The Cursed Luna

Question

Samson

The two guards outside the cottage are sitting on the front steps, enjoying their own plate of food. Cage always makes sure everyone under his command is fed. It's one trait he picked up from his father back in Denmark. A place Cage wants to leave behind. The country is split in two, in fact, ruled by two very different Alphas. The north is controlled by Ludvig, the Norse Sector Alpha from the X-Clan pack, while the south falls under Frode's jurisdiction, the Viking Alpha of the Ulv wolves and Cage's father.

When I reach the curtain separating Cara’s room from the bar, I clear my throat to announce my presence. Cara draws the black curtains back immediately. She's wearing a loose-fitting blue shirt with tight pants, her hair wet and slicked off her face. She's still wearing black gloves. Her eyes fall to the plate of food, while Leora rushes over from across the room.

"About time, we're starving. Hand that over."

I offer Leora the platter, which she greedily accepts, and when Cara retreats into the room, not endeavoring to close the curtains in my face, I take that as an invitation to enter. I straighten the collar of my coat and step inside the little space.

Leora is on the bed, legs crossed, the plate in front of her, already tearing at the meat with her bare hands. Her brown hair sits in a braid over one shoulder, the freckles on her nose and cheeks deeper in color under the flickering candlelight. "Samson, are you joining us?"

I smile back. After traveling with her for the past couple of weeks, she's grown on me, in the way an annoying sister might. "It's all yours."

She shrugs. "Your loss, but don't complain that I never offer you any food." Sarcasm threads her words that stem from the small incident in the woods during our travels from South to North. One evening, while we'd been hunting for our shared meal, Leora caught herself a rabbit, cooked it, and ate it, all before we even got back to the cave with our catch. Then she wanted her fair share of our meal. She didn't get it, out of principle. She's a cunning young girl who's learned the hard way how to survive in this treacherous land, but I can't hate her. She reminds me too much of Allegra, Cage's young sister. Over-opinionated, brash, and a fighter, even when facing an opponent three times her size.

The memory of Allegra being sold off grates on me. Even after all these years, I haven't found peace with the lead Alpha's decisions back home.

Cara studies me cautiously, and the longer she does so, the more I tell myself I should walk out of her room. Even in her loose-fitting clothes, I can't forget the curve of her ass from earlier in the day, the perkiness of her breasts, and that gorgeous, long, pitch-black hair.

When an Omega, who is hot as f**k even dressed like this and can still get my c**k hard, then I'm lying to myself if I think there's nothing happening here.

Except I need to get it through my thick skull that she's our key into the woods. Cage would cut my head clean off with an ax for ruining his chance to claim the northern part of Romania.

After the deal's done, she's fair game to claim, seeing as she will no longer be under Cage's protection.

"I've been hearing a lot about you four taking care of my sister," Cara says, her amber eyes slicing through me as if she knows more about our journey from the South than I do.

"I didn't think she'd last long on her own."

"Hey," she calls out from the bed. "I had my friend Tabby."

I lift my chin in her direction. "And last time we saw them, Tabby and the three Alphas in her company had been locked out of their own pack compound, which doesn't bode well for their survival."

She wipes her greasy lips. "You're wrong. I have no doubt they'll have claimed their home back."

Some days I wonder how much easier life would be if I believed in the good of others as much as Leora does.

"I better leave you both to enjoy your meal and a comfortable night's sleep," I say to Cara.

She sits at the end of the bed, eyeing the knife at my belt. "What do you know of the Woods of Evil?" Something in the way she asks me transcends her standoffish attitude, sounding more like concern.

"That going in might be a suicide mission. But that's where you come in."

She blinks, her expression blank, which partly worries me. I expected a cocky response about it being easy, except her silence is a dead giveaway that the mission scares her too.

"You are prepared for the forest, right?" I ask.

She drops her gaze to her gloved hands in her lap, then drags her gaze to mine. "Being prepared and being ready are two very different things. Yes, I have the ability for what Cage asked of me, but I have never ventured into those particular woods to know for sure that my ability is enough to guide us away from danger."

I sigh, my muscles bunching up across my shoulder blades. That's not what I want to hear, but Cage won't back down. Once he's set his mind on something, he'll insist we barge through hell itself. "Get a good night's rest, Cara. You will definitely need it tomorrow."