Born of Two

A red moon and a runaway.

Lochlyn's POV

"Rosie… It's Lochlyn." I saw her holding her arm and trying to run away, but she had lost so much blood that she was so weak. "Rosie. Stop running. You aren't safe out here. Please let me explain."

"Explain what?? How did you and Chase kidnap me, drug me, and take me to a whole different world? Explain how the guy my best friend is apparently married to turned into a giant freaking wolf. Yes, please explain."

"Let me come closer and look at your arm first. Please, it's the least I could do."

"You are going to stay right freaking there. Don't come closer."

"Okay, I won't come closer." I put my hands up in surrender. "Can I explain this?"

"Try me."

"We are the Northern Moon Pack. I am the Alpha of the pack after my father gave it to me at 21. Can I move just a little closer to you?" She didn't answer, just stared at me. I moved a foot closer to her, but she didn't move backward. Progress. "Okay, next part. Josephine is my sister, and Chase is my brother-in-law. Jo and Chase were mated at 18, and then the next week, they were married, mated permanently, and moved to Omaha to be with you. You are important…."

"Why? What's special about me?"

"I don't know why you're a big deal to everyone else, but I know why you are important to me."

"I am important to you?"

"Extremely, I burn for you."

"Woah…"

"Sorry too much, let me explain. Okay, so we have things called mates. We don't choose our mates unless it's a second chance, mate. Our bodies are kind of hardwired to certain people. I didn't mate with you by choice just…."

"YOU MATED WITH ME!!! LIKE YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF ME!!"

"No, never. Slow down, Rosie."

"Stop calling me Rosie."

"Okay, Rosalynn. When you and I first met, I had that ball, remember?" She shook her head yes. "Okay, that was for a ball here on our pack lands. I used it as an opportunity to meet you, though. We weren't mated then, but when you and I ran into each other on the street the other day… that's when it happened.."

"What happened?"

"I mated with you. It means you are my mate, and we are supposed to be together."

"Like you own me?"

"NOOO not at all… actually it's kind the other way around…. You have this intense power over me."

"This is a lot of information…. So like I don't have a choice I have to be with you even though I don't feel this…. Mate connection with you?"

"NO! Actually, you can reject me…." Why did I tell her that? "But you do feel it."

"I guarantee you that is the last thing I am feeling for you."

"Remember when I kissed your hand? What did you feel?"

"I don't know."

"Yes, Rosie, you do." I go to reach for her hand, she pulls away from me. "Please let me just show you."

"No."

"Okay, then when you were with Jojo, and she told you this same info, you ran like ran away into woods that you don't know."

"Yeah… so what."

"But now you are here with me, and you aren't running."

"I can see Chase, and I am really dizzy."

"You're dizzy?"

"Yeah."

"Let me take you back and have the doctor look at you. Please, Rosie, I can't lose you."

When Chase's wolf appeared, Rosie had started to reach out to me, but then she immediately retreated back into herself.

"Chase, you better have a good reason."

"We got incoming wolves…. Not our pack. Red Moon Pack."

"We gotta go now. Rosie, do you trust me?" I reached my hand out to her.

She stared back at me from the ground, her big blue eyes still deciding where her trust lies. When we heard a twig snap.

Rosalynn's POV

"We got to go now. Rosie, do you trust me?" He reached his hands to me. I didn't want to take them, but I didn't want to cause any more trouble, and honestly, the hospital bed was preferable to the forest floor. Chase was posed for a fight if one came.

"How do I know that you're not going to hurt me?"

"Because the people coming will, and I don't know if this changes your mind, but if you don't start moving, Chase will flip you over his shoulder and take you back."

"What people are coming….. wait… did you just read each other minds."

"Yes… that is something we can do. I can do it with anyone in the pack. I will explain that later but please, Rosie, we have got to go. We aren't safe here."

I want to run….yup, I am totally going to run. I stand up, take a deep breath and take off running in a different direction. I can hear Lochlyn groan and yell obscenities before he starts running after me. I need to be running faster, but the quicker I run, the more I can feel the blood running down my arm. I hide behind a tree in an attempt to lose him. I can't catch my breath, and I start to see spots, but I shake my head and refocus my mind. Push through Rosie… push through. I rip my shirt and wrap it around my arm and hope that hides it and makes it stop. I can hear something moving in the distance. I feel Lochlyn's body press up against mine. He moves his hand to my mouth as he presses me harder into the tree behind me. He forces me to the ground, grabs me, and pushes me into the dirt. I start fighting back to get his heavy body off me, but he pins me and holds me down. I can feel his breath and his scent is overwhelmingly beautiful.

