I wasn’t Orion’s mate. That was the whole point of his evasion. Still, my throat tightened. If I was going to walk an unknown path through total darkness, Orion was the one I wanted by my side.
And I could have kissed Hailey because she very ably deflected attention away from me. “Well, if I get a choice, I’d rather be led by someone more… More…”
“Don’t leave us hanging,” Prince murmured after a moment. “Finish your sentence.”
Only Hailey didn’t finish her sentence. And, from the scent filling the air, I got the distinct impression she hadn’t been entirely selfless in what was apparently a request to get her hands on the younger alpha.
It was unusual to hear someone who was usually glib and self-confident turn tongue-tied. But my friend had faced quite a night, the culmination of which had involved killing a man due to an alpha’s compulsion. If what Hailey needed right now was to enjoy a handsome stranger’s proximity, I could definitely help her make that happen.
Especially when I wanted the exact same thing.
So—“I’m sure Prince would be glad to guide Hailey,” I said into the darkness behind my blindfold. Then more tentatively, “Orion, I don’t think my hand on your arm is going to make a difference.”
Neither alpha argued the point further. Instead, the heat of Orion’s skin was there waiting when I reached toward him. My fingers curled around the hard lines of his forearm. And even though I shouldn’t have been able to feel embedded ink, I knew where bare skin ended and tattoos began.
“We’ll have to be silent,” Prince said, his voice slightly thicker than usual as if he was as affected by Hailey’s touch as I was by Orion’s. “Part of our path will pass close to where your pursuers are likely to gather.”
“Understood,” Orion rumbled. Then he was guiding me toward the area that had seemed like solid rock at first before opening out into air when I reached toward it. It was a doorway, I guessed, as we passed through then continued down a seemingly endless flight of stairs. Our careful footfalls were louder than they would have been in the open desert, which made me think rock walls pressed in around us. But I wasn’t paying all that much attention to where we were going. I was entirely focused on who I was going there with.
Because my world had narrowed to Orion’s corded muscles, to the steady beat of his pulse just barely tangible beneath my fingertips. He moved with a grace and confidence that was both comforting and exhilarating, that made me graceful by proxy even though I couldn’t see where I was placing each foot.
At one point, Orion had to guide me around a sharp corner. The rough stone wall scraped my naked shoulder…then Orion was twisting us both away from the barrier, was swinging me off my feet…
I should have felt out of control. I was out of control. It was pitch black behind my blindfold and Orion was manhandling me in such a manner I didn’t even have command over my own body.
Instead, I was elated. More alive than I’d ever felt before. Entirely human and also, somehow, entirely wolf.
Then my feet touched back down and we continued onward. Continued until dry air brushed my cheek, suggesting we were outside. Out of danger?
A murmur from ahead of us suggested that was likely the case. “If you’re feeling guilty about Blade, don’t be.” Prince’s words were as sweet as my proximity to Orion. “Some wolves shouldn’t be pack leaders. Your actions made the world a safer place.”
I was glad Prince was easing Hailey’s angst and also glad danger had passed. But I made no effort to remove my blindfold. There was no need. Not when Orion’s footsteps and mine were perfectly matched despite our height difference. We strode along as easily as if our mate bond still existed, allowing me to look out through his eyes. Or perhaps he was looking through mine and I was the one guiding a blindfolded partner. It was hard to tell the difference when we were so perfectly in sync.
Whatever the reason, when light peeked around the edge of the cloth, I felt not relief but rather disappointment. We stopped, Orion’s cactus-flower scent enfolding me as he carefully unknotted the blindfold from where it had become entangled in my hair. Then he retreated and I blinked against the headlights of a familiar van.
I wasn’t ready, but it was time to let the darkness go.
Chapter 11
“Told you,” Orion’s sister Maya groused as the four of us slipped into the van, leaving Prince behind in the glow of headlights.
“You were right,” Orion agreed easily, jerking his chin upward in a farewell to the other alpha while Maya’s mate drove us away along a narrow country road and Maya distributed clothes to those of us who had recently been wolves. Orion pulled a shirt over his head then continued speaking to his sister. “I’m glad you were close enough for me to page you via the pack bond. Thanks for contacting Prince also. And for the sand.”
The sand? I peered over to find him running what appeared to be perfectly ordinary granules between his fingers before dropping them back into his pocket. The minuscule sparkle of electricity coinciding with the gesture suggested the sand had been taken from the outpack with a magical purpose in mind.
“Saying I was right doesn’t make up for your bacon needing to be pulled out of the fire,” Maya rebutted from the front seat. “You’re supposed to be the one keeping our pack safe, not dragging us into messes.”
Beside her, Donovan rumbled out a gentle admonition. “Perhaps you should let our alpha maintain the semblance of adulthood.”
“Perhaps if my little brother didn’t get himself into trouble like a pup,” Maya countered, “then I wouldn’t treat him like a pup.”
There was no real heat to their exchange, but my inner wolf bristled at Maya’s words anyway. Or maybe I was just feeling raw from the space Orion had once again measured out between us. Because he hadn’t slid into the seat beside me. Had instead left that spot for Hailey while clambering after Ari into the row behind.
Any of those reasons might explain why I interjected myself into a conversation that was none of my business. “Could we not? The desert is hungry for blood. Hailey was just compelled to kill somebody. Who knows how much of the outpack now belongs to the Bellwethers. And it seems that I might have a biological sister being forced into a mating she doesn’t want anything to do with. Doesn’t that seem a bit more important than whether, as Orion’s second, you were actually asked to do your job?”
I only realized how harsh my words sounded when the inside of the van filled up with a variety of unpleasant odors. Peppery annoyance. Furry aggression. Bilious mortification. That was the trouble with shifter noses. Forget getting cooped up in a small space with someone whose intestines were outgassing, being stuck in the van with emotional werewolves quite literally stunk.
It appeared—or rather, smelled like—I’d done an admirable job pissing off everybody. So I was surprised when Orion’s hand brushed my hair, prompting me to turn around and face him. “I didn’t mean what I said to come out that way,” I murmured, my cheeks heating either at the touch, at the need to apologize, or both. “I think I’m still muzzy from our run.”
“It’s natural to want to protect your mate,” Orion answered, the stars in his eyes shining brighter than I’d seen them in quite a while. As if, even though I’d majorly stuck my foot in my mouth, he was glad of everything I’d said.
“We’re not mates though. Not really.” I believed what I said, yet my own breath came out smelling like milk starting to sour. Not quite off, but not quite true either. After what we’d shared tonight, could Orion and I be anything less than mates?
I shook my head, sincerely wishing for a breath mint. Lacking that human prop, I changed the subject. “I realize half of what I just said won’t make sense to you and Donovan, Maya. The outpack…”
“Spoke to you. Orion told me.”
Told her? My gaze latched onto first my tattoos then his tattoos. Were we about to lose more ink due to outpack poetry being shared publicly? Why did that idea make me feel empty inside for a reason other than anticipated bodily pain?
Orion shook his head. “Pack bond,” he explained tersely. Then, accepting my change of subject, he added, “I agree about your sister. We need to figure out who she might be. Celeste?”
Seizing the opening, I walked everyone through my thought processes as Donovan steered us down country roads so dark nothing was visible out the side windows. Short version—my blood sister definitely wasn’t Celeste. Her actual identity, though, was hard to say.
Hailey was the first one to take a stab at guessing. “The new prophecy mentioned betrayal. Do you think that means Gabi?”
Gabi. She’d certainly betrayed me. But—“She’s not a werewolf.”
“Do you know that for sure?” Ari asked, his voice tentative. “Celeste can’t shift, but she’s a werewolf.”
