Moon Bound (Glorious Darkness Book 1) Read online

  "Aren't you supposed to be asking what he did to me, Alex? But, oh, silly me. I forgot you don't ask that now."

  "Whatever he does to you it's your own fault, Scarlet. You know you could have just accepted him so don't pretend to be the victim in front of me now. And I'm asking again. What did you do to him this time?"

  Picking myself up, I dust my clothes off, giving her the smug look I know will piss her off.

  "Always the caregiver, aren't you, Alex? But why you always seem to be doing that for the ones who can help you up the ladder? Anyway, since you want to know..." Trailing off, her eyes are heavy on me. Judging as if she's never been there or seen it all.

  She changed after they took her that day. She changed so much. What did they do to her to turn her into this person? What did I do?

  "I told him the truth," I say to her - a girl who was once a friend and is now a stranger. Forsaken me for his strength, hoping perhaps he would share it with her or that it would rub off on her.

  "What?"

  "The truth," I repeat.

  Face blank, confused. "Whatever. I'll deal with you later. Bitch!" she huffs out.

  "Don't bet on it." Just a whisper.

  Her eyes meet mine just then, with a sparkle of something I don't understand but something that is strangely reminding me of the old Alexandra. Is it tears I can see forming in those eyes? Is it hope that's regarding me back as I stare at her?

  "You should keep those eyes low when your superior is talking to you, Scarlet." And just like that, the moment is gone.

  She swirls back and, climbing up the stairs, disappears from sight.

  Stumbling on unsteady feet, I run to my room to get my bag, then storm out from the home turned to ruins. As I flee further and further away from that place it feels like my imagination is running with me, wild along with the girl who can see the storm weaving its way into the house, the one that's just beginning, the one that's nothing like what they've ever known.

  He will wither. He will die with half of himself missing.

  Breathing through the pang of regret, I know that I won't be present long enough to see the hopeless fall of Alpha unravel.

  (10) Crossing... Over

  |Scarlet's POV|

  I sit on the shore clutching the letter to my chest, the duffel bag next to me. I keep staring into the whispering water that's beckoning me into its dangerous depths... resisting.

  The Moon has yet to set free, the first rays of reflection still hours shy of their appearance in the darkening skies as I hold that precious parchment-like sheet of paper where it belongs.

  Close to my heart.

  Fear and darkness are gnawing at me, making my heart's palpitations loud in my ears as sweat trickles down my back. The minutes tick past painfully slowly while I stay here, struggling to portray calm on my face and not knowing how long I have to wait until someone comes but hoping it would be soon.

  For two years I've been sitting on that shore, waiting for them to take me away. Will it happen tonight? Or will I have to go back like so many times before?

  Alpha's anger has probably wilted at some point, leaving him to seethe with much-deserved turmoil in the confines of his chamber... hopefully. I imagine he is now asleep, or better yet - drowning in his hard-earned misery, but most likely he is beating his brains out trying to figure new ways to deprive me into submission. Or he's just fucking Sasha's brains out. No surprise there.

  As far as his present occupation is granting me a reprieve from his caustic demeanor, it doesn't matter what he is doing. Yet, I know it won't be too long until the bond gets the better of him.

  He may think I'm sulking somewhere or he may be just giving me space yet he's prone to seek my company sooner or later.

  A slight, barely audible rustle calls my attention to the tall outline of the forest behind me. I don't call the place my home. It hasn't been my home for a long time. Too long.

  My first instinct is to lay low on the ground, hoping to stay unnoticed if it's one of the patrols but, the moment I catch sight of the human form, I know it's not a pack member.

  Is it really happening or is it just a dream?

  A slim, petite woman emerges from behind the tree cover, her steps as soft and silent as the whisper of feathers dancing in the wind. Her dark, dirty blonde hair falls over the bigger part of her face, adding another visual barrier to the shadow of her hoodie.

