Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,53
him out again and return him to human society?” Eli growled, his shoulders bunching with aggression. “You’re insane if you think that. He’s ten now, and he shifted a year ago, Choi. He’s already a shifter, and if you send him back into that world with no pack to guide him, you’ll be creating the monster you’re trying to avoid.”
“It’s within our rights—”
The wolves parted like they were the waves and he commanded them as he surged forward, not stopping until he was in my face.
“He isn’t my son. He isn’t my blood. But I choose him,” Eli spat, enunciating each word. “He isn’t my heir. He isn’t my pack’s future. But I choose him.”
His phrasing had me tensing, because even though the child was of no importance to him, he still claimed him. Those hard words were proof that he had no need to fight for Daniel, but need or not, he would.
Outrage whipped my insides. “You can’t just adopt him.”
“Why can’t I? He needs a family, and my woman loves him like he’s ours.”
“She does,” the beta rasped. “We all do. He’s a good kid.”
“I met his father. He was a real fucker, and I’m glad you sliced him from throat to gut, Choi, but the way forward,” the enforcer insisted, neither he nor his twin having moved an inch in the face of Eli’s sudden surge of aggression, “isn’t to make Daniel pay for his father’s sins.”
“I’m a son. My father’s life was robbed from him by Kingsley Rainford. Don’t I deserve justice? The justice that is pack-given?” I ground out, and for the first time, I broke free of the totem’s sway over me. “I’ve broken no rules, no laws. Challenges and their legalities have been set in stone for centuries—”
“What kind of justice is it that sees a small kid tossed out on his ass and forced to deal with the humans?” Eli ground out.
My fists balled at my side, but even as the desire to smack the shit out of the sanctimonious prick hit me, even as I wondered if he knew how it goddamn felt to lose both parents thanks to a cruel leader, the wind whispered between the trees and began to swirl around us all.
Many scents bombarded us with the trickle of air flow. Everything from the pungent earthliness of the natural wolves, to the strange ‘otherness’ of the supernaturals. Eli and his advisors scented of dominance, and all around me, I could scent the essence of my pack, each of them weaker than leaders ought to be, but good. Pure of heart. They scented lesser, and I knew the Highbanks pack might judge us for it, but we were strong where it counted.
And then, from out of nowhere, I scented them.
Suddenly, everything was illuminated, and things started to make sense.
Two females. Blood relations. One shifted, one in humanskin. Both wolf children? And a child. A baby. Not Daniel. Too young. I could smell milk on him and diapers and the soap or liquid used in baby wipes.
Eli whipped around at the scent, revealing a path that led straight to the odd trio.
The woman wore her power around her like a mantel. As if it were a cloth. I could scent that she was originally human, but more than that, I could taste her unusualness. It was as prevalent as the ozone. Rich and pure, almost salty like we were close to the sea, only we weren’t. The ocean was a good three hours’ drive away. Her power was strong. Rich. Fecund. It wasn’t like Eli’s or his advisors, who scented of brute strength and authority.
Hers was a strength that came from…
Love.
For a second, I could only blink at the realization, of the power that throbbed through her which was purely positive, and then the she-wolf shuffled her feet in a way that told me she was newly transformed and unused to walking on four paws.
As the wind brought her scent to me, my mouth dropped open.
She was such a pure white that she gleamed like silver, so clean and free from color that in the dead of night, she’d be visible. Her eyes were a rich green, deeper than emeralds, more milky like jade, but with a strong gleam that made them seem jewel-like. She was small for a she-wolf, dainty, and her scent was tied to the omega at her side, but somehow, unique too.