Filed to story: When Taken by the Dark Fate Free Online >>
It was nearlydark by the time I emerged from the woods. I’d had to slow down for a lot of the trail. Once the adrenaline had worn off, I’d been tired and kept stumbling. I’d almost twisted my ankle a few times. The edges of the camp were all but deserted, and I hurried through them toward the dull roar of voices. The area where the babies were blessed this morning had been widened, the food tents pushed out of the way, and the place thronged with shifters. The twelve packs were all arranged in a circle facing inward, where the ritual would be performed.
I searched out my family, finding Wesley seated beside our dad. At my arrival, Dad looked up and his eyes flashed, and I realized that I’d made a mistake showing up after everyone was already gathered.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
I sucked in a breath. Surely he’d keep his voice down? “I was walking through the forest.”
“You didn’t embarrass me in front of anyone, did you?” He still hadn’t lowered his voice, and the nearby packs were going silent, most looking at us. Usually he made it a point to keep up the act in front of everyone, but I realized this was an exercise in humiliation. I hadn’t followed orders, and he was punishing me for it. Showing how tough he was as an alpha.
“No,” I said. “I didn’t talk to anyone at all.” Anyone except a hot male I can’t stop thinking about.
Dad raised his eyebrows. “So you were being antisocial then. You’re representing our pack tonight, even if you aren’t really a Cancer. You disappoint me constantly, Ayla.”
“You make sure of that.” The words slipped out as I looked up at him defiantly. He just had to make sure everyone knew I was an outcast. “If you hadn’t screwed around with a human, maybe you’d have a daughter you could be proud of.”
Dad’s eyes flashed, and for a moment I thought he’d hit me right in front of everyone. But no. That would admit that I’d gotten to him. He’d never show that kind of weakness in front of this many shifters. He simply sneered at me and gave me another alpha command, just because he liked to see me bend to his will. “You’d better sit down now before you inconvenience us more.”
I gritted my teeth and sat next to Wesley. When I chanced a glance up at him, his lips were pressed together in a tight line, but he didn’t dare to speak up against an alpha command, especially in front of everyone. I wouldn’t get any help from him. Jackie was ignoring us entirely, staring into the fire in the center that illuminated the clearing. Probably for the best.
As true night fell and the moon peeked out of the clouds, the silence dragged on, and I felt all eyes on me. I burned with shame, even though I hadn’t actually done anything wrong. I wished I could sink into the ground and cease to exist. But no, that would give them all too much satisfaction
I kept my chin held high as I glanced between the different packs, refusing to let them cower me. It was probably the one and only time I’d ever see them all gathered like this anyway, and I was curious. I spotted the Gemini pack, with their twin alphas—they always ruled in pairs—and the Virgo alpha, who was female and unmated. Unlike the rest of the packs, the Virgos were matriarchal and their women made all the decisions. I often secretly hoped I’d end up in their pack.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the Sun Witches arrived. They walked through the crowd, shifters moving out of the way for them. I relaxed a little as they passed by, and the rest of the attention was taken off of me.
One woman stood out from the cluster of warm-colored clothes. She was the only one in bright red robes and was practically dripping with gold jewelry. She was beautiful, platinum blonde, and pale, but she didn’t look human. It didn’t take extra senses to feel the power radiating off her. My teeth buzzed as I looked at her, and I found myself focusing on the other women around her, unable to keep staring at her for too long.
“Greetings,” the woman intoned as the other witches fanned out around her. “For those who are new, I am Evanora, the High Priestess of the Sun Witches, and it is my honor to lead this Convergence. This morning we welcomed the newest members of the packs, and tonight we will take those who have come of age and unlock their full potential.”
As she continued in her smooth, sonorous voice, I found myself looking around. I knew what would happen already—I’d been preparing and reading about it for years. The others were all enraptured by her voice, but I found my mind elsewhere. Where was the male I’d seen in the forest? He wasn’t with any of the alphas, and as I scanned faces, I didn’t see him or the other men he was with either. The strange feeling roiling in my gut intensified. There was something off about tonight.