  She is a woman, of that I am certain. Her small, graceful figure is too feminine to be mistaken for a male's. Stopping a few steps into the clearing, the treeline looming threateningly behind her, she makes a small, barely there hand gesture in invitation. She probably regards me as warily as I regard her, but I can't really tell behind the curls curtaining her eyes from view.

  However, the tension in her body is indication enough.

  I sniff the air, trying to discern her scent in the mix of forest's aromas, but there's nothing. She's either hiding it somehow or has found a way to mask it.

  I've only heard stories about it but never actually seen it, or rather scented it out.

  She raises her hand again, beckoning me with an urgency I find odd at first, but then, remembering that I have been actually waiting for one of them to show up, brush off.

  Is she one of them? Is this a trick?

  Rising from my spot, I strap the duffel bag over my shoulder and tuck the letter back into my pocket. Slowly, I make my way over, taking her offer of a hand. She squeezes gently, letting me know she's my hope, then nods towards the woods, a miniature of a smile tugging at the corners of her uncovered lips. She swings back, pulling me behind into a jog before I can decide if I'm actually going to do this.

  "Where are we going?" Whispering, the doubt is nipping at the corners of my mind and lacing through my words as I start second-guessing the situation. "Did you come to take me away? Was it you who sent the letter?"

  "Be quiet. No need to alarm the patrols of our presence."

  "Please, just tell me. Are you one of them? Are you a vampire?"

  "Yes and only a half. Now, move." Hushing me quickly, she doesn't leave space for argument.

  "Took you long enough to come to my aid," I mumble.

  "I know and I'm sorry. We couldn't get you out before you have shifted."

  Giving out a mental eye roll at the excuse, I keep trekking behind her. Do I believe her? Do I have any other choice but to follow her? That will be a 'hell to the no'.

  Suddenly, the woman stops, causing me to nearly crash into her back.

  "Too slow," hissing at me, her posture turns rigid as she stares at the darkness, listening intently.

  "Get on," she says, tapping a gloved hand on her shoulder without sparing me a backward glance.

  "What?" Whispering back in confusion I try to pinpoint the reason for her sudden wariness.

  "Get on my back." With another hiss showing her razor-sharp set of fangs, she urges me into action, this time, brushing her bangs off of her face to add a death glare before that same hand gives another tap on her shoulder.

  I arch a brow in disbelief. "Going to give me a piggy back ride?"

  "No shit, Sherlock. Get on. Now!" Snapping back, she's bending her back low for me to climb on.

  Without further argument, I hop on her back, silently snaking my arms around her neck before the patrol detects us as I suspect she's afraid will happen.

  "Hold on. Maybe close your eyes." She advises and the next second we are flying through the woods.

  Faster than I could have ever imagined.

  Vampires are notorious for their greater speed and faster reflexes. They could pull off lightning fast attacks and nearly impossible escapes.

  Weres are stronger, greater in numbers, however, nothing to vampires' speed.

  Wolves are better hunters with their more enhanced sense of smell. They are natural predators or, at least, as natural as a shape-shifting human could be. They consider themselves as the final evolution nature allowed; whereas vampires are the ultimate monsters,
feeding off human blood. killing because of a need as natural as the change is for a wolf but they are something else too.

  Yet, vampires have been the only ones who answered my shout for help two years ago.

  The border looms ahead of us, the new path signaling its existence only for me to see.

  The Moon is kissing the earth plane, winking at me her intent to reveal my absence from the house, and I have no idea when it will or if anyone would even care. Will it be now before I've found my freedom, will it be when it's over?

  The moment we actually cross, I can almost hear her. She's cursing me again. She's condemning me for leaving the mate she has given me. All I can do is silence her away and release the breath I've been holding.

  Over. It's finally over.

  My very lungs are erupting as the air fights its way in. Chilly and fresh like the freedom I taste on my tongue and feel coursing through my veins.

