Broken Moon by Laken Cane

Chapter Twenty-Four

When I woke up, I was shivering hard as my body attempted to warm itself. I lay on a rock in my small prison, and the first thing my somewhat blurry vision focused on was the moon tattoo on the back of my right hand. It was broken, sliced in half by the exsoloup’s claw.

I knew it was just a tattoo, but it seemed like a bad omen. My moon was broken, my shift was broken, I was broken.

For a few seconds, despair overwhelmed me. But only for a few seconds.

“No,” I muttered, “you are not broken, Princess. Your shift is not broken. The fucking moon will never be broken. Fuck you.”

I was okay. I was fine.

And I stuffed the despair into a box, locked it up tight, and refused to consider it again. For now, I would be strong.

I wanted to convince the warrior wolves prowling outside my cell that I wasn’t a demon, but I couldn’t afford to spend precious energy on useless shit. They wanted to believe, and I’d given them good reason to. It was true that wolves hated demons above all else—even more than vampires—and the only reason I was still alive was because they were afraid of their alpha’s wrath.

Apparently they weren’t quite afraid enough, though, or I’d at least have a fucking blanket. I was freezing to death. My injuries were so extensive I wasn’t healing nearly fast enough, and even my wolf was silent. The exsoloup had taken too much blood from me.

Twice, a female rushed to my bars to lay a line of salt outside my cell door.

I don’t know how I survived that day. Darkness fell, and still, I breathed. I kept my stare between the bars, watching, waiting. I knew Jared would come. He’d hear about what had happened, and he’d come.

As I lay there, tall lights at the perimeter of the property began to flick on, lighting the area, and I watched the wolves as they paced before my cage like I might suddenly find the strength to burst free and kill them all.

William came to my bars a few times, and I wondered as I watched him why on Earth his captain would choose him to lead in his absence. Maybe it was a training thing, because William was a bullying asshole who was too full of himself to lead well. I had to assume that despite his faults, he was genuinely committed to protecting his pack and was a good fighter.

But he sure was an asshole.

“I need some water,” I told him once, but my voice was as damaged as the rest of me and if he heard me, he ignored me.

Two women rushed into the clearing. One of them was a tall redhead I didn’t remember seeing before, but the other was the girl who’d earlier been ordered to “shut up.” Apparently not every wolf here hated me.

“The alpha is coming,” the girl yelled, and then jogged toward my cage door. “Eli is with him, and—”

One of the guards slammed a palm against her chest and sent her reeling. “Go home, pup, before you get hurt.”

The redhead with her looked at him, then sent her stare around the little group of wolves before finally settling it on William. “When I was finally able to contact Jared,” she told him, quietly, “I told him exactly what you’d done.” She paused, then walked to my cage door to peer inside. None of them attempted to stop her. “You all know me. You know I would not lie to you. Believe me when I say this. Our alpha will blame himself for what happened here today, but every single one of you who mistreated this girl will suffer for it.”

“She’s a fucking demon,” William growled. “It is up to me to protect this pack when Jared and Eli are gone. My captain put me in charge, and I will do my duty.”

“If she’s a demon,” she told him, “she’s only part demon. And she’s done nothing but try to help us. She alone destroyed the creature hunting and killing us. You let her fight alone, and you did nothing to help her. Warriors.” Her voice was sharp with contempt. “Trainees, is all. You will never be warriors now. And you, William, will be lucky if Jared does not banish you.” Then she turned her back on them and peered through the bars. “I tried to make them release you, but they wouldn’t listen. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” I told her, and she flinched at the sound of my voice. Or maybe she’d just gotten a better look at me.

“Jared shouldn’t have left the pack in the hands of these fools,” she said, her voice loud enough for the patrolling warriors to hear. “He didn’t believe you’d appear until tonight, as you always do, and he took his beta, his captain, and his best warriors to fight the Stone Moon Pack. Our scouts informed us before dawn that they were—”

“Shut your mouth,” William yelled, advancing menacingly. “You do not tell outsiders or demons pack business!”

She stared him down. “Jared would want her to know why he failed her.”

Then other wolves slid from the shadows, but they said nothing, only stared at the lead warrior with silent accusations. They feared me because they believed I was a demon, but they didn’t want to be on the wrong side when the alpha returned.

