Page 17 of Pack Captive

Even though she needed to be cared for, carefully tended into a proper Caller, I already knew she was what my inner wolf had been leading me towards my whole life.

But she hated me.

I wish I could tell her the real reason why we had to keep her tightly under control, in our line of sight, her every movement watched carefully by the Warriors.

Our last young Caller, Tyra, had vanished seemingly into thin air during one of the last pack raids, and I was absolutely determined that this one stayed put.

The ropes would prevent her from wandering too far; the bracelet would warn me if she was in danger, as it had done only moments ago.

I could tell my Second and best friend, Calian, didn't care much about Tyra's disappearance in a personal way, but he felt the loss to our pack’s defenses just as badly as I did.

Caller Yasemin was too old to hold down the fort on her own, and Caller Kadin was too young to imbue the Warriors with enough lunar power to hold off the Fenris wolves.

Ayla was necessary to our survival.

Not just because I wanted her for myself, but because we desperately needed her if we wanted to keep Fenris out of our city.

Right now, it was hard not to begin the courting process immediately. Only the fact that she might have been injured was what held me back.

Well, that, and the fact that she didn’t trust me at all.

I'd caught her scent from the moment we'd walked into her valley. It was one of the most tempting things I've ever smelled, making it difficult to even focus on the shadow wolves despite the danger they posed.

An older Warrior had once told me about the mating bond: when you came across another wolf who was your ideal match down to the base genetic level, you would know it deep in your bones.

When she was with me, I felt it in my bones. It was like she’d been designed for me.

The Warrior had been right.

It didn't hurt that her lunar power seemed to give me a bigger boost than I'd ever felt before, but maybe that was helped by the mating bond that was waiting to be formed.

There were so few Callers left, it was impossible to say whether or not their mates tended to be made more powerful by their presence.

At least she didn't shove my arm off her shoulders as we walked back into the camp.

She glanced at the pups as we passed their campfire, where they'd already gnawed half a deer down to the bone.

A look of relief crossed her face, so stark and open that it pierced me straight into my heart. But her pups were cared for, as were her elders, and she needed to look out for herself now.

The tent itself was pretty simple, not what I would have chosen to give to a Caller who would become my mate. Two of our Guardian wolves had carried the packs, used to hauling heavy burdens when we traveled far.

Even so, it was a basic configuration of canvas and poles, with a floor of furs for comfort.

At the very least, it offered privacy for her to wash. I would have preferred to give her an entire bathtub, along with the clothes and jewelry her station afforded, but for now, this would have to do.

As soon as we got back to Lykos, I would make sure that she was put in one of the finest rooms in the Dawn Palace reserved for the Callers.

The Elder Caller had convinced me to have a new temple built for the rituals around one of the lakes in the city, and the Callers had been given quarters as close as possible to their new temple. They were some of the most beautiful places in the city.

Ayla looked at the canvas tent and raised one eyebrow. She didn't look unhappy with it, more confused about what we were doing here.

Then a look of abject horror crossed her face.

She stopped dead in her tracks, digging her heels in so I couldn't pull her any further. Then she looked directly into my eyes.

“You might have taken me captive,” she said quietly, “But I willnotwhore myself out to you for the sake of my pack.”

Gods, but I could get lost in the deep ocean color of her eyes.

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