Moon Bound

Chapter 35~ Scents of History

Author note: TW- mentions of depression, abuse, and an attack

"Are you feeling okay?" Codrin asked, placing a tender kiss to the top of my head.

One of his hands traced lazy circles on my bare back as I laid across his chest, basking in the small aches in my body, the culmination of our lovemaking.

My heart was so full it ached, too.

A smiled shyly into his chest, "I feel...amazing."

Lifting my head to look at him, the heat of a blush crept up my neck and across my face when I met his still-heated gaze. The intensity I saw in their depths made my heart skip a beat.

There was no containing the smile that curved my lips.

Codrin brushed the back of his fingers along my cheek, leaving a tingling trail in his wake, before toying with a strand of my wayward hair.

He smiled back at me, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

I knew his thoughts. "You're disappointed we didn't free my wolf."

Codrin exhaled. "Yes."

Had my wolf been freed, I would have regained my ability to heal. The soreness I was still experiencing was proof my moon bound state hadn't yet changed, but in this moment, I couldn't feel disappointed about it. The pain was evidence of what we'd shared, and I wanted to experience it in its entirety.

I wanted to feel the proof that my body was forever altered by him.

I opened my mouth to tell him as much but stopped when he turned his body, repositioning us so that we lay on our sides facing one another, legs entwined. The firelight danced across our skin and reflected in his golden eyes.

"Goddess Willa, I can't help myself." Codrin breathed out. His fingertips went to the crook of my neck to graze over the spot where his mark should be. The skin there burned under his touch, making me yearn for his bite. "The need to possess all of you... is overwhelming. I want my mark on you." —he swallowed—"It—It causes me physical pain, not being able to complete our bond —not being able to truly claim you. I want every male who lays eyes on you to know you're mine." His face twisted into a scowl, and he snarled, "I want your arse of a brother to know you're mine."

As he stared at my neck, the red of the Pricolici flashed in his eyes. He quickly removed his hand as if the temptation were too much.

Grigore had warned me Codrin would struggle with this, the possessiveness, the frustration of denying his natural instincts. I'd hoped being so intimate would help soothe him —help him to manage his need. Now, I worried it might do the opposite.

Codrin dragged his eyes away from my neck and went back to playing with my hair.

"We have time." I ran my hand lazily up his side, feeling his muscles flex under my touch. "And while we're waiting, we can just keep claiming one another in other ways." I bit my lip and waggled my eyebrows suggestively at him, but he didn't smile at my playfulness like I'd expected.

And that's when I saw it.

A flicker of worry passed across his features, he glanced away from me to stare into the crackling fire, lost in thought.

My smile wavered as I searched his face, there was something suddenly guarded about his expression. Codrin was keeping something from me, I could feel it.

I whispered under my breath, "Complications..."

His forehead creased as his eyes returned to search mine, "What?"