A Luna's Curse

by Kassie Cox

  “Did no one punish them for the murder of a human woman?”

  “Burns pack was actually attacked a few times by the Guard, I suppose it was before you ever came along. No one really knows what happened between the two, but the feud began around the time of her death. We were all very surprised when we heard you were trying to make peace with them.”

  The way the she-wolfs speaks has me believing she would like to know more on the subject, her nosey nature reminding me of myself.

  “We wanted that land for an expansion we will be doing. It was either them moving themselves off the territory or we’d do it for them. You see the choice that was made. We only looked for less casualties on our end, we care not for peace.”

  A wave of exhaustion hits me as I say the words, my bodies need to heal and the lack of food I consumed was beginning to ware on me.

  I was ready for my shower, and a nice glass of whiskey—but it seemed they didn’t plan on letting me leave anytime soon.

  I could still feel that man’s eyes moving across me, across my shoulders and down to my thighs. If I wasn’t hobbling upon one leg, I might have pounced on him, beaten him until he stopped doing his little tricks.

  Making me burn from the inside out every time I looked at him.

  “Now that we have all of the bases covered, where is my horse so that I may leave—or do I need to make you kill me to escape the presence of you all?” I expected to hear a growl, or perhaps receive a swift kick to my back as I was sure I’d pissed that big wolf off one to many times.

  Instead I receive a sad look from both wolves, as if all this bonding was supposed to keep me curious enough to stay.

  I have no intentions on waiting a week for some witch to show up, for a reason I am still unaware of. Nor do I want to wait around for the beasts to provoke me into another fight.

  “I’m not letting you leave this pack, Keres. You may not understand my reasoning right now, but eventually-”

  Before he can finish, I am making my way from the room, limping as quickly as I can in a direction that I believe will lead me from this damn house. I’m not sure what I expect from these people, but for some reason I thought they were going to let me go.

  They seem civilized compared to some wolves I’ve come across and the thought of them keeping me against infuriates me.

  They aren’t planning to kill me, but they still want to keep me—it makes no sense.

  “Where are you going?” Draven rushes beside me, seemingly confused by my sudden need to get out of this territory. Instead of responding I throw him a glare and continue my way, heavy steps sound behind me but I don’t acknowledge the men following.

  It’s a childish anger that runs through me. The word no has me prepared to kill anyone in my path. I want to go home. I had no reason to be here. Yet they weren’t letting me leave?

  I spin around at the sound of a gasp, and a slight yelp. Elias holds Draven by the hair, his long canines extended as he stares at me with blackened orbs. Audra seems frightened by the sight, as if this wasn’t something she saw often.

  He looked sexy, and that seemed to piss me off even more. The wolf man looked like he would burn a million villages to keep me in this home, and I struggle to take a breath at the excitement that comes over me. I believe it was excitement, as my core burned, and my entire body ached for his touch. In a way, I’m amazed by his need to do that to keep me.

  “You will go home alone, Little One.” The laugh that leaves me is high, almost like the she-wolfs except full of mockery. Draven looked about ready to faint, as he is aware, he will die for this man’s cause. I care not.

  “Would you prefer me watch, or may I leave before you tear into him?”

  We stand there for a long moment, a strange buzz sitting between us as the world seems to melt away. I can only think of him, and the anger I feel dissipates. My body relaxes. The urge to wrap my being around his is stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.

  This time I am running. The cast on my leg makes me look silly as I thrust myself through a doorway and finally meet the outside world. Wolves stand in the open field in front of me, their eyes landing on me as I come to an abrupt stop.

  What the hell was happening?

  One after another they bend, their right knees hitting the ground as they slowly show their necks to me. A sign of submission that does not go over my head. I push forward, taking the steps as quickly as possible without slipping and I push past the half standing beasts. They avoid eye contact with me as I shove a few to the side.

  Panic. Something I have never done in my entire life. The suffocating feeling wraps around me like a heavy quilt as I continue my walk to the tree line. Elias is yelling something behind me, his voice is full of fury and desperation and I just cannot force myself to turn around.

  My body needed to get out of here. I need my home, my familiar settings. Not this fucking mad house of-

  Whatever hits me from behind sends me hard to the ground, a screech leaving my lips as someone steps on the knee right above my cast. I keep my head in the dirt, feeling everything spin around me as the hit registers. Long growls emit from behind me.

  I’m lifted just barely from the ground by the back of my shirt, the wolf carrying me shakes my body evetime I try to escape.

  My eyes stay on the ground, the need to get away is strong but my body is tired. My mind is tired. So, I allow the beast to carry me back into the pack house, where I was sure I’d remain until they decide I can be freed.

  I just hope that will happen, soon.

  Chapter 10

  My body soaks in the now cold water, while one of my legs hangs from the side of the tub. It had been difficult getting in, and I was sure it would be just as hard getting out.

  I could hear the wolf man sitting outside the door of the bathroom, his heavy breathing was dramatic and was keeping me from having my moment of peace.

  I keep my eyes wide open, not wanting the image of his naked frame to run through my mind again. As it had been doing for over an hour. I’d gotten the opportunity to see him in all his, may I say impressive, glory when he’d changed back to his skin once dropping me upon the wooden floor in his room.

