The Lunar Destiny Series

Chapter 27

I stood looking into the now dark forest; I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. Nervous was an understatement. I was terrified. Behind me to my left stood Petros and Iericho’s first and second in command. On my right stood Lio, Baltasar, and Githinji. Both of their packs were told to wait in the clearing until the victor returned with me. Oh joy, how lucky was I tonight? As clumsy as I was, this challenge would be over in a matter of minutes.

Baltasar came and stood next to me, he cleared his throat before he spoke.

“Keep moving even if you get tired, hiding will only make it easier for them to catch you.”

He said looking down at me.

I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths.

“Ba’al, what if…” I said, opening my eyes again.

He shook his head.

“Don’t think about it. Concentrate on running and you’ll be fine. Now, run.” He said.

And that’s when I took off running into the dark forest.

I took off through the trees as fast as I could, hearing twigs snapping and leaves crunching under my feet. There was nothing but endless forest ahead of me. The destructive nature of man had yet to reach this place. Despite the odds weighing on my running, I admired the natural beauty of the forest around me. Every nocturnal creature could be heard faintly through the whooshing sounds of the wind against my ears as I dashed onward.

I felt myself becoming short of breath so I stopped for a moment to catch my breath. I turned around to look for Lio and Petros but I didn’t hear or see either of them. I looked up at the night sky to see the moon was absent, but there were lots of gleaming stars. An owl took off from a tree branch above my head suddenly and I almost fell backwards.

“Jesus, stupid owl…” I fussed to myself. Then I heard a thunderous growl, followed by roaring.

The ground slightly trembled under me. I guess my ten minutes were up.

I was sprinting now and I kept going straight ahead. I didn’t think it would really matter which direction I went as long as I stayed ahead of them. The sounds of trees being cracked got my attention. I stopped running again, looking behind me. It was too dark to see much but I heard a loud boom, followed by what sounded like fighting. They were getting close.

I began running east and soon regretted it. There were more obstacles this way than where I had came from. Large tree trunks were scattered about, as if a tornado had come through at some point in time and I nearly fell over a few of them.

So far I was doing well, until I heard something getting closer and closer. I heard heavy panting and the ground shook even more. I wasn’t sure which of them was coming but I couldn’t stop running. I hopped over a large log and the landing was far from graceful. I kept myself from falling by placing my hand on one knee and the other on the ground.

Just as I was getting up from my kneeling position, I looked up over my shoulder and my eyes widened with shock to see a large werebear the size of a hummer jeep leaping over my head; Petros had found me.

I took off running in the opposite direction before his feet touched the ground. He roared his frustration as he chased me. I had to lose him. I started zigzagging and weaving through the trees. I wasn’t outrunning him at all despite my efforts. His large size wasn’t slowing him down like I’d been hoping it would. Suddenly I heard a loud growl behind me, then a hard thud. I didn’t dare to stop and look behind me. All I was sure of was that Lio had intervened.

Ahead of me was a winding path that sloped downward. I knew it was too narrow for them to get through so I followed it down as far as it went. The end of the path came to meet a shallow creek that stretched at least several miles by the looks of it. There were large boulders and rocks that stuck up out of the water so it was crossable. I started by hopping onto the closest boulder, carefully securing my footing. I did the same with the next boulder moving across the creek as fast as I could.

Once I made it to the other side, I heard one of the large beasts thrumming towards the creek. I jumped from the last boulder I was on to the ground on the other side. I was a bit steadier on my landing this time so I was able to take a second to pick up a good running speed. The trees in this area of the forest weren’t as clustered together so I was able to move more freely. That would of course mean that they could too.

All of this strenuous exercise was beginning to take its toll. This was the most running I had done in months. I thought about the night I met Lio and the others; I’d been running then too. That night I was trying to get away from the wereleopards. Tonight I was trying to get away from Lio and a werebear for the sake of our relationship. Things had changed drastically.

