The Full Moon (2)
1290 Words
Temperance’s Pov.
I turned on the warm shower and stood beneath it, letting the water run over my hair and down my neck. Steam thickened the air, curling around me, but it did nothing to quiet my thoughts.
Autumn’s face lingered in my mind.
The sadness in her eyes when she left the dining table.
After my brothers finished arguing about me finding a chosen mate, since I wasn't a fateful one, they retreated to their rooms. I should have done the same.
Instead, I was standing outside Autumn’s door. It was slightly open. Her tail had slipped free.
She seemed overwhelmed, either excited or crying. I stepped closer and caught the faint scent of salt in the air.
Tears.
My chest tightened.
For a moment, I considered waking her. Asking what was wrong. Telling her she didn’t need to face anything alone.
But I didn’t trust myself.
Maybe she was anxious about meeting her mate. Maybe that was all this was. I didn’t let myself think deeper.
Because that meant admitting something I couldn’t afford to admit. I leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. Then I left, closing her door softly behind me. The moment I stepped away, heat surged through my body.
My rut was close.
The pressure building inside me felt suffocating. I returned to my room and stepped into the shower, hoping the water would steady my pheromones before I took a suppressant. If I lost control, someone could get hurt.
My hands braced against the tile. I tried to clear my head.
But her scent lingered in my memory. The way she had looked earlier.
The small curve of her waist.
The softness in her expression when she trusted me.
My breathing grew uneven. This is wrong. The thought struck hard and sharp.
She is my sister.
An innocent Omega. Families do not cross that line. I repeated it to myself like an order.
I shot a load of my sperm at the tile, panting.
I felt dizzy.
I came out of the bathroom after washing up. While dressing, I swallowed a suppressant and a painkiller, hoping they would dull the storm building inside me.
Instead, a frigid chill crept over my skin. My legs weakened.
The room tilted slightly.
This isn’t good.
A sharp pain pierced the back of my skull, and I dropped to the floor. My rut wasn’t supposed to start until tomorrow.
What’s happening?
“Ahh—” The sound tore from my throat as my hands vibrated.
I crawled toward the bed, sweat slicking my skin. Inside, it felt as though something was twisting violently, pulling muscle and bone apart. My stomach knotted painfully.
It felt like blades carving through me. I gripped the sheets, breathing hard.
“Autumn…” The name slipped out before I could stop it. Her scent haunted me. The pain didn’t ease. It intensified.
My body convulsed on the floor. My bones felt as if they were splintering under invisible pressure. The wolf inside me slammed against my ribs, demanding release.
A roar burst from my chest, raw and violent, shaking the walls. The shift tried to force its way through me, doubling the agony as muscle strained and bone threatened to rearrange.
My vision blurred.
Heat flooded my veins until I couldn’t tell where my skin ended and the fire began. I surged upward, no longer fully human, and lunged at the dark shape before me.
A hard blow struck my jaw, snapping my head sideways.
“Come on. You’re better than this.”
I felt the needle slide into my arm. Changing back to my human form. I flinched as the liquid entered my veins. Slowly, my breathing steadied. The shaking stopped.
I pushed myself onto the bed, still panting.
“Your rut was supposed to come tomorrow,” Niko said. “What triggered it?”
“I don’t know,” I answered.
I looked away.
There was no way I would tell him the truth. No way I would say that Autumn was the reason. Maybe it just came early, I convinced myself.
I stood up carefully. My legs were weak, but I forced them to move. Niko poured himself a drink from my table as if nothing had happened. I put on something simple and walked to the door.
“Where are you going?” Niko asked, sitting on the couch and crossing his legs. “The full moon is almost up.”
“I need some air.”
I stepped out and closed the door behind me. The night was quiet. Cold. I took out a cigarette and placed it between my lips. Just as I was about to light it, the door behind me opened slowly.
I froze.
Autumn.
I slipped the cigarette back into the pack and turned around.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked.
Was she trying to leave? To avoid the full moon?
She is always rebellious.
After everything she told me, after she said she loved me, it took all my strength to stay calm. She wasn’t in love with me. She meant it as family.
That was all. It had to be.
Autumn stood there, tears falling from her gray eyes.
She looked small and fragile, even at five-six. Her skin was pale, almost like snow. Slim, a little curvy, soft in a way that made my chest tighten.
Those thigh gaps are to die for.
And tonight, she had said she wasn’t going to the full moon ceremony.
Why?
Has she found someone? A boyfriend? The thought twisted something ugly inside me.
I was worried about her. About all of us. I didn’t want anyone to know the truth. I just wanted her to find someone strong. An Alpha. It didn’t have to be her fated mate.
A chosen mate. I didn’t care. I would find an Alpha who could love her, protect her, and stay beside her.
If anyone found out I was her mate, it would tear this family apart. I wouldn’t survive that.
I’m just relieved she doesn’t know who I am.
All I had to do was make sure she went to the gathering. Leave her there. Let her see that no one was coming for her the way she secretly hoped, like I thought. Then I would choose an Alpha for her. Make her mark him. End this.
And to make it complete, I would mark someone else too.
That would settle everything.
She made an excuse and slipped away. I followed her from a distance.
A few minutes later, a sharp pain shot across my chest.
I stopped, gripping my shirt.
“Temperance.”
I froze.
That voice.
It came from the house.
I forced myself to breathe through the pain and ran. I pushed the door open and found Riven and Raelith standing there, at the kitchen door, both tense.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I think she’s gone into heat,” Riven said. “I can’t open the door. Her pheromones are everywhere.”
“It’s freaking bad,” Raelith added quietly.
I moved to the door and tried the handle. It wouldn’t open.
“Raelith, Riven.” I took a steady breath. “Step back.”
I kicked the door hard. It burst open.
Her scent hit me all at once, thick and overwhelming.
Before I could even react, something slammed into me.
I hit the floor on my back.
An enormous wolf stood over me, claws pressed against my shoulders, pinning me down. I tried to push up, but the wolf was stronger than I expected.
Then I saw her eyes.
She roared and sank her teeth into my neck.
I gasped.
- Writer
