Ten

Ruby

The more the night had progressed the darker it had gotten, but I knew that wasn't a problem for Xavier. He could see and hear things I couldn't, and he had made a show of having me stand directly in front of him as his eyes transformed to his wolf's eyes, black like the darkness around us. Since I had run out of the house barefoot, I finally got that piggyback ride from him as we made our way back to the house.

I pressed my cold cheek to his warm shoulder as my body swayed with each step he took.

With my eyes closed, I could see him within my mind, the real him. I smiled as I remembered the feeling of his fur between my fingers and his warm body at my back when I had lain beside him. The sudden onslaught of feelings confused me. Were they real, or was my bond to him creating them? If there was no bond between us, would I still find him attractive? Because if the answer to that is no, my feelings couldn't be real.

Who was I kidding? I had found him attractive from the moment I had laid eyes on him in that library. Sure, at the time I only thought he was hot, just not my type, as I had judged his personality without even knowing him.

I wrapped my hands a little tighter around his neck. "What was it like? When you smelled me on Natalie. What happened to you?"

He stepped over a broken branch. "Usually in human form you can't feel your wolf," he began. "You know it's there, just under your skin, but you can't feel it the way you do when you call it forward to transform. When I smelled you, my wolf awakened on its own. The hairs on my body stood on end and I felt as though if I didn't find you I'd rip the world apart."

"In the diner, when you got angry, it's because you saw that I'm human. I'm human, and no matter the bond we have, I can never be luna. That puts you in a complicated position." I swallowed. "You'll have to reject me."

"A luna is the woman who stands by her alpha's side and offers him strength. A luna has always been a wolf, but there is nothing in our laws that says a luna can't be from another species."

I scoffed at that. "I think that's because it's a given that it can only be a wolf."

"Ruby, I won't reject you and I won't step away from one day being the alpha of this pack. You don't have to take on the duties of being the luna. My dad has been running the pack on his own for years. My mom's passing took a toll on him, but being the alpha, he had to pull through."

I frowned. "He didn't end up like the man you killed?"

I could hear the pain in his voice as he replied. "Almost. Something like that takes a toll on a wolf, but some more than others." He cleared his throat and I made a mental note to ask him about his mother another time. I had noticed Mathieu's wedding ring but the lack of a mate. "The point is, a luna is important but not mandatory for a pack's survival."

"So, it's like cereal tasting better with milk but you can eat it without."

He chuckled and nodded his head. "Yes, exactly, but you don't have to worry about any of that right now. One step at a time. That means contacting the Enchanted as soon as possible."

I knew the thought of losing me was painful to Xavier; I could hear it in his voice whenever the topic of losing a mate arose. I was just as scared of dying as I had been when I first came here, but now I simply couldn't stand the thought of what might happen to him if I… No, no, I won't think like that.

No one knows the future, but I had to believe I wouldn't die this young. However, I hadn't been able to get what Axel had said out of my mind. What if I really was created by a witch? But to do what, exactly? In a world of the impossible being possible, a weak human mating a werewolf was the impossible made possible. I'm surrounded by werewolves, a species that shouldn't exist, yet still I'm the puzzle among them.

Xavier stopped walking, his head turning to the left and then right, and I lifted my cheek off his shoulder. As I felt his body growing tense, I grew nervous. What would make a werewolf nervous at night, in the middle of his own woods?

"Xavier?"

"Shh."

Oh god!

He tapped my thigh and I untangled my legs from around his waist so he could place me gently onto the ground. My eyes were wide as they looked around, but whatever Xavier was seeing or hearing, I couldn't.

"Ruby, I want you to go back to the house." He stepped away from me. "Now." He began removing his shirt and instead of backing away I approached him. He stopped me with just a look. "Run!"

I jerked my hand away as he yelled. His voice was contorted and deeper as his shoulders hunched forward. Before I could ask what was going on, I got my answer. A werewolf barreled out of the bushes and Xavier stepped protectively in front of me, punching the wolf in the face and sending him flying backward.

Xavier began to shift, his skin tearing and ripping, his body growing in size. With it, his pants began to rip until there was nothing but shredded clothes on the ground. My body was shaking with terror, my eyes wide, and my hand clutching at my heart. My brain was telling my legs to get the hell out of here, but I couldn't.

The wolf Xavier had hit reappeared and my legs finally started to comply with the commands coming from my brain when a second wolf appeared, its eyes on me. I stepped back and the new werewolf stepped in my direction, only to be blocked by Xavier.

