"You look like you're moving in," I said. "What about your mate? Is he here too?"
“Aiden is back with the rest of the Pisces pack." There was a thread of tension in her voice, and she glanced around like she worried someone might be listening. When she spoke again, it was almost a whisper. "They’re holding him hostage to make sure I don’t do anything, like convince you to run away with me.”
My heart sank, though I shouldn't have been surprised. I'd known Jordan's gift was too good to be true, and this seemed more on par with the Leo pack I remembered. "I'm sorry. It's my fault you're in this mess."
Mira shook her head. “No, it's not. The Pisces pack has totally caved to the Leos' demands. Our alpha is terrified to go against Jordan in case we end up like the Cancer pack.”
It was exactly as I'd feared. The Pisces pack had once been Cancer's greatest allies, and they’d turned, just like that. Not that I expected anything better after their alpha had been too scared to help us at the Convergence, and they'd abandoned me when I'd needed them the most. "What about the other packs?"
She pulled some shirts out of her luggage and put them in a drawer. “The other packs are just as scared. They’re either straight-up allying with the Leos or trying to stay out of the way. Some are waiting to see where the chips fall, especially with the old Leo alpha dead."
I shook my head. Cowards. “There’s no staying out of it. Jordan plans to take over all of them with the help of the Sun Witches, and though he pretends he's better than his dad, I have a feeling it won't look much different in the end when every pack is under the Leos' rule. Will any of the packs stand up to them, from what you know?”
Mira picked up some light, breezy dresses next. "I don’t know. When I was back with the Pisces, we had a couple of packs reach out to see what we were doing, but once they figured out that we weren’t actively opposing the Leos, they withdrew. I don’t know which ones they were, everyone kept it pretty hush-hush. Especially with me.”
“Have you heard anything about the remaining Cancers?” I asked. Not all of them had gone to the Convergence, but what happened to those who stayed behind? Had Dixon sent some of his Leos to wipe them out too?
"I heard they went into hiding, but no one knows where. Or if they did, they didn't tell me." She stared down at the dress in her hand, her fingers idly rubbing the sheer fabric. "As the lone Cancer survivor, everyone was on eggshells around me at all times. They were all polite, of course, and very sympathetic about the death of my parents and the loss of my pack, but they tended to avoid me too."
"That sounds very lonely." I could empathize—I knew what it was like to be tossed into the middle of an unfamiliar pack without warning.
"It was, but at least I had my mate." Her voice grew wistful. "Aiden was the only thing that made it tolerable."
"What is he like?"
Mira’s eyes got a far-away look, and a dreamy smile crossed her face. “Aiden? He’s…great. Funny, smart, kind, and he loves the water as much as I do. I couldn't ask for anything more."
At least one of us can be with who we want, I thought, and tried not to let the bitterness extend to Mira herself. It wasn’t her fault that her mate had come easily to her and that they were a perfect pair—that was how it should be, after all. I was truly happy for her, even if that happiness was tinged with sadness for myself. I was stuck with a mate I didn’t want, and I wanted a man who didn’t want me. I would have laughed if it didn’t hurt quite so much.
"You must miss him a lot," I managed to say. Even if I was a tiny bit jealous of Mira, I still hated that the Leos were using Aiden against her.
"I do." She finally shoved the dresses in the closet. "But enough about me—tell me what happened to you after the Convergence. Have you been here with the Leos all this time?"
"No, that only happened recently." I sat on the edge of the bed. We really did have a lot to catch up on. “After Aiden dragged you away and the Pisces pack left me for dead, I was taken by the Ophiuchus pack. They rescued me from certain death, and even though they didn’t trust me at first, they trained me.”
Mira blinked at me, the look on her face one of disbelief. "The Ophiuchus pack—you mean those people who showed up at the Convergence out of the blue? I didn't even know they were real before that night."
"They're definitely real. They've been in hiding all this time, but they've been planning to go up against the Zodiac Wolves for years. The Ophiuchus pack might be the only ones with the guts and the power to stand up to the Leos.”
"Wow." Mira sat next to me, her eyes wide. "Tell me everything. What were they like?"
"They were..." I drew in a breath as another wave of homesickness filled me. "They were not what I expected at all. Determined, resilient, mysterious, passionate...but accepting too. They've taken in many of the Zodiac Wolves' outcasts over the years, and they allowed me to become part of their pack too, once I proved myself."
I lifted the sleeve of my shirt a bit higher so Mira could see the pack mark there. She reached out and touched it like she couldn't believe it was real.
"And their alpha?" Mira asked, raising her eyebrows. "I saw him at the Convergence. He seemed intense...and hot."
"Kaden,” I said, unable to keep the emotion out of my voice as I said his name. "He wants revenge on the Leos for killing his parents, and he trained me to fight. He..." My throat tightened. "He's the best alpha I've ever known."
She sat back, studying me. "You say his name like a benediction. What happened, did you fall in love with him?”
Damn, was it that obvious? "No, it's...complicated. I have feelings for him, but we can't be together because we aren’t mates.”
"Yeah, but Jordan rejected you at the Convergence," she pointed out. "Although now it seems like he's changed his mind."
I snorted. “Trust me, I’m just as confused about his change of heart as you are."
"How did you end up here?"
I looked down, staring at my hands as I relived the awful memory. "The Ophiuchus pack was attacked by the Leos and the Sun Witches. Kaden managed to defeat the Leo alpha, but the pack was still in danger. I agreed to come with Jordan to save them. He's been holding me prisoner ever since."
"And now he's brought me here to show you what a good guy he is," Mira said, rolling her eyes.
"Exactly. I don't want to be with him, but every day it gets harder to resist the mate bond."