Bound to the Moon Read online

  “Your choice might turn out to be the incorrect one,” I mutter disgruntledly.

  Her hand seeks mine. “Your stubbornness is difficult to bear at times,” she says, interlocking her fingers with mine. “Wrong or right, my choice has been made.”

  I see the determination in her eyes. Marjorie can accuse me of being stubborn all she wants, but she’s not far behind.

  “Do you remember what I told you the first night you were admitted to the hospital?”

  Her nose twitches slightly as the look of concentration on her face intensifies. She’s deep in thought, probably bringing to mind as much of the conversation as she can.

  “Well, we spoke about many things.”

  I squeeze the hand holding mine. “‘I will never leave you willingly,’” I quote.

  Her eyes widen slightly. “You haven’t clarified what you mean by that.”

  And I can tell it worries her.

  “What we face...it’s not your everyday, common relationship problems. This is a whole different ball game. We’re dealing with things that are far more dangerous than anything you’ve ever faced in your life. I’ll fight by your side for as long as I can. I won’t quit until I see you safe, because your safety is my priority. Keeping you alive is my only goal right now—”

  “I get that. I really do. But why are you telling me this?”

  I bring her hand to my mouth and plant a quick kiss on top. I keep my gaze on her face as I say, “What I mean to say is that I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep you alive and safe. Even if it comes to putting some distance between us.”

  Marjorie pulls back immediately. “What? Why do I have the feeling you’re saying goodbye?”

  I shake my head. “You’re very important to me.” I cock my head to the side, almost wincing as I add, “Not just to me. To Alexis too. And one of us will have to see this thing through to the end.”

  “I expect it to be you.”

  “I know, but considering my...condition...I’m not the most reliable candidate.”

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I can’t predict the future. I wish I could, but the only thing I want is to save those I love. You’re among that list,” she says.

  I take in a breath and release it slowly, hesitantly. Love? Love. Is it really that simple? To love and be happy? To love a person and enjoy spending time together without the stench of death looming over them?

  I can’t say for sure since I have little reference to guide me.

  “It’s what I want, too. To save the girl I love and make sure she lives to enjoy a happy, fulfilling life the way she deserves to.” I frame Marjorie’s face with my hands and pull her in for a not-so-sweet kiss. Passionate is probably a better term for it.

  I pour all my frustration, fears, concerns, and feelings for Marjorie into that one, long kiss. I hold her to me, conscious of my grip so that I don’t put her through any unnecessary pain.

  Truthfully, I feel like our time together is running short and want to treasure what time we do have. Holding her in my arms, alive, and relatively unscathed considering what could have happened to her, is a miracle in itself. Miracles don’t drift in my direction and this one is worth the world to me.

  I pull back and, looking down at her face, spot the gash left there as a result of her encounter with Santos. I am amazed she survived, but the scar I see fills me with dread. I don’t want her to go through a similar scenario and will do anything within my power to make sure she doesn’t.

  Her lips part slightly in blatant invitation and I’m unable to ignore her silent request. I move closer and capture her lips with mine once more. The world is soon forgotten as we find ourselves submerged in our own need to share our feelings through physical contact.

  I deepen the kiss as my right hand slides over her cheek, caressing the side of her face. I want to remember what she feels like right at this instant. I want to memorize the feel of her skin, the cherry blossom aroma that seems to cling to her long hair every time I see her.

  I’m completely immersed in the moment. At this point in my life, I wish I could freeze time right here. Right now. Nothing will ever be as significant to me as every stolen minute I have with Marjorie. When life and death is always a pressing matter even the simplest of things can take on a whole new meaning.

  The tightness in my stomach reminds me I am pushing beyond the boundaries I set for myself. I’m crossing a thin line and should stop so I do. Reluctant though I am, I pull back and scramble off the bed. I’m breathing heavily. My pulse has accelerated due to the intensity of my desire and I need to recover before my symptoms get out of control.

  I inhale quickly, trying to focus on anything other than the beautiful girl sitting on the bed behind me. I like everything about her, but my attraction to her is not entirely innocent. There’s bloodlust involved and in my case, that could turn deadly any second.

  The door to my left opens and Gage rushes in, his expression one of unease.

  Are you okay, Kyran?

  Only I can hear the question, but it feels as if he’s screamed it rather than transmit the message telepathically. My head has begun to pound. My skull feels as it’s about to tear through my face.

  No, I tell him. I need to put distance between Marjorie and myself.

  I need to put miles between myself and the humans inside the hospital.

  “Visiting hours are over for you, Kyran.” Gage strolls over toward me and pulls on my arm. He wants to get me moving to the exit, but I’m rooted to the floor. I don’t want to leave.

  “Let’s get going, Kyran,” Gage insists, tugging on my arm yet again.

  “Kyran? What’s going on?”

  The tremor in her voice undoes me and I whirl around to face her. The symptoms are giving signs of reappearing and I have to leave for her safety, but I don’t want to leave like this.

  “I’m not feeling very well,” I explain. “I need to leave. If I can, I’ll stop by tomorrow.” I hold myself as straight as I possibly can. It’s not easy, considering how much my hands are shaking, but I conceal those by shoving them in my pants’ pockets.

