Louis dropped to one knee and bent his head.The rest of his people did the same, several looking like they collapsed more than anything. “We seek sanctuary.”
Her mouth opened and closed a few times before her brain kicked in overtime and she narrowed her eyes, not sure if he was asking because she was the leader of the local coven or an alpha queen. She would not commit herself until she knew what it would all entail.
“I’m going to be blunt—just what are you expecting? Did you want to seek help from the Academy in an official capacity or assistance from the alpha queen?” Morgan hated asking for the clarification, feeling like an idiot, but there was a slight difference in what she could do for them depending on what he selected.
It annoyed her that there were no clear-cut rules about these things.
“And for god’s sake, get up.” She waved them to stand, something about seeing people kneeling making her shudder with unease.
Louis peered up at her, scanning her face, never once looking at her mates. A spark of hope had his spine straightening. “This is a shifter matter, where the Academy would be restricted in what aid they would be able to give. I ask for sanctuary from the alpha queen.”
Morgan pursed her lips, then glanced at Caedmon and Ryder. “He said sanctuary, not assistance. What exactly does that mean?”
“Assistance means he needs your help in a certain matter, anywhere from siding with him against another pack to allowing him access to your territory or even settling a private dispute. In return, he would owe you a favor.” Caedmon’s yellow eyes didn’t give a hint of emotion as he relayed the information. “Sanctuary is not reciprocal. He is asking you for protection against a greater force that wants to do them harm.”
“So while the first option could be dangerous, the second is most definitely deadly. They’re being hunted.” Morgan turnedtoward Louis, tapping her fingers against her leg, itching for her blades.
The people he’d brought with him were beaten down, their spirits broken, and she knew if she refused his plea, they would likely die. Only a few even bothered to lift their heads, most of them focused on the ground, like the weight of the world was too much for them to bear. None of them had any belongings but the torn and bloodied clothes on their backs.
She couldn’t get over the suspicion she was missing something important. While she might be to blame for what had gone down that morning, something hadn’t been right with the wolves for a long while. She crossed her arms, refusing to give until she got some answers. “Maybe it’s time someone tells me what’s really happening for a change.”
Louis looked uncertain, shifting on his feet. The rest of the wolves he had with him remained silent in a way that was only possible for a supernatural. They didn’t shuffle their feet, didn’t glance at each other. She didn’t think some of them were even breathing.
It made the hairs on the back of her neck lift. “I can’t help if I don’t know what the hell is wrong.”
Ryder cleared his throat, stepping up to her side. “To share information about the pack with an outsider is a death sentence.”
“But am I an outsider?” Morgan glanced at him, then Caedmon. “They summoned me like I was pack. I have a pack of my own.” She lifted her arm, indicating the blood red moon etched into her arm. “What does this mean then if I’m not part of the pack?”
The red hunter moon on her arm shimmered under the attention of the shifters, shadows from unseen clouds swirling across the surface. The last thing she expected was for every single wolf to drop to one knee once again, their heads bowed in submission.
Hell if a couple of them didn’t release a whine from the back of their throats.
A few people from her pack stepped out of the shadows,arms crossed, scowls on their faces as they stood guard over the other shifters. She practically felt their disapproval and aggression at having a strange pack on their land.
The sight of them kneeling before her made her skin crawl, and she backed up a step, fighting the urge to head back into the coven and slam the door behind her.
“Nope, get up.” She reached out and nudged Ryder. “Make them stop.”
His eyebrows rose, a tiny smile kicking up the corner of his mouth. “They’re showing you their respect and loyalty.”
“It’s freaky, that’s what it is.” She huffed at him in annoyance. “No one should have to bow to another.”
All humor vanished from his face, his expression tightening. “Maybe for humans, but shifters are different. We’re both more than human and less, depending on who you ask. While we might be able to contain our beasts and pretend to be human, we’re not—not deep underneath. We’re just cages for our beasts. As much as you want to believe that we’re a polite society, we’re not. Nor will we ever be. We need rules and laws and alphas to keep us in line.”
Caedmon grabbed her arm and turned her to face the wolves. “Without someone to keep them in check, they would lose their humanity and their beasts would take over. Fights would break out, not only between each other, but the humans as well. They would see them as weaker. See them as prey. They would decimate the human population. No one would win the resulting war.” Darkness swam in his yellow eyes at the horrors he’d witnessed.
Morgan looked closer at the wolves that were pushed below the surface.Power rose off both packs in waves. It was wild, almost like a living creature all on its own, but that’s where the similarities ended.
Her pack was volatile, two different types of magic battling with each other. One magic was dark and a little wild, flavored with their bloodthirsty werewolf side. The other was moresubdued, though not any less dangerous, just cautious, hunkered down and waiting.
Werewolves touched by theloup garoustrain were the much more dominant of the two. They didn’t have the same restraint as the shifters. So she was shocked it was their wolf that kept the beast in check. If it came down to a fight, the werewolves would easily slaughter the wolves. They had a balance that the other pack was missing.
While her pack was more beast than man, the other pack had access to only half the magic. The wolf magic was different from what she used, mutated and altered somehow. When they were cut off from the other realms many centuries ago, they were able to adapt to the human world when other species had died out.
But something was now wrong with that magic.
Instead of being bright and vibrant, the strands of magic were muddied, almost polluted. Some were better than others, fighting the effects, but they were suffering just the same.
