THE RIPENING (Dark Side of the Moon Book 1) Page 7

  Luther himself had seemed the most taken aback at her sudden appearance. Not that she'd expected him to be ecstatic after running out on her, but before he'd abruptly changed his mind from kicking her out to ravaging her on the forest floor, things had been rather off. He'd been insistent on her leaving and hadn't offered any explanation. It had been decidedly unlike him.

  But then something had taken over and he'd tossed her around, held her down and claimed her like he'd never left her. In fact, she was almost certain that his more primal side had been in control last night in the clearing. It was obvious, from the brusque way that he'd groped her to the way he'd bent her over before mounting her... and then there had been that bite.

  The way he'd taken her hadn't been completely unfamiliar, but it was far from the tender episode that had taken place in her home.

  With no small amount of difficulty, Yuna extricated a bound hand to raise it to her bare shoulder and touch the ragged skin there. An intense pain lanced through her and she jumped as she drew fingers sticky with blood back sharply. This wound was far more severe than the one he'd inflicted upon her before. It was a product of ragged teeth and iron will, and surprisingly, far from feeling violated, there was something about the broken skin that made her feel... claimed. Protected.

  Luther had promised not to let anyone in his family hurt her... but what could her wound possibly have to do with that?

  After what seemed like days, a rattling sound issued from outside the room and the door finally swung open. Yuna winced slightly as light from the bright hall outside blinded her momentarily before she adjusted. She could only hope against hope that it wasn't Liam coming back for her.

  When she could see again, it wasn't the imposing younger Douglas brother that met her gaze from the doorway. The dark-eyed, long-haired Viola stood there instead. Silently, Yuna stared at the other woman, her bound arms strategically covering her naked form. Though it was true that the taller woman had stopped Luther and Liam from fighting, as well as spoken on something resembling Yuna's behalf, she had no idea what her agenda was.

  “Cold?” Viola entered the cell without asking for permission, shutting the door succinctly behind her. From seemingly nowhere, she produced a large black garment that she held out to Yuna upon crouching before her. “Ah, yes.” Before the young woman could make any kind of move towards it, the red head extended something else- a knife with a serrated edge.

  For a moment, Yuna couldn't help but be jealous of the cat-like grace with which she moved. The lithe fluidity was familiar to her- it was the same way Luther got around. While it was alluring in a man, Yuna was pretty certain that Viola could have any man she wanted. Then it sunk in that the woman was alone with her, and had a knife. Yuna shrank back against the wall, her expression wary.

  “If I were going to kill you,” Viola murmured lowly, reaching forward to cut through the dark-haired woman's bonds with a few quick saws from the knife, “I wouldn't need this.”

  For a moment, Yuna was too shocked to say anything.

  Slowly, she took the black cloth from Viola's side. It was a thick, cable sweater, and she wasn't too proud to take it. Her makeshift dungeon was drafty as all get-out.

  Before putting it on, however, she nodded to her ragged shoulder hesitantly. “Can I get something to disinfect this first?”

  Viola merely replied with a thin smile before she put her knife away. “It will heal.”

  Yuna frowned. “No offense, I know Luther brushes his teeth and everything, but he got me pretty good. I've gotten infections from less.”

  “That bite,” Viola gestured to the wound on Yuna's shoulder, “can't become infected. It'll heal in a week. The scar, however, will be permanent.” The redhead took a seat beside Yuna on the floor, leaning against the wall to glance expectantly at the younger woman. With a sigh, the dark-haired girl pulled the sweater over her head, wincing at the pull of her open wound.

  The garment was plenty long enough to cover her from shoulder to knee, and the warmth was welcomed gratefully. She wasn't sure how to feel about her company though.

  “All these years, all that time spent with you... I wasn't sure that I believed that Luther had never uttered a word about us.” The dark-eyed woman sighed before glancing over at Yuna. “But now I can, it's clear to me. You really don't understand.”

