Moon Bound

by Leisl Leighton

  Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she bit her lip. ‘Hurry, Adam. Something terrible is happening.’ He darted through more trees to come out on the edge of a clearing. Long shadows stretched across the grass. The taste of blood in Bron’s throat increased. She gagged.

  Adam stopped, his head lifting as he took in a deep breath. ‘Fuck.’

  She saw his eyes widen and followed his gaze. He was staring across the edge of the clearing where the shadows were thickest. At first she couldn’t see anything and then … A glint of silvery white hide in the gloom. A cow. It was lying on its side, its head at an odd angle. A darker shadow hung over it. There was a feral ripping and tearing sound.

  The taste of blood rushed into her mouth, the warm salty tang quenching a thirst she didn’t know she had.

  ‘River.’

  Chapter 25

  The shadow hanging over the dead cow moved, its head snapping up, ember red eyes piercing her through the gloom.

  ‘Fuck,’ Adam said as the Beast slowly straightened from its kill, his vicious snarl tearing across the clearing, making the hair on Bron’s arms and neck stand on end. Without taking his eyes off the Beast, Adam lowered Bron to her feet and pushed her behind him. ‘Run.’

  She shook her head. ‘I can’t leave him.’

  Adam’s teeth glinted white in the moonlight as he snarled, ‘Bron. Do what I say.’

  ‘No.’

  The Beast howled, cutting off his reply, and then charged. With a harsh, ‘Bron, run,’ Adam leapt forward to meet the Beast.

  ‘Adam, no!’

  In mid-leap, Adam changed, the glowing rainbow pulse lighting the surrounds in brilliant relief so that for a moment, Bron saw what the Beast had done. Blood and flesh and limbs littered the area around the cow. No, not just one cow. Many cows. Shredded into unrecognisable chunks of steaming flesh and snapped bone. Vomit rushed up her throat. Bron clapped her hand to her mouth, doubt swamping her. River would never have killed like that.

  She swallowed, the taste of blood thick in her mouth, overriding the bitter taste of bile. It made her gasp, reminded her of her certainty before. If she could taste the blood the Beast had drunk, then River was still there. She dragged her eyes from the horror of slaughtered cattle to watch as Adam and the Beast met in the middle of the clearing.

  The Beast howled, swiping a viciously clawed hand at Adam’s wolf. Despite his size, Adam moved like water and slipped under the swipe, biting at the Beast’s leg as he went past.

  Bron cried out as a tearing pain slashed through her leg, her cry melding with the Beast’s snarl as it spun and lashed out at the black wolf. Adam darted in again, scoring another nip. Bron screamed as pain bloomed in her side. Adam turned at the scream. She saw the Beast lunge, its jaws wide, ready to sink into the black wolf’s neck.

  ‘No!’ she cried out, staggering forward. ‘River, no!’ The Beast faltered mid-step and crashed into Adam instead. Adam howled as claws dug into his side, but twisted and bit into the Beast’s arm. Bron tried to muffle the scream at the echoed pain of Adam’s teeth tearing through muscle and flesh. She clapped her hand over her arm, unsurprised to feel blood trickling through her fingers. Why was she feeling his pain so clearly when she hadn’t been able to before? And then she knew—the mating bond. She’d accepted it and now it was fully formed. And even though most of it was blocked because the Beast had consumed River, it hadn’t consumed all of him. The Beast and River didn’t share much, but they both felt pain and because of her healer empathy, she was feeling it with him a hundredfold because of the bond.

  It was a way in.

  The Beast swiped at Adam, just missing as the black wolf let go and rolled away. Beast and wolf spun to face each other, lips curled. Hatred and tension strung between them. Each of Adam’s bites was designed to weaken the Beast so it could be captured, but he was still hurting the Beast, enraging it. It meant to kill.

  Bron couldn’t let either happen. She took a staggering step just as Adam leapt at the Beast again.

  ‘Adam, no!’ Jason stepped into the moonlight on the far side of the clearing. Skye appeared just behind him. Adam snarled but changed direction. The Beast swiped at him as he went past. There was a loud thump and crunch of bone. But Adam didn’t go down. He rolled and was on his feet an instant later on the opposite side of the clearing, his growl low and threatening as he faced the Beast again.

