Page 18 of Pack Captive

Then I realized what she had said.

Holding back a snarl, I steered her towards the tent, pulling one of the canvas flaps that served as a door out of the way.

“I didn’t bring you here to be a whore,” I snapped, irritated with her assumption. With that, I pushed her into the tent and stepped in behind her, pulling the flap closed behind me.

She spun around, glaring up at me with the scowl I’d become accustomed to.

I held out my arms, showing her the entirety of the small tent, which was mostly empty except for the furs piled on the floor and a small basin of steaming water that had been left for her.

It was pathetic. I wanted to be in the Palace now, giving her a room overlooking the glittering waves of Desiderii Lake, not this sad excuse for a shelter.

“This is thebareminimum of what a Caller deserves.” I pointed to the basin. “That is for you to wash in. If I could, I’d give you the clothes that suit your rank, but that’ll have to wait until we get to Lykos and assign you to temple quarters in the Dawn Palace.”

Another look of confusion crossed her face. “What do you mean, the Palace?”

Did she really not understand how this worked?

As a Caller, she was not only a priestess, but a princess among our kind.

I thought about explaining it to her more slowly, but that would likely just irritate her. “What did you do in the valley? How did you live?”

At least she was beginning to settle, the tense set of her shoulders relaxing. “I tended to the temple, blessed our warriors, and handled the lunar rites.”

“That's what Callers do in Lykos. You will enter into training under our Elder Moon Caller, but all packs revere your kind as the sacred link to the moon. Maybe they did things differently in your valley. But here, among the Azurans, you will be treated as what you are. The only wolves who will rank higher than you are myself and my Second—our orders are the law, but we are nothing without you.”

She gazed up at me with frustration. “You make no sense.”

“How so?” I found one of the bags that my pack had left behind, finding a cloth in it that she could use. “You’re very special to us. I didn't expect to find a Caller hidden in the wilderness when we set out on our raid, or we would’ve prepared better for your arrival.”

I set the cloth next to the basin, and found her staring down at me, pointedly indicating the ropes around her wrists.

“Those will come off so you can bathe,” I told her. “Then you will eat more. We need you at full strength.”

“Calian already fed me.” She looked at the basin askance, but I could tell she was tempted by the prospect of hot water.

“What have you been living on?” I held back a derisive snort, not wanting her to think I was deriding her appearance even though she was starved. “A tiny nibble of meat here and there? Look at you. The Elder Caller will take a bite out of my hide if I try to give you to her in this condition.”

It was ridiculous that my future mate was arguing with me over the fact that I wanted to give her a hot bath and food.

Maybe they'd been savages in that valley and hadn’t understood what they owed to what she was.

And the same way that I was born to be an Alpha, she was born to be an Alpha’s backbone, his spiritual guidance and the power source for his warriors.

Between the two of us, Lykos would once again become a formidable force against Fenris. Azura would become one of the greatest packs in the world.

Once we got to the city, and I gave her the gifts I've been reserving for the wolf who would become my mate, she would see that I had entirely good intentions towards her.

But I wasn't going to give her the opportunity to vanish into the night, even if it pissed her off now.

I finally stood up, even though leaving her in here alone was the last thing I wanted to do.

“I'll take the ropes off for now,” I told her. “But this tent will be guarded. Try to slip out if you want, but youwillbe run down and caught.”

She lifted her chin, as though preparing to refuse, then held out her hands.

I bent over them, anticipating the rush of power that jolted through me as soon as our skin met. It fizzled in my veins, and the blue glow of my runes washed across her face like luminescence.

But she was silent, watching me carefully as I untied the ropes. I held back a wince at the sight of her reddened skin.

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