  “What, exactly, is it that I don't understand?” The young woman's anger and frustration broke through the thin veneer of calm she'd struggled to maintain. “I know that you guys have secrets, and I may have waltzed into one of them, but Luther is a grown man. Why does it matter so much who he chooses to be with?”

  Viola straightened at the venom in Yuna's words, her gaze hard on the dark-haired girl. “As hard as this might be for you to hear, the decision was never his. Luther has a responsibility to his family that doesn't involve you. He's the next Alpha. It's his duty to provide for the clan.”

  “And an Alpha would be... what?” The young woman tried, her frustration palpable. She needed it to be given to her straight.

  “The title isn't much different than something out of a Discovery Channel documentary.” Viola replied calmly. “The Alpha is the leader of the pack... the head of the clan. He's the one chosen to ensure that the line doesn't die out. Malcolm has been the Alpha since the strain was passed to him, and since the death of Elias, it's been understood that Luther would be next.”

  “So... what does that have to do with me?” Yuna's head was whirling with the information. Luther was going to become the head of the Douglas family? She supposed it made sense. She heard his older brother Elias had died before they had immigrated to the US, but Luther had never specifically spoken about stepping into his father's shoes.

  “The conflict is more about what it doesn't have to do with you,” Viola returned succinctly, her dark eyes glowing. “The Alpha has to be mated to someone who can produce pups. A viable female. Someone like us.” She fixed Yuna with a penetrating stare. “It's Luther's duty to begin our next generation. There was never any possibility of a real relationship with a human.”

  The revelation was like a physical blow.

  Yuna swallowed thickly, taking a deep breath as she tried to think clearly. She and Luther had known each other for years... she'd only just recently been able to admit both to him and herself how she felt about him. She hadn't exactly thought that they would live happily ever after, but she'd thought that they might be able to explore what was between them-beyond the platonic sense.

  But now, the reason why Luther had waited so long to get close was obvious. Apart from the substantial secret he'd been hiding, he'd known there was never any true chance for them to be together. He'd gone into her bed knowing that.

  The pain cleaved deep.

  “Ok,” She managed not to let her emotions overwhelm her. She'd be damned if she'd break down in front of someone from Luther's “clan”. “Fine. Luther and I can't be together. So, why am I being held here? Why do you guys want me dead?”

  “Not all of us are so black and white on the subject,” Viola returned, an edge creeping into her voice. Yuna's mouth dropped open. Was she saying that she was on her side? After she'd stood there and watched Liam come at her? “You need to understand that what Luther did last night... the mark,” she indicated the hidden wound on Yuna's shoulder with a slender finger. “It's not something that can be undone.”

  “What are you talking about?” The young woman whispered, her voice hoarse in disbelief.

  “It's a pact. There's... ancient magic involved. When Luther bit you, he formally mated with you. And as long as he's mated with you, he can't be with anyone else.”

  “...Ancient magic?” Yuna now held her shoulder firmly, despite any ensuing pain. “You're kidding me. There's no such thing.”

  At her comment, Viola's dark eyes glowed bright yellow briefly, making the young woman wince. “There are many things in this world you don't understand.” Her reply was low, and more than a little annoyed. “Believe me
when I say that you are now irreparably connected to our future Alpha.”

  “Unless someone kills me.” Yuna's ensuing whisper was numb with horror.

  “Yes. Until your death.”

  Oh, Christ.

  “But, why?” At this point, Yuna couldn't help the tears that swelled and began to spill down her cheeks. “If he knew what would happen, why would he mark me, or mate with me or whatever?” She fully expected Viola to scorn her emotional display, but surprisingly, a glimmer of empathy shimmered in the redhead's gaze.

  “Around the time of the Ripening- the full moon- when we begin to change, our baser instincts are harder to control. Luther cares for you. Despite the fact that he's always known he could never have you, he's always cared for you. Last night he lacked the control to see what marking you would mean. The animal consumed him. Our transformed selves are merely baser versions of our human forms. The Alpha within him wanted you just as much as he did.”

