NightStar Summit

12. The Mark

COLTON

I sat off to the side while everyone else enjoyed a bonfire that next night. We were supposed to be celebrating me becoming the next Alpha, but I was having a hard time rejoicing over the fact that I was taking over a position that shouldn't need to be filled right now. Until I knew for certain that my dad was actually dead, I would never fully be able to embrace this role as much as I wanted.

Twigs started snapping from behind me but I eliminated it as any threat so I kept my eyes fixated on the wild orange flames in front of me. Felicity threw herself right in front of me before collapsing into my lap, "Hi, Colt," she wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head down on my shoulder.

This poor kid was absolutely broken. I didn't like to think my dad had a favorite out of the three of us, but Fliss was definitely the favorite, hands down. She could get away with pretty much anything whereas Forrest and I weren't as lucky.

"I don't want you to get hurt," she started to cry silently. "Can you not fight please?" She started doing that stuttering of the breath thing that little kids do when they cry too hard.

"It'll be fine. You're worrying about nothing," I gave her a reassuring smile, "No one is going to challenge me," the likelihood of that statement being true was extremely low. You could have what you considered the most faithful pack, but there was always going to be one person who thought they were better than you. Especially when you were in a position of power and they weren't.

She shook her head frantically, "No. Forrest is going to challenge you. He's mad that you got dad in trouble."

I completely forgot about Forrest. In all honesty, I knew he wanted to be the Alpha and that he thought he was better but I didn't think he'd actually be stupid enough to try to challenge me. I wasn't so sure my wolf would be able to hold back in a challenge, whether he was my baby brother or not. Wolves do what's best for the pack and Forrest wasn't it.

"How do you know that? Did he tell you?" I asked and she shook her head once again, "Then it's probably not true. He's not that stupid."

"Promise you won't fight him," she demanded in her little kid voice.

I moved her off my lap and made her stand in front of me, "I promise," I held my pinky up and waited for her to cross it with hers. I didn't believe in pinky promises but she swore by them and it was the only way I was going to get her to drop this subject.

She smiled at me and pushed my hand down, "I believe you, Colt."

A shadow was cast over me and Felicity and this time I turned around to see who it was.

It was Rebecca or Bex as everyone called her. She was one of our Scouts and she was damn good at it. The scouts job was exactly how it sounded but another important part of their role was staying friendly with our neighboring allied packs in case one of them somehow drifted too far and had to be returned without starting a fight. Bex was literally the sweetest person I had ever met.

"Hey, Colt," she said while taking a seat next to me. She sounded almost disturbed, "Hey, City, can we have a second? I think Cara is looking for you in the pack house."

Felicity gave us a weird look before running off. I think she was the only person I had ever met that didn't like Bex but that was for a completely different reason.

"Are you nervous?" She asked me with a smile before throwing herself into the side of my body once in a teasing manner, "You're not just going to be Colton McGregor anymore. You're going to be Alpha Colton McGregor. That's so crazy. You've been waiting for this day since we were pups, it just sucks that your parents aren't here to see it." If it was anybody else, I probably would have been upset with how she phrased that but I knew she didn't mean it in a hurtful way. "But..." she let the word hang in the air for a moment, "We're kind of leaderless right now and I don't really know who I should tell but traitor Sadie and some girl are at the bottom of the summit. I'm pretty sure they're trying to come up here."

"Jesus f*****g Christ," I mumbled. I wondered how many times she was going to have to be chased off before she realized she was never welcome back here. Maybe I'd let the hunters kill her when I became Alpha. That would solve more than one of my problems. "Who's the other girl?" I just assumed that it would have been another rogue wolf or something.

"I don't know. She's not a wolf."

There was only one person it really could have been then. Sadie wouldn't bring just any friend with her, she was trying to ruin me and she thought bringing Kat here would be exactly the way to do it.

"Take a few hunters back down with you and take them. Put them in the Pack house and I'll deal with them after the ceremony."

She looked at me like I was one hundred percent insane, "Colt, did you hear me? She's not a wolf. She can't come here."

I let out a long breath before standing up, "It's my mate."

KATARINA

I was having the hardest time hiking up this summit. I should have just taken this as the proof I needed that werewolves did exist, no human would have been able to hike up and down this every single day.

"You still want to go?" Sadie asked as I had slipped and fell into a large mud puddle, completely soiling my leggings. I wanted to scream in frustration and maybe even cry a little at the thought of having to walk any further in dirty, wet clothes but I trudged on nevertheless.

