The Wild Moon by Riley Storm
Chapter Six
At some point, my wolf’s energy faded.
We slowed our run to a trot and eventually came to a halt, staring as one at the eastern sky. Red rays of light were shooting up through the horizon, piercing the wispy clouds with their brilliant glow. It was going to be a sunrise to remember.
Just like it had been a night to forget.
Gritting my teeth at the unpleasant, painful sensations of my fourth shift of the night–double the amount I’d ever attempted before–I eventually got to my feet. To my human feet. My wolf was exhausted, and she retreated into the corners of my mind to rest. This had been the most energetic Wild Moon yet that we had experienced, and a part of me couldn’t blame her for feeling that way. I, too, wanted to keel over and sleep for days.
But I couldn’t. We had to get out of town, and soon. It wouldn’t be long before Johnathan came looking for me, and I wanted to get a good head start on him. Of course, I’d never be able to truly lose him. We were Soulbound now. Linked forever, a pull that I would have to fight for my entire life to deny.
Now there’s some high-level irony, I thought unhappily.
For eight months, I had returned to Seguin in hopes of finding my mate. Someone who I could be myself with, who would understand me and make me feel whole again.
Eight Wild Moons of waiting at the front of the pack for my Soulbond to kick in.
Eight Wild Moons of continual humiliation.
All the while, I spent my time searching for my family, trying to find any trace of my parents.
And when it came down to it, fate saw to it that I ended up mated to the one person I hated more than anyone else. I’d wished so hard for something I didn’t deserve that I’d been granted something even worse.
How was this fair? I raged against it inside, wanting nothing more than to sever the bond, to be free once more. It had never occurred to me that, although I’d been without a mate, I had been free. Unencumbered and able to do as I pleased, outside of returning for the Wild Moons. There had been nothing else to worry about. Now, however…
A cool breeze picked up, and I shivered, reminded of my nudity as the wind swept over my form, causing goosebumps across my skin. I’d learned to give myself over to the Wild Moon, but outside of that, I was still self-conscious about wandering around naked. I needed to find clothes somewhere, since returning to the Aldridges’ to retrieve what I’d worn the night before was out of the question.
Looking around to survey my options, I inhaled sharply as I realized where I was. Somehow, in my flight, I had come to the one place I spent eight months avoiding. My parents' house. My childhood home.
It wasn’t boarded up yet, unlike half the houses in town, but I figured it was only time before that happened. Nobody had set foot in there since the night of my parents' disappearance on my Soulshift night. The first time I’d come back to Seguin, I’d come to the house, with plans of staying there simply for the night. But I’d found myself standing almost in the same spot, unable to go inside.
But back then, I’d had clothes.
“You can do this,” I told myself, wishing I felt as confident as I sounded.
It’s amazing how one bad memory can outweigh a lifetime of positive ones. How my guilt has prevented me from returning even when I didn’t do anything wrong.
The breeze picked up again, oddly cold for an early May morning. Usually, I could shrug off the breeze. Perhaps I’d overdone it last night. I wasn’t sure.
I approached the house, my guilt weighing me down with each step. My feet began to drag across the gravel driveway as I approached, unwilling to fully pick themselves up. They would prefer to stay still, or better yet, turn and head elsewhere.
Can’t do it, I told myself. Need clothes. Can’t go strolling around town with your titties bouncing around like some hussy. Not to mention, it’s not comfortable. And it’s cold.
With so many factors in favor of going inside and getting some clothes, I convinced my body to keep obeying my commands.
You aren’t at fault. They didn’t disappear because of you.
I blinked back sudden tears. The thing was, I could say that all I wanted. Tell myself every platitude, about how I was the innocent one. However, the truth was, I didn’t know why my parents disappeared.
There was a lot I didn’t know. A lot I should have asked them that night instead of running out of the house. Then again, finding out at twenty-one you’re adopted and your so-called parents have lied to you your entire life would mess with anyone. I don’t think I reacted that strongly, all things considered. I didn’t say anything I couldn’t take back, which was my one saving grace.
But I also never had the opportunity to ask them why, and the not-knowing ate at me every day. Even now, I could feel it inside me. Swollen, a low pulse pulling me toward it.
I frowned. That wasn’t right. What the hell was that? I looked inward to the source of the feeling. It wasn’t painful or agonizing. It wasn’t the guilt or darkness that followed it everywhere. It was warm and fuzzy, and–
“Oh, hell no,” I growled, anger overcoming everything else.
