My Mate

Chapter 6 — The Blood Moon

—Kael's POV—

On Blood Moon night, Selene is at her most powerful and she forces every wolf in Eldra to feel everything ten times stronger. Every old wound aches. Every bond pulls tighter. Every bit of control you spent ten years building cracks right down the middle.

I was supposed to be in the Moon Temple with my pack, kneeling in the circle with Joren and the others, letting the red moonlight burn the rogue madness out of us.

I couldn't. The thread in my chest that tied me to Aurora was pulled so tight I thought my ribs would break.

She said she would meet me at the waterfall past the truce line after the Blood Moon. But the moon was right now, huge and red over the Whispering Wilds, and all I could think about was her alone in that cottage with Varric and Mirelle while my whole forest went wild.

What if the rogue had a mate? What if more came for her?

I left the Temple in the middle of the rite. Joren grabbed my arm as I walked past.

"Kael, don't," he whispered, while the rest of the pack had their heads bowed. "If you leave the circle on Blood Moon, your wolf will take over completely."

"Then let him," I said.

I ran.

The waterfall behind the Moon Temple is sacred. It is where Alphas take their Lunas to mark them for the first time. The water glows silver even under a red moon. No human has ever set foot there in a hundred years of truce.

I got there first and paced. I was only in my father's mantle, barefoot, my claws already half out because of the moon. My eyes were solid silver. I knew if any of my pack saw me like this they would think I had gone feral.

Then I smelled her.

Wildflowers and honey, cutting through the red moon air. And fear. She was afraid.

Aurora came through the trees on the human side, clutching her dark cloak around her, her lantern unlit because she was trying to hide. Her hair was down. She had taken off her moonstone circlet.

She saw me standing by the waterfall, half wolf already, and she stopped.

"Kael?" Her voice shook.

I tried to speak and only a growl came out. The Blood Moon was making it hard to stay human.

She came closer anyway. Gods, she is braver than any she-wolf I have ever known.

"You are... different tonight," she said, looking at my eyes, my claws.

"It's the Blood Moon," I managed to say. My voice sounded like gravel. "It makes us... more."

She looked up at the red moon, then back at me. "Does it hurt?"

"Yes. No. Not when you are here."

She took another step, until she was close enough that I could feel the heat from her cloak.

"My parents locked the doors tonight," she whispered. "They said no human should be outside on Blood Moon because the wolves go mad. They have their silver out. They are patrolling with the Order."

"If they catch you here with me, they will kill you," I said.

"I know. I came anyway."

That broke me.

I reached out, slowly, giving her time to pull away, and cupped her face with a clawed hand. My claws were out, I could have scratched her so easily. She leaned into my palm instead.

"Aurora, I have to tell you something," I said. The words were tearing out of me. "My father. The High Alpha before me. He was killed ten years ago by hunters. By your Order. With silver."

Her breath caught. "What?"

"They called a truce meeting. He went unarmed, because he believed in peace. They killed him and left his body with white ash incense burning around him. I have been hunting his killers ever since."

I watched her face. I expected horror. Disgust.

She reached up and covered my clawed hand with her small human one.

"Is that why you hate my parents?" she whispered. "Because they are Silver Thorn?"

"I don't hate them, Aurora. I..." I couldn't say it yet. I couldn't say your parents are the ones who killed him. Not tonight, under this moon, when she had risked everything to come to me.

"I hate what the Order does," I said instead. It was true, just not the whole truth.

She was quiet for a long moment, her forehead resting against my wrist, my claws tangled gently in her hair.

"Kael, if your father was killed by hunters, why are you being so kind to me? I am a hunter's daughter."

"Because you are not your parents," I said. "You are my mate. My Luna. My moon. Selene made you for me. Do you understand what that means?"

She shook her head, tears in her brown eyes reflecting the red moon.

"It means I was born to protect you. Even from my own pack. Even from my own vengeance."

The waterfall roared behind us. The red moonlight turned the silver water pink. Somewhere deep in the Wilds, my pack howled, feeling the moon.

Aurora looked up at me, at my silver eyes, my fangs, my claws, and she did not see a monster.

"Then protect me," she whispered. "Claim me. I don't want to go back to that house where everything is silver and white ash. I want to stay here, where it smells like you."

My wolf howled inside me so loud I thought my chest would burst.

I leaned down. She tilted her face up. Our mouths were an inch apart. I could feel her breath. One more inch and I would kiss her, mark her, make her mine forever and start the change that would make her pack.

From the human side of the forest, a hunting horn blew.

Loud. Sharp. The Order's horn. The call for a hunt.

Aurora froze. "That's my father's horn. That's the call for a kill."

We both looked toward Bramble Hollow. Through the trees we could see torchlight. Lots of it. Moving toward the Wilds. Toward us.

They had followed her.

Varric had followed his daughter to her wolf.