Moon Bound

19. Ryder

“This story is not told to the pack, for it has no impact on our present or future. It’s a blip in history, one recorded in the books and passed from elder to elder, but seeing its importance right now, we feel it may clarify some things.” Marissa pauses, her tongue darting out to wet her lips. “Centuries ago, a wolf from this pack mated with a witch from a nearby coven—Carina’s coven, it seems. They lived closer to us at the time. It was forbidden, of course, seeing how the two kinds were natural enemies, but they went against all the hate and found love in their union. A child was created—half-shifter, half-witch. They lived out in the woods for some time before the woman went back to her coven, hoping the child would be accepted. Records get fuzzy here, but we believe the child remained with the coven, while the woman was banished.”

“Seems to be a common theme,” Mark interjects, earning an elbow from Evan.

“No, you’re right,” Marissa assures him. “Witches believe in purity amongst their ranks, thinking themselves to be superior. For example, they created vampires, but then have been at war with them ever since.”

Common knowledge, though not an issue here. Most vampires stay away from the northern forests, opting for sunnier locations. Ironic, since sun kills them.

“This witch’s actions were the ultimate betrayal to her coven. Our books say she returned to the pack then, but they wouldn’t accept her either, so both the witch and our ancestor left and went off on their own. Since then, our records have lost track of them. From what we know, they never returned. It’s been centuries, so elders have stopped recounting the story. It hasn’t been important until now.”

Realization dawns, hitting me straight in the stomach, brain, and heart. Carina’s very coven is distantly related to us, which means—

“You’re saying Carina is a descendant of that child, so she has shifter blood?”

Marissa nods, her gaze bouncing around the pack. “Her entire family. The whole coven, I believe.”

Lucas shuts his gaping mouth. “You’re saying Carina has just enough shifter blood in her that a bond was able to be formed?”

If the ground swallowed me up, I’d be less shocked. My legs grow weak and I stumble back a step as my brain thumps with astonishment. She’s a f*****g shifter…

“It’s the most likely explanation,” Amos responds.

“When you say part-shifter, how much are we talking about?” Evan speaks up. “They can’t shift. We would have sensed it.”

“Maybe one percent. It’s been so many years, so many generations passed. It’s interesting how this bond was even able to form.” Amos’s eyes dart to the light sky. “It’s like something out there wanted this union to occur.”

Marissa’s story of abandonment resonates in my mind. We’re replaying the past; every agonizing moment of it.

Shifter. Part-shifter. Beautiful. Powerful. Kind. Funny. Smart. Shifter. And mine.

Fate lined us up. Of all covens for us to seek out, of all witches for me to grab, of all witches to end up with us… it was one the universe gifted me. True mates are said to be chosen based on the Earth’s belief of strength; that the pair will be stronger together. A witch with a fraction of shifter in her, enough to make this possible, is a powerful mate for any alpha.

A distant snap brings me back and I blink, taking in the dozens of waiting and expectant faces. “What?”

“I said,” Mark starts, “what’s the plan to get her back?”

“I’ll go—"

“Give her time to figure it.”

Mary’s echoed suggestion halts my words. They still ring true, even if I don’t want to accept it. Knowing her past, our shared history, changes nothing, even if I wished it did.

Whatever I say will have the pack questioning my decision but giving them nothing won’t appease them. Me taking a mate is a positive direction for the future and they won’t let it go easily.

“I have some planning I need to do. She has gone back to her family.”

Judging by the shared looks and frowning faces, no one is satisfied with my response, but at my hand wave, they all break up, returning to previous tasks without question. Lucas gives me a long stare before he starts gathering up a hunting party, leaving me with only Amos and Marissa.

Both wear identical expressions of displeasure. Amos’s expression is pinched, while Marissa chews on her bottom lip, her hands wringing.

Instead of speaking, I stride by them and out of the camp to hunt.

Thoughts of Carina remain firmly in my mind for the rest of the day. Theories of what she’s doing at each minute, wondering if she’s pleased to be back home, and questions of how her family is handling it bombard my mind, making the time pass swiftly and before I know it, my first official day of alpha has passed without an issue. Hunting, patrols, and pup training kept me busy, but not so busy my mind stopped fixating on her.

Contemplations shifted from Carina to broader issues. Such as questioning if not finding her is best, because she’s back with the same people who handed her over without a second thought. Are they harming her? Does she need me? I’ll s*******r every one of them, family or not.

A hand coming down on my shoulder keeps my wolf from bursting out and I twist, finding Lucas beside me.

“How are you holding up?”

“Fine,” I grunt, my increased heartbeat slowing back to its normal rate.

