Juniper
Hakeem and Blaise saw me coming before the others did.
Our entire fighting force were huddled at the peak of a ridge, overlooking a forest valley below.
Even at a distance, I could see some of them were injured and bloody.
Not many, but enough. The Red Maw ambush hadn’t been big enough to truly damage our forces.
The only reason they’d done it was to kidnap Levi.
It made the rage inside me—fueled by my newly made connection to Naphele—storm into a wildfire.
“June,” Hakeem said. “I hoped you’d come.”
Shifting to my human form, I stepped forward, glancing around at the men who either sat on the ground or knelt.
“Why are you sitting,” I snapped, glaring at them. “We need to prepare.”
The men glanced around at each other nervously, surprised.
Honestly, I was surprised too. I would have never spoken like that to anyone, especially not a group of alphas.
Some of Naphele’s fire and leadership had seeped into me.
She wasn’t a powerful force, not like my inner wolf.
I didn’t hear her whispering in my mind, which was good.
One of the things I’d been afraid of when I first thought I might be her reincarnation was that I would vanish beneath a sea of Naphele’s memories.
Instead, it was more like I was truly whole.
I was more confident than I’d ever been before, bolstered by her presence deep in my soul.
Standing, the alphas leveled their eyes on me, and I was happy to see no anger or hurt feelings. They looked as ready to fight as I did.
“Where’s Levi?” I asked. “Do we know where they took him?”
Devon lifted a tattooed arm and pointed north.
“Scouts came back and said the full Red Maw force are in a big open clearing that way. Looks like it was used for clear cutting back in the day.” He shook his head and spat on the ground angrily.
“One of the scouts didn’t make it back, though.
Caught and killed from what the other said.
Kid was only twenty years old. I want fucking blood! ”
“You’ll have it. We’re getting Levi back, and they’ll pay for all this. When do we attack?” I said, turning back to Hakeem.
His eyes widened a bit, and he glanced at the others. “Well, uh, Idlewild was designated the leader of the war party, and, well, as of now, you lead Idlewild. You aren’t an alpha, but you’re the alpha’s mate. I suppose we go when you say we do.”
“Tell everyone we leave in ten minutes,” I said.
The word went out, and the few who were too injured to join the main party were sent toward Hidden Grove to find shelter and medical help.
I walked out to find Rainier as he stood at a bluff that overlooked the valley where the Red Maw were assembling.
They looked like tiny ants moving around at this distance, but I could already see that their numbers were far greater than we’d been led to believe.
Without glancing over his shoulder, Rainier said, “I fucked up. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry about what?” I asked, taking my place beside him.
“I should have stayed with him,” he muttered miserably. “I let him get too far out ahead of us. I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking. If I’d been right there with him, none of this would have happened. The two of us could have fought off anyone. This is my fault.”
“Stop that,” I said. “If you’d been with him, you might be dead now. They didn’t want you, they wanted him. I don’t want you dead, and neither does Levi.”
Rainier let out a dejected snort. “I wish I could believe that. It’s just hard.
I tried as best as I could, but…” He shook his head in defeat.
“They came out of nowhere, June. None of us noticed their scents until too late. They all reeked of smoke. I think they stood over some campfires or something to mask it. They fucking planned this,” he growled, kicking a rock.
The stone went tumbling end over end out into the abyss before arching downward to bounce and ricochet down the hill toward the enemy.
“Come on,” I said, putting my hand on his arm. “Let’s go get him back.”
Rain kept staring down at the Red Maw men for a few more seconds, before finally nodding and turning away to look at me.
“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s go fuck some shit up.”
“You really should have been a poet, you know? With eloquent words like that, you could have made a name for yourself,” I said, giving him a sarcastic grin.
He chuckled, which was a good sound to hear after seeing him so depressed. “Don’t be an asshole. Come on. Let’s get our boy back.”
Soon, our war party was amassed and ready. I assumed one of the alphas would lead them down the mountain toward the valley, but instead they deferred to me and Rainier.
“You’re his people. You’re from his packs,” Patrick said, nodding toward the trail, more than a hundred shifters behind him, antsy and ready to get going. “If anyone leads us to war, it’s you two. We’ll follow you.”
There was no reason to argue. I shook his hand. “Let’s go, then,” I said.
Turning, I shifted and bolted down the mountain, Rainier at my side. From behind us, the sound of a hundred cheers erupted, then morphed into the angry howls of wolves. A hundred angry shifters descended the mountain behind us, a sea of warriors hell-bent on revenge and victory.
As I ran, bobbing and weaving around trees while sprinting at full speed, an anticipatory excitement filled me.
I’d never enjoyed violence or fighting, but now, with this new connection to my past life, I had an instinctual urge to fly into combat.
If this was how Naphele had been in life, she definitely was a force to be reckoned with.
It’s probably why that son of a bitch Rafe had to surprise her.
She’d have been much harder to defeat if she’d been ready for his attack.
Remembering my vision of her death, more rage surged through me, and I released my own howl.
It was my turn to be the warrior princess.
Naphele was gone, she would never come back, but she could live again on the battlefield.
Her memory could echo across the air as I tore and shredded through the men who’d taken the man I loved.
