Moon Bound (Glorious Darkness Book 1) (15 page)

(27) Sand Castles

|Regan's POV|

Like a beggar, I'm asking for her spare love. A chance she's agreed to give me just to save others. People she needs to be saved from.

For now, it is enough. The beast is content that she's finally coming back where she belongs, purring inside me like a sated kitten, drinking her scent that's spraying the air inside the car.

Silently, sneaking secret glances at her, I inch closer to her warmth, the deals I've made falling to the back of my intoxicated by her presence mind.

Finding peace during the drive back home even if I'm bringing a traitor inside my lair.

"Why, Regan?" she says softly, startling me out of my thoughts.

We've been on the road for days and, besides the few clipped out words, this is the first time she's spoken to me.

"Why what, baby girl?" I ask her to elaborate, peering up at her from my seat next to her.

Her innocent face is shadowed by dark thoughts lurking from the corners of her stormy gray eyes. Oh, how I wish those eyes were filled with a warmer emotion now. One day perhaps they will be.

Today is not that day. Today, she's cold, chasing after ghosts only she can see just like I battle against my own demons. Some dead, others, much to my chagrin, alive and substantial.

"Why did you kill them back then? Why did you attack us?" a shaky whisper steals past her lips, a question I've been afraid she'd ask and now she has.

I sigh under her wary and observing eyes. Frozen in unnatural stillness, I can almost feel her body buzzing in anticipation as I contemplate my answer. Her hands staying curled on her lap, the expression on her face one of focus and caution, the bond is as quiet as she is.

She's expecting me to lie, convinced that I will and a weaker man probably would have lied under her silent scrutiny, but I am not that man. Never been that man.

"You had the land I needed and you were weak, a pack that couldn't protect what was theirs and, at the time, I was someone who took everything he could take," I give her the truth about my motivation back then. 

"We became homeless after we lost our land. My wolves needed a new territory to settle down and then we found yours," I go on, noting the hurt look on her face as a wave of emotion permeates into the bond we share, shaking me to my bones.

"You could have just asked us to take you in. You could have-"

"Was your father going to step down as an Alpha? Or would you have given up your position as the next-in-line and handled me your pack, Scarlet?"

Shaking her head. "No."

"Do you see now why we couldn't ask, why we needed to take it by force?"

"Then why didn't you just kill us all? You needed the territory, you didn't need us." Logical even in her pain, I can help but admire her yet she doesn't understand.

Her pack hasn't been as weak as I've thought. Many of my wolves died in the fight that night, forced me to spare the survivors so we could compensate for the ones we lost.

"We lost many of our wolves that night, Scarlet. We needed fresh blood to fill in for those wolves, otherwise, we were going to be as vulnerable to threats as your pack was when we attacked. I couldn't risk anyone taking chances on us." 

With victory came losses. With mercy came complications. Consequences.

She closes her eyes, letting the breath she's been holding out in a shaky, soft whimper of agony. "We were a replacement for the ones you lost."

Nodding, it hurts me more than it hurts her, but she doesn't realize that. She won't see the man behind the monster yet. 

"What I did... I had to do it to protect my own and I'll do it again if I have to," I say and move my gaze from her, hiding the pain her every heartbeat causes me, hoping for a future we need to have but doubt we will achieve. Remembering the past that I've been trying to forget, I know I'm hoping for the impossible.

"You are a monster, Alpha." Softly spoken words, like arrows piercing my heart, truth is ringing in her voice.

I can't deny it.

Glimpsing through the window, the packhouse is looming in the distance as big as a palace. A place so marvelous yet filled with so much misery it makes my chest constrict just by looking at its lost innocence.

Two years ago, coming to this land to claim what I wanted as mine, I never suspected that my conquest to rebuild my rule will be cut short. The same wildlings who chased us off our home, who threatened and extorted me are threatening my mate and my pack now. Not just them but also a man who once claimed to be my friend.

Micheal had left me to fight his own battles. Collen had taken his brother and turned him against me. Only his demands came after he defeated me so many years ago. Demands I fulfilled to prevent another disaster but still failed to do.

There's no going back now. The damage is already done.

In a few minutes, we'll be back inside our castle, the wolves waiting for their Alpha and ready to welcome the Luna they don't want, unaware of the fact that their wishes no longer matter.

