Page 17 of Luna Trials

Stefanie released the breath she was holding. Her dad came forward and slipped a wad of bills into her hand.

“Jareth is driving you to the airport. Make sure to check in with me when you get there.” Alpha Derek clapped Trenton on the shoulder.

I’d gone to bed right on time last night. Nine PM was my cutoff. Early to sleep. Early to rise. Since I got up at 5am this morning and already said goodbye to Papa after helping him check the traps and bribing Russell–his old drinking buddy–to help him over the next few weeks, I climbed into the van first while Trenton and Stef spoke with their fathers.

Jareth sat in the driver seat. He was a younger shifter, probably a grade or two below me, who mated during his first rut. His hair was shaved short and he had that militant look about him that all the youngprison guards had. Especially the ones with families to raise.

“Did he say airport?” I asked.

Jareth’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror just as Stefanie shoved me in the back.

“Move.”

I growled, pulling my sleeves over my hands to hide my wolf’s fur sprouting, and crawled into the second row as far away from Stef as I could get. Trenton climbed onto the passenger seat.

“I’m counting on you three to bring pride to our pack.” Alpha Derek’s large frame filled the open side door of the van as he rapped his knuckles on the roof. “Understand?”

“Yes, Alpha,” we all said in unison. It’s not like there was anything else we could say.

Jareth pulled the van out onto the open road, heading past the prison and driving straight through the pack territory borderline marked by the fence.

There was a flurry of activity as he picked up speed and we flew by some cars parked on the side of the road. Doors opened and a few people jumped out with cellphones in their hands. I cocked my head to the side, wondering if they were visitors for the prison. We didn’t get many tourists out here.

“Parasites.” Trenton snarled.

Stef laughed as she slapped the back of his seat. “Play nice. You never want to piss off the reporters.”

I pressed my face to the window, trying to get a glimpse of the vehicles we left in the dust. A sinkingfeeling dropped into my gut. This was real. Strangers were outside our trailer-trash little pack hoping to get a picture.

“We need to get some photo ops in,” Stef was still talking. “Of course, we have to hide the cow somehow.”

Cow?

I turned to look at her smug grin, realizing she meant me. That was new. I’d never been called a cow before. It must have been in reference to the clothes not fitting comment I made earlier.

I looked back out the window, resting my forehead against the cool glass and breathing slowly to calm my beast. The dust continued to drift behind us. Sage and sparse pinyon lined the open desert road. The blue sky was full of thick white clouds that rolled lazily over the mountains in the distance.

I was really doing it. Leaving this pack behind. But it wasn’t the way I dreamed. My papa was back there. I was still under Derek’s thumb. And I was stuck with these two idiots.

Forcing myself to shake off the self-pity, I swallowed my pride. I’d promised my papa to keep an open mind. This was only a hiccup. I would have had to go through a final mating season anyway.

So what if it was on television and there was a slight chance of death?

No big deal.

“What’s the game plan?” I asked out loud, trying to get things started.

“Our game plan doesn’t concern you,” Stef said. “Honestly, Trenton. I don’t know why your dad thought it was a good idea for her to come.”

Guess she didn’t get the memo.I really didn’t think this was going to be a team effort, but I wasdoing this for Trenton after all. The same asshole who was too busy staring out the front windshield to say something to shut Stef up.

And he wonders why things went down like they did.

Stef seemed to sense his dismissal and pulled out her phone. I stared at Trenton’s outline, willing him to speak up. He was handsome in a way if you were into that dusty blonde mechanic look which me–and my wolf–were not. You’d also have to ignore how arrogant he seemed with his pouty lips and the bored look in his hazel eyes. His muscles had only grown larger over the years, filling out his white t-shirt with the folded over sleeves.

But he was still the same jerk who laughed when Felix pushed me down the stairs in third grade and he was a part of the boy’s group making fun of my boobs in middle school when they grew in lopsided.

The right was bigger than the left for an excruciatingly long six months and my papa had no clue where to take me to find a bra. It sucked.