Star-crossed Luna

Chapter 14

Marcellus

The sweet scent of Amora’s arousal assaulted my nose. Her aroma was so enticing it took everything I had to keep myself together. She was in heat and my mind felt like it was beginning to cloud over with lust and desire. A loud howl ripped from my throat before I could regain composure. I began sprinting, following the scent with intense urgency. As I got closer, something felt off about the smell, like something or someone else was mixed in with it, but the scent of heat and arousal was too overpowering to pinpoint anything. Her smell became so saturated I knew she had to be close and frantically scoured my surroundings.

A naked body laid before me. Sweat glistened off her body as she shivered.

“Amora!” I yelled to her as I shifted into my human form. She didn’t answer.

“Amora, are you ok? Are you hurt?” Panic rose inside me as I knelt down beside her. An electric shock coursed through me when my hand touched her skin. A soft murmur came from her and sighed in mild relief.

“Can you hear me?” I asked softly.

“Why are you here,” she groaned.

“To talk to you, and get you home safe,” I sighed heavily.

“Go. Away,” she gritted out.

“Not going to happen,” I said matter of fact. She went to protest and I glared at her, and she quickly thought better of it. My patience was wearing thin. All my energy was going into keeping myself calm and collected while her alluring scent and heat had me wanting to go into a frenzy.

“I am going to take you home, where we will figure out how to get you through this. And once you recover, if you will let me, I’d like to explain everything to you. Everything.” She was quiet for a moment, contemplating before finally giving me a weak nod. My whole body relaxed at her acceptance, there was still hope I could fix this.

“Ok, it’ll be faster in wolf form. Do you think you can manage climbing onto my back once I shift?”

“I think so,” she mumbled weakly. I closed my eyes and shifted, feeling some resistance. Crouching as low as I could, Amora grabs ahold of my fur and pulls herself up onto my back. I let her settle before standing, then hesitated again to make sure she was still secure. Once convinced that she was, I picked up her duffle bag and started making our way toward Aurora Borealis territory. The pace was slow at first, then slowly increased in speed until I was at a full run. We weren’t that far, and I was amazed at how far she had made it on foot.

Amora’s heat was slowly seeping into my skin. A delicious burn that tingled and heightened my senses. Her sweet scent was tantalizing and fogged my mind. I could feel my wolf’s desire and urgency building. Keeping him subdued was becoming more and more difficult in this form. I could feel him pushing for control and it was taking every ounce of my strength to fight him back. What little composure I had left was slowly waning as exhaustion crept in. My still healing shoulder burned and ached, begging me to stop. The fast pace I had originally set was now reduced to a trot. Unfamiliar coniferous trees towered over me, the fog clouding my mind disoriented me. The harder I pushed myself, the more my self-control slowly melted away. My wolf urged me to give in, to take Amora right now, to mate her and make her ours. I kept pushing him back, fighting the desire. I wanted her, more than life itself, but not now, not like this. Darkness was threatening to take over again. It began creeping into my peripheral vision and flashbacks of the slaughtered Eclipse shifters surfaced in the front of my mind. Dread creeped over me as my final grip on control slipped away.

I didn’t know where I was, time and space no longer made sense. I knew I had to be close to the territory border, but how close? Feet? Inches? Miles? The tall familiar pines grew sparse and were replaced with oak, maple, and spruce. The only scent I could distinguish was Amora’s. Her sweet delicious scent was driving me crazy, pushing me closer to the edge of insanity. As though if I didn’t take her right now I was going to lose my mind. My trot was now a slow walk as the darkness creeped further into my vision and exhaustion overtook me. Finally, I collapsed with a loud thud. Loud ringing resonated in my ears, lilac drowned my nose, my whole body felt numb except the radiating pain of my shoulder. Amora still clung tightly to my back, her fingers tangled in my fur.

“Marcellus?” Amora’s voice was weak, “what’s going on?” Hearing her voice ignited something in me, my wolf went into a frenzy. A low grumble vibrated from my chest.

“Marcellus?” distress was building in her voice, as was my need to mate her.

The sudden presence of unfamiliar wolves sent panic running through me. My wolf instinctively went into a rage at their close proximity to our mate. Before I could identify them, a snarl ripped from my throat, darkness enveloped me and everything went dark. Overwhelming despair washed over me before my wolf took total control, uncertain of what he was about to do.

