Luna of Mine (16 page)

“
Do not
waste your precious tears on me, beloved,” he whispered to her. “It
is a sad story, but it was their choice and only they are
responsible.”

“
That
may be,” she said around quiet sobs. “But they…left you…to deal
with the consequences.” Her words were interrupted by the rapid
breaths caused by her tears.

When she began to shiver,
he pulled her tighter against him as though his arms would be
enough to hold her together. He hated that telling her had caused
such hurt in her, but then he knew that was the way of true mates.
They felt deeply for one another, and when one hurt, they both
hurt. When one rejoiced, they both rejoiced. He knew that even
though there would be times when the truth would be hard on her, he
would not keep things from her. She was his mate, his equal, his
beloved, and she alone deserved to know everything―even his
darkest, most painful secrets.

“
No one
must know, Vasile,” she said suddenly, her voice urgent as she
pulled back so she could look up at him, “not even my parents. If
the wrong wolves in the pack had that information. . . .” Her words
died away as her eyes widened at the understanding of how bad that
would be.

“
I know,
Alina. Only one other knows the truth and he will not speak of
it.”

“You are
sure?”

He nodded. “Anghel was one
of my father’s best friends, regardless of the fact that they were
Alphas of separate packs. They respected one another and that
respect will continue on past the grave.” He stood then, still
holding her in his arms, and began walking back towards her home.
It was after dark and past time he got her home. “It is late and
you need rest. I have surely taxed you with my sordid family
secrets.”

She shook her head against
him. “None of us is perfect, Vasile. We all have dark things tucked
away that we would rather never see the light of day.”

His wolf perked up at her
admission. “And pray tell, Mina, what dark things do you have
tucked away?” He dropped his voice suggestively hoping she would
hear the teasing in it and the desire to know her even
more.

She laughed. “I think I
will wait until I bear your marks and your bite before I go digging
into my gritty details.”

“
There
is nothing you could ever tell me that would keep me from you.” He
gently set her down at the door of her home and tilted her chin to
look up at him. “You are stuck with me Luna mine,
forever.”

She smiled and it nearly
stopped his heart to know that it was for him and him alone. “In a
couple of centuries when you are growling at me in irritation, I
will remind you of your words this night, Alpha.” Then to his
surprise and utter pleasure she reached up on her toes and pressed
a quick kiss to his chin before quickly ducking into the cottage
closing the door quietly behind her.

He chuckled at her
boldness as he wandered over to his usual place to sleep for the
night. He stripped off his clothes, folding them for in the
morning, and then phased into his wolf form. He settled down
against the side of the cottage and waited.

“
Goodnight, Vasile,”
her voice
brushed against his mind.

His wolf rumbled with
satisfaction.
“Goodnight,
Mina.”

A
lina’s eyes fluttered open as she felt something brushing
across her lips. She blinked several times to see Vasile’s handsome
face come into focus. She could not stop the smile that spread
across her face.

“
I
t is time for me to go.”

And just like that the
smile from the previous night was gone. His words were like a
jagged piece of glass cutting across her chest until her heart was
exposed to the harsh elements, no longer protected in the safety of
his care. She nodded as she sat up and brushed her hair from her
face. Alina knew she should care that he was seeing her in such a
state, but she was filled with too much sorrow to care.

He stood to give her room
and she followed as she briskly braided her hair down her back and
straightened her clothes. She had been so tired the night before
that she had not even bothered to change into her sleep
clothes.

“
Can I
walk you out?” she asked him putting on the bravest smile she could
muster.

“I would like that,” he
answered with his own pain lacing his words.

They walked hand in hand
in silence to the edge of the forest where his two warriors had
departed only a few days ago, but to Alina it felt like months. For
three days she had lived in a bubble surrounded by Vasile. She had
foolishly thought that it would not come to an end, yet here she
stood about to tell him goodbye. For how long she had no clue. She
was afraid to turn and look at him, terrified for him to see the
desperation she felt, embarrassed by her neediness.

“
I need
you even more,” he told her softly as he turned her to face him
despite her desire to keep him from seeing her. “You have no need
to feel embarrassed, Mina. You can look inside of me and see just
how frantic I am to keep you with me. I am fearful that if you see
just how strongly my wolf and I feel for you, you will run.”

As she looked up at him
she was surprised to see the sheen of wetness in his eyes. The
tears never fell, but the anguish of what he felt was clearly
there. She needed to be strong for them both because he was not
exaggerating. She let go of her own pain long enough to look into
her mate and sucked in a breath as she realized just how closely he
was to taking her with him, consequences be damned.

