3. Honoring the Moon

3

Honoring the Moon

ANNALISE

A lpha Samuel went still as I let my change take me. I had always changed quickly, and my years living alone, often in wolf form, had made becoming my wolf second nature to me.

But I shifted faster now than I had ever before. My ragged clothes ripped at the seams as my bones broke, then reformed. Fur replaced bare skin, claws dug into the earth, and my teeth grew sharp. They needed to be, for what I had to do.

With a sharp glance at the Alpha, I lowered myself to my belly and allowed my fur to make contact with the young male’s mixture of skin and pelt. He groaned—in agony, it sounded like—but when I licked him to clear the blood away from his shoulder, he shivered and groaned again, the noise filled not with pain, but… longing?

I lapped the space there until it was clean skin, sensing that I would need to bite soon, and deeply. A hint of petrichor and sage rose from him, a soft scent that sank into my lungs even as I pulled back a bit to see if he was alert enough to ask for permission.

He was not. His eyes were closed, his breathing only shallow pants of pain.

Alpha Samuel murmured softly, “You are his true mate. Save his life. As his Alpha and yours, I grant my blessing to your union.” When I still hesitated, he went on. “Reb needs you, Annalise.”

I breathed in another lungful of his gentle scent, though his spilled blood was almost overpowering. It felt wrong, even with the Alpha’s blessing. This wasn’t how a claim was made; normally there was explicit, joyful consent given, and the initial bonding was always done in human form.

But my mate did not have time for that. I extended my open jaws, placed them carefully where his neck and shoulder met, and buried my sharp teeth in his soft flesh.

I felt the bond flare bright between us at the same moment that a cloud sailed away from the moon, allowing the cool, silvery light to cover us. I blinked as the male beside me shifted almost instantly, his patchy skin becoming thick, soft fur in one heartbeat, his body aligning perfectly into an enormous wolf in the next.

The moonlight seemed to sink into him, painting him a lustrous white. Was he a gray wolf? Our pack was almost all darker hues, chocolate browns and black, with occasional tips of silver.

But this wolf wasn’t gray. He was white as snow, except for the patches where his drying blood marred his coat. I’d never seen a white wolf, never heard of one, except in stories.

I huffed and reared back as his eyes opened wide. He had stunning blue eyes that shone up at the moon for only an instant before his head turned to me, and they caught mine.

If I had been in my human form, I would have burst into tears. There was wonder in his gaze, and recognition. He rose, pressing his nose against mine, sniffing at my muzzle, rubbing his neck alongside mine.

Everywhere he touched burned with ecstasy. I hadn’t been touched in so long, in either form, and I’d forgotten how it felt. Though I’d never known how this felt. To be welcomed by the other half of my own soul.

My legs grew weak, and I trembled as he towered over me. His wolf was huge, not as broad across the shoulders as our Alpha, but close. I felt small and almost fragile as he circled me, sniffing me, marking me with the glorious scent from his fur.

The Alpha grunted. “It’s time to run, young Rebin. Run with your mate, and honor the moon.”

Rebin? I’d seen that name on a list of notable Mountain shifters in our pack library’s histories. There had been another wolf with the same name, around two hundred years ago, who had been Alpha.

Rebin. It meant pathfinder, if I recalled correctly. My wolf barked, approving of her mate’s human name.

Rebin yipped once, then nudged my back leg, and I broke into a run, heading in the direction the other wolves had gone, toward the ridge.He had longer legs and was faster, but he ran beside me, our shoulders bumping, our legs almost tangling as we leaped over logs and fallen branches in tandem. Every touch set a part of me ablaze, until my wolf demanded we stop. We were close to the ridge, and wolves were all around us, running and playing, chasing shadows and moonlight.

I was done playing, though, and so was my mate.

He circled me a few times, rubbing his nose against me. When he stopped, he pressed me down with his strong, large body, and I lowered myself to the ground. He was behind me, covering me, entering me with his body, the bond I’d given him singing between us.

And then his teeth were buried deep in my neck, holding me as he thrust, tying us together forever.

My mate, his wolf purred into my mind. At last. We moved together, under the moon, crying out to Her with our pack all around, until exhaustion took us and we fell asleep in our wolf forms, wrapped in each other’s souls.

“Mate?”

The deep voice could have been a dream. I’d had hundreds that ended just like this, where a voice calling out to me from far away dissipated as the sun rose. I always woke up alone.

But this voice came from beside me, close, and was followed by a hand stroking my face, skin on skin.

My eyes flew open, and I jumped to my feet, unsure of where I was. A flush of heat moved from my head to my toes as I took in the young male who stood in front of me—barefoot, bare-headed, and bare everything in between—on the crushed grass.

“What… Who… How?” I stammered.

He was tall, with dark hair and tanned skin that was still three shades lighter than my own. His eyes were a bright blue, and his face as handsome as any I’d ever seen. Like a movie star in the human world. A prince from a storybook.

A young prince, I realized. He was… “How old are you?”

He grinned. “You have a lot of questions. I like that. I’m twenty-nine. As for who, what, and how? My name is Rebin Stone, I’m your mate, and if you check your nape, you’ll feel my mark.” He beamed with pride.

I was horrified, but tried to hide it. I didn’t succeed. His face fell, hurt blooming in those blue eyes.

“What’s wrong, mate… No. First, what is your name? Where are you from? I’ve never met you, never seen you, but you must be Mountain pack.”

I fought to control my growing disquiet as I stood before the man I’d claimed. “I am. I’m Annalise Booker. I live about a hundred miles northwest of the Den. Not too far from where the Little Snake and Otter Rivers branch off.”

“I’ve never been that way,” he said, trying to smile, but I could feel his anxiety rising. “You’ve lived there for a long time.”

“About as long as you’ve been alive,” I joked weakly. He didn’t laugh.

“Annalise, I, ah, want to thank you for saving me. I didn’t even expect to live through last night, and I never dreamed I’d find my true mate. Or, um, that you’d find me.” His hand flew to the mating bite I’d placed there while he lay unconscious.

When I didn’t speak, his expression hardened. My heart lurched, and my stomach tried to follow suit. “I’m glad I did,” I said at last, trying not to flinch as his gaze rested on the silver hairs at my temple, then skated down my body. I could almost feel every wrinkle, every deficiency I knew would be obvious in the light of day. “I’m glad I was able to save you.” I swallowed, knowing what I had to say next. “I’ll be heading back to my cabin today. I hope… I hope you have a good life.”