Luna
I don’t know how long I sleep, but when a hand touches my shoulder and shakes me, I rocket to consciousness, fists flying, ready for a fight.
“Easy, Luna,” Axel says, ducking, palms up to fend off the blows. “It’s just me.”
“Just you,” I say, blinking at the fading light outside. I must have slept all day. My chest feels as empty as my belly, aching for the triplets and not this man who betrayed me so badly.
“Ama prepared some food for us,” Axel says. “I sent her away so we can have time to connect.”
Groggy as hell, I scrub my face with my hands, trying to wipe the sludge from my brain. My bruised, confused heart clatters about in my chest. “We’re never going to connect,” I say, “but tell her thanks for the food next time you see her.”
“I will,” he says simply. “I’ll get you some clothes.”
I sit up and yawn again, stretching my arms over my head. The dust lining the side table catches my eye. I drag a finger through it, hold my
finger before my lips, and blow on it. A tiny cloud of particles wisps into the air and slowly floats toward the floor.
When I’m done, Axel has brought me an oversized shirt and a pair of soft pants that must be his. His jaw looks like rigid glass as he glances away from me. “I’ve let things go a little since you’ve been gone.”
I pull on the clothes even though they’re six sizes too big. “You mean since you severed our bond and cast me from your pack.”
The muscles in his jaw tighten and bulge. His skin pulses near his left eye, and I’ll bet if I were any other wolf, he’d have flattened me by now for my insolence. My neck would be seized in his sharp teeth, and I’d be pinned against the floor. The thought makes me squirm a little, the way it did when he chased me through the woods.
“Let’s eat,” he says, stepping away from the bed.
We pad downstairs, ignoring the groans in the old wooden steps. Wrinkled gray curtains hang around the front window. The sofa is made of worn, cracked leather, the color of a raven’s wings, while a low table made of shabby wood slats sits in front of it. A large, extended slab of wood affixed to the wall serves as a shelf. There’s an old turntable resting on the shelf, right next to a globe. A smaller rack made of wire hangs above the turntable, filled with old vinyl records from the last century, kind of like the one the triplets have back home.
“Luna,” Axel says, interrupting my inspection.
“Right,” I say. “Food prepared by Ama, eating and connecting.”
Axel takes my arm gently, and I allow him to guide me into his kitchen and help me into my seat-a simple chair made of the same wood slats as the table in front of the sofa.
Similar gray curtains line the small window in the kitchen, too. Wood shelves lined with stacks of mismatched plates, bowls, and sturdy drinking glasses sit on the wall above the countertop and stove. It’s fancier than the triplets’ kitchen for sure.
Axel moves around the kitchen with quiet confidence, pulling bowls and plates from the shelves and filling them with food that smells delicious, despite being prepared by a hateful woman.
When Axel sets a plate of meat and vegetables in front of me, my stomach cramps with hunger, and I dig into the food without another thought. Manners-something the triplets tried to teach me-are forgotten. I’m too hungry to consider them.
Axel settles into a seat across from me and patiently waits for me to finish. When I’m done, he reaches for the white cloth next to my place setting, shakes it, and hands it to me.
I grab it and wipe the gravy and juices from my face before licking my fingers.
Axel eyes me as I groom myself, saying nothing.
When I toss the napkin on the table, I lean back in my chair, lifting the front two legs from the table, the way Ethan would.
“I’m sorry you lost your mother,” Axel says quietly. “The healer said she did all she could.”
“I didn’t lose her,” I say, folding my arms across my chest the way Callan did. “She died.”
Axel finishes chewing his bite of food, but he doesn’t snap back at me. “I’m sorry you’ve endured so much tragedy in such a short time.”
I grunt the kind of response Warrick did all the time when I lived with the triplets. I’m guessing that Axel’s apologies are more sorries than he’s ever uttered in his life, what with him being an Alpha and all. It kind of thrills me to witness how I’ve affected him. I feel that same power I felt in the swamp when he had me pinned, but I knew that somehow, I was the one in charge.
Axel takes another bite, watching me while he eats slowly and neatly. A thick, smothering silence hangs between us. The floorboards creak and settle from somewhere in the house.
“What do you want from me, Axel?” I ask, letting the front legs of the chair fall to the floor with a loud thunk. I stare at him in a manner I would never have been so bold to try when we met. It’s a look that conveys how
much I loathe him and how much I long to have him inside me, defiant but almost hoping he’ll command my submission the way Warrick did.
“I want you to be my mate,” Axel says simply, returning the smoldering gaze.
My betraying body’s response is instant and intense, and I feel heat shimmering in the core of me, where he pushed his cock earlier and let me feel it buried there until I came apart. I swallow hard, squeezing my knees together. “What if I don’t want that?”
