Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack Book 1)

by Elizabeth Briggs

  Besides, as the alpha, he had to find his own mate. His own alpha female, who would bear his children and lead the pack with him. Someone who wasn't me.

  Jealousy tore through me at that thought, along with a deep sadness that brought me to my knees. How was I going to live in this pack while wanting my alpha with every fiber of my being? Or worse, watching him mate with someone else—while knowing I would forever be alone and unwanted?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  In the morning, I walked downstairs to the kitchen and stopped dead in my tracks. Kaden was the last person I expected to see after he’d left last night, yet there he was, standing in front of the coffee maker in a shirt that clung to his muscles and jeans that hugged his perfect ass. I stared at him for a few seconds, feeling as if I was falling into a bottomless well of longing and loneliness. His dark hair was messy as if he hadn't slept well, and a scowl seemed to live on his face now. I jerked my gaze away before heading toward the fridge to find something to eat for breakfast.

  He cleared his throat. “I need you at the community center."

  “Good morning to you too,” I grumbled. "Janitor duty again?"

  Kaden didn’t so much as glance at me again as he walked out the door. I threw my hands up as I watched him go. Looks like everything is back to normal. It was as if our kiss last night had never happened, except I still remembered the taste of him. With a sigh, I closed the fridge, and headed out after him.

  The community center was in the middle of the town, and when I stepped inside I looked around at the clean space with pride. Thanks to me, it was looking more like a gathering place for the town and less like a giant storage shed that hadn’t seen the light of day for years. The dust bunnies that had gathered in this place had been legendary. Not to mention the mold in the bathrooms. I shuddered just thinking about it. But the place still looked clean, so why was I here?

  Clayton exited from a door, and he waved me over. "Good, you're here. Come inside, the others are waiting."

  "Others?" I asked as I followed him into the room. "What's going on?"

  Stella sat with Harper, Jack, Dane, and Tanner around a long table, while Kaden paced on the other side of it. Stella motioned for me to come sit by her, and I complied, glancing between everyone’s faces. They all looked solemn, and I wondered if someone had died while I’d been asleep.

  Once Clayton and I were seated, Kaden stopped pacing and turned to address us. “I’ve gathered you all here to discuss a plan to draw out the Leos. We can't sit around and let them attack us any time we leave our pack lands. The supply run yesterday taught us that much. But they also don't know exactly where we are, or how to get inside our borders, or they'd be here already."

  "What do you plan to do?" Harper asked, from her spot next to her twin. I'd still never actually heard Dane speak.

  "I’m going to contact them and ask the Leo alpha, Dixon, to meet us on neutral ground to give them Ayla.” Kaden's eyes landed on me. “She’ll be our bait.”

  I bit back my initial reaction, which was to say 'no fucking way.' It was what I’d agreed to, way back when Kaden had me in a cell, but that didn't mean I was happy about it. So many things could go wrong, things that would end up with me as a prisoner of the Leo pack. Or dead.

  "Are you sure they still want her?" Jack asked.

  Kaden crossed his arms, the only one still standing, and he looked every inch the commanding alpha. “The Leo pack keeps sending people to capture her. The alpha heir won't stop searching for her until she's been found. She's his mate." He practically spat the last word.

  "Yeah, but he rejected her," Stella said.

  "And killed most of her pack," Tanner added.

  "That won't stop him from needing to find her," Clayton said. "The draw toward a mate is unbearable. He'll want to find her, even if it's to try to break the bond."

  "This is a fun trip down memory lane and all," I said, unable to hide the bitterness in my tone, "but can we get back to the part where I'm going to be bait. Are you actually planning to give me up?”

  “Of course not,” Kaden said as if I was being daft. “You’ll just be the lure to get them to meet with us. I plan to challenge the alpha to a duel, and once I win, we’ll wipe out the rest of the Leos.”