Damp musty air tickled my nose. As my senses came back to me, aches and pains began taking over my body. Everything hurt, my shoulder throbbed. When I finally opened my eyes, it was dark, and I was in an unfamiliar place, no longer in the woods. It appeared to be a cellar or basement with the only light coming through the cracks of a door. The walls were lined with wine racks and I could only assume it must be a wine cellar. When I tried to stand was when I realized my hands were bound behind my back, pinning me to a support beam. Chains clung tightly around my torso as well as my ankles.

“s**t,” I cursed to myself. Smelling the air, I could pick up the scent of shifters, though not familiar ones. Aurora Borealis was my best guess, or rather a hopeful assumption, but I couldn’t detect Amora. If this wasn’t Amora’s pack, who knows what a rival or rogue wolf would have done to her? Panic began to set in and tested the strength of my bonds. They were dense heavy chains, with no possible chance of breaking them, but realized the post I was bound to seemed to be made of wood. With a deep breath, I heaved forward as hard as I could. At first nothing, but the longer I pulled, the wood began to creak and moan. I relaxed to catch my breath for a moment, as I was about to go for another heave the door flung open.

My heart started to pound as the loud footsteps made their way down the wooden steps. They abruptly stopped at the bottom and I could feel eyes staring into me from the darkness.

“You’re finally awake,” an unfamiliar male voice spoke through the darkness. I remained silent, glaring into the void that separated us.

“Not much of a talker?” He spoke again. I still said nothing. A long pause sat heavily in the cool dark room before an overhead light suddenly flicked on, blinding me. As my eyes adjusted, a large figure began coming into focus across the room. He was tall and lean, with well-kept blond hair. His green eyes were piercing, and seemed oddly familiar.

“Who are you?” I finally asked.

“I’ll be asking questions first,” he slowly walked towards me, his eyes never leaving mine, “Who are you?”

“Tell me where Amora is first,’ I replied coolly. His green eyes studied me, no emotion showing on his face.

“Why were you with her?” He asked a different question.

“Where is she,” I asked again, this time more stern. A flicker of irritation flashed across his face.

“I will tell you if you cooperate with me,” he said calmly. Studying his face revealed nothing, not a hint of emotion in his expression. This stranger did not seem interested in confrontation nor did he appear aggressive. Weighing my options, I decided to answer.

“My name is Marcellus,” I held eye contact with him, hoping you wouldn’t ask for a last name or recognize me from my first.

“Why are you here? Why were you with the shewolf?” If he did recognize me he didn’t show it.

“I was taking her home, trying to get her there safely,” I admitted honestly.

“Why did you attack my people?” His eyes now blazed into mine.

“I thought we were being attacked,” The man did not seem satisfied with my answer.

“Yet you kept attacking despite their attempts to approach amicably and avoid violent conflict with you?” I couldn’t remember any of that. A large lapse in my memory which he would never believe.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“You almost killed my son,” he replied, anger ebbed in his voice.

“I’m sorry,” I said again with as much sincerity as I could muster, “Please, just tell me if Amora is ok.” His eyes narrowed as he knelt down in front of me.

“She’s alive,” he finally spoke, “but very ill.”

“Let me see her,” I demanded.

“Why would I allow that?” He asked matter of factly.

“I need to see her,” a potent need to protect my mate surged through me.

“Not until I know you can be trusted,” and he stood up, looking down on me. Anger sparked inside me as I lunged forward and the heavy metal chains rattled around me.

“Take me to her,” and I kept pushing myself forward, my restraints dug into my skin and the wooden post groaned under the pressure.

“Settle down,” The blonde shifter growled at me.

“Take me to my mate... NOW!” Fury surged through my body, I heaved myself forward. The thick wood holding me back splintered and cracked, giving me enough room to get a foot under me. As I kept pushing, the post continued to give way more and more until I was finally able to stand. Now fully upright, I was looking down on my interrogator who had taken a defensive stance. I took a moment to compose myself.

“I need to see her,” I said calmly, “My name is Marcellus Madden, Alpha to the Equinox pack, and Amora is my mate.”

“I am Alfred Dellarae, Alpha to the Aurora Borealis pack. You have a lot of explaining to do.”