Page 43 of Moon Bound

“You came for me,” she croaks. I can’t help my responding smile, even with the anguish my body is drowning in. My injuries are only external. Aspen, is everything internal. My heart flutters, like a young boy gazing into the eyes of his first crush. But that’s what she is to me. My first crush, my first love, my first everything.

“I go where you go, Aspen. Even if that means into the afterlife. I’m never going to leave you. I love you with every fiber of my soul, and as soon as I’m healed, I’ll prove it to you.” Aspen stares into my eyes, hers glistening with unshed tears. Cupping her cheek, I relish the feel of warmth coating her skin. Something I thought I’d lost for good. “I can’t live a life you’re not a part of.” Still, there’s no response. Doubt starts to tug at me that she’ll say it’s too late, so I lean to the side, pulling her closer to press our foreheads together. “Please, say something,” I breathe against her mouth. She giggles, and my heart flutters with joy.

“I love you, Torsten.” She replies instantly, soothing the war within my soul. Relief washes away all traces of doubt, peace finding me in the forgotten catacombs beneath shifter territory. A moment I had never imagined for myself, but I’d venture to the ends of the earth for her. A tear slips from her eye, rolling down to the shell of her bloodstained ear. “You’ve beyond proven yourself. My fear is if I’m really worth it.”

I caress her cheek and place the faintest of kisses on her lips. “We have an eternity for me to show you exactly how much you’re worth and then some.” Aspen’s joyous expression slips when she notices the blisters slowly healing all over my skin, the ones on my face itching as the scabs begin to peel off. Her brow pulls down in confusion, but I smooth them back out with the pad of my thumb. “Where’s-”

“They’re okay. Give them a minute, and our moment of solace will be over.” Relief washes over her beautiful face. As I watch the scars lining her cheeks from the muzzle begin to heal, the angry red marks softening into her smooth skin, I vow never to let her come to harm again. Not even so much as a paper cut. Aspen’s beauty is to be preserved, adored, and worshipped. I smile through my own afflictions.

“What?” she asks softly. I slowly shake my head, warmth flooding my chest.

“I’ve just realized why you need so many mates,” I chuckle. “Loving you is too big of a job for only one male.” Aspen fakes a gasp, shooting to straddle my hips. I groan at the added weight to my fragile body, causing her to tut.

“Maybe it’s you assholes who need a certain type of woman to keep you all in line.” Her head tilts, and her silvery white hair tickles my shoulders, the perfect version of my mate back in full force. Despite the ensuing pain, I can’t contain the full-bodied laugh that rakes through me. Only Aspen would rise from the dead to tell me I need to be kept in line. My laughter turns into a dry cough, my brows pinching. Aspen lowers, opening her neck to me in an invitation I can’t deny myself.

“I’m so sorry for everything,” she breathes once I’ve had my fill. Sitting upright, I feel myself strengthen and harden beneath her. She truly is insatiable in any situation. “I didn’t think you’d understand why I had to leave. I already had everything I needed, and it was incredibly selfish, but I had to find Sawyer.” Aspen lowers her tear-stricken lashes. “I needed to know.”

“It just so happens, he’s the one who found you,” I lift Aspen’s chin and tilt her head to the male approaching the tunnel. Lacking his trench coat, his arms shimmer with tattoos like I’ve never seen. A network of branches, from short sleeves to where they fade at his wrist, pulsing with silvery waves. Aspen’s chest stills as she rises from my arms, and I can’t blame her. Leaning forward, I whisper in her ear, giving her the permission, she needs. “I am also sorry you felt alone in your search. We wouldn’t have liked it, but we would have aided you, Aspen. Whatever it takes to fill your heart with the love you crave, consider it done.”

Helping her to stand, Aspen tentatively makes her way to Sawyer. I follow, taking the trench coat from his hand to slide her arms into the sleeves, covering her modesty. I move to leave, but Aspen reaches out to grab my hand, holding me prisoner to their conversation.

“There’s something you need to know,” Sawyer drops his head. We wait for him to find the words, my own grip tightening on Aspen’s hand. All-encompassing eyes lift, one single black eye leaking from the corner. “When a guardian takes the vow, their lives are bound to their charge. When I told you, my mother died…” Sawyer looks aside.

“She died because mine did,” Aspen whispers in understanding. Stepping forward, she places a single hand on the raven’s chest. He immediately covers it with his own. “Tell me, Sawyer.”