  SCARLET, a sudden rush of sound is echoing in my head. A ringing roar. All animal and no man. Wounded. Betrayed. Alone.

  Why did she do this? Why did she save me now when she could have done it two years ago? Why did she give me a mate like him? Why did she allow me to flee?

  The Moon never punished him because she always intended for me to do that.

  Free. I am free. Sending back, I cry out my victory. Prevailing over him. Bittersweet, it's the only pleasure he'll ever give me.

  Soon, the woman slows down. The world turns on its axis and, as the first rays of sunshine glimpse through, I am dropped down to my feet in front of an old truck.

  The vampire chic fishes the keys out of her jeans' front pocket, throws them at me, requesting, "Could you drive, please? I'll give you directions."

  I nod, slinging the duffel bag off my shoulder and throwing it into the back, then slide into the drivers' seat.

  The engine revs up on the first try.

  (11) Gone Girl

  |Regan's POV|

  His face is staring at me from behind the frame glass, my hands are itching, my fingers - trembling. It's one of the few reminders I have left of the man who taught me so many hard lessons. My father.

  Do I see him in a different light now that I know what it is to be constantly rejected by your mate? Do I find an excuse for what he did? Will I be forced to do the same just to continue on the path he's set me on or will I choose another? Will I be able to live with her hating me like he lived with my mom, his own mate, hating him?

  History is repeating itself. The man who killed his mate has been killed by his son and now that son... now that son is living the same fate. The past can't be changed but what about the future?

  My hand acts on its own accord, flinging the frame into the air, throwing it at the closed door. The frame breaks, pieces of glass and broken wood falling to the hardwood floor, the picture laying underneath the ruins.

  So many lessons yet none of them can give me the answers I need now. He taught me how to live with the blood staining my hands, not how to avoid getting it on them in the first place.

  'Sacrifices must be made for the pack. This is what being an alpha means,' I remember those words of his. A law he followed to the letter and made me follow too. I remember the look on his face when he realized I've finally come to take my place as the alpha of the pack, the leader who had to fall facing the one on the rise in his last moments of life. Those features have been stuck in the horrible realization of what he's made me do... at last.

  He hasn't been my first kill, far from it - he has nurtured the thirst for blood in me from an early age only to be just one of the many victims it would take. Always speaking about sacrifices, he has become one himself.

  Walking to the door, picking up the picture of him, I peer at that smiling face unsuspecting my betrayal, remembering all the things he made me do. Perhaps, it was those things that sealed my fate and led me to this moment or was it just me being weak, giving in to my father's harsh treatment too easily?

  Did I let him turn me into this monster or was it just me who turned on my own?

  The soft knock distracts me from my thoughts, the intruder standing on the opposite side and waiting for my invitation. It is the female, her scent wafting to me through the small cracks. A human will never get a whiff of her, but I am too far from human even without being an alpha, however, I am an alpha as well. And this is more than just a word for the moon children. I am the person who is supposed to protect them and put order to their animalistic instincts.

  But how can I do that when I've become a chaos myself?

  She's still waiting on the other side of the closed door, waiting for me to give the permission. Reluctant to do so, I know she's an important part of the mess I need to clean up if I am to ever have a chance with the mate who keeps rejecting me. Do I really want that chance? Or better yet, do I deserve it?

  Sacrifices, the voice within my head whispers, an echo of my father's voice haunting me from a past I wish I can leave behind. It always comes back.

  Letting out a sigh, I back off from the door. "Come in," I utter, not letting the desperation into my voice.

  An alpha doesn't let others see the turmoil wrecking what's inside of him.

  She enters the room, her steps deliberately slow in her caution. Hesitant to look at me, her eyes are cast downwards as she approaches.

  "Alpha," her melodic voice is barely a whisper, her head bent low in submission. She has learned a lesson or two about me after all.

  "What do you want?" I grind out, the picture crumbling under my fingers.