  To that, Yuna had nothing to say.

  All the information was a bit much to take in at once. So Luther did want to be with her, but he didn't want to hurt her, and her coming after him had resulted in a situation that was somehow more convoluted than never seeing him again.

  “So... these Elders.” The young woman dashed her tears away, taking a breath. “They're not all bad, right? I might not be... you know... disemboweled?”

  Viola's mouth pressed into a grim line. “The Elders come from the purest of bloodlines. They'll be coming here from the land of origin. They're all extremely traditional. They live and die by the laws of our kind.”

  “...which are?” Yuna wasn't quite sure she wanted to know.

  “Never interact with humans. Never allow human discovery. Never mate with humans. If a human does, by some chance, catch a glimpse of us, get rid of it. Stay away from the hunters... usually humans.”

  “Why are they so against humans?” Yuna cut her off, becoming slightly nauseous at the gravity of the case that was being built against her.

  “They've brought our kind a lot of strife through the ages. They've hunted us almost to extinction and the few relationships that have happened between humans and us have only ended in suffering.” Viola sighed. “The Elders... and Malcolm, will do anything to protect us. Taking a life seems small in comparison to them.”

  “But I don't want to do any harm to you or any of the Douglases!”

  “What if I told you I was Liam's wife? His mate?” Viola glanced over at her, expression darkly amused. “That I watched him drag you over the grounds last night and would probably have stood by as he tore you limb from limb?”

  Well, that did happen to change things. As far as Yuna was concerned, Liam was one of the biggest obstacles she had to overcome in the bid for her own life. Despite what Viola had revealed, however, revelations from the previous night had been in pointed past tense. Seated next to Yuna, explaining where no one had before, Viola didn't seem as bloodthirsty as she claimed. Or at least, she seemed the least bloodthirsty of the werewolves Yuna was acquainted with. “Well... you said that you didn't really want me dead, right?”

  “I'm afraid what I want isn't terribly important at this point,” the redhead returned flatly. “You have Malcolm, Liam, Nita, Marilyn and the entire clan against you. We have a saying: Blood to blood. Blood first and blood always. For our clan.”

  “But you're on my side.”

  “I'm against killing you.” Viola's nostrils flared when she spoke. “We're far past the days when taking the lives of humans is common occurrence. Murder is murder. But,” She cast Yuna a glance that was equal parts neutrality and authority. “Luther has to have a proper mate to ensure our survival. If you do somehow make it through this... you need to disappear. You must never see Luther again.”

  The reminder was like a rock in her gut.

  Sighing, Yuna closed her eyes as she leaned back against the marble wall of her makeshift cell. Overall, her situation was looking pretty grim.

  Her heart had led her quite literally into a den of wolves.

  God, her world had changed so much in the past twenty-four hours. She'd gone from hoping desperately that Luther would be able to explain why he'd suddenly cast aside their lifelong friendship and being elated to have found him to realizing that being with him was more complicated than she'd ever even begun to given it credit for.

  What a mess.

  “So...” she tried, after a few moments of awkward silence. “You... and Liam. That's got to be interesting.”

  Viola visibly tensed a moment before she replied. “He is not the terrible man you might think he is.”

  “Well, what can I say? I don't know much about him,” Yuna mused dryly. “Just that he wants to kill me.”

  “Liam only wants our preservation.” Viola returned sharply, her tone suddenly intense. “Anything that might complicate it he sees as a threat. I could tell you breathtaking things he's done to protect us. I could tell you about all the things that he's given up... the things that we've given up.” For a moment, Viola's voice was bitter enough to cast a shadow over the entire room. Her sudden change in mood took Yuna slightly aback, and she quieted once again.

