Page 51 of The Awakened Wolf

Kiana hesitated. My heart thumped gently in my chest as my mind flew back to our shared visit with the Goddess Leto, when my sister and I were told we had to learn to work together, that there was a way for the two of us to be one again. I’d thought maybe we were getting closer to that goal, but after last night…

“I’ve been to the edge of the Yonder Fields,” Kiana said, grasping Jesmyn’s hand where it toyed with the blanket. “When it’s time for me to go, I’ll be happy. It’s beautiful—peaceful and green, with air that smells of sunlight and dry summer grasses. My mother waits for me there, as does yours. Goddess Leto promised.”

The tears I’d been fighting swam in my eyes, and my chest cinched so tight it was hard to breathe. We’d been so close.

“I don’t want to die,” Jesmyn’s voice cracked, her formality giving way to a childlike fear. “But… I miss my mom so much. If I could just see her again for a second—”

“Well, you only need look in the mirror for that, Jesmyn.” My sister reached out and tipped Jesmyn’s chin up. “She’s in everything you are.”

“Is that what you do?” Jesmyn smiled faintly. “When you miss your mother?”

“No.” Kiana bowed her head. “I look at my sister.”

A whimper left me, and before I could swipe away my tears, Kiana had already whirled into the doorway, her cheeks flushed with anger at being overheard. Her muscles quivered beneath her shiftskin, and I shrank back, hating myself for it.

“Speak of the devil,” Kiana growled inside my head, before turning to Jesmyn. “I must go. Get some rest.” She closed the door behind her and folded her arms before snapping at me, “What do you want? Have you come to declare something else you won’t do to support the pack because it’s too hard or icky for you? Or wait, maybe it’s to make yet another declaration of how you’re taking over if I don’t do things your way.”

I couldn’t believe I’d just been crying over this never-ending fount of affection. The thought of not telling her what I’d come down here to say crossed my mind. Technically, there was nothing we could do about it. Cody Chism was a grown-ass man—well, a shifter male now—but he was allowed to make his own decisions. I’d never had the right to bite him and force this life on him in the first place. It wasn’t like he was going to tell anyone. He had millions of dollars, a successful career as a mountain lion, and probably several dozen girlfriends who were all worried sick about him. It might be better just to let him go before anyone came looking.

But if Cody couldn’t keep his shift together out there… someone would definitely come looking. If we couldn’t find him first, we might actually have to evacuate, and I wasn’t in the loop enough to know if we actually had anywhere else to go.

“Well?” Kiana demanded, eyebrows shooting halfway to her hairline.

“When the new shifters were called in for their shots, Cody wasn’t with them,” I blurted out. “Then it came out that no one had seen him since the ceremony. He must have slipped out during the fight.” I bowed my head. “I’m sorry, Kiana. This is all—”

“Oh, that.” She waved a dismissive hand, and there was blood in her nail beds. “I knew he left.”

“What?” My own brows crumpled downward. “How?! Why—?”

“A good Alpha misses nothing in her pack, Elyse.” Kiana smiled. “Cody wasn’t happy here. So, I let him go.”

I blinked. “You… let him go? Because he was… unhappy?”

Kiana patted my cheek. “Don’t be jealous.”

I jerked away from her hand. “Aren’t you even the slightest bit worried? He’s new, he has no idea—Wait, are you just lying to save face?”

“No.” She stalked past me and out of the waiting room. “I don’t lie to my pack.”

I followed, firing questions like a hungry reporter. “Kiana! Don’t you think we need to find him? What if he leads someone to us?

Kiana smirked over her shoulder. “That’s the idea.”

My eyes widened as my sister’s plan finally dawned on me. “Kiana, no!” I sped up and skid in front of her. “This is crazy! You can’t use Cody as bait to lure Odin to us!”

Kiana rolled her eyes. I boldly grabbed her shoulders and shook.

“He’s a resurrected demigod whose entire purpose at the moment is to wipe us all out. Are you really arrogant enough to think you can take him out as easily as Max or father?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll need reinforcements for that.” Kiana peeled my fingers off her arms like stinky banana peels and flung my hands away. “Which is why I have a call with the other Alphas at noon.”

“I thought you said they hadn’t been taking your calls?”

“That was before I became the Alpha of Manhattan and discovered a vaccine for the mystery illness.” She raised her hands in mock praise and made cheering sounds as she took off walking again. “If you’ll excuse me.”

I raced after her, shaking my head in disgusted disbelief. “I don’t suppose you’re going to let them know that Evan figured it out, not you, and that you fought him on it tooth and nail because you don’t even believe it will wor—”

She stopped, and I nearly plowed into the back of her, avoiding the crash only by swinging myself against the wall instead. Her bright red pout turned to a wicked grin. “They don’t need to know that.”

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