Axel tips back his head and sniffs the air, then drums his fingers on the placemat in front of him. A smile plays at the corners of his mouth. “I think you do.”
“I liked what you did today,” I say, acknowledging the desire humming through my system. “So if we mate again, will that be enough, or do you want something more?”
“I want more,” he says, his fingers crumpling the napkin next to his plate into a ball inside his fist. Then, he pins a lust-filled gaze on me and slides the tip of his tongue along his upper lip.
A thrill of excitement wiggles through me. I squirm in my seat and look away from Axel.
“Like what?” I ask, staring at my empty, blue-rimmed plate. I pick it up and lap at the juices lingering on the porcelain. When I set it back down on
the table, Axel’s still staring at me with hooded eyes. A simple look from him is cracking open all my defenses. My wolf preens inside me, begging for more than his gaze on me.
His broad shoulders rise and fall in a long sigh. “I was a fool to break our bond. I knew the pack couldn’t forgive you, and it’s my job to protect them. I have to lead, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you, too.”
His head cocks to the side as he says this, as if measuring my response. The vulnerability he’s sharing with me must come hard. Alphas, I’ve learned, aren’t keen on letting people see them as less than anything other than the strongest, most dominant leaders. The fact that he’s opening up to me means a lot. But it doesn’t undo what he did.
“It was a pretty stupid move,” I concede. “You could have told me about the vampires before I left here.”
“You didn’t give me that option,” he says, sounding frustrated. “You ran out of here. I tried to find you, but your scent trail just… ended.”
“That must be when Evan carried me,” I ponder aloud.
Axel nods, looking miserable. “I should have heard you out.”
“Yeah,” I say. “You should have. You did everything so fast. You brought me here, and threw me in with the pack at that horrible dinner, and then the mating part-well, that part I liked, but then it… Scared me. I
didn’t even know you, and I felt more bound to you than to my own mama.”
“I know,” he says, lifting his hands in the air. “I acted rashly, which is exactly why I need a submissive around to help calm me and slow me down. I’m too alpha for my own good. But I can admit I made a huge-ass mistake. I still feel the bond, though, Luna. It might have been dissolved, but it’s still here. Isn’t it?”
He studies me, his eyes filled with pleading and hope that makes my resolve soften.
I cross my arms over my chest and look past him so I won’t give in, even though he’s not using even a trace of his dominant wolf energy on me. “Look, Luna, I get it,” he says, reaching over and gently laying his hand over mine. “We can never be True Mates again, and that’s something I have to live with, because it’s the biggest mistake of my life and it always will be. But maybe, if you’d give me another chance, I could make it up to
you. I could still be your mate.” I eye him warily. “How?”
“By being your mate,” he says. “We can rule the pack together, side by side, how it always should have been. We can get married and have pups. I’ll protect you with my life, Luna. I’ll never let anything hurt you again.
And we’ll be bonded, not just the pack bond, but a special mate bond. We’ll be able to hear each other’s thoughts. I can always see if you’re in danger.”
If I’d never met the triplets, the idea might appeal to me. But now thoughts of them flow through my body like blood.
“What about Ama?” I ask.
“Ama’s too dominant to be a match for me,” he says without hesitation. “We bring out the worst in each other, not the best. You, though… You bring out the best.”
“So after everything, you still want me,” I marvel. “You want me to stay and be your mate, ruling the pack side by side.”
His Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he stares at my lips with a yearning expression. “More than anything.”
I stare at his lips as he leans forward, so close I feel his warm breath on my lips. My heart flutters in my chest, and something hot flutters between my thighs, and my wolf whines with longing. When his lips connect with mine, more confusion swamps my brain. He doesn’t taste or feel anything like the other two men I’ve kissed. His chin is smooth instead of scratchy with a beard, but his lips are warm and tender as they connect with mine. He scoots in, moving his head in a slow, sensuous circle, his hand cradling my head. My body floods with heat and desire.
Cars roll by on the street outside the window, making the wet thwack, thwack, thwack noise that all cars make around here. A motorcycle roars past, and I’m suddenly filled with longing for the triplets and their motorcycles. A tear escapes from my eye as I think of Callan, Warrick, and Ethan. I pull away from Axel and regard his hooded gaze.
His lips are shiny, his breath coming as quick as mine. “Was that a yes?” he asks, hope shining in his eyes.
My wolf urges me to say yes, but my human isn’t on board. No matter how good he makes my body feel, my heart belongs to three others. I swallow and shake my head. “No, Axel. I’m not your mate anymore, and I never will be.”