Page 55 of Banished From the Pack

There can only be one man riding with no shirt, hair flying back, and the tattoo of a wolf family on his broad chest.

Callan.

I want to leap up and run to him, throw myself into his arms. But then I remember leaving, and why I left. Has he come to warn Axel about the conflict I’ll bring?

My wolf woofs happily inside me, insisting he’s come for a different reason, that he’s come for us.

Callan rolls right up the sidewalk and parks in the sparse grass in front of Axel’s home. He kicks the stand down and swings his long leg over the frame of the bike.

“How’d you find me?” I say, folding my arms over my chest and trying to hide my smile as he stalks over.

“I’m a wolf.” His arms cross, too, as he faces me, studying me with a somber expression. “I scented until I found you.”

“Really?” I ask, uncrossing my arms when my sandwich dribbles juice down my leg. I shove it in my mouth, so I won’t say something else, like begging him to take me back and promising I won’t do any more shaving with Ethan, no matter how good it feels.

“Come home, Luna.”

I swallow down the sandwich even though it sticks in my aching throat. “I don’t have a home.”

“You’re wrong,” he says. “You left before we could tell you.”

“You were fighting,” I say, my eyes aching as hard as my throat. “I made you fight.”

He scratches his beard. “We’re a bunch of stubborn men,” he says. “We find things to fight about whether you’re there or not. But you know what happens then?”

I shake my head.

“We work things out,” he says. “If you stuck around, you’d have known that. We came to a decision. Warrick, too. We all agree, your home is with us—if that’s where you want to be.”

I nod, a tear leaking down my cheek.

Callan lets his arms fall by his side. “I saw your shack. It’s been destroyed.”

“I know,” I whisper.

Footsteps storm through the house, heading for the front door. Instinctively, my arms squeeze tighter on my chest, and I back away from Callan. Callan may have worked things out with his brothers, but now I’m causing a fight between him and Axel.

“You’re trespassing,” Axel roars as the screen door swings open, banging against the wall. “You have two minutes to get your mangy ass off my property before the whole pack arrives and tears every organ from your ugly corpse.” His hair’s all wet like he just got out of the shower, and he’s shirtless like Callan.

His muscles are taught, water droplets clinging to his shoulders, and I can’t help but gulp when I gaze at his beautiful form, his smooth golden skin and the small tattoos on his shoulders and forearm. But then I turn to Callan, his own muscles bunched with rippling power, his skin inked and scarred in a dozen places. He’s just… More. Bigger, wilder, stronger; with more tattoos, more scars, more hair, more beard. And there’s three of him and only one of Axel.

“Oh, yeah?” Callan asks, puffing his chest up even bigger. “You think I’m scared of the kind of dumbass who would sever a True Mate bond with this sweet little lady?”

Axel’s eyes narrow, and for the first time, I feel the edge of his dominance shimmering in the air between us like heat rising off the still pools of water on the most scorching summer days. The intensity of it makes me shiver and gasp, even though I can feel that it’s only beginning.

“Get off my property, mutt,” he says to Callan. “She’s mine.”

He steps forward, resting a gentle hand on the back of my neck, and a wave of soothing comfort washes over me. I stare up at him, my mouth dropping open. He has some kind of… Magic. That’s the only way to describe how he can calm me with a single touch of his hand, how I can know instantly that he means me no harm. My wolf settles inside me, content.

But it’s not right. He hurt us. I’m not safe here, and his magic only makes me more sure of it. I duck away from him, and before he can touch me again, Callan is up in his face.

“Sorry, dude. You gave up your rights to her. She belongs with us now.” Callan circles Axel like he’s getting ready to attack.

Axel doesn’t back down. Instead, he circles to face Callan as the bigger man moves around him. “Abunch of outlaw punks?” Axel asks, spitting the words at his enemy with a scoff. “No way does she belong with the likes of you.”

“You had your chance with her,” Callan retorts with a shrug. “Not our fault you threw her out. She was a lone, banished wolf when we found her. She wasn’t on pack land. By every werewolf law, she’s fair game. And what tasty game she is…”

“You motherfucking mongrel,” Axel snarls, leaping for Callan.