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“I know.”
“Isn’t it less of a problem because I’m almost an adult?”
“We’re not animals,” he began but stopped when I snorted. “Okay, we’re partly animals. A virgin’s heat is more potent. Your age is irrelevant in our world. Humans need an age of consent. Our wolves only need the first heat to descend, and maturity is theirs.”
“He’s going to lock me in a cell and throw away the key, isn’t he?”
The shaman chuckled. “In Kristoff’s case, I think that may be fairly accurate. It’s his duty to protect his sister.”
“It’s his duty to smother her, you mean.”
“He loves you very much, young one,” the shaman admonished me quietly.
“Meh.” Looking down at my lap, I thought about what he said. “Do you know when?”
“Hard to tell at the moment. I’ll keep a close eye on it, though.”
“If it’s soon, I might miss the Luna Ball…” I tried to sound nonchalant despite the hope surging in my chest.
His face fell, and he nodded in confirmation. “You could. I’m sorry you’ll be disappointed.”
On the contrary, I would happily miss the ball. For once, Mother Nature might do me a solid.
“Kris will be gutted,” I said instead, knowing he would also have to miss the ball. But as head of pack security, he would be sad he wasn’t throwing his weight around in front of the visiting packs.
“He may entrust you to another,” the shaman said absently as he checked the pouches of herbs on his table.
Yeah, me in my first heat in the middle of a ball and lots of visiting packs? My brother would not leave my side. There wasn’t a chance in hell, and I was genuinely grateful this time that he was an overbearing oaf.
Now, all I needed to do was hope my heat came before the ball and then break it to my best friend that I couldn’t attend the event she was so looking forward to. But after that…well, I could officially class this year’s Luna Ball a success.
CHAPTER 2
Kezia
Later that night, I told Kris what the shaman had told me. He reacted much as I expected, meaning he nodded, told me to get a good night’s sleep, and went to bed.
The morning brought the rain I’d been expecting, and Kris had left me a list of chores for the house, as well as a note to tell me we would eat at home until my heat was over. As I scrubbed the kitchen floor, I ran through the list of why it was wrong to kill my brother.
Even in a wolf pack, family is everything, and they frown on murder.
The pack had so many positive things going for it that it made me feel guilty about how much I resented being here. The town was small, once an old silver mining town. The humans had left when the minerals were depleted from this part of the mountain.
The pack moved in, fixed it up, and built more houses, making a small mining town a community.
A community that lived in the past.
We were wolves. Hunters. Fighters. An intelligent, evolved species. We were shifters, for Luna’s sake. In this pack, though, the women were part of the pack hunts and nothing more. They expected us to maintain a pleasant home, do the housework, raise the children, and pretty much live like we were grateful for the men being the providers.
The men hunted the most. They fought and defended our pack—that was men’s work. The pack trained their women to defend themselves, but not the art of combat or fighting. Most of the important roles in pack life were a man’s job.
I knew Kris didn’t like it any more than I did, but he was more subtle about his aversion to this archaic life.
However, I protested loudly and often about what utter bullshit it all was. It didn’t win me any friends within the pack. My training in our basement was no secret, and they didn’t like that my brother didn’t stop it. Had they known he encouraged it, they may have been more vocal.
I’d heard their whispers over the years. What did you expect of someone raised wild like an animal? I knew Kris was the only reason the pack tolerated me. That and apparently the fact the pack leader had a soft spot for me because I was close to his daughter.
Which was funny. Bale tolerated me even less than his pack did.