“Once you’ve gained your wolf, there is the potential to meet your mate tonight,” Evanora said, and I felt her gaze heavy on me. A chill went through me as we locked eyes. Everything in me screamed to look down, to show my submission, but I froze in place, fighting the urge. Before I could look away, she moved on, her gaze finding the others who would be part of the ritual tonight. I drew in a breath. Maybe she hadn’t been singling me out, as I’d originally thought, just doing whatever it was that Sun Witches did to make us feel their power.
A gasp went through the crowd, and for a moment, I thought it was because they were reacting to what she said. It didn’t make sense, everyone knew of the ritual to meet their mate. It was what many of us looked forward to most at the Convergence, as much as unlocking our full powers.
Then I saw the movement. It came from the back, and I craned my neck to see what was happening. Evanora’s smooth voice cut off as she noticed, and the whispers increased.
The front line broke to allow four people through. My jaw dropped as I recognized the large, rugged male from the falls, along with the others I’d seen right before I’d turned tail and fled. There was a female with him as well, one that I didn’t recognize.
He was dressed this time, at least partially. No shirt, just dark ripped jeans, and the heavy muscles of his shoulders and chest looked even starker in the firelight than they had under the light of the sun. Now that he wasn’t pinning me to the ground, I saw that his pack mark was on his upper chest. All three of the wolves with him bore the same symbol—a “U” shape with a snake running through it. It didn’t look like any of the twelve Zodiac signs I’d been surrounded by since birth, but it was a pack mark all the same.
Whispers rose up, replacing the stunned silence. I heard the word, “snake,” muttered over and over again, and I wondered if they were talking about the tattoo on the man’s upper arm, which twined around his skin as if it was a real animal, and not just ink. But no, they were looking at all of the new arrivals, not just him.
The other three hung back from the Sun Witches, but the man, who must have been their alpha, stepped right up toward Evanora. He took his time, looking around the gathered packs until his gaze stopped on me and lingered. My breath caught. Out of everyone in the crowd, somehow he’d found me. Had he been looking for me? I felt a bolt of fear go through me, and something else too—something like need. Another whisper went through the ranks of shifters gathered, but I couldn’t move under his piercing gaze, like he was holding me down in the forest all over again.
Then, just as quickly as he’d found me, he looked away. Evanora was radiating hatred, and I felt the tension rise in the shifters around us, caught on the precipice of action.
“The Ophiuchus pack demands to be recognized,” the man said, his voice carrying over everyone.
Shock spilled out, replacing the anticipation. The word Ophiuchus echoed inside my head, digging at old memories that I’d half-forgotten, folktales that I’d learned as a child and abandoned with age and maturity. Ophiuchus was the lost thirteenth Zodiac pack. They were legendary, known as the “snake bearers,” and said to be vicious traitors who had no sense of obligation or loyalty. They lived outside of normal society and didn’t interact with anyone if they could help it.
They were also supposed to be myths. I couldn’t remember ever hearing of anyone seeing a member of the Ophiuchus pack in my lifetime. The only time they’d been mentioned was when we’d been children. Be good, the adults had told us, or the Ophiuchus pack will come to take you away. They’d been the bogeymen of our childhoods, always the shadowy figures that had grown less threatening the older I’d gotten.
Now they were here.
The fear I’d felt as a kid was visceral, and it returned as I looked at these strange shifters, outside of any pack I recognized. And the alpha who had pinned me down in the forest? He was the nightmares from my childhood come to life.
“Moon Witch lovers,” someone muttered, and I remembered the other part of the tale. The Ophiuchus pack had been part of the Zodiac Wolves once, but they began interbreeding with the Moon Witches, who had cursed us all those years ago. As a result, the Ophiuchus pack was banished from the Zodiac Wolves. No one had heard anything from them since.
