Mira: Her Alpha, Her Ruin Chapter 13: I Know You’re Lying

(MIRA)

Whether it was exhaustion or lack of blood, I did manage to get a couple of hours of sleep. Just as the sun started to creep over the horizon, we headed out. Like I asked, Shiloh pulled his power in, and even I was fooled. He wasn't hiding his wolf. That wasn't possible, but when I focused on him, he just seed like an average wolf shifter.

That would make things easier. My injuries were mostly healed, so I moved faster and easier on foot. Shiloh was never more than an arm's length away from , and I liked that even less.

He was also in a chatty mood.

"You didn't respond to my order to shift," he said casually as we walked. "Care to explain how that's possible?"

"Maybe I'm stronger than you."

His growl told that it was the wrong thing to say.

"As I'm sure you've already seen for yourself, my wolf is broken. It doesn't function."

"Since when? Did sothing happen in my pack?"

I snorted. "Worried that your edict to tornt has backfired? You can rest easy. I haven't shifted since the night you killed my father."

Shiloh actually stumbled, and I turned my head and frowned, suddenly worried I'd missed a magic trap. We weren't actually in Ashenveil yet, but for all I knew, they'd added a few spell traps outside the boundary, just for shits and giggles.

It wasn't that. He was looking at in horror. "You haven't shifted in three years? What the fuck was Phineas doing?"

"Shouting at until he was hoarse. It didn't do any good."

"Mira..."

"We're in the middle of rogue territory. It's not really the place to have this conversation." And it was none of his fucking business.

"Any wolf worth their salt is going to sll us long before they hear us."

He wasn't wrong. I just didn't want to talk about it. "Look, you saw my wolf. She's submissive. Timid, but she's alive, so there's really nothing else to discuss. I won't try to block her when the need arises, but she's not going to co out and frolic in the woods."

My statent was t with silence, and I adjusted the pack on my back. The flare gun was tucked in my waistband, and I was a little worried I was accidentally going to set myself on fire.

A real gun would co in handy, but they were banned from most pack territories for obvious reasons. I'd co across one, years ago, at an old human camp settlent, and my father tossed it in the river and grinned at , as if he knew what I had in mind.

"How can you detect a magical trap?"

"You know the way your skin feels right now, how your wolf feels, surrounded by all this magic?"

"Yes."

"If you look close enough, you can see shimrs in the air. Sothing that looks almost real but is just a little off. For so, it takes so studying to see it, but I can catch on quicker. It's almost a different colour."

Shiloh grunted. "And how do you disable it?"

"It's a little early in our courtship for to be giving away all my secrets."

He grunted again, and I couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't worry, if I thought you could do this yourself, I'd be more than happy to divulge my secret. I have no desire to spend any more ti with you than necessary. Now that I'm here, trapped with you and facing what is probably my imminent death, why don't you tell who told you I was here to begin with?"

"Royce Irving."

Now it was my turn to stumble. Royce Irving was a na I knew a little too well.

Alpha of the Blood Moon Pass pack. Irked that my father had kidnapped his niece, Irving had hunted my father down and nearly ended him six or seven years before Shiloh did.

Unfortunately, my father offered sothing a little more desirable to Irving. .

"Strike a nerve?" Shiloh asked. "He knew all about your trip, but he didn't know why. He did insinuate that the two of you were close."

"Jealous?" As soon as the word was out of my mouth, I desperately wished I could take it back. But since I'd co this far, I went ahead and threw my whole weight behind it. Glancing over my shoulder, I shot him a teasing smile. "Don't worry, mate. I'm all yours."

His eyes tinged gold, and I quickly snapped my head forward. Even teasing him was playing with fire.

"If you're going to say sothing like that, you should wait until you can et my eyes without shaking in fear," he said sardonically.

"Yeah, well, the person and the wolf aren't always simpatico, and as you've already discovered, my mouth tends to get away from . When did you speak to Irving?"

More importantly, did he know where I was?

"I joined the supply run two weeks ago."

I read between the lines of his casual delivery. The Blood Moon Pass pack was the closest to human settlent and actual civilization. That was also an errand that was far beneath Shiloh. He'd gone on purpose.

Looking for information.

"Discover any other deep dark secrets about while I was there?" "Why, Mira? Is there sothing you want to talk about?"

Abruptly, I stopped and pointed to our left. "Do you see that hollow?"

Stopping so closely that I felt his breath on my neck, his hand brushed against my waist.

Instantly, I tensed and stepped away. To his credit, he didn't follow. "I do." "Anything seem strange about it?"

He looked a little bit longer. "It's a perfect circle. I find that odd. The edges are a little bit blurred."

"Magic, although it's small. As long as no one tries to enter it, we'll be fine."

"It does look like it would make a good shelter," he muttered darkly. "What does it look like to you?"

It lit up in a brilliant pink with vibrant tendrils reaching out. The whole thing pulsed. "It's blurry," I lied. "We're officially in Ashenveil, so be on your guard."

"Where were you going when you escaped? Were you trying to get to the coven?"

My thoughts turned back to the night I'd so desperately raced toward my freedom. "I needed to head to a source of water so my father would lose my scent. After that, I only knew that there was an area he avoided. I had no idea there were witches, not until I started to see the traps. Then, I only thought that it was the perfect place to hide. Honestly, I didn't give a damn where I was going. Only that I could get away."

All that work. Everything had been going my way. I'd finally found my freedom. And still, I hadn't been able to keep it. The mory still made bitter.

"Once he was freed from the trap, how did he get back to you?"

"My father was smart. He went back, gathered enough wolves, and threw their bodies at the spell traps until he reached ."

Shiloh made a strangled sound in his throat, and I glanced over my shoulder.

"Oh, you think I should feel guilty for their sacrifice? Every single one of them had innocent blood on their claws. There wasn't anyone my father ran with that would deserve your respect."

"Yourself, included?"

"I have innocent blood on my claws too, but then, you already knew that."

I glanced up at the sky. The sun was reaching its highest point in the sky, which ant more rogues were waking up. Hard to know if the closest was miles away or if we were about to pass one napping overhead.

"Keep your power pulled in. We're probably not going to be alone for long. Most rogues don't have a problem with other rogues, but so are territorial, as you've already seen. Every wolf wants to think they have their own land, whether they're in a pack or not."

"And so will challenge for you," he pointed out.

He wasn't wrong. There were nearly ten tis more male rogues than females, and alone in the woods, many rogues tended to be more feral. Consent was not a thing in these woods.

"But I'm sure this is what you're used to," Shiloh continued.

"It was. Then, for three years, it wasn't," I said quietly, rembering the man who'd sworn nobody would touch . And sohow, over ti, I learned to trust it. Trust him. Not a single wolf touched when Phineas was alive.

Shiloh stared at , and when I turned my head, it wasn't because I was scared. It was because a new anger had simred to the surface. He blad for Parker's death.

"Anything else you'd like to share with about what we're going to face?" His voice was dangerously soft. I shook my head. "I know you're lying to , Mira. I know every ti that you lie to . You might think I live a cushy life as an alpha, but if I decide that those lies are to betray or my pack, I will kill you without warning. This mating bond isn't going to save you. Do you understand ?"

A shiver went through . Bringing up Phineas had been a mistake. I felt the truth of his promise in my very core.

I had to be very careful to make sure he didn't realise I was betraying him until the very end.