Jericho was hot headed, rash, and cruel. His wants came before all others, and he believed his word was always right. Without his mate, he was even more of a threat then he’d been in the past. More, yet less as well.
As if his thoughts had conjured her out of existence, the scent of his brothers’ mate tinted the air. He turned his head, following the sweet smell of strawberries, and locked eyes with a set of golden ones.
She was beautiful, had been for as long as he could remember. There’d been times when he’d foolishly wished she’d been destined as his mate instead of his brothers, but knew deep down that they were meant for a friendship the likes of which none could rival. She was his confidant, his shoulder, and his savior in many ways. She’d pulled him from the edge-this one as well as the proverbial-on numerous occasions.
No doubt that was what she was here for now.
Standing at a lithe 5’7” with her shoulders squared back, she looked very much the part of a warrior. Not surprising, seeing as how she’d been his right hand for a little less than one hundred years now. Her hair, a glittering copper color that ran down to her elbows, flicked about in the wind.
“ Is it possible to be jealous of hair?” he asked her quietly, watching as soft tendrils slid against her bare arms.
“ What are you doing out here, Jensen?” she questioned, ignoring his statement without so much as a blink. Her clothing was made from deer hide, as were the boots that went up to her knees, and she didn’t seem to notice the mud that caked her pants.
“ Did you go running?”
“ Don’t deflect.”
He let out a chuckle. “You’re not the one in charge here, Kiley. Or have you forgotten that fact?”
“ Of course not,” she hissed back. “If I were in charge my first order of business would be to forbid you from ever coming here again. You risk your life too often, sir. You risk the pack too often.”
His hazel eyes hardened, and he took a distinct step towards her. “I put the pack above all else. It’s the only reason I’m still here.”
This didn’t seem to surprise her, and instead of pushing him further she held out a hand. “Come. You requested I tell you news of your brother, and I won’t do so here, out in the open.”
“ There is no one around to overhear.” He sent sarcastic glances side to side to emphasize his point. Still, she was right and they both knew it. He just felt like being an ass, and she-for some reason-had decided to take it today.
“ Jensen, let me do my job. Let me take you inside.” Her voice had dropped a few octaves, and she still held her hand stretched out before her.
She was the only one who knew how to play him, just what to say and what to do in order to get him to bend his will to theirs. He’d known her since she was born, had grown up with her. Where once she’d had it all, now she had next to nothing. Her job was the most important aspect in her life. She used it not only as an outlet, but as a way to atone.
She’d remained with his brother and the Truth pack for a century before realizing that he’d changed. Then she’d come to Jensen, begging for forgiveness and entrance into the Moonshines. He’d given it.
Leaving a mate took more strength then most had, in fact, he’d only ever heard of it happening once before in his entire lifetime. But she’d done it; she’d made the sacrifice for her people, and for him. Jensen couldn’t deny her anything when reminded of this fact.
“ You win,” he heaved, gripping her hand in his own and stepping completely away from the cliff. “Tell me of my brothers’ woes.”
“ And if there are none?” she asked, leading them through the thicket of trees and to the cave where they’d made their home for the past five years.
He couldn’t help the tiny growl that slipped past his lips.
“ I could only watch from a distance,” she began as they entered the cave. “And the spy didn’t have much for us today. I still think that-”
“ No,” he stopped her, already knowing where she was going with this.
“ I could be useful there, Jensen,” she argued. “That’s more than can be said for the spy who never has anything for us to go on. He hasn’t given us a single piece of information that can be used to our advantage. I fear you’ve chosen wrong in this.”
“ I trust Gregor.”
“ Yes, but should you?” She turned towards the table that was situated against one of the gray stone walls.
The cave was large enough to house fifteen of them in their human forms, and twice as many as that in their wolf ones. The ceiling was high, hovering over their heads by a good twenty feet, and there were a number of twists and turns leading to different caverns within. The Moonshines had situated themselves there, taken refuge there, not only from the Truth pack, but from the humans as well.
They’d grown smarter over the years, advancing their weapons and their tactics. War was waging between the Mirror Warriors and the mortals. It wasn’t surprising, after all it was just a matter of time before they turned on their supernatural counterparts. Fear was a strong motivator.
“ Are you questioning my choices?” he asked her, though there was no heat in his voice. He lowered down onto a large bolder, leaning back against another wall. He sighed when the cool surface touched his skin.
A few strands of his multi-colored hair fell into his face and he blew them out of the way so he could watch her begin to sharpen a knife blade. Though they were twins, Jensen and Jericho looked different in many ways. There were similarities as well, but for the most part those differences stood out.
For one, his hair was made up of multiple hues of gold’s and browns, where as his brother’s was a solid chestnut color. He was tall, at 6’4”, his brother the same, and they both had the eerie blue, green, and brown eyes that changed with their mood.
“ I fear for your safety, that’s all,” she huffed back. The sounds of stone scraping against stone reverberated throughout the cave as she sharpened the make shift knife in her hands. “It’s hard to know who to trust nowadays, who to believe. This has been going on for a long time and now the newer pups don’t even really know what this is about.”
“ It’s about my brothers’ greed,” Jensen said. “And about his disloyalty. That doesn’t mean that everyone has to be though. Gregor has been a friend for a long time. I’d trust him with my life.”
“ You are trusting him with your life,” she pointed out. “It would be better to-”
“ Do you want to go back to my brother, Kiley? Is that it?” He watched as her whole body froze, as waves of worry wafted around her. When she looked up and met his gaze, he kept his face devoid of any telling emotions. This was something that he needed to know. Did she want to leave him?
“ Of course not,” she whispered so quietly that if he hadn’t been a werewolf he wouldn’t have heard her.
“ Then why push this? Why do you want so badly for me to consent? If I did what you asked, I’d be sending you straight back to him. And if he ever found out what you were really doing there, that you were spying for me, he’d do worse than kill you.”
“ Yes, but until he found out-if ever-I could supply information that we need. He trusts me, Jensen.”
“ Correction, he trusted you. He no longer does. Not after you turned your back on him.”
Originally, Kiley had gone with Jericho, had stood by his side and arranged the Truth’s. She’d taught them, led them. Lived with them. But inside she’d known what was wrong and right, and she’d realized that her mate had gone over the edge.
Jensen still couldn’t believe that she’d had the courage to come to him directly, to stand before him and the entire pack of Moonshines asking for acceptance and forgiveness. She never told him what had finally pushed her, what Jericho had done that was horrible enough to get her to leave, and he didn’t pry. She kept her secrets for a reason, and he wanted to respect that.