“Huh?”
“She misses her family and her friends. She hates that we could be part of the reason Walter and his sick cronies could win. I think she’d even forgive her father if he came around.”
I move to collect a cushion and drop it in the center of the circle.
“Your dad’s been pretty determined to find you too,” I say.
“I know.” She still won’t look me in the eye. “He came close a couple of times, but we dodged his battalion.”
“At home we called it a search party.”
Now she does look at me and it’s the dirtiest glare.
“You’re not honestly trying to tell me I should go back? This war isn’t on my shoulders.”
I put up my hands in surrender.
“Whoa, hey, I wasn’t—I didn’t mean it to sound like that. All I meant is there are people at home who care about you.”
She seems to relent a little, lowering her guard slightly.
“I know. And I know how serious this is. What it must be doing to Jasper, poor guy.” Done setting up, she plops down onto the log, clutching her shins with her palms. “But you’ve seen what the Pixies are doing. It’s good work. I feel like we’re contributing in a good way.”
I move to her and sit by her side.
“You two have been through a lot. And I get it. And I respect your decision to leave. But a lot of wolves are going to get hurt and Mia could help prevent that. But she won’t go without you.”
Olivia turns to me.
“And I won’t go. We shouldn’t have to live like second-class members of the pack, Max. Until things change, really change, the pack will just have to make do without us.”
“What about stopping Walter and the Axis Pack?”
At this she leans back, grinning just a little. “You’ve seen what we’re capable of. We’re doing our bit. Even if it doesn’t look how you or Jasper would like it to.”
I scrunch my lips to the side. “There’s nothing I can say then is there?”
“I don’t think so.”
Attention turned back to the prayer circle, ready for me to do my thing, I set my jaw and nod.
“Then this better work.”
Olivia and I sit quietly, enjoying the fresh, earthy air, the quiet of the morning, until Mia returns with Omar. He looks fresh, cleaned up and in a pair of floaty silken pajama-looking pants and a linen short-sleeve shirt. He must have borrowed them from a Pixie.
“Looking good,” I say, thinking Omar suits this place.
“Ready to hunt?” he asks me.
“As ever.”
Positioned in the center, I shift about on my pillow to get comfortable, while Mia, Olivia, and Omar sit around me like the points of a triangle. I give each of them a nod, letting them know I’m ready, and Mia and Olivia close their eyes, concentrating, trying to focus their wolf energy in my direction so I can use it to bolster my reach.
Omar gives me a cheeky wink before saying, “Close your eyes.”
I do.
The song of the first bowl rings out, the vibrating sound pulsing through me. With my palms turned to the sky, I focus on my breathing and let my mind expand. The extra lunar energy provided by Mia and Olivia fills me and suddenly I feel electric, powerful. I reach out into the Lunar Plane, searching for a familiar frequency, for Mal.
