31. Lumi
Chapter 31
Lumi
“ W hat do I do?” I ask Ambrose through our bond.
Silence greets me.
Ambrose’s eyes don’t change, nor do they acknowledge that I spoke to him. And I don’t feel any of the fire in my belly that I often feel when I’m connected to him.
I stare at the glowing marks at the base of the tree he’s in. Runes by witches. My eyes scan over them quickly. I don’t know much about witches, but I do know the runes are impacting Ambrose and my ability to speak to each other.
“Ambrose, talk to me. Tell me what to do,” I try again, hoping against all odds that I’m wrong.
Ambrose stiffens as if he realizes what I’m doing, but I don’t think the message went through.
Fuck, what do I do?
I don’t recognize the vampires holding onto Ambrose. I don’t know why they have him, but I suspect they want what all of us magical creatures want—to break the curse.
“Don’t hurt him. He’s your best chance at breaking the curse. He’s my mate. And I came here tonight to initiate into the Moonlight pack so I can complete the marking ceremony at the next full moon and break the curse.”
The vampires just stare at me with their blood-red eyes. One raises his upper lip so I get a clear view of his lethal fangs. But neither of them speaks or moves an inch as if they are frozen in stone.
I frown as I scan the woods for the rest of the Moonlight wolves. They have to be here if they were expecting me to initiate tonight. Did other vampires and witches grab them? Or are they safe?
I don’t sense anyone else near. At the moment, at least, I’m on my own.
Fear rolls through me. I don’t stand a chance on my own against vampires. I don’t know how to reason with them, and I don’t know how to free Ambrose from the runes that seem to be silencing our connection and keeping him bound high up in a tree.
What are they waiting for?
“What do you want?”
The vampires barely even glance in my direction when I speak, but I swear I see Ambrose’s jaw tick. And then he mouths a single word that slams into me as hard as the fear— run .
I glance behind me just in time to see the glow of yellow eyes in the darkness behind me. I don’t hesitate. I run.
I hate running, and I vow whenever I do get my wolf, I’m never running from a fight again. But it’s all I can do. Run and find help because I’m useless on my own.
But I don’t know where to find help. I don’t know where the pack is. And I’m running in the wrong direction from town.
I whip my head quickly behind me to try to get a sense of how many are following me. The yellow glowing eyes are there in the dozens.
Wait . I holt to a stop when I realize who has glowing yellow eyes—the Moonlight wolves.
It’s a huge gamble. I could be wrong. But I won’t get much further running.
I turn at the same time I stop. My breath is heavy, and my heart is sprinting at full speed, ready for me to run again as I stare down those glowing yellow eyes that number in the dozens.
The eyes stop growing closer, but they seem to grow in number. A chill races up my spine, and I glance over my shoulder to see that some of the eyes have moved behind me, until I’m completely surrounded by those Moonlight wolves.
I scan them, looking for someone I recognize. It’s then that I realize I haven’t spent enough time with the pack. But then again, that’s not my fault, as Ambrose hasn’t let me out of his sight.
Several of the faces are familiar, but I can’t come up with any of their names.
“I think Nyx has Ambrose,” I say calmly, trying to take deep, relaxing breaths. This is the Moonlight pack. They aren’t going to hurt me.
No one speaks.
The moon begins to rise high in the sky, and my eyes begin to adjust to the darkness enough that I can make out that some of them are in their wolf forms and some in their human. The ones that are human are completely naked, as if they were in their wolf form but recently shifted back.
I keep my eyes on their faces, waiting for someone to speak to me. To tell me what they know or don’t know about who and why they have Ambrose.
Shivers overtake me again, though, when I realize something odd about the faces—they’re all male. Only the male members of the pack are here. I don’t see any females. I don’t see Rowena.
“Emeric?” I say suddenly when I see his blonde hair and a hint of a smile.
“Oh, thank gods. Ambrose is being held by a witch’s spell and two vampires, maybe more, in a tree…” I trail off as Emeric doesn’t respond to the words I’m saying. He shouldn’t be smirking at me like that, not when Ambrose is being held hostage.
“Emeric?” my voice says hesitantly.
He runs his tongue across his lips in a seductive manner. He sees me as his next meal.
I swallow down a lump in my throat. I made a mistake. Whether the witches cast a spell on them or this is the curse driving the males of the pack into a frenzy, there is no reasoning with them. And now I’m trapped by all the male members of the Moonlight wolves, while my mate is held hostage. I made a grave mistake that there is no saving myself from, unless I can shift.