Chapter 24 #2
“It is, and it’s unfair that I ask you to share that burden with me. But—” I reached forward and grabbed his hands again. Fuck the distance. “—I already gave you my word that I’d never hurt you. So if I need to come out to keep that promise, then I will. I swear it.”
I wasn’t sure what the consequences of that would be, but I’d bear the brunt of them if I had to.
“I believe you,” Eli said after a short, weighted moment. There was a sparkle in his eyes now, no longer there because of the tears, but because of something else. Something that curled his lips into a small smile. “We can be a secret couple—for now—but I have one more ask of you…”
“Anything. The moon? I’ll grab it for you tonight.” I tried to contain the joy that blasted through my chest like it had come from a broken fire hydrant.
“No, but it does have something to do with that…”
I narrowed my gaze at him. “What?”
He looked around the room, and that mischievous grin of his—of my boyfriend’s—grew wider. “Can I stay in the safe room with you tonight?”
“No, absolutely no,” I said, my answer immediate.
He crossed his arms and cocked his head, his eyebrow arched like he was a callback away from booking a McDonald’s logo gig. I loved sassy Eli, but I wasn’t very comfortable with his ask. “It’s dangerous,” I continued.
“You said you’d never hurt me. Even in your were form.”
That… was true. In reality, the likelihood of me hurting Eli purposefully was zero to none. But still, animal instincts were sometimes difficult to predict, and with Eli possibly being my fated mate, I wasn’t sure how I’d react to him being around.
And beyond that, there was another reason. Maybe one that rang more true than the last one I gave him.
I didn’t want to scare him away. I’d just locked in our commitment; how badly would I have shat the bed if I allowed him to stay and witness me in a state only my pack had ever seen me in?
But Eli had proven that he wasn’t easily spooked. At least not when it came to shifter matters. And if we were to go through with a full moon ceremony, then he’d have to see me in my were form regardless.
Better on one of the most important nights of our lives or on a random Thursday when there was still plenty of time to process things.
I sighed, the decision becoming clearer. “Fine,” I said. “You can stay.”
He smiled, clapped his hands together, and simply said, “Fuck yeah.”
Eli leaned backward in the chair, balancing it on the back two legs as he scrolled through his phone. If he was nervous about what was going to happen tonight, he certainly wasn’t showing it. If I had to guess, I’d say that I was the one more scared for this full moon than he was.
We’d spent the rest of the day relaxing around the cabin. We had dinner (a barbecue chicken pizza and a stacked bowl of loaded nachos), had some drinks, played a couple of rounds of a racing video game I’d recently bought, and then went up to the shifter room as the sun began its descent.
The transformation wouldn’t happen until the moon was at its zenith in the sky—which tonight would be at twelve twenty—and that gave us another thirty minutes.
Which was good because there were still a couple more things I needed to go over. I walked over to the daybed, crouched down, and pulled open one of the drawers underneath it. I lifted up a heavy set of chains ending in thick iron cuffs.
“Um… what the fuck?” Eli asked, his phone forgotten on the chair as he watched me carry the chains to the wall.
“I don’t always do this, but I just want to take some extra precautions tonight.” I attached the chains to the anchors on the wall. I then walked over and handed the key to Eli. He looked down at it like I’d just given him some alien artifact.
“And,” I said, walking back to the drawer that had held the chains.
I grabbed a palm-sized purple bag from the corner.
“You’ll need this. It’s a small bag of wolfsbane and vervain, ground down into a powder.
It’s a were’s only weakness. If I’m acting too unruly, then throw this down at my feet. The dust will knock me out.”
He took the bag in the same hand that held the key. “Holy shit. Is it safe?”
“Yes, it is. The mixture can’t kill a were by itself, only weakens us enough for someone to come in and finish the job.” I gave him a wink. “But I don’t think that’s the job you’re interested in with me.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No, no it’s not.”
“And you’re sure you want to stay tonight?” I asked him again.
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “I do.”
“Okay then.” I went over to the chains hanging on the wall. I bent down and clasped the ones around my ankles first. I wore a cheap pair of paint-stained gym shorts that were about to be ripped to shreds. “Can you help with my hands?”
Eli gave a little jump and hurried over to my side.
He gently grabbed my arm and lifted it. I looked at him, the soft light of a lamp painting his throat in shadow.
