My Blood Moon

Chapter 27

The next few things happen so quickly I don't even know which came first. As Derreck's wolf lunges for Aislynn's neck Colin quickly shifts into wolf form, but it's unnecessary because the strange blond girl already has Derreck by the scruff on his neck. A loud snarl ripples through the air as he quickly turns and attacks her. I run forward but Raif gets to him first just as sharp teeth start to rip into the girl's flesh. Ripping Derreck away, Raif stands protectively over the bleeding girl as she clenches her jaw. I bite my lip and make my way forward, attracting the wolf's attention and I see it. This isn't Derreck right now...no, the wolf has completely taken over and now we're all in danger. The smell of blood is ripe in the air - not only from the girl's wounds but also from Derreck himself.

"Don't hurt him, he gets worked up around people." The girl struggles to say and I hear a couple gasps. "I think he's been searching for something though...but he refuses to shift."

I look over at her for a second as she pleads with me not to hurt him. "How do we trust you? You're trespassing...what happened to him?"

"I don't know." She says through clenched teeth as the wolf continues to snarl at me and I can see a new determination in its eyes. "I found him way up the river and helped him after I lost a couple friends. He didn't look so good, so I helped him. But all he's done lately is sniff around, even more so as we got closer to this place."

I nod at her and make my way slowly towards my mate. I want to cry as he growls lowly at me...I should have gone after him myself. When he doesn't make a move to attack me, I take that as a sign and reach out to him. Just as my fingers are about to reach him he snaps at me, sharp teeth only barely missing my hand.

"Please, it's not his fault he's rabid." She pleads with me.

A single tear slides down my cheek as I kneel down in front of him, finally getting eye-level. I look into the wolf's eyes as more tears start to fall in the eerily quiet field and my heart skips a beat when a flicker of recognition shines in his eyes. Sighing I go to reach out to him again, but I don't have time to prepare when he lunges at me. The next thing I know is that I have a very large, very angry black wolf snarling in my face. Shutting my eyes at the torture of the moment, I turn my head to the side and decide death would be much better than this moment.

I finally have him with me, but he's still gone.

When all I feel is the sudden gust of wind blowing on me, I look up and the wolf is gone. Sitting up I see Paul in his wolf form as he faces off against Derreck.

"Don't!" I yell, running over to stand between them to block Paul from killing him.

"He attacked you, Bekah!" His voice is strangely menacing coming from his wolf-like snout. "He may be our Alpha but that's not going to stop me-look out!"

I don't have time to react before a set of sharp fangs sink into my shoulder, sending an unspeakable pain shooting to every cell of my body. I reach up to yank the teeth from my burning flesh when a new sensation builds in me. It tingles, almost in a good way. But it also feels like someone set me on fire. My body is both accepting the intense happiness and trying to reject the pain that courses through me as it realizes my mate is finally marking me as his. I drop to my knees as what can only be described as a firework show igniting within me. When he finally lets me go I flop forward to the ground, not having the strength to hold myself up as the mate bond quickly intensifies. My body shivers against the cool air hitting the wet blood on my shoulder, and I can't find it in me to look around at the ruckus going on around me as my world goes black. Again.

******

When I wake up I find myself back in my room, staring at my cream-colored ceiling. How did I get here? My head starts pounding and I can feel a terrible soreness in my shoulder. Reaching up my fingers find a piece of gauze taped to my skin. Furrowing my brow, I push myself into a siting position as I drop my feet onto the floor. Feeling dizzy I stand and move toward my bathroom, only bothering to turn on the dimmer light so I don't make my head hate me further. Standing in front of the mirror, I brace my hands on the marble counter surrounding the sink and take a deep breath. The smooth, aquamarine surface calms me even just a little. Looking into my eyes I nod and push all my hair onto my left shoulder to look at the bandage. What happened?