Page 22 of Pack Captive

On the other hand, he wasn't a Caller himself. Maybe he was lying, trying to make himself look better so I would be inclined to stay.

But my gut feeling told me that he genuinely believed what he was telling me.

And if that was the case, that meant he had even more knowledge of my powers than I did.

It was galling. As much as I loved my home, had I been short-changed by staying there my entire life?

The Azurans led our pack down a winding path of bridges over the lakes and ponds, heading towards the gates of the city.

The wall around Lykos dripped with water and climbing ivy, tall enough that the shadow wolves would never be able to penetrate it except by sheer force of numbers.

I knew that the elders around me were also staring up at it, their mouths all open with awe, but I kept my jaw firmly shut, refusing to be impressed by it.

Wolves paced the top of the wall, both in animal and human form. The ones who were wearing their human skins were wearing shiny, scaled armor, armed with bows and arrows.

Several of them gathered near the top of the gates as our packs approached, and the enormous doors slowly began to slide inward, revealing the city’s interior.

It was almost painful to my ears. I’d never heard this much noise at once in my life; the sounds of all the people packed into the city rivaling the clap of a thunderstorm.

Ryden strode in like a conquering hero. I tried to make myself invisible at his side, but it was impossible.

I had the marks of a Caller clearly outlined on my leg, visible through the rips in my pants. What felt like the weight of thousands of eyes landed on me, and I wished I could turn invisible.

Especially when I realized Ryden hadn't been lying.

It seemed that everywhere I looked, every female wolf was dressed in beautiful clothes, dripping with jewelry, their hair shining.

For the first time in my life, I felt lesser. Like I didn't belong, a clod of dirt that had accidentally crept into the city on the Alpha’s heels.

A band of Warriors waited just inside the city's entrance, their eyes on the Alpha who had just arrived.

They bore the lunar runes of born Warriors, but there were also pitch-black claw marks tattooed over their shoulders and down their arms.

Ryden tilted his head towards my pack as we approached them. “We brought back potential warriors,” he told the leader. “Untrained, raw material.”

The head warrior, who wore armor carved with images of snarling wolves, looked over the Vesperans, particularly the runed pups, as we passed. They must be the Claws, who were going to try to take them.

I bristled under the weight of his assessment. They weremypups. I wasn't going to hand them over like they had never been part of my pack.

But it was clear that in Lykos, nothing was going to go my way. This was a city unlike anything I had ever seen before, and Ryden obviously ruled everything.

I wished someone in my pack had told me about all of this.

Instead of stewing on it, I found a clear line of sight towards the apex of the city, where a white castle of spires and gently arched windows waited for us.

That must be the Dawn Palace, where I would be kept a prisoner—but in luxury instead of a tent.

It was in that exact direction that Ryden led us.

The castle itself was built on an island within another, smaller lake, and he halted in front of an arched bridge that led to its fortified doors.

From here, I could see that a portion of the palace was nothing but a crumbled ruin. White stones and boulders lay in a strewn mess that tumbled towards the lake’s edge, and even a portion of the enormous wall behind the palace was cracked and shattered.

Ryden turned to look at me. There was something in his gaze that I didn't like at all.

“Welcome to your new home,” he purred.

I wish he could have just been honest with both of us.

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