The Luna Who Burned The Pack

CHAPTER EIGHT

“What is that? Are you hurt?” I feel her hands on my back before I register what is happening and my body stiffens. Violet's hands are on my back, and her voice is filled with worry. I shouldn’t be reacting like this to mere touch, but that’s what I get for going so long without a companion.

“It’s nothing, Violet.” It takes all my willpower to pull away from the warmth of her touch. It's been so long.

“If I were a blind i***t, I would believe you. But dark veins crawling up your back is so far from nothing. I would prefer to be denied an answer than to be taken for a fool.” Her words cut me like a razor, and I turn to her suddenly.

She looks at me with wide eyes that suddenly melt into surprise, then panic as if the weight of her words finally caught up to her. I didn’t expect the words from her, but I can’t deny that they satisfy a dark part of me. The part that suspects that the meek and bullied persona she wears is nothing but an act.

I take her in and hide how my body reacts. Thanks to the Moon I’m wearing loose pants. I don’t know what it is about her that turns me into a teenager that can’t control himself. She is wearing dark pants paired with a dark green shirt that hugs the top of her torso and flairs out at the waist. She looks good, but I can’t help but notice that she is still so lean. I feel an intense urge to feed her till her skin fills out, and my wolf growls with agreement.

“Oh, now you’re growling at me?”

“No, Violet. I’m not.” I pull my shirt on and walk towards her. I don’t even have to pretend to smile at her.

“Come with me.” I grab her gently by the shoulders and she stiffens, but when I don’t react, she relaxes a bit. That little change shouldn’t make me so happy, but it does. Of course, my face remains a pleasant mask. It does nothing at all to betray how I feel.

I lead her to the little dining area that has been set up by a corner in my cabin. The table is a cherry with whorls that look better every time I see them. I carved it myself when I was twenty-three, and it’s nice to see that it just gets better with age. The chairs are made with the same wood, but I pad the top of it and stuff it with padding to make sitting on it comfortable.

I sneak a glance at Violet’s face, and her reaction makes me stand a little taller with pride. Raze would never let me live it down if he ever found out how much stress I went through to plan this. But this, her reaction makes it all worth it. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that I managed to distract her from the veins on my back.

I don’t even want to think about the implications of the spread, but soon I won’t have a choice. Right now, I don’t want to think about any of that.

“What is this, Curran?”

“We got married, or mated, however way you prefer to put it a couple of days ago, and I realized I haven’t been a good mate.”

She laughs. “I think that is funny. Is this mating not something of a ruse? I thought it was until I could help you break your curse.”

The words end in a question, but I hate how my heart squeezes. We haven’t even gotten to know each other, and she wants to be rid of me already.

“Oh no. I didn’t mean it that way.” I look up at her, and her expression makes me realize I said the words out loud. Can't take them back now.

“If so, what did you mean then? I am aware of the conditions surrounding our mating, but I thought we could live civilly. I do not require you to be anything but yourself, but I had hoped you would allow me to be myself equally.”

“Yes. You're not a prisoner here, Violet. But my people have gone so long without a Luna I hoped you will want to fill in the position while we find a solution to my unfortunate problem.”

She smiles at me then, a radiant smile that transforms her face from beautiful to ethereal. I am floored by her beauty. How could anyone be so beautiful? At the risk of sounding like a sap, I have met different women with unrivaled beauty yet, only Violet manages to set my heart beating.

“I walked around the grounds today, you know.”

“Oh?”

“I remember when I was still in Dark Moon. Tales of the ruthless rogue king were told to little kids who behaved badly. ‘The rogue king will take you away and torture you for the rest of your life’. Nobody ever questioned the tales, because no one who had been taken by the rogue king ever came back alive to tell the tale.”

I clenched my jaw but said nothing. It had taken a while to build that reputation. I wasn’t ashamed of it. I didn’t mind being a monster if it kept my people safe.

“When Gideon gave me up to you, I thought that was the end of my life as I knew it. And then you brought me here, to this land that I can’t tell where it ends. Full of thousands of people who are not being tortured. They're safe. They're happy.”

Her hands stretch across the table and they grab mine. They're callused and warm. And I want her to keep holding me.

“I met Eli today. He's wolf less, like me. And yet, no one here has ever made him feel less. In fact, his alpha told him that the moon just took her time sometimes. Curran, you have built a wonderful community of people here. I have no doubt that you have made sacrifices to keep them safe. I will be very honored to be their Luna. I think that this is a chance for me to be different. To do different. I still wake up in a cold sweat when I think of Dark Moon sometimes. I’m still stuck in that nightmare. And then I wake up and I’m here. In the house you gave me. And I’m safe.”

I clench my jaw as I think about Violet, vulnerable and offered up to a rogue king whom everyone thought was the devils incarnate.

“You were smiling and now you look mad. What's wrong?”

“I think of the way you were treated and consumed with rage. It shouldn’t have been allowed to happen.”

“I know. And that’s why you built this place, isn’t it?”

She smiles at me and squeezes my hands.

“I’ll be your Luna, Curran. Now, let’s eat before it gets cold.”