"GET OFF OF ME!!!!!" I try to get out.

"Rosie, shut up and stop fighting me. I am trying to protect you."

Just then, I hear a huff and see a massive shadow move across me, followed by two more shadows. Oh my gosh, what are these things? My body insistently freezes, and even more, panic overwhelms me. I look up and see Lochlyn's eye on me…. His hands-on me feel like electricity again. What is that? I need him, but I don't want him. Lochlyn is telling me to not move with his eyes. I am so afraid I just bury my face in him and start crying. He pulls my face back, looks at me, and mouths, 'I know, I know, it is okay.'

"Rosie, you have to stop crying. They will hear you." He whispers in my ear, and it sends fire through me.

"I can't," I whisper back. "I am scared. I just want to go home."

"We are going to go home after this, I promise."

"My home…" The last shadow stops feet from my head. Oh my gosh. I can hear the low growl, and I can barely make out the size of teeth it has through the branches. I start to panic, breathing harder than before, and Lochlyn buries my face in his chest. I can hear Chase.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but it seems you have wandered into the wrong territory."

"Funny Northern Mutt, I was about to say the same to you."

"Demetri… You need to leave before the Alpha catches up to me."

"Your Alpha… is a peace mutt too. He couldn't win a fight against me."

I could feel Lochlyn's body tense up.

"Demetri, you speak out of turn."

"We only came here because we smelled a different scent and lots of blood… did you guys chase out some rogues out of your land and into mine?"

"If I answer yes would you leave our land?"

"Not necessarily. We have something else to discuss. The young lady that was brought to your territory… we want her."

Immediately Lochlyn wants to fight. I can feel it in his spirit. He wants to fight, and I want to scream.

"What young lady are you speaking of?"

"You know. Don't play stupid mutt." A different voice spoke up.

"If you want to fight Waylon, don't stand behind your Beta."

Lochlyn looked at me. He held a finger to his mouth, telling me to be quiet. He rolled away quietly and did an army crawl to a few yards before he rose from the earth.

"Why are you causing my Beta trouble?"

"Alpha Lochlyn… good to see you catch up."

"You need to get off my land… I don't want a reason to fight you, Waylon, but I will."

"You will tell me about the girl."

"She is not your concern Dem."

"She belongs to our pack… her blood is ours."

"She is no longer your concern as your past leader wanted her killed."

"We can smell her on you, and funny, I think if I walked thirty feet to my left, I might find her body."

"Don't you dare!" I can hear Lochlyn take a few steps towards something. I don't know if he is coming to me or towards the angry other men.

"Why Alpha? Why is a wolf with no idea of what she is of any importance to you? Give her back to my pack so we can end her life and what her parents fought her."

"That is my mate. You touch her, and you will die. Right here, right now."

"Your mate? That abomination isn't even really a wolf, and yet you mated with her? You must know that makes me want her even more. It would be so much fun to torture her and make you watch."

"You would answer for your crimes against the future Luna with a war you must know your pack cannot win."

I quietly rolled onto my belly so I could see what was happening. Lochlyn was inches from one guy's face. Chase was next to him but positioned towards one of the others. The last shadow I saw, I couldn't see anymore. I took a breath and felt some ease, knowing another animal wasn't inches from my face.

I relaxed my body and took a deep breath knowing Lochlyn would handle this and then take me home… back home. I closed my eyes and imagined Omaha. The streets are covered in red on Husker game days, the quiet winter when the roads aren't plowed yet, the summers visiting the ball field during the CWS days when downtown is bustling and busy. My apartment, my quiet, fantastic corner apartment. I open my eyes, hoping this to be all a bad dream. Instead of being in my beautiful home, I am still on the forest floor, and there are a pair of eyes staring at me.

"Hello, mutt."

Lochlyn's POV

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the bush move. It's right where Rosalyn is lying. I start to panic because they can see her move if I can see her moving. I focus back on Demetri. He is viciously cruel and will do unthinkable things to satisfy his bloodlust. He is the worst of the worst when it comes to his pack. Waylon, the guy to his right, wants to be just like him. So much so that he defected from his totally peaceful pack to Dem's bloodthirsty one for a taste of wild. On Dem's left is Felix. He is the worst Gamma, but his wife Lira is just as murderous. I can see that Dem's eyes have gone black as night. He wants to hunt and find Rosie. We are outnumbered, and no one will get here fast enough. We should have brought Marco or Finn, but they wouldn't have been any help right now.

"Thinking about how you should have brought more…?"

