Marked by Moonlight (Mateless Shifters #1)

1. Lumi

Chapter 1

Lumi

“ O n the count of three. One, two—”

“No.”

“No?” I ask.

Kael chuckles nervously. “We’re not going to kiss on the count of three.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s weird. It’s not how it’s done. It’s not romantic. Kissing is supposed to be more spontaneous than that. You kiss someone because you can’t not kiss them. The draw to them is so strong that it overpowers any other senses, and all you can think about is kissing them.”

“Hmmm,” I say, thinking about what he said, and sit back on my heels as we kneel in the forest before the full moon.

“What are you doing?” he asks after a moment.

“Apparently waiting for you to be so drawn to me that it overpowers you, and you kiss me.”

Kael chuckles again.

“What now?” I snap. This isn’t going how I hoped this would go.

“Nothing—you’re just funny, Lumi.”

“No, I’m not your funny friend. I’m the attractive woman you want to kiss and go all beast man on.”

My words make him laugh harder.

I sigh. This is never going to work.

No, it has to work. We are all out of options.

“You take the lead if you don’t like how I’m handling this then!”

Kael goes silent for a second. “I’ve never kissed anyone either. I don’t know how this is supposed to go.”

We both stare up at the moon—the one thing to which we are both drawn. The one thing that should be our salvation, and yet we can never tap into its full power. We’ve never felt what it’s like to unleash our wolf selves and run free through the woods, letting our instincts take over. And it’s all because of the curse.

Kael pulls his eyes down from the moon, and I can feel him looking at me. It’s dark, so I’m not sure how well he can see me, even with the moonlight slipping down through the branches of the trees. He only has normal human eyesight, while the one wolf trait I possess is enhanced vision at night. The wolf vision allows me to make him out perfectly.

Kael is a good-looking man. Even if he can’t shift either, he keeps himself in shape. His biceps bulge against the fabric of his black T-shirt, and his legs are long and lean. He’s stronger than most humans, even if he isn’t in wolf shape. But the man looks like a beast of thick, shaggy brown hair that hangs over his hazel eyes. He’s desperately in need of a haircut, but it does make him look younger than his thirty years and closer to my twenty-one.

He smiles softly at me with his boy next door charm. As the only member of the pack who’s even close in age to me, we’ve grown close over the years. Now it’s time to see how close.

I reach out to his chest in the darkness and run my finger down his thick muscles. My lips part as I imagine what lies beneath his shirt. I’ve seen him shirtless plenty of times, and I conjure up a memory in my head that leaves me drooling and needing to lick his swollen pecs. My eyes begin to hood, and a single word escapes my barely parted lips. “Please…”

“Lumi, I—” he begins the same speech of how we shouldn’t do this, the one he’s given me a million times before.

But I’m tired of it.

I close the space between us and press my lips against his, as if I’m drawn to him as much as I’m drawn to the full moon.

But I miss, or he moves. I’m not sure, but my kiss lands on the side of his jaw.

He freezes.

I blush bright red, my entire body on fire as I quickly pull away.

He puts his hands on my shoulders, and I can feel the power beneath his hands begging to break free. There’s a caged wolf inside of him that can’t escape, thanks to the curse our pack triggered.

His broad hands stay on my shoulders. He doesn’t break the connection. But his lips don’t come crashing down on mine either.

My breath catches in my throat as I wait with unbridled anticipation. Kael is close, but it appears he needs more convincing.

“I know you find me attractive. I can see it in the way you look at me when you think I’m not looking. Your body is hard, and your breath is heavy with need,” I say.

He doesn’t deny any of my words, but they still aren’t enough.

“We’re perfect for each other. You’re my growly beast-man, and I’m your clumsy silver beauty. We know everything there is to know about each other—the good and the bad.” I take my hand in his, marveling at how our hands seem to fit together. I don’t need wolf super hearing to notice our heartbeats matching at a rapid pace.

His other hand reaches up, tucking a strand of my long silvery-white locks behind my ear. He stares into my crystal blue eyes.

I smile and lick my lips. We’re so close, so close to breaking the curse; I can feel it.

For twenty-one years our pack has been blamed for the curse that descended on all the wolves after our female alpha, my aunt Elara, rejected her true mate—the alpha from the Moonlight pack, the strongest of us all. No one had ever rejected a mate before, and it cost each of them their life. They couldn’t survive without the other, dying soon after.

From that moment on, the packs were cursed for rejecting what the gods had offered us. The mating bond that had served us so well for centuries shattered. No wolf could feel the pull to their mate. The magic that held it together disintegrated into nothing.