“
We can
do this,” she said with a small smile as she lifted her hand to his
cheek allowing their skin to touch. He turned his face into her
palm taking a deep breath and then pressing a soft kiss to it. “I
am not going anywhere. I will be right here waiting for you in two
years. You do what you need to in order to help our pack heal, and
when it is time, we will finish this.”

The wicked smile that
stretched across his delicious mouth had her heartbeat racing. “We
will indeed finish this, beloved, and it will be sooner rather than
later.”

She was sure that he would
kiss her, hoped beyond reason that he would pull her close to him
and press his warm lips to hers, but he did not. Instead he pressed
them to her forehead and then held her tight against him for
several minutes. He did not say anything, not out loud, but he
flooded her with his love through their bond causing her gut to
clench against the assault. When he finally pulled away, he looked
into her eyes one last time and then turned taking off at a dead
sprint phasing as he went. She had felt the determination it had
taken for him to turn from her and how deeply it cut him to let her
go, and she wondered if either of them would heal from the pain
that being separated for so long would surely cause. She could feel
him clamping down on the bond, attempting to keep her from enduring
his distress. For now she would let him but not for long. He was
hers, and she would not let him endure anymore pain alone. “Never
again my love,” she told the tiny speck that her mate had become
against the vast forest stretched out before her. “Never again will
you suffer alone.”

V
asile slowed to a trot once he was within a mile of his home.
He needed to get control of his emotions before anyone saw him.
Alphas did not have the luxury of being out of control. It was seen
as weak, and weakness was something he could not afford. His gut
told him something was coming, and he did not think it was a good
something. When the pack castle came into view, for the first time
in his life, it was not a welcome sight not because he did not love
it but because his mate was not there waiting for him. Instead she
was a hundred miles in the opposite direction feeling the same ache
that was growing in him with every mile as he moved further and
further away. He stopped abruptly and threw his head back as a deep
mournful howl rushed out of him. To say that his wolf was not happy
was like saying the ocean was just a pond. He was barely holding
him back and truly did not know how long he would be able to keep
the beast from going after their mate. In all truthfulness it was a
tossup between who would lose control first―the man or the
wolf.

As his howl died he heard
the answering howls of his pack. He tried to keep his emotions from
leaking into the pack but the higher up wolves would have felt
something, even if it was only a small amount of his grief. More
than likely they would think it was still over the death of his
parents. They had no idea that he had just left his mate, unbonded
and unmarked, behind him. And something was telling him he needed
to keep the fact that he had found her a secret. If nothing else,
his father had taught him to listen to his intuition. Oftentimes,
the wolf picked up on things before the man did and so he would
listen. He would also make sure Nicu and Ion had not said a word to
anyone. He was pretty sure they would not speak of it until he
permitted them to, but it was better to be clear about it than make
assumptions.

As he entered the castle
back in his human form and dressed in clothes that were left by the
back entrance for wolves who needed them, he went straight to his
father’s study.
My study
he reminded himself. His first three were there
waiting for him. He motioned for Ion to shut the door and then
turned to face them. All three of them dropped their eyes
immediately. Apparently, he was not as under control as he
thought.

“
Alin,
what do you know?” he asked his second.

Alin looked up but made
sure to keep his eyes from meeting Vasile’s. “Ion and Nicu filled
me in on how things went in the villages. I dispatched the help you
requested and have been waiting to see what more you would like
done.”

Vasile looked at Ion and
Nicu pointedly.

It was Ion who spoke
first. “We figured anything else you wanted others to know you
would tell yourself.”

Vasile nodded. “Thank you
for your discretion.” He began to pace as he considered his top
three wolves. As far as he knew his father had trusted them
explicitly. But once again he felt his wolf urging him to tread
carefully.

“
I had a
small issue that had to be dealt with in the furthest village. One
of the younger wolves was pushing himself on females because he was
determined to find his true mate. His family is loyal and I do not
want their name tarnished, nor do I want the pup's name spread
throughout the pack soiling his reputation. It has been dealt with
and he understands the consequences if he makes the mistake again.”
Vasile looked at Alin as he spoke. What he was saying was true to
an extent, and it was feasible that such an incident would need to
be kept quiet. He just hoped Alin accepted it as the information
Ion implied they had withheld.

Alin nodded. “It is hard
to wait for our true mates.” His words implied empathy for the
young wolf that was desperate, but his eyes were void of
emotion.

Vasile dismissed them and
as soon as the door closed he reached for her.

“
Are you
well, Mina?”
He tried to keep the pain he
was feeling from their distance out of his voice, but he knew that
he would not be able to hide it all. He felt her surprise at
hearing him, and it brought a smile to his face as he pictured her
eyes sparkling with her mischievous grin.