I walked up to the house and went inside without a second thought, doing my best to shove aside the call of my Soulbond. I could tell now that’s what I felt inside. Drawing me to Johnathan. Even as I thought it, I could tell he was out and about, using our new connection to try and track me down.
Well, tough luck, asshole. I would be long gone by the time he arrived at the house. I’d never held out any real hope that he would respect my decision, but it was nice to have proof he really was that much of a douche. If he couldn’t respect me now, why would he ever do so later?
I shot that thought at my wolf, trying to instill in her why we had to avoid him, but all I got back was a tired whine and desire to sleep in the presence of our mate.
Not gonna happen.
I didn’t bother apologizing. She wouldn’t get it.
My room was just the way I’d left it: a disaster. It was easy for me to find the clothes I needed because it was an organized disaster, as I’d told my mom many times. She didn’t approve. I smiled briefly at a memory of her frown each time she walked past my open door. She didn’t accept mess anywhere outside of my bedroom.
The rest of the house was immaculate because that was just the way my mother liked it. I’d long since stopped referring to her as “the woman who raised me” or my “adopto-mom” as I’d done for a brief period. Until I knew for sure one way or another whether they had loved me or simply faked it, I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they had loved me and raised me because they cared. I had to give it to them. I didn’t want to deal with the other side.
I paused outside my parents’ bedroom, trying not to look inside. I failed. I could see nothing out of place. Nothing except for the unmade bed. Even calling it “unmade” was generous. It simply wasn’t pulled taut to the corners. That little distinction, that sole piece of the house out of place, had been my only clue that something had happened to my parents. My mother never left the bed unmade. Ever. Yet this time, it was. Why?
It was a question that had driven me insane for months. I didn’t dwell on it much anymore because I finally convinced myself I wasn’t going to glean anything from it, but I knew it was like that for a reason.
Shaking my head, I pushed past the room and went downstairs. I needed to get moving. My father’s truck was still parked over at Jo’s, where I’d left it. I had to get there and say my goodbyes to her before Johnathan tracked me down.
If I was lucky, he went there first, only continuing to my old house when he found I wasn’t at Jo’s. Hopefully, I would lose him by going back to Jo’s. If so, there should be just enough time for me to hear about her night–and where she’d gone. Had she found her mate early in the night? Had they gone off to be together, perhaps?
I smiled, happy for my friend.
“What the fuck is that smile for?”
The sudden intrusion into the silence that had been my companion all morning sent me scrambling back from the door. I’d been so absorbed in my own world that I hadn’t even noticed Johnathan waiting for me at the entrance.
So much for avoiding him.
“Go away, Johnathan,” I said, using his full name. Maybe if I didn’t antagonize him, I could escape from here and be on my way without having to fight.
“How dare you treat me like that in front of everyone?” he snarled.
“Enough,” I shouted, surprising us both with the force of my voice.
Johnathan hesitated as he approached, but I only managed to slow him down, not stop him entirely. He bulled his way through the command until he was leaning over me, practically face to face. Although, given my height, he couldn’t truly impose his full size over me. I stared into his dull blue eyes. What had I ever seen in him?
“You will come back to me,” he rumbled icily. “You will accept our bond and pair with me. Publicly and privately.”
Even now, I could feel the bond. In such proximity to him, it was all but hammering at my skull, urging me to turn myself over to it and give in. Life would be so good if I did. We would be happy and content. For life.
And I would also be abandoning who I am and where I came from. I will not submit to this small-dicked egotistical bag of gas. Absolutely not.
“No,” I said. “I will not. I’d rather be so single my fingers are perma-pruned than ever consider sleeping with you again. Got it?”
Apparently, he didn’t understand. Figures, he wouldn’t know the first thing about making a woman wet. Coming closer, his square face now inches from mine, he spoke again in a completely new tone.
“Submit to me.”
I flinched back at the blatant use of his Alpha command. My wolf whimpered and tried to drag me to my knees as Johnathan worked to overpower us. I’d never been subject to such a focused dose of an Alpha call before, and it nearly worked. My knees were wobbly and made of jelly, practically forcing me to drop into a submissive pose.
The thing is, it didn’t work. Oh, he came close all right, but Johnathan was only the heir to the pack. He wasn’t in command, not yet. He and his jet-black hair, tight clothes, and arrogant wannabe-Alpha mode could take their uppity sense of self-importance and piss off.
When my wolf realized I wasn’t about to submit, she surged back to the surface, absolutely pissed that our mate would try and force us to submit. Even though she wanted to be with him, it seemed even my other half felt it had to be by choice. An Alpha should never use their power over their mate. And so, we did perhaps the second-stupidest thing we could have done.
We attacked.