The sounds of an all-out brawl were so close I thought I’d be trampled on if I stopped. I started to get a cramp in my side and it got worse as I continued to run. I reached my limit and couldn’t go on; I almost collapsed. I got down on my knees at the base of a leaning tree, trying to catch my breath and rub the cramp out of my side. My luck got even worse when I heard someone approaching me. I started scooting myself backwards, sort of crab-walking around behind the tree. I sat there panting and my legs felt like noodles. I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to run anymore.

“Astraia…Astraia…” An unfamiliar voice called to me.

“That is your name, isn’t it?”

The voice was closer this time, and I had a good idea who it was now. Petros. There was no way I was going to sit here and let him take me without a fight. I forced myself up from the ground and I could feel dirt all over the backs of my legs.

“I can hear you, and smell you…”

Petros said closing in on my hiding spot. I attempted to run again but my legs just wouldn’t carry me anymore. I stumbled over a tree root that had grown up through the ground and fell flat on my stomach with an ‘oomph’ sound.

“Ah, there she is.”

I didn’t have to see his face to know that he was grinning.Crawling was all that I could do now; I was too tired to run again. I was able to do an army crawl with my arms and scoot along with my feet. I couldn’t give up…I had to try. All the while the only thing I could think of was where Lio could be. Petros couldn’t have killed him, could he?

I hoped that Lio would find me and stop him as he had before. But suddenly, I saw a huge wolf stalking towards me. I looked up to see that it wasn’t the silver wolf that I’d hoped to see. I couldn’t tell the color of the wolf’s fur and I hadn’t seen all of the wolves’ forms to identify them all. I was wondering now, was this wolf here to help me?

“This is against the rules, wolf. If you help her she is mine by default.” Petros said from behind me in an agitated tone. The wolf before us began to shift back to human form and when the person’s face became clearer, I knew they weren’t here to help. Lisette looked down at me with illuminated emerald eyes, her expression was neutral. She looked back up to Petros as she closed the distance between us.

“On the contrary, I came to help you.”

My eyebrows furrowed at her words. “You what?” I said without thinking.

Lisette suddenly crouched down above my head and flipped me over onto my back. She held my arms down against the ground with all of her strength. If I tried to move against her I was sure my arms would snap like twigs. I looked up at her to see her smiling down at me.

“Don’t look so surprised you little fool. I failed to get rid of you once. I’m not going to lose the chance to get rid of you again.” She said.

My eyes widened when I came to the realization that she was going to hold me down for Petros. I looked down to see Petros getting on his knees in front of me.

“This was unexpected. I hope betraying your King like this is worth it.” He said to her before grabbing my ankles and opening my legs. He was in human form, nude, and ready to take me as his. Those light brown eyes glowed so brightly in the darkness, I started kicking at him as I began to cry. Lisette gripped my arms digging her nails into my arms a little until I stopped fighting him. I looked up at her to see her baring fangs at me.

“Hold still! Can’t you see that it’s over?!” She said.

I was tired, sore, afraid, and there was no way of escaping him now.

“Why are you crying? I’m not going to hurt you.” He said, sounding genuinely concerned. I wasn’t buying it.

I proceeded to kick at him again, hitting him in the chest and I felt the tip of my shoe make contact with his chin. He tightened his grip on my legs to the point of pain and I screamed.

“If you fight me, this won’t be a pleasant experience, Astraia. You will become mine tonight.”

Petros forced my legs apart and sat between them before starting to unbutton my shorts.

“Please! Don’t do this, I beg you! Don’t! Please stop!” I pleaded but it was futile.

“You’re making this more difficult than it has to be. I’ll be gentle as long as you cooperate, alright?” He said pulling my shorts down to my thighs. Why did he sound like he’d done this before?

I lay there, tears pouring from my eyes. Lio must’ve been defeated, that could be the only reason he hadn’t come after all of this time. I began to accept these doubts as Petros pulled my shorts down further.

“Lisette!”