  “Are you really powerful enough to do that?” I asked. Fear set me on edge as I remembered the ferocity of the Leo alpha as he killed my father. Or how the Leos had attacked so swiftly, along with their allies, brutally taking down the rest of the pack within minutes. They were trained for battle, and there were a whole lot more of them than in the Ophiuchus pack.

  "It won't be a problem," Kaden said.

  I rolled my eyes. Moon goddess save me from the arrogance of alphas, I thought. "How can you be so sure you'll win?"

  "Kaden is Moon Touched," Stella said. "All of the alphas in our pack have been, for as long as we can remember."

  I blinked, then turned to look at Kaden again. That explained how he'd been unsurprised by my own strange power, but I was still shocked by the revelation. What sorts of magic did he have? And just how many more secrets was he keeping? "So your pack does have Moon Witch blood? That rumor is true?"

  "A few of us still do, yes, though it's pretty rare now," Kaden said. "My family has always been the strongest line."

  "How am I just finding out about this?" I asked.

  “Now that you’re a member of the pack, you can know the truth about us,” Harper said, as she nudged her twin. "Our family has a little Moon Witch blood too. Dane here can look into a pool of moonlight and see the past sometimes."

  My eyebrows darted up as Dane nodded, his lips pressed into a tight line. I glanced around the rest of the table, wondering what else they could do.

  “You asked once about the pack land boundaries,” Clayton said. “Kaden’s set up magical wards along the borders of our land, which keep us hidden and protect everyone inside. No one can track us back here or enter the area without our permission.”

  “He can also go invisible,” Stella added, and I glanced over at her to see her wearing a mischievous smile. "We both can."

  Well, that explained a lot. Kaden seemed to have the ability to eternally sneak up on me, even after I’d gotten my wolf unlocked and had my enhanced senses. And the number of times I'd felt like he was there, watching me... I narrowed my eyes at him, realizing he really had been watching all along.

  "That's impressive, but is it enough to stand up against the Leos?" I asked. "I was there, you know. I had a front-row seat as the Leo alpha used his lion roar and made everyone either freeze or flee in panic. I still remember the spray of blood as he tore my father apart in front of me."

  "It'll be enough," Kaden said.

  "I have to agree with Ayla," Tanner said. "I think we're making a mistake going up against the Leos. We're safe here. They can't get to us as long as we remain inside the pack lands. Why risk all that?"

  Kaden grabbed the back of a chair, leaning forward as he addressed us, his eyes intense. "Because we can't stay hidden in the pack lands forever. Even if we forget that Ayla will always be hunted by the Leos, or how they murdered my parents, this is a fight that will come to us, sooner or later. The Leos won't stop until all other packs bend to their rule, including ours."

  "We don't know that," Tanner said. "We've hidden from them for centuries. Nothing needs to change now."

  Kaden's hands tightened around the back of the chair so hard I thought he might break it. "The future of our pack depends on it. My parents recognized that. They saw that our numbers were dwindling, that we had fewer mates among our own pack, and that our long-term survival depended on rejoining the Zodiac Wolves so we could breed and trade with them. But the other packs don't want us, which is why we will force them to accept us as one of them. Even if it means wiping most of them off the face of the world."

  "How does that make you any different from the Leos?" I asked, my spine stiffening at his words.

  Kaden's eyes blazed as they landed on me.
"Because we're doing it to survive. Not to rule."

  I spread my hands wide. "It's all going to feel the same to those that are dead."

  Kaden drew himself up a little taller. “Once the Leo pack falls, the others won't put up much resistance. We'll avoid as much unnecessary bloodshed as possible.”

  He had a point there. The Leo pack had always been one of the two pillars of the Zodiac Wolves, with the Cancer pack being the other one. But I still felt like the Ophiuchus pack was vastly outnumbered.

  “What about the Moon Witches?" I asked. “Can’t they help us against the other packs, like the Sun Witches are helping the other Leos?”

