Will of the Moon: A Forbidden Fate

In Cold Blood

We just lay there together for a while. Niko is holding me, running one hand up and down my back as he strokes my hair with the other. My head is on his chest and I'm just allowing myself to be soothed by the sound of his heart beating. Corny as it may be, in this moment, it feels like it's beating just for me.

Eventually I fall asleep right there in his arms. I wake up the next morning, rubbing my eyes sleepily. I look around in groggy confusion. I'm in my own room. If it weren't for the soreness in my body I'd think everything was just a dream. Niko must have carried my to my own bed in order to avoid us getting caught by our- I mean HIS parents.

Ember is yipping and squealing excitedly in my head, "FINALLY! we finally got to have him!" while I'm glad she's excited, I can't bring myself to be. I mean the situation is still really confusing and complicated in all of the worst ways.

I climb out of bed and take a shower before putting on a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. Looking at my clock, I see that it's about 7 AM. that's odd. Usually if I wasn't up by 5, someone would have come in here to drag me out of bed and complete my chores. With a shrug I start to make my way downstairs.

I hear yelling in Dad's office. Niko is arguing with the Alpha about something. I focus my hearing so I can understand. Me. they're arguing about me. s**t. I try to shake off the impending feeling of dread that is now weighing over me as I make my way to the kitchen. I can smell food being burnt. I peak my head in and see mom. She's standing over the trash can, scraping burnt food out of a pan.

After taking a deep breath, I approach her slowly, "What's going on?". She turns on her heels to face me and snaps, waving a spatula in the air to emphasize her words, "Why couldn't you and Niko just leave well enough alone, huh? You have a good life here. That just wasn't enough for you though was it? you just have to drag Niko down with you!"

Ember snarls in my head. it takes everything in me not to just lash out at the Luna. but I know better. so I take a deep breath before speaking in as calm of a tone as I can muster, "a good life? you really believe you've given me a good life? I'm a servant, at best. You've never treated me like a daughter and now I finally understand why. Because I'm not your daughter. you're not my mom and Alpha Desmond isn't my dad. and Niko, is not my brother. just come out with it already, who the hell am I?"

Luna Zara inhales sharply, looking me up and down. I can't tell what's going through her head. but I can hear her heart picking up speed in her chest. Which tells me she's nervous. Or scared. Finally, she opens her mouth to speak.

(NIKO'S POV)

I smile at Ravyn who is sleeping peacefully in my arms. For the longest time, I just lay there, playing with her hair and stroking her back. She really is so beautiful. My face burns as images of what we've just done flash through my mind. My inner wolf, Jax, is growling, begging me to mark Ravyn. I take a deep, steadying breath and shake those thoughts away. Not like this. I want her to want it. I want her to ask for it.

So for now, I carefully scoop Ravyn up in my arms and carry her to her own bed. I lay her down gently and pull the covers over her body before kissing her head gently. I'm about to walk back to my own room when I see the papers still sitting on her desk. I go over and look at them for a moment before glancing over at Ravyn and her sleeping figure.

We need to get the full story. We can put most of these pieces together ourselves but I know there are still a lot of questions she has that are unanswered. She deserves those answers. I want to give her at least that. So I grab the papers before heading into my own room and turning in for the night. In the morning, I'm going to confront my father. And I'm going to get those answers for Ravyn. one way or another.

I wake up at 4:50 AM. I quickly get ready and and sneak into Ravyn's room to cut her alarm off. I want to let her sleep in, but also I don't want her to be there when I confront our father. I don't want him to be able to set his aim on her when he gets angry at the conversation. I look at Ravyn for a moment before taking a deep breath and heading downstairs to wait in the kitchen.

Mom and dad come downstairs at around 6:45 AM. I can already see the angry look on mom's face when she realizes that Ravyn hasn't gotten up to make breakfast. Before she can say anything, I raise my hand to stop her, "I turned her alarm off. She's taking the day off. In fact, we're done with this treating her like a servant s**t all together."

Mom raises her eyebrows in bewilderment. I've never spoken up to her, let alone cursed at her. But I don't really care about that right now. My father steps forward but before he can say anything, I speak up again, "Ravyn and I know we aren't related. she's not even from this pack."

My father clears his throat speaking calm but firm, "I'm going to tell you this once, Niko. one time. Drop it."

I stand firm in my resolve. This is for Ravyn. I don't care how pissed at me my dad is. she deserves answers. "would you let someone, ANYONE, treat mom the way we've all treated Ravyn?". My dad actually seems a little taken a back by my question. He and my mother are fated mates. So I know the answer. He absolutely would not. He looks over at my mom who just throws her arms up in exasperation, "This is ridiculous! I'm going to make breakfast myself. Desmond, you deal with this s**t. I don't have the capacity to handle it right now."

My mom turns towards the cabinets and starts pulling out dishes as my dad puts his hand on my shoulder and starts leading me into his office. He closes the door behind him before putting his attention back on me, "Why can't you just drop it? why can't you understand that some stones are just better off left unturned?"

"Because I love her!!! She's my fated mate. You KNOW I can't just drop it. it's hurting her. I'd do anything for her. just like you would for mom." My dad sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose like he's thinking really hard about something. Finally, he pulls a necklace off that was tucked under his shirt. There's a key on it. He walks over to his safe and unlocks it, pulling out a huge stack of documents and slamming them down on his desk.

I take a deep breath and approach the documents, looking up at him and waiting until he gives me a nod, telling me to look at them. I sigh and start looking over them, skimming them for info. My eyes widen as I realize why my parents were keeping all of this a secret. They don't want anyone to know Ravyn isn't theirs. Because they don't want anyone to know that they slaughtered an entire pack for no good reason. My parents had our warriors carry out a m******e that didn't need to happen.