Pack Captive by Cate Corvin
1
Ayla
Death stalkedtowards us on silent feet.
I knelt behind a granite boulder, crouched below the thing’s line of sight, and watched the shadow wolf come out of the woods, creeping down a hill.
It picked its way between the trees, sniffing the air—hunting us in return.
Its shadows were like nothing any wolf had ever seen in nature.
They were as dark as the blackness between stars, seeming to suck all light away from the edges of reality. As I watched, smoke spilled from the wolf’s flanks, coloring the air and casting a pall over the day.
Fenn shifted uncomfortably next to me.
“There’s going to be more,” he whispered, his eyes trained on the shadow wolf.
I already knew that. Most of our pack had been destroyed by these creatures, savaged without mercy.
The shadow wolves moved in packs, and they seemed to know when we would be weakest. It was always during the dark moon, when my power waned.
All of my Warriors were gone. Every single one of them had already fallen in battle to the shadow wolves. I’d pushed so much power into their sacred runes, it had burned their skin, leaving them scarred after they fell.
They’d agreed to it, had even pushed me to do it, but their last stand had been in vain.
My nails were still torn from digging the last of the graves.
And for what?I tried to push the bitter thought away, but it always gnawed at the edges of my thoughts. For what?
Fenn was a Guardian—a wolf without runes, unable to receive the moon’s power—but he was an old man now. Hardly any help compared to the younger Warriors.
By all rights he should’ve escaped with the rest of the pack—with the rest of our elders and pups.
But with the Warriors dead, I had no other choice.
Without the lunar runes, he wouldn’t last long against these creatures. He was never meant to be a fighter, but a protector, and now we were down to the dregs.
The shadow wolf crept closer. It was yards away, but I could still smell its rotten stench on the wind, making my nose wrinkle.
The shadow wolves of Pack Fenris were unusual in more ways than one; they were not only darker than the night, giving off the scent of rotting meat, but they never shifted into human form.
Whatever it was Fenris did to them, it turned them into something other.
I knew that we could take this one wolf together, at least. Every muscle in my body tightened with anticipation, my nails lengthening and growing into claws.
“Don't,” Fenn whispered, his voice flat so it wouldn't carry towards the Fenris wolf’s sharp ears. “There'll be more.”
“I know that,” I hissed back, keeping my voice just as low. “But we can’t kill them all. Let’s just take what we can.”
The most we’d ever seen hunting as a pack was four, but that didn't mean they weren't capable of traveling in larger packs.
Not for the first time, I wondered where Fenris acquired the raw material to turn into these abominations. His shadow creatures slaughtered all packs in their path—or maybe that was just rumor, too.
Maybe this was what he did to them all.
I peeked over the edge of the boulder and sucked in a breath. Two more wolves had emerged from the edges of the forest, following their leader.
The creatures were anathema to nature. They looked like they’d been cut out of reality—the shape of wolves, but not the essence.
“Told you,” Fenn whispered, his voice barely audible.
I gritted my teeth and kept watching.
“We have a chance, Fenn. We could do it now. Give the rest of the pack the best chance they’ll ever get.”
He shot me the briefest of glances, full of reproach. I myself wasn’t willing to look away from the shadow wolves for too long, and ignored him.
“You’re not going to do that, Ayla.”
“I could do that. That was the sole reason we sent them out of the valley.”
My chest tightened as I said it. This valley had belonged to Pack Vesper for generations...and now it was dying, alongside the pack. The creek had dried up, and the game had fled when the shadow wolves had started stalking us.
I was now the Moon Caller for it, just as my mother had been before me, and my grandmother before her.
We’d lived and died here for as long as we could remember. I wasn’t going to give it up now just because Pack Fenris was always ravenous for more.
As soon as we’d realized we were being hunted again, with the dark moon on the way, we’d sent the remainder of our pack through a hidden gate in the mountains, a narrow, treacherous path carved into solid rock that led out to the freedom of the wastelands.
The elders had taken the pups, leaving as quickly as they could, and Fenn and I had stayed behind.
We would do what needed to be done, no matter what the outcome for us.
“You should turn around and go now. Guide them through the wastelands. I have enough power left from the last full moon—I can do this myself.”
I wasn’t entirely sure that I could do this myself, but it felt wrong to sacrifice Fenn for nothing.
This was my vocation. To ensure all of Pack Vesper made it out safely.
