Chapter 95

Ava

The gentle chirping of crickets outside my bedroom window filled the silence, the soft breeze floating in through the open window as I lazily traced shapes across Chris’s bare chest. The room was dimly lit solely by the single lamp on my bedside table, casting our skin in a warm amber hue.

His skin was still beaded with a light sheen of sweat, the air smelling sweetly of passionate lovemaking. I still felt breathless, but in the most delicious way possible.

He had snuck into my house well after midnight, just like so many other nights before this one. Our relationship still had to remain a closely-guarded secret, at least for now. As much as I wanted nothing more than to walk hand-in-hand with him through the streets of our village, announcing our love to anyone who would listen, I knew that wasn't possible.

Not yet.

And especially not with the Elders now jumping down his throat harder than ever in an effort to protect Moonstone from the blight.

Chris let out a soft sigh, the warm puff of air ruffling my tousled hair. I smiled to myself and glanced up at him through my lashes, expecting to see a satisfied smile on his handsome face. But even in the faint moonlight filtering through the curtains, I could make out the hard line of his jaw, the slight furrow in his brow.

He was worried—angry, more like. I frowned, propping myself up on one elbow.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“They can’t force me into a marriage I don’t want,” he muttered, sitting up and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. “I won’t do it. I’ll refuse.”

I bit my lip, hating the tension that weighed between us, however unintentional. As much as I, too, bristled at the idea of him getting married to someone else, I knew there were far bigger concerns at the moment.

Sitting up fully now, I watched his muscular back move in the dim light as he picked his boxer briefs up from the floor and slid them on. “I know you don’t want it,” I said softly. “But Chris… Right now is not the time to be antagonizing the Elders. We have to focus on—”

“The moonstone, I know,” he finished for me with a sharp nod. He blew out a harsh breath and dragged a hand through his tousled hair, crossing over to the bathroom door. “I just... I don’t know if I actually believe all that stuff about the five relics and the Goddess’s wrath and whatnot.”

My brows hiked upward as I studied the skeptical twist of his lips. After everything we had witnessed with the moondeer, I was surprised he still doubted the old legends and stories.

“You saw what happened that night,” I reminded him gently. “Not only the moondeer, but the blight at the warehouse. How can you not believe, at least a little?”

A muscle ticked in his chiseled jaw as his gaze grew distant, no doubt revisiting the vivid memories that were seared into both of our minds—the ethereal, glowing form of the sacred moondeer shimmering in the moonlight, dipping its head to lick Chris’s wounds. The oozing black fungus surrounding the warehouse; the human bones that were trapped beneath it.

After a tense moment, he exhaled heavily through his nose. “Okay, fine. So maybe there is some credibility to the legends. But that still doesn’t explain what the… ‘omen’ or whatever would actually look like. You know, if it does start manifesting.”

I shuddered involuntarily at the mere thought. “I’ve never seen the likes of it myself. But from what Elder Degas said, it sounds like it would mimic what we saw at that warehouse. Potentially on a much larger scale.”

Tossing the covers off of myself, I stood fully. Chris’s eyes roamed my nude body as I stood there, a look of hunger passing through their depths before he seemed to quell it.

“Chris, the omen would bring blight and decay—rotting crops, diseased livestock, poisoned water sources... Our people would starve, or grow sick and die off. You have to think of the pack first.”

Chris’s expression hardened as he crossed the room. He reached for me, pulling me close, his fingers flexing against my bare back. “No. I wouldn’t let something like that happen to our people.”

“I know you won’t,” I murmured, reaching up to cup his face in my hands. “That’s why you’ll make an incredible Alpha, Chris. You’re strong, and brave... and you put our pack first, no matter what.”

His features softened beneath my hands, and he caught my wrist to press a lingering kiss to my fingertips. “But I can’t do it without you by my side,” he murmured. “You’re my Luna, Ava. Even if the Elders refuse to see it yet.”

I felt my cheeks flush hotly at his words, even as a tendril of doubt and insecurity began to snake through my chest. As much as I dreamed of truly becoming Chris’s Luna—his wife and mate for life—I couldn’t shake the persistent fear that the Elders would never bless such a union.

They were the ones with the power and authority to oversee marriages and partnerships. Without their consent, Chris and I could never truly be together in the way that we both most deeply craved.

No matter how valiant our efforts to retrieve the moonstone and appease the omen, would it ever be enough to sway the Elders? Or would they still insist that Chris take a more ‘suitable’ bride from a powerful neighboring pack? Someone who was younger, prettier, someone who had never been mated before?

Finally, as though sensing my thoughts, Chris gently extricated himself from my arms. I watched as he crossed back over to the bathroom, flicking on the light. Then, a few moments later, I heard the shower running.

He poked his head back out and shot me an expectant look, silently inviting me to join him. With a sigh, I padded across the room, taking his hand and letting him lead me into the shower. The water was still cold and shocked my skin, but it was refreshing to feel it heat up over us.

“Look,” Chris said, his voice so low it was nearly lost under the sound of the water running, “we’ll find a way to make the Elders see that we’re serious. We’ll find the moonstone and prevent the blight—together.”

I swallowed, nodding stiffly. “But in the meantime…”

Chris sighed and drew me closer, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I know. In the meantime, I’ll appease them. I’ll meet with whomever necessary to protect our pack. But I’m not marrying anyone.”

“Even if she’s the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen?” I asked, my voice teasing on the outside even though a part of me on the inside was being sincere.

“Ava.” Chris pulled back just enough to fix me with a hard stare, his hair plastered to his forehead from the water. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And you’re the one that I intend to marry.”

I managed a smile at his words, and pressed my cheek against his chest as the warm water cascaded over us.

Sweet words, I thought to myself. Like honey.

But reality always has a way of threading its way back in, even when one tries to push it away or ignore it. And it was as we stood there, basking together beneath the warm stream of water, with the sound of Chris’s steady heartbeat against my ear, that it hit me.

These words were sweet now. But perhaps someday, someday soon or someday a long way from now, Chris would be holding another woman in the same way as he was holding me.

And maybe he would be saying those same words.