Page 12 of Luna Rising

I tamped down my surprise. She never spoke about that part of her life, and I wasn’t about to pry.

“Take your few days, think about it, and then we can decide which one of us takes the memory bullet.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said because it was easier to agree than continue a debate that I wasn’t sure I would win.

A slow smile lifted the corners of her mouth as a mischievous twinkle developed in her eye. “Want to hear the gossip I’ve overheard about your new pack?”

As if I could say no. A lot of what she told me sort of floated in one ear and out the other since I didn’t know any of the people involved in her stories. But in the short time she’d been in Colorado, Winter had learned about all sorts of scandalous behavior, which was a great distraction from my own problems.

When she finally got up to leave, I almost asked her to stay, but we both knew Ewan would lose it if he found her in the bedroom. He and I needed to have a discussion about that. Winter’s calming presence went with her, leaving me alone to contemplate the consequences of our actions. The guilt left a bitter taste in my mouth. I even wished that I would fall asleep because reliving torturesome, heartbreaking memories seemed preferable to dwelling on my present fuck-ups.

No such luck.

Ewan returned a few hours later, and his mood could only be described as shitty. He stormed inside the bedroom full of fury and smelling like a combination of blood and snow that I found weirdly alluring.

“What happened?” I asked, bolting upright in alarm.

His nose twitched as if he’d picked up on an unpleasant scent, a fresh wave of anger darkening his crimson eyes. “Winter was here.”

I tucked my knees to my chest and fought my rising temper. One of us needed to remain calm, and it obviously wasn’t going to be him.

“Yes, she was.”

His lips peeled back in a snarl. “She disobeyed me.”

“Winter is fae, the great-granddaughter of the Gemini leader. The reincarnation of Nicasia.” I kept my voice even, devoid of emotion. “She isn’t under your command.”

He moved so fast that I only saw a blur. Then the chair was in his hands, and he slammed it over his knee. My eyes went wide, but I didn’t react otherwise. Ewan wouldn’t hurt me, so I wasn’t afraid of his outbursts. Besides, I was the daughter of an alpha and the twin of a future alpha, I understood this type of anger.

Two splintered pieces were clutched in Ewan’s white-knuckled grip. He threw them at the floor like darts, both shards wedging deep into the wooden floorboards. His fury coursed through the bond to my veins, making it harder to keep my temper under control. I had to remind myself that this wasn’t about Winter visiting me, clearly the pack meeting hadn’t gone smashingly.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I remained still, not loving his chaotic state yet not wanting to make it worse either. “I am your mate. Isn’t that my job, to listen and I don’t know… listen.”

His shoulders sagged, and he seemed to come back to himself. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, my vampire ears having no trouble hearing his words. “The pack meeting didn’t go well today.”

I scooted over and patted the bed beside me, relieved that he no longer wanted to destroy anything he got his hands around. Ewan sat on the edge of the bed and kicked off his boots. He turned to face me. Something about the sight of my tangled hair and fresh pair of Arcane University sweats–the guy had a never-ending supply–turned the rage in his eyes to desire. A corresponding heat pooled between my legs.

My knees were still pressed against my chest. His gaze, dark and tantalizing, held mine as he wrapped his fingers around my ankles and slowly extended my legs. I leaned back against the pillows, ready, willing, and very eager for him to touch me. It had been too long since he was inside me, and I craved that intimate contact.

Ewan crawled up the length of the bed and laid his head in my lap, pressing a kiss against the sweatpants, and then spoke to my vagina. “Soon,” he swore. “I miss you.”

I threaded my fingers in his dark hair and yanked, forcing his face upward. “Seriously?”

He cracked a smile. “What? I do miss her. Don’t forget, I feel you just as you feel me, and I know when you’re aroused.”

“Is this your way of saying you don’t want to talk about what happened?” I lifted an eyebrow in question.

He worked one arm beneath my thigh and wrapped the other one around the top of my leg. I relaxed my grip and played with his hair. Silence rained down, though it wasn’t uncomfortable or awkward.

My mind glitched for a second, an image of this same scene in a different setting overlapping with reality. Except, in the memory, he wasn’t just talking to my hooha. My nerve endings lit up, and then it was my libido that needed to be checked.

“Not all the wolves are happy about an undead alpha,” Ewan said at last, his words like ice water for my hormones. “I’ve had to make examples of dissidents.”

A chill zipped up my spine. It was no wonder he returned from the meeting in such a shit mood. Ewan had a kind heart, even if it no longer and beat, and sending away members of his pack was hard on him. He didn’t enjoy that part of the job the way other alphas did.

“I banished four today.” He turned his head and pressed his face against my leg. “Two have openly challenged me. This is not how I wanted to start my reign.”

My hands moved to his shoulders, sliding beneath his t-shirt. I kneaded his stiff muscles, unsure of the right words to soothe his troubled mind. This was my role as his mate, and I hated that I was failing him so epically already. The skin-to-skin contact relaxed him some, enough to take the edge off.

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