Orin Stood glaring at the other four. I couldn’t see his face, his back was to me, but I could imagine it. Stern and serious, ready to pounce if the need arose. His arms hung limply at his sides, fists opening and closing tightly. He was ready for a fight.
My heart rate skyrocketed. I didn’t know exactly what was happening but these were his brothers. They wouldn’t hurt him, right? If they did, I didn’t know if I could just stand there and watch.
“A human, Orin?” The next one in line spat. “You’re killing our parents.”
“I’m not going to stand here and listen to this,” my husband’s voice came out calm yet lethal. “Do what you need to do.”
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.
That biggest one drew back then slammed his fist into Orin’s jaw.
Orin barely took a step back at the impact.
Then the next did the same.
The third one landed on his stomach.
The last brother didn’t have much force behind his punch but they kept going.
Again and again, his brothers hit him, kneed him in the stomach, elbowed his back while spitting questions about me at him.
Orin never spoke.
He took the beating with barely a sound.
I watched only because I couldn’t look away. My hand wrapped around my mouth so my own squeaks wouldn’t escape. It was horrible to see the man I loved being hurt.
Tears pooled above my hand but I didn’t remember starting to cry.
Why were they doing this? Why wouldn’t Orin answer them already?
“Is she really worth all of this, Orin?”
Orin was down on his knees when he snorted then spat blood into the grass. He clutched his stomach where they’d hit him again and again. Pain laced his words when he spoke.
“Is Aras?” he finally got out.
The brother that had asked the question blanched. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open.
“It’s not the same thing,” he replied once he turned his jaw back to stone.
“It is the same thing.” Orin pushed up onto his feet. It took him a few seconds. He swiped a hand across his bottom lip. When he pulled it away, it was smeared with blood. “You love your wife. I love mine. You guys can do whatever you need to, I know how this works, knew when I married her. But you will have to kill me because I won’t tell you where she is.”
I gasped at his offer to die and squeezed my eyes closed. I wanted him to tell his brothers I wasn’t worth his life because I absolutely wasn’t.
The group stood there as seconds ticked by, heaving chests as they tried to catch their breaths. Two of them stomped away into the house while the other two and Orin still stood there.
“Sorry Brother,” one said before clapping Orin on the back and walking away. A move that caused Orin to wince.
Then my husband was alone. He took two painful looking breaths before he walked toward the back porch and out of my line of sight.
As quickly as my legs would carry me, I got away from them, from that house, the only place I’d been comfortable in my entire life. That wasn’t true anymore. With his brothers staying there, I would no longer be welcome.
I had no true home.
Back in the park, I dropped onto the first bench I came to and let my brain take me places I didn’t even want to acknowledge existed. And I let the tears flow freely. Watching Orin being battered that way was one of the worst things I’d ever seen and I didn’t want to see it again.
Even if it meant not being with him.
When I noticed the sun dropping low in the sky, I pushed to my feet, dried my face and put one foot in front of the other until I was back at my father’s. My feet ached from all the walking as I slowly climbed the stairs to my bedroom. The room remained dark with only a sliver of the evening sky peeking through but I saw his outline immediately.
Orin was there in the shadows in the corner.
I dropped my bag and ran to him, throwing myself into his arms and somehow forgetting that he’d been badly beaten just hours before.
He caught me and held tightly before lifting me off the floor and nuzzling into my hair.
I wanted to ask if he was all right but then I’d be admitting to being at the house in the first place. Asking would’ve told him I was there to witness whatever happened with his brothers.
“I couldn’t stay away,” he finally growled in a soft and tender way.
Orin carried me over to the bed.
I’d wanted to talk to him but it’d have to wait. I wanted him first.
His lips crashed into mine like a man who’d die if he didn’t taste me. At the same time, he let his hands roam over my body. My less than sturdy summer dress was no match for his strong hands.
We kissed and pulled at our clothing until nothing was left between us but air.
Sometimes Orin took his time. Others were like this. When raw need and desire took us over.
The feel of his skin sliding against mine, the taste of his tongue on mine, and the way his hands knew how to touch me was all I needed. His erection pushed against me.
“Orin,” I whispered because I wanted him inside me now not later.
Orin pushed inside me. I bit my lips together to keep from making even the slightest sound. He felt so good but my father was in the house and I didn’t want any interruption. Then he began to move. He kissed me while his hands cupped my breasts then slid his hand between us, touching a spot so sensitive I almost bolted out from beneath him.
Biting my lips no longer worked so I slapped a hand over my mouth as he pushed my higher. So high I wasn’t going to be able to hold on much longer.
I wasn’t going to worry about any of it. Not his brothers, not my father, not the fact that we weren’t currently living together. I wanted to let Orin take me, own me in the way only he could. The only way I wanted to be owned.
Orin took me to that special place where only he and I existed. But that didn’t last long enough and we were soon both still and exhausted. He rolled onto his back and pulled me to him.