My heart almost beat out of my chest with joy when I heard Githinji’s voice coming from somewhere near us. I turned my head to the left to see him running out of the trees. He tackled Lisette and my arms were free again. I looked over to see Githinji pinning her down furiously.

“You dare to help the enemy!?” He shouted at her.

Lisette responded with a head butt and that started a fight between them.

A loud howl echoed throughout the forest, Lio was still alive and was coming to me. I mentally clubbed the doubts I had to death. Petros frowned and began growling.

“Persistent wretch!” He shouted with frustration.

Lio came up behind Petros and knocked him away from me with his giant paw. I looked up at my hero thankful that he showed up when he had. Lio turned towards Petros and growled at him in a protective stance. His great tail stood high and waved back and forth creating a slight breeze. I could see that Lio was hurt, blood was dripping from his right side and the blood was thick on his silver fur.

“Run Astraia! Now!” I heard Baltasar’s voice coming from somewhere in the trees.

I didn’t look for him or ask questions. I pulled my shorts back up as fast as I could and got away from the scene as fast I could. That small rest wasn’t enough to give me the energy I needed to run my fastest, but at least I wasn’t struggling now. As far as I could tell there weren’t going to be too many more shortcuts I could take to evade Lio and Petros.

This wouldn’t last all night, it couldn’t. With how tired I was, the odds for either of them to catch me was about equal. Leaping, climbing, and jumping over anything in my path I wasn’t able to run very fast. I tried to keep my mind focused on running instead of how tired I was but soon I had a greater distraction. The ground was shaking beneath me again.

Boom…Boom…Boom.

One of them had found me again and I was hoping like hell that it was Lio. Something dashed through the trees like a blurred image and then suddenly leaped out in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. Lio’s large form loomed over me. His large, silver wolf eyes glowed brightly. A large wave of relief flowed over me. I just stared up at him wide eyed; his true form was intimidating but so surreal at the same time. He kept staring down at me as he started to shift back. The large wolf soon became a man again. I could now see where Petros had wounded him on the left side of his body. I was so happy to see him, despite his blood soaked state.

“Found you.” He said. A smile slowly formed on his lips.

He approached me and I wanted to close the distance by jumping on him, but I was thoughtful of his injuries.

“Why aren’t you healing? Does it hurt?”

I asked deeply concerned.

He stopped in front of me and held my face in his hands. I could feel tiny crumbs of dirt on his hands rubbing against my cheeks, but that didn’t bother me at all. Lio kissed my forehead before looking into my eyes again.

“I’ll be fine. Wounds from a fellow Alpha heal a bit slower than wounds made by other weres. It will be gone by morning.”

I just nodded slowly. I knew what had to be done to end this, and I could welcome it now.

“Lio, is Petros still coming?”

Lio shook his head no.

“I made sure he wouldn’t get up this time.”

I sighed, so relieved.

Lio’s hands went from my face to my hips and he started to pull down my shorts and panties together. I stepped out of them once he pulled them to my ankles. He stood up again and reached behind my head, pulling the ponytail holder out of my hair. My hair laid against my back softly and Lio ran his fingers through it. I closed my eyes and suddenly both of his hands were on my ass, lifting me up off of the ground. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist, putting my arms around his neck. I leaned in towards his lips and kissed him deeply, eagerly working my tongue against his. I felt him hard and ready against my pelvis and I couldn’t wait to have him.

He started moving us so I broke the kiss to look around. I ended up being shoved against the side of a tree before Lio pushed himself up inside of me. I gasped when he went in a little further than I was used to. I looked down at him but his face was buried in the nape of my neck, nibbling and sucking at me.

“You smell of the earth, the forest. Everything you’ve touched I can smell on you…You smell like home…” He whispered to me.

I had been all over the ground moments ago so I wasn’t too surprised that he could smell all of that. For some reason, it sounded like that was turning him on even more.

