Page 51 of Broken Moon

I was no longer conscious.

ChapterTwenty-Four

When I woke up, I was shiveringhard as my body attempted to warm itself. I lay on a rock in my small prison,and the first thing my somewhat blurry vision focused on was the moon tattoo onthe back of my right hand. It was broken, sliced in half by the exsoloup’s claw.

I knew it was just a tattoo,but it seemed like a bad omen. My moon was broken, my shift was broken,Iwas broken.

For a few seconds, despairoverwhelmed me. But only for a few seconds.

“No,” I muttered, “you are notbroken, Princess. Your shift is not broken. The fucking moon willneverbe broken. Fuck you.”

I was okay. I was fine.

And I stuffed the despair intoa box, locked it up tight, and refused to consider it again. For now, I wouldbe strong.

I wanted to convince thewarrior wolves prowling outside my cell that I wasn’t a demon, but I couldn’tafford to spend precious energy on useless shit. They wanted to believe, andI’d given them good reason to. It was true that wolves hated demons above allelse—even more than vampires—and the only reason I was still alive was becausethey were afraid of their alpha’s wrath.

Apparently they weren’t quiteafraid enough, though, or I’d at least have a fucking blanket. I was freezingto death. My injuries were so extensive I wasn’t healing nearly fast enough,and even my wolf was silent. The exsoloup had taken too much blood from me.

Twice, a female rushed to mybars to lay a line of salt outside my cell door.

I don’t know how I survivedthat day. Darkness fell, and still, I breathed. I kept my stare between thebars, watching, waiting. I knew Jared would come. He’d hear about what hadhappened, and he’d come.

As I lay there, tall lights atthe perimeter of the property began to flick on, lighting the area, and Iwatched the wolves as they paced before my cage like I might suddenly find thestrength to burst free and kill them all.

William came to my bars a fewtimes, and I wondered as I watched him why on Earth his captain would choosehim to lead in his absence. Maybe it was a training thing, because William wasa bullying asshole who was too full of himself to lead well. I had to assumethat despite his faults, he was genuinely committed to protecting his pack andwas a good fighter.

But he sure was an asshole.

“I need some water,” I told himonce, but my voice was as damaged as the rest of me and if he heard me, heignored me.

Two women rushed into theclearing. One of them was a tall redhead I didn’t remember seeing before, butthe other was the girl who’d earlier been ordered to “shut up.” Apparently notevery wolf here hated me.

“The alpha is coming,” the girlyelled, and then jogged toward my cage door. “Eli is with him, and—”

One of the guards slammed apalm against her chest and sent her reeling. “Go home, pup, before you gethurt.”

The redhead with her looked athim, then sent her stare around the little group of wolves before finallysettling it on William. “When I was finally able to contact Jared,” she toldhim, quietly, “I told him exactly what you’d done.” She paused, then walked tomy cage door to peer inside. None of them attempted to stop her. “You all knowme. You know I would not lie to you. Believe me when I say this. Our alpha willblame himself for what happened here today, but every single one of you whomistreated this girl will suffer for it.”

“She’s a fucking demon,” Williamgrowled. “It is up to me to protect this pack when Jared and Eli are gone. Mycaptain put me in charge, and I will do my duty.”

“If she’s a demon,” she toldhim, “she’s only part demon. And she’s done nothing but try to help us. Shealone destroyed the creature hunting and killing us. You let her fight alone,and you did nothing to help her. Warriors.” Her voice was sharp with contempt.“Trainees, is all. You willneverbe warriors now. And you, William,will be lucky if Jared does not banish you.” Then she turned her back on themand peered through the bars. “I tried to make them release you, but theywouldn’t listen. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” I told her, andshe flinched at the sound of my voice. Or maybe she’d just gotten a better lookat me.

“Jared shouldn’t have left thepack in the hands of these fools,” she said, her voice loud enough for thepatrolling warriors to hear. “He didn’t believe you’d appear until tonight, asyou always do, and he took his beta, his captain, and his best warriors tofight the Stone Moon Pack. Our scouts informed us before dawn that they were—”

“Shut your mouth,” Williamyelled, advancing menacingly. “You donottell outsiders or demons packbusiness!”

She stared him down. “Jared wouldwant her to know why he failed her.”

Then other wolves slid from theshadows, but they said nothing, only stared at the lead warrior with silentaccusations. They feared me because they believed I was a demon, but theydidn’t want to be on the wrong side when the alpha returned.

“You have no authority here,”William growled. “Go whine with the doctor and leave me be.”

“If she dies,” the redhead toldhim, “Jared will make you suffer before he kills you.”

“Fuck you, Lydia.” He got inher face, pushed too far. “Get the fuck out of here. Go home to your bitch, yousick fuck, before I have you thrown in with the demon. Then we’ll see, won’twe?”