Bound by Fate (Moon Bound Series Book 1)

by Mandy Lou Dowson

  A soft yip alerted them to the presence of another wolf, and Beth turned toward the sound, her mind instantly recalling an embarrassing dream she’d had during her earlier nap. David growled lightly in welcome and nudged Beth with his cold nose. Fine!

  She greeted the Guardian as was proper, by presenting her throat for his perusal, which he gazed at for longer than was proper, before playfully nipping at it and rubbing his head alongside her own. Strange, she thought, he’s never done that before.

  The presentation of her throat was tradition, as he was higher in the pecking order than she, and therefore her life was forfeit if only he wished it. What was odd about the whole thing was his reaction. Guardians, along with any other member of the pack usually ignored the throat, preferring instead to growl a reply somewhere along the lines of “yeah, hey”.

  She supposed in older times the wolves adhered more stringently to the rules of nature, but since packs had officially started taking in survivors, rather than killing them on sight, they’d softened somewhat. It was no bad thing, she decided – the sheer awkwardness she was feeling right now was not something she’d appreciate often.

  David’s wolf face flicked from Beth to Gareth and back again, in question. Shrugging in wolf-form wasn’t easy, but Beth managed. She had no idea what Gareth was up to either. It was almost as if…no, it just wasn’t possible. He wasn’t interested in her – she’d definitely scent that in the air. More likely was that he wanted her to think he was, to confuse her and keep her docile.

  The longer she thought about it, the more concrete this reasoning seemed to her, so she decided that it was going to backfire badly for poor Gareth. Poor misled Gareth, thinking he could manipulate her into behaving. He was about to be taught a very good lesson. Beth 101.

  Going for a run. David’s mind-voice. Stay with your Guardian, Little Wolf.

  If she were in human-form she might have grinned. Oh goody, she thought, school’s in session the minute he’s gone.

  In her own mind-voice she wished her Den Father a good run, and sauntered off. David would pick up the carcass of the boar on his way home. No other animal would touch it. Not with the scent of werewolf all over it. It was just such a shame she couldn’t saunter properly in her wolf-form.

  With a frown, she watched the silent exchange between her Den Father and her Guardian, as their eyes met and locked for a slow, torturous moment. Eventually Gareth bent his muzzle in a nod, and perhaps a show of submission. David growled one last time and turned his massive wolf-form towards the deeper woods.

  Time to teach this wolf a lesson, she told herself.

  Gareth’s amazing black wolf-form followed her easily as she led them a merry dance through the woods, twisting around bushes and leaping over streams. For over an hour she let him keep pace with her before she let her legs really stretch. Now to lose the tail. If she could have giggled she would have, but in wolf-form it came out as a rumble deep in her belly. Gareth glanced at her, and his eyes twinkled in the light of the moon, a shadow surrounded by shadows. If you didn’t know he was there you’d never even notice him. She took off at full speed, ignoring Gareth’s warning bark, and soon lost him among the foliage and the trees. The moon shone upon her coat, and she wished for Gareth’s darkness.

  She was a dark blond wolf, in keeping with her own hair color in human-form. Her silver eyes though, they were pure wolf whether she was in human-form or wolf. She’d noticed some of the un-mated males gazing at her eyes sometimes as if they were an anomaly, which she supposed they were. The only un-mated, purebred, female wolf, and just to mark her as even more of an outsider, she was the only one of her pack with silver eyes. God, that stuff got old fast!

  All the self-reflection only served to distract her from her surroundings, lending to the effectiveness of the trap that awaited her. Her front paws landed on a springy section of the forest floor and she tried to leap back, knowing what was about to happen. But she was helpless to stop herself from moving forward, her own speed adding to her momentum until the ground gave way under her and she fell into a great pit, whining as she twisted her hind leg in a bad landing.

  Snarling as a sharp pain assaulted the same hind leg, she turned and found her hind quarters slick with her own blood, and a piece of bone protruding from her hip area. Oh man, that hurts. She briefly considered shimmering back to her human-form, but dismissed the idea as absurd. How was she going to get out of this pit? And how would she explain her naked self to the poachers who would no doubt find her come morning?

