Chasing The Luna He Exiled

~SERIS

​I stepped out of my car to the sound of chirping crickets. Fear wedged itself into my bones as I took my first steps into the woods. In the distance, the sound of the pack converging at the Lunar Verge reached me. I had to get there before the fate pyre was lit-and before anyone caught me.

​I scanned the darkness, looking for any sign of a patrol, but saw nothing. I stood out too much in the open. Pulling off my shoes and tossing them into the car, I ducked into the tree line and began the trek up the slope toward the Verge. The grass muffled my footsteps, calming my frantic heart. Maybe this was the year I would finally make it.

​If only the Alpha didn't see me. If he did, the hunt would start early, and I would be the prey.

​The noise at the Verge rose as more pack-folk joined the circle. I quickened my pace, lengthening my stride. Counting each step distracted me from my spiraling thoughts. My pulse spiked as the scent of warm ash wafted through the trees. The fire would be lit soon.

​A twig snapped-

​My head whipped around to see glowing eyes in the darkness. I stumbled as Xena growled, bristling at the realization that we were not alone. I cursed my inability to see in the dark; even with a wolf, it took too long for my eyes to adapt.

​I turned on my heel and leapt into a sprint-

​Thump!

​I slammed into a solid chest. I sucked in a painful breath as I recoiled, stumbling backward. Suddenly, my head was yanked back, my hair caught in a cruel grasp. My blood froze, a shiver raking down my spine.

​"Who-" I started to ask, my voice quivering, but I stopped short as I was surrounded.

​Laughter shattered the air, mockingly familiar. I stopped breathing.

​"Look what we have here." The words were laced with mirth and malice. My eyes finally adjusted to the figures caging me in.

​I locked eyes with my ex-best friend and cousin. "Rielle."

​She cackled in my face, pulling harder on my hair. "The pack witch tried sneaking into the mate hunt," she sneered, her posse laughing behind her. "I knew you would pull this shit."

​I flinched at the tag. I was nothing but a "witch" to them, despite having no magic. In this pack, misfortune was the only magic they recognized, and it followed me everywhere.

​"So fucking predictable," Christina added, stepping closer.

​"Rielle, stalker much?" I ground out, twisting my hair out of her grip even though it hurt like hell.

​"Don't flatter yourself," she spat, standing toe-to-toe with me. "I'm just making sure you don't ruin another occasion."

​I smothered the sting of her words and smirked. "Oh, so you're the Alpha's dog now? I hope he gives you treats for all this barking. Or do you just settle for a pat on the head?"

​Her face darkened, nostrils flaring wide. "Says the fucking runt."

​I feigned a yawn. "This again? Come up with something original, at least." I checked my nails as if I weren't surrounded by girls with murder in their eyes. "But seriously, the obsession is getting weird. If you wanted a date to the Verge, you could have just asked instead of lurking in the bushes. You could have stepped in poop."

​Rielle's face hardened before Christina stepped forward. "You won't be laughing when we're through with you."

​"I don't doubt that, but at least I'll die with a sense of humor," I countered. "Can't say the same for you."

​"If you had any shame, you'd leave this pack," Stella snarled.

​"No one wants you," Rielle added, her wolf's growl slipping into her voice.

​I swallowed the hurt, a lazy grin curling my lips. "Like Sylus doesn't want you?" I teased. Even though she was his fiancée, he always seemed to want nothing to do with her. The look on her face gave me a flicker of sadistic satisfaction.

​But mentioning Sylus was the breaking point. The air suddenly weighed a ton, thick with the scent of fur and musk as they began to shift. Fur sprang from splitting flesh, bones snapping and rearranging in a cacophony of transformation.

​I didn't wait. I shifted, too.

​Xena pushed forward, and I let her take over. The shift was a blur of heat and agony, but I landed on four paws and raised my head to face them.

​For a moment, I cursed my big mouth.

​They dwarfed me. I was the reality of being a Howlridge runt-I might as well have been a chihuahua standing before a line of dire wolves.

​We will fight, Xena snarled in my head. We always do.

​Rielle leapt.

​I lacked strength, but desperation gave me speed. I dove under her belly, my small frame letting me move where she couldn't. I lunged and clamped my teeth down on her back ankle.

