by Godiva Glenn
“I was just a baby,” Kyra scoffed. “Why would he have cared?”
“True. But Viktor showed no interest in anyone. He only ever cared for himself and later, for Mikos. When Viktor was told to protect you and teach you, he refused. Even when punished, he seemed like he’d sooner starve than accept you as anything but a nuisance. Mikos was reluctant, but he took your safety and education seriously.”
“It’s not something that should be thrust on a child,” Kyra replied. “I can’t imagine what he felt. To be told to help raise a newborn that would someday be your mate. It’s more than strange, it’s rather... disturbing.”
“Oh, I don’t dispute that the situation was flawed. But it reflected their nature. Mikos has always been easier to reason with. Viktor, on the other hand, is like an impenetrable mountain. And to this day he avoids responsibility. Yet...” Thea glanced around. “When you were older Viktor changed his mind. He asked the council for you as his right, to prepare for his rise as an alpha.”
The forest seemed to quiet all at once and Kyra stared at Thea in complete shock. Viktor? The one who had ignored her for most of her life? “No. That makes no sense.”
“I can’t pretend to know his reasons. What goes on in his mind is a mystery to all. But of course, he was denied you, and now he has lost his brother—”
“That was his own fault entirely,” Kyra countered.
“Yes. I have heard.” Thea let out a heavy sigh. “I tell you this because someday it would be nice if Mikos and Viktor could be at peace.”
“Does Mikos know what Viktor tried?”
“I don’t believe so. He’s never mentioned it. I don’t think the council would have disclosed it.”
“The hate and anger are on Viktor’s side. If he wants to apologize, we could be at peace, as you say.”
Thea snorted. “Again, I’m not blind. Mikos may not know about Viktor’s request, but they have been disagreeing about you since the night you failed to shift. Mikos hides his anger well, but it’s there. It’s unhealthy to bottle it up like that, but it’s what he knows to do.”
Kyra wondered at the accuracy of Thea’s statement. It was true she’d rarely seen Mikos in true anger. He was the embodiment of calm most days. She loved that about him. His patience and peaceful nature were comforting. But what if he’s really a turbulent storm underneath?
Shaking her head, Kyra insisted, “I don’t even know if we’ll see Viktor again. We won’t be back and the Sarka pack never travels.”
“Everything is changing. Do you think Mikos will never try to see his brother and parents again? Do you think he will leave such bitter air here forever?” A speculative look crossed Thea’s face. “But you know him best.”
Thea patted Kyra’s arm and walked away. Kyra hadn’t missed that nowhere in their discussion was there an apology, but perhaps it didn’t matter. The act of joining this new pack was an action worth a million apologies.
Kyra turned and saw Mikos in the distance speaking to a group she didn’t recognize. Optimism still sang through her, but there was a cloud on the horizon. Things were changing, indeed.
* * * *
Some packs traveled in wolf form when moving to fresh territory, but that usually involved much more planning than had been managed this time around. As a result, Kyra was surrounded by somewhat restless lupine in the guise of hikers. A while back, about five miles away from the Sarka border, an uneasy itch had set in, and that itch was still riding high.
Comfort had been left behind, and now it was a matter of relying on each other to fill the gap of familiarity. Kyra moved within the center of the pack, getting to know each face. By the time they reached their new home, there would be no strangers. Traveling was more than covering a distance, it was how they’d cement themselves as pack.
As the alpha, Mikos brought up the rear with the strongest of the group. Peter was with him, separated from Laurel. Kyra hadn’t known the traditional layout of moving as a pack, but it didn’t surprise her that Mikos not only knew but planned to follow it.
The elder and weaker at hiking set the pace in front, but they still moved at a steady rate. Her own job was to watch for anyone growing tired. So far, they’d done well. The sun had set hours back, but they still pushed on.
“We should look for camp,” Laurel said, approaching Kyra from behind.
“Are you tired?” Kyra asked.
“Not at all. Just delivering a message from Mikos. He also said that Ross should know how to pick a spot.”
Kyra squinted ahead, through the dozen bodies marching through the dark trees. “Okay. I’ll let him know.”
Laurel fell behind, and Kyra jogged to the front of the group.
“Time to stop for the night,” she said to Ross. “Where do you think?”
Ross slowed to a stop and turned. “We passed a little path a few minutes back. I saw soft ground and probably the flattest patches we can expect in this area.”
Kyra took a deep breath. “And water?”
“Somewhere around here, certainly.”
“Do you think Mikos is right to stop now?” she asked carefully. “It doesn’t seem like we’re that tired. We can still see fine...”
Ross snorted. “Yes, Mikos is right. Not because he’s alpha but because it’ll take some time to get this motley gathering to settle down. And trust me, by the time you crawl into your tent you’ll be plenty tired.”
“Then lead the way.”
Kyra stepped back and let him consult some others before they all began to backtrack to the path Ross had mentioned. She watched over the group as she made her way through the shadows and bodies.
“How’re you doing?” Mikos asked, stepping to her side and brushing a wild curl from her face.
“Great. I feel like I could go forever.”
“Because your wolf is more adventurous than most,” he said with clear pride.
