Page 13 of Into the Grasslands

“Yes, but I’m even more certain that most males will not.” She had a similar stature to my own. We were both trim and athletic, but much smaller than the average adult male wolf shifter. I wasn’t sure about Janella’s wolf’s size, but mine was only slightly smaller than most Alpha males and comparable to a normal shifter male when wearing his paws. That should have probably been my first clue that I was destined to be a Luna.

“Okay,” I sighed as we slid past one last tight squeeze that opened up into a fairly large room where there were some supplies stacked in the far corner. It wasn’t roomy enough that we had space to stand and move about, but we could easily both fit while sitting or lying down.

“When was the last time supplies were restocked in here?” I asked, since some of the items in the corner were things that had been in the containers sent to me from my old pack. Janella’s ears flamed red.

“I’m sorry. It was stealing, but there were times in the past when I had to wait in here for days before the men left. I’d get so hungry that it would almost drive me out. I think that is why some of them stay so long. They can sense those of us who hide, but know they can’t fit into the crevices to come and drag us out.”

“Don’t apologize. It was good planning. We should start stocking this place regularly and any other hidey-holes that are around the island.”

We heard, rather than saw, the moment when the rogues stormed the island. They were loud, obnoxious in the things they yelled, and for men who just crossed a lake to get to us, they stunk to high heaven. Their overly musty scent gave away that they had grown used to living wild more than they did civilized.

“I smell sweet pussy,” one of them called as they moved closer to our hideout. He sniffed dramatically and then his malicious chuckle sent icy shivers down my spine. “I smell Luna pussy. Wonder which Alpha lost his mate?” He sniffed again and then leaned in close to the crevice Jan and I had slipped through earlier. “Come out, come out!” He called as he stretched his arm through the opening to try to grab one of us. “I already have your scent little Luna. Even if we don’t take you today, I’ll be back. We’ll catch you unawares.” His sinister laugh rang out even louder than before. “Maybe, I’ll just burn the whole fucking island to the ground and smoke you out of your hole. How will you feel about that?”

I stepped closer, ready to give myself up so that none of the others suffered because I had a target on my back, but Janella pulled me back again. She grabbed what looked like a homemade spear from the farthest wall and held it in front of her like a weapon. When the male attempted to squeeze his body even further into the crevice, she waited until he managed to get his whole shoulder and arm through and when he made eye contact with me. I could feel the evil vibe coming from the man as he attempted to wiggle further into the crevice.

“Mmm, pretty Luna pussy. Thought maybe your mate turned you out because you were ugly. Not sure why you’re here, but I’m claiming you now, bitch.” He was deep enough into the crevice that he could see us. My heart slammed into my chest at a dangerous clip as I yelled back at him.

“The fuck you are!” I spat the words at him as Janella rammed the spear into his face. He jumped back, which didn’t do much since he was wedged into the space so tightly. His scream echoed around the island, though. We were both sure that it would draw the others to him. Instead, it seemed to do the opposite.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here!” We heard one of them yell.

“Wait!” The asshole who tried to get to me called out to them. From the sounds of things, they didn’t listen. Our tormentor managed to free himself as he held onto the eye that Janella damaged. “I’ll be back for you, bitch. An eye for an eye. If you’re not here when I return, I won’t stop hunting until I find you. I’ll take my revenge and then enjoy making you scream as I fuck you to death.”

Janella and I huddled together in the cave and listened to the men depart. We heard feminine shrieks and wondered who they had taken, but there was nothing we could do. We had a single spear and our wolves against an entire pack of rogues and there was no telling how many they had with them.

“There has to be a better way than this,” I mumbled.

“I wish there was, Luna. Please, don’t blame yourself for whatever happened. Even if you had gone out there, they would have taken others. They might have taken more, if the women saw you go willingly.”

“How can the packs allow this? They have to know that this happens.”

“They don’t care. As far as they’re concerned, the women who are sent to the island are rejects and unfit for their packs. If their fated mate would toss them aside, then why would anyone think they were worthy as pack members or mates?”

Sarcasm dripped from Janella’s words. “Is that how you think the packs see you?”

“It’s what I know. They have conversations when they come here. Either they tell the women they drop off how unworthy they are, or they sometimes taunt the rest of us.” Janella shrugged her shoulders at that, as if it didn’t bother her one way or another. She spoke of facts because to her those were the only opinions of the island’s residents she had ever been privy to.

“I swear, one day, I am going to change things.”

The men were gone in lessthan a day, but we remained hidden well after the noise died down on the island. Once we left our hiding place, we moved to our gathering spot to see what kind of damage had been done and how many of the other women were missing.

“Sarah, Johanna, and Lupita were all taken.” It was one of the only elder women on the island who spoke up. Carlotta hadn’t been rejected. She requested that her pack send her to Mirage Island to help care for the other women who had been sent there. She did so after surviving her mate’s death. Carlotta felt that being there for the women was her new life’s purpose after she survived the death of her mate. I wondered how she felt about her decision after she got here and saw the state of things. It wasn’t something I felt comfortable asking her though. There was no point in churning up her possible regrets.

“Did they leave of their own free will?” I asked.

Carlotta’s grim countenance spoke volumes. “Two of them did. Lupita did not want to go, and I fear she will be harmed among that crowd because of her heritage.”

Lupita was an elemental wolf, it set her apart from most of the rejected women on Mirage Island. The packs closest to us were almost exclusively from moon-blessed packs who predominantly worshipped Selene.

“We need to make a plan for any future arrivals to our island. The women who don’t want to go, shouldn’t be forced to.” I growled the words out with a hint of power that mimicked an Alpha’s decree without the wallop they put behind a command. “It’s bad enough that almost every woman here was brought to the island against her will because of her mate’s selfishness.”

“There are safe spaces here where most of those women hide,” Carlotta informed me as she stared pointedly at Janella.

“As there should be. Those men who were here aren’t from any recognized packs. I could scent that much from them. They were rogues here to steal women.”

Several of the females in the group shivered. We all knew about the uncertain futures the three women who were taken would face. Rogues were notorious for abusing women and passing them around to their makeshift pack mates. I took the initiative to keep the women too busy to think about what might happen to the others, since that wasn’t something we could control.

“If any of you have a hideout, please be sure that it is stocked with enough supplies to meet your needs for a week of hiding per person sharing that space. If the spot can fit more than one person, plan to share, since hiding spots that will keep the men out are few and far between on the island. Do not take unnecessary supplies that will just go to waste in these hiding spots. We all still need to be able to feed ourselves from day-to-day.”

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