​She let out a surprised, high-pitched howl and spun to catch me-but I was already gone, darting toward Christina's foreleg. I nipped and dodged, biting every limb I could find. They snapped at me, but their jaws only met air. It was like trying to swat a housefly.

​Then, my heart stuttered.

​A full-body chill washed over me as my heart struggled to find its rhythm. That moment of hesitation was all they needed.

​Rielle's massive paw slammed into my side, sending me flying. A thick tree broke my flight with a sickening crunch. My small, broken body rattled as I hit the dirt.

​The impact jarred my very soul. I gasped for air that wouldn't come. My chest felt crushed by an anvil. My weak heart pounded like a war drum, trying and failing to keep me conscious.

​"Seris, please, hold on," Xena's voice was a faint whisper. "The heart... it's too much..."

​Through the pack mind-link, laughter echoed. They stood over me, watching me wither.

​"Look at the little rat," Christina's mental voice sneered.

​"Give it up, Seris. You were never meant to survive the night," Rielle added.

​The world began to tilt. My heart wasn't racing anymore-it was failing, its broken beat echoing in my ears.

​I'm going to die today.

​I felt teeth close around the scruff of my neck, dragging me away just as the darkness embraced me fully.

​My eyes snapped open. Pain needled through my bones. I gasped for air, but my ribs felt pinned. I tasted blood as I counted every heartbeat-I was still fading.

​I was barely conscious, but I had to move. I rolled, despite the searing heat rippling through me. I needed to know where they had dumped me.

​I twisted, my eyes catching a flicker of flame in the distance. The fate pyre had been lit. I was too late.

​Xena howled in pain. We needed a mate. That was the only reason I'd come-she was wilting. Without a bond to stimulate her, I would lose her permanently. Now, I'd have to wait another year... if I survived the night.

​I watched the fire flicker and go out.

​Then came the rumble. A vibration in the soil against my cheek. My blood slowed to a crawl. I knew that sound. The pyre going out meant the Goddess had released the pheromones. The hunt had officially begun.

​The rumble grew into a thunderous roar of paws and a choir of howls. They were pheromone-drunk, driven by a primal madness to find their mates.

​And I had been dumped right in their path.

~SERIS

​"Seris, move! We'll be crushed!"

​I tried to howl, but only a weak, pathetic wheeze came out. I was too small to be seen in the tall grass and too broken to move. I was going to be trampled.

​The first wave hit. A massive gray wolf leapt directly over my head, his paw clipping my ear and spinning me into the dirt. I curled inward, my fragile heart in my throat as I waited for the inevitable. The ground continued to shake, the air thick with sweat and the feral tang of death.

​Then a shadow fell over me. It was so large it felt as if a cloud had eclipsed the moon. A low, guttural snarl ripped through the air, sinking into my bones. An impossibly powerful presence came to a violent halt right over my body. He stood over me like a fortress, his massive legs forming a cage of safety as the rest of the pack raced around him like a river hitting a boulder.

​I could only focus on one thing-his amber eyes, burning like the pyre that had just died.

​His scent washed over me, my back arching as my senses snapped to life. The world fell away until he was the only presence that mattered. Violent, beautiful electricity crackled through the air between us. Every nerve ending I had screamed in recognition. My weak, sputtering heart gave a sudden, forceful thump of pure strength. Some of the pain receded.

​"Mine," Xena's voice was no longer faint. "MINE!"

​I reached out, rolling toward his heat, my fur brushing against his tree-trunk legs. He didn't recoil from me-the runt. He stood there, a titan amongst wolves, shielding me. Time stretched on, peaceful and safe. Despite my exhaustion, I didn't slip into the dark again. I watched him, and he watched me, the heat between us buzzing like a live wire.

​I don't know how much time passed, but when I finally snapped out of it, the thundering paws had faded. Slowly, soft whining filled the air-the yipping of wolves doubling back in pairs. Mates had been found.

​The giant didn't make a sound. He lowered his head, his snout bigger than my entire torso. The gentle pressure of his teeth nipped into my scruff, lifting my frame from the dirt with surprising tenderness.

​He turned back toward the Lunar Verge, carrying me toward the pyre that had been lit again. My journey up the slope should have been nerve-wracking, but with Xena's excited whining echoing in my head, I had no room for fear.

​"I got a big one," she yipped. "He saved us."

