What Lurks Beneath

Chapter 6

Brone POV 

    I’m desperately fighting my wolf to regain control. Clawing at the mental walls he’s put up to hold me at bay. He won’t give me back control and its infuriating. He fully intends to accept that monster as our mate. I’m now more sure than ever that choosing Claudia as my mate is the right decision. The pack would never accept that monster as a Luna. I will never accept her as my Luna. The Goddess must have made some huge mistake to pair us together, she would lead to the ruin of our pack... or was that her intention. Has our pack angered her in some way that she wishes to ruin it? I won’t allow it. Claudia and I will make Blue Moon the strongest pack in history, we’ll fight the moon goddess herself if we have to. 

    You grow more foolish by the second. You wish to fight the moon goddess? Our mother, our creator, the one who gives us all our strength? What makes you think you can stand against a Goddess. 

    I will fight anyone who wishes the demise of our pack. Goddess or not  

    Maybe mate is salvation of our pack. Alpha Kane grows stronger and bolder by the day. He’s a monster as you put it and he borders our pack. It’s only a matter of time before he strikes. Maybe we need a monster to fight a monster. 

    I take a minute to fully grasp his words. He’s right. Why haven’t I thought of this? I could use the slave to deal with Kane. I would never admit it to her face but she frightens me more than Kane ever has. That’s why I did all I could to keep her down, submissive and subservient. I did everything I could to extinguish her will to fight. The mere thought of her realizing her true power, whatever that is, disturbed me to my very core. She was able to murder a beta and a future beta as an unshifted 13 year old wolf... without receiving a single scratch. What would she be able to do now? 

    I don’t like where your mind is going. She is mate, not a weapon of war 

    Take what you can get wolf. I will allow her to live as mate, but I will not mark her. She will serve her purpose and protect her Pack. You should be happy. 

    What of that other she wolf  

    Don’t you worry about that 

    Alastor growls at me menacingly. I’m positive he has an inkling as to what my intentions are but I refuse to give him any solid confirmation. I put up my mental walls, blocking him out of my thoughts. He doesn’t need to know that I fully intend to make Claudia my Luna after the Slave has served her purpose.  

    He's given me control back and I look down at the small frame under my paws. She’s shivering, either from fear or cold, maybe both. I shift back to my human form and slide off her back. I’m sure me being nude on top of her is not something she would be feeling too comfortable with right now. I extend my hand to help her stand up. Time to start acting the part of a reformed mate. 

    She stares at me hesitantly, suspiciously eyeing my hand. I can’t really blame her. Not after all we’ve been through, and to be fair it is a fake gesture... just not one with immediate repercussions. She slowly reaches her hand out to take mine but stops just shy of grasping it. I can see the determination fill her eyes as she thinks better of it and ends up standing on her own.  

    My wolf whimpers and whines in my head, sad at her reluctance to touch us. He longed to feel the sparks of the mate bond, especially after her acting like we weren’t mates. Despite not wanting to, even I could feel the pull. Who was she trying to fool? This going to be hard to fight. I can feel it pulling me toward her, begging me to hold her in my arms like old times.  

    This simply won’t do. I conjure up memories of her dead brother and instantly all emotions die down, replaced by cold fury. I fight to keep the emotions from my eyes though. I don’t want to scare her off. If I'm going to pull this off, I need to tread carefully between showing the pull and fighting it off. 

    “I just want to help you” I fake sincerity trying to convince her that all is magically better “Let me help you mate, please.”  internally I feel disgusted asking anything of her.  

    “Stop calling me that... I’m not your mate” She looks genuinely confused. She has to be feeling this too...

    Right? 

    I’m just as confused as you. She’s not reacting the way mates normally do when they first find each other. Her wolf should have forced her to acknowledge us when our eyes first connected... like I did with you. I’m trying to reach her wolf but she’s being exceptionally difficult 

    Alastor sounds frustrated and hurt. I can’t imagine how he feels. He actually wants this bond and is genuinely trying to form a connection. He’s an Alpha wolf, borderline begging some Omega slave to speak to him. This is pathetic. This whole mate bond is ridiculous and I hate it. How can it do this to my wolf. 

    She’s denying me  

    Alastor is whimpering in pain and even I'm starting to feel it. A slow growing pain emanating from my heart and creeping up my neck. Constricting my air ways. This pain is debilitating.  

    “please..” I struggle out “ Please tell your wolf to open the link to mine” my voice is hoarse from the pain my wolf is feeling. She stares at me baffled, and shoots me a hard glare 

    “What the hell is wrong with you” 

    “YOU” I growl, irritation getting the better of me “and your wolf, denying our bond... Its causing Alastor a lot of pain, he’s feeling rejected” 

    “We are not mates!” She sounds both scared and angry as she yells those four words. Those four little words that keep causing my wolf so much pain. I don’t understand. It’s taking everything in me to fight the mate pull... how does she seem so unaffected. She’s making it seem like it’s the easiest thing in the world and goddess knows that’s not true.  

    If anything me being an Alpha should be amplifying the strength of the pull tenfold, yet here we are. With her. Continually denying it. Unaffected.  

    “How can you be so cruel?” I growl low but pointedly “You know what the mate bond does. How much pain it’ll cause in an attempt to discourage rejection” 

    Her eyes grow cold and the already haunting shade of red turns deeper, more crimson and chilling. Those are the eyes of a predator. 

    “How can I be so cruel” her wolf is coming through, growling threateningly “You pitiful, disgusting human. Who are YOU to call ME cruel” she steps closer and I step back instinctively. Something feels wrong. Very wrong. “You, who has tormented me since me since I was 13 years old” and she takes another step, causing me to back into a tree “You, who just a few hours ago swore to kill me the second I shifted” she’s now snarling, barely sounding human. Something about her presence, those eyes, her voice, it’s just beyond unsettling. I am an Alpha. I should be intimidating her, not the other way around. “You have the gall to call me cruel? I should kill you were you stand.” She’s staring me down, challenging me and despite my natural instinct to fight back... I look down submitting to her. 

    Mate is beautiful, and powerful. She’s perfect My wolf purrs in my head 

    Seriously? She's threatening to kill us right now and you have a hard on for her? What is your issue. 

    She is mate, she won’t hurt us 

    Yeah, ok. You tell her that 

    The forest grows silent, as if even it feels the presence of her threat. The air surrounding us growing denser and sinister. You could cut the tension with a knife. I’m beginning to regret my decision to try and act the role of mate when she lets up and everything returns to normal. The crickets resume their chirping and all the natural sounds of the forest I had always taken for granted resume. 

    “If it weren’t for our uncertainty about this whole mate thing, we would kill you where you stand. Kaida would never forgive me if you did turn out to be our mate.” 

    “You honestly don’t feel the pull. That's impossible, the second you shifted our wolves should be able...” 

    “We never shifted”