Xavier howled and I winced and covered my ears as the sound rolled up to the sky like a peal of thunder. It was like nothing I'd ever heard before and my body shook with its force, but his howl was met with two others and I turned and ran.

I pumped my legs hard as I ran through the forest. Branches tugged at my clothes and scratched at my skin, but with the battle I could hear behind me, the animalistic growls and snapping branches, I was more worried about Xavier. He was more capable than I was, clearly, but why weren't there wolves out patrolling or something? Were those two wolves from this pack?

Tears began rolling down my cheeks as I heard one of the wolves cry out behind me. The sound was horrific, and I prayed to any god that could hear me that Xavier would be safe.

My legs were aching and no doubt bleeding, but I couldn't stop running. I had to get back to the house and let everyone know what was happening. What the hell was even happening? Who were those wolves?

Lights from the house appeared ahead and I began screaming. Someone must have heard Xavier. There had to be someone already outside and heading to the woods. Someone had to hear me!

"Help! Help me!"

The lights from the house grew brighter the closer I got and I swatted at the tears that were blurring my vision. This can't be happening, not now! At every turn, whenever I have a moment of joy and peace, it's immediately taken away from me, and I'm sick of it!

"Help me!"

I saw the wolf a second too late.

I saw its fangs and claws just as I was slammed into a tree, pain blossoming throughout my body. I crumpled to the ground, groaning and hugging my midsection, and a massive clawed paw was the last thing I saw before I was consumed by darkness.

◆◆◆

Xavier

My fists came down hard on the island, breaking a chunk of the marble off and leaving the rest cracked. Everyone who had been speaking fell quiet as my growl rumbled through the house. My wolf was losing its mind and I was quickly losing control.

She's gone. Ruby's gone!

"We'll find her," Natalie said, but her soft voice wasn't offering me comfort.

I started pacing back and forth, my eyes closed, as I clenched and unclenched my fists. Ruby's smile kept flashing within the darkness in my mind. I kept seeing the fascination that had been on her face only a few hours ago when she had seen my true form.

I had been worried about scaring her, but she hadn't been scared at all, not in the least. I felt like a fool for thinking she would have run for the hills.

Ruby's strong, she's brave, and whoever had taken her was going to die a million deaths by my hand.

I had heard her screaming for help when suddenly the two wolves I had been fighting turned and ran. They had been nothing but a distraction.

They had done their job of keeping me busy while someone else went for Ruby. I never should have told her to run back to the house without me.

"Fuck!" My fist went through the fridge and my dad walked up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. "We tracked the wolves far east before their scents just vanished, Dad. Her scent as well. Those wolves aren't from any pack I know, so who the fuck were they?"

He squeezed my shoulder and I held his stare as he spoke. "We have wolves out right now looking for her, so the second someone finds something, anything, we'll know. I also sent Anna to get Willow. Maybe she'll be able to do a location spell to find Ruby. We'll find her, Xavier."

I ran my hand down my face, pulling the skin taut as I looked at Natalie and Randoll, both of them sporting angry expressions. "I want her back," I told them, and Natalie nodded.

"We'll find her," Natalie replied. I could see that she too was trying to control her rage. I knew she blamed herself for everything that had happened because if it was not for her I wouldn't have found Ruby.

But I could never blame her for bringing my mate into my life.

"Do you think it's the Council?" Randoll asked, as he looked between my father and me. My dad shook his head.

"I don't think so," he replied, his eyes on the broken island. "This isn't the way the Council does things, but we also can't overlook them. I can reach out to my contact, but doing that means they'll learn about Ruby if they weren't the ones who took her."

I placed my elbows onto the island and began rocking back and forth. "No. We can't risk that. We'll find out who did this when we find Ruby."

The feeling of panic and rage I had experienced the night Ruby had almost been raped was returning with a vengeance. That night I had been there. I had been able to act swiftly. But now I had no idea what danger she was in. I had no idea what was being done to her while we all stood around chatting.

"Maybe it's rogue wolves," Randoll suggested, and I nodded in agreement. Rogue wolves are rare but real. Most of them become mercenaries for anyone who will purchase their services, so it's possible rogues were hired to take Ruby. "My question is this, how would rogue wolves even know about her unless someone in this pack broke Dad's command to not speak of her to outsiders?"

"I'll call a meeting. I'll find out if someone here betrayed us." My dad left the kitchen and Natalie and Randoll shared a look. Disobeying my father is rare because everyone knows he can be as cruel as he can be kind.

"How are Jackson and Raven?" I asked Randoll. They were the wolves assigned patrol duty tonight. He sighed heavily. That was a bad sign.

