Chapter 5: The Scent of Moonshadow

Lynne's POV

I snapped my head up — and met those green eyes I knew all too well. He was wearing a white shirt today, sleeves casually rolled up to his elbows, the lines of his forearms catching the light in a way that was frankly aggravating. I looked at the young she-wolves clustered around him and couldn't help but frown. He knew perfectly well what he looked like...

Wait.

Why did I even care? The tips of my ears burned hot. The people around me had started throwing suspicious glances my way, and my face was so flushed I wanted to find a crack in the floor and disappear into it. No — I was not going to be some Alpha's gossip fodder. My body moved before my brain could, and I reached over and calmly took the half-empty wine glass from beside him as if nothing had happened. I kept my eyes in strict control. Not one glance in his direction.

The guests looked away. Wyatt was quickly surrounded by the crowd. Briar seemed to have noticed the little moment too. She slipped through a gap in the conversations and moved to stand in front of me, pinching the soft flesh at the back of my waist between two red-lacquered fingers. I winced. She steered me toward the curtain by the corridor, ducked behind it with both hands on her hips, and jabbed her long red nails toward my head — warning me to behave and not try anything. I met her gaze head-on.

"I haven't done anything, Lady Briar. If it bothers you that much, I can go help in the kitchen."

Briar looked furious. "Then get to the kitchen right now!" I rolled my eyes hard at her back, but gave her what she wanted — slipping away along the edge of the first-floor ballroom and through the corridor. The Sterling kitchen was in the building to the right of the villa. I had to keep going outward, cut through the walkway, and circle around to the back entrance. I had a few stacked trays in my hands and had just rounded the corner when a figure flashed past — and I caught a scent on instinct.

Then — every hair on my body stood on end. Like something had reached into my chest and wrenched at my heart. All I wanted to do was cry. Since the fall of the Moonshadow Pack, I had never once caught this smell again. It was a smell I wouldn't forget even in death — the light, airy fragrance of mist and morning dew, of breath and sunlight. The smell of water moving through soil. The smell that had surrounded me every day of the seventeen years I lived before. Some people might not be able to tell the difference. But I would never mistake it. I felt it — the scent of the Moonshadow Pack.

The slight, small figure darted quickly into the flower beds, as if trying to smother the trail. But I caught it anyway — and it was only getting clearer. I could picture that small person crouching and weaving through the bushes. I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I dropped the trays, moved quickly down the steps ahead of me, and just before I pushed into the flower beds, I glanced back carefully over my shoulder. No one from the Sterling family or any of the guests was watching from the windows upstairs. The windows were empty. I gathered my skirt boldly and followed the scent into the flowers, running as fast as I could.

Thank the moon that the Sterling gardeners tended their flowers so devotedly — they grew tall and dense, hiding me well even as I ran through them. I followed the scent forward until the path ended and a high wall rose in front of me. I had reached the outermost edge of the Sterling family's outer courtyard. Between the flower beds and the outer wall was a strip of open ground barely fifty centimeters wide. Nothing there but dirt, rubble, and a scattering of unpleasant trash.

My heart sank. I stood there while the cold wind blew through me without touching me. I lifted my head and looked up at the bright, full moon hanging in the sky — and then? Nothing. Only the wind spilling over the wall toward me, this fool standing here alone. No Moonshadow. No scent. The whole thing was just — wait.

At the base of the wall, a small, dark hole appeared.

My eyes went wide. My heart slammed against my ribs — and then sheer, wild joy flooded through me, because this meant it wasn't my imagination after all. I crouched down. To be precise, it was a dog hole — far too small for anyone but a child or a petite she-wolf around five feet tall. I was five-nine. But that didn't matter, because I was slender and lean. I had the smallest waist on the wolf continent. Telling myself exactly that, I didn't pause for a single second. Red-faced and breathing hard, I pushed through the hole. My backside got stuck at the opening, but I fought and wrenched my lower half through. My deep pink floral dress had turned the color of yellow earth. My thighs and backside caught two or three gashes from sharp, jagged rocks jutting out of the wall. But at last, I pulled myself free.

On the other side was a road. Across from it stretched a wild, open forest, with a river cutting between the road and the wilderness. I was fairly sure that was the Sterling River — the same river where Alpha Wyatt and I had crossed paths for the first time. Reason told me I should stop here. This was dangerous. But something inside me was pushing me forward. I didn't know if it was my wolf guiding me. I still hadn't completed my shift. I hesitated for a moment, looked up at the moon one more time, and then ran — without the faintest trace of hesitation, fear, or turning back.

I crossed the muddy, uneven riverbed. My shoes were soaked through, every step making a wet, squelching sound. I didn't care. The scent was growing stronger. If back at the Sterling villa I could still have doubted whether it was my imagination, now I was absolutely certain — here, somewhere close, was everything I had lost.

I reached the foot of the hill. I looked up and spotted a cave with a faint, flickering yellow light inside. The scent grew fainter — but I chose to keep going anyway. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a hand appeared. It was holding a cloth, and it clamped hard over my nose.

I thrashed, trying to pry the hand away — but I could feel the strength leaving my body bit by bit, slowly draining out of me. A cold, creeping dread settled over my mind. I finally understood.

It had been too quiet ever since I left the ballroom. And now, I caught the smell of a sedative.

My heart pounded like a drum. The danger I hadn't felt coming hit me all at once. The scent had lured me here — I had walked straight into a Rogue camp. I tore at the hand with everything I had, my nails nearly breaking the skin. I had no idea what was waiting for me. The liquid would take a few minutes to work. I kicked back hard and made contact.

I turned to look at whoever had attacked me — and when I saw the face, my eyes flew wide with shock. But my body didn't give me time to react. A heavy drowsiness was already pulling me under.