Page 56 of Banished From the Pack

I jump forward before he can hit my savior. I wedge myself between them, slamming my palms on their chests as hard as I can. Startled, they each take a step back and stare at me.

“Please stop!” I yell, stomping my foot. “I’m tired of all you males making decisions for me.”

They both blink at me, and then they both start talking at once. I hold up a hand and bark at them to listen to what I have to say for once.

First, I turn to Axel. “You willfully severed our bond,” I remind him. “You told me I had to leave the pack. Callan and his brothers found me in the swamp, ready to die. They saved me.”

Axel’s Adam’s apple—Callan explained that one to me—bobs up and down as he digests my words.

“Like I said,” Callan starts, but I send him a glare that silences him.

“They took care of me,” I say, turning back to Axel. “Not you. You rejected me, and not just me, but my wolf. You didn’t want me as a mate, the other half of your soul. You can’t just tell me to come back like it didn’t happen. It happened. Our bond is gone.” I point to the dull scar on my arm, the one that no longer glows with the power of the moon and our bond. “No matter how sorry you are, it will never return.”

I swipe angrily at a tear, and Axel reaches for me. “Luna, I…”

I bat his hand away. “Whatever you have to say, I don’t want to hear it. I’m no longer a part of your pack. That was your decision.”

I turn to Callan and offer a tearful smile. “But if you’ll have me, I’m a part of yours. That’s my decision.”

A victorious grin spreads across his face, and he grabs me up in a crushing hug that knocks all the breath out of me. He smashes his mouth down on mine and then pulls back, grinning. “Hell fuckin’ yeah,” he says. “There’s not a single wolf in the world we’d rather have.”

I smile up at him, my belly and chest filling with pride. No one forced me to join their pack or forced me to leave. Axel may not have used his wolf dominance on me, but these men never made me join them to begin with, and they never cast me out. Callan and Ethan welcomed me from the start. Warrick may have grudgingly taken me in, and he’s grumpy and stubborn, but like the others, he let me be exactly who I am. He never once tried to make me something else, even when he used his dominance to keep peace. And most of all, he never hurt me.

Callan sets me back on my feet and swaggers toward his bike, his huge paw engulfing my small hand, his enormous frame dwarfing mine. I feel light and free, like I might burst into laughter at any moment. I don’t have to be told where to sit this time. I climb on the Queen seat behind Callan, and spare one last glance in Axel’s direction before we take off, spitting gravel.

He’s already gone.

The smile slips from my face, just a little, and a twist of pain burrows into my heart. I wonder if the rejection ever stops hurting.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Luna

A sense of deep contentment rolls through me as I sit with my arms wrapped around Callan, zipping over the wet, cracked roads and streets of civilized Jacksonville. The sensation changes to ecstasy as we head up the long sand and dirt driveway to their—our—house.

He said it was my home, too.

Callan keeps one arm pressed to mine, driving with only one hand as if he’s afraid of losing me again. Once parked, I climb off the Queen’s seat and wait for Callan to climb off. When he does, he throws his arm around me and guides me to the house. I’m so happy I think I’ll float off into the mosquito filled air like a piece of thistledown.

Inside the house, Warrick and Ethan stand from their seats at the kitchen table when we walk in.

“Luna,” Ethan says, a big smile cracking over his face and showing off that adorable gap where he’s missing a tooth. “You came home.”

He holds out his arms, and my feet come untethered from the floor, and I leap into his arms. He kisses me hard on the mouth and then sets me on my feet. I turn to Warrick, flutters building in my belly. I’m too nervous to throw myself in his arms, especially when they’re not held out to welcome me.

“Warrick,” I say quietly. We stare at each other a long minute, his dark, gold-flecked eyes taking me in. For once, he doesn’t frown, and his gaze is inviting rather than dominating.

“I got something to say to you—to all of you.” My heart is positively trembling now. I glance at Callan and Ethan before returning my gaze to Warrick. I take a deep breath and go on. “I never wanted to come between you. I respect your bonds with one another. I’m sorry to have brought so much conflict into this fine home. Please don’t fight over me because I can’t bear that burden on my shoulders. Don’t make me choose between you from one day to the next. I like all of you, and I don’t want to pick one over the other and stir up jealousy. If you let me stay with your pack, I won’t cause any more trouble, I promise.” I crouch before Warrick and place my palms on his boots, showing him that I’ll defer to his dominance just as his brothers do. He is my Alpha.

Warrick growls. “Get your ass up, girl. Don’t display your submission to me. That’s not what I want right now and not what any of us want. We don’t want a little bitch to bow at our feet. You’re equal to any of us, Luna—and then some.”

His warm hands hook beneath my arms, and he urges me to rise. I do, my head spinning. Even though Warrick’s the Alpha here and the only one to openly use a dominance display to put us in line, if I stare into the eyes of his brothers too long, I know they’re more dominant, too. I don’t know how I could be any of their equal, let alone more.

I lift my gaze as Warrick sweeps his hand toward the chair opposite him. “Sit,” he says to me. “Boys, sit.”

After we’ve all assumed our places around the tiny square table, we all direct our attention to Warrick.

He drums his fingers on the wood surface. Then, he retrieves his pouch of tobacco and rolling papers from his pocket, spreads out a piece of paper, and sprinkles tobacco leaves on top.