  "I... I-"

  "Just say what you've come for and don't let me repeat myself," I cut her off, already tired of this, her.

  "I... just wanted to check on you. See if you're okay," she blurts, her cheeks filling with color as she peers up at me.

  She's got me confused with someone else. A weaker man. "And why wouldn't I be okay?" I inquire, the beast raising his head as eager as I am to find out this female's opinion of us.

  It shouldn't matter. The only one who should have any importance to us isn't here now to bestow her judgment, however, we need to find if this other female will give us her approval. Am I weak for needing another's affirmation? Should I feel guilty for seeking the comfort she must give me from someone else?

  Can the woman looking at me see it's what this is?

  For a few moments, Sasha fumbles with the hem of her dress, fingers raking over the material in suggestion and perhaps a bit of uneasiness. She snaps her head up at me, tucking the few locks that have escaped her ponytail behind her ear.

  "I presumed she'd rejected you," she says slowly, almost as if she's tasting the words on her tongue, the same one that's now flickering over her lips. "I thought you'll need-"

  "You thought wrong. She didn't reject me." She just didn't say it, I add silently, hoping she doesn't see the heartbreak in me. And perhaps, she doesn't. What we had has never been the emotional kind of relationship. She doesn't know me this way. No one has ever known me this way.

  "She didn't?" So much doubt in those words.

  "She didn't," I confirm, biting back the beast's anger for being questioned by someone as low in the pack ranks as this female is. "You may leave now. Your services are no longer required."

  Shoulders slumping in defeat, she gives me a slight nod, turns back, retracing her steps, glass crunching under her feet. A lie being revealed.

  I look at the broken frame pieces long after she's gone, wondering if it will be Scarlet to come and clean them up, hating myself for even considering asking her to do it so I could see her, breathe the same air.

  Being blind and stupid for two years is now turning me into someone I despise more than the person from yesterday. It pains me to look at the mess I've created but I know that there's no other way for me to ever approach her.

  I lay on my bed, thinking about her as darkness fills up the room. Even in the dark, I can see her face, so close yet so distant. Probably for hours, she's haunting my dreams, the ones I'm not all
owed to have.

  I keep waiting for her to come back, to tell me she meant nothing of what she said but it's not Scarlet who comes in the early hours of the morning.

  It's a cry. Loud inside the mind-link, one of the patrols is reporting a disturbance in the territory.

  Jumping out of bed, I run outside into the morning darkness. Listening for the patrol. Trying to pinpoint a location.

  The moon is low in the brightening sky, sinking down for the new day to come as I discard my clothes and shift, running into the forest.

  Breach in pack land, others join, panic penetrating their mental voices as I race through the trees.

  Uneasiness creeps over my stretching form, the beast howling inside, clawing at me to hurry up, catch up before it's too late. Afraid, he is so afraid.

  I slow my pace, breathing in the scents of the forest in hope to find out...

  The trail is so faint, the sweet aroma of lilac barely recognizable underneath all others but to me it's a scent I'll know everywhere. Her scent. Fading away as if she's fading away too.

  My paws thundering on the forest canopy, I reach into the pack bond, my mind searching for her unique spark as my wolf is following the trail her feet left on the ground.

  I feel it. The world is crashing down on me. The sky is falling, ruptured by thunders and storms.

  SCARLET, I shout, the beast on an uproar inside me, breaking down just like the man is.

  Free. I am free, Alpha. A distant echo of laughter sinking into the silence.

  She's left...

  Gone...

  Free.

  (12) Pack

  |Scarlet's POV|

  I feel lost watching the speeding by trees, the illuminated crowns shaping into a tunnel-like passage. The sun rays are probing through the withered leaves as windy hands are lifting up the ones resting on the ground until they are air-born, dancing and singing along the inaudible melody. Magic is clinging in the chilly morning air, the same one wafting through the slid down window. Small particles of dust are left behind our passage, the tires protesting their advance on the dirt road.