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“And this is your responsibility, how?”
“I trained to be an Enforcer.” Maya went back to opening drawers and sorting through spare clothes so that she only heard instead of saw her sister snort with unrepressed sarcasm.
“Yeah, you did, but you’ve never taken on the role because that would mean going back to Crescent territory and you still can’t stand to do that.”
Having an all-knowing, all-seeing little sister was truly a pain in the ass. Maya dragged a tank top off a hanger and shoved it in the bag as well. She really hated when Nova confronted her on her bullshit weaknesses.
It was true that she had never stepped up and accepted her rightful role with the Crescent Pack. She hadn’t even trained with them. After the attack and weeks of torture that had left her scarred physically and emotionally, she’d felt safer with her oldest sister Luna and the Moirae Pack. She’d trained with their Enforcers whenever she could and earned a place on their elite squad of pack protectors, but she hadn’t taken it because to do so she would have had to renounce her ties to her birth pack.
Instead, she’d continued to straddle the line between them, not abandoning either but not fully committing to a specific one either.
It was easier to help Leo with tasks like this one, where she didn’t even have to step foot on Crescent land. This wasn’t the first time he’d asked her to be the go-between during his attempts to reach out to other packs. It was a wholly new concept to most shifters since packs, by nature, were insular communities, wary of outsiders and newcomers. But Leo and Darius had been working for years to bring a better sense of communication to the packs now that they’d forged a bond between the Moirae and the Crescent wolves through their bonds.
Leo believed that if communication had been normalized before Maddox Clary had transferred into the Crescent Pack then they might have had some warning and been able to avoid the terror and destruction he wrought. Maya wasn’t so sure that knowing could have stopped it but she liked the idea of the future Leo saw for shifters. One where they didn’t have to fear each other or the unknown and had allies prepared to fight alongside him if trouble ever came knocking again.
She would do anything to help Leo in his mission and driving a few hours to check in on a pack that had ceased communicating with him was an easy way to help that also gave her a distraction she so desperately badly needed right now.
“You know what, yeah, you’re right. I haven’t taken on the role I was meant to in the pack but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to help our brother when he asks.”
Nova didn’t look even remotely impressed by her speech, “And did he ask, or did you offer?”
“Does it matter? I’m going.”
She needed the time away. Needed to hit the road and get some space from all of the overwhelming feelings that had bombarded her nonstop since the moment Zander Leery walked into her life. It had been nearly three days since she’d opened the door to find him standing on the other side but she hadn’t seen him since he’d left with Rafe and Zoey to go to their home.
They were keeping him at the lake house and away from town. She’d learned that much from Michael and Luna who had stopped by to check on her after going out to meet him for themselves. They’d all agreed that Zander had to be told about the paranormal world he had stumbled into but they’d also agreed to put it off for a few days, to let him get accustomed to being in a new place and allow him some time to get to know his long lost sister better before dumping more life-changing news on him.
Zoey had even called Maya to get her opinion and ask if she wanted to be present when Zoey told Zander the truth of what they were. She hadn’t seemed angry or upset that Maya had bonded to her unknowing human brother or that Maya had asked Rafe to keep it from her that first night and for that much, Maya was grateful. She was even more thankful when Zoey didn’t press her when she declined the offer.
Zander and Zoey might be estranged but they were still family. She was the one he’d come here to find. She was the one he would be most likely to believe. And Maya was far too edgy and emotional with the mating heat running through her to trust herself around him at such a key moment.
“Zoey’s telling him tonight.” Nova broke into her thoughts and it was Maya who rolled her eyes now.
“I know.”
“And you’re still leaving.”
Maya blew out a rough breath, “I’m not literally leaving.”
“You’re literally packing a bag.” Nova shot back.
“The Umbra Pack is only a few hours drive away. If they forgot about the meeting, if they changed their mind about joining Leo’s fellowship, then I’ll turn around and come right back home. If it’s something else, if something’s happened then I might have to stay overnight. I’m only taking the bag as a precaution.”
“And leaving as one.”
“Seriously, Nova. Don’t start.” Maya growled her wolf keyed up from the heat and the constant tension she’d been feeling for days now.
Nova didn’t take the hint and drop it, “How do you think he’s going to feel if he comes to find you after Zoey tells him and you’re not here?”
“He’s not going to come looking for me tonight.”
“How can you be so sure?
“Are you so sure that he will?” Maya zipped up her bag and glared at her sister. “Did you see it? Did you have a vision that told you he would come here tonight?”
“Well… no.” Nova admitted, clearly frustrated and Maya took a deep, relieved breath.
“Trust me, okay. He’s going to be so freaked out when Zoey tells him what we are, she’s not even going to get to the whole mating bond thing.”
