Series: Star Moon Pack Series by J.L. Beck
Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 118781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
I do my best to hide it, walking slowly but smoothly away from the group. “It’s pretty easy to win a fight when three gang up on one.” The voice is a familiar one—as familiar as my own—but it comes a little too late.
“It’s fine,” I whisper to Emma, who’s standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at Dexter with a raging fire in her eyes. “Don’t start anything.”
She ignores me because it’s easy to be brave now that everything is over. “Or are you afraid of a one-on-one fight?”
“Afraid of a fight with your freak sister?” Dexter purses his lips and makes a kissing noise, which she scowls at. “In her dreams.”
“Enough bullshit! Emma, keep interrupting my training sessions, and you won’t step foot in this space again, got it?” She scowls at Riley’s shouting, putting an arm around my waist, which I quickly shake off. I don’t want her making me look weak, no matter how much I’d like to let her bear some of my weight.
Nobody ever told me for sure why my sister is allowed to sit in on the training sessions when she doesn’t participate. She aged out a couple of years ago, around the time her wolf first showed itself. I’m a year older than her and have never so much as heard my wolf whisper in my head.
Something tells me her presence is a favor to our father. I doubt the pack’s beta rests easy knowing his oldest daughter can’t defend herself the way a wolf should. I’m his greatest shame and the pack’s punching bag. A freak. Having Emma around is a way of keeping me safe, but she has a habit of only speaking up when it’s too late.
Not that I blame her. I really don’t. She has her own position to think about. Her reputation. We might be sisters, but the pack is her family, too. She can’t exist without them—none of us can. Our pack is all we have in the end.
Meaning I have nothing without them and nothing but misery with them.
I try not to think about that right now.
“I’ll be fine,” I tell her once we’ve left the training center. “Really. You don’t have to escort me.”
She tosses her brown waves back before scowling at me. Like almost everything else about us, her chocolate-brown hair is the opposite of my nearly platinum locks. Her eyes are a warm hazel, while mine are piercing blue. She’s accepted and wanted, while I’m… very much not.
All because her wolf bothered to show up on time, while I was left behind. “I only want to be sure you’re okay.”
“I will be. Go ahead, do whatever it is you’d rather be doing than babysitting me.” I can’t help but tease her, though. “Or maybe you don’t go to those sessions because of me. Maybe you can’t get over hooking up with Riley at the last full moon party.”
“I should never have told you about that,” she whispers as her cheeks flush. I was surprised she did since she normally doesn’t talk about the ceremonies or the parties that follow. She doesn’t want me to feel bad, but she doesn’t understand I only feel more alone when she acts like the events never happened.
“Go on. I’m fine.” The healers work out of a storefront across the street from the training center, making it very convenient for me to get treated after my regular injuries. I wave her off and cross the street without looking back, though I can feel her eyes boring holes into my back. She feels sorry for me, and I hate it. I don’t need anyone else feeling bad for me.
At least Sasha is working this afternoon. She’s my favorite of the healers who create and sell their tonics and poultices out of the store, along with talismans and candles, and other items that are only borderline acceptable. It’s a thin line between healing and outright witchcraft. One they manage to walk without slipping over the edge into territory that would put us on the map and paint us as targets.
After a quick adjustment, with the benefit of a pungent tea she makes me drink beforehand, I feel as good as new. “What’s in this stuff?” I ask, staring at the bottom of the empty cup.
She chuckles and takes it from me. “Something to dull the pain, of course. I don’t hear you complaining.”
“And you won’t.” I feel great, like I’m floating on a cotton cloud. “I might have to buy some of that tea.”
“As fond as I am of you, I can’t do that. It’s too easy to fall into the bad habit of taking too much.” When my face falls, she laughs gently and pats my shoulder. “Who knows? With your natural talent for healing, you might end up dosing this tea out one day. I’ve always thought you should be trained as a healer.”