Daughter of the Moon (The Moon People, Book Two) Read Online Free PDF Page A

moment longer, looming over them with a presence that compelled obedience. For a moment a strange feeling of apprehension tugged in Netya's chest. Caspian blinked, as if surprised by his own actions, then relaxed slightly. His expression softened, and he was back to being the man she recognised.
    It was strange, seeing him like this. Only a scarce few times could she recall her man taking on the kind of authority that was usually reserved for alphas. It was an authority that she had been attracted to, back when she was Khelt's woman, but it was also part of the reason she had come into conflict with their old leader. She did not know how she felt about seeing the same qualities emerge in Caspian.

 
    —3—
    Wolves of the Wild
     
     
    They were back to travelling again, pushing on hard and fast through the intermittent snow and spatters of hail that beat down from an overcast sky. The clutch of winter tightened its hold on the land around them day by day, turning shallow pools that had once held fresh water to ice, and hiding treacherous ground beneath shrouds of snow.
    The pack travelled quickly on the legs of their wolves, bundles of belongings bound across the backs of the strongest while the weaker scouted ahead. They had left much behind in the days since their travels began, absent of the strong men who would usually have borne the supplies of the pack. The chunk of flint Briar had been working might have made for several dozen excellent knives, axes, scrapers, or any of the other numerous tools they were in need of, but it had been left abandoned near the ashes of their fire before she could put any of it to good use.
    Thankfully the going became easier once they finally rounded the northern edge of the mountain range and found themselves able to head south again. The unwelcoming land behind them gave way to rich pine forests broken up by sweeping valleys and hills, offering both warmth and shelter from the bite of winter.
    Once she was sure Alpha Turec's territory was far behind them, Adel allowed the pack more time to rest, but they never paused for more than a few hours at a time before moving on. It had taken many weeks to circumvent the mountains, and their few ragged tents would not be enough to see them through the winter if they were caught out in the open, without food or water to sustain them as the cold season reached its bitter peak. Worse, the den mother impressed upon them daily the importance of keeping their noses to the ground for the scents of other wolves. She had no desire to be caught off guard again as she had been by Turec's hunters, and the whole group shared in her apprehension.
    Caspian and the den mother seemed to have some vague knowledge of the packs who made their home in this land, but neither was personally familiar with what they might encounter, nor how alliances and borders might have changed since the last pack gathering some three years ago.
    As one of those frequently tasked with light scouting and hunting duties, Netya tried her best to observe all of the plants she came across, both new and old, and fit them into the mental list she had learned when she first began her apprenticeship as a seer. Travelling left little time for Adel and the others to instruct her directly, but she tried to carry on expanding her knowledge in whatever small ways she could.
    More pressing of a task, however, was mastering the will of her wolf. That was an area of her learning that could not be left to languish as the days passed by. Fern and Caspian were her teachers, and even Wren, who had only recently learned to command her own wolf, was able to empathise with the struggles facing her pack-sister.
    Adel had advised that she keep the feral part of herself suppressed as much as possible, at least until they faced less trying times, using only the strength of her wolf's body to see her through their travels without indulging the keener impulses of its spirit.
    It was a difficult task. Every time