  She’d spoken to David already about the trap she’d found, and he’d warned her to stay alert to the presence of human hunters in their territory. If humans ever found them, she had no doubt that they’d be taken apart piece by bloody piece in a lab somewhere. It was bad enough when a wolf accidentally turned a human, but for the most part they could keep that under wraps and even use it to the benefit of the pack. Given the choice, most of the survivors preferred to live and work in the human world after their first change – with strict supervision, of course – and the currency was always helpful, though they had to return for any and all rituals.

  Her thoughts still on survivors, and with no choice left available to her, she sent out her mind voice in search of the one person she had wanted to evade. Gareth? Can you hear me?

  What do you want, Little Wolf? Haven’t you already humiliated me enough for one night? I’ve had to admit to your Den Father twice in the same day that I’ve lost you.

  Oh dear, he sounded pretty pissed. She couldn’t blame him, really. She had set out to teach him that she would not abide being manipulated into acquiescence, and she’d done a pretty good job of it too. Unfortunately, now she needed his help, and she doubted it would come cheaply, considering his mood. She had only herself to blame, so she’d better suck it up and admit she needed him.

  Um, I’m kind of in need of your help right now, so could we please leave the lecture and the guilt trip until later?

  Help? What have you done now, Little Wolf? Enraged a viper, perhaps.

  Ugh, he was being such a pain right now. Her own anger ignited, she sent him a tirade of abuse via mind-voice. So if you’re finished giving me hell, I could use your help to get me out of this trap!

  That got his attention, alright. All recriminations forgotten in the face of her predicament, he demanded to know where she was, and howled his frustration to the moon when her only response was that she actually didn’t know, only that she was very far from the site of the hunt.

  Such a cub, Little Wolf! he sent to her. I will track you but it could take a while.

  Fine, she replied. Just hurry. Please, she added on in case he was still angry enough to just take off on her. Don’t be silly, she told herself, he’s a Guardian, my Guardian. He can’t leave me here. But she shivered anyway, her mind turning to the last time she’d been trapped in a hole in the ground.

  Hissing with pain, she dislodged those thoughts from her mind, and again her thoughts turned to survivors. Well, one survivor in particular. Gareth had been little more than a child when he’d come across a rogue on the outskirts of his hometown. He’d managed to escape by literally bashing the wolf’s face in with a brick, and finally found refuge in a dumpster, where the scent of rot quickly over-powered his own blood and fear scent, but not before the wolf had swiped at his back with one powerful paw, leaving long ragged claw marks in his flesh. A month later he’d gone through his first change, and in terror had fled to the forest where he’d quickly been found by a pack member. She wondered if he’d chosen to stay with the pack rather than the humans because he’d been so young, and if he’d ever regretted it.

  By the time Gareth found her, she was so grateful to see someone else, anyone else, that she even wagged her tail like a common hound. Pain lanced through her hip, putting paid to her tail-wagging antics, and she whined. Her obvious distress elicited a whine of his own and he started to shimmer.

  Beyond embarrassment at this point, she waited for h
im to climb down to her. “You’re going to have to shimmer back into human-form. You won’t heal until you shimmer and you’re losing a lot of blood.” He rubbed a finger along her jaw and she had to forcibly restrain herself from snuggling into his touch. Damn her hormones. “That’s a bad break, Little Wolf.” His chocolate eyes tightened in empathy and he sighed. “It’s going to hurt. The shimmer. It’ll be bad, but you need to heal before we can get out of here.”

  Erratically whining and panting, Beth started to shimmer. The agony of the healing tore through her and she ended her shimmer on a scream torn raggedly from her now-human throat.

  “It’s alright now,” Gareth crooned to her, rubbing her back as he held her. His hands were moving in large circles, coaxing the warmth back into her frigid skin. She barely felt it, so exhausted was she. She doubted she even had the energy to haul herself to a stand, let alone pull herself out of the pit with Gareth’s help.

  “So tired,” she admitted, gruffly. She felt as though she’d run herself to ground – a mean feat, all considered. Her legs shook as she tried to stand and she landed in a heap in the dirt. Gareth glanced at the lip of the pit, being tall enough to grab it and pull himself out, he could just leave her. She couldn’t complain, really, after her Houdini act earlier. It would serve her right.