“There’s a hefty dose of anxiety in the air.” She lowered her voice and nodded towards Laurel. “Leaving is harder on some. But I’m surrounded by brave faces.”
He nodded. “It will become easier as we connect to each other.”
They walked together, slowly lumbering behind the chatting lupine suddenly eager to settle for the night.
“We need a name,” Kyra mused. “But in all the history I’ve learned, that you’ve taught, I don’t know how new packs choose such a thing.”
“It’s simply a name, and it’s not as important as you may think. The Sarka pack chose their strongest bloodline at the time. The ancestors don’t care what the pack is called.”
“But we still need something. It unites us. Besides, if we fill that name with purpose, it becomes more than a name.”
He wrapped an arm over her shoulder. “You make a fair point.” Glancing up at the sky he said, “Eclipse.”
She followed his eyes and found clouds and no stars. The cycles of the moon were in her blood, and she wasn’t sure how he’d been mistaken. “Not tonight.”
“No. I mean us. An eclipse marks a period for growth. Change. It refreshes opportunities.”
“The Eclipse pack.”
“Our focus shouldn’t be blind. It goes without saying but there won’t be the petty obsession on blood and purity. I can’t stop everyone from having their own feelings about lineage, but that consideration won’t be a tenant of our pack,” he said firmly.
“Why do I get the feeling that most of them already know this?”
He looked sidelong at her as they walked. “I didn’t undermine Ian, but I was clear on what I’d want if the pack split. I was trying to reason with Viktor for the longest time but... I don’t know if a single idea I had made it through to him. And now I suppose I’ve stolen from him.”
“Ian wasn’t going to give him a pack.”
“No. But I didn’t relish stepping in front of my brother that way. I was given no choice.”
Kyra pursed her lips, thinking of what she’d learned from Thea. There was no anger in Mikos’s wo
rds, but the more she examined him, she realized there was an emptiness underneath his confidence.
“Perhaps someday you will be able to speak to him on it when everything has calmed.”
He shrugged. They walked on quietly for a moment.
“It’s been hectic. I’m still getting up to speed on everything that you’ve been planning forever,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“You mean when you were struggling?” he asked.
“At any point you could have let me in on your plan.”
His eyes stared forward. “It wasn’t a plan at first. It was a dream. And there were a million reasons to keep you in the dark about it. To start, I didn’t know you.”
“Is that why you bullied me at the cabin?”
He laughed and kicked a rock out of their path. “No. Yes. That was complicated. I needed to know if you were worth it. Not that I assumed you’d be my mate but… as a friend.”
“I see.”
“I didn’t want to give you an easy out. What if I told you we could have a pack that didn’t care if you ever shifted, and it led to you becoming complacent?”
“I wouldn’t have stopped trying,” she scoffed. “Finding my wolf was always worth more to me than having a pack.”
“I had no way of knowing that.”
She bumped her shoulder against his. “You could have asked.”
“True. But there was also the danger that my dreams were impossible. I didn’t want to give you false hope when I wasn’t supposed to have the pack.”
“Then how did the dream start?”
“Viktor and Ian had a fight a few years back about mates. Viktor was so furious that he told Ian he’d never become alpha if it meant becoming like Ian.”
Kyra sucked in a breath. “Whoa.”
“Yeah. I thought maybe I could convince Viktor to make his own pack. Our own pack. Obviously, it fell through.”
“Then I suppose you worked in the shadows, gathering everyone unhappy with Ian? That’s a bit treasonous.”
“In my defense, many came to me. Even Peter. Though they all had the same idea as me—to stand behind Viktor. Viktor never got on board.”
“He knew, though?”
Mikos nodded. “He did. He knew I plotted, but I don’t think he believed it would ever come to pass. Hell, if you had decided that you’d stay with the pack under Ian’s tyranny, I would’ve gone along with it.”
“What? No.”
“Splitting was fucking terrifying, Kyra.” He laughed nervously. “The scariest thing I ever did. But I didn’t want to lose you.”
She bit her lip and resisted tackling him to the ground. There would be time enough later to show him exactly how much she appreciated his bravery and defiance.
The pack had stopped and spread around. Peter and another young male Kyra had met earlier, Carter, approached them.
“There’s a little stream to the East. Close enough for us to refill now or in the morning,” Carter announced.
“Take anyone who wants to freshen up, for now. We can check the water supplies in the morning. Right now, I want everyone comfortable enough to sleep well,” Mikos replied.
The two headed away and Mikos slung his backpack from off his shoulder. “You’ve never camped out, have you?” he asked Kyra.
“Never.”
He walked her away from the group, his eyes scanning the leaf and pine-needle covered forest floor. “The first night will probably be your best sleep, and yet you’re going to hate it.”
“I’m not that spoiled,” she scoffed.
“We’re all spoiled, trust me. It’s invigorating to be out under the stars, exciting to be traveling to claim our land, but our bodies will fight us soon enough. Our human forms expect more luxury while our wolves are content to sacrifice it,” Mikos said seriously. He leaned his pack against a tree and bent over it.
“You sound familiar with this.”
Digging around his bag he replied, “A runner from the Bronze pack came by a few months back. We had a few talks.”
