Page 34 of Midnight Moon
“We need to go.” I looked between my partner and the still-silent Wilds shifters. “Can we all agree to be a team for today?” The question was mostly for Hunter, but I needed to hear it from Asher and Chase, too.
Chase quirked a half-smile. “Seeing as we’re the ones who requested the partnership in the first place, we’re in.”
I nodded, then looked to Hunter.
My partner ground his jaw. Clearly, he wanted nothing to do with this alliance, but he bit out, “Fine.”
I smiled and wrapped him in a side hug. “Thank you.”
Hunter grunted, but his body lost some of its tension as he returned my quick embrace.
My cheeks prickled. I released Hunter and looked up.
Asher’s stare bore into the side of my face. His expression twisted with distaste.
The look faded the moment we made eye contact.
Asher dipped his head, then took a wide step to move around me. He followed the group walking towards the forest.
Chase shot me another one of his easy-going smiles, then jogged to catch up to his packmate.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Hunter asked, watching the retreating males with obvious distrust.
“Yes.” I took a deep breath. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and excitement built in my chest. The Alpha Games was about to begin and, with it, the chance to prove myself. “Let’s go hunt.”
Ten
The crisp,morning breeze tickled my whiskers. My snout twitched as I caught the scent of a burrow of bunnies. My wolf itched to flush them out of their home and chase them through the twisted woods, but my human drive won out. I needed to scent out the deer the Badlands Pack had marked. Hunting small game was not part of the morning’s plan.
My paws treaded gently on the forest floor littered with twigs and leaves. Hunter kept pace beside me, moving just as quietly. Ahead of us, Asher and Chase took the lead.
I’d been dumbstruck when the Wilds males had first shifted out of their skins. As alpha, my father’s wolf was the largest I’d ever seen. His shoulders stood four feet above the ground while on all fours, and his breadth was twice that of a typical male. But Asher and Chase made him look tiny by comparison.
I watched the black and smoky-grey wolves trot through the forest. They were nearly twice my height. I wasn’t sure which wolf was Asher and which was Chase. If I had to guess, I’d say Asher was the black wolf.
A wolf’s size often correlated with leadership positions in packs, and the black wolf’s head sat several inches higher. Since Asher was the leader of their duo, it would make sense for him to be the larger wolf.
A snort made my pointed ears twitch.
I turned and caught Hunter’s yellow eyes glowering at me.
Stop ogling the competition,he spoke into my mind, using our pack connection to communicate while in wolf form.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
I wasn’t ogling anyone, and they aren’t the competition.
I don’t trust them,Hunter continued, glaring at the hind legs of the wolves in front of us.What do they have to gain by allying with us in the first place?
I shared what Asher had said last night,The Wilds Pack hasn’t participated in the Alpha Games in a long time. They don’t know how things work, but we do.
But how does that help them in this hunt?Hunter thick, brown neck swung his gaze back to me.
I hated to admit it, but I’d wondered the same thing. Neither Asher nor Chase had asked me a single question about the landscape of the Badlands’ forest before the game began. Now that we were in wolf form, we couldn’t communicate with anyone except our own pack member. I didn’t see how teaming up for this hunt was beneficial to them, but it was too late to back out now.
At least, I thought so. Hunter didn’t feel the same way.
We should go off on our own,my partner told me.We don’t need their help.
