Moon Children

FACING THE FIRE (1)

Ezra’s POV 

My throat burns, my heart aches to the core. I never knew how much I hurt her until tonight. My own mate just growled in my face, and her brothers were telling me to let her go cool off. Felix was raging inside me, demanding we go find our mate and fix all the wrong I’ve done. But, I can’t.. I can’t take back the past. I have to reap what I sow now. I storm off, making my way up the flights of stairs to my room. I rip my clothes off and walk into the shower, letting the piercing hot water run down my back. As the future Alpha I shouldn’t show weakness, but in the solace of my shower I let tears fall freely down the drain.  

How do I even begin to fix all this?     I plead to Felix. 

You can’t. You just have to prove that we will be the best mate, that YOU won’t ever hurt her again. That was all he said to me before he closed me off. 

I stepped out of the shower, dried off and threw a pair of shorts on, then walked straight to my bed before I curled up on it letting silent tears for the next few hours, unable to sleep.  

Darci’s POV 

I ran all the entire length down the western border, before turning around and heading to the lake in the middle of the territory. I shifted, slipping back into my dress before leaning against an old cherrywood tree on the south side of the lake. I sat there for a few hours enjoying the breeze coming off it, knowing soon the weather would be less than enjoyable. It’s the beginning of September, meaning winter is right around the corner. This has always been my favorite “season between seasons”. Autumn isn’t in full effect yet, but it’s a little cooler than those late summer nights.  

I start to think about my situation with Ezra, when I hear a slight rustle to my left. The smell of roses sways through the breeze. That scent has become a comfort of mine, one I love very much. 

“Hey, Ria..” I whisper. 

“Hey Darci.” Maria says, matching my tone. 

Without another word, my best friend sits next to me against the tree and pulls me into an embrace. My head rested on her shoulder while I cried quietly. She didn’t know Ezra was my mate either. The look on her face when her brother walked on stage and said it – she was just as baffled, and almost as furious. Maria laid her cheek on top of my head, playing with my hair in a motherly fashion. She started to whisper. 

“I didn-” 

“I know.” I cut her off.  

“I’m so sorry Dar. I know he’s done things in his past that aren’t okay but that was before he knew, well, aside from the last couple years.. It doesn’t make it much better; but I can’t sugarcoat it because you know about Alpha bloods. Perks of being best friends with the Alpha’s daughter.” 

 She tries to lighten my mood but she doesn’t understand. I sit up to face her, noticing her face is also tear-stained. 

“No Maria, he’s known. He’s known the entire time. In fact, he told me he did it basically because of me. He knew I was his mate and he didn’t want anything to do with having one, so he slept with whoever he wanted as an attempt to avoid me. And you know what else? I felt it. Every single time he took a girl to bed, I got to suffer for it.” 

“H-how? How long has he known?” She asks, stunned. 

I tell her the entirety of what I’d been told tonight, word for word as best I could recall. I tell her what happens to me every time Ezra sleeps with someone. To finish it off I tell her that her mother told him about me when he was 7, and that all of our parents knew our entire lives. She was angry with her parents, furious at her brother, and heartbroken for me. Maria looks away and her eyes gloss over for quite a few minutes. When she comes to, she looks at me sadly. 

“Your link is blocked and he wants to talk to you Darci. He told me how he feels, he swore to me that he will never ever hurt you again. How he wishes he could take it all back, he was just being a stupid, rebellious boy... That he’s never looked at anyone and felt even half of what he feels when he looks at you. 

I know you’re upset; you have every right to be. I’m not happy with him either. But I know him, and he really means what he’s saying. He does not cry, ever, and he’s a total wreck.” 

 “I don’t know if I’m ready yet. All I’ve ever wanted was a mate but how am I supposed to get past this? It’d be different if he didn’t know about me. But he did, and the last 2 years he’s been of age is twice as unacceptable.” I confessed. 

“Tell you what, let’s go enjoy your birthday a little bit. You can deal with Ezra in the morning.” Maria smiles.  

I smile slightly and nod, letting her help me up to head towards the party. Anything to avoid the situation I’ve been catapulted into today. 