  I’d been carried up the stairs and through a door like a newborn pup, and then slammed down. His beast was unhappy with me. It had growled the entire way to the room that smelled only of him.

  My reaction at first had been to stare, from his thick hair all the way down to those large calves. My mouth had practically watered at the sight of the man. A bit mind blown as he stood there yelling, hands in the air while he paced the room. Naked as the day he was born.

  He went on a rant for longer than I had cared for, and only when Elias stopped his yelling and my eyes met those golden ones—does he realize that he’d been getting a full look over from the woman he claimed as his mate. I expected an angry man to face me, but it was worse when he gave me a shit eating grin and walked closer to me.

  I let out a frustrated groan as the thoughts run through me, the water splashing as I try to get from the coldness. My finger slip, and I can’t seem to lift myself out of the tub. I should’ve chosen the shower, but I’d been desperate to have as much alone time as possible.

  “Do you need help?” Elias asks, his voice soft as he tries to speak through the door. I shush him, gripping the sides of the tub harder as I try to lift myself high enough to slip over the edge and land onto the floor. I didn’t mind a hit on the tile, but his eyes on my naked body was not a situation I was putting myself through.

  Another slip has me yelping, my head going beneath the surface of the soapy water as I desperately try to pull myself back up. When I break through the water and take in a large breath, he is there.

  Golden eyes burning, but they stay connected to mine. Not traveling any lower as he gently take my hands and begins helping me. I shake from the cold air around me, and once I’m planted on two feet, he moves to a close cabinet where he grabs a large towel. I close my eyes as he wrap
s it around my freezing body.

  The closer he is to me the more I burn; my skin is ice cold, but I felt like an oven on the inside.

  I try to clench my thighs together when he pulls me into his arms, whispering softly into my hair while his body heat leaks into me. The feeling of him close makes a small groan leave my lips. I regret it immediately.

  I’m in his arms. Long strides lead us across the large bedroom and to a bed that would fit the two of us perfectly. Not that I noticed, or anything.

  He’s breathing heavily again, eyes changing back a fourth while he holds onto my body like his last fresh breath of air. Elias throws me down, molding his clothed body into my towel covered one while he inhales deeply at my throat. He’s hard against me.

  “You smell so fucking good.” The wolf growls, a deeper voice than usual has me gripping onto his shoulders with my hands. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard.

  My mind is clouded as the man above me presses down, my heat clenching with the need for him.

  I’d never been so turned on in my life. My nails dig into any patch of skin I can find as his tongue traces a path from my collar bone to my ear, which he suckles in his warm mouth. Chills running through me.

  “You taste even better, Little One.” He pulls away for a moment, a long whine leaving my throat that I hadn’t meant to let out. Those dark eyes trace a path over me, memorizing every piece of visible skin.

  I crush my mouth into his, yearning for a contact far greater than what he’d been giving me. The towel around me in riding up inch by inch, but my head is spinning with euphoria and I could not care less. He is sinking those claws into my skin, holding me place while deep rumbles of pleasure leave his chest. Each swipe of my tongue to his has him pressing against my core harder.

  My moans bounce off walls, twirling around us like dancers as the air is filled with our excitement.

  “We can’t keep…” Elias growls out, throwing is body away from mine. He practically shields his eyes to keep from looking at me. The spell is broken, and I feel a strange sickness rise inside of me. A disgust for myself that I’d never felt.

  I had just forced myself upon a wolf, a dirty savage with the instincts of an animal. A different species for the sake of lust. I am a fucking lunatic. I grip the towel around me, covering as much as I can as I search the room for anything to wear, anything to cover the skin he’d just made burn like hell fire.

  “I-I need you to leave, get out so I can-“ Elias meets my eyes, those orbs golden once more as he gives me a soft smile. His gaze doesn’t travel. I watch as he goes to dig through a closet, large hands ripping things off hangers until he finds something appropriate.

  A hoodie, one that would probably hit my knees. I’m thrown the article of clothing and do my best to slip it over the towel, but I know more skin is shown when he begins breathing heavy once again.

  Perhaps he should just keep his dirty little eyes to himself.

  We don’t speak as I sit on his bed, naked from the waist down. The male is pacing, trying to get his breathing under control but failing. He’s inhaling the air is lungful’s, getting every scent that the room has to offer.

  The King would be astonished at my behavior, he’d think I had gone mental. He wouldn’t understand that the feeling of his skin did things to me, things that I had never dreamed of.

  Him being within mere feet of me made my fucking heart palpitate and my palms sweat, he was addictive. I regret tasting him, because now I wanted something that I simply could not have.

  Something I did not need.

  I’m sure this entire situation had made him happy. His little fantasies coming true as his long awaited “mate” had finally made a move—all I felt was shame. I felt it so strongly it was suffocating me. My weakness had been shown and it was shameful. Lust.

  “You need to get your breathing under control otherwise you’re going to pass out.” Elias is grabbing at my face trying to make me look at him, but I roll away.

