Pack Captive by Cate Corvin
Ryden
Calian was leavingher room when I approached.
There was no sign of Ayla herself, but he wore a look on his face I hadn't seen since his childhood—a wounded, trapped look, the same expression he’d worn when my father had brought him to Lykos.
I hadn't seen it since he'd joined the Claws, nor since he'd left them.
When he heard my footsteps approaching, he smoothed it away.
Calian had always been better than me at hiding his true emotions. It made him an ideal Second; let our enemies think I was the big, dumb lunk who couldn't tell his tail from his ass, while Calian blended into the shadows and listened.
He picked up all the small tells my open personality drew out of them: which were more likely to come to our side, which were lying, which were plotting my death right then and there.
Everything he thought was locked behind an icy iron curtain, but Ayla had somehow drawn that curtain aside.
He straightened up as I approached. "She's almost done."
I played along with his clear desire to not speak of whatever had gotten this reaction from him. "Did she attempt anything...excessive?"
My thoughts were mostly on the high windows when I asked this.
We'd only had one suicide since we'd begun collecting stray packs torn apart by Fenris, but that one had been enough for a lifetime.
Calian shook his head, and ran a hand through his cropped black hair, scowling at the floor. "Not with serious intent. She's testing how far she can push us, of course."
Looks like she found your weak spot, I thought, but I didn't say it aloud.
My Second raised his head and blew out a breath. "Realistically, the worst we're going to expect from her is a lot of foot-dragging. I can’t see her attacking the Guardians or Claws—not as long as her people are taken care of."
"Already on that," I said absently, wondering what else she could want.
"I think I broke through a little." Calian glanced at the closed door behind him, and we walked several feet down the hall. The walls of the Dawn Palace were thick enough to obscure our conversation, even if she was on the other side with her ear pressed against the wood. "She seems...to respond well when you make something her responsibility."
My inner wolf's ears perked up at that.
Wasn't that what we always wanted in a mate? Responsibility and duty, honor to the pack.
Fuck yes, that was what I wanted.
Tyra had pushed so hard to become my mate, and I’d never wished harm on her, but there was some relief in knowing that these days, I wouldn't wake up to her trying to creep into my bed.
"Perfect." Calian shot me a sharp look when I spoke. "We have to keep her origins in mind. She's from a reclusive community, where she was likely only taught the absolute basics of what the temple expects from her. She would've been one of the pillars of her people, alongside the Alpha."
A thought I'd tried my best to keep locked in the back of my mind resurfaced, and I bared my teeth without thinking.
It was clear that all her pack's Warriors were dead, but I deliberately hadn't asked if she'd already been mated to another male.
Pack Vesper had no Alpha when we arrived, which suited my personal plans just fine...but had she already been an Alpha's mate?
"Ryden. I don't think she was ever mated to someone else," Calian said quietly, reading my thoughts. Usually, he looked me in the eye, but now he carefully studied an engraving of the moon on the opposite wall. "She made no mention of a specific male, only her people as a whole."
It was the first time Calian had ever seemed reticent to tell me what he'd discovered about a new wolf.
That, combined with the look on his face, told me everything I needed to know.
She'd somehow managed to pry the story of Pack Tempestas out of him.
And he wanted her for himself.
I held back the dominant rage threatening to rise within me.
He was my best friend. There was no wolf I trusted more than him to watch my back—and to lead Azura to safety if I, or Lykos, ever fell.
I'd never witnessed him actually knocked off-kilter by a female. And it was only because of that, and our brotherhood, that I'd allow him to remain near her.
Everything I had, Calian was welcome to.
As long as she agreed with it.
"Good. Then we won't be competing with the memory of a dead wolf when it comes to pursuing her."
Calian raised an eyebrow, but some of the tension melted out of his features. "'We'?"
I shrugged and grinned, letting my better nature take over. "When have you ever cared if a pack refugee was once mated?"
His lips twisted again. "If it's information we can use—"
"You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me, brother."
Calian was too self-composed to roll his eyes. He needed to lighten up a little. We only had so much time to joke around when death could come running over Lykos at any moment. "You're seeing things that aren't there."
"Right. And you usually share your life story with complete strangers." I walked towards the door, intending to check on our lovely captive. The celebrations would begin as soon as night fell, and she needed to look the part: the future savior of wolfkind.
"I had a good reason for it," he muttered.
"Mmhmm."
"And watch out, she's probably refused to dress—"
But I was already turning the doorknob.