Sadie stopped walking as branches and leaves crumpled in the distance, she was on high alert. "It's them," she said. "I have to get out of here, Kat," she started to run back down the summit when a wolf went running right past me, heading straight for her.

Two people emerged from the shrubs in front of me, one guy and one girl. The guy looked like he was the highest form of inconvenienced, pissed even but the girl looked oddly friendly. "Hi, Kat," she chirped.

My head instinctively tilted to the side, my brows furrowing, "Who are you?"

"Bex, scout extraordinaire," she laughed a little at her own introduction while flipping a piece of her platinum hair behind her shoulder, "It's nice to meet you."

I didn't have time to respond before Sadie's screams started to fill the cold air. I wanted to turn around to assess the damage but as I tried to, the guy roughly grabbed my upper arm and started pulling me away.

"Don't hurt her, Patrick," Bex's demeanor changed a little, becoming stiff and authoritative. Well, if she was in charge I was feeling pretty good right now. She seemed nice enough.

"Are you going to kill her?" I panicked as he started to drag me away. I dug my heels in the mud, trying to get this guy to either stop or let me go but he did neither.

"It depends on how she cooperates. The same goes for you."

"She's a traitor, Kat," Bex said sadly, "Her family was caught going between us and our sworn enemies. I'm assuming she probably told you stuff about us?" She said it like it was a question she was expecting me to answer. I nodded. "That in and of itself is a giant rule break in our pack. Humans can't know about us and that's why you have to stay with us for awhile."

I paused for a second before thrashing around, trying to wriggle my way out of Patrick's killer hold. There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to leave a big fat bruise on my arm. "Nuh uh, there's no fuckin' way," I was able to get my arm free for a split second before he grabbed it again and twisted it behind my back. A loud yelp left my mouth and I dropped to my knees.

"I'm gonna have to change, Bex," Patrick said sternly, "She's being too squirmy."

"Alright, we can get home quicker that way anyway."

"I recommend looking away," Patrick said right in my ear before dropping my arm.

Who was I to ignore that? I didn't want to see them turning into wolves so I turned my head to the side and looked down at the ground and within seconds I heard bones crunching.

This was my golden opportunity. I knew nothing about werewolves so I just assumed it was probably going to take some time to shift from human to wolf. I took this opportunity to get up and start sprinting back down the summit.

Sadie was nowhere to be seen and that could have meant one of two things. One: the wolf had dragged her away already or two: I had strayed too from the path and got lost myself.

I was leaning more towards two at this point seeing as though the brush was getting thicker and the path less identifiable.

"f**k!" I screamed out in frustration. I had no idea where I was going or how I was going to get there at this point. It was dark and freezing outside, I'd never survive this.

There was a bright orange light in the distance and I wasn't an i***t, I knew no human being actually camped out here so I knew whoever it was that was over there would never help me. I made a sharp left turn fully expecting to have to run through some thick shrubbery but it didn't look like I was even going to get that chance.

One person I never expected to ever see up here was standing in front of me. "Connor," I panted the word out. This wasn't good. "What are you doing here?"

He started stalking towards me, "I think I should be asking you that question. Kinda far from home, don't you think?" He closed the gap between us, trapping me between his strong body and a thick evergreen tree. He moved his hands up to either side of my head, his lips moving dangerously close to mine.

"Are you one too?" I was panicked as a smirk appeared on his face, answering my question.

"Don't worry about it," he quickly closed the gap between us, forcefully taking my lips over with his.

There was a powerful, animalistic growl right before Connor was being dragged to the ground by not one but three wolves. I recognized one of them instantly, my heart clenching in my chest. He looked just like Chewbacca, who looked just like the wolf up on the summit...who was apparently Colton.

Colt was Chewbacca?

He's seen me naked...

This was starting to get way out of hand and I couldn't take anymore of it. I let myself slide down the base of the tree as I watched the wolves growl and nip at Connor. The two other wolves then put his arms in their mouths, forcing him to sit up and face me as Colt approached.

It was definitely him, I would recognize those eyes anywhere. He looked terrifyingly angry right now but then again so did all vicious animals. I just couldn't bring myself to be scared as much as I had a feeling I should have been.

His wolf made a quick strike for my neck before biting down with so much force I thought it could have killed me. The pain was unimaginable, so unlike any pain I could have ever fathomed. I felt the warmth of my blood trickling down my neck and into my lap as Colton moved away but still remained close as if he was trying to protect me from anything other than himself.

My head hit the back of the tree trunk as salty tears stung my eyes. I closed them tightly, wishing the pain would go away but the only thing that left was my consciousness.