Kaden stopped at one of the vans and turned around, then let out a loud howl. Answering howls came from the town, and before I knew it, the Ophiuchus pack members were running toward their alpha. A few snarling Leos followed, most in wolf form, but some of the Ophiuchus wolves broke off to hold them back.
Another explosion shook the ground beneath my feet, and I jumped as I saw a flash of light back the way we’d come. Several of the Leos turned to see what was happening, but a few stayed, locked in a vicious battle with the Ophiuchus shifters.
"What was that?" Mira asked, her voice frantic.
"A diversion," Kaden said.
Suddenly the mate bond tugged at me, and I knew Jordan was close. I turned back, unable to stop myself from being drawn to him despite everything, and spotted him on the balcony of one of the houses nearby. Our eyes met across the distance, but he didn't move.
He's letting me go, I realized.
The pack started piling into the vans, and Kaden stalked toward me and Mira. He grabbed each of us by the arm and shoved us inside the van we stood in front of, then slammed the door shut. This van was the kind you used to transport things and had no windows looking out, and no seats in the back. Our area was closed off from the rest of the van, so I couldn’t even see who was driving. In fact, it looked like more of a prison than anything else. Dammit, I thought. Not again.
The click of the lock confirmed my suspicions. We were prisoners, or maybe just a step up from that. The van shuddered to a start, and I was thrown to the floor as whoever was driving took off at top speed. I stayed down and pressed my head to the floor. I was a captive, again, and it stung more than ever because it was my own pack that was locking me up. I could understand why Kaden would be a little hesitant to trust me after seeing me willingly leaving with Jordan, but if he'd given me even a second to talk to him, I would have explained everything.
Why did Kaden come after me if he was just going to treat me like a prisoner?
I glanced over at Mira, who was slumped against the wall, her eyes closed. The run to the van had taken the rest of her strength, and we both needed time to heal. At least we were together, and we were getting away from the Leos and the Sun Witches. We were better off with the Ophiuchus pack, even if they treated us like dangerous criminals. It hurt knowing they didn't trust me, but once I explained everything, they'd let us go. I was still a member of their pack, dammit.
Wasn't I?
Chapter Eleven
Hours passed. I’d tried to stay awake at first, thinking we’d only go a little way and then Kaden would come and talk, but no such luck. We drove, and drove, and eventually, I fell asleep. My body was tired, hurt, and the adrenaline had finally worn off, leaving me with bone-aching weariness and a body desperately trying to heal itself.
When I woke next, it was to the back of the van being opened. Both Mira and I sat up in expectation, and I held my breath, but it wasn’t Kaden who opened the door. In fact, I didn’t recognize this member of the Ophiuchus pack. He looked vaguely familiar, probably someone I’d seen around the town, but I’d never talked to him.
“Get out,” he said, and there was more hostility in his voice than I’d expected. I climbed out, squinting as I took in the landscape. We were no longer in the desert, but it didn’t look like the forest of the Ophiuchus pack lands either. I clearly hadn’t been out for that long.
I turned and helped Mira down, and then turned back to the male shifter. He crossed his arms as he looked at both of us and then motioned to the gas station we’d stopped at. “One of the females is going to take you to the bathroom, and you’ll be provided with food. Don’t even think about running.”
I gave him a bewildered look. “Why would I run? I’m back with my pack.”
Something in the male’s jaw twitched. “Just go.”
Another shifter motioned us forward, a female. I’d talked to her before, and remembered she was one of the mothers of the cubs that Stella taught, but I couldn’t remember her name. She didn’t look at me as we walked through the gas station. Where was Harper? Or Jack? Or Kaden, for that matter?
The place was deserted except for the cashier, who stared at us as we walked by. I wondered what we looked like, two battered young females being led by a tough-looking older female. He didn’t say a single thing, despite his looks.
Mira and I took turns in the bathroom, and when I got inside, I was shocked at my reflection in the mirror. I’d almost forgotten that I was still wearing that goddamn see-through dress, although at least my bruises had faded and my black eye was mostly gone. No wonder the gas station attendant stared at us when we walked in.