Page 3 of The Lunatics

“Sorry,” I muttered, working to cage it back in.

“She’s just nervous,” Gia said to the woman. Her accompanying smile had bite to it, telling this stranger that if she wanted to push the matter, Gia was ready.

Wisely, the woman looked away. She was on our pack’s territory. If a fight broke out among the crowd, our alpha would be more apt to blame an outsider than one of his own wolves.

Power began to break like waves across my psyche as we neared the clearing where the ceremony would be held. The magic of shifters gathered en masse was electric, intoxicating. I shivered as it seeped into me, filling me with a vibrant, frenetic energy. The bars on the cage around my own power rattled ominously. I wanted to run. I wanted to shift. Throw back my head and howl.

Gia reached out and grabbed my hand, anchoring me in my human form. I looked over at her and mouthedThanks.

She gave me a feral smile, close to the edge herself. “Think anyone will wolf out?”

“Oh, yeah. I saw a few kids in the crowd, probably here to support older siblings. No way they’ll keep their shit together through the ceremony.”

She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “I love this feeling.”

“Me too.”

I glanced around us, trying to take it all in. Not three paces behind and to the right were Michael and Nathaniel Kolbeck. They looked… perturbed. Highly uncomfortable. Michael wore a contemplative frown and kept checking over his suit for invading dust particles. Nathaniel rolled his heavy shoulders like he was trying to shake free of something. Clearly, not everyone was enjoying the power build as much as we were.

I elbowed Gia. She opened her eyes and looked at me in question. I gave her that subtle head nod in their direction that saysLook over there, but be discreet about it.

“What?” she yelled as she craned her head around.

“For fuck’s sake,” I hissed. “A little louder, please, I don’t think they heard you in New Jersey.”

“We heard you in Jersey!” someone shouted from twenty feet ahead of us.

“Thank you, peanut gallery!” Gia shot back.

Several people nearby laughed at the exchange.

Shifters. Can’t get away with anything around us.

Gia leaned closer to me as we walked on, dropping her voice so low that only I would catch it this time. “My bad.”

“They look like their skin is crawling,” I said, mimicking her tone.

“Must not be used to this many of us in one place.”

A lot of our packmates condemned and judged the city wolves for where they chose to make their dens, but I’d never really moved past pitying them. They had imprisoned themselves in their ivory towers. To shift only once a month… the thought made me want to cry.

We filed out of the mouth of the trail and into a large clearing. To the west, the sun sank behind the mountains, bathing the crowd in crimson and gold. Our pack had used this place for centuries to worship the Goddess and perform our moon rituals. Inthe center of the dell lay a natural hollow that we’d built upon over time. Now, three concentric rings of amphitheater-style seating were shaped into the grassy slopes, large enough to hold a crowd even of this size. On the very lowest level—which served as the stage—five granite monoliths punched up through the earth like the fingers of a titan breaking free from Tartarus. At their center lay a massive stone plinth. Women had given birth to alphas upon it. The dead were laid out across it in mourning. Afterward, we scattered their ashes over the ground beneath, consecrating the land with the remains of our ancestors.

This was a sacred, hallowed place. Even those unfamiliar with our territory sensed it, quieting their conversation as they entered, so that the clearing was filled with whispers so hushed, they sounded like the sighing of the summer breeze.

Gia and I found seats in the upper row, being some of the last to arrive. The Kolbecks found their own on the opposite side of the hollow. It wasn’t that I’d been watching them, just that it was hard not to notice where they went. Conversation and movement stilled when they neared. Openings suddenly appeared for them to pass through, like everyone worried that what the Kolbecks had might be catching.

The difference between the ease of those around me and that of the city wolves was stark out here in the open. Where they were in three-piece suits, the rest of us wore faded shorts, threadbare T-shirts, and flip-flops—clothes that were easy to shuck off if the desire to shift overcame us. While Michael and Nathaniel seemed unnerved by what they’d walked into, the overall mood of the crowd was excitement and anticipation.

I felt another momentary pang of empathy for them, but, like Gia said, they’d made their own beds, and my focus now had to be on my friend. I turned toward her. “Are you excited yet, or still worried?”

She grinned, flashing canines. “Mostly excited. Don’t get me wrong, I’m anxious, but my mind is made up, so I don’t want to dwell on the negative.”

I smiled back at her. “Remember the bonding ceremony we snuck into when we were in middle school?” It was the last time our pack had played host to one.

“Oh, yeah. I’ll never forget it. My mom was so pissed at us.”

“So were my parents.” Mom and Dad had read me the riot act for disappearing without telling them where I was going on a night when our territory was full to bursting with unfamiliar wolves.