​Her joy crept into me, lightening my weary soul. I let her optimism leech into me, letting hope sweep in. Maybe I could be happy.

​Or maybe we would be rejected. No wolf of this size and prowess would accept a bond with a runt.

​I'd been so inside my own head that I didn't realize we had stopped. I raised my head, finally noticing the utter silence.

​All eyes were on us. The whole pack stared, mouths agape and eyes wide. Then I was placed down, coming face-to-face with the Alpha.

​His hazel eyes bore into me, the loathing within them piercing my skin. "Shift," he ordered.

​The command pushed against my very being, spearing through me and unraveling my wolf form in an agonizing instant. My human form was left bare and trembling before his gaze.

​"You," he growled.

​I flinched.

​Then he raised his head to the wolf who'd brought me. "Son, what is the meaning of this?"

​The wolf morphed back, returning to human form. Amber orbs turned hazel; a crown of dark, tousled hair and tan skin pulled taut over an athletic body. His eyes didn't meet mine as he replied.

​"Seris Sullivan is my mate."

​The silence following Sylus's declaration pressed against me like an anvil.

​"No," Alpha Zander hissed, the word vibrating with a low growl that made the ground shake. "The Moon Goddess would not be so cruel as to mate my son to a defect. A fucking curse in skin. Reject her, now."

​The demand hit like a physical blow.

​The Beta stepped forward-my uncle Osric. His brows were furrowed with concern, a wool cloak in his hand. "Are you okay?"

​"I am fine, Uncle," I lied. I couldn't tell him it was his own daughter who had almost killed me.

​He reached out to drape the cloak over me, but it was snatched away. A gasp rippled through the pack as Sylus didn't just take the cloak; he wrapped me in it himself. Heat bloomed where he touched me, the mate bond singing beneath my skin. I wanted to lean into him, to let his warmth chase away the cold, but I forced myself to stay still.

​"She is staying," he said, his voice a stoic beat.

​"Don't touch her!" Rielle shrieked from the crowd. She stepped forward, her face contorted with shock and jealousy. "She is a fucking witch! She killed-" She bit her tongue, catching my uncle's warning glare.

​"Beta Osric, my son's fiancée did not lie," Alpha Zander growled. "She is a murderer."

​"She was a child-" my uncle protested.

​"She was fifteen! Old enough to know that entering the Blood Grove was a death sentence!" The Alpha bellowed in his Beta's face.

​I fought back a wave of guilt, biting my lip until it bled.

​"And yet she did it, and got her parents killed trying to save her."

​Tears welled in my eyes. He was right. Even if I didn't know how I'd ended up in that part of the woods, my parents had died saving me from the attackers lurking there. Some of the pack members wiped their own tears; my father had been a beloved Beta, and my mother, the head healer.

​The Alpha turned from my uncle to me, pointing a finger, his tone acidic. "You are the reason I lost my best friend and this pack's greatest healer. You are a curse unto this pack-no different from a witch."

​I dropped my head, my face heating with humiliation.

​"No one deserves the punishment of being your mate," he snarled. "And still you disobeyed my orders to find a way onto sacred ground." He closed the distance in threatening strides, his claws retracting and gleaming in the moonlight. "I will gut you like a pig-"

​A large shadow fell over me as Sylus moved to shield me. My heart lunged into my throat.

​"Keep the claws from my mate, Alpha," he drawled.

~SERIS

I blinked; the heir had called his father by his title.

​Even the Alpha halted-stunned. "What do you think you are doing, son?" he snapped. "You dare challenge me for a vermin?"

​"The Goddess made a choice, Alpha, and I will uphold it."

​My breath hitched, the pack gasping in shock.

​The Alpha's eyes widened. "You will accept the bond?"

​Sylus did not waver, his voice rivaling that of his father. "We have lost kin, friends, foes, and land to the monsters beyond our borders. We find ourselves in an era of relative peace after so many years of war. As heir to the Howlridge pack, I will not draw the wrath of the Goddess because of old grievances."

​"She is the reason we lost the war!" the Alpha roared.

​I held back a sob. For all his hate, he was right. If I had not gotten my parents-high-ranking wolves-killed, we could have won against the Darkpine pack.

​"Yet you crave another war, Alpha?" Sylus countered. "When the Goddess lays ruin to us?"

​The Alpha's anger flushed his face red, but Sylus was already on the move.

