Page 118 of Midnight Moon

My eyes burned with my own tears, but I turned my face forward before any of my pack could see me cry.

I heard Chase open the back door and slide into the second row of seats. “All set.”

Asher adjusted the rearview mirror. From the corner of my eye, I saw him look at me. “Ready, Blair?”

I kept my eyes trained forward while mentally ripping the wings off the butterflies trying to take flight in my stomach. I didn’t care how nice it sounded when Asher said my name. Those traitorous emotions needed to stop.

“Blair?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

No, I wasn’t ready.

I would never be ready for what I was about to face, but, for some reason, it was the hand the Mother dealt me. I would fulfill my obligations to protect my pack.

Maybe, I would even use the opportunity to figure out if what my father said about my mother was true. The Wilds Pack had magic. If there were any shifters who could determine if I had powers, it would be them.

But I would never,everbe “ready” to sign my life over to a pack who wasn’t my own.

“Just drive,” I replied, hating that I sounded tired and defeated. All energy to hide my true feelings had faded away the moment I slipped into the truck.

Asher obliged, and neither he nor Chase said another word.

My eyelids parted, and I watched the landscape as we drove off Badlands’ territory. We passed several shifters, and I noted their stares.

To them, I was the unfortunate sacrificial story they would tell their children at night. Blair Hemmings, the only female alpha heir to ever exist, was bargained away to live with the mysterious Wilds Pack, never to be seen again.

I sighed and leaned my head against the glass.

Mother Moon, please let my story end differently.

I didn’t know it at the time, but my prayer would be answered.

Just not in the way I expected.

To be continued.