Chapter 1
The g
quiet time between day and night was my favourite time of the day. It always felt like no one moved, everyone held their breath.
Everyone apart from me. It was the only time of the day that I felt I could breathe. Especially recently.
Recently I found myself holding my breath all the time.
I wasn’t the kind of woman who liked to be the centre of attention and soon I would never be anything but
I didn’t want to be Luna,
I never had.
It was too much responsibility for a girl like me and I wanted none of it
Not that I had any choice. Tomorrow I would marry Alpha Garret and my new life would begin. A life up at the pack house, our pack would come to me with problems. They would look up to me
The thought made my lips twist in a wry smile. Look up to me? It was comical because I was barely five foot tall. Everyone in this pack towered over
Still–sighing I dipped my bare feet into the icy water of the stream I was sitting next to. Things could be worse. This was my home and now I never had to leave.
I would never be allowed to leave either. Mating rituals were forever. I would be his property, his.
The thought made a spark ignise in my chest. A tiny little flame I didn’t understand. My heart began to thunder against my ribs. With a little sob, I pressed my hand against my chest. Tears prickled in my eyes.
Scared, I tried to breathe normally. What was going on? It didn’t make any sense. It didn’t hurt so it wasn’t a heart attack.
I was barely twenty one! Did fit and healthy twenty one year olds have heart attacks? I knew it was possible but I had never known of anyone who had. I was a wolf, a weak one sure but that still made me stronger than any human.
Sutting there I continued to take deep breaths, nothing helped my heart just galloped away. So loudly that it drowned out the sounds of the night filling over the forest
Clancing around 1 frowned. It was already dark. Panicking. I jumped to my feel I had lost track of time again and stayed out here for too long. My mother would be furious. Tomorrow was a big day and I needed to start preparing
Had to look pretty for the alpha after all. I rolled my eyes as I walked through the trees towards the pack house. Home.
Except it wasn’t home. My home was a tiny collage on the edge of the forest. I would never sleep there again and I already missed it.
A noise, different to the others around me, made me freeze. It sounded like someone was running towards me. I could hear the heavy tread of boots snapping twigs and heavy breathing.
Ducking behind a wide tree trunk I held my breath. There was more than one set of footsteps rushing towards me. One human and then the others- clearly wolves. The pads of their giant paws were much quieter but I could still hear them.
Sniffing at the air quietly, I tried to make sense of who they were but couldn’t. The scents were all mixed up with something that smelled oddly like blood
Was this an attack!
There hadn’t been an attack on our pack in over twenty
years.
Something crashed passed me, a streak of white and red. I couldn’t make out any features even with my enhanced vision but I knew he was injured.
I moved without thinking. Stagging the sleeve nearest me, I yanked him forward. The force of my pull made him crash into me.
“What-
“Sssh.” Reaching up I pressed my finger to his lips. Silencing him. The wolves that were chasing him were closing in and there was nowhere to hide. If we moved they would hear us.
The darkness was complete so staying still under the shadows of the giant trees was our only hope of going unnoticed.
It might be our only hope. I was too young to remember the last time we had been attacked but 1 had heard stories. Horrible blood soaked stories.
D
Chapter 1
That night had changed everyone’s life forever. It was still changing my life. The things that had happened that horrible night were the reason I was marrying the alpha in the morning.
“He’s around here somewhere.”
A voice said gruffly and I thought I was going to die of fright. They weren’t a pack, they weren’t from around here at all.
“Someone else as well, I can smell-
Something wet flicked against the palm of my head and my head snapped upwards to meet those of the man who was pressed against me. All I could see was the whites of his eyes.
They seemed to glow.
Had he just licked me?
Like he could read my mind he did it again. His eyes glittered. My heart pounded away. So hard against my ribs that my chest felt bruised already.
Warm rough fingers closed around my wrist, pulling my hand away from his mouth. There was a flash of white teeth as he smiled.
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. My chest ached and above it all my heart pounded away. Without thinking I reached up on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. 1 didn’t know who he was, for all I knew he was my enemy but I didn’t care.
I had never felt anything like this.
His lips were so soft and they tasted of clean spring water and the forest. Earthy and perfect. I sipped at them again and this time he kissed me back. Wrapping himself around me, he lifted me into his arms so he could feast on my mouth,
His tongue swiped across my bottom lip and I opened them for him instantly,
His kiss turned hard and hungry. Not cruel, the hands that lifted me into him were gentle but insistent. My body thrummed with need. Arching into him, I pressed my breasts more firmly against his chest. I could feel the thundering of his own heart. It was beating as fast as mine and then it skipped a beat. Together our hearts merged and slowed. Beating as one as our lips continued to hungrily devoured each other.
“There’s a couple getting frisky out here someone.” Laughter filled the air. “We should go, we don’t want any witnesses. We will come back another
time-
I barely heard them. All that mattered was the man holding me. Kissing me. Making me feel alive for the first time in my twenty one years.
Mate.
My wolf wanted to growl out the word and then shift so we could see him properly but that would mean moving my lips away from his and I didn’t want to do that.
I never wanted to do that.
I wanted to get lost in the feel of his mouth on mine and his body. I wanted to run away and never look back. With him, I felt alive. I felt-
I pushed him away slightly. I couldn’t do this. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. I wasn’t free to choose who to be with. Tears sprang up into my eyes and I wiped them away angrily. He reached for me, catching my tears on the tips of his fingers. “Do-” he began to say and I shook my head
ry forever and not
I didn’t want him to talk. If he spoke then I might recognise him and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to hold on to this memory spoil it by looking out at the pack as their Luna and recognising him. This would just have to be a memory I cherished.
Lifting his hand I pressed a kiss to his palm and then pressed his hand over my breast. I wanted him to know that I was his. That our hearts had merged and I wanted him to remember this moment just like I would
His eyes turned sad but he nodded silently. He got it
Pressing my fingers to my lips I walked away. My first ever kiss and it had been with my mate.
And I would never see him again. Tomorrow I would marry the alpha and become Luna and I would never feel my mate’s lips on mine ever again.
Because tomorrow I would belong to someone elsc.
