Just as I was about to black out, the rope loosened, and I gasped, gulping in air.
My vision cleared, and I blinked at the figure standing above me.
Terror paralyzed me as recognition dawned.
“You!” I choked.
Confusion ripped through me before something hit me square in the jaw and everything faded into darkness.
38
Jaxson
I knelt by the edge of the water on an old, weathered limestone outcrop, waiting for the moon to rise.
The spirit guide was an old woman with dark, piercing eyes. She crossed her legs and asked, “You have not done this before?”
It was only something alphas could do, and I had not been an alpha long.
I shook my head. “When I was a child, I saw my grandmother moon-call once, and my father only one time after her.”
She nodded. “We’ll wait for the moon to peak, but now is the time to prepare our minds. Look at the light on the waves. Become one with the reflection.”
I gazed down on the slowly undulating reflections of the moon mother, who watched from high overhead.
But my mind kept going to Savannah. Worry gripped my chest, and the seer’s words haunted me. If you do not stop them, she will be dead before the full moon rises, and with her, the future of your pack.
It was almost full moon. Two more nights. I wanted her here. But would she have been any safer from demons waiting in the forest than in the motel, surrounded by armed men and women? No.
This was for the best, but the doubt still gnawed at me. Without her at your side, you will not discover the answers you need.
Pain shot through the back of my head.
“Focus,” the woman hissed as she shook out her fist. “We haven’t begun the ritual, and you’re drifting already. How will you walk through the rays of the moon and not get lost?”
I had no idea what that meant, so I tried to focus my mind on the reflection and let the guide do her work.
But I couldn’t focus.
I heard thunder miles away, but it didn’t smell like rain. I concentrated on that.
A mournful howl echoed in the distance.
I sat up straight, heart pounding.
Then again. Another howl, tinged with sorrow and regret.
My skin iced, and I leapt to my feet. No.
The woman grabbed my arm. “Where are you going?”
“My pack is in danger.”
“The moon will not wait.”
I cursed and ran as fast as my legs would take me.
Twenty minutes later, I skidded to a stop in front of the chaos of the Sunrise Inn.