10. Traveling

Chapter 10

Traveling

NIKA

"My Luna!" Thorin called out with reverence as his eyes traveled back to meet with my own. "You have demands of me. Speak your demands now, so we can take you to meet your new pack."

" My pack," I began, to which several of the men chuckled. My glare pierced through their laughter and shut them all up quickly. "We live here together on this island, we grow our own food, cook it together, eat, drink, sleep, and keep a watchful eye on the waters around us. We wait and watch for the vultures to approach who want to take what they have no permission to. We protect one another when we can. What would you call us?"

I threw my arms out wide to indicate all the women of the island. "We are the rejected, the abandoned, and unwanted. We are a pack unto ourselves out here on this island surrounded by haunted waters we dare not cross."

The men glanced around, seeming unsettled by that proclamation. Thorin simply nodded his head.

"Indeed, you have made your own pack. That was my mistake. Our bond didn't create a Luna, you have been one all along." He glanced around and then tipped his head down toward me in almost a bow of respect before he spoke again.

"You have my name, and I feel at a slight disadvantage since I do not know yours." His eyes held a warmth in them that made me want to snuggle up and feel his protective arms wrapped around me. It was then that I felt the weariness of all these months for what it was. A solid weight upon my shoulders and a heaviness on my heart that I feared would always be present.

I tipped my head in silent agreement and respect for the man who was wise enough to understand. "I am Nika Mayweather. This pack, my pack , has a choice to make. Each of us must decide if we will stay or go with you. Whether your men choose them or not, if they decide to go with your pack, you must make room for all who choose it, or none of us will follow."

"How many are there on this island?" Thorin asked. While I understood why he asked, as he needed to know his pack could handle the influx of bodies, that was an answer I would not give. My silence was all the answer he received.

Thorin glanced around, surveying the width and breadth of the island, no doubt imagining just how many females it could house without overburdening our carefully constructed habitat.

"I will agree to your conditions," he finally stated before bearing all his straight white teeth at me in what was meant to be a reassuring grin. "It may save our other men a trip out here."

"What does that mean?" I asked, nervous all of a sudden.

"I only brought half of the unmated, of-age males from my pack with me," he announced.

"Half?" I repeated before taking in the many males standing nearby. All of them waited their turn to see if they had a mate amongst us. "Are all of them without a moon-blessed mate?"

"Most."

"This is only half?" I asked again as my eyes returned to his. "You must have a large pack."

" We do." He emphasized the ‘we' part, making it clear where I fit into the mix. "And it seems as though it is about to become even larger."

"Are you serious or just humoring me right now?"

"There are a couple things you should know about me. One is that I am a man of my word. I would never agree to something that I don't intend to follow through with. The second is that my father, the Alpha who came before me, detested this island and those who sought to use it. Our pack's policy for mates who choose to reject their moon-blessed is that they must come to the Alpha and explain why they want to go against the gods' decree. Sometimes, there are legitimate reasons to do so."

"What happens to the rejected mates?" Carlotta asked when Thorin paused.

"They are given a choice to stay in the pack and deal with the rejection, and potentially seeing their mate with someone else - and that goes both ways. Once rejected, each person is able to move on to a chosen mate if they wish. If they don't think they can handle seeing their mate, they are granted the right to leave the pack. Either or both mates can choose that option."

"Is that for real?" Janella asked.

"We are shifters, if it was a lie, you would know."

Janella, the older widowed wolves, and a few others chose to leave the island and come with us. A few, like Tessa – who was only a couple years older than me – wanted to stay in the hopes of finding their mates. Tessa, in particular, had seen a vision from the Sky Gods of her mate coming to claim her on the island. I hoped that it worked out for her, even as I worried about leaving them all behind.

"We will send supplies for them," Thorin reminded me.

"That seems to be the party line from all the packs who disposed of unwanted females on Mirage Island. This was supposed to be a second chance island for rejected females. There were three females who were dumped onto the island as children or teens, several widowed she-wolves, and some of the others were never rejected. They simply didn't conform to what was expected of them in their various packs. One was here because she fought and refused to be passed around by the unmated males until her mate could be located."

"While I am deeply saddened to hear that, I promise you that my pack is not responsible for any of those atrocities. Our pack does not throw away family."

"Yes, but you need to understand that no one from that island blindly trusts, and for good reason."

Thorin gave me a nod that seemed to indicate he understood where I was coming from. I hoped that was the case and even more so that he lived up to his promises. "Are the rest of you sure you want to stay?"

It hurt my heart to think of leaving any of the women behind to fend for themselves. At least I knew they had plenty of supplies and would have plenty more to show up so long as Aiden believed I was still hidden away on Mirage Island with them. I tossed my hand in the air and offered one last farewell gesture to the women who chose to stay. I was about to turn around and follow Thorin and his men to the rafts they had tied at the shoreline when he called out to the women of the island.

"My pack is sending the other unmated males as soon as we return. They will bring more supplies, including seeds and tools for you to use in your gardens."

It made me sick to think that the island, and its inhabitants, had been neglected for so long. Had it not been for Aiden, some of them wouldn't have made it as long as they did. Too many were malnourished and unkempt when I arrived. There was no doubt in my mind that they would have perished before now if not for the supplies Aiden sent for me.

"I hope you live by your word." I whispered the words to the Alpha, so that the others might not hear or pay attention to us. "If you fail me in this, I will know you as a man who is no more worthy of me as his Luna than the other Alpha who could have potentially been my mate."

"You needn't worry, fierce Luna, I have the best of intentions, and I always follow through. I would never jeopardize my standing with a potential mate, especially when the gods have seen fit to give you a choice." Aiden was unaware that I had a choice in mates. Maybe, allowing Thorin to know the situation would be the leverage needed to ensure he kept his word to my people - the rejected and the lost women of Mirage Island.

As nine of us boarded the bus with Thorin and his men, I reached out via our pack mind link.

Nika: I am going to try to stay connected with all of you for as long as possible. Hopefully, you don't lose the mind link ability with me gone.

Tessa : Thank you, Luna. It was an honor to know you.

Tessa was the female in our scouting tree near the docks when the men showed up. She didn't think the pack that came to us via the western shore was the one that would bring her mate to her, but she still wanted to be a lookout because of her dreams. She had explained that her dreams from the goddess showed her on the island when her mate arrived, so in her mind, that meant that nothing would happen to her before he came to find her.

Nika: Be safe, my friends.

I left the remnants of my Mirage Island Pack with well wishes and prayed to Selene that Thorin kept his word and didn't forget about the women of the island.