Fast and deep he went, getting a mix between a moan and a scream from me. Though he was deeper inside of me it felt amazing, just on the edge of a pain. I held onto him tightly and my nails were digging into his back. After a while, I started to feel that warm, bubbling pleasure rise up through me and I snapped myself back to thinking clearly. We were having s*x for the second time, without protection. I know the circumstances were different now but I still had to be careful. I felt Lio speed up, he was about to fill me with his seed if I didn’t say something, quick. My orgasm shot up through me like a switch had been flipped on. Lio was still going strong, but I knew he’d be reaching his peak soon too. Even though I was screaming my pleasure, I found my voice.

“Lio, Lio you…You can’t c*m inside of me…You can’t.”

I managed to stutter out. He moved his head up against the side of my face so that his lips slightly brushed against my ear.

“I won’t, I promise…”

I trusted him so I said nothing more and enjoyed this moment. Lio was panting and moaning a little himself. Very abruptly, Lio withdrew himself from me, simultaneously setting me on my own feet. I stared at him while he stroked himself, releasing his seed onto the soil. He looked over at me with half closed eyes as one last stream of c*m shot out of his tip. I bit my bottom lip without realizing it and that made him grin.

“You’re reluctant to receive my seed, yet you become aroused by seeing it. You confuse me sometimes.” He said, walking over to where my shorts and underwear lay on the ground and picked them up. I held my hand out for them and he handed them to me.

Once I was dressed again, Lio and I headed back to the clearing.

The moment we came into view, Lio’s people cheered; while my brother’s people stood silent. Naremi ran over to us with a pair of Lio’s jeans in her hands, bless her heart. Lio gratefully took them from her and started putting them on. Naremi was grinning from ear to ear.

“I smell him all over you. We all did the moment you came back. Your brother is disappointed, to put it lightly.” She said almost laughing.

‘I’ll just bet he is.’ I thought to myself.

The man in question walked over to us. The three of us turned around to give him our full attention.

“You’ve earned the right to keep her fair and square. However, that doesn’t mean I’ll ever accept you.”

Lio shrugged nonchalantly.

“Suits me, the feeling is mutual. However, there is one thing I want us to be clear on.”

Iericho waited for Lio to finish.

“We need to keep our personal conflicts to a minimum in Astraia’s presence. Don’t you agree?”

Lio said holding his hand out to Iericho. My brother hesitated for a moment but he did shake his hand firmly in agreement.

“I agree.”

I felt myself smiling and couldn’t help it; maybe there was hope for these two yet.

Behind us I heard Lisette cursing and yelling at someone and we all turned our attention towards her voice. Lisette was being escorted out of the darkness of the trees by Githinji and Baltasar. They were holding each of her arms and it looked like she had her hands tied behind her. They brought her into the clearing and forced her to her knees in front of Lio, Naremi, and I. She was still nude and her hair looked a mess. There were small twigs sticking out of her chocolate brown locks.

I looked up at Githinji who had a few injuries from their fight. Lio looked down at her, shaking his head.

“Do you want to become a rogue wolf? pembuangan adalah apa yang anda hadapi…”

Lio said to her in a threatening tone. I had no idea what the last part meant. I don’t speak Malay so I was completely lost. I looked over at Naremi confused.

“He said that banishment was on the table for her.” She said to me before looking back down at Lisette.

Lisette gave Lio a skeptical look.

“You wouldn’t!” She said.

“Yes I would. Whatever we were before I met Astraia is over and done. Don’t think just because we have a bond that I won’t exile you.” He said.

She looked completely shocked, like she expected him to look past this with a pat on the head.

“I don’t even want to look at you right now. Get her out of here.”

Lio said to Githinji and Baltasar. They pulled Lisette up from the ground and took her away. Lio was going to have to punish her for such an offensive betrayal, I didn’t even want to know what was going through his head at that moment. Despite her efforts to remove me from his life, I was still with him. We’d beaten the werebears and Lisette tonight.