His pulse beat just under the skin. I leaned in and kissed him where I saw the twitching of his vein.
He dropped his head back and gave a little groan.
My cock became instantly rigid. He noticed it as he crossed me to lock up my other hand, his thigh brushing against the dripping head. I sucked in a breath.
“We’ll have to handle that once the sun comes up,” he said, licking his lips.
“Yes. Yes, we will.”
Fuck. I wanted him to handle it now, but the clock on the wall said we were five minutes out from the shift.
I didn’t even need the clock to know that.
I could feel the influx of power and instincts that started to seep into me, my body drawing on all the natural energy that thrummed through this world, unseen and unheard of by almost the entire human population.
The same way the moon drew the tides of the ocean, it also concentrated the powers of this earth.
It was as if Mother Nature herself glided into the room and wrapped me up in a viny shawl, whispering to me that it was okay.
That I could release my inner wolf.
That I could shed my human skin.
That I could howl at the full moon.
My vision blurred, and my head drooped so that my chin rested on my chest.
The transformation began.
For me, it happened in a quick haze. My body kept its human silhouette while elongating, expanding, morphing, and shifting.
Hair began growing all over my body in the same browns and whites and the same pattern as my wolf form.
My fingers and toes elongated into lethal, razor-sharp claws.
A tail grew out of my lower back and fell down between my legs.
My senses sharpened, my thoughts slowed, and my instincts honed.
Minutes later, it was over. I looked up at my clawed hands in chains.
I scented the room.
My lungs caught on fire. My heart beat like a drum banging wildly between them.
Elijah. He was standing there, feet away from me. His jaw was agape, pupils blown wide. I cocked my head. I could see the individual beauty marks that dotted his face, the three that trailed down his neck, underneath the collar of his shirt.
I inhaled him again. A long, drawn-out howl pushed out of my chest.
It carried with it my desire.
“Gabe? Can you understand me?”
I could. I couldn’t speak back, could only howl, hoping desperately that it would get my yearning across to him.
Another inhale. My mind reeled as my body tensed.
The scent was undeniably potent. And it carried with it an unquestionable declaration.
He’s mine. Elijah. The man standing in front of me, looking at me with a mix of awe and fear, that man was mine.
My very atoms vibrated and buzzed with confirmation.
Blood pounded in my head, beating to the rhythm of Eli’s heartbeat.
I had synced with him somehow. I knew because I could hear his pounding heart, the “whoosh” of blood pumping out through his arteries, back in through his veins. It matched mine.
Mine.
Mine.
All mine.
I yanked at the chains. Frothed at the mouth. Needed to get to him. Had to claim him with my teeth, with the weight of me caging him. Needed to bury myself inside him.
Needed.
Him.
Mine.
My mate.
Fear flashed across Elijah’s face. I wanted to break free from these chains. Comfort him. He needed me as badly as I needed him. I thrashed again. Howled into the room.
He cocked his head. Took a step closer. The color was quickly returning to his face. He was growing more courageous. More curious.
He held a hand out. I wanted it in mine. Against me. I wanted him. I yanked at the chains. The anchors on the wall creaked at the strain. A little bit more, and I’d be free.
I’d be able to have him.
Want him.
Need him.
Fuck him.
Devour him.
Love him.
I howled again. I wanted him to understand me, but he just stood there, his hands balled up into tight fists at his side. I had to stop.
No.
Had to get to him.
Eli raised his arm. I snarled. Spittle flew through the air. The wall cracked behind me. I was desperate to get to him. To my mate. He was my one. My only. He—
He tossed the purple bag down at my feet. It popped open. The sickly sweet smell of wolfsbane and vervain blocked out the intoxicating scent of my fated mate.
Then, moments later, darkness erased everything else.
My mouth tasted like iron. I licked my chapped lips. My tongue ran over my sharp, elongated canines. My hands and ankles were still bound to the wall. The chains clinked and dragged as I stretched, my body reawakening to its human side while still in the partial grips of my primal side.
Sunlight crept in through the window. It was the light blue haze of early morning.
Memories of last night started to crystallize.
Seeing Eli’s initial fear at my were form and watching him as the fear dissipated, like a puddle of water evaporating on a hot summer day.
He’d grown curious, had come closer, had nearly…
The blanket on the daybed rustled. He was still here.
Of course he was still here.