  “I understand.” She doesn’t look disappointed, which strikes a nerve with me. She knows what’s going on with me yet she won’t turn away. Doubts fill my head. How much is her love a product of the overpowering connection she has due to the bond we now share? And how much of it is genuine? Do I even want to know?

  “I’m sorry, Marjorie,” I say for lack of something better to add. She may not be entirely disappointed but I am.

  “Don’t apologize. It’s not something you should be apologizing for.”

  I toss a wary look in my brother’s direction. My wish is to give Marjorie one last kiss before I leave, but I’m not sure he will allow it.

  “Be quick.” Gage motions with his head for me to step forward and I do.

  I saunter, hesitantly, toward the hospital bed and lean forward, quickly planting a kiss on Marjorie’s lips before stepping back.

  “I’ll be waiting for you,” she says to which my heart constricts. Today’s visit wasn’t very productive. If anything, I have managed to make her even more uneasy than she was to begin with. I should have discussed what we’ve come to suspect thus far, but I said nothing about our beliefs.

  Guilt consumes me. Already, I’ve concocted a plan in my head which I have no intention of sharing with anyone. I know that those I love the most are the ones who are going to suffer. But my goal is to see Marjorie live a long, and hopefully, happy life.

  With the threat looming over her head, that’s going to be a difficult task.

  “Wait for me, Marjorie. No matter what happens I will come back,” I say more than I intend, but the words are out and there’s nothing I can do about it now.

  “Always,” she whispers.

  With that promise barely out of her lips, I leave the room. I’m hoping that tomorrow I’ll have enough self-control to visit Marjorie, but I know that fighting off my scheduled episode has only
postponed it for a couple of hours, so that’s not something I can guarantee.

  I hear her goodbye behind me as I exit the room and walk into the hallway. It’s tinged with sadness. I want to go back and console her, but I can’t. I have to walk away once again. For her. For me. I’m not strong enough to be around her and I can’t risk hurting her.

  Josephine and Simone are patiently waiting in the hall when I step out. Both meet me with solemn expressions. I can see by the way Simone’s eyes narrow that she’s not too happy with me.

  “What?” I bark in irritation. I find their probing gazes a little annoying—especially because I have a sudden need to go home and relax. My head aches and my muscles feel tight for some reason.

  “You dismissed that member of royal blood without even giving him a chance to explain himself. You should have taken his card to Marquis. If he’s really of royal blood, then it would have probably been in our best interest to meet him,” Simone berates me. I’m not on her good side right now.

  “I don’t trust him. I have faith in him even less because I think he has something to do with Kenny Marshall and you all know how I feel about him,” I explain though I feel as if I shouldn’t have to. I’m not exactly shy about saying exactly what’s on my mind and this isn’t the first time we have discussed Kenny.

  “Still, we must run every important matter through him,” Simone tries again. “How do you think he’s going to react when he hears about this?”

  “The same way he always does,” I offer. While I understand what she’s trying to get across, I’m not in the mood for a lecture.

  Simone crosses her arms over her chest as she takes several steps toward me. Once she gets within inches of me, she says, “The entire family is under pressure. We haven’t had a decent night sleep in weeks. But it is our unity as a family first, pack second, what keeps us working well as a team. I’m as frightened of Marjorie’s fate as you and every one of us is, but if we begin to head in different directions our strategies will fail.”

  “I get it.” I grit my teeth. Not because I’m angry with Simone, but because she makes a valid point. I tend to forget myself at times.

  “Good. Now, let’s hurry home. We must go over this with Marquis.”

  My response comes in the form of a tip of the head. There’s really nothing else I can add so I say nothing.

  “Gage and I will be on the lookout tonight.” Josephine’s hand rests momentarily on my forearm. “Rest assured we will keep an eye out for any unusual movements.”

  Gage’s grunt a few paces behind me serves as confirmation.

  “Thank you, Josephine.” I pat my sister’s hand briefly before turning to march down the hall alongside Simone. We make our way out the front doors and to the parking lot where we immediately locate Marquis’s black Audi.

  As soon as we were both settled inside my brother’s new toy, she drives off the hospital’s parking lot and directs the car toward the lonely road, which ultimately leads us home.

  The drive itself takes roughly about twenty minutes, through an isolated road running parallel to a mix of oak, pine, deciduous, alder, cedar, and walnut trees. There are a variety of houses sporadically dispersed near the hospital, but once we put some distance between us and the Medical Center, buildings become scarcer.

  Most residents here are farmers and there’s a considerable amount of open space and forest between one house and the next. If these people ever have an emergency, it would take close to half an hour for help to arrive.

  This fact is probably what attracted werewolves to this area in the first place. The less the chances of being seen are, the more confident and cocky we get. With the high traffic of unknown wolves moving in, I doubt we will go unnoticed for very long. There are too many of them causing trouble.

  In my way of thinking, they can’t hide forever. But even I can’t deny they have been doing an excellent job eluding us. Their strategy—whichever it may be—is basically flawless. The alpha, using the betas to do all the hard work while he remains in the shadows, hiding, plotting, has worked well to his advantage.

