Chapter Eight

As Keiran walked through the front door of the pack house, he was greeted with three eager faces that belonged to Em, Seth, and Tala. Blaez, on the other hand, looked like he was in pain, which made him curious. He recognized that look; he’d had it on his face once before, many full moons ago.           

He shut the door and pulled off his jacket with a smirk. “You all look like little pups,” he chuckled.

“Oh, shut up, man. You’re just as eager to go out on this run as we are,” Seth frowned and crossed his arms.

Reaching out, Keiran gripped the male’s shoulder. “Of course I am.” The idea that they might not have been able to do this run made the fact that they were actually going to that much sweeter. “Is everyone ready?”         

“Oh, come on, big guy, we’ve been ready!” Tala jumped up and down, clapping her hands with excitement, making Keiran chuckle again.

“Alright, okay, we’re about to go, but I want to make sure you all understand that we can’t just do this freely. We have to keep an eye out on everything, understood?”

The three of the eager wolves nodded their heads repeatedly while Blaez just grunted in agreement.

As a pack, they all moved outside and stood beneath the light of the Wolf Moon. They each had some sort of smile or look of appreciation as they stretched, but Keiran felt different. There was something about this moon, something about this night that made him feel such anticipation as he’d never experienced before, and he couldn’t wait to get started.

Figuring it was just because of the possibility that they might not have been able to do this run, he listened to the familiar sound of humans bodies shifting into those that belonged to wolves, growls filling the night air.

He, too, allowed his body to shift and let his wolf take the reins of control. 

Lifting his head, he peered up at the bright moon and howled. Never before on any run had he felt so alive, and they hadn’t even started running yet.

He turned to look at his pack and saw they were all ready to go, so with another howl, he took off into the forest with them on his hind paws. They stuck together and the entire pack moved as one. When the alpha turned right, they quickly followed suit.

The moonlight shone down on them, highlighting each strand of their fur; their breath became a light fog with every exhale. The sound of their paws hitting the ground was like thunder in their sensitive ears.

Keiran kept an eye out on as much of everything as he could, but he knew that Blaez was doing to the same, so if the others were not paying attention he would have at least another pair of eyes helping out. The last thing he wanted was for Robert to surprise them with an attack in the middle of the forest.

They knew this land, of course, but if they were caught off guard…the thought made him shutter. There was only the five of them, and if Robert brought more men than that, they would be in trouble.

With a growl, he pushed that thought out of his head and focused on this run.

The month between each full moon always seemed to stretch out for an eternity, so he told himself to enjoy this while he could.

When he heard the sound of another howl in the air, he stopped in his tracks. From what he could tell, it was the howl of another alpha…but not a male. His body shivered as the sound filled his ears; his fur stood on end.

The wind blew through the trees and joined the howl, creating what sounded like a musical chord and on the wind, there was a voice, a female voice; one that he knew very well. It was…her voice. “This one, my love; follow her.”

He took a step forward, following the call of her voice, but when he heard soft whining, he looked back at his pack. He couldn’t just leave them without letting them know it would be okay for them to go. So he gave Blaez a nudge, giving her permission to take the rest of them without him. He didn’t have time, or the capability to explain now. All he knew was that he had to follow her voice and find where that howl was coming from, or more specifically, who.

Watching as the pack gave him questions with their eyes before running off, he knew that if they needed him, they would call for him and they could be sure that he would come as fast as he could.

“This way, my love,” her voice beckoned sweetly.

He lifted his head and caught the scent of the wolf that he had heard the howl coming from. Without a second thought or even a hesitation, he took off as fast as his legs could carry him, following the scent and her voice.

Through trees and bushes, over streams of water, he ran till at one point he thought he’d lost the scent. But when he came upon a clearing in the trees, he finally saw her.

Her red fur shined brightly underneath the light of the moon and his wolf called out to her. The animalistic side of his nature howled loudly and he couldn’t hold it back. As he stood there under this full moon, his wolf called out to this female wolf…his mate.

He couldn’t understand it. He didn’t want to accept it. But this wolf before him was making his own practically freak out.