“You have no authority here,” William growled. “Go whine with the doctor and leave me be.”

“If she dies,” the redhead told him, “Jared will make you suffer before he kills you.”

“Fuck you, Lydia.” He got in her face, pushed too far. “Get the fuck out of here. Go home to your bitch, you sick fuck, before I have you thrown in with the demon. Then we’ll see, won’t we?”

“Jared comes,” the pup said softly, and everyone in that clearing stiffened. They felt him. Even I felt him, and I was half dead and not his wolf. If I’d thought I was cold before, it was nothing compared with the icy wind that swept through my body now.

A raging alpha was deadly, and he was terrifying. Every wolf in his care shivered beneath the weight of his anger.

William stumbled back, and then, he shifted. He wouldn’t be able to help it, as overwhelming emotions rushed through him. Everyone in the clearing shifted.

And Jared, still in his human form but no less frightening because of it, strode into the clearing. Eli and a man I guessed was the warrior captain were at his side. Jared didn’t glance my way as he walked to the shifted William, grabbed the wolf by the throat, and forced him to shift back to his human form.

William tried to stand straight beneath his alpha’s anger, and despite his fear, he almost managed. “She’s a demon, Alpha. I witnessed her killing the Exsoloup with my own eyes. She stabbed it through the heart, and it died. We packed it to the freezer.”

“She came to do her job,” the alpha said, almost gently, “and you repaid her by throwing her into a cell.” Without taking his stare from his wolf, he said, “Lydia. Her condition.”

“They stripped her, sir. William wouldn’t allow us to treat her or give her water or warmth. She’s severely injured, and I don’t think she will survive much longer if she isn’t tended now.”

“Open the cell door, William,” Jared said, and his huge attempt at restraint was more terrifying than if he’d simply unleashed his rage and started kicking ass.

William looked for his clothes so he could take the key from his pocket. He started to take the time to put on his pants but at a growl from his captain, he thought better of it, rushed to the bars, and threw my cage door open.

I saw everything, but I viewed it through a layer of cotton. Maybe I was dying. I couldn’t move, and even my shivering had ceased. I no longer felt pain. I was a frozen, bloodless chunk of meat. That’s what I felt like.

Jared was suddenly at the door, blocking out the light, and for a few seconds he merely stared. Then he half turned. “Captain.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Find out who aided your charge warrior and show them the same courtesy they offered our hunter.”

“Yes, sir.”

His face was emotionless, but his eyes were terrible as he reached in and as gently as possible, pulled me off the hard rock and into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

For the first time in endless, agonizing hours, my body began to warm. I curled my body into his heat and relaxed. When he lowered me to a bed a few minutes later, I resisted being deprived of his body heat until the doctor and nurse started shoving hot water bottles around my body and covered me with a pile of heated blankets. Nothing had ever felt so good.

Jared leaned over me, brushing my face just once with his fingertips. “As soon as you’re strong enough to bear the shift, Kaitlyn, I will free your wolf.”

“But the moon,” I whispered, my teeth chattering.

He shook his head. “We can’t wait for the moon. I will be strong enough without it.” He stepped back. “As will you.” Then he nodded at the doctor. “Fix her. Stabilize her enough to withstand the shift, and her wolf will do the rest.”

“Where are you going?” Dr. Hayes asked him, when he started to leave the room.

“Call me when she’s stable. I have order to restore to my pack.”

“Asshole pack,” the doctor muttered. “They yet test you.”

“Yes,” Jared agreed. “I have been less harsh than my father, and that was my mistake.” He pointed at me, his expression cold enough to make the doctor look away. “Worry about your patient, and I will worry about my people.”

“Iam your people,” the doctor said, but Jared was already gone.

“I need my blade and my cell phone,” I said, drawing his attention to me.

“I’m sure Jared will—”

“No,” I insisted, though my voice was little more than a whisper. “I need them now.”

“All right,” he said. “We’ll get you your phone and…blade. Just a few more minutes, dear.”

But Belinda slid a needle into my arm and when I woke up again, Lucy was sitting on the bed beside me, clutching my hand, and Detective Moreno was holding a gun on the alpha of the Gray Shadow Pack.