Page 41 of Moonlit Choosing Ritual

I closed my eyes and, out of nowhere, nightmares hit me like a ton of bricks.

It was dark around me, and I was running through the woods. With my heart pounding, I heard distant howls. I looked over my shoulder and saw huge, shadowy figures. They had glowing eyes and sharp canines and were coming straight for me. I tried to scream but nothing came out. My legs felt like they were moving through quicksand. Just as one of the werewolves leaped at me, teeth bared to bite me, I jolted awake, heart racing, covered in sweat. I was back in reality, but the terror from my dream felt real. It took a moment to realize that I was safe, even though the fear lingered like a bad taste in my mouth.

With labored breath, I turned to look at the window and saw that it was still night.

“You’re awake,” his deep-timbred voice reached my ears.

I turned my head to see him. Anger mingled with defiance bubbled inside me. My throat hurt when I accused him. “You drugged me and forced me into the Choosing Ritual. You mated me without my consent! I wanted freedom. You let me stay under the illusion that I would be freed.” My throat was so parched and hoarse that I coughed. He came to sit at the edge of the bed with a glass of water. I gulped it greedily and began coughing again. He stroked my back lightly to soothe me. Enraged, I smacked his hand back. “Just a few days—” My breath was labored. “Just a few days back you offered to clear mydebt, and give me my freedom, if I slept in the same bed as you. What was all that?” I wanted to shout at him.

He moved closer to me as he propped up my pillows and pulled me up. I winced as the scratches on my back and hand grazed the sheet. The marks were darker and more obvious than they had been when I was tied to the tree. His gaze drifted over every inch of my exposed skin as though I was something precious, like a damaged, broken flower.

Between the heavy silence that stretched between us, I didn’t expect that his gaze would make my pulse thrum or that my blood would charge through my flesh.

His gaze came to rest on my shoulder where he had bitten me, his eyes turning a darker shade, his pupils consuming the color until only a thin band of gold remained. His eyes traced a line down, his attention so deliberate that it felt like a caress against my skin. It veered left and right and eventually settled on my face.

“You didn’t answer my questions,” I rasped, looking into his soul-ripping eyes.

“I did what I had to do. It was the Goddess’s will,” he said.

“The fuck!” I yelled as loudly as I could. “No, it was your will! Humans and werewolves are not mates. You just wanted to enslave me and keep me at your mercy forever. Why, Talon, why? What have I done to you?” I cried, feeling helpless. “Admit that it was your will!”

His eyes flashed amber, hinting at his untamed wolf. I waited for his reply, my ragged breath being the only sound in the room.

“No,” he said. “I took what wasmine. I took what the Moon Goddess had given me. I know you’re my mate and it doesn’t matter if you’re human or not. Given the chance, I’d do it again. My wolf sensed you as his mate the first day he laid eyes on you.”

I felt so helpless against his fucked-up, twisted explanation. “You just wanted to dominate me!” I shouted. Then, narrowing my eyes, I added, “Liam said that he wanted to marry me. Were you so jealous of him that you fought him and then got him stabbed?”

He leaned close to me, his powerful body radiating some kind of aura that made me want to submit to him. “Kimble, you always belonged to me. You just didn’t know it. And that mark on your shoulder will remind you that I’m the only wolf who will ever own you and breed with you.” He took a lock of my blonde hair and curled it around his finger. Taking it close to his nose, he inhaled it and closed his eyes as if it calmed him. However, the moment he opened his eyes, the storm in them returned. “Aria suspected you were my mate. That’s why she helped you escape to Liam.”

“That’s not true,” I said, my eyes filled with fear and tears.

He explained, “Liam didn’t want to marry you, Kimble. He wanted to kill you after I marked Aria.”

My throat went paper dry as I clenched my teeth to stop them from chattering.

“However, I foiled his plan when I got you back. And I certainly foiled his plan when I fought him off to mate and mark you at the ritual. Out of revenge, he tried to kill you with a knife during the ritual.”

My breath hitched when I remembered how a man had touched my ankles before being yanked away. “You pulled him away from me?”

“Yes, I hurled him into a tree, and then I approached you. Once I approached you, the laws prohibited him coming anywhere near you.”

“So he went to Aria?”

Talon’s eyes filled with amusement and he tipped his head to let out an ominous laugh. “No, Kimble. You’re so naïve. Doyou think I’d let him mate with Aria so easily? Seeing that I had approached you and his plans were thwarted, he went to Aria to mate and mark her, so that at least he didn’t waste this chance to be with his mate. But guess what?” Talon’s lips curled into a sinister smile. “My wolves fought him off, and they stabbed him so he couldn’t get to Aria. You already know that.”

“Oh, my God, you killed him.”

His eyes narrowed with an emotion akin to jealousy. “Why? Are you concerned about him?”

“Did you kill him or not?” I asked.

He grabbed the back of my neck, his chest vibrating with a menacing growl. “He was injured enough not to go to her and mark her. I robbed him of his chance. He won’t die, but it will take him a long time to recover, and he has to wait a year to mark her or anyone else. I took from him what he wanted to take from me. Justice served!”

“Justice?” I squeaked. “What—” Before I could speak more, his mouth slammed onto mine. He forced open the seam of my lips, and when I opened, he delved inside, exploring me with urgency, with a need so raw that it thrummed through me. He kissed me roughly, nibbled my lips, sucked my tongue, and didn’t let me move until he was satisfied. When he pulled away, I was gasping for air. My face was red.

“Trust me, Kim,” he said in a strained voice. “This is best for you.”

“For me?” I shouted. Raising your voice to Alpha Talon was unheard of. Whoever did that attracted punishment. “No, Talon. This was what you wanted, because you couldn’t set me free. This is nothing but your ego and your ultimate dream come true to dominate me! You are a selfish, entitled brat! I’m not your mate. So unmark me!”

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