Chapter 5
The werewolves behind them were muttering, but Misti couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. Kastner glanced around her to his son and jerked his head. Immediately, Talon left her side, slipping backward.
She glanced behind her.
“He is just checking on how the rear is keeping up,” Kastner told her. “Do not worry. Your husband will be right back.”
Husband.
“I am not worried.”
“Not even about the coming battle?” The alpha stared straight ahead, his marching even and precise despite their traversing uneven forest land.
“I’ve already fought werewolves. Killed werewolves. I know what to expect.” The wolves behind them, were any of them battle-tested? They certainly seemed prepared, but when you see the glowing orange eyes of a werewolf, his fangs dripping with saliva, his claws coming at you… it was not a simple foe you’d face. Yes, wolves were hunters, but animal prey and werewolf prey were not even remotely the same.
“Talon will protect you.”
“I don’t need protection.”
He almost twisted to look at her but didn’t. “Anders would like to protect you, if given the chance.”
“He did that already,” she said before she thought better of it.
She stopped abruptly, so suddenly the werewolf behind her in line plowed into her. Misti resumed her trek after murmuring an apology.
“What is it?”
Misti said nothing. Her eyes shifted, and she saw she was right. “To the left,” she tried to say without moving her lips, hardly speaking loud enough to be heard.
Kastner didn’t seem to hear her or look in that direction, but then his fangs made an appearance. He grunted—not speaking, not using words, actually grunted—and two werewolves from the row behind them darted away, slipping through the trees.
“I would like to go?—”
“You will stay.” Kastner’s lips twisted slightly. Was that a smile? She couldn’t tell. “I will not allow you to be hurt before the claiming.”
She suppressed a shudder. “I could be killed in battle.”
“That would be unfortunate.”
Out of nowhere, Talon appeared, dragging a naked man with him. “Look what I found.” He shoved the man to the ground.
Blood dripped from the man’s forehead, but Misti couldn’t stop staring at the tattoo on his back.
Kastner held up a hand and whistled. The entire company halted as one.
Impressive, Misti thought absurdly.
“Who are you?” Kastner demanded.
The Shadowed Star said nothing.
“We should kill him,” Talon said.
“We should learn who he is first,” Misti protested.
Kastner shifted his gaze from the wounded man to her. “You who have already killed werewolves would suffer and allow one of your enemies to live?”
“Depending on if he’s more useful alive.” The werewolves her father had sent she hadn’t bothered to consider this, too intent on staying alive, but this was different. A single werewolf. “If he’s higher up in the chain of command, we might be able to ransom him.”
“What would be the point?” Talon countered. “From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t matter if he’s the alpha’s son. If he’s weak enough to be captured, he deserves death. They wouldn’t want him back.”
“My son has a point.” Kastner pressed his foot against the werewolf’s back. He collapsed against the dirt. “Roll over.”
After a long moment, the werewolf did. He spat at Kastner’s shoe.
The alpha flicked it off, back at him. “Do you have anything to share for us other than saliva?”
The werewolf jumped up, staggered, and lunged toward Talon. Before he could take another step, Misti picked up a large rock, so big she had to use two hands, and slammed it on the top of his head. The Shadowed Star collapsed again, his body twitching then stilling.
Talon stared at her, his face unreadable. Then he smiled widely. “You do have a knife on you.”
Tia had provided her and Anders with knives before they had left the camp.
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to bloody the blade already,” she said airily. Actually, she had forgotten about it.
She dropped the rock onto the ground. Her hands were dirty. The first wound almost looked like hers, except smaller. Definitely not a knife cut. Talon’s hands were clean, though. He hadn’t been the one to fight the werewolf.
Before she could ask what had happened, the two werewolves who had departed at Kastner’s growl returned, dragging a woman between them. She was breathing as they laid her at their alpha’s feet, but she died before he could get his first question out.
“Spies.” Talon spat.
Kastner glanced at Misti. “Marching was the right course. Either we would have brought the fight to them, or they would have brought the fight to us.”
If that was the case, wouldn’t it have been smarting to force them to march to their compound? But Misti wasn’t about to argue. Her heart was still racing from the high of killing. Wolves were predators, and killing stirred their blood.
It also made them horny.
Her first thought was of Anders. No. She had to forget him.
Still, she glanced behind. To her surprise, Anders was in sight. He nodded toward her and waved.
His hands were dirty.
She waved back.
His grin told her he knew what she had done, and she answered with a smile to let him know she guessed what he had done.
They were still on the same wavelength.
Misti forced herself to turn back around. Yes, she would rather have Anders at her back than Talon. Fair or not, her heart already belonged to another.
Once she was claimed by Talon, though, her heart wouldn’t matter. Her body would belong to him.