As unsuspecting as the girl next to me seems to be. Illusions that life is a net of choices we make, she believes in them, viewing it all in black and white when it's always gray.

This place will probably stand longer than any of us - this town, this pack or our sand castle...

It took just a few past mistakes and a mate to bring it crumbling down. My own.

(28) Burns And Bruises

"There's something beautiful to find in every form, shape and color and, most of all, in the person next to you." 

|Scarlet's POV|

I feel like I've been running in circles, running from something I do not want but it keeps catching up to me. He does. Regan Greene, Alpha of ShadowFang, doesn't stop his persecution of me. Originating from a long line of Alphas, it is who he is, who his ancestors have been too.

Only a very few have been able to keep the Alpha's title in the family since Alphas are born and not a hereditary occurrence in a pack, his line, however, is one of these few, chosen ones even.

Born and bred for the task of managing a pack, now he's probably the last one left who has both the birth and the blood right. Many failed to keep their position after the claim. Falling under the constant challenges presented or simply giving their right up and choosing another life for themselves, they broke the chain. But not him. He is a different kind of wolf, one who does not give up or allow his subjects to run amok. His rule is one of iron will. His word is the law.

He has taken Jason, his third-in-command, and several other pack warriors to this trip, leaving his Beta, Hayden, govern the pack in his absence. It is the norm for the Alpha to bring other members of the pack along, even when dealing with private matters such as looking for his mate, yet the presence of so many of them does not bode well about his intentions.

Normally, there are two or three others traveling with the Alpha whereas he's brought an army with himself this time.

Insisting he came to ask for my forgiveness, he took all precautions in case that plan failed.

Suspicion nested into my mind, I know that, if not for this development which none of us really expected, Alpha would have most likely started a war against my family. He would have taken me one way or another.

After a brief discussion of the terms of the deal, his and his pack's future co-operation in protecting us from the wildlings and my involvement in this whole thing, he has sent a few of his people to retrieve our belongings from our home. We couldn't be the ones to go back there since certain wildlings were likely already waiting for our return, so they went instead. It took less than a few hours and once the pack warriors made their way back, we set on the road.

It's been a few days since then, our trek across the country a constant motion in the procession of wheels. They took turns in driving, never stopping for anything but to buy food or take a toilet break and now we are almost back to civilization, whatever civilization one may seek into my former pack's grounds.

Fallon's Grove is a small town, just a tiny dot on the map you will find only if you are looking for it. You'll be searching for days before you locate it and navigate your way there. However, this town has been my home for sixteen years before it turned into a prison. My own chamber of torture.

Letting me keep a semblance of dignity, he exerted every punishment he could. A lesson in obedience that, if not for his discovery, would have never ended.

And now, I am back. He's the one bringing me back as I am selling myself to aid my family. Will he renew my education, or will he let it go?

The man I've come to know doesn't do that. But now, he's claiming he's a reformed man.

We drive into my hometown and then further down the main road, the same road on which he once paraded me for all to see. Passing the private homes of the mated pairs and the few buildings serving community purposes, I can't help but think... I've finally hit rock bottom. I am selling myself to him. Like a prostitute.

A chance. This is all he's asking from me, yet that chance is stirring up shame and disgust in me... gnawing at me, causing a restless itch in my chest. His looming presence next to me has been burning me for days, the internal battle not to lean closer to him, not to give into the urge to reach out to him, not to inch closer to him only feeding the throbbing ache.

I am betraying myself. I am feeling something I should have never felt, something I've thought I will never feel towards my tormentor, the person who killed my stepdad and probably half of my original pack.

Giving a chance to a monster.

I remember that night like it was yesterday. The war howls signaling we were being attacked minutes before they had descended upon us like hounds come from the very pits of hell, a sight to behold and a horror to flee.

Brave men battling against the unforeseen threat all across my hometown, good men, they fought and died, battle cries ending in eerie quiet and pleas for mercy being stifled down by savoring canines. No mercy was delivered that night. ShadowFang brought silence and shame to people who didn't even know their name to curse it before their last breath was taken away from them.

Only a few were spared. Children and juveniles mostly. 
Least, we'll live to see another day
, I've thought back then, not knowing what fate had in store for me.

