Page 20 of Moonlit Choosing Ritual

Jackie blushed. “Hi, Kirk, is there anything for dinner? And you look stunning too.”

He smelled like onions and garlic. For God’s sake.

“Of course!” Kirk said, and, with the speed of an Olympic champion who could beat all other Olympic champions, he brought us a variety of food, including shrimp salad, baconsandwich, thinly sliced smoked salmon with capers, and stuffed mushrooms.

While I focused on all the lovely food, Kirk and Jackie chatted about how their days had gone. I was so focused on eating like a pig that I jumped when a hand thumped the table on my side. Silence ensued as my gaze traveled from the hand on the table to Harry’s face.

“Servants are not allowed to eat here,” he growled. “You can eat in the servants’ quarters. If you come here again, human—” he almost snarled, his hand reaching mine. He grabbed my wrist so hard that I cried. “I’m going to rip this hand off your body. You understand?”

“Let me go!” I tried to wrench my hand away, but it was useless.

“Don’t you fucking step into this kitchen again!” he hissed as he gripped me tighter.

“Harry!” Jackie shouted. “Let her go!” She rushed over to wrench his hand away.

But his anger was rising, and my wrist was on the verge of fracturing. Tears welled in my eyes, mostly from the pain rather than how much these people hated me.

“What’s going on here?” An earth-shattering growl made me whip my head round. The next moment, I saw Talon in front of us, his face calm but with a storm brewing underneath. His eyes went to where Harry gripped me. Harry detached his hand and I quickly moved mine to rub it, wincing in pain. Why was he shirtless again? His body was covered in a thin sheet of sweat, and it looked like he had come from an intense training session. His muscles rippled beneath that velvety skin. And, fuck me, I had this sudden urge to lick him everywhere.

“A—Alpha Talon!” Harry paled. “I—this servant. She forgot the protocols.”

Talon ambled to our table, picked up an apple from the fruit bowl, and, using a knife, he pared it into slices and placed it on the table. He cleaned the knife with his trousers and slowly lifted his eyes to where Harry’s hand rested on the table. The tension in the room was so palpable it stifled me.

Quick as a serpent, Talon buried the lethal tip of the knife between the thumb and index finger of Harry’s hand. Harry froze. He tried to remove his hand, but Talon had hold of it. He carved the table around his hand with the tip of the knife.

“Alpha Talon, I’m sorry,” Harry said in a raspy voice. “This human—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Talon struck, burying the knife in the back of Harry’s hand. Harry’s shocked bellow of pain ripped through the kitchen and beyond, halting every activity. He bellowed as he pulled his arm, but it was pinned down. Talon gripped his wrist and yanked the knife out. “What were you saying?” he asked in a soft voice, his icy expression belying his sincerity.

I was so shocked by what I had just witnessed that I froze. Blood sprayed over my face and Harry’s white pants. Harry sank to his knees as he stared at his bloodied hand.

Talon shot a glare at me and said, “Scoot.”

Shaking like a tree in a storm, I got up and ran out of there, stopping only after I had closed the door of my room. The pain in my wrist was mind-numbing, but the fear cruising through my body was soul crushing.

Talon was dangerous in all the wrong ways. He was like a wild animal, wearing danger like a second skin, exuding an untamed energy that crackled in the air around him. In his presence I felt like I was in the den of a wolf who was tense with the threat of imminent violence.

While I slept, I was plagued by nightmares of my house in the meadows being destroyed by the wolves and bloodeverywhere. I got up with a jerk, a scream ripping from my throat. With my breathing labored and my body covered in sweat, I got out of the bed and walked to the window, opening it to breathe fresh air. I gasped when my gaze went to a massive black wolf sitting in the grass below, staring up at me with his golden eyes. He was larger than any wolf I had ever encountered in my brief life.

My breath lodged in my throat, not because I felt afraid of him, but at his sheer magnificence, at how I wanted to sink my fingers in his silken fur.

Chapter 11

Kimble

His deep, lustrous fur shimmered under the moonlight, highlighting the powerful muscles beneath. I couldn’t tear my gaze from his piercing amber eyes that cut through the darkness with hypnotic intensity.

Standing tall and regal, with ears alert, he seemed to be constantly aware of his surroundings. If wolves were beautiful, then this one was the epitome of primal beauty and strength.

I lifted up the window and leaned on the ledge with folded arms. It was difficult for me to look away from him even though I knew wolves were ferocious creatures who could kill you in an instant. A low rumble emanated from his chest as he stared at me like I was his next meal. And then he peeled his lips back to show off his sharp canines, sending chills down my spine. I slammed the window shut, drew the curtains, and hurried back to my bed.

My thoughts were consumed by Aria’s proposal. I guess that was the best choice I had at the moment. There was no way Talon would free me. I was in a foreign land and didn’t know where to go or who to talk to. Everyone and everything were under Talon’s control.

In the stillness of the night, I tossed and turned in my bed. My thoughts were heavy, burdened by the choices that lay before me—choices that could alter my life and my fate. Talon was a tyrant. People under him lived under the iron fist of a tyrant ruler, a man whose cruelty seemed boundless. He ruled with fear, crushing dissent, and bent the will of his subjects until they had no spirit left to resist.

But not me. I still had a lot of defiance deep within me. Fight or flee. Though I couldn’t fight him.

If I fled, I could escape his reach, find refuge in some distant land where his influence couldn’t touch me. I could start over, perhaps live a life of quiet obscurity, free from his tyranny, on my own terms. But even that thought left a sour taste in my mouth.

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