Shadows of the Past

Sixteen

I woke back on my bed, tucked into my covers. My phone buzzed from its spot next to me, and I tapped the screen to turn off the alarm. Sitting up, I felt normal again, like I had yesterday morning and last night. You know, before everything went into madness.

The pack! I gasped and scrambled out of bed, my legs tangling in the sheets and ultimately leading to me actually falling off the side of the bed.

"Ahh!" The floor said when I landed. Except the floor couldn't talk, and it was definitely River's voice. Slightly croaked from sleep, but still unmistakably River.

I ricochet off of him as if he had bucked me away like a horse. "Sorry!" I screeched, finally getting my ankles out of the blanket and stepping backwards away from him. By the time I looked at him, he was standing up and staring back at me, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

His face was a conflict between wanting to hug me or wanting to kill me.

"Good morning?" I tried, then remembered how we got like this. "Wait, were you on my floor all night?"

"Yes. I tried the guest room, but couldn't sleep with my wolf knowing we were so close to you, yet still so far. Fell asleep instantly once I was in your room again."

I rolled my eyes and bundled the blankets up in my arms, tossing them past him to the bed and then walking to my bathroom without saying another word. It wasn't until I was washing my hands after using the toilet that I once more remembered about last night.

Bursting from the bathroom, I ran back to him and threw my hesitancy about him out the window as I grabbed ahold of his arms. A flood of questions poured from my mouth. "What happened last night? Who attacked? Are my parents okay? Is there anyone hurt or. . .?" And finally because the question screamed inside my head, "Are you okay?"

"Slow down!" He chuckled a little, twisting his wrists so he could grab my elbows from underneath, since I was holding onto his unflexed bicep just above his elbow.

"Answer me." I demanded, and he seemed to think that was funny, too.

"Your pack is fine. Your parents went to bed last night unscathed. And yes, I am also okay."

A breath I didn't know I was holding puffed out through my mouth. I released my grip on his arms, wincing a little when I saw the red, finger-shaped imprints left behind. "Sorry." He shrugged, not even indicating he would try to rub the marks away. I'm sure his sparks lingered with the imprints, and that made me want to rescind my apology. "Who was it?" I asked instead.

"Quarter Moon."

My brow furrowed, then stretched up into my forehead when I realized who that was. "No. No, no, no!" I jerked myself even farther away from him, leaving him confused. "That can't be right. Quarter Moon wouldn't attack us!"

"Are they another ally?"

I stopped pacing, though I didn't remember starting to move my feet in the first place. "Well, not exactly. But two of our Beta Female's family members found their mates there. Dad said. . ."

River folded his arms, his biceps defining with the pressure. I tried not to stare, I couldn't make that a habit. "Did they mate high-ranking wolves?"

"Well, no, not exactly." Both Eva and Skylar mated enforcers.

"Then there's nothing that could stop them." I stared at him in disbelief. He explained, "Unless they were high-ranking, the alpha wouldn't listen to the pleas of two she-wolves trying to stop an attack on their birth pack. Not if he was determined and had a very specific end goal in mind."

Like returning Mom to Her Majesty.

"But—but-"

"Sorry, Em. Your friend didn't have a say."