Rivers of blood flowed through these same streets we are passing now. The carcass of bodies, disfigured beyond recognition, was cleaned for days and days to come. Red trails were washed off. Houses were repaired, painted or destroyed as they saw fit. We were brought to our knees, converted into a new religion, one that worshiped him and him alone and served no greater purpose but to serve him.

We watched the pyre of our past being burned to ashes as we were forced to embrace the present, the future.

Should I have said the words that day? Should I have submitted and accepted defeat like the others?

Dragging my tired limbs inside, every inch further is waking me up into the nightmare. Padding onto the hardwood floor, following Alpha as he leads the way, I see fire. The ghosts of the past are chasing me, shadowy forms flickering behind my retinas, eyes that watch yet do not see what is in front of them.

My voice that's just a whisper no one ever hears. I am screaming. I am sobbing. Like a woman being taken to the gallows... no one listens... no one cares.

Every corner of this house is tainted with my blood. Every breath is sprayed with the scent of my pain.

Now, it hurts much more.

I go further, retracing the old path, quiet sobs raking everything that's inside, my stony facade holds.

Jason is the one to show Jaz and Hunter their cottage while Beta Hayden is assigned to give the grand tour to my other friends. They are leaving me now. Not alone but, of course, with Alpha.

Being my mate, it's only natural he is the one to lead me to my imprisonment. After answering my earlier question and providing his lieutenants the necessary instructions, he's now unusually quiet. Not just him, though. The house is quiet. The silence deafening and unnerving.

My former pack mates are watching us. Every step of the way their curious eyes are tracking our movements or perhaps just mine. As I climb up the stairs, walking close behind Alpha, I know this is not what they expect me to be doing. Are they waiting for me to crack? Are they expecting a scene?

Finally, we make our way upstairs. The second floor is traversed by a long, vast gallery, too large to be called anything but; rows of rooms on each side, ending with the master's bedroom suite.

The last time I've been either here or in my isolated sanctuary has been the day I ran off. He seems to have renovated since then. In place of the previous black and white pattern, the suite's been painted emerald green, the bed clothing switched for a dark violet canopy that makes the room somehow more... livable.

The bedside table on the right side is barren of his possessions, the walk-in closet has been cleared up of his female companions' belongings, now half of it empty of clothing. Like he has expected me to move in. Like he's actually made space for me to fit in.

I watch him drop my cases on the floor, not wasting a second before opening them and starting to rummage through my 
private
 stuff. I don't need to look in a mirror to know I have a nasty grimace on my face, my lips pressed into a thin, displeased by the sight, line.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Never meaning to shout when I opted for words to express my irritation with him, it comes louder than intended.

He jerks his head up, slowly turning to look back at me as I place my hands on my hips and glare at him.

"I'm helping you move in," he informs me, arching a brow, daring me to object to what he just said.

I don't say anything. I know this is part of the deal. Living with him as in 'living with him in the same room' has been one of his conditions and I've agreed. Smirking at me, probably reading the thoughts right off my face, he turns back to his task.

Strolling right next to where he's crouching, I stop in my tracks when I see him scooping up half of my underwear draw, nostrils flaring as he takes in my lingering scent without actually sniffing the clothes that would cover my most private parts... for goodness sake!

"No!" I cry out and before I even know what I'm doing I find myself flying, or, well, crashing at him.

In my desperate attempt to salvage my dignity from his prying hands, and eyes, I actually throw myself at him, my body landing sprawled across his.

I find his arms snaking around me, hugging me to him, never missing on an opportunity just like no Alpha will.

Sneaky, that's what I've heard they are at their best, and he clearly isn't different.

I hear him inhale, deeply, his face snuggling into the crook of my neck, his lips touching flesh that shivers under his attention. He's shaking, his body as responsive to the contact as mine seems to be. Shameless.

Another shiver erupts from my flesh when I find his tongue bruising a trail on my skin, burning it. The sparks are there. Millions of small tingles that warm up parts of me I am not ready to acknowledge in his presence.

This isn't right. This isn't something we should be allowed to do.

Yet, I want to. I need to. I need... him.

I can't betray myself and fall into this madness.

"Stop. Please, stop," Choking out, my voice is as shaken as my body is.

Stilling, his lips leave my skin... cold, missing the touch.

When he opens his eyes and looks at me, they are a green jungle. Wild, untamed. Hurt... like, my words have wounded him.

Gently, he propels me off himself. "I'm sorry." Then walks away.