“I saw him. At a distance.” Kyra had been tempted to try to talk to him alone, ask if he could help her. Runners were lupine that traveled between packs as a means of communication. Sometimes they were relied upon for outside mediation.
Most lupine weren’t up for the task since it involved traveling alone and outside pack territory. But runners were in the unique position to have seen or heard of just about any strange lupine-related phenomena.
He might have known a way to fix her problem, but she was too scared to approach him.
“The pack didn’t exactly give him a warm welcome,” she mused.
Mikos smiled crookedly. “The pack, maybe not. The females? He was like a heat wave when he walked around.”
“We like new and mysterious. Curiosity is in our blood.”
“More than that. He lives most of his life out there alone, which means he’s strong and his wolf is strong. The females know good mate material when they see it. The males of our pack weren’t amused with the competition.”
“True.” Kyra grinned. She hadn’t thought of the stranger in that way, but she’d always had eyes for Mikos.
“Ian’s always been against it but once we’re settled, I plan on getting back in touch with the other packs.”
“You want us to have runners of our own?” Kyra dropped her pack and bent beside him. “Are you certain anyone will be up for that? The Sarkas never had them. I don’t think the Edon’s did either. We’ll have no one experienced.”
“We’re born to adapt.” He pulled out a small sack and sat back on his heels. “You’ll see. And where we’re headed, we’ll be close to the Bronze pack. I’m sure they’ll be fine with sending someone to help us get adapted. There are ways to test and see which lupine can go it alone without turning feral.”
“I wanted to talk to you about that... or rather, about what all these changes mean,” she said softly.
He gazed beyond her, no doubt scanning the pack. It had already become his habit now, and though she wasn’t jealous to no longer be the only focus of his attention, it fueled her anxious mind.
His mouth quirked into an odd crooked smile before he clicked his tongue. “I know. You’re worried that the old Mikos will return. That you’ll wake up one day soon and I’ll be the same misguided pup that I was when I thought Ian made the stars.”
“It’s not quite—”
“The vision that I have for us will require me to change. It’ll require you to change as well because I’ll need your support,” he confessed. “But we won’t fall back into traditions that kept us in the past or in isolation. The world is changing, and we have to adapt with it.”
“We need a balance between the laws that connect us to the ancestors and the adaptations that allow us to thrive in a human world,” she agreed.
He took her chin in his strong hand, his thumb sweeping her jawline sweetly. “Exactly. We are lupine first. Wolves second. Human last. But to survive, we have to respect each part of ourselves.”
She nuzzled his palm. At least one worry lifted and dissolved from her stampeding thoughts. Between here and their future home miles away, she hoped to settle the rest.
EIGHTEEN
Though she and Mikos had carefully cleared away any large debris before setting up their small tent, Kyra swore there was a rock digging right into her hipbone. She shifted and slid in the slick material of her sleeping bag, holding back the string of curses that would certainly wake Mikos beside her.
He’d said this would be her best night of sleep. If his statement was accurate, she dreaded the upcoming weeks. He’d given her a sleeping bag, but it hadn’t helped her fall asleep. The other lupine could shift and have an easier time of things, but that wasn’t an option for her. Mikos remained in human form, and though she wanted to snuggle him, he clearly had practice sleeping on cold dirt, as he was gently snoring.
The sleeping bag was more comfortable than the floor of the tent alo
ne, but she wasn’t accustomed to being restricted in her sleep, and so far, it hadn’t helped her to pass from that annoying stage between somewhat delirious and dreamland.
Holding her breath in focus, she unzipped her sleeping bag in slow-motion, doing her best to not make a sound. After a few minutes, she was free of the nylon cocoon.
She repositioned herself on top of it and rolled to her side, testing to see if the rock was in her imagination or would still somehow poke her through the doubled-up bag.
Mikos’s heavy arm landed on her from behind, surprising her. He pulled her back until his chest pressed against her. “You woke me from a very nice dream,” he murmured low and sleepily. “Very nice.”
“Sorry,” she whispered.
His lips tickled the back of her neck and his hand ran down the side of her body, readjusting her against him, pressing his erection against the soft curve of her ass. “What are you going to do, then... to apologize?”
She rolled her eyes and bit her lip. Does he actually expect sex in this 8-by-5 claustrophobia trap?
His hand sliding down into the front of her pajama pants said yes. The lack of sleep had given her a bit of a headache but the moment his fingers found her clit she felt renewed. She turned to face him, dislodging his eager digits.
“It’s a bit tight in here,” she pointed out.
“More interested in how tight it is in there,” he replied, cupping between her legs.
“Funny.”
“I’m serious.” He rubbed his nose against hers, leaving her dizzy with his scent. “This will be our privacy until everything is caught up. Tent sex is life.”
She grabbed his shirt in both hands and kissed him, realizing he was too right. They were likely going to have no alone time, and when everyone was sleeping was the only time she could be confident that they could make love without everyone hearing.
The soft snores and slow breathing drifting around them told her this moment was safe, and she should take advantage of it.
“What about the mess?” she asked, breaking from their kiss breathlessly.
“I won’t be messy.”
“Liar.”