Moon Bound

(20) A Man's Gotta Do What He's Gotta Do |Regan's POV|

Millions of heartbeats after she left me, six and a half months of emptiness, the void inside me kept growing. I was just going through the motions, thinking of her last words to me when I wasn't thinking about the way I broke her.

Free.

She was free now.

I craved that freedom with every fiber of my body – the freedom to love her. Was I even capable of loving?

I knew it wasn't love I felt when I thought about her touch on my skin, her scent drifting toward me, her taste on my lips, the vision of her in my eyes... Oh, no. It was not love – not yet, but it was all I had in my empty life.

A life of guilty pleasures and mistakes that couldn't be erased or forgiven.

Without her, I was a man chained to the misery that wasn't going away. I couldn't let it gnaw at me until it consumed me completely. Alphas didn't do that. No wolf did that. It was against our very nature to give up something that was meant to be ours. 

The night she fled had been just the beginning. A week later, she broke the bond to the pack if not the bond to her mate.

I could still feel that lingering connection. The ache spread through it because of that connection that sought completion but couldn't find it.

The strokes of that whip against her skin were still raining on mine. Angry kisses that would at times bring anguished cries to my lips. The pack was listening to these whimpers as I relived the agony in my dreams. They knew what she did. They had felt it too.

And they wouldn't forget or forgive it. My own mate – their luna – had hurt the pack in a way no one else ever had.

I'd done dreadful things, monstrous things. I'd always known there was going to be a price but my own mate was one I couldn't pay.

The phone on the desk started to vibrate, melody joining several seconds later. It was time.

I sucked in a breath to calm my racing heart then picked the phone of my desk and placed it against my ear.

"Hello, Michael," I said.

I didn't even need to look at the screen to know it was the vampire calling. He'd started calling me a few months ago. Exactly at 6 PM every evening. And he always asked the same question.

"Did you reconsider my proposition, Regan?" he said unsurprisingly.

Every day, I waited for his call. Suspicion nestled into my mind. It started to grow.

What made him believe I was going to agree to what he was asking?

The Magistrate never did anything if he wasn't convinced he would succeed in it.

"Tell me something before we continue, Michael. What is it that you have hidden up your sleeve this time?" I breathed out.

His melodic laughter rang across the line. I could almost see him fiddling with his blonde locks. "I thought you'd have figured it out by now, Regan."

"Figure out what?"

"That I'm the one who took your mate of course."

"You fucking son of a bitch!" I shouted. The hand holding the phone started to shake. I fought against the need to clench it into a fist. "You had no right to take her from me."

"I had every right. She wasn't yours so there was nothing to stop me."

"Scarlet was pack!" I snapped. A growl resonated its way from inside my constricted lungs.

"You forced her to join your pack by force, Regan. She never acknowledged you as her alpha. She was fair game," he insisted. "Aside from forcing her to stay in your pack, you made her your test subject so let's not pretend you have any ground for objection regarding my actions. I am a Magistrate of the Council and I have every right to do what I must to protect my subjects' well-being."

Did he actually think I was going to buy that? He took her away because he was concerned about her? There was no chance in hell.

"Where is she?" I barked out.

"Come on, my friend. Let's calm down and be reasonable about this. I can assure you she's safe and sound right now so trust me when I say that no harm will come to her. I do trust you after all so it's only natural for you to return my faith..." he trailed off, the line staying silent for a few seconds before he decided to speak again.

"So about my offer--"

"I'm willing to do what you want--"

"Reclaim your position and stand on my side in this war," he interjected.

I struggled for patience. He was at it – the war that was only in his head.  

"Yes, however, there's one condition."

"Which will be?" he asked.

"You must return my mate first," I told him, gripping the arm of my chair as I anticipated his response.

Did he trust me as much as he claimed or was it all a lie?

I held my breath. The beast paced impatiently inside me.

"I can't return her to you, Regan," he said at last. "She isn't an object that can be taken away then given back--"

"You don't want my cooperation then?" I interrupted.

"That's not what I I'm just saying. I can't send her back, however, I can tell you where she is so you go and retrieve her yourself."

"Where?" I growled the word, the beast showing into my voice.

"She's with an old friend of yours. I'll text you the address in a few minutes and you might want to check your e-mail too. There's a small present waiting for you. And about our deal, just follow the motions for now. I'll let you know when it's time for you to act." Cryptic as ever.

I raised a brow at that. "I'm sorry? I don't think I understood you correctly. Did you just say I go with the flow?"

"Yes." He confirmed.

"Then why the hell did you take her away in the first place?"

He sighed. "I just had to make sure she was given the notice she deserved."

"What do you mean?"

Silence.

"Michael?" I repeated. No answer came.

Lowering the phone, I looked at the display to see that the vampire had hung up on me then placed it next to my laptop as I pressed the power on.

A couple of minutes later, I was watching my mate run through an unknown forest. Her face coming in and out of focus, my eyes stayed glued to the screen drinking at the sight of her.

No longer the girl who looked so frail you'd think the slightest touch could break her, she seemed healthier. Stronger.

She had changed from the last time I saw her.  

A minute later, my phone vibrated again letting me know Michael had sent his text. Sweeping my thumb across the screen, I discovered Scarlet and I were soon going to start digging again. 

Into each other's wounds, that is.