I wanted to cry. While I couldn’t get enough of him, I knew it wouldn’t last and I really wanted it to last.
“It’s a full moon tonight?” I asked quietly instead.
“You’re keeping track?” His voice low and tired.
“No.” I blushed although he couldn’t see it. Then kissed him on the chest and added, “You get… bigger when it’s a full moon.”
“Yes but… ”
“You get bigger…”
I couldn’t believe I said that. Orin assured me when we eloped that I could tell him anything but I never thought I’d talk to him about the size of his… cock. But I blushed again at thinking the word. Olivia had said it, most of the girls I knew referred to it in that way and I was trying to be bold.
He chuckled low in his chest.
From his reaction, I didn’t think anyone else had spoken this particular truth.
“I miss you,” he whispered kissing the top of my head. “How are things here?”
My husband was letting me off the hook. Yet another reason I loved him. He knew when to push and when to let things slide.
“My father doesn’t speak to me unless it’s absolutely necessary. Barely looks at me. I disappointed him by marrying you and coming back proves that I can’t be trusted to make my own decisions. It’s not like I can tell him why I’ve come back.”
“How much did you see today?” he asked taking me by surprise.
He couldn’t mean what his brothers did to him. He couldn’t.
Even in the dimness of the room, though, I could see the remnants of bruising across his chest. Instead of answering right away, I leaned down to kiss each one I could reach.
“At the house, Elizabeth. You weren’t supposed to be there. How much did you see?”
“I’m not sure. I saw them ask where I was. I saw them… ” I said quietly. “Why did they do that to you?”
He s
hook his head. “It’s how the pack works. I don’t want you to worry. They won’t get to you.” Orin sighed deeply. “I expect they’ll leave soon so we can get back to normal.”
“And next time?” I sat up crossing my legs under me keeping the blanket pulled to my breast. “The next time they come, will you hide me again? Like a dirty secret or a whore?”
“I’m trying to get them on my side. My brother, Phillip, the one who spoke to you today, he already is. He understands but the others are more concerned about the increased strength of the family.”
“Did you tell him who I was? Phillip.”
“Yes. He’s keeping them busy so I can be here right now.”
“I won’t do this again, Orin.”
I defied my father, married a man I loved though hadn’t known very long, changed the way I dressed and how I behaved.
I wasn’t now going to be pushed aside.
“What does that mean?” He shot up beside me, standing next to my bed completely naked and not caring a bit.
“I won’t hide from them again. Once they leave, I’m coming home. If they return, I’m staying. If they kill me then they kill me but I hate being away from you and I’m miserable here.”
A new sense of confidence and determination manifested. It was completely his fault that I now felt like I could speak my mind. He’d promised me I could always do but this was the first time I was speaking against him. Still, I wasn’t scared of how he’d react.
What I did know was that I liked the feeling, liked knowing that I could fight for what I wanted instead of accepting what others were willing to give me.
“If one of them hurts you, I have to kill him. My own brothers. Is that what you want?” He stomped over to grab up his clothing then roughly yanked his pants back on as I spoke.
He finally turned toward me while buttoning his shirt.
“Of course not,” I said. “But… ”
“No buts, Elizabeth. I’m your husband. You’ll do as I say.”
Orin jumped down from the balcony and was gone before I could get myself off the bed.
I’ll do as he says?
He may as well have slapped me in the face himself. He sounded like my father.
Orin must’ve forgotten that I wasn’t the same girl he met months ago.
I wasn’t going to sit back and be told what I could do without having a say.
My Orin had never spoken to me that way.
I narrowed my eyes at him, ready to lay into him and let him know he had another thing coming. But his expression gave me pause.
He looked nothing like my father. There were no anger lines marring his face. No veins bulging in his neck or forehead. Orin didn’t look nearly as demanding as his words made him sound. Instead, he looked… afraid.
Orin didn’t want to tell me what I could and could not do. He wanted to keep me safe. And that scared me—because he was a strong, capable werewolf, and yet, he was afraid something terrible was going to happen to me.
I stood in my room, naked, as cold fear made moving impossible. This wasn’t some passive fear. Orin was actually afraid his brothers would kill me, and there was a real possibility this situation could end in my death.
Chapter Twenty
I just wanted to talk to Orin. Or see him.
Whenever I went into town, which became every day, I searched for him so that we could “accidentally” bump into each other.
Most of all, I wanted to apologize for not seeing his side of our situation. As well as, hopefully, get an apology for him acting like my father. I spent hours drinking coffee watching out the window for any sign of Orin or his brothers. I figured where one was the others couldn’t be far behind.
Alas, he never appeared.
I even took the risk of walking past Orin’s house but there was no sign of life inside.
No idea when I started thinking of it as his house again.
My days became routine. I woke, dressed, walked around town, spend hours at the diner, spend hours at the library then returned home as late as possible without drawing my father’s wrath.
He tolerated my presence but wouldn’t do the same with anyone he deemed inappropriate. A girl out late unsupervised was definitely inappropriate.