​"I will claim my mate," Sylus proclaimed with no hesitation. "And if you are opposing-" He shrugged off his leather jacket, revealing bulging arms adorned with ink. He cracked his neck. "Then I would prefer we settle it with a Mauling."

​My blood ran cold, dread raking through my spine.

A Wolf duel...

He could die-they both could die. Why was Sylus doing this?

​"No..." I whispered. Instantly, the pack turned to me. "I will accept the rejection, Alpha."

​I locked eyes with Sylus, my breath catching. In an instant, I was pulled to him. His eyes bore into me, the darkness in their depths filling with equal parts terror and desire.

​"She is mine-whether she accepts it or not." He made sure the pack heard him. My heart skipped a beat.

​Rielle's sobbing grew louder.

​"I will not fight my own son," the Alpha growled.

​"But you will reject his mate?" Sylus retorted. "Accept her, or step into the circle."

​The pack seemed to hold its breath, waiting for the Alpha to decide.

​"Let's go by vote," I muttered. "Let the pack decide."

​"No one will choose a cursed wolf as a Luna!" the Alpha barked at me.

​But Sylus had already faced the pack, his voice carrying. "Choose, then." He hooked an arm around my waist possessively. "Would you rather risk angering the Moon Goddess, or accept what fate has given us?"

​Silence stretched, taut as a bowstring. Then my uncle stepped forward. "I vote to accept."

​Murmurs rippled through the crowd. A few heads nodded hesitantly.

​"Anyone else?" Zander's voice dripped venom.

​Slowly, the pack members raised their hands-all except for Rielle.

​Zander's jaw clenched, fury radiating off him in waves. "Fine." The word was acid. "You want the cursed runt? Have her." He jabbed a finger at me. "But she will be trained. She will serve this pack. And she will give you an heir." His smile turned cruel. "Three days. You'll wed in three days."

​"Of course, father," Sylus replied.

​My eyes widened at the fact that he did not object to marrying me.

​"But it will come with a condition," Alpha Zander added, his voice dripping bitter malice. "The moment her 'curse' claims a single Howlridge life. The moment one drop of pack blood is spilled because of her presence, you will not just reject her. You will be the one to open her throat. If you won't, I'll make you watch while I do it myself. Is that clear, Heir?"

​"Crystal," Sylus replied.

​My heart sank into my stomach.

-

"I will take you, Seris Sullivan, as my mate and wife, while my bones still stand and my blood still flows.

I will shield you from blade and claw.

I will hunt for you when you hunger.

I will kill for you when you are threatened.

And I will burn the world to ash before I let it take you from me."

His grip on my hand tightened.

"This I vow, before the Moon Goddess and this pack."

Each declaration sank into me like claws as intense as the man himself. Despite everything, I felt myself drawn to that darkness.

My gaze flicked to the single Veloris lily nestled in my white bouquet-my mother's favorite, sent by my uncle. Grief tried to rise, but I shoved it down.

The vows were exchanged along with the rings that gleamed under the silver light of the moon above the atrium.

"Seal the vows with a kiss," the officiant said.

My pulse thudding, Sylus lifted my veil. My breath fractured at the sight of his face, carved in stone and betraying no emotion as he leaned down to kiss me.

It was a simple brush of the lips, but a searing heat lit my spine. Xena howled in delight, but Sylus did not linger.

My aching body mourned the absence, while the pack offered reluctant applause. Yet, it did not change the fact that I had married the man I had secretly loved since the night of the attack that killed my parents.

Without another word, Sylus swept me into his arms, carrying me off the altar as the clapping faded behind us. The sudden closeness made my pulse thunder. I had secretly loved this man since the night he saved me from the attack that killed my parents. Now I was his wife... and I had no idea what waited behind closed doors.

The heavy oak door to our chambers had barely clicked shut before he set me down and circled behind me.

My nipples hardened when his hand brushed back my hair to zip down my dress. My exposed back seared from the scalding heat of him. I arched against him as his head dipped down to my ear.

His husky voice rang cold as he spoke. "I will never love you."

What?!

My heart fractured even as traitorous heat bloomed low in my belly. Tears sprang to my eyes in an instant, but I forced them down.

My breath hitched, back aching as a cloth fell over my eyes. "But I will fuck you like I do," he swore, tying the blindfold tight.