Luna of Mine (17 page)

“
I am,
and you?”
Her voice was like a summer rain
after months of hot, dry days. It flowed over him and through him
quenching the already wilting places inside of
him.

“
No more
than a couple of hours have passed from when I last saw you, and I
find myself struggling not to run straight back to you,”
he admitted without shame.
“How will I survive this, Alina?”

A
lina could feel his turmoil as if it were her own. The
frustration that laced his words dug deep into her soul adding to
her own torment. It was not as simple as missing the one you loved.
It was a desperation born of being unable to breathe without them
near, as if your lungs would not function because of your love's
absence. She leaned against the door of their cottage she had been
about to enter when she heard his voice. Her hands trembled and her
heart was pounding so hard she was sure it would leave a bruise on
the outside of her chest. She did not know what to say to him or
how to comfort him when she, herself, ached with the pain of the
hole inside her.

“
You will survive because you have
to,”
she told him in what she hoped
was a stern voice. The only thing she knew to do at that point was
to appeal to the dominant in him, to draw on the sense of
obligation that an Alpha felt towards his pack and bring that to
the forefront instead of the agony of their separation.
“We both have things we need to do; focus on
those things, Vasile. You need to be an Alpha right now. You need
to restore our pack so that we will thrive. I am not going
anywhere. I will be right here where you left me when it is time
for you to come for me.”
The next words
that came out of her mouth shattered her already broken heart, but
it was the only thing she knew to do that would keep them both
sane. If they continued to feed off of each other's hurt and grief,
eventually neither of them would be able to function.
“I completely understand how you feel, Alpha
mine; I need you to hear that. Not even half a day has gone by, and
I am being incapacitated from the waves of emotions that are not
only flowing from my own soul, but yours as well. I cannot live
like this, Vasile, not for two years. I need some space. I am not
abandoning you,”
she quickly added when
she felt his temper flare.
“I am asking
you to help me endure this by keeping the bond narrowed so that so
much of our emotions do not flood the other's mind. I know you will
not admit to it, but you need the space as well.”

“
For how
long,”
he bit out.

“
Until
we are able to control our own emotions, we need to accept the
situation, and our wolves need to accept the situation before we
will be able to tolerate the pain.”
She
waited for his response gritting her teeth to keep from begging him
to come back for her.

“This is really what you
want?”

Her mind screamed,
“No!”

“
Yes,”
she answered ignoring the
snarling wolf inside of her.
“I want what
is best for us, and I think for now this is what is best.”
She knew she was using his own words against him,
but she was desperate for him to agree so that she could close down
the bond enough that he would not feel her fall to the ground in a
mess of sobs.

“
So be
it.”
His voice was cold as if he had
removed the emotions from the equation and was now simply an
observer.
“I love you, Mina, and I will be
coming for you sooner rather than later.”
Despite the words he had just confessed, she did not feel
comforted by him. She felt him pull back from the bond, felt the
walls go up, and then she was alone. She had done what she had set
out to do, and as she slipped to the ground, biting her bottom lip
to keep from crying out, she wondered if she had just made a
mistake that would be irreversible as was as
irreparable.

V
asile pictured the walls going up in his head as he shut the
bond down between them. Not even a day, hell not even half a day,
and already a chasm had been ripped open between them. Something
had happened inside of him when his mate had told him she wanted
space. All the darkness she had chased away rushed back in like a
tidal wave and instead of fighting it, he embraced it. He pulled it
close and pushed away the hurt, the desperation and the need of his
true mate, and instead accepted the one thing that had yet to
abandon him. His brother had left him, his parents had left him,
and now the one person who he needed more than any of them had told
him to narrow the bond.
He snorted in
disgust at her placating words,
narrow
the bond, as if she did not
mean shut the damn thing down because I cannot deal with your
anguish. She was young, and he probably was not being fair to her,
but in that moment all he knew was that she had let him go because
it hurt too much to deal with him. She wanted space, fine; then he
would give her all the space in the world; and when she turned
eighteen, he would continue to give her space; nineteen, more
space. And when the magic number of twenty hit, he would claim her,
he would bind her to him, and then once the bond was cemented
between them,
he
would tell her that
he
needed some damn space. Let her feel what she had
just done to him. Let her wonder if he truly wanted her. Remind her
of the day she rejected his soul because it was more than she could
handle.

He sat in the chair that
was once his fathers. His breathing became harsh with the rage that
was beginning to wrap itself around his heart squeezing what little
compassion remained. A knock on the door drew his attention, and he
looked up to see Ion standing just inside the office.

“Yes?”
His voice, calm and smooth, was a complete contradiction to the
fierce storm building inside of him.

“
I take
it that you do not trust Alin since you did not tell him of your
mate,” he said as he watched Vasile carefully. Ion had known him
all of his life and knew him quite well. It would be tricky to hide
the darkness from him, but not impossible; after all he was born of
two deceivers who were masters of their craft.