  Wanting nothing to do with the man who made me feel such horribly wonderful things. I can see the disappointment on his face, as if my rejection was cutting him in two.

  The little pain that shoots through my chest makes me want to go back to his arms, comfort him. But I don’t. I ignore the burn and move further away, in every way that I can.

  “I want to leave. I do not understand why I cannot leave!” My fists are slamming themselves onto the bed, an anger rages through me as I clench my eyes shut and yell at the man. The fit I was throwing was childish, but I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t fight, I couldn’t run, and he wouldn’t kill me.

  You aren’t leaving me!” He roars, I feel the bed shake as his fists meet the surface. I go silent, as it is his turn to show what he feels. “I am your mate! Your other half—the one made for you and you will never leave me.”

  His beast is beside me, sitting in human skin that must feel like a cage in this moment. I felt as the animal inside of him does. Trapped.

  Everything switches off, the familiar numbness returning as I slowly tilt my head in his direction. A stoic expression meeting his sneer, his entire being radiating the agitation from my never ending want to get away.

  “You are nothing to me, Wolf.” The man in out of the room in a breath, pounding down the stairs as his wild takes hold of him. I make my way to the window and watch as his fur takes off across the grass, large and angry as he shakes his bones in place.

  I take in a deep breath, only releasing it when he disappears completely into the trees. My body feels calm once more. No more burning, no more urges to touch a being I didn’t want. Everything felt…normal again.

  Perhaps he would stay away, and everything would remain that way.

  Chapter 11

  I'm stuck. My hands tied above me as my toes barely touch the ground, it’s hard to hold the weight of my body. The smell of blood leaks into me, staining my nose.

  It's a test, I tell myself.

  They are seeing how strong willed you are. I was sure it was a test I would pass, I never failed.

  The large door opens, a cold wind rushing over my naked body. A person in a robe walks in, no face visible as they make their way over to my shivering body without a word. They have a lighter in their hand, a metal rod in the other.

  My body tenses when I realize what kind of test this would be. I had to hold out. I couldn't use the words to make them stop, I couldn't give up the information they wanted.

  The robed figure begins heating the rod, hidden in the shadows of the dark space that we both occupy. I wondered how badly I looked, as I had not seen my own face in a mirror in well over three years. I had an idea of how my front appeared to those that could see, stomach riddled with bruises and scars. My back most likely similar.

  "Just say the words and I'll stop. You know you can't take the pain." It's a man voice, one I'd grown to recognize. I have no time to answer as the hot metal is placed against my naked thigh, branding the skin as I let out a long his.

  When he pulls the rod away, I stuck in a deep breath on air, toes barely keeping me up right and I stare forwards and try not to scream out the words they wanted to hear. The information I would never give.

  I feel the approaching heat against my rib and find a spec on the wall to focus on as I allow the torture to continue. The burning pain-

  I'm sweating.

  My body flinging upwards as I desperately push the cover from me, wanting no more warmth than necessary.

  I struggle to breathe correctly. I reach below the large hoodie on my body and push my fingers over the swollen skin across my thighs, feeling the marks left by the Guild.

  Each one showed a strength that I was proud of, but I wished I'd never needed to receive them. I had lost an even bigger piece of myself in that hell hole. A piece I'd never get back.

  My emotions and empathy were nonexistent in the first place, but they had taken something else from me. A hope that one day things would change. They'd driven into me th
at I would be like this forever. I'd never care. I'd never love. I would be empty, and hopeless until the day I died for the one thing that gave my life meaning.

  The Kingdom.

  Light shines through the window, making me aware of my comfy prison and every object in it. I don't see any signs that the wolf had returned. Not that I would really know what to look for.

  I had half expected the man to be wrapped around me when I woke up, eyeing me up and down. The image pops into my head and I quickly shake it away, a groan leaving my mouth. I crawl from the bed slowly, then make my way into the bathroom.

  I stare into the mirror, going over the various bruises across my face lightly with my fingertips. My body was still sore, any movement uncomfortable but it wasn't the worst I'd had. Instead of letting my mind wander into the past I turn away from my own reflection.

  I hear the door to the bedroom open and rush to see who it was, disappointment filling me as I see the short haired wolf grinning at me. A part of me wanted the male wolf back.

  "Alpha told me to find you some clothes, and then get you fed!" The woman seems excited with her tasks, as if this was the most fun, she'd be having all day. It was strange to me that she didn't mind our tiff yesterday. I would've found it hard to be so nice to someone who'd just had their hands around my neck.

  "I'm not hungry," I mumble, taking the shirt and shorts from her hands. I don't bother walking into a more private space to change. I begin pulling the shorts on and then pulling off the hoodie to replace it with the nicely texture shirt.

  Everything was big on me, but it was better than the exposing hoodie. Therefore, I could not complain.

  When I turn towards her once more, I see the confusion in her eyes as they stare over my exposed forearms. The marks there must've been hidden yesterday.

  "You protect people who have allowed you to be tormented, I don't understand." I eye the woman in front of me and decide I don't dislike her. I'm not entirely fond of her approach to some things, but her bleeding heart could not be faulted. She reminded me a lot of Draven, even though I wasn't a fan of him now either.