Calian needed happiness in his life. He couldn't just live in my shadow forever, forgoing what everyone else had out of fear it would be taken.
If you lived for nothing, then there was no point in fighting so hard to survive.
I stepped into the room, fully prepared to avert my eyes, but Ayla had dressed.
And not in rags.
She wore the shimmering gold dress her handmaiden had left for, the soft pleats falling to the floor and covering her bruised legs.
There was no sign of the handmaiden herself, but Ayla had stopped in the middle of dragging a brush through her long black hair when we entered.
Her eyes were wary as she took me in, then flicked to Calian, who was on my heels.
"I did as you commanded," she said, but the usual acidic bite I'd come to expect from her was gone.
I mentally picked my jaw up off the floor. Clean and dressed like a true Caller, she was even more beautiful than I'd anticipated.
Calian, fortunately, didn't miss a beat. "Jewelry. This celebration is in your honor, so you should look the part."
He pushed past me and went to a dresser, where boxes filled with jewelry had been brought up for her shortly before her arrival. I’d sent the orders ahead with a Guardian to prepare one of the rooms on my floor of the Palace.
Ayla gave him a dry look, and I could imagine what she was thinking.
How could anything be in her honor when she wore a bracelet that kept her confined to the city?
"You look...lovely," I said, clearing my throat. Why was it so easy to talk to any other woman but this one? "The Elder Caller will be impressed."
To my surprise, Ayla let out a small laugh, but it wasn't amused. "If she's impressed, I hope it's more for my skills than my looks."
Calian glanced at me sidelong as he picked through the jewelry box.
Responsibility. She desired to be of worth, not just a figurehead.
"She will be," I assured her. "But looks are part of it. The presence of the Callers boosts the pack's morale, and seeing you look so...shiny, so beautiful, will give them more hope than you looking...underfed."
"Shiny and beautiful," she repeated, and for a moment a spear went through my heart.
I was an idiot. Who said that sort of thing?
But Ayla didn't look disgusted. She looked me over consideringly, which was a step in the right direction.
"I understand that." She looked up at me, even took a step closer. Her sweet vanilla-honey scent filled my nose, and my cock stirred as I imagined burying my face in that thick, dark hair. "A filthy temple is no place to worship the moon."
I had a feeling it was less the jewels and finery that was appealing to her than the concept of giving her people something to hope for.
That I could understand.
"No, it's not. The temples are kept pristine here, and so are our Moon Callers."
Calian finally fished out a gold necklace with ropes of webbed chains and held it up. Tiny aquamarines caught the light as he moved behind her. "Hold up your hair."
I saw Ayla's throat move as she swallowed and obeyed.
There was a sudden, thick tension in the air, and it was lost on no one that she was between us, close enough for me to touch, with Calian's hands at her throat.
She looked up at me as he draped the necklace over her prominent collar bones and began to fasten it at the nape of her neck. Her sea blue eyes were searching my face, looking for something I couldn't fathom.
What had changed? What had Calian told her?
"You'll be free to visit your pack at the celebration," I told her, my voice gruff again. She made me want to push her to the bed and rip all these pointless sparkles and skirts off her. "I gave you my word that they would be cared for."
She nodded, then frowned, looking at the pile of rags she'd arrived in. For whatever reason, they'd been neatly folded and left on a dresser top. "Will you let the maid know not to touch those?"
I couldn't imagine why she wanted them, but I nodded. Anything to show her I meant this in good faith.
Ayla didn't seem satisfied. She reached out and touched my forearm.
My veins fizzed with a burst of sudden power, and every cell in my body strained to touch her, to enfold her in my arms—
"Promise," she demanded, staring right into my eyes. It was the first time she'd demanded anything of me or looked me in the face with anything other than fury. "They're...they’re more important to me than I can say."
"I swear by the moon, nobody will touch them." I placed a fingertip on the rune marked on my forehead, making it clear that it was a binding promise.
Ayla's shoulders relaxed. A few seconds passed, but she still hadn't taken her hand off my arm. "Thank you, Alpha."
From anyone else, the honorific would've just been an accepted part of life.
From her, I wanted to hear my name.
"Ryden," I told her. "When you're with me, I'm Ryden."
Ayla smiled. It was hesitant, and the wariness hadn't left entirely, but it was real and warm. "Thank you, Ryden."
Anything for you.
The words were on my lips, just waiting to be spoken.
"You're welcome."