“Do not deny what you know to be true. Go to her,” her voice whispered by his ear.

He turned his head away, still not wanting to believe it.

“Please…go.”

A soft growl erupted from his muzzle and he took that one step forward. His movement was enough to catch her attention and when the two of them looked at each other, they knew who they are and what they were supposed to be together. He could sense it just as she could.

Slowly, the two of them walked towards each other and he found that the human side of him was afraid. He didn’t know what to do…but he couldn’t stop himself from moving forward to her.

~

Luna couldn’t believe what had just happened. Even with the feeling, the warning she’d felt the night before as she stood under the moon, there was no way to prepare for what she was doing right at that moment.

She was walking to him, her mate.

Honestly, it felt weird. She didn’t know who he was or what he was like and yet here she was, walking to him. God, she hadn’t even seen his human side yet, and he hadn’t seen hers.

This was probably the most awkward moment of her life. They couldn’t just stand there in their wolf forms and stare at each other, but the idea of shifting to her human form and standing there naked in front of the man that her wolf claimed to be her mate sounded just a tad nerve-wrecking.

It didn’t really seem like they had a choice, though, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to be the first one to shift. So she was relieved when he took the first step by being the first one to shift into human form.

She had to admit…he was breathtakingly gorgeous. She looked him over from the bottom up; she couldn’t help herself, she had to see the goods first. He was tall and perfectly fit with abs to die for; her eyes passed over his broad shoulders and moved up to his face. He had amazing blue eyes and what she called bedroom hair the color of dark chocolate. It was short and spiked, but just long enough to be tugged on during love making. Just the thought was enough to send shudders down her spine and she resisted the urge to bite her lip after she shifted back as well.

She stood there and crossed her arms in front of herself, as if that would offer covering for her entire body and the blush that had most likely spread over her from head to toe.

“Hi,” she whispered, being the first one to take action this time.

“Hey…” His voice was deep and husky, and once again, her body shivered. 

“So…”

“I was about to say the same thing.” She didn’t stop herself this time; she bit her lip, and she bit it hard.

He chuckled and reached a hand through his hair, obviously searching for words just as she was.

“I’m Luna,” she offered. “Luna Accalia.”

“Keiran Marrok.”

Smiling at his name, she looked behind him. “Were you running alone? I thought I sensed you were an alpha.”

“No, my pack’s out running without me. When I heard you howling, I let them go by themselves so I could…well, so I could find you.”

“Find me? Why did you want to find me?”

“Well, cause my wolf uh…called for you.”

If she wasn’t blushing before, she definitely was now. “My wolf sensed the same thing.”

It was hard to stand there and think of this. The wolves inside of them were completely separate beings, and yet, the wolf and human were one together; so as their wolves thought of each other as mates, they, as their human sides, looked at each other as awkward strangers.

“Where’s your pack?” Keiran’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Oh, two of my pack members are mating under this full moon. We started our run early so they could…” She wasn’t able speak the rest.

“Finish their mating,” he finished for her.

"Yes,” she bit her lip again and looked down at her feet. “Plus, my beta is the female’s brother, so he wanted to be done with the pack run as fast as possible. He’s still out here so he doesn’t have to be in the house, so I stayed out in the forest with him.” She laughed quietly, not really sure why she was telling him all of this.

When he growled low at the mention of her beta, she felt the odd need to explain that there was nothing going on between her and Rafe. “He’s like a brother to me,” she added in a whisper and that seemed to calm the growl that was growing in Keiran’s chest.

Silence grew between them and she noticed that it wasn’t really awkward so much anymore. No, instead of awkwardness, she felt need…and want.

She wanted the distance between them to be closed. She needed to see if his skin felt as soft as it looked, despite the hard muscle beneath it. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair. She needed to look into his eyes, and she could tell that the feelings were mutual.

As she tilted her head up to look into his face, she could see such longing in his expression. But there was something else. It was like he was at war with himself, like he wouldn’t allow himself to come any closer even though he desperately wanted to.

She started to take the initiative by taking one step closer to him, but she didn’t get the chance.

A howl filled the night air, one that sounded full of pain until it was cut off short. Maddie…