“
The
only ones that are aware that she is my mate besides you and Nicu
are in Alina’s village, and I spoke with her father to ensure none
of them would speak of it. As of right now there is no mate.” He
saw the surprise and then suspicion in his third's eyes and added,
“For her safety, of course. Until we are sure that all in the pack
have their needs met and once again feel as though they matter, we
will not give them anything they could use against
me.”

“If that is what you think
is best for her,” Ion said slowly.

Vasile was beginning to
utterly loath those words,
what is best
for her.
What about what was best for
him?

“Nicu’s mate has planned
the ceremony to honor your parents. Now that you have visited
everyone and made yourself known, it is time to put them to rest.
It is to be held in five days,” he paused before continuing
pointedly, “The entire pack will be invited and expected to
attend.”

Vasile did not comment on
the information. He simply watched Ion bear his neck and then leave
closing the door quietly behind him. She would be there and he
would be unable to hold her or to have her hold him as he grieved
for his parents, his Alpha’s. In a crowd of more than a hundred and
his mate present, he would be alone. His chest rumbled as he
embraced the pain and let it feed the demon inside of him. He was
Alpha now; he had to do whatever it took to take care of his pack.
He had to sacrifice his own wants and desires to be able to keep
control, and with a pack as large as his, with as many dominants as
he had, controlling them was paramount. He had no room for weakness
or no time for one who would no doubt require his attention and
energy when there was so much to do. Perhaps she had been right,
perhaps, space was indeed what they needed in order to do what was
necessary for the good of the whole. He had survived without her
for a century, and he would survive without her for another if that
is what was needed of him.

“
S
he has not eaten in four days,
Petre.” Alina heard the fear in her mother’s voice as she once
again confessed her worry to her mate. She wished that she could
reassure her mother that she would be alright, but she would not
lie to her.

“
What do
you expect from her, beloved? He has shut her out. She is
responsible for it and that makes it hurt double.” Her father never
had been one to honey coat the truth. Early that morning they had
heard her saying Vasile’s name, over and over, asking him to hear
her, to let her in. She had not even realized that her thoughts had
begun to pour out of her mouth. She had been reaching out to him
since a few minutes after he closed the bond, but it was in vain.
He refused to answer her. Her parents had forced her to tell them
what was wrong. They had reassured her that they understood why she
had asked Vasile to give her space and that everything would work
itself out. But she still felt ashamed at her weakness. He had
needed her, had reached out for her, and instead of giving him
understanding and empathy, she had basically rejected
him.

“
She
made a mistake. She was trying to help him cope with the
separation,” her mother snarled, “not to mention cope with it
herself. She is barely sixteen; she has just found out she is mated
to the world’s most dominant male and apparently biggest ass. Does
that count for nothing? Does she not deserve a little
grace?”

Had Alina’s heart not been
in shreds, she might have found her mother’s foul mouth humorous.
But there was no laughter in her. With Vasile’s presence gone from
her, it was as though everything was suddenly muted. Her father’s
voice drew her attention away from the emptiness.

“
Give
him some time, Georgeta. He is hurt; males are stupid when they are
hurt. Tomorrow is the ceremony for his parents; he will see Alina
at the ceremony and realize just how much he misses her and that
his hurt has caused him to act rashly.”

Her mother laughed but
there was not an ounce of humor in it. “Is that what you truly
believe, mate?” she bit out the last word. “You believe that after
four days of ignoring her pleas, her tears, her apologies,
her…begging,” she roared in anger before the next words came out.
“She
begged
him,
for goodness sakes. And yet after all that, he will simply gaze
upon her lovely face and, poof, fall at her feet declaring his
love?” Her mother did not give him time to answer as she stormed
out of their bedroom.

“
It does
not matter, Mother,” Alina said softly. “I am not going to the
ceremony.”

Her father stepped out
into the kitchen; his face flushed with anger. “Everyone in the
pack is required to go.”

She shook her head.
“Though he does not seem to want to acknowledge it at the moment,
it does not change the fact that I am his true mate and therefore
his equal. I do not have to obey him.”

“Agreed,” her mother said
through gritted teeth and tight lips.

“
Alina,
do your really think that wise?” her father
asked.

“
Leave
her be, Petre. Can you not see that the child is ill, for crying
out loud? She has worked hard for the past few days and her body is
worn down. Consequently, she has come down with a fever. I am her
mother and I simply insist she stay home and rest.” She looked at
Alina and motioned for her to lie down. “Get under the covers,
dear. You look like you are cold.”

Alina’s lips turned up
ever so slightly at her father’s exasperated sigh. He knew he had
been beaten. When Georgeta Sala put her foot down, there was no
moving her come hell or high water, and the Great Luna help any who
stood against her.

“
You try
my patience, female,” her father growled.