The Wild Moon by Riley Storm

Chapter Five

Fuck this.

The wolf in me wanted to run toward him. To link with Johnathan. It was tired of being alone, tired of feeling unwanted.

So am I, sister, but this is not the way we’re doing it.

We took a step forward as I fought for control, beating aside all the wonder and joy that filled our body from the feeling of being Soulbound at long last.

I fueled my fight with all the anger and hatred I felt for Johnathan and what he’d done to my life. To our life. I reminded my wolf how he had destroyed it.

She didn’t care. She whined, straining against my control, eager to go and nudge noses with Johnathan, to rejoice in our pairing. All she saw was the Alpha’s son. A powerful mate indeed to any wolf shifter. We would produce excellent babies. Sleek, swift, strong. Perfect for ruling and continuing our line.

The animal brain instincts were strong. I could even feel parts of the human in me straining toward him, toward that pairing. He was stepping closer, likely as shocked as I was about the pairing. Why had it taken so long to blossom? It made no sense.

Yet here we were.

My wolf wanted him. Wanted it all. We could rule the pack, she thinks. At his side, we would eventually be the queen of the pack.

I don’t want any of that, I snarled, fighting it with everything. I want none of him. I reject him.

I reject the Soulbond. It’s wrong, I told my wolf. It must be. It has chosen wrong. We are not mating with him!

Around us, the pack stirred in confusion even as Johnathan came closer, his long legs easily carrying the powerful form of his wolf to us. He was larger than us. Just the way we liked it.

Not larger where it counts, I reminded my wolf, our body literally shaking in place as we struggled, our second fight of the night. The closer the black-furred wolf got, the stronger the bond became. My wolf’s insistence was strong.

But my hatred was stronger.

This man had destroyed my family. He’d dug up information no one else had seemed to know and dropped it so casually into my life in a way he’d known would end the way it had. Part of me wondered if he knew my parents were about to disappear as well. That would have just been the cherry on top for the pathetic asshole. All of that simply because I dumped him.

And now he expected us to just stroll off into the sunrise together, a happy couple? I was supposed to just forget all the trauma he’d inflicted on me like I was some sort of flaky Stockholm syndrome case study?

Yeah, fuck that shit.

My anger snatched control of our body away from the wolf. Fury gave me strength I normally couldn’t have accessed, and I shoved my other half aside with a vengeance. I practically forced my bones to reshape themselves, tearing the wolf away from the Wild Moon.

Johnathan had hurt me. Embarrassed me. Done everything he could to hurt me without caring who knew or who it affected. It was time he had a dose of his own medicine, I decided. Time someone made him feel a fraction of the pain I’d felt.

“Stop,” I snarled as I stood up, naked and unafraid in front of the entire pack, the single word cracking out like a whip, freezing my Soulbound mate in his tracks. “This isn’t happening.”

I ignored the rumbles from the pack behind me. Their opinions did not matter to me. Not one of them. Not even dear old Alpha daddy, who I could sense was watching the goings-on with great interest from above me on his stupid Altar of Arrogance. This was my choice, and I was going to make it. I was not going to let some magical bond force me to take this asshole as my mate. No way.

“You ruined my life, you piece of shit,” I spat at Johnathan. “Your pathetic, fragile ego couldn’t handle being dumped, and so you had to lash out to defend your stupid masculinity. You destroyed my family, all to make yourself feel better. Well, guess what, asshole? I reject you. Right here, right now, in front of everyone. I will never be your mate. Do you understand?”

The black-furred wolf growled threateningly at me. As if I should just shut up and do as he said. I lifted my eyebrows, staring down at the beast. My wolf urged me to let her back out, howling wildly inside my mind as I denied it the happiness it so desperately wanted.

This is for the best, I told it. I want to be happy and to find my family. I can’t be locked down to this asshole or this dying town if I want to do that! I just can’t.

I turned and ran without another thought. There was nothing left for me here. Nothing left in this town. I had to go. I had to run and be free.

My wolf understood that, at least. Although she resented me for denying her the Soulbond, there was one thing she longed for more: running free under the Wild Moon. What little of it remained.

She lent me her power. We shifted again and ran onward, four legs faster than two, sending us racing across town. Somewhere. Anywhere but the Aldridge house and the rest of the pack. I could never go back there.

It was time I left Seguin forever.