The Chronicles of Moon
Chapter 23

For the Best

Chris seemed to appear out of nowhere and tosses a pair of shorts at Colin from behind her. Moon had, for the most part, resisted the urge to look Colin over. He was definitely not the first naked man she had seen, but he was the only one that made her heart race and palms sweat. As much as she hated to admit it, she had always found him attractive, cold, and frustrating, but attractive, nonetheless. Moon quickly looks away as Colin slips on the shorts. She even tries to stand up just to feel every muscle scream at her in protest. Moon made it partway up before her legs gave out, and she sat back on the ground hard.

Now that the adrenaline and anger has left her, she feels tired and drained. She had never felt anger like that before in her life, and it scares her. She sits on the ground rubbing her head, which is now starting to turn from a dull ache to a full-blown splitting headache.

“Does it always hurt this much?” Moon mutters through the pain.

“The first shift hurts, but it hurts much worse if you don’t fully shift as you did. You could have killed yourself like that. Your body being stuck in between like that is dangerous. Your heart could give out.” Chris says, looking at Moon with a mix of curiosity and concern. “So you really are a wolf? Why didn’t you shift completely?”

“I don’t know. I never even did that before. My wolf said I was preventing her from shifting, but I wasn’t doing anything. Leave it to me to be defective.” Moon sighs. Colin looks at Moon, but his face is blank again, and Moon can’t tell what he’s thinking. She hates how unreadable he is. She has always worn her feelings plainly, and she’s struggling with his reluctance to let people know what he’s thinking or feeling.

When Moon tries to stand, Colin quickly grabs hold of her, his arm wrapped around her waist. His mouth twitches, and he nearly smiles, holding her. Moon’s legs are shaking and weak, but she tries to stand on them. Colin doesn’t say anything as he scoops her up. He’s still staring at her as Jess joins them.

“Colin, we need to come up with a plan.” Jess starts, but Colin glares at her, and she quickly stops talking.

“Who was that wolf? You all seem to know him? Is he responsible for what happened here?” Moon questions.

Colin doesn’t want to answer her, and Chris and Jess glance at one another nervously. As Colin just turns and starts walking back to Moon’s packhouse with her still in his arms.

“Put me down and answer me,” Moon demands, struggling a bit now. Colin does put her down and waits till she is steady on her feet before letting go almost reluctantly.

We have to tell her, and I told you she was special. I told you she is ours. But why didn’t she let her wolf out? Why is her wolf trapped? I could feel her before, but now I can’t. I could feel the mate bond too, and so could you, but it’s gone now as well. There is something strange here, and I don’t like it. I want to see her wolf; I want to feel the bond again. I felt whole. Farrell sulks and whines, just as confused as Colin is.

I don’t know Farrell, but I’m not sure she should be ours. She will just get hurt. Clearly, he’s not going to just let us live our lives in peace. I thought he would, but… Colin trails off as Farrell loses his mind at the thought that Colin may not accept Moon.

Don’t you even think about rejecting her, Colin? She wants us. She even kissed us; I don’t remember you wanting to stop her then. Farrell protests.

I didn’t want to, but people close to us aren’t safe. Colin feels like a monster, and Farrell has never been able to convince him otherwise.

“Are you going to tell me?” Moon’s voice brings Colin back to the present as he slips into unpleasant memories.

“No.” Colin plainly says; Moon’s eyes go round, and she’s so angry she wants to scream.

“Well, okay then.” She half yells, stomping off. Now that she’s mad, she can ignore how bad her body hurts.

Chris stands next to Colin as Moon stomps off through the trees. Jess is sent after Moon when Colin mind links her and asks her to ensure she gets back safely.

“Are you really going to keep this to yourself? You have to talk to her. She’s your mate, and she deserves to know.” Colin says gently.

“She doesn’t need to know what a monster I am. If she did know, she would never look at me the same. I lost everything that day.” Colin says.

“You aren’t responsible.” Chris tries to say, but Colin isn’t listening to any of it as he storms off. Colin knows what he is, and he isn’t going to be convinced otherwise. People die because of him. The last thing Colin ever wants is for Moon to get hurt because of him or by him. Part of the reason he always said he was waiting until he found his mate to be close to any woman was because he never thought he would even have a mate. It was a convenient excuse and lie that worked.

Now it turns out he does have a mate, and for the brief time, he could feel the pull of the bond. She became more important to him than anything. Now he just needs to keep her safe from himself. Colin isn’t completely sure that he’s going to be safe from her, though. The kiss they shared is still burned into his mind, and he can taste her on his lips. Part of him would give anything to kiss her again, but he knows if he does, she will own him entirely, and he would never be able to deny her anything again.