“You’ve never taken a mate before,” she connects.
“No.”
She doesn’t press further. Just nods as we climb.
The stairs creak in the silence that follows, which makes the growling more pronounced as we reach the top step of the second floor. Olcan has a hand clamped around a female’s throat, his teeth bared inches from her face.
Tala gasps. I surge forward, heat roaring in my chest.
Her red hair tousled by the struggle, her body pressed to the wall. But she wasn’t crying, she was snarling right back, blue eyes narrowed.
The protectiveness in me flares like wildfire. “Unhand. Her.”
My Alpha voice rings through the corridor. Olcan freezes, dropping his hand. His fangs retract with a hiss.
“Return to your room immediately,” I order.
He hesitates for a second too long. I take another step toward him. Then he leaves with one last look at Ember before seething in silence.
I turn to her, “Are you?—?”
She pushes off the wall and advances on me. The fire in her eyes stops the words in my throat.
“I didn’t need you to save me,” she snaps.
“I just?—”
“I’m a virgin, I’m not helpless. I don’t need the big bad Alpha swooping in to defend me. I can handle scum like Olcan.” With that, she shoulders past me, climbing the second flight of stairs without looking back. My eyes follow the shape of her as it climbs before me.
“She’s feisty,” Tala whispers beside me. “I like her.”
I’d forgotten she was there.
“She’s fire,” I mutter without thinking, my words from earlier coming back.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” Tala’s eyes tear into my profile. I refuse to meet them, afraid of what my own will show.
I pause, swallowing down the lump in my throat. “No, it was just the trick of the moon. We’ll see what tomorrow holds.”
I should’ve ripped Olcan’s throat out right then and there. That’s what the pack expects from me, blood. Dominance.
But what good is all this power if I can’t protect the sanctity of our most holy traditions?
Chapter 10
EMBER
The double doors of the temple hall creak as they open on their hinges, groaning like something ancient has just awoken. A black silk eye mask was the only thing to arrive under the door at sunset, its placard reading:
Scent. Midnight. Human form.
Good thing. My wolf form would never tolerate this soft piece of fabric strapped to my face. Not only that, but scenting in wolf form … well, let’s just say that we won’t be able to control our … urges. I slip the mask over my eyes and step forward.
I arrive late again today, trying to avoid the crowd. I catch the priest’s last words of what seemed like a long-winded speech. “Open your noses, open your hearts, and find your scented mate.”
Since we’ll be following our noses, I assume I’ll be safe from groping hands and snide comments. I hope. The doors click under my hand as they hit their full extension. I take a hesitant step into the temple. The last time I was here, I disobeyed their one rule — spilled blood. Now, as the coolnight air kisses my bare skin, there’s a different form of anticipation. My eyesight is obscured, but my other senses are heightened. The stone is cold underfoot. There’s some hushed whispering and giggling. One aggressive growl to my left. A soft moan to my right. The power of the moon seeps into my pores, humming beneath my skin.
I must be toward the center of the temple now. I pause, lifting my human nose to the air. Vines above me release the soft scent of eucalyptus. But everything else... Sweat. Musk. Someone smells like they haven’t bathed since the last lunar cycle. Another male reeks of blood, likely fresh from a hunt.
