7. Lumi
Chapter 7
Lumi
“ W here’s Ambrose?” the alpha carrying me says in his deep, commanding voice. He’s not messing around. He’ll bite anyone’s head off that doesn’t do what he wants.
A man walks forward from the hustle and bustle of the packs. Most of the wolf shifters have stopped paying attention to us and resumed their own activities.
My mouth gapes as I stare at the man walking toward us. He’s just as handsome as the man holding me. Sandy blonde hair frames his face, and sparkling blue eyes shimmer in my direction. He smiles, and it’s not the least bit intimidating, even when he flashes a bit of the canines that I know could tear into my throat and end me in a single breath.
His muscles glide under his skin with every step he takes. They’re muscles that have been honed after his wolf shifter abilities emerged, no doubt. These muscles aren’t naturally human but something more. He’s wearing nothing but a pair of loose shorts that hang low on his waist, letting me ogle almost every part of him.
Warmth spreads through my body as I stare at him and then again when I remember I’m in the arms of another very attractive, very naked man. Wolf shifters are used to nudity. It’s not something they even waste a breath thinking about, but I’ve never been used to it, and I doubt I ever will. Coming from a small pack that was mostly my family and Kael, it’s weird to see strangers strutting around like being half-naked is nothing.
The man’s grin naturally has me smiling back. My heart goes from a speeding freight train to a light simmer. For a moment, I feel safe with this man here. Who knows what this psycho holding me is going to do? But this other man standing here—he won’t let him hurt me, that much I know. Even if he isn’t an alpha, he’s high enough up in the chain of command to hold some power here.
“Emeric, where is Ambrose?” My skin vibrates as my carrier speaks.
Emeric cocks his head as he stares at us, his gaze skimming over me, the dark alpha, and his pack members, who are still in wolf form. Amusement dances in his eyes as a chill spreads from the alpha holding me.
“Nice to see you after so long, Nyx. You, of all people, know how busy Ambrose is tonight.”
Nyx .
I glance up to be reminded the alpha is as dark as the night itself. It fits.
“And you, of all people, know what I’ll do to you unless you’re a good little puppy and get Ambrose, now,” his growl demands. There is no way Emeric could ignore it.
To his credit, Emeric stands taller, his smile never faltering. He waits as if pausing for Nyx to figure something out.
“Talking to me is as good as talking to Ambrose,” Emeric finally says when Nyx seems to have calmed. Nyx doesn’t seem to like it, but he doesn’t make any more demands to see Ambrose.
“Our offering,” Nyx says, holding me out like a lamb to be slaughtered. My chest squeezes tight as my breathing increases. Offering—that can’t be good.
Emeric stares at me, quickly assessing the situation, and then turns back to Nyx. “You’re sure?”
“Yes,” Nyx says without another word.
Emeric nods, stepping forward, arms outstretched. Then I’m transferred from Nyx’s arms to Emeric’s as easily as I would hand a light backpack to Kael. I weigh practically nothing to them.
The cool chill I felt in Nyx’s arms transforms into warmth in Emeric’s. The unsettled feeling I had before morphs into ease. As Emeric starts carrying me away, I look back to see Nyx and his pack are completely gone.
I gape. How did they disappear so fast? Did I imagine it all? I wouldn’t put it past myself.
“You can put me down; I’m not going to run.” Not when I need to find Kael. Not when I need to talk to the Moonlight wolves and help them find a way to break the curse. Not when I have nothing to run back to.
Emeric grins wider. “I know, but what fun is that? I’d rather carry you.”
He bounces me joyfully in his arms, and somehow I laugh. I freaking laugh. I’m still being carried like a sacrificial lamb with my wrists still tied together. I’ll most likely end up with my neck slit on some alter by the end of the night, and yet I freaking laugh.
But that word ‘offering’…
“Hey, you have nothing to worry about. Nyx can’t hurt you now.”
“What makes you think he hurt me?” I ask.
Emeric’s smile drops. “Nyx hurts people. His pack has been forced to live outside of the rest of us for years now. But…”
“But not anymore?”
Emeric shakes his head, not really explaining anything to me.
I sigh, knowing that I have more important questions to ask than about Nyx and the Bloodmoon pack. My questions could mean my survival or death.
“What’s your name?” he asks.
“Lumi,” I say, not bothering with my last name. I’m not sure he would take too kindly to realizing that I’m from the Wintermoon pack any more than thinking I’m a Bloodmoon. My guess is if they despise the Bloodmoon, they hate the Wintermoon worse. The other packs are willing to at least have a conversation with the Bloodmoon, something they won’t do with the Wintermoon.
“That’s a beautiful name.”
“Thanks,” I blush.
Emeric’s eyes light up when he sees my smile. He stares at me as if I’m the answer to all his prayers.
Heat fills my body as an undeniable attraction spreads through me. Gods, is every wolf shifter this attractive? Am I going to go crazy with an unquenchable need for every man here? No wonder no one can find their mates—every male is gorgeous. I can’t tell which man I’m more attracted to; I want them all.
