Page 45 of Luna Rising

Memory fragments pierced my mind. Sitting across from King Orrin in his private chambers. Diana beaming with pride as she opened her cape to expose her pregnant belly. Running down a dark alleyway as a cloaked figure with a crossbow gave chase. Dancing with Enzo beneath the stars while no music played. Laying in a bed screaming as unbearable pain split me in half.

Ewan pulled me into his arms and cradled my head against his chest. Even though I didn’t need to breathe, I gulped air like I couldn’t get enough. Nausea made my stomach roil as pressure built behind my eyeballs.

“I’m right here,” he murmured against my hair. “Don’t fight them.”

Claws shot from my nail beds and ripped his shirt to shreds, leaving angry red slashes across his chest and stomach that healed as quickly as I had inflicted the injuries. The memory fragments kept playing in my head. Past and present warred for my attention. I knew I was supposed to embrace the memories, but they came too fast.

Ewan’s alpha power washed over me like a cool breeze yet failed to banish the shards of my past lives tearing my mind. Alarm shot through the bond. He pressed his wrist to my mouth. My clenched jaws refused to part, not even the promise of my sire’s blood enough to lure me fully into the here and now.

“Drink, Zara,” he ordered in his cold alpha voice.

My lips popped open in response to his command, fangs striking out like a cobra and settling deep in his arm. He turned me so my back pressed against his chest and wrapped his free arm around my waist. My eyelids fluttered as I swallowed mouthfuls of his blood, each one soothing my mind and knitting the pieces back together.

Using the arm around my waist, Ewan lifted me off the ground and carried me around to the side of our bed, where he sat on the edge with me in his lap. Concern hadn’t completely overshadowed his desire—he was rock hard against my ass. Normally, this would have done wonderful things to certain parts of my anatomy, but his blood made me sleepy.

“Good girl. Keep drinking.” He buried his face in my hair. “I love you, Zara.”

Hearing those three words alongside my name—my name, not Zosia’s—finally put a stop to the glitches altogether. Tension fled my body, and I relaxed against his chest. Ewan pulled his wrist free and tilted my chin for a soft kiss.

“Thank you,” I mumbled against his mouth.

Ewan ran his knuckles down my cheek. “Always.”

He lifted me off his lap and sat me on the bed. Exhaustion settled in my bones and sleep tried to claim me. I wanted to curl up my cloud-like mattress and give in to the darkness.

“Lift your arms, Zara.”

It took more effort than it should have, but I raised them over my head. He peeled off my sweater and deftly removed my bra. There was nothing sexual about it, though I did feel his appreciation for my breasts through the bond. He pulled me to my feet and crouched in front of me to take off my jeans. The scent of my still damp panties so close to his face elicited a growl as he rolled them down my legs.

He stood and pulled back the covers on the bed so I could crawl between the sheets. Despite undressing me slowly yet efficiently, he stripped off his shirt and jeans at vampire-speed and joined me. Ewan was an expert cuddler. In the safety of his strong arms, I gave into the exhaustion and let sleep lull me under.

“Don’t leave me,” I whispered, unsure if I’d spoken aloud until Ewan answered.

“Never.”

The reality of my new life as an alpha’s mate truly hit home the following afternoon, about an hour before my first pack meeting. I changed six times, unable to decide on the appropriate attire. Were silk pants the right vibe for discussing the Zodiac Council’s order? Or was a more casual look, like jeans, the way to go? Should I wear a dress? Birch had picked several styles that I wouldn’t have bought myself but showed off my curves without looking like I was going clubbing.

It doesn’t fucking matter.

My mother always wore black slacks, a blue or white blouse of which she had many, and a jacket—very business-like. I tried on a pair of black jeans with a red camisole and my leather jacket, which definitely didn’t have the same effect. Ewan’s never-ending pile of Arcane University sweats were folded neatly on a shelf in the closet. I eyed the stacks longingly. In another life, had I attended college? Not likely. Shifter packs still practiced many of the customs that the first alphas instituted literally centuries ago.

Both Ewan and Winter had only attended Arcane University because they’d tangled with vampires and their respective parents sent them to college. For him, it was punishment. For her, it was protection. Their friendship had eased my way to Nicasia.

Was it all chance? Had Mat somehow orchestrated the two of them ending up at school together at precisely the same time that I first encountered Enzo? It all seemed too perfect for happenstance, and he’d definitely been pulling our puppet strings at different moments along the way.

“Is that what you’re wearing?” Ewan leaned against the doorframe of the walk-in closet, one eyebrow rounded as his crimson and gold gaze raked over my mostly naked body. The matching bra and thong were mostly see-through, with black lace piping and straps, and the first items he’d picked out in the lingerie store.

I batted my eyelashes at him. “Would you be mad if I said yes?”

He shook his head. “No.”

Heat blazed through the bond, making me wish for more than a piece of dental floss between my legs.

“What about jealous?” I asked as he crossed his arms and stared appreciatively at my ass.

“I have no reason to be jealous. You’re my mate. My wife. My heart.” He closed the short distance between us, his hands gripping my hips from behind while his mouth went to my bare shoulder.

“I see. So, no shifting because Gaia-forbid someone see me naked, but this is okay?”

---