Page 26 of Bitten by Bloodmoon (Mateless Shifters #2)

Nyx

I wait on the back porch for Lumi. I know she’s awake, I heard her earlier moving around. But I won’t rush her. She knows where to find me when she’s ready. Instead, I sip one of the two coffees as I watch the lightest pink of the sun begin to rise.

I hear the squeak of the sliding glass door opening and two sets of footsteps stepping onto the deck.

“He’s not coming,” I say in a clipped tone. I can’t believe she has the audacity to bring him after everything he did.

“No, he’s not. But you are going to bite him,” Lumi says.

My head whips in her direction, causing a slight soreness in my back where Riven spent the night healing me, still tender to the touch.

“Why would I bite him?”

“So you can control him.”

I look from Lumi to her asshole friend. She can’t be serious. But from his expression, it’s clear she’s dead serious.

“I’m not going to bite him or control his mind. That’s not something I just go around doing. If I really need to control him, I’ll use an alpha command.”

“We both know wolf shifter powers are growing weaker, and wolves can fight an alpha command. Your mind control is more absolute. Kael could initiate into another pack, where you’d have no control.

We need to be certain he won’t do something that gets you killed or run back to Ambrose and tell him all of your secrets. ”

Lumi is looking at me with pure determination on her face, and I know I’m going to do whatever she wants. There is no fighting with her. She is my weakness.

“Do you understand what you are asking me to do?” I look directly at her, making it clear that I will do this if she wants me to, but there are consequences she doesn’t even fully understand.

“Yes,” she breathes out.

My eyes cut to Kael, wondering how he’s taking all of this. To his credit, he doesn’t seem to be at all upset by what’s happening or her decision. He will be, though, because an alpha command is one thing. Being mind-controlled by a vampire is another.

“You understand that it will be me controlling him, not you ?”

She grinds her teeth together before taking another breath. “Yes.”

“And you still want me to do it? To take away all of his control? He won’t be able to breathe without my permission. I could order him to kill himself, and he’d have to obey.”

She stares me down before slipping into my mind. I let her, even though I could easily block her out if I wanted to. Her thread is so easy to find in my mind. So delicate and female and snow-covered that it feels like the first frost in my head.

I don’t say anything in my head, and she doesn’t say anything either. She just feels me. Just exists in my head.

“I trust you not to hurt him.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Maybe not, but I don’t trust him not to kill you. And you could be the key to breaking the curse.”

“I killed Rowena. What makes you think I won’t kill him, too?” Ask me. Ask me more.

“I don’t. But he’s a pack member. Alphas don’t go around killing pack members. Even ones they hate. You’d be challenged as the alpha.”

I look to Kael, giving him a slight choice in the matter. But he’d do anything she asks of him. She, too, is his weakness.

Fuck, he loves her. Does everyone who spends any time with her fall in love with her? I’m doomed if so.

I look at Lumi one more time to ensure this is really what she wants.

She nods.

I move in one quick motion, so quick that Kael never sees me coming.

I don’t give him time to feel fear or to run.

One second I’m in my chair, the next I’ve leaped to his side and sunk my fangs into his neck until I’ve tasted one single drop.

The next blink of an eye, I’m standing across the deck, carefully holding my breath so the scent of his blood doesn’t tempt me into drinking him dry.

“It’s done. Cover your wound. We should go.”

“Give him a command first,” Lumi says.

She doesn’t know how hard this is on me. How much it pains me to do this.

I look to Kael with sharpened eyes. “Don’t take any action that will hurt Lumi.” I can feel the magic working, his mind bending to me as I speak. I have ultimate control over him. Ultimate power. I fucking hate it.

I can’t stay here any longer. I need a minute away.

Quickly, but without using any of my vampire or wolf shifter speed, I grab my backpack and climb down the stairs and out into the forest. The sun has just begun to peak through the forest leaves.

I should shift soon, so I don’t have to hop around through the shadows.

A few seconds go by before Lumi joins me. “Thank you. I needed Kael to see how serious I was. I won’t make you use the mind control on him again unless it’s absolutely necessary, but Kael tends to make stupid decisions when it comes to my safety.”

“Don’t we all,” I mutter under my breath.

“What?” she asks.

“Nothing. Are you ready to go?”

She nods.

“It’s several hours north through the forest. I’m going to shift into my wolf form. You’ll ride on my back.”