  “Go on,” she whispered, “I’ll just rest a while.”

  “Not a chance, Little Wolf.”

  He grabbed her by both arms and lifted her to a standing position, grabbing the exposed root of some plant above-ground. Wrapping her hands around the root he told her, “just hold on for ten seconds, and I’ll be able to reach you, okay?”

  She nodded, numb. Please, she prayed, give me the strength to hold on. “Okay.”

  Beth tried not to notice his powerful muscles rippling as he climbed out of the trap in two seconds flat, envying him his vigor and wishing she didn’t set out to teach him that damned lesson. Just as her hands started to loose their grip on the root, she felt Gareth grasp her firmly and drag her upwards. In no time at all he laid her on the soft earth beside the pit. “Can you walk?”

  “With help…maybe.”

  “Come on, we need to find shelter. It’s cold out here and we’re exposed.”

  She would not, repeat, not, glance at what exactly was exposed. No. She. Would. Not. Look.

  She looked. Damn it. He had his back turned to her, gazing around for some sort of shelter from the elements, and she was marveling at the exquisite form and shape of his wide shoulders, strong back, narrow waist and his...

  No, she wouldn’t look any lower. Except, her eyes did it anyway. Damn, the man was nicely put together.

  Guardian, she reminded herself for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last sixty seconds. She would not think of him as a man. He was a Guardian. That was all. Or so she tried to tell herself.

  “Beth?”

  The totally bewildered expression on Gareth’s face, as well as the use of her real name – twice in one day – led her to believe he’d been addressing her for a while. “You okay?”

  “I’m good. Let’s find somewhere to hole up for a couple of hours. I’m sure I’ll have the energy to shimmer and go home then.”

  “Not gonna happen, Little Wolf. You won’t be able to shimmer until morning,” he put up a hand. “Trust me on this one, will you, please? And I’m not dragging you home, naked, in this cold, through the woods. Your Den Father would tear my throat out.” His face was determined, closed, and remote. He would not be moved on this, she could see.

  “And you bringing me home in the morning, after spending the night together in the woods. That’s a better idea?” Beth snorted. “Yeah, because David regularly lets me spend the night in the woods with un-mated males.” She rolled her eyes. “Dream on.”

  “He’s celebrating the hunt. He won’t be home for hours and even if he makes it back before dawn, he’ll be so exhausted that he’ll just fall into bed.”

  Gareth made a move to haul her to her feet and she put a restraining hand on his forearm. “Wait just a minute. What if we’re caught, hmm? What will you tell him?” Oh God, if David knew about her antics, after expressly ordering her to stay with her Guardian, he would totally flip out.

  “I’ll tell him the truth,” Gareth admitted, and she paled. “A version of it, at least. I’ve already told him you gave me the slip again, so I’ll tell him I started tracking, and that I spent all night chasing you down, and teaching you a lesson.”

  She goggled.

  “He’ll need a good explanation. If I told him what really happened, he’d tear my throat out. We can’t exactly lie to him,” he sighed. He was right, of course, her Den Father would smell a lie before it was told. “So I’ll tell him you had a good scare and are changing your ways. And if you don’t return home in the morning a changed person he’s going to tear my throat out for real.”

  “Alright, Gareth,” she whispered. “I’ll be a good little cub and I won’t argue.”

  He laughed. That deep throaty rumble that set her stomach to fluttering, and she colored, suddenly aware of both her nakedness and his proximity.

  As quickly as it had begun, the laugh stopped, and Gareth’s nostrils flared. Oh crap, he smells it! Beth turned a deeper shade of red and asked him to help her stand.

  Eventually, with much moaning and groaning, complaining and cursing –mostly from Beth – they managed to find one of the old, unused Den Houses and pried a window open. Gareth climbed through quickly and unlocked the door for Beth, who was at the end of the meager strength she had left.