  ‘You can’t kill him,’ Jason said.

  Another snarl. Bron almost laughed at the sound, because she knew that Adam was berating Jason for telling him something he already knew, but the sound turned into a sob in her throat as the pain in her side sharpened. The sound caught the Beast’s attention. It straightened, head cocked as it sniffed the air. Then, without warning, it charged towards her.

  ‘River, stop,’ Jason shouted, moving to intercept as Adam sprang forward, trying to catch the Beast from behind.

  The Beast didn’t respond to the Alpha command ringing in Jason’s voice. It didn’t so much as slow him down. His lips curled back in a snarl, his glowing eyes snapping hatred with every pounding step.

  Her breath a harsh catch in her throat, her wounds throbbed with every step the Beast took. Jason and Adam couldn’t stop the Beast from reaching her, but with lightning certainty born from all she’d realised tonight, Bron knew what she had to do. She whispered, ‘River. I love you.’ Then she dug her hand into the wound in her side.

  The Beast howled and faltered, then, snarling, resumed his charge.

  Bron dug her fingers in harder, the pain slicing into her chest, making her breath catch in her throat. Sweat prickled, nausea swirled. Her heart thumped painfully, but she didn’t let go.

  The Beast howled but didn’t stop. It lifted a clawed hand. Blood, dark and thick and red, glistened on its nails in the moonlight. She curled her fingers into damaged flesh and then pulled. Prickling black swirled in her eyes. She heard the Beast make a noise like the screech of metal twisting and breaking. She waited for the swipe that would tear her in half, would end her life, and muttered under her breath, ‘River, I love you.’

  Nothing happened.

  She opened her eyes. The Beast stood before her, nostrils dilated, blood-soaked breath panting over her. It was trembling, its mouth working, lips pulled back in a snarl. Its hand was still raised as if to swipe, but it didn’t move. She looked into its eyes. Gold-flecked hazel, not the glowing coal red of the Beast. ‘River.’

  ‘Bronwyn,’ he groaned.

  ‘Bron?’

  The Beast trembled. She held out her hand towards Adam and Jason. ‘Don’t come any closer. River is in control again, but the threat of you might tip him over the edge.’ They stopped moving, but she could feel their tension, knew they could spring forward at a moment’s notice.

  ‘Bron?’

  Jason held his hand out as Skye called out from the other side of the clearing. ‘Stay there, Skye.’

  ‘But River—’

  ‘I can’t afford for you to get hurt,’ Jason said. ‘Please, Skye. I know it goes against the grain, but I need you to stay where you are.’

  She stopped. ‘What about Bron?’

  He nodded. ‘I know.’ He turned back. ‘Bron. Move away.’

  She shook her head slowly.

  ‘Listen to them, Bronwyn,’ River rasped, his voice strange, the words distorted by the muzzle and long teeth. ‘Run. For fuck’s sake, run.’

  ‘No.’ She stepped closer, reaching out to touch River’s chest. Blood ran from a wound that mirrored hers. ‘I’m here to heal you.’

  ‘You can’t heal me. The Darkness won’t let you.’ His face twisted. ‘This is all my fault. I invited it in the night my parents were killed and now I’m lost.’

  ‘No.’ A tear tumbled down her cheek. ‘You’re not lost. I’m here. I will always be here.’ She touched his chest over his heart. ‘I will always find you.’

  He trembled. ‘I can’t hold it back. It wants to kill you. Wants to kill all the pack, but especially you.’


  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because you are the only thing truly holding me here.’

  ‘And that’s why I will never leave.’ Her lips widened in a smile as she stared up into eyes that reflected the man she loved. ‘Do you believe me?’

  ‘I wish I didn’t, but … Yes.’

  ‘Good. Now, let me do what I need to do to help you.’

  ‘How are you going to do that when you haven’t been able to before?’

  ‘Because I am more than I was before. I know who I am now. And I know what I’m supposed to do.’