I swallow, trying to hide my obvious attraction to him.
“You’re not from the Bloodmoon pack,” Emeric says as a statement, not a question.
I don’t know how to respond. I can’t tell him I’m Wintermoon, but I can’t persuade him that I’m from Bloodmoon, either.
“Packless,” I answer, realizing I speak the truth. Wintermoon is gone. Even if any of the other members survived the latest attack, my father is dead. I know it deep in my core. Without an alpha, the pack is gone, so I am packless.
“I’m sorry. Nyx is an ass, but you won’t be packless again, not now.”
I glance around at the hundreds of shifters walking around us as Emeric continues to carry me nonchalantly. It feels like we have all the time in the world and are just going for an evening stroll after a first date, getting to know each other better.
“What’s going to happen? I’m—” I swallow. “I’m an ‘offering.’ What does that mean?”
Emeric chuckles. “It’s Nyx being dramatic is what it is.”
I narrow my eyes, even as a blanket of calm sweeps over my body.
Emeric sets me down on my own two feet, surprising me. He lifts my wrists up and breaks the vines in one quick motion of his hands.
“Thank you,” I say sincerely.
He shrugs and then takes my hand in his. Tingles shoot from my hand through my body. I wonder what it would feel like to kiss him. I know that without even trying it, that it would feel far better than any kiss with Kael.
Could Emeric be my mate, the one I’ve been looking for? I trust him inherently. I barely know him, but the only person I’ve ever trusted more in my life is Kael.
Kael, where is he? Is he here somewhere? Or is he still following Nyx’s alpha command and running as far away from here as possible?
We walk a bit further, past tent after tent filled with glowing eyes from the other wolf shifters staring at us as we pass. But Emeric puts me at ease by distracting me with his charming smile, calming touch, and a quick history of the different packs here. But I barely register anything after he tells me he’s the beta of the Moonlight wolves. I found them, finally.
I can break the curse. I can restore the Wintermoon pack name into one that is worthy of being remembered for saving the packs instead of destroying them.
We stop on the other side of a clearing where the edge of the forest starts again. Emeric is still holding my hand in his casual way, and then I see what appears to be an opening to a cave.
My heart thunders in my chest, telling me not to enter.
“What’s the offering, again?” I ask him, knowing he’s not telling me everything. My trust in him vanishes as my instincts kick back in and alarm bells sound in my head.
“There’s nothing to worry about, Lumi. Trust me.”
“Well, what should I be worried about?”
Emeric doesn’t answer me. Instead, he continues guiding me to the entrance of the cave.
“No!” I shout, trying to break free of his hold, trying to run. I try to turn into my wolf form, but I don’t feel so much as a tingle in my body. I scream for help from Kael if he’s nearby or from anyone willing to help me. But I barely get a solid scream out. Emeric is infinitely stronger than me. I’m powerless.
He shoves me into the cave as easily as if he were batting a fly off his shoulder.
I immediately turn and try to run out of the cave, but I slam into an invisible wall.
What the hell?
“It’s spelled by a witch. You can’t get out, so don’t waste your strength trying.” Emeric looks at me with a deep sadness, as if he truly wishes things were different. A second later, the look is gone, replaced by a determined gaze.
“Liar. You’re worse than Nyx.”
He shakes his head. “No one is worse than Nyx, but I’m sure you’ll figure that out soon enough.” He pauses. “I’m truly sorry. I know you don’t understand, and unfortunately, I don’t have time to explain everything. But you really don’t have anything to worry about. You’ll survive—I can feel it.”
“What does that mean? Survive what?”
But Emeric’s gone, and I’m left alone in this damn spelled cave.
“Survive the offering,” a feminine voice sounds from behind me.
I turn and see more than a dozen other young women in the cave with me. Fear marks several of their faces, but excitement is plain across the others. What could make some of them terrified and others excited?
“You’re a true offering, it seems. I’m sorry that your choice was taken from you—most of us chose this,” a woman with auburn hair and warm honey-brown eyes says.
“Chose what exactly? What is the offering? What’s about to happen?” I ask.
The woman smiles as she looks from the others to me. Most are smiling now, with a relaxed, fated look.
“We’re being offered to the alphas of the packs in hopes that one of us will become their mate and break the curse,” she says.
I stare at them, and my heart rate speeds. That isn’t the whole story. There’s definitely something they are leaving out. What they said is what I came here to do. I shouldn’t be afraid of being offered to the other male alphas to see if I can be mated to any of them.
“So what exactly happens?” I ask.
“One by one, we stand before all the alphas for their review. If any of the alphas feel the tug of the mating bond pulling them to you, they mark you as their mate.”
“Mark you? What does it mean to be marked?”
“They sink their canines deep into our flesh, severing the carotid artery. If you’re really mates, the mating bond will appear and heal your wound, keeping you alive. It will be clear to everyone. Once a mated couple is found, the curse will vanish.”
There’s a stillness in me, a calmness that shouldn’t be there. But I ask the next question anyway.
“And if I’m marked by someone who isn’t my true mate?”
“You die.”