  The rich, coppery scent of blood assailed her nose as she hobbled to the corner where there was – mercy of mercies! – an old bed with a scratchy blanket that smelled like mold. Whatever, it was warm. “Are you hurt?” she asked him as he hissed and the scent of blood got stronger.

  “Nicked myself on an old nail on my way in the window. No wonder they were hard to open, nailed shut!” He leaned over her, reaching for the blanket to cover her and took up a position on the floor, watching the door. “Nothing that won’t be healed by morning,” he assured her.

  “What are you doing?”

  He glanced at her. “What do you mean?” His eyebrows drew together in confusion as she continued to stare at him. “I’m uh, sitting down, Beth. Why?”

  “You’re bound to be just as cold as I am,” she informed him in a no-nonsense voice. “You can’t spend the night sitting on the bare wooden floor. At least shimmer.”

  “Can’t,” he whispered, seemingly exhausted himself. The old wooden wall let out a creak as he leaned more heavily against it. “I’m too tired. It’s not as easy for me as it is for you.”

  The admission surprised her. She knew she found it easier to shimmer because she was pure bred, but Gareth was wolf enough to be a Guardian, surely he wouldn’t find it that much harder than she did. Guess you learn something new every day, she thought. “Well then,” she whispered, voice hitching. She cleared her throat and went for the same no-nonsense voice of moments before, barely carrying it off. “You’ll have to lie here with me.” She shook her head as he began to object. “You’re cold, and you’re tired.” She pointed to the bed. “Hellooooo! Don’t be stupid, Gareth. I promise to leave your virtue unsullied.” Laughing, she scooted closer to the wall, making room, and patted the dusty mattress. “Don’t fight me on this. You won’t win. And I’ll make you miserable until you give in.”

  “I’m not worried about my virtue,” he replied, not meeting her eyes.

  “Oh.” So that’s it, she realized. He’s not comfortable sharing a bed with the outsider. Fine, let him freeze then!

  Immediately reading her expression, he stood and slowly came towards the bed. “I said it wasn’t my virtue I was worried about.”

  “I know,” she snapped. “I heard you!” She turned her back to him. Let him freeze, she repeated. What an ass.

  Dust rose, as the mattress shifted under his weight. I will not look at him. I will not even speak to
him. Ass.

  “It’s not my virtue I’m worried about,” he repeated softly, his lips mere inches from the shell of her ear. “It’s yours.”

  Well if that didn’t just shut her up. Her stomach roiled, and her eyes, like saucers, stared into the darkness. She could feel him breathing on her shoulder, and damn if it wasn’t the most amazing sensation in the world right now. What could she say?

  The mattress shifted again as he made to stand up. Beth’s hand shot out from under the blanket and grabbed his forearm. “Stay,” she whispered.

  “Stay?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re not worried I’ll…how did you put it...sully your virtue?” He seemed to hold his breath.

  “I never claimed to be very virtuous, actually.” Surely he could hear the tremor in her voice. She heard the tremor in his as he whispered, “Little Wolf.”

  Her heart in her throat, she turned her head a fraction – just enough to see his profile – and licked her lips. He was going to kiss her. She knew it. She was not all innocence. She’d kissed and been kissed before. Almost all of the juveniles had experimented in one form or another as they grew up, but she’d never kissed him. And he’d never kissed her.

  He propped himself up on his elbow and gazed at her, his eyes seeming to read every thought she had from her face. He smiled. She smiled. She turned to face him a little more. He smiled again. She sighed.

  “What’s the matter, Little Wolf?” His words ended on a catch, as if he had no breath left, or was afraid to breathe too deeply for fear of shattering this newfound alliance.

  “I’m not very patient,” she told him bravely, putting her hand behind his neck and pulling him closer. “Not very patient at all.”

  He stopped a hairs-breadth from her lips. “It’s just a kiss,” he told her. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”

  “I know,” she said, and pulled him the rest of the distance.

  It was explosive. Amazing. Torturous and blissful all in one. He groaned against her lips and she drank it greedily. As his tongue touched hers, she thought she’d do anything for the rest of the world to fade and leave them alone forever. This moment, this kiss she could keep going forever. She rolled over to face him completely, snuggling into him, surrounding herself in his scent.