Until now. They stood in front of us in the flesh, standing toe-to-toe with the most powerful Sun Witch. I wondered if any of the stories were true, and they did have Moon Witch magic running through their veins. Could this alpha take on the High Priestess?
Evanora was the first to speak into the stunned silence, loud enough for all of us to hear. “You aren’t welcome here,” she said and pointed at the alpha. It didn’t seem to have the effect she wanted, as he simply waited, shoulders drawn back, meeting her gaze. “If this wasn’t the Convergence, and bloodshed was allowed, I would have cut you down myself already.”
The alpha drew his lips back in a parody of a smile—all the right motions, but none of the humor. “I’m not here to fight,” he said, and his posture went from threatening to neutral in the blink of an eye. I remembered the graceful way he’d shifted and moved in the forest. This was an alpha who had utter control of his body, who commanded each muscle. “But it’s time that you allow us to rejoin the Zodiac Wolves.”
“Never,” Evanora hissed.
“I will discuss it with the alphas, Sun Witch,” the alpha said, his growl rumbling low in his chest. “We may be on your turf, but this is wolf business. Even you couldn’t hold back the force of all thirteen packs if we decided to turn.”
“You’ll never be one of us, snakes,” someone called. I recognized the voice and found the alpha of the Leo pack standing. Dixon Marsten looked like a Viking warrior of old with long blond hair and a thick beard, and I could see people shrinking back from the intimidating bellow of his voice. Beside him stood his son, Jordan, who had his arms crossed. He shot me a look that practically burned off my skin before he jerked his chin back to the events unfolding in front of us.
“For once, we agree on something,” Dad said, standing as well. “Get out of here, before we change our minds about the no bloodshed rule.” It was an empty threat, but it got the rest of the packs nodding and making noise. I heard more than one jeer come from the Cancer pack before it was picked up by other packs and passed along.
The Ophiuchus alpha glared at Dixon with such seething hatred it felt like waves of rolling heat. “If you won’t allow us to become your allies, then we will become your enemies.” His voice was so deep, it was practically a growl. The hair at the back of my neck stood at that noise, and the threat contained within it. “And you really don’t want me as your enemy.”
Dixon actually laughed, throwing his head back and letting the booming sound free. It echoed across the clearing, not joined by anyone. “What can one little outcast pack do against the might of the twelve Zodiac packs? You’re nothing. Leave this place before we tear you apart.”
Many of the other alphas nodded, and a couple of them added in their own taunts. I’d never seen so many alphas agreeing on something. The only ones who weren’t participating were the Sagittarius shifters. They kept silent, watching without participating, some of them with nervous eyes.
Even though so many seemed to agree, I couldn’t shake the sense that there was more that the alpha wasn’t saying. I’d felt the power contained in the alpha’s grip as he’d pinned me to the forest floor. If half of his pack was as strong as he was, we’d be in for a fair fight.
The set of the alpha’s jaw confirmed my feelings. He had a villainous gleam in his eyes that set my teeth on edge. We should listen to him, I thought. We don’t need another war. But no one would hear me, especially after the public humiliation Dad had subjected me to. They’d scoff at me, just as they scoffed at this obviously powerful alpha.
“I see you’ve chosen to be enemies then,” the alpha rumbled, and his voice cut through all of the noise somehow. “Prepare yourselves for war.”
He jerked his head at his pack mates, and they melted back into the crowd. There were a few more jeers thrown their way, and I watched until they’d left the light of the fire and vanished into the darkness.
The moment they’d left the clearing, the mood relaxed and people sat back down. Evanora looked shaken but plastered a serene look over her face once more. As everyone quieted down it almost felt as if it hadn’t happened at all, as if I’d only imagined the lost pack shifters arriving at our ceremony and disrupting things. Evanora called for order, and the wolves around me went back to listening intently as if everything was normal. When I looked around, no one seemed anxious like I was, and I had to bite back a scream. Of course they weren’t taking this seriously. Why would they?
I alone seemed to be on edge, and I tried to stuff down the sense of unease as I waited to see what would happen next.