TALIS
I've moved to sit on the floor with my back against the door, my legs crossed in front of me, and my eyes closed.
Since Uncle Glynn and Abel kidnapped me and brought me back to Dawley, this is the second time I've tried to have some alone time with my wolf.
In the past, it's always been her talking-or rather growling or snarling at me-and me telling her to shut up or ignoring her.
For years.
I think the last time we existed in any kind of harmony was when I had my first shift at sixteen.
Although at the time Uncle had been beating it into me I was a submissive, there were times my wolf and I were in perfect agreement that Uncle Glynn was wrong.
Even though I was careful to avoid arguing back, I wore a mask that often slipped.
Sometimes, on the rare occasion when my wolf and I fought back, we won our battles, and it felt amazing.
Right up until Uncle Glynn came down on us like… well, hard enough to hurt. Because although I may have won a few battles, he always reminded me I would never win the war.
But what's happening now, this is the war, and I have to win it.
We have to win it. And we can only do it together.
This time, instead of talking in words with the wolf side of me, the side of me more used to emotion, I use pictures, and I use feelings because somewhere along the way, I've forgotten how to talk to my wolf so she can understand me.
We're both alphas, I realize, and I've been treating her as if I'm alpha and she's beta, or she's subservient to me when it couldn't be any further from the truth.
I remember the time just before my first shift.
I'd finished cleaning the house, and I escaped into the forest in my bare feet, jean shorts, and a t-shirt.
My hair was longer then, and I was days away from my sixteenth birthday.
The sun was beaming down on me, and the day was so beautiful, I didn't care how much trouble I'd be in for not getting permission to leave the house.
I needed, craved to be free, to be running wild more than anything. I no longer cared about any punishment.
So, with my hair streaming behind me, I ran, and I ran, and I ran.
It felt like I was flying, and even though my wolf was still tucked inside me, I could feel her joy arcing through me, like she was looking out of my eyes, and I was sharing this moment of perfect happiness with her.
We were… whole.
I'd never felt like that before, and that's the feeling, that's the memory I show my wolf.
And slowly, I feel the echo of my joy flying from her to me.
Together. We have always been stronger, happier, and freer together.
She shows me an image of Dayne, and at first, I don't understand what she means, until I watch as, in slow motion, a paw with fur that could only be mine reaches out and shoves Dayne into the lake.
My laughter bursts out of me.
"I'm leading."
Those are my first words to the pack who have gathered in the den.
I'm met with silence.
"And I'm leading from the front," I add because I don't want there to be any confusion or misunderstandings later.
"Talis, perhaps-"
I cut Luka off instantly. "No. That's the way it's going to be. I'm leading. From the front. No arguments. Any questions?" I ask brightly, turning to the pack who've spread across the couches and cushions in the far more elegant den than the one back home in Hardin.
Regan's hand slowly inches up. I glare at her until she slowly lowers it again.
"Good. Now the plan is-"
"Talis," Luka says, a deep frown on his face. "I know you don't want to hear this, but I can't just agree to this without saying something."
I cross my arms over my chest. "It's the baby, right?" I guess.
"Partly, but-"
"Well, no need to worry about that. Squirt's fine."
His eyebrow goes up, though he doesn't comment on my strange name for the baby. "But it's not just about the baby. It's what's going to happen when we get there. Leading from the front means-"
Again, I cut him off, "my being right at the front, I get it. We're going to get Dayne back, that's mission one. Then we're going to kill Glynn Merrick and put an end to all of this once and for all, that's mission two. Then we can go home."
"And anyone who gets in the way of that?" Savannah's hands tighten around the decorative cushion she has clasped in her lap.
"Has their throat ripped out," I reply.
"I like this plan," Regan says, nodding happily.
"I knew you were bestie material." I grin at her.
"And are you going to be able to do that? Because leading from the front means you will." Dean is looking serious for the first time. Well, as serious as I've ever seen him before.
I meet his gaze calmly even though I'm feeling anything but. "After what they did to me? No one in that house deserves to walk away."
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that follows.
"Look, I won't chase them down, that's not what I'm saying. In fact, no one do that. You will be used as a hostage, so no going off too far. But if anyone thinks they're going to stand between me and Dayne, or me and Glynn, they're going to die."
I let them hear the truth of my words and see it in my face.
This isn't my enraged wolf talking. This is both a threat and a promise.
"And your wolf?" Hallee asks softly. "She isn't going to-"
I shake my head. "No. In this, we're united. None of you have anything to fear." Even though I don't meet Savannah's eyes, I catch sight of some of the pack glancing in her direction.
