Page 36 of Forbidden Moon
Garrett put an arm around Maya. “We need sanctuary and a place to hide. We can offer our services as training for your enforcers, but we prefer to stay off the radar.”
The younger male assessed them both for a long moment, then his nostrils flared. “You’re pregnant.”
Maya pressed a hand to her belly. “I am.”
“Dirigo won’t take you in?”
“They’ll take me, but not my mate,” Maya confirmed.
The Alpha studied them for another long minute and Garrett felt like the other male was peering inside his very soul. Both he and Maya stood still and waited. This was their best chance for protection and safety, for themselves and their unborn pup.
“I hate Saranac. They’ve caused nothing but grief for me and my pack. But Dirigo and I are allies. Will taking you in cause problems for me with them?”
Maya lifted her chin. “I was the second to the western den leader, poised to take over. I left of my own choice, was not kicked out. While they do not approve of my choice, I am not an enemy of Dirigo.”
“But your mate is.”
“Not for his part,” she countered.
“Can we trust you?”
Garrett slashed a cut in his palm and held it out, letting blood drip onto the soil. “I will make a blood oath to you and your pack. I will never betray you and will fight for you, by your side, until the Goddess takes me.”
Maya did the same, slashing an identical cut in her palm and holding it out for the alpha.
Without hesitation, he cut his own palm and sealed it over Garrett’s, then Maya’s, repeating the oath. Garrett felt pack bonds settle over his mate bond like a familiar coat, comforting and soothing. Once it was repeated with Maya, he saw her shoulders relax and knew she felt the same.
“I’m Maddox Hawkridge, Alpha of Chesapeake. We could use experienced enforcers here. You are safe now. Welcome to Chesapeake.”
BONUS EPILOGUE
10 Years Later…
“But mom, you and dad always told us to protect those who can’t defend themselves. That’s what I did. I don’t understand why I’m in trouble now.”
Maya stared down at the golden brown eyes of the earnest eight-year-old who looked so much like her mate that it tugged at her heartstrings every time. But that didn’t mean she went easier on him. She couldn’t afford to, not with the dominance he was already showing as a young male. He hadn’t even shifted yet, and wouldn’t until he entered puberty like other young wolves, but her own wolf sensed the strength of his wolf and knew he would be a strong dominant in the pack, an enforcer high in the ranks of the pack. But he needed to learn control and how to channel his instincts even now, as a human, so he could control the wolf when it came time, or there was a risk his wolf would take over.
After all, that was her duty on the borders of the Chesapeake pack territory. When she and Garrett had asked for sanctuary from the young Alpha, Maddox Hawkridge, they had barely hoped for anything other than a quiet cabin in the middle of nowhere, a place to heal and carve out a place for themselves. Then, one day, he’d shown up with a couple of wolves who needed training. He’d asked them to work with them for a few months.
Every few months after that, he’d rotate new wolves in and out for more training until one day, when he’d brought a wounded female wolf from another pack. He’d asked them to protect her, train her, and heal her. Isa Sinclair was not from Saranac but she could have been, judging by the scars that littered her and the haunted look in her eyes.
Maya was not too much older than her, but she tucked Isa under her wing, as did Garrett, and they became the parents the young wolf no longer had. Now Isa flew high and proud as the third in their pack, strong and defiant, though there was still something wounded about her.
Maya and Garrett headed up the western den, and completed the final training for most of the pack enforcers. It wasn’t the life they had planned so many years ago, but it suited them. It allowed them to raise their three pups in relative secrecy, and still serve a pack in a way that fed their wolves’ needs. But Maya missed her family. Maddox fed her information casually, ensuring she knew how her siblings and cousins were doing, along with keeping them abreast of the actions of the Saranac pack. Things were devolving badly there and Maya worried it would come to their doorstep sooner rather than later.
But first, she had a problem with a pup to manage.
She planted her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face. “We also told you that fighting was the last option. Violence is never the answer unless you have no other choice.”
Isaac rolled his eyes, reminding her of his namesake, her mentor from Dirigo. “Corey is a bully and mean to everyone, even the girls. He pinned Carly to the ground behind the school and scared her. When I told him to stop, he pushed me. So he started it. I just finished it.”
She suppressed a smile at the last statement. He sounded so much like his father at that moment. Then his words registered and anger burned in her, her wolf snarling at the words, pinning Carly. “He pinned a girl to the ground?”
Isaac nodded, his eyes wide. “She’s younger than him and he told her that she was his and she would learn her place.” He cocked his head to the side, looking like the wolf he would one day be. “I didn’t understand it, but she was scared and cried.”
She fisted her hands at her side in an effort to control her own wolf. “Did anyone else see this?”
“Only Alex. Corey said no one would believe us because Alex was my brother. Then he ran and cried to the teacher.” His tone of disgust told her exactly what he thought of Corey and his weak-assed move.