"I have an army… you wouldn't have survived more."

"Yes, but she won't survive only having you two."

"LOCHLYN!" I hear Rosie shout. one of the warriors has her by the neck, lifting her tiny body probably 2 feet off the ground.

"I will kill you. If you harm her."

"Elias, bring her over here." The guy he calls Elias drags my mate and throws her in between us. Rosalyn looks at me, terrified. I can feel her fear. She literally woke 2 hours ago, and she is going through this.

"Rosie, are you okay? Baby, tell me your okay." Rosie said nothing, just looked at me.

"Baby… gross," Demetri said with a sinister laugh, looking around at his guys. Demetri bends down and touches Rosie's cheek. "Soft. Weak." He stands back up.

"Well, what are we going to do about this?" Rosie starts to crawl to my legs, and Demetri puts his foot on her and presses. She lets out a whimper, and he continues to press on her back with his foot. "I am supposed to bring her back to my pack tonight. I would end her life there, but what is the thrill of that? I think I want a chase, so I will let her live tonight, but I guarantee I will find my way to get her and enjoy every moment of hunting, chasing, and killing her. Maybe I will even have some fun with her before I kill her."

I wanted to kill him. I would love to rip them apart, kill him where he stood. Rosie just stared up at me from the ground. I was mad at her…. I told her to come back, and she ran. I want to help her, but how can I help her if she doesn't let me help her?

"Take her home, young Alpha. I will be seeing you very soon." Dem lifted his foot off Rosie, and she quickly crawled over to me. I lifted her up and cradled her.

"I will be seeing you sooner, and you will spill your blood for that threat."

"Loch." Chase is behind me. "Let's just go. He isn't worth it."

"Listen to your beta before I change my mind about time."

I let out one low growl and looked at Rosie. She has tears cutting rivers through the mud stains on her cheeks. Her body is shaking from the cold, and she seems just terrified out of her mind. We slowly start to back up; Chase stays facing the pack of psychos as I turn and start running through the forest with her in my arms. "It's okay… it's going to be okay… I am going to make it better." Chase catches up to me. We mindlink with each other.

"Do you think his threat is real?" Chase asks with bated breath.

"Yes, I do. Did you recognize the young man he called Elias?"

"No, I did not. What can you feel with Rosalynn?"

"Fear and exhaustion."

"That sounds about right. Are we going to mom and dad's or to your place?"

"My place. I want her close to me at all times. Dem doesn't make threats and not follow through."

"That is a true statement."

"Is Rosalynn always going to be this stubborn?"

"No, she will soften over time. But right now, she is going to dig her heels in. Prepare yourself."

We ran back to the house. We got to my simple two-story home, just a few places from my parents. It was warm in there. My parents and Josephine were sitting on the couch. The moment we walked in the door, Jo was off the couch and running at us. Rosie was asleep in my arms.

"WHAT HAPPENED???!!"

"She ran… hid….. we found her. She ran and hid again when we were confronted by the Red Moon Pack. Dad, you have some explaining to do."

"Did they find her?"

"Yes. Demetri would kill her, but he said he wanted a little more thrill. It is a sadistic kind of hunt her he wants."

"Okay, we can deal with that."

"We are going to deal with it now after I get her comfortable. Jo, can you get some extra pj's?"

"Yes." Jo left the room with my mother to get pajamas and wet rags to clean her off.

"Dad, what is going on?"

"I can't explain it to you yet, but when she is receptive and awake, I will."

"You better… dad. I came within a few minutes of losing her because I was in the dark. I can't protect her if I am in the dark."

"I know, son."

I walked away from my dad and walked up the stairs to the guest room next to mine. I laid her down on the king bed and helped clean off her face from the mud. We picked the remaining bits of nature out of her hair. I turned my back as Jo got her undressed and changed into pajamas. Jo and my mom left the room, and I sat on the bed next to her. Went down to kiss her hand when she moved and looked up at me.

"I am sorry. I should have listened to you. I am just scared."

"You're fine, Rosalynn. We are fine. You are safe, but I have to go, and you need sleep. I will see you in the morning."

"Okay."

She rolled over and quickly fell asleep. I walked out the door. My dad was the only one left in the room, "Is she okay?"

"Right now, yes. However, tomorrow will probably be a different story."

"I know, but I will explain what is going on. I am going to let you sleep."

"Okay. Night Dad, and thanks." My dad came over and gave me a hug and a kiss on the top of my head. He was always an affectionate dad. After my dad left, I lay on the couch to catch my breath, and before I knew it, I was out cold.