The Wild Moon by Riley Storm

Chapter Fifty-Two

The Seguin pack Alpha snarled at me, and my wolf tried to flop over and submit instantly.

“No,” I growled, forcing myself to not only not submit, but to get back on my feet. I swayed unsteadily, but I got there.

Take that, asshole, I thought as Lars’ yellow eyes filled with wild rage at my defiance of his call.

“Go,” Aaron said. “We’ll hold them off.”

I stared at him in a mixture of horror and disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

“It’s in our contract,” he said, rolling his neck. “Besides, it’s been some time since I taught some upstart wolf pups their place.”

I turned to Vir, who was now on his feet. He hadn’t assumed the form of the Champion yet, but he looked ready for battle, nonetheless. His eyes were blue and focused on me. Though he didn’t speak, the calm, single nod he gave me told me all I needed.

“Where do I go?” I asked, unsure what to do as the two sides stood arrayed against one another, waiting for the other side to move first.

Vir tilted his head slightly, and some fire entered his eyes.

“Follow the call,” he whispered.

The call. He didn’t mean my Soulbond, but rather that other part of me. The one drawn elsewhere. To something still unknown but definitely nearby. With the surge of the Soulbond’s power due to Johnathan’s proximity, I’d all but forgotten about it.

I frowned accusingly at myself. It was trying to obscure that call, to make me ignore it, so I’d focus on the Soulbond instead. Insidious. I hated the Soulbond. I wanted it gone. If I could rip it from me, I would. But I couldn’t.

“Go,” Vir urged as Lars snarled again.

I staggered, barely able to resist.

“Okay,” I said, looking at the team and Vir, all of whom were prepared to sacrifice themselves if necessary, so I could get away. “I’m sorry.”

“Go!” Vir barked, his voice strong, commanding, without being arrogant.

A true Alpha.

I turned and ran from the ritual chamber as the wolves from my pack behind me went apeshit at Lars’ call. I winced as a wolf yelped in pain, and then a human voice roared in agony as well.

Coward. That’s what I was, I told myself as I went out of the chamber and down the darkened hallway, fighting my wolf’s urge to go back, her desires mixing with my Soulbond to form a potent drag on my efforts to follow the other part of me instead. Each step was a battle, but as I picked up speed, it grew easier.

A lifetime of stubbornness had helped me get to this point, and I wasn’t about to give in to some magical link that wanted to make me become a passive, submissive mate to a deranged lunatic’s son. Hell no to that.

I followed the tunnels, blinding listening to that other part of me, letting it hopefully guide me to where I wanted to be. Where I needed to be.

Claws scraped on the stone behind me, somewhere in the distance.

Someone was after me. Fear pierced my chest, spurring me on, moving me faster. I didn’t want to know who it was or what they were going to do if they caught me. But wolves were fast, and my only advantage was the staggering amount of turns the corridors made.

I raced onward until the hallway abruptly spilled me out into what could only be described as what Vir had called the true Shuldar. The underground city of shifters.

The cavern was enormous. It must occupy most of the mountain itself. Silver light cascaded down from somewhere, likely the moon itself, giving the city a ghostly feel that was strangely comforting. I was underground in a giant den, but also still running under the moon, in a way.

I followed the call, taking a hard right and running down a street between stone buildings. Dozens of them. Shuldar was huge. Thousands of shifters must have lived here. Unlike the surface, most of these buildings were still mostly intact. Some had caved in or crumbled, but most still stood.

It was amazing. Everything my father and I had ever dreamed of and more. I wanted to stop and marvel at it, to admire and inspect everything. There was so much history here, of our people. So much that we had lost over the years.

But I couldn’t. Behind me, I could feel the pounding of my Soulbond as Johnathan came after me. It could only be him. Nobody else could have that agonizing, debilitating effect on me.

He chased me through the city as I headed for one end of it. The buildings stopped, giving way to row upon row of giant statues set into the wall on either side of me. I recognized some of them, including one that could only be Vir, instantly recognizable with his wolf’s head and giant spear.

I noted the horns were oddly missing, though, and I wondered if they were a new addition or if he’d only revealed them to me.

Behind me, Johnathan snarled. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw he was closing on me fast, the straightaway between the statues of the shifter gods giving him an open line. His wolf bounded forward in great leaps even as I ran on.

My Soulbond drummed hard in my head until I was wiping away blood from my nose, my ears going deaf as pain filled me to the bursting point. I felt my throat stripped raw from screaming, but still, I ran on. Whatever was calling me, it was ahead. I was almost there.

I was practically running blind now, my vision graying. I clipped my shoulder off something as I ducked into the opening at the end of the field of gods, following the call inside me. Fresh pain, real pain, helped clear my mind for just a moment, but then it was gone, wiped away by the demands of the Soulbond as it renewed its assault on my mind.

Johnathan came in hot on my tail, and I knew it was a toss-up as to whether he would simply tear my throat out or shift back and mount me there, against my will, to help seal the bond. His wolf was in a frenzy like mine, and I doubted he could control himself much better than I could.

We’d denied the bond for too long. It was driving us insane.

I emerged into a large, domed room. It was dark, so dark I could only make out the barest hint of detail. One thing I could see clearly, however, was that there was no other exit.

I was trapped.

Johnathan stalked into the room after me. I stood there, breathing hard. This was it, dammit! I could feel it. I was here. It was right here, all around me. This was where I was being called to!

Fearfully, I reached out, trying to figure out what it was that was calling me to this spot, that had driven me to run from people I respected, to leave them to die, just to come here of all places.

Where nothing happened.

“Damn you!” I sobbed, falling to my knees as Johnathan came to a stop a dozen or so feet behind me. “Why? What is this place? Why won’t you help me!”

My pleas went unanswered. The only sound was Johnathan’s growl.

“Fuck you,” I said, turning to spit at him. “Go ahead and try to kill me. Because I will never submit to you.”

The black-furred wolf snarled, saliva dripping from his yellowed canines, and in a blur, he came at me.

I rolled aside, but I was too slow. My forearm was suddenly covered in warmth as hot blood ran from the wound his teeth had torn in my shoulder.

Gritting my teeth, I turned to face him as blood covered my forearm.

I wasn’t about to die on my knees. Fuck that. I put my hands on the ground to push myself to my feet.

Around me, the room came alive.