  It appeared as if Luther wasn't the only one who'd ever considered changing his stripes. Uneasily, the young woman stared down at her dirty, bare feet. Apparently being embodiments of the supernatural was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to Douglas clan drama. Running her hands through her mussed hair in an attempt to somehow tame it, she decided to change the subject.

  “Why don't you and Liam have children? Wouldn't that help propagate the clan?”

  For a moment, Viola didn't speak.

  When she did, it was in a tone that was a strange mixture of sorrow and resignation. “Liam is... infertile. At least as far as our kind are considered.”

  “What, he can't have kids?”

  “He can't have pups,” Viola returned dully. “Our children would be human. It's forbidden.”

  What?

  Yuna might not be a part of the grand werewolf law-writing council, but that sounded like a bunch of crap. “You can't have kids because they won't be werewolves?”

  Viola visibly winced at the word. “That's a simple way of putting it.”

  “But... that's not right. They can't deny you that. Why would you love a human child any less?”

  “I wouldn't,” Viola returned, her tone harsh. “But it doesn't matter. Children of similar parentage have been produced in the past and they... they didn't survive.”

  “They died in childbirth?”

  “They were killed by their own families. During the Ripening.” Yuna's eyes widened in horror. “Who could protect them?” The redhead went on hollowly. “When we are in our animal forms our love for our children can be deadly.”

  “That's horrible.”

  “You can see why children would be impossible for Liam and I.”

  “But... you didn't kill me last night. You obviously have some control. Luther... Luther rescued me in his animal form. He'd never kill a child... not even when he's transformed!”

  “The risk is too great,” Viola rebutted, turning to glare at Yuna dangerously. “The law is extremely clear on the subject. It's not allowed.”

  Yuna scowled. She'd finally become privy to a secret society, to the supernatural and some vestige of magic in the world, and she found out that they were Nazis. It figured.

  “Well, excuse me,” she scowled up at Viola. “But your laws sound kind of crappy to me.”

  Almost immediately, Viola was on her feet. “If I were you, I'd be more careful about what you say.” Though the older woman's voice sounded firm, Yuna couldn't see her expression as she stalked across the room. “I'll bring you food later.”

  With those final words, she left. The door, of course, locked behind her, leaving Yuna alone all over again. This time, however, she had a lot more to contemplate. Luther was somehow magically bound to her in a pact that could only be ended with her death. Until the pact
was broken, he couldn't be with anyone else and fulfill familial duties that, while ancient and outdated, would ensure that his race didn't go extinct. The family had a lot of extra bullshit floating around so far as laws, bloodlines, and emotional trauma, and a lot of it seemed pretty toxic in her opinion.

  So here she was, in the middle of a situation far bigger than her, and somehow still head over heels in love with a man she couldn't have.

  This day just kept getting better and better.

  **

  “This is insane.”

  Standing before his parents, Luther gazed from his mother to his father, and finally back over his shoulder at his brother behind him. “Since when have we been murderers?”

  “Since you couldn't keep it in your Godddamned pants!”

  “Liam!” At his younger brother's outburst, Luther's mother reprimanded him harshly. Marilyn Douglas had never been one for profanity, and that hadn't changed, despite what her husband had revealed to her moments ago.

  “Tell me.” Ignoring his brother's manners completely, Luther continued to stare down two of the people most dear to him- people who held a large part of Yuna's fate in their hands. “When is the last time we killed a human?”

  “We've avoided such matters for decades only because of our secrecy.” Malcolm replied firmly, his blue eyes glinting. “You've compromised that. You did it on the very day you decided to befriend that girl.”

  “We warned you, Luther,” his mother added grimly. “Nothing good can come from mixing with their kind.”

  Luther had always known that his parents were blinded by tradition and bound by the laws of his race and he'd understood the role he would have to play in the world of their kind from a young age. But he'd never before thought he might witness something as pointless as the murder of an innocent. Never his Yuna.

  “You did this,” Liam spat from behind him. “Blinding her with the idea that anything could ever be normal between you.”