Chapter 3
Wolves don't talk.
I knew that. animal shows, books, common sense wolves don't talk.
This one did.
"Karen," it said again. Voice male, young, rough from disuse. "You need to run."
I couldn't move. The blanket was a trap and my heart was a drum.
The wolf boy? , man? Jumped off the bed and shifted. It was fast one second fur, the next skin. He was maybe eighteen, thin scars on his ribs . He stays crouched, hands up.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Finn . I'm Omega."
"I thought wolves couldn't."
"Talk? Most can't . Omegas can . We're low, so the moon goddess gives us something else." He looked at the door. "They sent me . Because I won't make you flinch."
"Who sent you?"
"Vivian. And others. They want you gone before Alpha changes his mind." He tossed me a hoodie. "Put this on. It had my scent. It'll hide yours for an hour. Maybe."
This made me more terrified but I have already signed no going back.
I didn't take it. "Kael said stay in the east wing."
Kael isn't here. Full moon start in thirty minutes. He's already locked in the basement cages or he'll kill someone. Usually ma" Finn smiled . But it wasn't happy. "When he's gone Vivian run the house. And she wants you dead. My eye widened like it saw a ghost or about to fall out.
"Why are you helping me?"
"Because I like my throat where it is. Alpha said you're under his protection. If you die, if you die he'll execute everyone in this wing." He pushed the hoodie closer, "I'm saving them not you."
I put the hoodie back on. It smelled like wet dog and fear .
Finn cracked the door. The hall was empty. "Service stairs. Then laundry. Then fog door , yeah, we have a dog door for Omegas.
The house at was different, the walls vibrated. Growls came from below us, deep and endless. The basement.
"is that Kael?" I asked with trembling voice.
"That's all of them, full moon forces the shift. Alpha's cage is silver-lined. It burns and keeps him from breaking out and killing the state of Colorado." Finn pulled me into the laundry room , then the dog door , the door opened. Vivian stood there with two males.
"Hi finn ," she said. "I told you not to be a hero."
Finn shoved me behind him . "Alpha's orders."
"Alpha's not here." Vivian looked at me. Her eyes were full gold now. "You have no idea what you did, do you? Marrying him? The packs hasn't had a Luna in a century. The packs went feral for ten years. We lost half of our numbers."
"I don't know." I said with a trembling voice, not knowing what could happen next.
"No. You didn't, because you're human. And humans take and take and then die and Leave us to clean up." She stepped forward. Claws came out. Not long , just enough. "So I'm cleaning up early."
The house shook.
Not a growl. A roar , it came from below, through the stone, through my bones, the sound a mountain would make if it could scream.
Vivian froze , the males with her dropped to their knees.
"That's not possible," one whispered. "He's caged."
The roar came again, now more closer, the laundry room had a vent in the floor. It rattled.
Then the door blew inward.
He wasn't human, he wasn't wolf. He was between, seven feet tall, shoulders too wide, face still his but jaw longer, teeth too sharp. His eyes were full silver, no white no pupil. Blood ran from his arms where silver had burned him.
He looked at Vivian. Then at the males, then at me.
"Mine," he said. The word wasn't English and was English at the same time, it vibrated in my chest.
Vivian dropped. "Alpha. The full moon you can't."
He moved. He was across the room, hand around her throat, lifting her off the ground before she finished. "I said . She. Is . Under. My. Protection."
"Kael," i said , my voice didn't work right.
His head snapped to me. His nostrils flared. He dropped Vivian. She hit the ground gasping.
He crossed to me in one step. Too fast. His hands came up, claws retreating as they got close, becoming fingers. He framed my face. His skin was boiling.
"Your heart," he said. "It's breaking."
"I'm scared," i said . Honest, because lying seemed stupid when he could hear my pulse.
"I know." He pressed his forehead to mine. It was a touch. The first time he'd touched me on purpose. " I smell it . I smell your fear and it makes me want to kill everything that caused it."
"Don't."
His eyes closed. When they opened, they were more human . Less silver . "I can't be here. If I stay, I'll change fully. If I change fully. I'll mate you. If I mate you. You die.."
"Then go."
He didn't, he breathed me in . One long inhaled, and made a sound like he was dying.
Then he was gone. A blur down the hall, back towards the basement. The roar started again, but it was different, pain, not rage.
Vivian was on her feet , bleeding from her nose. She looked at me with something new , fear.
"pack meeting," she did to the males . "Now."
They left Finn was shaking
"You need to see ," he said. " come on."
He took me to a door with a keyboard. Typed a code. It opened on a balcony overlooking a room the of tge gym . Cells lined the walls . All silver . All holding wolves.
In the center cell. Kael was on his knees. Chains around hus neck, wrist , waist . All silver . His skin was smoking where it touched. He was fighting it. Muscle standing out. Veins black.
And he was looking up. At me
Even from here , I heard him.
"Mine ," he mouthed. Every wolf in the cell turned and looked at me.
This made me scared and happy at same time. Even though I wanted to learn how things worked around there .
How can I be a wolf? How can I get the mark!!.