Page 6 of Banished From the Pack

I lift my tearstained face. “What can you do? Are you a shaman? A witch?”

“No,” Ama says, tipping her head to the side, but not like she’s curious. She doesn’t look interested or sad or scared Mama will die. Her expression isn’t anything. “But I know a healer. She can help your mother.”

“Why would you do that for me?” I ask, my eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Are you a panther? One of yours just did this to us, so why are you offering to help?”

She huffs out a breath. “I’m a wolf.”

My back stiffens and my heart races. This is what Mama warned me about all my life, the moment I’ve been taught to avoid since I could speak. “Wolves lie,” I whisper. “And murder their own kind.”

A flicker of something—surprise? confusion?—flashes across Ama’s face like a summer storm. “I’m here because you have something my Alpha wants,” she says, going back to her non-expression. “And that’s why I’m offering to help.”

“What do I have?” I ask, giving a panicked glance at the four walls, the leaky tin roof, and the bed of rags.

Ama stabs her finger at me. “You.”

“Me?”

She rolls her eyes up and then back down. “Yes, you.”

“Then you’re shit out of luck,” I say. “I can’t go anywhere with a wolf. Mama says so.”

“Suit yourself,” Ama says. “But from the looks of things, your mom won’t be saying anything for much longer.”

Desperation claws its way to the surface of my heart. I want to be a good wolf pup and obey my mama, but I also don’t want her to die. It’s my job to protect her. I’m the caretaker now, and I have to take care of her the way she did when I was young. So, I make a split-second decision.

Swallowing hard, I nod at the she-wolf. “Then save her. I’ll come with you and see what this Alpha person wants. But then I’m taking her home. Deal?”

“I’d like nothing better, but I’m afraid it’s not up to me,” Ama says with a sigh.

I don’t want to go without a deal, but nothing in my life has prepared me for this. Cuts and scrapes, even broken toes, are healed by our wolves, but serious injuries like Mama’s are another matter entirely. And dealing with other people, well, that’s even further from my experience than injuries.

But what choice do I have? I need to save Mama, the way she’s always saved me. If Ama’s lying, and this is a trap, I won’t be surprised, but the wolves can’t do anything worse than what’s already been done. Mama is dying. If I go to the wolves, even if it’s against her orders, at least I’ll know I did everything I could. If I don’t do anything, she’ll surely die.

So I make the decision to help her, even if that means doing the very thing she always warned me against, even if it means walking straight into the enemy’s lair.

Chapter Three

Luna

The second we emerge from the safety of the bayou, my instincts soar into high alert. Instead of being surrounded by pine-oak and tupelo trees and picking my way through the inkberry or Joe-Pye weed, I find myself on a road, which I’ve only seen from a distance. Up close, they’re bleached-out, hard surfaces with the texture of a dried alligator carcass.

Cars zoom past at alarming speeds. When trekking through the swamp, I’d heard the distant sounds of these beasts and seen them from afar, but up close, the rectangular metal boxes are bigger than a swamp monster and even more intimidating. I stop and shake my head, unwilling to take a step into this foreign land and be trampled by one of their metal monstrosities.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Ama mutters. “Has Axel made a mistake or what?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, grabbing her sleeve.

“I didn’t say a thing,” Ama says. She steps onto the hard surface of the road, yanking on my wrist.

I plant my feet and turn to look behind me.

We dropped Mama off at a healer’s hut not far from here, and now Ama is taking me to her Alpha. I know what that is from Mama. It’s the head of all the wolves, the most dangerous and fearsome of them all. I long for her comfort and wisdom as I take this giant step, but I’m on my own, with only Ama, who seems none too friendly.

Though I wanted to stay by Mama’s side until she was looked after by the healer, the wizened old woman with skin the color of clay and eyes like an eagle shooed us away, saying, “Your mother is standing at the edge of a precipice. I must tend to her at once to keep her from jumping.”

She assured me it would take a while and that I had better leave while she did her best to save my mother. So here I am. I turn to look over my shoulder in the direction of the healer’s home. My voice trembles as I speak. “I should stay here and wait for Mama… Make sure she’s okay.”

“No, what you should do is get to Axel’s so we can burst his bubble and get this over with. Then, when he’s accepted his fate is just a fancy that isn’t compatible with reality, I can assume my rightful place by his side.”