  “We haven’t seen them for decades,” Stella said, shaking her head. “They must be in hiding from the Sun Witches and the other Zodiac Wolves. We have no idea how to even contact them."

  Damn. I swallowed, my stomach twisting as my anxiety spiked high. I didn't like anything about this plan. There were so many things that could go wrong. But at the same time, I also understood Kaden's point that we couldn't hide here until the Leos eventually found us and wiped us out. Like they'd done to my former pack.

  Everyone seemed to be waiting for me to say something. I was the crux of their plan, I realized, but they wouldn't force me to do anything I wasn't comfortable with either.

  "Fine, use me as bait." I sat up straighter and met Kaden's eyes with resolve hardening my own. “All I want is vengeance against the Leo pack for killing Wesley—and I want Jordan dead. I can’t do it myself because of the bond, but I will do whatever I can to help you end his life.”

  Clayton cleared his throat. “Ayla, there's something you need to know. If we kill the Leo alpha heir, the shock of it to your newly formed bond might kill you too."

  I sucked in a deep breath. Fucking mating bond. It never ceased to give me problems. I considered what he said for only a second, but the choice was easy. “It’s worth the risk. I can’t live like this. I'd rather be dead than tied to that asshole forever.”

  Kaden's face darkened, until he looked almost murderous. "I'll make the arrangements."

  We all glanced around at each other, the grim determination I felt echoing in everyone else’s eyes. This really was it, the turning point we couldn’t go back from. I was ready for it, more ready than I had ever been before.

  Let the Leo pack try to take me. I’d go down kicking and screaming if I had to, and I’d take as many of those fuckers with me as I could.

  That night, I couldn't sleep. I threw on some of my training sweats and headed outside, then did a quick lap of the town under the soft moonlight. I ran past all the places that had come to feel like home over the last few weeks and my throat tightened with emotion. I'd only just become a true member of the pack, and now I was about to put all of that at risk. I had no other choice though. I would never truly be free of the Leos until their pack was defeated—and my mate bond with Jordan was severed.

  I stopped at the edge of town and closed my eyes, reaching for the bond I so often tried to ignore. It was there, always, like a chain wrapped around my waist, trying to drag me back to the Leos. South, it told me, urging me to head in the direction where Jordan must be. My mouth went dry as I forcibly shook the feeling off, pushing the thought of my mate to the back of my mind.

  How strong would the bond be once we faced each other in person again? Could I bear it, or would I throw myself at Jordan like some lovesick puppy? The thought terrified me more than anything else about this upcoming meeting. I had to harden my heart in preparation and make sure I could escape again if I had to.

  For the next hour, I practiced teleporting between patches of moonlight, moving through the town so fast the buildings and trees were a blur. Over the last few weeks, I'd practiced this any chance I could, and I'd gotten so good I could land and instantly vanish again as long as I had a clear notion of where I wanted to go. I could also use my power for longer without getting tired. I wasn't sure I would have had the discipline to keep doing it without Kaden's combat training to remind me that even if it was hard, if you kept it up, you'd see results.

  I stopped in a patch of moonlight to catch my breath, finally feeling the exhaustion set in. Maybe now I'd be able to sleep.

  "I often wonder if he regrets it," Kaden said from behind me, making me jump.

  I spun around, heart pounding in my throat. "Don't ever fucking sneak up on me again! How long have you been there?"

  He gave me a one-shouldered shrug from where he stood, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. "I like to watch you practice."

  "Invisibility is not my favorite look on you," I muttered, then thought about what he'd said. "If who regrets what?"

  "Your mate. The Leo alpha heir." Kaden cocked his head. "Does he lie in bed at night wishing he'd never rejected you?"

  I snorted. "I doubt it. He only saw me as a half-human mutt, barely worthy of his notice."

  "Then he's a fool. From the moment we met, I knew there was so much more to you."

  His words turned me to mush inside. I'm sure had no idea how much his praise meant to me. I'd received so little of it in my life that I clung to each word tightly. I took a step toward him, unable to stop myself.