She frowns. “Can’t we take a car?”

“No, there aren’t roads to this coven. They prefer isolation deep in the forest.”

“Can’t you just vampire run us there?”

I shake my head. “Too much sunlight to dodge going that fast.”

She sighs.

“Do you have a problem riding on my back?”

“No, I just hate that I can’t run alongside you. Seeing you in your wolf form just reminds me that I can’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault that I can’t shift. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

More sunlight starts to creep in through the branches of the trees. I begin to undress, and she blushes before turning around. “You can watch, you know. Wolf shifters aren’t modest, and I know you like looking at my body.”

She just shakes her head but doesn’t turn around.

I shift, letting my muscles strengthen, my fur glide over my skin, and my nails lengthen. Nothing feels better than being in this form. I hate that she can’t feel this way whenever she wants.

“You have a coat in that bag of yours?”

“Yes.”

“Put it on and then add my things to your bag so we only have to carry one bag with us.”

“For a male who hates using alpha commands or mind control, you sure are bossy.”

“Efficient.”

“Whatever.” But she does as I ask, putting her coat on along with gloves and a hat before quickly shoving the clothes and sandwiches I packed into her backpack.

“Climb on, love. You know you like riding on me.”

Her cheeks pinken again as her silvery hair blows in the breeze. “Actually, it’s my least favorite thing.” She reluctantly climbs onto my broad back, gripping onto my fur.

“I’ll make sure you have a good time this time, I promise.

” And then I take off. It takes her a while to settle in and relax.

I’d guess it’s a lot like riding a horse; she has to get used to how her body moves as I move.

But to me, running through the forest with her on my back is instantly incredible.

I may also be a vampire and sometimes enjoy the perks of being one, but nothing beats running in my wolf form. It’s the most freeing, joyous thing I’ve ever experienced. And her fingers digging into my fur, her thighs clenching around my back, only adds to my experience.

It takes her close to an hour before I feel settled in. Neither of us has spoken to the other thus far. I’ve just been enjoying running, and she’s been focused on not falling off my back.

“You enjoying the ride yet?” I run with an extra bounce in my step as I ask her.

She huffs. “Not particularly.”

“Liar.”

“Fine, I’m enjoying myself. But it’s still not the same as when I’m in my own wolf form.”

“I know. I’m sorry. We’ll ask the seer about how to get your wolf back, too.”

“I know, but it doesn’t mean she’ll have any answers for us.”

“We won’t stop until someone does.”

“We might be searching for the rest of our lives then.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. I made a deal with you that I can’t back out of, even if I wanted to. But this is one I won’t want to ever.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, everyone deserves the freedom to shift and to be able to run through the forest whenever they like.”

We return to running in silence, but I can feel her joy as her muscles relax more and more on my back. I can’t give her control over her wolf, but I can give her this.

We stop for lunch in a shady spot so I can gulp down my food quickly in my human body before returning to running.

“We’re almost there,” I say as the coven’s scent tickles my nostrils.

“So, uh, I’ve been avoiding asking this the entire time, but what is going to make the seer want to talk to us? Witches hate every pack except for the Moonlight pack. And they especially hate vampires. How are we going to get any of them to cooperate with us?”

“I’m going to offer them something they want.”

“Which is?”

“You’ll see.”

“Ah, vague answers. I love it when you do that. It definitely means I’m not going to like whatever it is.”

“Did you hear the key word in my sentence? I’m —I’m going to offer them something, not you. You have nothing to worry about.”

She sighs. “I hate witches.”

“And you have every right to. But just like shifters and vampires, it’s not being a witch that makes someone unlikable.

It’s the individual witch. And this coven is mostly peaceful.

They prefer to be secluded and keep to themselves.

That’s one of the reasons I chose it as the first place we went.

Less likely to run into problems this way. ”

“Still don’t like witches.”

“Maybe they’ll change your mind. But you still have that blade?”

“Yes, it’s strapped to my thigh.”

“Good girl.”

“Not that it will be any use against magic.”

“You’d be surprised what a normal weapon can do when it’s wielded by the right person.”

“Stop trying to convince me that we are going to walk out of here alive. The only positive thing about dying here is that I won’t have to ride on your back all the way home—” I fling her off my back. She lands on her ass on the soft mossy grass.

And then I shift back to my human self. My naked human self.