Chapter 11
Misti ran until the sky brightened to gray and then piercing yellow and orange as the sun crept up over the horizon. She’d been on the run for hours now. The trickling of water sounded to her right, and she headed for the stream. The water was shockingly cold, and she drank deeply. Her fur had grown dirty during her flight. Her paw dipped into the water. Too cold for her to dunk herself. Maybe if she wadded in…
A twig snapped.
Her head shot up, and her fur bristled as a wolf approached. The wind shifted slightly, and she caught his scent. Misti met his gaze then retreated to a tree so it would hide her nakedness as she assumed her human form. She’d never cared for her cousin, although her father treated him like the son he’d never had.
Xavier moved toward a bush and shifted. Thankfully, the bush was tall enough to hide his groin. That was a sight she did not wish to see. Unbidden, the memory of Anders’s body flashed through her mind. A sexy wolf. He wouldn’t hide his nakedness from anyone, she had a feeling. He was proud of his body and had every right to be.
But he was also a Shadowed Star, so hot or not, the only wolf to be able to boast sleeping with her or not, he could not be allowed to live long. She’d been so weak to flee instead of killing him when she had the chance. Weak. Pathetic. Worthless. All her father had ever thought of her as, and now she was those exact three things.
“Why are you tracking me?” she demanded, breaking the silence. Who knew how long Xavier would have stood there, staring at her. The tree did hide her from him, didn’t it?
“Your father commanded me to.”
Ah, yes. Loyal lapdog, that’s what Xavier was, and that was the main reason why Father threatened to make Xavier over anyone else in the pack his heir if she disappointed him.
“Why did he issue such a command? And to you. Normally you aren’t far from his tail,” she said coldly.
He clasped his hands behind his back. “I take it you are unaware of what has transpired this night.”
Again, her traitorous mind went back to the acrobatics she’d performed with Anders. With humans, she never gave in to that side of her. When she had raked Anders’s back, she’d tapped into a side of her she hadn’t even realized existed. She wanted to be wild and wanton and daring and thrilling in bed. She wanted him again. It was so wrong to be turned on by the enemy, but she was. The moon save her, she was.
“W-what happened?” she asked, wincing at her squeaky tone. Could Xavier see the hickeys on her neck, the marks Anders had gifted her with? By now, her scratches must have faded if not completely healed away. Next time, she’d have to…
There wouldn’t be a next time.
“Are you all right?” Xavier moved to start forward.
She held up her hand. “I’m fine. What happened?”
“It is with great displeasure I inform you that Jason was killed.”
“No.” Misti gasped. Jason was one of their best trackers. He had only been five months older than her. Dead at twenty-five. “How?” she growled.
“Beheaded. And that’s not the worst of it.”
She bristled. What could be worse?
“Gerald was taken hostage.”
“Taken hostage?” She bit back her surprise.
Gerald was her father’s second. He was too strong to be taken easily.
But Shadowed Stars didn’t take prisoners. They left a trail of bodies in their wake.
Anders hadn’t.
She really must stop thinking about him.
“How do you know that he wasn’t also killed?” she asked.
“Because Rob saw it go down. It happened too far away for Rob to be able to stop it.”
“Why would a werewolf kill Jason but kidnap Gerald?”
“We do not know. There is nothing else to say on the matter.”
His coldness unnerved her. She eyed him. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“That’s all there is to tell.”
Her cousin was more a robot than a wolf. He hadn’t even shown any rage, or any other emotion for that matter, when he told her such devastating news.
“There’s more, isn’t there? Father doesn’t want me to know,” she guessed bitterly.
“That is not the case. It’s just a rumor, that’s all.”
“Tell it to me,” she demanded.
“Rob is convinced he recognized the werewolf who knocked out and dragged Gerald off, but it’s been so long since anyone has seen him that even he can’t be one hundred percent certain.”
Goosebumps swept across her arms and legs, and it had nothing to do with her being naked. “Who did he think was behind it?”
“A Shadowed Star named Anders.”
“Anders Kraus,” she murmured. “You’re certain it was him?”
“No. Rob is, but the werewolf was a good distance away, despite his enhanced vision, and Anders hasn’t been seen around these parts in years.”
Almost a decade. She knew.
“When did this occur?” she asked. Before or after she and Anders had shared their bodies?
“Roughly two hours ago.”
Her eyes narrowed. How could her cousin have found her so quickly to inform her of this? But at least the time frame meant Anders had attacked her people after they had shared relations. Although would it have been much worse had he killed and kidnapped beforehand?
She fought the urge to double over as if punched in the stomach. Anders had done this in retaliation for her denying him. Because she hadn’t allowed him to claim her.
“Come home, Misti,” Xavier urged. “Your father wants you by his side.”
No. My father wants you by his side. But Misti kept the thought to herself.
“You return to him.”
“Without you?” Finally, a flicker of emotion flashed across his features as he frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. “What will you be doing?”
“Tell Father not to worry. I’ll find Gerald for him. I won’t return home without him.”
Before Xavier could respond, she shifted back to her wolf form and took off running. Anders’s scent—woody cinnamon—had seared into her memory. She would find it.
She would find Anders. And then she’d take care of him.
Like a flash in the dying night, she was gone, hunting for the one she’d allowed to enjoy her body, only this time, their reunion would not be pleasant.