Savannah tosses her cushion to one side and rises from the couch. "You can't put yourself in unnecessary danger because Dayne will only blame us for it, not you."
I consider her for a moment, and I know her words are coming from a place of love, so I agree, "okay, I understand. But that doesn't mean I'm hiding at the back. Uh, no offense to anyone in the back."
There's a splutter of laughter at this.
"Since it's always me," Hallee mutters, "I guess it's okay."
"Right, if that's all?" Without waiting for a response, Savannah starts for the door. "Let's go bring Dayne home."
"Hey!" I hurry to catch up to her. "That's supposed to be my line. Is it the model in you hungry for attention?"
To my utter surprise, Savannah hooks her arm around mine and leads me from the room. "Of course, how did you guess?"
As we pour outside, the mood turns serious again because the situation is serious.
Although only Savannah has brought it up, the possibility not all of us are going to be coming home from this hits me right between the eyes.
No.
I straighten my back. That's not going to happen. We are all coming home.
"Are you okay?" Regan asks, appearing beside me at the bottom of the stairs as the rest of the pack strip before they start shifting.
"Yeah, why?"
She grins at me. "You had a look on your face just then. I wouldn't say you looked constipated but-"
Spluttering with laughter, I go to punch her in the arm, only she evades me with a laugh.
"Just you wait," I mutter.
Around me, some of the pack are mid-shift, Luka has shifted already, and some look like they're waiting for me to shift before they do.
There's an air of expectation I can't ignore.
Right. I guess I'm up.
I'm not going to lie, but the thought of stripping in front of everyone when being naked has never been my favorite thing to do fills me with apprehension.
But I'm a shifter. And I'm Luna.
I can't continue to let my insecurities hold me back from being what the pack needs me to be. So, if that means stripping down to my birthday suit in front of everyone, then that's what I'll do.
So, I step out of my jeans, one leg at a time, and prepare to take off my shirt.
Then after the tiniest pause, because, come on, this isn't easy, I pull the shirt over my head before I turn toward the Dawley National Forest.
I start running.
"Hey!" Regan shouts after me, "I hope you don't intend to-"
Between one step and the next, I shift from human to wolf.
It's so ridiculously easy, I can't believe it at first.
"Show off," Regan mutters behind me.
I turn to give her a wolfy grin as she narrows eyes that hold more than a touch of awe, and she's not alone since shifting on the run is something only an alpha can do.
With an impatient, hurry-up-and-get-a-move-on growl, I head into the forest at an easy pace as the rest of the pack finish shifting and follow me.
We fly through the forest, and there's a part of me that wonders at my lack of fear.
I know I should be afraid of confronting Uncle Glynn again.
But I'm not. All I'm eager for is an end to this. All I want is to save Dayne, rub his face in it, and go home to Hardin.
Even killing Uncle Glynn takes a backseat to that because bitterness and rage are all I see in Uncle Glynn's face, and I don't want that to be part of my future.
I want happiness, and friends, and laughter. All the things I have with the Blackshaw pack. My pack.
I refuse to let anything get in the way of that.
Not even getting revenge on Uncle Glynn for all he's done to me.
It's easy to track Dayne's path into the Merrick forest, a place I spent my whole life, so in less than an hour we're so close, I can feel him.
Since I don't know if he's hurt, I open myself up to him and send a flow of feeling through the mate bond, telling him we're here and I miss him.
I may say more than that, but with the mate bond between us still forming, all I hope is he got enough of me through it to know I'm close.
I'm the first to burst through the trees and into the clearing near the house, close to where Dayne and I had our moon-blessing ceremony.
"Alpha said you'd be back," says Reece as he leans against a tree with a rifle in hand.
I take in the rifle, and I know at once what happened to Dayne. Tranq dart.
Still, the sight of it isn't enough to stop me. I step closer, and behind me, I feel the rest of the pack spread out and follow me out into the open.
When Reece turns to take them in, he grins. "What is this? A rescue? And is our little submissive leading the rescue?"
I narrow my eyes at him and take another step.
His grin turns into a laugh. "Am I seriously supposed to be afraid? Of you?"
I narrow my focus until I have him in my sights. And then I spring at him.
Reece has less than two seconds to realize things aren't going his way, and that he should've used the rifle when he had a chance.
I know this because I read it in his eyes before I take him down and tear out his throat.
Then, I throw my head back in a howl that all wolves will understand.
This time it isn't the Merrick pack doing the hunting.
It's the Blackshaws.