Even if that meant I wouldn’t be meeting with them later.
Every Caller, the heartbeat of her pack, knew that this was an eventuality.
“No,” Fenn whispered, this time so quiet I could barely hear him at all. “You are Rasvati’s daughter—you should live on. I’m an old man now. An old wolf. I only have so much left in me.”
“What are you saying, then? You’re not making a noble last stand without me.”
He cast me another brief look, but this time his gray eyes were sad. “This is just land, Ayla. Our people matter more. You should survive, carry on, and find a new home for a pack. They’ll need a Caller, or they’re doomed regardless. I can take care of these ones.”
“This is our home.” Our conversation got even quieter. “It’s not just land, it’s where we’ve lived forever, and I will not leave you alone here to die.”
I couldn’t help the torrent of guilt that went through me. If this really was just land, then all of my Warriors had been wasted for nothing.
We could have kept arguing about who was going to stay and die, but the shadow wolves decided to end it for us.
Two more crept out from the trees, followed by four that came spilling from the dry riverbed to the east.
Nine of them. My heart beat even faster, pulsing so hard I tasted the bitter tang of blood in the back of my mouth.
Even Fenn stopped arguing with me, staring out at the nine Fenris wolves creeping up the creek bed.
“By the fuckin’ moon,” he whispered. “This really is the end.”
Before our pack was decimated, we'd gotten word from infrequent travelers that Fenris has been growing rapidly, bolstering their ranks. It was more common now to see the shadow wolves than not.
But never nine of them at once. That was unprecedented.
I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what needed to be done.
The rest of our pack had already gone through the valley gate. All Fenn and I needed to do was hold them off long enough for the elders to get the pups through.
Once they were safely outside the valley, they would set off the explosives that would destroy the gate and trap the shadow wolves in here with us.
It wouldn’t keep them trapped forever, but it would give the last of the Vesperans enough time to run and find another pack to take them in.
The lingering power of the moon flowed through my runes, burning in the tattoo on my forehead, cheeks, and thigh, fizzling through my veins.
I’d done everything I could during the last full moon to make sure I would have enough magic to survive the coming dark moon, when my power would ebb.
But even that looked like it wouldn't be enough.
Fenn shifted again, rustling the leaves beneath us, and let out a soft sigh. “No matter what happens, you made me proud, Ayla.”
“Don't speak like that now.” I let the wolf inside me slowly take over, fur sprouting through my skin, my bones shifting to accommodate my new four-legged form.
Nobody could be proud of me after the way I'd failed Pack Vesper.
But if it was the last thing I did, I'd make sure the rest of them got out of the valley alive.
Beside me, Fenn also shifted silently. Even as a wolf he was grizzled and old, his dark fur touched with more than a little gray frost.
I pushed down another pang of regret that his life would end here. He’d chosen to remain behind, just like me.
The dark pack of Fenris cut down the riverbed, drawing closer. Their paws made no sound on the loose stones.
One of them suddenly paused, and all followed suit, standing still as statues. The way they moved was eerie and unnatural, more like puppets than living creatures.
The leader lifted his head, sniffing the air.
Our scents were all over the valley, but my scent was especially enticing to them.
The only drawback that came with drawing on the power of the moon was that it gave the Callers an even stronger signature than a normal wolf.
If he stayed with me, Fenn wouldn’t stand a chance. I would draw the shadow wolves like moths to a flame, and they would tear him apart.
I had to go in first. My vocation demanded it.
Fenn’s voice in my mind was a muffled growl as I crept around him.
Don’t you dare, Ayla!he shouted in my head. Not without me.
No choice, I snarled back. They’re already through the gate. This is our only chance.
With that, I leaped over the boulder and landed in the dry riverbed, rocks rattling under my paws.
I straightened, my lips curling back over my teeth, facing them down.
Nine pairs of bloody red eyes focused on me, drinking in the light of my lunar runes with a mindless hunger.
There was no surprise in their stance. They’d sniffed me out, had known I was here. I was just making it a little easier for them.
I tried not to think about my imminent death, but about the pups that were probably running into the relative safety of the wastelands at this very moment.
They deserved a chance to live. I’d had my time.
Fenn followed me into the riverbed, much slower and moving stiffly, but the growls that streamed out of him promised nothing but death for the Fenris wolves.
To my surprise, the shadow wolves didn’t launch themselves at me immediately. Usually, they attacked as a single unit, tearing through anything in their path.
