The Wild Moon by Riley Storm

Chapter Nineteen

I eventually made my way from the cage to the back room, leaving the cheering adulations of the crowd behind.

It was the second time I’d been back there that night, but this time I had no clean clothes, nothing to change into. I sat on the bench, sweat still dripping down my forehead, ripped clothing stained with blood. Apparently, my hit against the cage had torn open my shoulder. It wasn’t bad, but blood and a white shirt didn’t play nicely together.

The door was on my left, while in the back right corner, the open shower waited if I chose to use it. Lockers were on my right against the same wall I was now leaning against, cursing my idiocy.

“How could I have been so stupid?” I hissed to myself.

Did you really think you could come here and make a new life for yourself? That he wouldn’t find you?

The city of Kellar wasn’t exactly far away or anything. A few hours’ drive from Seguin, no more. I should have gone farther. Another country. Hell, maybe another continent. Perhaps that would have weakened our Soulbond to the point that Johnathan couldn’t have found me.

Instead, I’d just run back to the only other piece of comfort I knew and hoped would be enough. Like an idiot.

“So naïve,” I whispered, disappointed in myself for falling for it all.

Outside, footsteps came down the corridor toward me. I looked up as the door opened, wondering what Carl wanted.

“You,” I said, shooting to my feet as Mr. Unknown entered the change room. “I thought you’d left.”

“I did,” he said bluntly. “Then I came in through the back.”

“Oh,” I said, tugging on my shirt, wishing desperately that I’d used the time I’d had to clean up. Even just rinsing my face, washing off some of the blood. Anything that would have made me more presentable to Mr. Unknown.

Why couldn’t I be all done up? Dressed to the max, a bit of female warpaint on my face, the whole bit? That would have been nice. He would certainly be a little more attracted to me then.

I could see it happening. Him walking through the door and taking in my appearance. He’d say nothing, but he wouldn’t have to. His hands would grab me and throw me up against the dirty shower, hiking the back of the fancy dress—because, of course, I’d be wearing a fancy dress to impress someone like him even though I hated dresses—so that he could feel the soft, smooth skin of my rear.

His touch would make me moan and thrust myself back toward him. Right then and there, he could take me if he wanted. I wouldn’t care. My screams would echo down the hallway as he showed me what a real man was like. Made me his for that moment in time.

My body was responding just to the thought of it. That’s how badly I needed some casual, rough sex. To just be taken and all but used. I could imagine his hands on my hips, pulling me back against him, and it was intoxicating. Growing heated at the idea, I almost went for it. I almost touched him.

What are you doing?

I caught myself just in time. The wolf inside me voiced her disappointment, along with the heat between my legs, which I wasn’t expecting. Since when did she want someone other than Johnathan?

Alpha.

Although my wolf wasn’t truly speaking to me, I could pick up on the concept she was saying. This man was strong enough, Alpha enough, for her to find him not just attractive but hot enough to want to go to bed with.

Can I use that? Use him as some sort of shield from Johnathan? Something to keep my wolf and I distracted from the Soulbond?

Maybe. The only problem was, I didn’t even know the guy. Yet I wanted to give him something only Johnathan had ever had? While I didn’t intend to die a born-again virgin, perhaps I should get a grip on myself. I hadn’t made a good choice with the first person I’d slept with because I hadn’t known who he truly was.

I’m not going to make that mistake again. Besides, you’re on your period, get a grip. He might not care, but we do. Standards, girl, let’s try and find some.

“About finished?” Mr. Unknown said, interrupting my little inner conversation.

“What?”

“That fight,” he said as if I hadn’t spoken. “It looked personal.”

I grunted. So ladylike. How could he possibly resist me now?

“That’s not good,” he told me.

I shrugged. What was I supposed to say to that?

“Not all of life’s problems can be solved with violence,” Mr. Unknown continued. “Sometimes they can. But often, you need another approach. You need to find that with him. To solve your problem.”

I shrugged again. Right now, despite all his hotness and ultra-sexy personality, I really didn’t want Mr. Unknown or anyone’s help. I wanted to either be fucked so hard I had bruises, which I was still trying to figure out why, or be left entirely alone. There was no middle ground.

“You need to find out what’s eating at you.”

“I know perfectly well what’s eating at me,” I snarled abruptly, not appreciating his tone.

It was Johnathan and our stupid Soulbond. It was his ability to find me wherever I was. It was his ability to ruin anything and everything in my life. It was the fact that if I didn’t give in to the Soulbond soon, it was going to destroy me.

I could feel it at all times. Pulsing away with positive thoughts about Johnathan. Trying to change my wolf’s and my feelings toward him. To suppress memories and thoughts that were negative and push a positive narrative. It was always there in the back of my mind. I had to fight it constantly.

I was tired of fighting it already, and it had only been a few weeks. What would happen in months? Years? Would I eventually cave? Would I lose who I truly was to this insidious, evil thing inside me? Who would I become? That scared me.

Mr. Unknown was giving me a long, appraising look.

“Do you truly know what’s eating you?” he said at last, his tone gentler than before. “Or do you just think you do and you’re using it to avoid something else?”

My parents.

I frowned. I swore he was reading my mind, looking past the outer layer and deeper into me, into my thoughts and fears. I still had no idea what had happened to them, not even a clue. All the money I won went into looking for them. It’s why I insisted on fighting so often.

But so far, I hadn’t found a damn thing. Not a single shred of evidence or clue as to where they had gone. It was like they’d just disappeared. Completely. Turned into dust. It made no sense and that too gnawed away at me because of how things had ended between us.

“You should do something about whatever it is,” Mr. Unknown said.

“I can’t,” I said in a quiet tone. “I don’t know …” I trailed off.

It wasn’t Johnathan, after all. It was them. I missed them. I missed my family. I had no way of knowing. No way of finding out what had happened to them. I’d looked for clues.

In my mind, a picture of my father’s journal appeared. The one from his study that he’d intended to give to me as a shift gift. I’d swiped it when I’d broken out of Aldridge Manor and returned to my old home for clothing and supplies. Something had driven me to grab it, but until then, it had stayed tucked away in the bottom of my bug-out bag.

Unread.

“See,” Mr. Unknown whispered with a ghostly smile. “I knew there was more. Now dosomething about it,” he urged.

Before I could speak, he nodded sharply and then left, leaving me alone in the room, aroused, confused, and more than a little scared.

Can you read my mind?

I cast the thought out there, wondering if I would get a response from him. Either he could read minds, in addition to being addictively hot, or I was just easier to read than I liked to believe.

When I got no response, I knew what the answer was.

“Damn,” I hissed.

What was worse was that he was right. Although I’d been paying other people to look for evidence about my family, I’d been avoiding doing anything about it myself. It was going to be painful, but Mr. Unknown was right. I had to do something.

Now was the perfect time for it, as well. I’d just sent Johnathan packing for a week, hopefully more. Which meant I could get out of town, and that was good because I was coming up on four weeks since I’d left Seguin.

Lars’ countdown was running out.

I didn’t know what was going to happen, but one thing I was certain of was that I didn’t want to be anywhere near a population center when the next Wild Moon arrived.

That meant it was time for me to leave Kellar.