“Mhm,” he murmurs, scanning me knowingly.

“Seriously, it’s—”

Cinnamon overtakes my senses and I stagger. Her feet crunch on the woods nearby, tentatively, as if she’s scared to approach. Her breathing remains flushed and her scent, dread mixed with excitement, drifts to me, hardwiring my nerves to respond. To care for her. To wrap my arms around her and, under no circumstances, release her.

Carina.

The second she passed an invisible barrier of distance, I know it’s her. Lucas stumbles to catch his footing when I plow by him in a hurry to get by.

Through the thick trees, her slight figure approaches. Slung across her shoulder is a large bag. The frown in her eyes and the flat set of her lips sends my nerves haywire with need to comfort her. She stalks forward, past the invisible boundary of the camp, stopping short in front of me and what I see sends a punch to my stomach.

Her face, crimson and blotchy, is a sure sign she’s upset. Her shoulders are curved inward, her chin down, tucked inside her body. A similar position to when I first brought her here.

My arms twitch with the desire to wrap her to them, drag her back to my cabin, and ensure she doesn’t leave again. But before I scare her off, I link them behind my back.

“Somehow, I found myself here again. Can I stay the night?”

For the first time all day, I breathe. Her timid voice sends a rumble to my chest, hating how small her voice sounds. Not at all the Carina I’ve gotten to know.

“Only if you tell me what happened.”

Her lips purse before she says, “They didn’t like that we had s*x. They see it as a betrayal, especially since I refuse to tell them where this camp is located. Oh yeah, heads up, they’ll be searching for you.” Her eyes roll. “They’re on some vendetta for their own purposes. Be careful is all.”

A million emotions roll through me. If I didn’t hate her coven before, I now despise them. It’s exactly as I suspected. My hands flex, claws poking at my skin, wanting to extend through and s***h anyone who’s done her harm.

“Come on.” I jerk my head toward my cabin.

Lucas catches my eye as we stride by him. He chuckles softly to himself before walking away, a slight shake to his head.

I push open my door for her—perhaps a little too eagerly—but my wolf is calming at the knowledge she’s back with us. She drops her bag onto the floor, not questioning the disarray of my cabin.

My mouth parts, taking in her scent. Not what’s leftover and clinging to my pillow—but all of her. Every delicious bit. The rumble at the base of my stomach begins my shift. I crouch, my eyes narrowing in on Carina’s back.

Claim.

I focus on her breathing. She’s calm, not scared, but now I want to get it racing for other reasons.

Claim.

My nostrils flare as they take in her scent, wrapping around me, and injecting itself into my brain.

Her hands land on her hips as she glances around the space, still not turning around. Her shapely legs are coated in leggings, which I plan on peeling off her inch by inch incredibly soon. A sweater covers her top half and I lick my lips at the thought of unveiling her flat, toned stomach and perky breasts. I feel myself thicken.

Claim.

My beast wants out. He wants to play with his mate and I want to appease him.

Carina begins to turn. “Ryder—”

I pounce, yanking her into my arms, swallowing her words. My tongue dances along her lips, demanding submission, which she gives. I walk us backwards, dropping her to the bed and bending to keep my mouth fused to hers.

The ripping of her sweater is music to my ears and I’m yanking off her leggings. I wanted to go slower, peel her clothing down slowly as I eat her up, but my wolf is out and he wants to play—to dominate.

Claim.

“Ryder,” she says with minimal force.

She can protest all she wants but the smell of her desire isn’t fake.

“I missed you, Carina,” I tell her truthfully.

Her eyes flicker, her lips parting, and she whispers, “I did too.”

My hand cups her neck and I bring her face back to mine while I get to work on the rest of her clothing. It all joins the others on the floor and I have her naked under me in a matter of seconds.

“Ryder,” she repeats, only this time as a breathy pant, and I smile into her skin.

Looping my hands around her wrists, I yank them above her head. “Keep them there.”

She bites her lip but does as she’s instructed. She’s the perfect submissive and my c**k jerks. Her eyes blaze with desire, drawing me in, and I give her what she so clearly wants and lower my mouth, licking up the entire length of her.

Her hips buck, and I clamp down on her legs, pulling back to growl. “You move. I stop.”

I won’t. The camp can be burning around me for all I care, but it’s a bluff she doesn’t call and eases her hips back to the mattress.

My tongue swipes up her c**t again, pulling long, agonized moans from her. Her scent is intoxicating and I wish I could bathe myself in it. It imprints onto my brain, combining with cinnamon. A mixture I’m sure I could smell from the Otherworld, need be.

