Page 31 of Bitten By Bloodmoon
“He did before.”
“Only because I allowed him on my territory. I won’t again.”
She frowns, but doesn’t ask any other questions.
I sigh. “Let’s take this one step at a time. For now, come back to the village. Let a healer look at you. Get some clothes on. Eat some food. Then we can talk.”
Take a bath and wash Ambrose’s stench off you…
She doesn’t agree so much as she begins walking in the direction of the village, and I take that as her consent.
We walk at a steady pace, Lumi doing her best to act like the slash in her side isn’t bothering her when I can hear her little winces with each step she takes.
“I could get you back to the village in seconds if you let me carry you.”
“Fuck off.”
I smirk. “Just offering to help end your suffering.”
She growls back at me, and I chuckle.
“You’d better watch your step, you wouldn’t want the sunlight to accidentally touch you,” she tosses back.
I take another step, easily dodging the flicker of sunlight that breaks through the branches. The sun has begun to set, so I won’t have to dodge the light much longer. Not that it’s much of a hassle for me anymore. It’s become so second nature to me that I find myself doing it even when I don’t have to, even in my wolf form.
“This way,” I say when she makes a wrong turn.
She begrudgingly follows me, and we walk the next half mile in silence until the village comes into view. I alert Sylara that I’m going to need her and a healer, which is about all I can communicate with pack members, especially while I’m not in my wolf form. I can’t talk to them clearly in my head like I can Lumi.
I lead Lumi back into my house, back into my bedroom.
She’s fighting for every breath when she finally makes it up the three stories of stairs, but she refuses to let me help her, and I’m too tired to argue with her.
“Sylara will be here with the healer any minute now. Rest in the bed. I’ll have some food and more clothes brought up.”
Lumi collapses onto the bed, too exhausted to argue with me. But she’s not so tired to resist sending me one last searing look. “You can try to control me all you want. Force me into completing the marking ceremony with you and becoming your mate. But I will find a way to break free. And I will kill you. I loved Ambrose and rejected him. Just think about what I’ll do to you.”
“Do you want to kill Ambrose, too?” I ask because I’m curious what she thinks about him.
She pauses, and I know her answer. There is still a part of her that loves him. Still part of her that views him as her mate. Still part of him that she hasn’t fully severed from her body yet.
A hint of disappointment crosses through me, but then I shake it away. She’s been through a lot. It doesn’t matter that shedoesn’t immediately demand revenge against a man she loved and was willing to die for an hour ago.
“Ambrose was the one who caused that gash by the way, not me, if that helps at all.”
She frowns. “It doesn’t matter whose claws sliced through my skin. You’re both controlling bastards. And I want nothing to do with either one of you.”
I nod and walk to the door, but before I leave, I say one more thing.
“I didn’t use mind control back there. Just because I have the ability to doesn’t mean I will.”
I know what it’s like to be controlled, and I will never take away anyone’s free will unless there is no other way. I’m afraid Lumi will give me no choice but to eventually use it against her. The curse has to be broken, and she’s the key to breaking it.
Chapter 8
Lumi
The room spins as I watch Nyx soar out the door, as if he can literally fly. It’s just a combination of him moving fast and my brain not being able to keep up with his movements, given how much blood I’ve lost. As soon as he’s gone, I let out the blood-curdling scream I’ve been holding in since I got this gash.
