Their forced luna
Chapter 43

Amanda

My whole body ached down to the core. How had I managed to take all that? I couldn't even reach down and clean up the mess.

Zale had left my side for something. It was hard to gauge time or anything at all after having your senses fucked out of you. Everything was a warm haze. I ached but it was a good ache. Like I'd been stretched to my breaking point in so many delicious ways.

"You look satisfied," Zale pointed out, returning with a bowl and a fluffy red towel slung over his shoulder. How could he just stand there and not look like his world had been shaken? It made me wanna toss a pillow at him. If my body wasn't just one large limp noodle. The best I could do was scowl.

Zale set the bowl down beside me. He pulled out a red washcloth and wrung it out.

"What are you going to do with that?" I questioned.

"I'm cleaning you up," he replied with a shrug. "I'll have to leave you to your own devices for awhile. I have to oversee the pack. We will be ready for an attack from either side."

I wanted to reach out to him but my arms were glued to my sides. "Don't you have any allies?" Why was his pack so solitary?

Zale brought the cloth to my body and gently cleaned me, taking his time to remove all the sweat, grime, and mess him and Bo had made in, on and of my body. I winced, preparing for pain, but a calmness drifted over me. No fair. Zale was doing something strange, throwing me off my guard. Stupid bond, could it be capable of something like this? What I had with my previous Alpha was nothing like this. It was like being stepped on with a spiked heel on the concrete, forced to do whatever he wanted or suffer.

"The allies I have aren't from around here. Plus, they're more like vassals than allies. My father had many who would lay their lives down for our family before he took to hiding us away." His voice went softer, staring out past me, his touch gentle as he cleaned me. I sat up and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"What are you apologizing for?" He pulled back, frowning at me. "What happened?"

"This whole thing. The wizard you fought, the pack I came from. All of it is my fault."

Zale put a finger over my lips. His eyes were like a dark storm flashing with a rage. "No, you're mine. If you hadn't came to me, I would have hunted you down and taken you. No one would be able to stop me. would have thrown all of my Kingdom at that pack to get you."

I tried to move away from him. He didn't get it at all.

"I'll replace out your past, and I will torture and kill anyone who has ever hurt you in your past. Your former pack will be torn apart. I don't care how long I have to train, I'll do it." He lifted his head and stretched his free hand. "The power of the Prime is flowing through me, unlocked through our mating. It will take time to learn how to use it, but I will."

I gave up. Why fight when he wasn't listening? If I hadn't existed then none of this would have ever happened.

"Stop feeling guilty. You are my mate, the Goddess always meant to give you to me." He lifted my chin until I was staring at him. "Mine," he growled. "I'll never let you go, Amanda." His eyes searched mine. "If you ever leave, I will track you down. If you try to climb a mountain to escape, I'll break every one down until the entire horizon is flat. If you try to swim away in the oceans, I'll drain each and every one. No matter where you go, I'll get you back. You are the other half of my soul, and I repeat, I'll never let you go."

It sent a shiver through me. "I understand," I whispered. Maybe I should have felt a chill from that. It wasn't too different from the words I was told before, but they didn't cause the same feelings that surged through me. Instead of fear, a warmth flowed through me. Our relationship wasn't normal, I knew that. But this man really would destroy the world to be with me. And he would have to if he was going to go against my last Alpha. I resisted the urge to touch my stomach.

"Good," he replied, kissing my forehead. "I expect you to behave while I prepare our army. We're not a large pack, but we're skilled." He held his hand up. "Look," he ordered.

I stared at his palm. A tiny flicker of light swirled within before it combusted into a fiery red ball of flame. "What?" I whispered.

He closed his palm. "The power of a Prime is that of not only ruling all the wolves in the world, but of tapping into the power of the other God."

"Other God?" I tilted my head. I had only known of the Goddess. What was he talking about?

"The Prime's power doesn't come from the Goddess. It is against her design to have one wolf rule the others. But our God, the one that granted us this power knew the future and the hardships we'd endure. He created our line to rule and to protect what the Goddess would fail to stop."

My blood ran cold. This couldn't be true. This could change everything for me. The warmth that he'd granted me before was snatched away with this single sentence. I owed the Goddess too much. "Did she know about this God?" I questioned.

Zale nodded. "Of course, they were husband and wife once long ago, and now they're bitter enemies."

I let his words echo in my mind. If his God was an enemy of the Goddess, then he was an enemy to me. The deal I'd made would ruin everything if I stayed here.