  "You're the only one who's ever really seen me," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "Even when I came to you as a broken wolf who didn't truly know herself."

  He reached up and took a piece of my red hair, then tucked it back behind my ear. "Little wolf, you were never broken, only beaten and bruised. All you needed was someone to believe in you."

  Emotions welled up inside me, especially as I thought of what we were about to face. "Kaden, if I get captured..."

  "You won't. You're Moon Touched, and I doubt the Leos know that. You can use your power to escape, along with your new Ophiuchus powers."

  “I’m eager to learn to use them." I lifted my chin, trying to summon my bravery. "And maybe next time, I'll be the one healing you."

  "Are you really so eager to lick me?” he asked, his voice turning low and sensual.

  "Do you really want me to answer that?" I replied, suddenly breathless.

  His gaze dropped to my mouth as if he was strongly considering it. Then he tore his eyes away and raked a hand through his hair. "No."

  I was pretty sure we both knew the answer anyway. If it were up to me, we'd be rolling on the forest floor already, while I traced my tongue down his neck, along his snake tattoo, and finally around his thick cock. Was he thinking about the same thing?

  "Kaden." I had to say something or I would regret it forever. "No matter what happens when we meet the Leos, I need you to know this. You're the one I want. Not him."

  His brow furrowed and something like pain flashed across his face. "I know you think that now, but that will change when you're face to face with him."

  "It won't." The rightness of my words gave me strength. "You believed in me before, please believe in me now."

  "I wish I could, but there are some things we can't fight. I hope you prove me wrong." He shook his head. "You should head home."

  "By myself?"

  "I'm going to do a quick patrol of the wards."

  "Right," I said, my hopes sinking faster than the Titanic. "I'll see you later."

  I turned away and headed toward the house, feeling more raw than before. I'd put myself out there, telling Kaden how I felt about him, and been rejected once again. I couldn't really blame him either. If I knew he was mated to someone else, I'd guard my heart too.

  As long as I was tied to Jordan, I could never be with Kaden. I had to break this mate bond—or risk forever losing the person I'd come to care about most.

  Chapter Thirty

  The Leo pack agreed to meet with us in a week's time. Their pack lands were in Arizona, which was pretty far from the Ophiuchus territory in Manitoba, but they agreed to fly up to Canada for this meeting. On a private jet, naturally. The Leos would never settle for anything less.

  The meeting was set at a small airstrip a few hou
rs away, which was far enough for it to be neutral territory. Kaden convinced them to meet us at night, so I could use my power if needed to escape. The Sun Witches would also be weaker then, while those of us who were Moon Touched would be stronger. I prayed it would be enough, especially as the week passed and the hour of the meeting drew near.

  With only hours to go, my stomach was all tangled up in knots. The whole pack seemed to be on edge, and who could blame them? It didn't help that I'd barely seen Kaden all week either. He'd been busy getting everything ready, while Stella and I had doubled down on training. She'd taught me to use both the healing lick and the poison bite, including how to regulate the amount of poison released from my fangs. I was as ready as I would ever be to face the Leos.

  Then it was time to leave. I packed a bag, mostly to make it look like I really planned to go with the Leos. As I closed it up, I had the strangest feeling of nostalgia. The last time I’d gone to my room to pack my bags, my life had changed completely. I wondered if that would happen again, and prayed that if anything were to happen I would be able to stay with my new pack.

  When I met Stella in the yard, there were several vehicles parked outside, but no sign of Kaden.

  "He went early to scout the location and make sure the Leo pack doesn’t have any traps in place. We'll make sure we have the upper hand this time.” Her eyes blazed, and I knew she was thinking about her parent’s deaths. The Leo alpha had a lot to pay for.

  Stella climbed into an SUV and motioned for me to follow her. She sat in the back, and I wasn't surprised to find Clayton in the driver’s seat. The van was packed with warriors, and there was another one just like it right behind us.