*3 hours later* *WARNING* *s****l Assault* 

Were’s can consume more alcohol than a normal human. We still get drunk, it just takes more. A LOT more. We also live in a country that allows consumption of alcohol once you turn 16, and, you know, we’re werewolves; so our celebration can get pretty wild. It’s now 2 in the morning. Maria and I have officially consumed a copious amount of alcohol, and I am completely wasted. I watch as Maria dances around with some warrior in our pack. She drags me back into the heap of dancing bodies for the 5th time tonight, so I go for it. A trashy rap song comes blaring through the stereo and everyone starts grinding on one another. Maria twirls around and gets separated from me, when I feel someone’s hands around my waist. I spin around to see a completely drunk Jason, attempting to grind on me while pinning me to him with his arms. I shiver in disgust as his touch practically burns my skin. 

“Let go of me, Jason. I want nothing to do with you.” I spat. 

“C’mon Darci, I don’t see your big bad mate anywhere so I’m guessing you rejected him or he rejected you, or somethin’. I don’t really care. Let’s have some fun baby girl.” He slurs, breath reeking of liquor. 

“I may be drunk but I’m not that drunk. Let me the f**k go.” I growl.  

Jason doesn’t let go of me, instead pulling me closer to him which I didn’t think was possible. He holds the back of my neck still with his hand, and crashes his lips onto mine. 

The kiss instantly burns my entire body, and I try to turn my head but I’m completely powerless. I scream into his mouth, biting down hard onto his lip. He pulls back just enough for me to headbutt him and break free of his hold. Between the alcohol and the stresses of the night I instantly felt tears well in my eyes, as I stood frozen with my own arms wrapped around my waist. Jason grabs me by the arm with one hand and smacks me across the face with the other. I am the Delta’s daughter, and despite my drunken state, I refuse to cry helplessly while he continues to disrespect me. I spit in his face, which sends him into a rage. He punches me in the ribs cracking at least two, and held my throat with his other hand, squeezing. Slowly lifting me off the ground to meet his own tall frame, he leaned his weight forward to apply maximum pressure. 

“You filthy bi-” was all he managed to scream before a massive growl ripped through the air and a blur came flying from behind him, grabbing his throat and pulling him off of me in one smooth motion.  

The next few minutes happened so quickly. Jason was thrown to the ground hard. My mate came out of nowhere, ripped him off of me and was now quite literally caving Jason’s face in. I screamed for him to stop but he couldn’t hear me, his wolf had completely taken over. Blood was consuming Jason’s face and he was already unrecognizable. I had to do something. My mother told me once that you could calm your mate with just a touch. While I really didn’t want to be near him right now, I didn’t want him to murder Jason. It might be karma getting his ass kicked, but death wasn’t the solution. Carefully, I reached out to my mate, hesitantly laying my hand on his shoulder.  

“That’s enough.” I whisper, as color emanates from our touch. 

Ezra’s entire body tenses. He whips his head around to look at me and I could see his eyes were pure orange. Even on his knees, he was almost my height. I used my other hand to cup his cheek and his eyes started fighting to change back.   I knew I should have felt terrified in this moment, but all I felt was peace. Slowly, beautiful emerald orbs filled with flecks of fire stare back at me. I take a deep breath before removing my hands and stepping back. Ezra takes one look at my bleeding lip, bruised throat, and hand guarding my ribs and fights within himself not to turn back and kill the guy. But instead, he stands up and walks to me. He carefully scoops me into his arms, nuzzling his face into my neck and taking in my scent. My mind was screaming inside to reject it, but being in his arms was the most comfortable place I’d ever been. My body was sore again, trying to heal the injuries Jason inflicted so I didn’t even fight with Ezra on holding me. I hated to admit it, but I have craved his touch since the second I found out.  

“I won’t let anyone else hurt you again, either. I will never leave your side if that’s what it takes. I’m so sorry Darci.” He whispers as he kisses the mark behind my ear, ever so gently. 

His voice is the last thing I hear before fading away into the dark again. The pain from my broken ribs was too much to bare after being poisoned, I couldn’t refrain from passing out.