Broken Moon by Laken Cane

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The alpha’s claiming bite sank through my flesh and into my bloodstream, working its way through my body, my brain, and my soul before bursting outward to thread through and join with the aura that surrounded me.

Any remnant of remaining Stone Moon alpha glow or scent swirling around me was decimated. I had not been bitten by Adam Thorne, but I had been born into his pack. My mother had been born into his pack. We did not need to be bitten to be claimed.

But Jared was essentially “stealing” me from my old life, pack, and alpha, and he had to assert his claim through the magic of his bite, even though Adam had rejected me, causing his essence to fade so much it was nearly undetectable.

I’d forgotten what it was like to have a place, to have a pack, to belong. I’d forgotten what it had felt like to be claimed. And I’d never really known what it was like to be my wolf.

My wolf.

She could not walk, not at first. She was primal and feral, her body and mind twisted by the unnatural hobbling that had held her for so long. It was as though she were newly born, though she’d lived inside me for years. She was unsure and helpless, but so very, very eager. She lay on her side panting, almost paralyzed by terror and by the new and overwhelming sights and scents of…of everything.

But none of the scents was sharper or more intense than the scent of the alpha. She focused on him, able to smell his dominance, his calmness, his identity.

Alpha. Mine.

I was there, but I was second to the wolf. I crouched down deep inside, watching with awe, as the wolf slowly began to realize her freedom, her emotions, her physical self.

She was dark inside her mind. Dark and angry and slightly psychopathic. Hunger ruled her, as did her need to run, hunt, and wallow in her new freedom. She attempted to rise but fell back to the ground, snarling and biting the air, as though it were keeping her from rising.

The alpha lowered his face to her neck and nuzzled her before biting her, although bite was the wrong word. He simply opened his mouth and rested his teeth against her flesh, forcing her to immediately calm. He was there. She would accept his domination and his rule, and she would understand that he would take care of her. There was nothing to fear.

That was the second my mind became less full of madness and the wolf and I became the same, only separate, sort of. I was in a different form, and I wasn’t really me, but I was. Somehow, I was.

She stopped growling and lay still, and second by second, she grew stronger. She grew into her body as her panic subsided and at last, he padded away from her and demanded that she follow.

He watched patiently as she, with torturous slowness, managed to shakily stand. She shook her head and lifted her face to the cold sky and howled her ecstasy, rage, and triumph. And even though the moon was not full, it was strong and bright, mysterious and ancient and beautiful, and we both felt its enormous power. We felt its pull.

My wolf was free.

Now if only she could run.

You can, I encouraged. You’re not what they think. You’re not weak and you’re not mad. You just need to learn how to be a wolf. Run, kiddo. You’re free.

She was mad, of course. She was stark raving. But I loved this wild part of myself. And I would take care of her as well as I could. No one was going to hurt her again. Not if I could help it.

And my God, did she love her alpha.

At first.

There’d never been a more magnificent wolf than Jared, and we thought of him as Alpha, no matter what form he took. Neither of us could separate the two of them the way we did ourselves.

I believed that it was because I’d thought of her, that warped, imprisoned, screaming wolf chained up inside me, as “her” for so long that I couldn’t think of her in any other way now. Maybe I would eventually.

She walked toward the alpha, slowly, carefully, proudly. and though she didn’t take her stare from his, she began to feel everything she’d been denied for so long. The cold air was rife with intense smells—animals and rich dirt and dried leaves and rotting vegetation and old blood. Prey scurried in the shadows and hunger roared through her, demanding her attention, but when she glanced away from him, the alpha gave a sharp bark, and she snapped her stare back to his.

Hungry. So hungry.

But it was not yet time to hunt. Her mind was ready—her body was not. Still, each step she took brought her closer to the alpha and made her just a little stronger. Energy began to grow, electric and huge, and it was like being jabbed with a million hot needles as her body truly woke up.

She nearly made it to the alpha, eager to ram her nose against his fur and smell him, taste him, even, if he’d allow it, and just be close enough to touch him. Even more than food, she wanted him. When she was just a few steps from him, he turned and loped away.

She could have been like, oh okay, I can play the “chase the alpha” game. I understood he was helping her. Teaching her. But she was a bit of a psychopath, and she got frustrated and pissed off and thought he was teasing her and deliberately withholding what she needed.

So she didn’t follow him. Despite my warnings and admonishments, she limped in the opposite direction, growling, angry, and teetering right on the edge of a black pit of madness I could not bear to look into.

Her rage was hair-trigger and it had just been set off. She still wanted to eat—she was ravenous. But more than that, she wanted to hurt someone. Animal or person, she didn’t care which. And yes, I was aware that my suppressed rage was her not-so-suppressed rage, but I couldn’t admit it was Kait the woman feeling such a dark desire to kill.

I wanted to shift back to my human form but when I started to try to take control, it only made her worse. And I wasn’t sure I had the power to take that control, anyway. I tried. I failed.

How the hell did I shift? I didn’t know. I didn’t know how to shift.

As she’d been stuck inside me for so long, I was now stuck inside her. And that was terrifying. How had she survived being hobbled for so long? I wouldn’t survive it. My mind would break in the first couple of hours, I was nearly certain.

The alpha burst from the shadows suddenly, full of silent threat, and she did not drop to the ground and show him her belly. She went after him for his perceived rejection—not just for now, but for twelve years ago—her fangs flashing, growling and snarling and full of death, and I could only cover my ears and close my eyes and hope that I would not die here tonight.

I thought—hoped—that he might force me to shift to my human form, and try again with my wolf another time, but he did not. He let her fight. She was too weak to do much, but her rage carried her. She had been twisted up inside, and her brain was fucked. Just fucked.

Calm down, I pleaded. Don’t make him hurt you. Don’t make him kill you.

She wouldn’t listen. Darkness swirled like a violent dust storm inside her, flinging debris, growing into a tornado. It was as though as her physical strength grew, as her time released into the world grew, so did her absolute mad rage. There were twelve years of horror inside her, and it had to come out somehow.

I wished she could have been stronger. I wished she could have been able to deal with her trauma in a different way. Her hatred exploded up from some dark, locked box inside her, hatred that would only destroy her. I wished she didn’t hurt so damn much, so much that with her lack of control, she wanted to hurt those who had hurt her.

The alphas.

Both of them.

And I couldn’t stop her. I wasn’t really even there anymore.