I wasn’t sure if our cousins or other Packmates ever did this, but it was our thing nonetheless. I’d never heard the Moon Goddess speak to me while we did it, I didn’t think any of us had, but it brought us closer together.
“Ready to go?” Brodie asked as he bounced over. He kissed my temple and took my hand, leading me to the center of the circle.
The Pack circle had been a place of bloodshed, heartache, and monumental decisions in the past, and I knew it would one day be so again, and soon. The stone stadium had been carved into the side of the mountain, the center area packed dirt from centuries of wolves settling their paths over time.
This was where dominance challenges, Pack meetings, and other important events were held, and was where I had become an enforcer of the Pack. Kade had cemented a new layer on the bond that connected me to him and the others, and my wolf had preened. I’d stood next to my brother, and the two of us had been welcomed into our new prospective roles in the Pack, alongside a few of my cousins, and I’d never been prouder to be a Jamenson.
Now we were here as a smaller part of our immense family, knowing I would be off on my journey within the hour. Spencer needed me, and my wolf clawed at me to find him.
“Ready?” Josh asked, a small smile on his face even though I saw the worry in his gaze.
Josh, Reed, and Hannah had fought demons, wolves, and the end of the world to save their family and each other. It was a lot to live up to, and I had to pray to the Moon Goddess I’d find a way.
“Ready,” I whispered.
Then I held Brodie’s hand, took my mother’s free one, and closed my eyes. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to. We just let the power flow through us, protection, warmth, and love gliding over us as if this had been what we’d been searching for all of our lives.
Having a witch, a human, and a wolf as our parents set us apart from the others ever so slightly, and we used that for our gain. The Pack needed us, and we needed the Pack.
Pack was family.
Pack was one.
We were Pack.
When we were done we camped out in the center for a snack, because it was hard to leave and we liked being with one another. Addison, Monica, Redmond, and Brodie were off to the side, going over plans for the week in their roles for the Pack. Nico stood with our parents, frowning at something Dad was saying, and I wanted to ask what it was, but I needed to focus on what my wolf was nudging me toward.
Spencer needed me, and I needed to focus on finding him.
Conner and I were off to the side near the trees, my wolf unnerved and anxious, and my twin rarely let me out of his sight when his wolf was on edge. I didn’t blame him, even if I wanted to.
“I don’t want you to go.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why? Because you think I can’t handle it? Or because you want to go and prove yourself? You know I’m a Tracker. This is my job. You have other responsibilities here.”
He ran his hands through his hair in a quick and jerky motion. “Of course I believe in you, Kaylee. That’s not the problem. I don’t want to be a Tracker. That’s your thing.”
“Then what is it?”
“I have a bad feeling, okay? I don’t know what it is, but I feel like if you go, something bad will happen, and I’m not going to be there to protect you. And I know you hate that, but we protect each other. I won’t be there, and you could get hurt.” He rubbed a fist over his chest. “You will get hurt. I can feel it.”
I froze, my wolf at attention. “You don’t get visions, Conner. It’s just a bad feeling. It’s not a prophecy.”
I didn’t know if I was telling myself or him. I’d never seen him this way, and it scared me. We were closer to each other than we were to our other siblings, closer than we were to anyone else. And though he annoyed me to no end, he was my brother, my twin. Since he was this worried, I wanted to tell him that I would stay and figure something else out, but we both knew that couldn’t happen. I had a job. A duty. Same as him. Spencer needed me to find him, needed me to follow the trail of evidence and hope to the Moon Goddess that my Tracker ability would kick in and the sense of knowing would intensify.
I couldn’t stay to alleviate my twin’s worry, and it killed me.
“I’m not the Foreseer of the Pack. I know that. It’s just…I don’t know, Kaylee. I’m worried, and I’ve never been this worried before. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do if you get hurt, sister mine. My wolf is so close to the surface these days. We both know that. What if you get hurt and I go rogue?”
And there it was, the stark honesty of his words and the pain slicing between us both over the twin bond.
With the new powers in the supernatural world, rogues were intensifying, we all knew it, but we didn’t know what we were going to do about it. We could do our best to stop them once they turned, to find a way for them to go find a new normal and reality, but we couldn’t prevent them. Not when we didn’t know the root of the problem.
Conner was nowhere near going rogue, but I knew my words wouldn’t be able to help him, not when he was this worried. If we weren’t careful, not even our Alpha and Omega would be able to keep him from turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I stepped forward and hugged him, wrapping my arms around his middle and holding tight. “I love you, Conner. I’m going to be okay, and even if something happens to me while I’m there, you won’t go rogue. My wolf won’t allow it.” I growled those last words, the twin bond between us flaring.
“That doesn’t instill me with confidence, Kaylee.” He snarled the words, but he still hugged me back.
“I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say, other than we’ve both trained for this, and this is my duty. I have to trust my skills and the Pack I’m visiting to ensure I don’t fall down a hole and get lost or something.”
He snorted, exactly as I wanted him to, before he squeezed me tightly once more and stepped back. He shook himself, his eyes gold with his wolf. Yes, Conner had always been closer to his wolf than most of us, but it wasn’t a problem. There were others who were even more tightly wound with their wolves and rarely let the gold seep away. We all had different relationships with the souls that resided around ours, and I knew from the bottom of my heart that Conner would be okay. His wolf protected him just as he protected those around him.
He had to find the faith to believe in that, to believe that I would be fine.
And though I wanted to say something more, I couldn’t, not when I was worried. I was going into an unusual situation, to a place I’d never been, and while I would have liked backup, we didn’t have that kind of relationship with the Starlight Pack.
I’d find my way and hopefully, if the Moon Goddess could help us, find Spencer.
Because if we didn’t, if we lost another Packmate, I wasn’t sure what Conner would do, or the other enforcers for that matter. The rogues were increasing, and if we weren’t careful, our Pack could be the one that produced the next set of rogues.
Killing another friend would destroy me.
Killing my brother would end me.
Chapter 4
Kaylee
I wasn’t a fan of flying, though it had nothing to do with heights. My wolf needed to be free and have the choice to roam, and flying didn’t give us that option. I wanted to pace up and down the aisle so I could at least move, but I didn’t want to tip off the attendant and pilots in the small private plane that the Pack owned that I wasn’t comfortable with flying.