“It’s your wolf, Aspen. She sacrificed herself for you. I felt a part of myself die too, and it hasn’t returned.”

“No,” Aspen shakes her head and withdraws from Sawyer to step back into me. Hurt contorts his face, and I can’t fucking blame him. Their bond hasn’t even been explored, and he’s had to deliver her this terrible news. Moments pass as Aspen stares at her hands, trying to force a shift. It doesn’t come. “No, no, no!”

Wrapping my arm around her chest, I grab Sawyer and drag him into her front. He balks, causing me to growl.

“She needs all of us.”

“Damn right she does,” Jaxon appears in a flash. The darkened cavern does nothing to hide his burns or the thick welt on Chase’s face when he emerges a moment later. Blood smears his chin from a recent feed, but it’s not potent enough to have started his healing. No more words are spoken as Aspen collapses, taking the four of us with her. Cocooned on the cave floor, we all cry. We mourn the creature who made the ultimate sacrifice. To give my Aspen back to me, and for that, I will be eternally grateful.

Chapter30

Kofu

Ilisten to the crying. Drown in it. Even when I cover my ears, I can’t unhear the wrecked screams filling the caves. Five united beings, shattered by their grief. And the worst part – I know they’ll survive it. That they have each other to heal the broken fracture and fill the void of Aspen’s wolf.

Crouching against a cave wall, halfway between the watery cavern and the entrance, I find a small black beetle to play with. It’s hard shell moves awkwardly as it crawls back and forth across my tattooed knuckles while long, sharp pincers try to attack the flesh beneath. Even though I give no reaction, the insect continues to strike me, over and over, until thick wings snap up from the bug’s tough exterior, and it flies away. He could have left when I picked him up, but he chose to stay and fight. I’m tenacious too. It’s what’s brought me this far.

Although, as I take stock of my position, I wonder how I’ve fallen so far. I’m more of a glorified lap dog than a protégé these days. As a child, I was a source of entertainment to the Alpha - a spirit to break and tame. He said he enjoyed my wild nature but then forced me to bend to his will. To be controlled by him. I became his personal project, given vigorous routines and punishing jobs to carry out from an early age.

However, there had been a small bright side to my grueling training days in preparation for becoming the next alpha. The small, blonde girl who skipped around camp, her giggle filling the air and lifting the weight from my young shoulders. Aspen would sneak out to bring me cookies when I was on night patrol before I even reached double digits and creep into the woods while I was supposed to be running drills to play tag.

The hope of seeing her was the only thing that kept me going most days. And then I was told she was to be my mate. I was promised the constant ray of sunshine would remain at my side forever. I’d never truly be alone or an outcast again, and even if I never achieved anything else in life, I would always have a companion at my side.

When her vampire side emerged, no one was more devastated by her banishment than me. I lost everything that day and blamed her for all of it. Conall was right; compassion is weakness. I turned to the dark place within myself and stayed there, hating the world around me for continuing to move on when my life was nothing but bleakness and anger. I didn’t need anyone. I needed to keep strong, stay angry and become the most ruthless shifter who had ever walked this miserable planet.

So why couldn’t I stop watching the exile hut? Before the raven’s presence,Iwas Aspen’s loyal protector. I ensured the shifters were kept in line as much as an apprentice could. My title scared most, but not all. When Conall discovered I’d been stalking her instead of doing my duties, he’d beat me senseless – publicly. Yet I couldn’t stop, couldn’t allow her to suffer beyond the grief her biology caused. Aspen has never been truly alone. She just never knew it.

But what I’ve seen and heard down here tonight has affected me in ways I can’t understand. I was already confused by the weird stirrings in my chest, feelings I’d been taught not to indulge. That was before I heard of Aspen’s wolf. Now, the tiny rift within me that held something genuinely good cracks and shatters into millions of pieces. I’d collapse under the weight of it, if I weren’t practically dead inside myself.

Forcing myself to regain composure, I stand. I should have left with Conall. Should have stopped myself from allowing my curiosity. I can’t unhear the screams or unsee the band of males laying down their lives for the one they love. I’ll never be able to understand, nor do I have a right to feel the slither ofgrief churning in my gut. I was a fraud to think I had any small claim on Aspen or the pain I’d been left to deal with. The males cradling her are the ones who have genuinely loved and lost something precious here tonight.

During the entire walk back towards Conall’s cabin, my feet drag. Dark hair swaying over my eyes, my jaw too tight. I’ve been privy to something fascinating tonight, something I will never know. But I have learned something.

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