"They're in pretty bad shape, but alive."

Natalie turned away. "I'll go to her room and find something that her energy is tied to strongly. Willow will need it."

My dad walked back into the room as he pocketed his phone and Natalie stopped in her tracks. The look on his face gave me pause, a sick feeling settling in my gut.

"They picked up her scent. Her blood was found, but there's no way to track it. Her scent started and ended where they found the blood."

I began taking deep breaths as my urge to shift grew stronger. In times of heightened emotions an accidental shift can happen, and losing my shit right now wouldn't help anyone. It wouldn't help Ruby.

They had found her blood. Those fuckers were dead men walking! I went to walk past my dad when he grabbed my arm. He looked at me, his eyes narrowed, before he looked at Randoll and Natalie as well. "Something's coming and Ruby's going to have a big part to play. We need to find her. The goddess doesn't make mistakes."

◆◆◆

Ruby

My bones ached as if they had all been broken and then reset and were on their way to healing. I was at a loss for why my body felt so fucked up, but I remained still until my throbbing headache eased.

I inhaled and my nose crinkled from a horrible stench.

What the hell is that?

I cracked one eye open, but surprise soon had my other eye popping open as well. Why was there a stone ceiling above me?

I bolted upright as I realized I was in a dimly lit dank cell and not my room at Xavier's house. An odd heaviness on my left leg pulled my

attention and my heart started pounding harder at the chain attached to my ankle.

What the fuck is going on?

My headache returned in an unpleasant wave and I hunched over and held my head. Images began flashing within my mind, of me running into the forest, of Xavier's wolf hitting me with his tail, of a strange werewolf attacking me and sending me flying through the air.

"Fuck," I said under my breath as all my memories returned to me, and my mouth went dry as I took a closer look at the cell I was in. There was the bed I was sitting on and an old, disgusting toilet but nothing else. With only a single window high above the bed I was sitting on, very little light was coming into the room.

It was enough, however, for me to suddenly see someone standing in the shadows outside my cell. I swung my legs off the bed, the chain on my leg slowing me down, but I got to my feet and dragged myself forward.

"Who are you? What am I doing here?" The person didn't move or speak, and my nostrils flared. "Hey dipshit! What the fuck am I doing here? What do you want?" The chain stopped me before I could reach the bars separating me from the creep who was watching me.

"Answer me! Let me out of this nasty-ass cell right now!"

"So, you're the human mate." My mouth slammed shut at the deep booming voice of my watcher. "I was expecting more. Even for a human, you look so fragile."

"Yeah, how about you unchain me, and you'll see what this fragile human can do, huh?"

The man chuckled and a chill went down my spine that had nothing to do with how cold it was. My breathing became labored and I suddenly felt overwhelming fatigue. How the hell was I going to get out of this?

Being a bitch won't help you.

I gritted my teeth at the voice in my head and did my best to straighten my spine. "Look, you've got the wrong girl okay? I have nothing, literally nothing, that anyone wants. Let me out of here, please."

"Oh, you're the right girl."

My shoulders slumped and my head fell back. "What do you want?

Tell me what it is you want then."

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough. What are you?"

I frowned at that. Did I smell like a wolf or something? Because that was the only reason this person could be asking me such a stupid question. I bit my tongue to hold back my sarcastic response and tilted my head to the side.

"What do you mean? Can't you tell that I'm human?"

The man tsked. "No you're not. No human can be mated to a wolf and you're mated to two. You're not human and I'm going to figure out what you are."

"Look, buddy, all of this is a shock to me as well, okay? I'm human.

Just unlucky enough to be the first to be mated to a wolf…or wolves."

The shadow moved as if the person had planned on stepping into the light, but they froze. "If it was up to me, I'd kill you." I clenched my fists at my sides and I bit the side of my cheek. If this guy's plan was to scare me shitless, it was working. I couldn't believe it. At first I had thought I was in hell being at Xavier's house, but that was a palace compared to where I found myself now. "But it's not up to me, not yet. News of a human being mated to a wolf can never get out. Weak wolves like Alpha Mathieu who think they can live peacefully with humans will never hear of this. They'll never think it's possible to bond with humans."

The man turned to leave, and the words tumbled from my lips before I could stop them. "He's going to find me you know!" He paused, but didn't turn around. "Xavier is going to find me, and when he does, whoever the hell you are, you're going to be sorry! You hear me! Sorry!"

He continued walking and a door opened, blinding me. "Help! Help

me!"

The door slammed shut, leaving me alone in the empty cell as I

continued to scream.

Please find me, Xavier, please.