Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,52

totem that was activated, that hadn’t been lost to the annals of time was astounding, and I wasn’t the only one feeling its influence.

Behind me, I could sense my council staggering to a halt as the Mother’s presence penetrated our being.

It wasn’t soothing or energizing, just like a reawakening. Like, after hours of shallow breathing, suddenly being able to gulp in air.

It was so strong that even I had to take a breath, and as I did, I wasn’t surprised when the wolves made an appearance.

I felt their power too, sensed their ties to the totem, even though I didn’t particularly understand how that was possible, and as they circled us, I couldn’t even find it in me to care.

Peering up at the heavy full moon, I howled, seeking Eli Highbanks’ presence, and when he replied, when his snarl sounded close by, I stopped fighting the totem’s power, and instead, embraced it.

Sitting back on my haunches while the upper echelons of my pack did the same, some even going as far as to lie down, I waited until Eli was running toward us.

Having met him before after I’d become alpha, I was unsurprised by his size, but what did surprise me? The two matching bookends that were beside him. To the left and the right. Where his beta and enforcer would be.

The sight of the trio, no council at their back, had my ears pricking up high, as I called on my senses to figure out if this was a set up, but when I sensed nothing, no subterfuge, I slipped out of my wolfskin and back into my human self.

My clothes were in shreds, but that came as no surprise, and I twisted around, easily showing the Highbanks that I meant them no harm as I gave them my back, and laid my hands down and gently palpated them, telling my people to stay calm. To stay as wolves.

When I twisted around, I saw the alpha, beta, and enforcer had shifted, and I recognized the twins more in this form than the other.

What I only just figured out was that, somehow, Eli was related to them. It wasn’t like we had cousins, so I didn’t know how that was possible, but before I could comment on their similarities, Eli snapped, “You dare approach my land without an invitation?”

I could feel his dominance. It was like a wave that had my people on the ground cringing in the face of it—even my beta. But then, I hadn’t picked Nancy for her strength. I’d picked her for her wisdom.

I was well aware that of us all, I was the only one who didn’t cower in the face of Eli’s dominance.

Nor did I cringe as he stalked toward me, aggression in every line of his naked body.

That he wanted to hurt me was clear, but that I wasn’t afraid of him registered a scant second before he breached the circle of wolves that surrounded us.

“You have something that belongs to us,” I told him calmly.

“He doesn’t belong to you,” one of the twins ground out, and from the wisps of power curling around him, I knew he was the beta. “He belongs to no one after you cast him out.”

“Evidently, you think he’s yours. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be protecting him,” I replied, straightening my shoulders. “We were well within our rights to cast him out. His father was an evil man, arrogant and cruel, and his child was going to be the same. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. At least this way, he’ll learn decency and won’t be complicit in the same moral turpitude that his father was—”

“He was eight years old when you threw him out, Rainford,” Eli snapped.

I merely cast him a glance. “My name is not Rainford. My name is Choi. Soon, after my fifth anniversary, the pack will be renamed as is the way of our people.”

The enforcer tipped his head to the side. “You come in peace, so why did you illegally enter our land?”

I moved my hands, placating them all as I replied, “I have no desire for further bloodshed. What I spilled to reach this position is more than I ever wanted to spill, but I had no alternative.

“Neither does Daniel Rainford. He must answer for his father’s crimes.”

“And you have to know that I’ve brought him under my roof for a reason. You can’t honestly expect me to let him go, to relinquish him to you so that you can cast