At the edge of the clearing, I stopped and stepped out into the grass, allowing my men to slow and join me.
A hundred wolves became one hundred men and women, a line of people spreading out and flanking me, Rainier at my side.
The Red Maw, having heard us coming, had grouped together, ready to fight us if we came pouring from the woods.
Instead, our two armies glared across the open grass at each other.
Their group stirred and parted, allowing a single person to step out. A woman. She was imposing and stately with short hair and an expression of disdain on her face. That could be no one else but Desdemona, the female alpha of Red Maw.
“Is this the young lady we’ve heard so much about?” Desdemona called out. “Our friend Anders has given us quite a story.”
At the mention of his name, I clenched my fists in anger, my gaze finding him a few yards away from Desdemona.
Our eyes locked, and Anders gave me a cocky grin.
I wanted to break his nose. Nothing sounded more appealing than listening to, and feeling, the crack of the cartilage snapping under my knuckles.
“Why are you here, little girl?” another voice called out.
The man beside Desdemona glared at me. He was a full head taller than her, with a red beard and a sweat-stained ball cap on his head, his thumbs tucked into the loops of his dirty jeans. Carlton, Desdemona’s beta.
Ignoring his words, I took a step forward and raised my voice to be heard. “Where is Leviathan Cross? We want to see him and make sure he’s unhurt.”
“Unhurt?” Desdemona said, tossing her head back and cackling like a villain in a kids’ movie. “Why would he be hurt?”
A sigh of frustration hissed out of my nose. I’d known these people less than a full minute and I already hated them.
“You know why,” I called. “You kidnapped him. He’s your prisoner. Now, show him to us. Now.”
The command wiped away the smile from her face. Even at a distance, I could see fury flashing in her eyes.
“Well, of course we can,” Desdemona said. “Why not let you see my new mate?”
The scowl on my face dropped as Carlton stepped aside, and Levi stepped up beside Desdemona. There were some bruises and dried blood on his face, but otherwise, he looked fine. The most horrifying thing was watching Desdemona run her hand lovingly down his chest, and he didn’t flinch away.
Seeing another woman touch him like that, intimate and familiar, sent a wave of horror and fury through me. I actually shook with anger, my wolf growling threateningly. I could even sense the distant remnants of Naphele howling in indignation at the sight.
“No fucking way,” Rainier whispered beside me.
A similar rumble of unease swept through our group, but I ignored it, turning to keep my eyes on Desdemona. She continued to caress Levi’s arms, chest and stomach. I swallowed down bile.
Seeing our unease, Desdemona grinned. “You see?” she said. “He is no prisoner. He is here on his own accord. Once I told him the truth, there was no other answer he could give other than agreeing to join us.”
Levi stood, motionless, staring back at us, but not meeting my eyes. The backs of my eyes stung with unshed tears. Could he really have betrayed us? So quickly? It made no sense.
“What truth?” I screamed, my voice taking on a threatening note that I barely managed to keep under control.
“That I am his reincarnated mate,” Desdemona said, her tone haughty and conceited, her eyes burning into mine.
Her words came as a slap to the face. What? She couldn’t be serious. There was no way she could know…
I snapped my gaze toward Anders, and he leered at me, his eyes shining with glee.
He’d told her. That was the only possibility.
In a sudden rush of awareness, I understood where my journal had gone.
All those notes and details of my visions about Naphele.
Anders must have stolen it and given it to Desdemona.
She could have used the information in those pages to trick Levi into believing her.
Would he have taken her story as true, though?
Even if she could give him details that no one else could know, he had to understand how ruthless and cruel Desdemona was.
Levi must know that Naphele would never choose to let her soul reside in someone like that.
No. This had to be a trick. Levi was playing along and would allow no harm to come to us.
I had to believe that, otherwise everything was lost already.
Looking at Levi’s face, I tried to send a mental message to him. Four simple words that I wished I could say out loud. I believe in you.
Unleashing a banshee cry of rage and pain, I shifted, my cry morphing into a howl as I led us forward in attack. The field became a cacophony of sound as my army joined in, all of them shouting, screaming, and howling.
Desdemona and her men all shifted as one, ready to meet us. To my horror, Levi was running right beside her, his wolf a full head higher than any other on the field. To my surprise, only Desdemona’s wolf was anywhere close to his size.
Please, Levi. Please help us. Don’t believe her.
I rushed straight for Desdemona, salivating at the thought of tearing flesh from her bones.
My undersized wolf was like a pup compared to hers, but I was willing to fight with every ounce of strength I had rather than give her what she wanted.
I would die first, giving my life to ensure those I cared for in Hidden Grove and Idlewild had a chance.
Desdemona and Levi took the lead, racing out ahead of the others.
The female alpha headed straight toward me, her light gray fur fluttering in the wind.
When I could see the amber of her eyes, she leaped, paws out, teeth open, claws extended.
A moment before she pounced on me, Levi slammed into her, sinking his teeth deep into her shoulder.
I wanted to let out a roar of triumph. He hadn’t betrayed us. My celebration had to wait, though. A single second later, the entirety of our two forces crashed into one another, turning the field into an orgy of manic violence and chaos.