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She holds her hands up, a wrapped gift in one hand and an easy smile on her face. She’s in human form, so I know I have the upper hand, but it makes me anxious to see her anyway. No one should have been able to predict I would be here. No one should have been anywhere close to here.
I glance behind her, desperate for a glimpse of Luca following. He was supposed to stay within sight of her at all times, Dominic promised that.
“I managed to ditch him on the other side of the river,” Maren answers my unspoken question. “I had fun stringing him along for this long, but I thoughtthismight be something we could better share in private.” She shakes the gift. “I’ll even open it for you, if you want, if you’re too scared to shift with me here.”
She’s making me nervous. Putting me completely on edge.
The ground starts to rattle lightly. Apparently, those feelings are turning out to be one hell of a catalyst for my powers. She eyes the motion then looks at me with offense.
“The trust issues do run deep with you Jarreaus, don’t they?” she retorts.
Hearing her mention my family only makes me more defensive. The trees around us shake as if a wind storm is blowing through. It whips Maren’s hair around her, making her look vulnerable enough to calm me slightly. Just enough to hear her out.
“Between you and your brother, I’m starting to think we might all be doomed after all.” She heaves a sigh that seems misplaced. She looks far too glamorous to be the kind of woman who sighs, even standing here naked after having shifted.
I feel an odd sensation when she mentions my brother. I assumed she meant Tasha, and my first instinct was to think she had something to do with her running off. I never expected to hear her mention Tevin. It burns me up that I can’t have a conversation with her in wolf form.
Feeling like I have no other option, I shift.
“That’s better,” she purrs her approval.
Relief floods me when she makes no move to step closer. Discreetly, I look around to make sure no one else is lurking. I’m alone and separated from my entire pack. This would make for the perfect trap. The pack is distracted by Goddess knows what at our home base.
“I just want to know why you won’t leave me alone,” I growl. My wolf is still lingering, ready to shift back at a moment’s notice.
In a strange turn of events, I suddenly and very clearly see the woman let her guard down. Her posture relaxes and she drops her arms back to her sides. I know I’m looking at the same person who confronted me when I tried to run from Dominic, but she suddenly looks more familiar than that. Something tugs at my subconscious that I can’t quite make out. A memory that feels just out of reach.
That hair…
“I didn’t mean to scare you, Tess. I kept looking for an in, and then I panicked when you ran away. We need you here, and unfortunately, you’re about to find out why.” Somehow her explanation doesn’t actually explain anything. She takes a few slow steps toward me.
I stand my ground if only to prove that I’m not scared of her.
She holds the gift out, extending her arm to offer it to me without coming any closer than necessary. “I’ve been waiting far too long for you to have this. I was almost too late.”
Nothing she says makes any sense to me, but it does increase the sense of foreboding I have about what’s happening with my pack. Hoping the package might provide more answers, I open it hastily. Of course, all I get on the inside are more questions.
A fancy white notecard stares up at me, resting atop the blade of a dagger.
“What the hell is this?” I demand. I don’t know anyone that would be sending me a dagger, especially not via a suspicious stranger. My brother certainly wouldn’t have done something like this.
“Just read the note,” she tells me, her voice exasperated. I’m not sure why she seems to think I should be taking this all in stride. The first time we came in contact, I was pretty sure she wanted to kill me. Though now I’m not so sure about that.
I take the notecard and flip it over to reveal neat, masculine handwriting.
For the Anchorage Lake Pack Luna.
You become the war.
Take history to battle.
“What is this, a riddle?” I rack my brain trying to think of anyone who might have known about Dominic marking me. We didn’t exactly hide it, but it hasn’t been advertised yet either. To know that I officially took the role as Luna, someone would have to have pretty intimate knowledge of what’s been going on between Dominic and I.
I desperately try to conjure a mental image of Dominic’s handwriting—I should have seen it while I was at his office—but I didn’t pay close attention to those kinds of details. I’m kicking myself now. Could this be something he sent? Why wouldn’t he have given it to me himself? Was all of this a trap the whole time, after all? And Goddess forbid, was my mate behind all of it?
“Take a breath,” Maren urges. “There will be time to panic later, but right now you need to protect your pack. If you don’t, then trust me, you’ll never forgive yourself.” She says it with a haunted look in her eyes as if she knows from experience.
That only worsens my unease.