I sink my finger inside her and her hips jerk. I pump my finger, sliding it along her inside walls as I probe for the spot that will have her—

“Ryder.” Her legs quiver as she fights the need to move. “Harder.”

A plea I’m more than happy to answer. I pull my finger from her for a moment, before adding another to it, pushing them both in. My tongue flicks at her c**t, drawing cries of pleasure from her.

Her fingers weave in my hair and she pushes at my head. It’s sexy as hell knowing she wants to take over and control me, but right now, claiming her is my focus and nothing else matters.

Again, I remove my mouth from her, hating I won’t get to taste more of her for the time being, since it’s as much of a reward for her as it is for me, but she didn’t obey me.

I nip at the inside of her thigh, not hard enough to leave a mark, but hard enough to turn her moans into a yelp.

“Hands back up.”

After a beat, her hands reluctantly move back into position and my fingers f**k her faster, drawing more sounds from her. I curl them, ensuring I hit the spot, and she gasps.

“R-Ryder… I’m coming.”

But before she does, I remove my fingers, and her moans switch to a groan.

“Cruel.”

“It’s what you get for not listening,” I say, climbing back over her. “You missed out because you didn’t obey.”

I kiss her once more roughly, shoving my tongue and her taste inside her mouth before pulling away and stripping my clothes off. She scans my body from head-to-toe, settling on my c**k, already thick and waiting.

When she licks her lips, I need to bite mine from groaning and instead command, “Flip.”

Her eyes darken with lust and she does exactly what I tell her to.

Claim.

My human brain wakes up then. I won’t. She’ll hate me. We should be talking about this right now. I should be admitting everything to her and she can make an informed decision.

But then her head twists to find me, her brows arched in impatience. “What are you waiting for?”

And I’m f****d. Undone right that second, as if I need any more of a green light. My jaw spikes in comforting pain as my wolf retakes his position front and centre of my mind. Claim.

I mount the bed behind her and sink into her heat. She accepts me perfectly—is made for me. My spine warms with pleasure and I know then, she can’t run anywhere after this. This bond needs to be satisfied in the only way it knows how.

Claim.

I push her down on the bed and hook her leg to the side, allowing me to sink deeper and she moans, pressing her face into the mattress. Her neck, slick with sweat and the smell of cinnamon, remains by my face and I close my eyes, letting fate, my wolf, and the bond consume any logic telling me I shouldn’t be doing this.

My body, my mind, and my soul all demand this and I shift my teeth, canines straining from my mouth. I rear back and—

She moans at the intrusion in her neck. My teeth sink into her and I feel it come together between us—the bond. It blooms, sending jolts to my teeth and through her skin before continuing through my canines, into my body and wrapping around every nerve, bone, vein, and drop of blood inside me. Carina’s essence mixes with my own, and judging by the way her body shakes beneath mine, mine also with hers. Claws poke at her skin, but I’m cautious to rear them back so not to hurt her. My eyes turn, taking on those of a wolf. He’s here, having officially claimed her.

I pull back, eyes shifting, claws retreating, and teeth switching to human. The red circle—my mark—in the space between her shoulder and her neck captures my gaze and I unleash, not holding back from the possessiveness consuming me and my wolf in the moment.

She’s officially mine now—mine for every shifter to see. A mark that’ll be invisible to her eye, but glaringly clear to everyone else. Warmth rumbles in my throat as the knowledge satisfies my wolf.

My hips jerk roughly into her, o****m building. She cries out, tightening around me as my hands clench on her hips and I roar out my own.

Satisfaction wraps deep in my veins as awareness sets in. I have a mate.

Earlier she was a gift only, but now the claiming bite has taken her from any other male, confirming she’s mine and mine alone.

As the cloud of lust dissipates, my vision returns. White spots clear out, leaving only behind the glaring, red mark on her neck and human logic returns.

What the f**k did I do? She’ll hate me when she learns what the bite means.

Her body slumps underneath mine and a soft snore drifts up. I chuckle, removing the hair from her face. She’s f*****g beautiful.

With the day she’s hinted at, sleep is something she seems to desperately need and I tug the blankets up and over her body. My stomach twists in pleasure at seeing her in my bed, under my blankets, worn out from my f*****g.

Yet, despair fills me more than ever and my head drops low. The bond is simply that—a bond. A link. In no way does it make me love her, or her me. One day, I’m sure I could love her the way she deserves, if she gives us a chance. The more plausible path will be her hating me, and I’ll be forced to endure every moment of her hate.

Terrified, I remain upright, waiting for sleepiness to hit me. It never does and I spend the entire night watching over her.