  His lips pulled tight over his teeth and she knew the fight inside him was causing him incredible pain—a pain reflected in her. But she was used to taking on the pain of others, and there was something far more important to concentrate on.

  She could see what Morrigan had done to him now. The moondust, glistening in his skin. She wasn’t sure why the moondust had changed him into the Beast rather than his wolf, as it had done to the Were in her dream quest, but she knew the moondust had to be removed from him; knew the words she had to speak.

  Reaching one hand towards the sky and the other towards River, she cried out,

  ‘To the Goddess of the Moon I speak,

  Your help to release this Were I seek

  Release him from your influence, I implore

  Return to him the strength that is nature’s law

  Three times three times three times three,

  As I will, so mote it be.’

  The night held its breath. No movement. No sound.

  Moondust rose, sparkling from the Beast. It tipped back its head and let out a mighty roar. Hatred flashed in its eyes as it fought what was happening, the loss of its power. Its features flashed from the Beast to River’s and then back again. It trembled harder as more moondust lifted from its skin and the battle inside it started shifting in River’s favour.

  ‘I love you,’ Bron whispered. ‘Come back to me.’

  For an instant, she saw the reflection of her love mirrored in River’s eyes, then just as quickly, an inky darkness fell across his eyes and the hatred of the Beast was back. Bron gasped as she recognised that Darkness. She saw the Beast’s lips curled back on a silent, vicious snarl just before the last of the moondust lifted from it, its claw slashing towards her.

  She heard Adam howl, Jason shout a warning, heard the sizzle of power as Skye tried to throw up a barrier between Bron and the Beast. But it was too late. With the last of his power, the Beast, energised by the Darkness, sought to take revenge against its greatest enemy—the man whose body he had taken over.

  She threw her arm up to protect her face, her chest, heard River’s pained cry. Nails raked across her arm, pain bloomed, bright and hot, but nowhere near as bad as she’d thought it would be. There was an oof of noise in front of her, a thump as bodies hit the ground.

  Clutching her arm to her chest, she stared at it. Blood beaded from four scratches. Just scratches. Her arm hadn’t been shredded by claws.

  River had pulled back.

  A smile trembling on her lips, she looked over to where Jason and River had hit the ground. Jason rolled to his feet, hands raised to defend, to attack.

  But there was no need. River lay on the grass, blood dripping from the injuries on his chest, side and arms. The Beast was gone. She looked up, saw his hazel eyes were no longer red-black and hate filled. Instead, they were filled with horror, his gaze pinned on her arm. The slashing cuts his claws had torn in her skin.

  ‘Oh, God. Bronwyn. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stop.’

  His pain and distress tore at her. She rushed over to him, stopped only by the body of the black wolf pushing between them. ‘Adam, get out of the way.’ He growled at her. ‘I’ve not finished yet. The Darkness is still here. Cloying. Grasping. Can’t you feel it?’

  River held out his hand. ‘And that’s why you can’t come near me. The Beast isn’t fully gone. I can’t guarantee I won’t hurt you again.’ Grief dulled his eyes as he looked at her; but the longing was still there. A longing she felt too. Had always felt—she’d just been too stupid and stubborn to realise it until almost too late.

  But it wasn’t too late. She loved him and he loved her. It was enough.

  Bron nodded. ‘I know. I saw it. In a dream quest. It’s ancient and evil and it’s been inside you all along.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Skye said as she joined them. Jason swore and moved so that he stood between her and River. ‘Jason!’

  ‘I asked you to stay away.’

  ‘I had to make sure River and Bron were fine.’

  He rolled his eyes but didn’t move to stop her as she walked over to Bron and looked at her arm. ‘Your arm should be shredded.’

  ‘I know. River pulled back.’

  Skye’s gaze darted between River and Bron. ‘What did you mean when you said “it explains so much”?’

  ‘I didn’t know what the Darkness was I could see in River’s aura. Although I knew it was responsible for holding his wolf at bay and turning him into the Beast, I didn’t know why or how it was doing it.’

  ‘It could do it because there’s something broken inside me,’ River said, pushing slowly to his feet.