Also, I used as little of Orin’s money as I could and only bought necessities as I needed them. As much as I didn’t want to use his money, I certainly wouldn’t ask my father for anything more than a roof over my head.
What I didn’t understand was how Orin, who professed his love for me every chance he got, could go so long without even a visit.
If I had a choice, I wouldn’t have chosen this.
After another two weeks passed, I finally hit my limit of being ignored by my husband and marched over to his house, if for no other reason than I’d like more than three dresses to change into.
I’d been back at my father’s for a month and the weather had slightly shifted. I needed a few warmer things for the evening.
I was a pit of staunch determination until I reached the door to Orin’s house. Then the nerves set in.
My stomach turned over itself several times but I took a few deep breaths before realizing I didn’t know if I should knock or not. Which pissed me off. I shouldn’t feel like I have to knock at my own house. I steeled my will and yanked the door open.
Where I found the house silent and empty.
“Well, that was all for nothing.” I laughed at myself.
With the eerie quiet in the house, I decided to get the clothes I’d told myself I was there for.
When I pushed open our bedroom door, it felt as if it’d been untouched, like the room had been empty since I left it.
Instead of dwelling on that, I grabbed a suitcase and packed up some of my clothes, then forced the bag shut because admittedly I’d taken a lot. It was heavy but not so much that I couldn’t carry it myself.
Then I left again, wondering when or if I’d be back.
The weight of the bag started to wear on my shoulder when I finally got back up to my room. It clanked against the stairs several times but I kept moving. When I dropped it to the hardwood floor, the bag fell over. I pushed away blond pieces of hair that had fallen into my face away.
“You went there?” Orin raged at me before I saw him. He took up most of the space in my room and had his back to the balcony doors.
I hadn’t even seen him.
“I needed clothes,” I said simply giving him half of the truth.
“Buy what you need,” he said through clenched teeth. “They were going to leave. I’d convinced them to go. Now they know you’ve been there and decided to stay. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
His eyes raged with fire as he glared at me. He didn’t try to hide the anger.
“I want my clothes. I don’t want to buy new ones with your money.” I don’t know when I decided to become so obstinate but it wasn’t going away.
Orin had no idea what my life was like now or that staying with my father instead of running off with him in the first place would’ve been easier. Then I wouldn’t know what I’d been missing.
“It’s isn’t my money.” His teeth were clamped down so tightly that his words made it past his lips.
“Quiet down,” I snapped. “My father will hear you.”
“I don’t care,” he growled.
“Well, I do. If he finds you here he’ll kick me out. He’s already had his lawyers over to advise us on how to file for divorce on my behalf. Where would I go then?”
Orin’s eyes widened and his face softened.
He sighed but the anger didn’t go away. It just became more controlled.
“I’m sorry all right?” I walked over to him and laid my hands on his muscular arms.
His muscles relaxed at my touch.
“Why did you do it? Why did you go there?” He sounded down, defeated even. Sad.
“I was hoping you’d all be there and—”
He charged forward forcing me to drop
my hands as I fell onto my bed. He paced back and forth in front of me.
“You wanted them to find you on purpose?”
“At first but then I was relieved when you weren’t home.”
“We didn’t miss you by much. You can’t go back there. No matter what, Elizabeth.” His eye blazed brighter the closer he came to me.
I understood why he told me this. If his brother’s found me they’d probably kill me first and ask questions later. Questions I wouldn’t be around to answer.
“I need to see you once in a while.”
That was all I really wanted in the first place. To not have to go weeks without even laying eyes on him. To not have to waste away in the hell that had become my life once again.
“I wish that were possible,” he said back.
Now my temper flared. It almost never did but that was more than I could take.
“So you’ll come here, come to my bed, make love to me and then ignore me as if I don’t exist? Orin, I deserve better than this.”
“I shouldn’t have done that. It wasn’t fair and for that I am sorry. Do you think this is easy for me?”
“It seems to be,” I countered as I threw my hands out in front of me. “You’re all over town enjoying time with your brothers, doing whatever men do when they’re with other men.”
“I can’t even sleep in our bed, can’t stand to be in our room,” his voice grew louder again. “This is almost harder than watching you try to fuck the man you were supposed to marry. At least then I didn’t know what I was missing.”
I smiled and snorted because he’d spoken out loud exactly what I’d thought on the inside. The argument had gone far enough for one night.
“I am pretty fantastic aren’t I?”
“You have no idea.” He leaned over placing his forehead on mine.
I couldn’t close my eyes to enjoy the moment. It was like I didn’t want to miss seeing him for even a moment given I got to so rarely.
“You really aren’t sleeping in bed?” I asked quietly.
“I am. Just not our bed.”
“Come here.” I sighed, pulling him with me as I laid back so I could nuzzle in next to him with my arm across his chest and my head on his shoulder. This is where I truly wanted to be.
Moonstruck Page 14