Page 45 of Unbelievable Faith
Michael snorted, “I suppose if my mate is set on visiting her sister in law before the full moon, I should just be thankful they’ve become such good friends and let hergo.”
“Thank you.” Luna tiptoed up and brushed her lips over his again, “I’ll find you when I get back and I promise, I’ll show you just how grateful Iam.”
A low growl came from deep in Michael’s chest, “Go then. Go before I change my mind and haul you off tobed.”
Luna giggled and sidestepped his big paws when he swiped at her, trying to pull her close. He was grinning as she blew him a kiss and then turned and headed out of the lodge. She could feel him watching her so she put a little extra sway in her step as she headed across the yard but she didn’t dare shift. Not yet. She’d learned early on that her mate was highly possessive and though nudity wasn’t really an issue amongst most shifters, Michael didn’t like his pack members seeing her unclothed. It was kind of cute actually, that he wanted to keep her body for himself. He already had her heart and her soul so she figured he might as well get to keep her body for himself too. She waited until she’d reached the path in the woods and then stepped into a small clearing to shed her clothes, folding them and putting them aside for when she returned before letting her wolf rise to thesurface.
Her teeth elongated and her nails turned to claws first. A scream tried to work its way up her throat but she swallowed it down the way she’d been taught since she was just a child. Anyone that said shifting got easier was a damn liar. It always hurt. It always felt like being ripped apart at the seams. But that was the curse of the dual natured and the blessing was learning to control it and the power that came withit.
Luna’s wolf rose from her crouch on the ground and shook her fur, readjusting herself to this world as she always did when she broke free. Luna was still there, but beneath the surface now. She was no longer the one in complete control. She could guide and help make decisions but her wolf was a separate entity, part of her but also with a will all herown.
She knew that a lot of wolves that had gone through the kind of trauma she had lost control of their other half. She’d even learned in the past few weeks that Rafe’s wolf had gone feral after the incident that took the lives of his parents and twin brother. He was still recovering. She supposed she was just lucky that her own wolf hadn’t broken from her like that and had instead burrowed deeper inside ofher.
Now that she was free, Luna let her do what she’d been begging to do all day. Run. Her wolf raised her head, scenting the air. When she didn’t recognize anything but the fresh, clean smell of the wind coming off the nearby lake and the damp, musky scent of the underbrush, she all but purred. With a shimmy of excitement, she pushed off her back paws, leaping over a log and taking off at full speed through theforest.
She’d sworn to Michael that she would stick to the path and she didn’t break that promise. Not really. She stayed near it, criss crossing back and forth over it as she ran and jumped and played. Running on a well beaten down path wasn’t any fun. She was a wolf. A werewolf. A powerful, dangerous, magical creature that needed to feel the freedom of her animal side onoccasion.
It was wonderful. Beautiful.Liberating . Especially after spending so much time in captivity, to be running in the wide open forest alone with nothing but the scurry of other animals to keep her company. She loved it in a way that she never had before. Or maybe she’d always loved it, she’d just never truly appreciated it for the gift that itwas.
Maybe that was why, when a rabbit went scurrying past her on the path, she let her wolf chase it. Because it was fun. Because it felt easy and natural to become a predator when she was in this form. Because it made her feel strong and powerful. Even if, in the back of her mind, she reminded her wolf that they weren’t going to kill the tiny woodland creature, it was fun to playchase.
They snaked in and out of the trees. Over fallen logs and under thick bushes. And it was only when she went plowing over a large grouping of rocks and splashed into the river that Luna jolted to an abruptstop.
Her head jerked up and her ears twitched. She swung her head back and forth and then sank lower into a crouch. She shouldn’t have been this far out but that wasn’t what had stopped her in hertracks.
It was the scent that she’d caught on the air. Something that was familiar enough to make her wolf whine, but not familiar enough for her to place. Whatever it was, it wasn’t supposed to behere.
She knew it and so did herwolf.
Slowly, she crept back, retreating from the water. The rabbit was forgotten now and a cold sense of dread had replaced her earlier excitement. Her wolf hearing picked up on something, a sound nearby, close, and she bared her teeth at the thicket of brush just across from her. There was the smallest movement there but it was enough for her wolf to pick up on and she scrambled backwards on instinct now, rushing away from the danger she felt was coming forthem.
But it was toolate.
There was a snap. A hissing sound. And then a sharp pain tore through her left flank and took her to the ground with a thud. Luna’s wolf howled in pain when she tried to stand to limp away but couldn’t get to herfeet.
One glance down told her all she needed to know. She’d screwed up. She’d broken her promise to Michael. She’d left the path. She hadn’t kept herself safe. And now she was going to pay forit.
The arrow sticking out of her left thigh was proof of that. Then the rustle of the brush came again and Luna jerked her eyes back to the threat. The person that had shot her stepped onto the riverbank, the gold of the evening light haloing her and giving her features a decidedly gruesome appearance when shesnarled.
Sasha. Luna whimpered. Sasha Devlin wasalive.
She’d escaped the Moirae pack. She’d stolen the crossbow and the supplies from the Crescents. She’d bandaged herself back together and instead of moving on, running away and starting over, she’d been out here all this time looking for holes in the Moiraedefense.
It all made sense now. Nova’s insistence that Luna wasn’t safe yet despite mating with Michael. The sense of dread she’d never quite been able to shake no matter how many times she told herself it was silly because Maddox was dead. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, in her subconscious, she’dknown.
Sasha was alive and she was here to kill Luna just like she’d always wanted to only this time, Maddox wasn’t alive to stop her. Michael wasn’t here to rescue her. And Luna knew that if she was going to keep her promise to her mate to come back to him, that she would have to find a way to save herself thistime.
