The Unforgiving Moon

42.

He had appeared out of nowhere, and I wasn't entirely sure if I should be surprised about that. Though I had trained with the Hidden Moon pack to learn to recognize Kima's shadow, my time here had only been rather brief so I could hardly call myself well-versed in the gift.

My friend had led us back to the main camp of the city. Passing through the tunnel in the cave was still as gruesome as before—even if I knew it would end, and I could pass through it because I had done it before.

The sharp edges of the rocks seemed to cut just as deep as they did before, but by the time we had reached the camp, all that was left of the cuts was dried blood I could scrape off my skin.

Hidden Moon hadn't changed since I last saw it. War tents were still stationed everywhere, and the pack didn't seem any less or more on edge—still perfectly calm, and in order. 

When we walked past the tent Jerr and I had slept, I somehow expected to see him there. Briefly, I forgot all that happened. For an innocent moment, I looked at the tent expectantly, waiting for the white flaps to open and for my green-eyed mate to appear.

The tent stayed closed, though, and the bubble popped just as fast. He was not my mate, he was a cruel joke of our Moons, a traitor, our enemy. I would never see him again, because he was probably dead.

A small part of me was, too. There was this gaping hole in my chest, and my heart had to beat two times as hard to make up for it every time I thought about him.

Lately, that had been more and more. I recognized him in every part of the forest we had ran together, I saw him hidden in every shadow where we had trained, I heard him in every bird that had sang its song when we had been around.

He would never truly be dead. He would always live on in me, and I hated it. I felt powerless against it—because fate had decided it for me, I had no say in being tied to him and it burned my heart nearly to a crisp.

I caught a sideway glance from Aven as we passed by the tent and I felt my heartbeat raise—I hoped he didn't understand the meaning behind it. I hoped he didn't realize how I was connected to Jerr. I hoped he never would, because he would never trust the mate of the traitor. He'd shun me, too, if not worse. 

"I believed you were dead," Dell said, as he walked out of his tent ahead of us. I hadn't even noticed yet we'd reached it. "I barely believed my men when they told me of who walked in our forest."

His dark blonde hair still had that same warm shade as it had when I last met him. Yet, something seemed to be different about him. I couldn't quite put my finger on it—but I didn't feel at ease. My insides awoke and every sense in my being was alert, waiting for the danger lurking in the shadows. But there couldn't be any here, I reminded myself. And last time I was here, I had shared a bed with the biggest danger of them all.

Aven raised his chin. "It takes more than a brutalistic Alpha to kill me."

Dell lightly shook his head, and murmured, "That's exactly all it takes."

To the side, I saw Cailean suppress a devilish grin. He didn't seem as phased or interested by the world around him—as if nothing was new to him. Yet, Tymen had spoken about one newcomer to one of his fellow wolves when we neared the entrance to the cave. And I knew for sure that that couldn't be me, or Aven. So it had to be Cailean. 

Dell's distrustful look as his eyes slid to Cailean, told me plenty about it. He simply acknowledged him with a curt nod—a polite gesture, but nothing more. Cailean's eyes sparkled at this as he said, "Hello, Dell. How welcoming of you to allow me to be here."

Dell kept his stare locked on Cailean, probably trying to read whatever complexity of emotions was dancing around his features. I knew he'd be none the wiser, Cailean proved to be particularly hard to decipher. "I had also barely believed my men when they told me of the third companion."