The leader was staring at the rune on my forehead, and licked his lips with a blackened tongue.
I wondered what their game was. They could all tear us apart in no time, but even as I wondered, the other eight wolves fanned around me and Fenn, encircling us completely.
My nihilistic little chuckle came out as a growl. So much for thinking that we had a chance at all.
I’ve got left, Fenn said in my mind.
And I’ll take the right, old friend.
I turned in place to guard against the wolves on the right, watching them surround us, preparing for the feel of sharp teeth ripping into my flesh.
They panted as they paced around us, dripping bloody saliva, letting out yips of excitement for the impending kill.
This is where it ended. The last of Pack Vesper, the last Caller of my line.
At least I would die defending the last of what I loved.
Rustling noises came from the forest. The head Fenris wolf’s ears twitched, his first sign of discontent, and then those bloody eyes flashed red.
Snarls erupted from the shadow wolves, but instead of launching themselves at us, they streamed towards the forest around us.
Wolves burst from the trees.
Wolves I’ve never seen before, with lunar runes gleaming a clear, pure blue.
As they drew closer to us, the runes brightened with a burst of power, and the new pack fell on the shadow wolves, ripping into their dark, smoky flesh.
I felt Fenn’s shock in my head clearly, followed by a burst of his relief. The pack is saved. The valley is saved, Ayla!
All I could think was—why now?
Who the hell were they, and why were they here?
There were tons of them, surrounding the Fenris wolves, the blue light of their runes nearly drowning out the fading sunlight.
One of the shadow wolves broke away, his teeth flashing as he angled towards me.
I curled into a defensive stance, letting out a vicious bark, but he rammed into me as hard as he could, knocking me away from the rest of the pack.
Pain erupted through me as I landed on the hard stones of the riverbed, the shadow wolf leaping on top of me and snapping.
I lunged upwards, my teeth sinking into his shoulder. A disgusting, bitter taste filled my mouth.
He snapped his teeth, grazing my leg and drawing a line of blood, but one of the new wolves plowed into him, dragging him off me.
From his enormous size, it was easy to see that the wolf was an Alpha, the leader of this new pack. Even in the growing dark, his lunar runes were brilliant and blinding.
With a vicious snarl, the Alpha dug his teeth into the Fenris creature’s throat and shook his head violently, ripping him apart in a spray of blackened blood.
The rage of battle whirled around us, the glow of the lunar runes gleaming brighter and brighter against the blood and smoke of the Fenris wolves.
It made no sense. They had no Caller of their own; I would’ve felt another Caller’s presence in my own runes.
The Alpha threw the corpse aside and met my eyes. He stepped over the dead shadow wolves, stalking towards me.
Fenn limped to my side, growling wildly, his fur splattered with blood. He was making a display for these new wolves and warning them away from me.
Dazed by how quickly it had all happened, I realized that in the span of mere minutes, the shadow wolves had been completely destroyed by this pack.
We’d never killed even one with that much efficiency.
There were nearly fifty of them surrounding us. And they were all staring at us with suspicious eyes.
At me, and the runes running down my leg that marked me as a Moon Caller.
The Alpha who had saved my life stepped forward, and the others encircled us much like the Fenris wolves had, giving him room to speak and cutting off any hope of escape for me and Fenn.
He shifted, becoming a tall, muscular man. Dark blonde hair fell over his shoulders, and his lunar tattoos were still lit brightly, illuminating eyes the color of the sky.
He had a face that was almost too rough to be handsome, with a square jaw and dark, straight brows. Full lips balanced out the hardness of the rest of him.
I hated to admit it even to myself, but I instinctively felt myself drawn towards him, more than I’d ever felt for one of the males of my own pack.
It felt like a betrayal to their memory to think that.
The Alpha looked at me like he was seeing the sun for the first time, his eyes lit up.
Like he’d found hope.
“Moon Caller,” he whispered, those full lips pulling into a grin. “We’ve been searching for you. Our pack needs you.”
Fenn’s emotions ran through my mind in a scattered jumble at the words ‘my pack’: his suspicion was gone, full of sudden hope once more. A new home, Ayla. Protection. Warriors. Vesper is saved.
His wild joy almost eclipsed my mistrust—could this be salvation, however unlikely?
Until several of the new wolves shifted into powerful males and lunged at me.