Mates lost their ability to communicate with each other. Fights broke out between couples that had loved each other for decades. All love, connection, and trust was lost. Replaced by hate and rage.

Slowly, one by one, at least one of the mating pairs would die. Oftentimes at the hands of their former mate.

Those who hadn’t found their mates yet became incapable of finding them. No wolf pups were born to replace the quickly dying population. Only mated couples are able to bear children.

The Wintermoon pack we belong to is the weakest of all—punishment from the shifter gods for rejecting the mating bond they gifted us, after the curse they created wasn’t enough punishment in their eyes. I’m the youngest in our pack—born just before the curse swept through the packs. Kael is the next youngest. With only seven of us left in the entire pack, there hasn’t been enough power for Kael and me to get our wolf forms.

As outcasts, we don’t know how the other wolf packs are fairing. Hopefully, better than we are.

But things are about to turn around. There’s a prophecy that Thalia, the most powerful seer of all the witches, has told. According to her, when a wolf finds their true mate, the curse will be broken for every wolf. Then, we will be able to have pups again and regain our natural powers as wolves.

Tonight is the night we break the curse. Even if Kael isn’t so sure, I am.

“You’re my mate, Kael. I can feel it all the way to my bones.” In the dream I had last night, it felt like the gods were speaking directly to me, telling me I’m going to be the one to break the curse.

He wets his lips. “I’m going to try, Lumi, but nothing changes between us if this doesn’t work. We remain friends.”

“Yes, friends. But this will work. It’s you. It has to be you.”

He nods.

“Kiss me,” I demand.

He lowers his lips, and this time, our lips meet.

As his lips press against mine, I close my eyes, letting me lose myself in the moment. His lips part, and his tongue gently coaxes my lips open and slips into my mouth.

Oh .

His tongue skims over mine in a hesitant kiss. My toes curl and flex as if waiting for the butterflies floating in my stomach feeling to turn into flaming hot desire. And then suddenly, he’s not so hesitant anymore. His kiss is aggressive as he captures me, filling my mouth with his tongue.

Kael pushes me back, his hands gripping my arm and waist as he lays me onto the soft moss.

My heart thuds to a stop. Vibrations rumble through my body at his intrusive touch. A brush of his hand against my bare stomach has my skin crawling. I was wrong. This isn’t right.

Kael doesn’t seem to notice any of it. Either he feels something I don’t, or he’s forcing himself to push through it to find out the truth. We have to see if, once and for all, I’m his mate or not—even if that means ruining our friendship in the process.

A sharp sting scrapes my neck. My eyes widen in horror as I realize his fingers have turned into sharp claws. It’s the only part of him that reveals his wolf form, and only then, rarely. He can’t control that part of him.

Fear radiates through me in a flash. This is wrong. We aren’t mates. I can’t lose Kael’s friendship. He’s all I have. Why did I push us to do this?

His claws dig deeper into my skin as his lips clamp down on me.

I begin to push against his chest, trying to stop him. It’s no use, though. He’s twice my size and far stronger than I am. I open my eyes to find his hazel eyes staring back at me, glossed over in a lust-filled haze. The Kael I know isn’t the man on top of me. He hasn’t shifted into his wolf form; this is his animalistic side. He’s still human in every way other than his claws, but he’s not Kael anymore.

There’s a frenzy in his movements, making it clear that he’s not thinking clearly and that he won’t stop until he gets what the beast inside of him wants—me.

“Kael!” I scream at him, but it’s muffled with his mouth over mine.

I have to stop this. This isn’t Kael making decisions anymore. And he’s never going to forgive himself once he realizes what he did.

Think! What do I do?

This is my fault. I suggested it. I just didn’t think Kael’s wolf side would come out. Or if it did, I thought I would want it. I thought fucking under the full moon would help us feel the bond the curse dulled. I didn’t think it would turn Kael’s mind into a monster.

“Kael!” I try again, pushing harder. He doesn’t budge, as his claws now dig into my jean shorts, ripping the waistband.

I’m running out of time. Soon, he’ll rip my clothes completely from my body.

I gulp.

My body is hot and sweaty as the fear takes hold of me completely.

I close my eyes and try to tap into my own wolf—it’s the only way I’ll have the strength to get him off of me. Father says that turning is like coaxing an old friend to the surface. One that’s lived caged and afraid all their life. You have to be gentle and not give her a choice but to come forward.

Come on, wolf. There is nothing to be afraid of. Come forward.

Nothing.

I open my eyes as Kael rips through my shorts entirely and begins pushing them off.

