ever had, and I wasn't ready to hear her tell me what I already knew. "Well?" she said. "I see you're both alive."
"Unfortunately," I mumbled.
"That bad?"
"It was great," Jewel said. "Not only are we temporarily loaded, Huck found his mate."
I groaned.
"You did!" Flora shot up and followed me inside. "Who is she?"
"She's the future luna."
"Jewel!" I snapped, baring my teeth at her.
She shrugged. "Well, she is."
Flora stared at me with wide eyes. "Oh, Huck..."
"It's fine," I said. But it wasn't fine. Nothing was fine. A howl built inside my lungs, expanding to the top of my throat. I gritted my teeth against it and snatched a shirt and a pair of sweats from the basket sitting on my bed.
"Does she know?" Flora asked softly.
"She rejected him."
I winced.
Jewel bit her lip. "Shit. Sorry."
"What else was she supposed to do?" I asked, studying the room as I dressed. Of course she rejected me. She was headed to a castle, used to jewelry and fine food and comfort. We lived in a box of beds and bottled water. "Not like I could bring her here."
But I couldn't leave her unprotected either. Titan knew the danger he'd placed her in today, and the fact that no one had come looking for us only solidified my fears. He wanted her gone.
I sat down, gripping my head in my hands. A sharp ache throbbed behind my temples, and my heart was beating too hard. My wolf was making me sick. How long before he won?
"The moon goddess doesn't do anything without reason, Huck," Flora murmured. "Perhaps this is her way of restoring what once was."
* * *
The mountain top was a death trap. Scouts patrolled the woods as if squirrels were carrying machine guns. I called in a favor for a ride, but even low mountain wolves would only travel so far, and I was forced to walk farther than I'd have liked. But, by the moon's grace, it was a windless night, allowing my scent to go unnoticed without too much redirection.
I stood in the shadows of the forest, staring down at the view below: the castle road, the iron gate, the palace on the hill.
Home.
I'd never seen it before, but I knew every room, hall, and secret passageway. Up until now, it'd just been faded lines on a worn piece of paper. My blueprint into the life they'd stolen. My only connection to my bloodline. I'd studied it more times than I could count, imagining how different things would be if none of it had happened. Being here felt like visiting a mass grave.
My head turned, nostrils flared, drawing in her scent like I'd been suffocating without it. She was close. Closer. There. Saliva pooled into my mouth, and my canines erupted, piercing my bottom lip. I flinched and licked the wounds, exhaled slowly, drinking her in. She was dirty and disheveled, but she moved as if a hundred cameras were pointed in her direction. Poised. Perfect. Thick mahogany hair fell in heavy curls over one shoulder, revealing the velvety skin of her long neck.
My claws dug into the nearest tree as the urge to bite her consumed me. My wolf expanded, demanded. She was mine to claim. To take.
Her mother walked alongside her, but the driver was nowhere to be seen. Had he run away, too afraid to admit his failure? Why were they still alone?
She was nearly at the gates now. At any moment, she'd disappear within—with him. I growled low in my throat, gritted my teeth, fought like hell to remember my duty. My wolf wanted to kill him. It was our right, but the old ways were too buried, and Titan would paint the valley with blood if he even knew I existed.
I shook my head. I wasn't here to challenge Titan, not even to steal her away. She wasn't something I could have, no matter how much I wanted to. I was here to keep her alive; that was it, but who was I kidding? She tempted. Glossy lips. Smokey eyes. Flawless skin.
What were the odds of him choosing her to be luna?
If only he knew how accurate he'd been.
I reached into my pocket, seeking distraction in the smooth, gold locket I'd found while rooting through her things. The bulk of her belongings had been meaningless, expensive nonsense. None of which offered any clue into who she was. Except for the locket. I ran my thumb over the engraving, remembering the words I'd read more times than I cared to count.
"Sometimes the moon whispers. Listen harder."
The moon wasn't whispering now. It was shouting, insisting I complete the bond it had started. She was so close. Just out of reach. If I let myself cross that line, there would be no turning back.
I was here to protect her.
And I was two steps away from getting us both killed.