  There’s just one problem. He doesn’t know how determined I can be when I set my mind to something, and I’ve promised myself and Marjorie, that I will find him and stop him. I won’t let anyone I love get hurt. Not again.

  I glance to my left, noticing for the first time since we left the Medical Center, Simone’s look of deep concentration. She has remained silent the entire time and I know that has a lot to do with my insensitiveness back at the hospital. Since it seems she needs some space, I decide not to try to start a conversation and just let her cool down a bit.

  Two minutes later and the silence stretching between us starts to annoy me more than the idea of starting a conversation so I rest my head on the seat and ask, “Is Marjorie really faring well?”

  Simone’s shoulders slump a little. She looks exhausted. Marjorie was right, we are drained. Even though we don’t require as many hours sleep as humans do, we still need to rest every once and a while and ever since Marjorie’s life has been at risk we’ve barely managed to catch but a few hours of slumber.

  “Dr. Phillips wants to keep her for another couple of days just to make sure she’s okay, but he’s probably as blown away as we are.”

  I squeeze my eyes shut for a second. Marjorie’s recovery must come short of a miracle to the medical staff at the Wolf Creek Medical Center. No one recovers so quickly from injuries that severe.

  “It will bring unnecessary attention to her,” I predict.

  “Marquis has it covered.”

  I straighten up a bit and turn to my left to look at her. “A day or two sets us back even more.”

  “I agree.” She frowns as she stares ahead. “Most arrangements have been made. Her parents have been informed of where she’ll be staying while they return. The hospital expenses have been paid off. All we need is for Dr. Phillips to sign the discharge papers.”

  Considering werewolves have been getting in and out of the hospital despite our best attempts at keeping them out, the safest thing to do is to get Marjorie out as soon as possible.

  “Can we persuade the doctor to give the order?”

  Simone tips her head slightly to her right and smiles. “That was my next move.”

  Persuading the doctor to sign the discharge papers will probably take less effort than talking Marjorie into staying at our place while her parents get back.

  “Marjorie might not be too pleased with all the decisions we have made without consulting her,” I add solemnly.

  “I know. But this is for her well-being. We’re not trying to bully her in any way, shape, or form. Desperate times call for desperate measures. She’s a smart girl. I’m sure she’ll understand eventually. We just need to allow things to sink in. In the long run she’ll be safer with us anyway.”

  “Try explaining that to her,” I mutter as I glance out the passenger side window.

  I gaze out the window distractedly. All I see are the copses of trees, but in the back of my head, I’m thinking about the future and what it holds for us. Will we be forced to leave our home again?

  Wolf Creek Hollow is a desolated, middle-of-nowhere town where the best source of entertainment is gossip. As a pack of werewolves, it is customary for us to seek isolated places to call home, but this miniscule town is probably the most remote place we have lived in. We like it here. The biggest problem so far is that it’s infested with werewolves. Most of which, are man-eating rogues with a taste for blood and gore.

  “Marjorie will have to get used to things she never imagined could possibly exist. I know they’ll be a bit of a shock to her, but I am truly confident she’ll be able to handle things better, perhaps, than most people would.”

  I hear Simone, but I can’t make out anything she says because my full attention is on an area near the road about thirty yards away. At first glance, I have a difficult time determining what it is, but as we get closer, an explosion of golden-brown colored fur er
upts from between a pair of giant pine trees and rushes toward the road in front of us.

  For a very brief moment it stops, surveys the area for a split second before focusing its large eyes on us. I can’t make out his identity by scent since we’re inside the car nor can I tell who he is by appearance alone.

  “Who...?” Simone notices the beast as it runs on two muscled legs toward the car and hesitates. “What on earth is going on?”

  I move forward in my seat and realize suddenly that the wolf doesn’t seem to have any intention of stopping.

  “Stop, Simone,” I shout. The wolf has only picked up speed as it darts in our direction and we have no choice but to avoid a head on collision.

  Simone steps on the breaks so suddenly the car fishtails across the road, going from side to side. I hold onto the seat and door as Simone struggles to regain control of the vehicle. Neither of us loses our cool though. We’ve been in worst situations so we have the ability to control our emotions. We keep calm even when the car comes close to colliding against the guardrail and narrowly misses going down a steep hill.

  A few seconds later, Simone manages to regain control of the car and shoves her foot on the brakes to stop the it. The black Audi comes to a screeching halt mere inches from where the wolf stood, quietly gazing back at us with a pair of large brown eyes.

  Simone and I exchange looks of concern. I run one hand over my hair and let out some air. We came uncomfortably close to running over the newcomer.

  “This isn’t a member of the alpha’s pack.” I turn my attention to the wolf. I try, but I can’t place him.

  “What does he want?”

  The wolf is just standing there—in the middle of the road, unmoving.

  “Let’s find out.” I unbuckle my seatbelt and make to open the door but Simone’s hand on my left arm puts a stop to my efforts. I turn to look at her, but she’s staring ahead—at the huge werewolf standing at a staggering height of eight feet plus.