No, no, no.

“Kael!” I scream at the top of my lungs as he breaks the kiss.

His hazel eyes have turned a bright yellow as he stares down at me.

Fuck .

I ball my hand into a fist and try the only option that comes to mind. My fist flies into his jaw, but his head barely twitches. No blood spews. No crack of a bone. He’s completely unaffected, while my hand feels like I broke every bone in it.

Tears threaten to fall from my eyes as his body presses against me, and I can feel how hard he is. Even through his jeans, I can feel his thick cock between my legs.

“No!” I say fiercely. I’m the alpha’s daughter. My father has the ability to command anyone in the pack with a single command. Maybe I have that power, too.

Kael stops, his ears twitching as if he’s hearing something for the first time.

Yes, oh my gods, yes! It worked.

Then suddenly, Kael’s body isn’t on mine anymore as I see a whoosh of fur and teeth whiz past me.

I scramble up, looking to see who my savior is. The gray-colored fur tells me it’s not a wolf from our pack, and the wolf isn’t stopping.

“Kael!” I scream now for very different reasons.

Kael seems to come to, his claws returning to hands and the glow leaving his eyes. His gaze is now wide-eyed terror as the large gray wolf rips into his side.

“No!”

I reach for a weapon—anything I can use to stop the attack long enough for Kael to make a run for it.

I grab a rock and throw it at the gray wolf’s head. It hits him hard enough that he turns his attention back on me.

“Run!” I yell at Kael as I begin running in the direction of our home, hoping that Father or one of the other Wintermoon wolves will be there to save us.

“Help!” I shout at the top of my lungs, hoping some of their superior wolf listening kicks in enough to hear me.

I feel the wolf’s breath hot on my heels. His teeth snap too close for comfort as I jump over a fallen branch.

I don’t know which pack this wolf is from, but he’s clearly messing with me and enjoying the chase. He could have taken me down in one leap the second he saw me. He’s much faster, stronger, and has far more power than I do.

Suddenly, I see the clearing that leads to our home. I feel guilty for bringing danger to our home, but I don’t have a choice if I want to stay alive.

I run faster, needing all of my speed, but it’s an error. My foot catches on a rock, and I fall hard onto the ground. A stabbing throb shoots through my wrists as I catch the weight of my body on the ground. I prepare to be ripped to pieces—slowly and painfully. This is how I die.

A familiar growl echoes through the forest, and my heart eases as a comforting smile reaches my cheeks—Father.

Before I can stand up, I hear teeth ripping into fur and the familiar clash of claws battling it out above me. I have no doubt that my father will win. He’s an alpha, and as far as I could tell, the gray wolf was a lone wolf without any position of power.

I sit up and begin scanning the woods for Kael as two more members of our pack join my father. My father howls, drawing my attention back to him as he stands over the fallen wolf. The fight is over in seconds.

I sit on the grass, wrapping my arms around my legs, and take a deep breath.

I’m safe.

I quickly stumble to my feet, needing to ensure that Kael is okay.

“He’s fine,” Tavian, our beta, says.

I stop dead in my tracks as I see Kael in his arms with a deep gash on his side.

“He doesn’t look fine.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t left the safety of the pack, then he wouldn’t have gotten attacked,” Tavian says.

I open my mouth to respond when I feel my father’s eyes on me. He’s shifted back into a human, and he stands naked before me. I keep my eyes focused on his face—something I’ve honed over the years. I refuse to see anything I don’t want to see on a family member or friend. His jet-black hair is peppered with grays, and his eyes are a deep brown. I have no clue who I inherited my ivory tresses or my blue eyes from. I look nothing like my father, and my mother died in childbirth. But from what my father told me, she had blonde hair and green eyes.

My father always said it was because I was born in the middle of a snow storm and so the gods gifted me with the beauty of the color of snow. It’s where my name comes from anyway. But I’m not a believer in the gods gifting us anything after the curse they bestowed on us.

I wait for his disappointment to befall me. I’m not supposed to leave the safety of our home at night, especially not during a full moon when the other shifters’s strength will be at their highest. We are most vulnerable to an attack on nights like these, and this isn’t the first attack we’ve had.

He sighs and offers his hand to me. He pulls me into a gentle hug; his gaze is filled with a sad determination. He’s decided something tonight under the full moon, and I know it will be final. I’ll have to accept whatever he says, as he’s the alpha and I’m not.

“You and Kael are going to leave the pack. You’re going to live as humans. You’re going to forget about us—about the curse. You’re going to be happy.”