  ‘No. You’re wrong. That’s what I wasn’t seeing. The Darkness couldn’t take full hold because there’s nothing broken inside you. It’s because of your strength, your purity, your love for your sister, your pack … your love for me, the way you always see everything, including me, with such clarity … that you were able to hold on. You’re not broken. You are more whole than anyone I’ve ever known.’

  River stared at her, chest heaving. She could see in his eyes he wanted to believe her, but …

  ‘I feel it here,’ he said, clenching his fist to his chest. ‘Seething. Clawing at me to get out. It hurts and I don’t think I can fight it anymore.’

  ‘River,’ Skye said, sounding broken. ‘River, don’t say that.’

  ‘It’s true. And I don’t want to hurt any of you. That’s why I have to go.’

  ‘You can’t go,’ Jason said as Adam let out a pleading growl.

  ‘I have to. I’m a danger to all of you.’

  ‘But you can’t go,’ Skye said, her hands lifting to reach for her brother, but Jason stood between her and him. ‘We have to look after you. You don’t know how important you are. Not just to me. You know how important you are to me. And you’re Bron’s mate. But apart from all of that, Shelley discovered something in the diaries. Come back with us, River. Let us explain. You can’t go.’

  River stepped back, shaking his head. ‘I know what you’re talking about. Eloise overheard you.’ He glanced at Bron. ‘She’s one of the rogue coven. She’s a shapeshifter and she’s been masquerading as your cat.’

  ‘We know. She came to us. To lead us to you,’ Bron said.

  He nodded. ‘She’s a good person. She tried to help me. Tried to tell Morrigan what she’d heard.’

  ‘Oh, God,’ Skye said, her hand going to her mouth. ‘She’ll never leave you alone.’

  River’s lip twisted as if he were in pain. ‘Eloise only told her I was related to her through Morghanna. She whispered to me later about what Shelley discovered, when she thought I was going to give up. She said I had to fight. And I will. I won’t let it kill me. But if I stay here, I might hurt all of you.’ His gaze flickered to Bron for a long, desire-filled moment. She tried to cling to that look, but he glanced away at the moon. ‘I can’t be here when the full moon comes. I have to be locked up. Far away.’

  ‘No. That’s where you’re wrong. That’s what I was trying to tell you before.’ Bron stepped around Adam, but this time when he went to block her, Jason held his hand out.

  ‘No, Adam. Let her.’

  River edged away as she came close. ‘Don’t, Bronwyn. I don’t want to hurt you.’

  ‘And you won’t. You haven’t let the Beast hurt me yet, and you’re not going to.’

  ‘What do you call that?’ he said, h
is fingers reaching out to touch her arm.

  It was the softest, gentlest caress and it burned through her, made her want to curl up against him, secure in his strength. But she couldn’t. Not until she’d freed him. ‘I call it a scratch that could have been so much worse if you weren’t so strong. If you weren’t the man I love with all my heart, who loves me with all of yours, I’d probably be dead.’

  ‘Bronwyn.’

  Her name on his lips was a tortured sigh. She couldn’t stand the sound of it. The healer in her wouldn’t allow it, let alone the woman who loved him. She reached out, laid her palm against his chest. He shuddered, seemed for a moment as if he would shift away as he’d so often done before. ‘Do you trust me?’

  ‘Yes. With my life. It’s me I don’t trust.’

  ‘But you should. I do. With my life.’

  ‘You shouldn’t. I’m dangerous.’

  ‘No. You’re not. There’s something inside you. You said it yourself. But you’re wrong. You didn’t invite it in. Not really. It’s drawn to anger and despair. It used the grief and pain of a little boy and pushed its way into you all those years ago.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  She shook her head. ‘I’m not sure. Partly the dream quest, partly instinct. Maybe some of what I’m getting through you from the mating bond. I didn’t recognise it when I was trying to heal you because its existence was hidden from everyone. But Bridgette Colliere knew of it. She banished it. She showed me in my dream quest. I didn’t understand, but it just made the mistake of showing me what it was. I recognise it now. I might not be able to banish it like Bridgette Colliere did all those years ago, but I know what it hates. I know how to force it out of you.’