94- Bound Beneath the Samhain Moon
POV Lunara Grimwald:
I clenched my teeth so hard that blood coated my gums. I came violently, shattering into a thousand fragments, soaring through the dark sky above our heads. He roared, the sound deep and raw, and I trembled.
“Lunara,” he growled, thrusting deeper, harder. Once, twice, three times.
He reached his peak, driving his cock so deep inside me that another wave of pleasure crashed through me, triggering a second, unexpected orgasm.
The music of Samhain played faintly in the distance, only audible to our sharpened wolf senses. The snow kept falling, thicker and heavier, covering the world in a growing blanket of white.
I rested my forehead against his shoulder and breathed in deeply, absorbing the scent of fresh pine and damp earth. A foolish smile tugged at my lips, and a shaky sigh escaped me.
“Happy Samhain,” he murmured, kissing the top of my head.
Something had changed. I felt it, even though I didn’t want to see it—or preferred to ignore it altogether. It came from within me… and from within him.
I lifted my face to look at him, swallowing hard as his feelings hit me like a wave—so strong I couldn’t help but feel them too.
Redemption.
It wasn’t confusion this time, nor a clash of emotions. Just one, pure and overwhelming, radiating so deeply that it reflected inside me—like the way my pain used to echo through him.
I swallowed again, my throat tight.
“Happy Samhain,” I whispered back, my voice rough and hoarse.
A shiver ran through me as the cold began to bite. He arched an eyebrow, studying me through his lashes.
“Let’s go home. You need to get warm,” he said, holding me firmly, our bodies still pressed together as he carried me out of the water, away from the lake.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
It wasn’t just the chill that unsettled me, but everything that had happened between us that night—the line we’d crossed, the one we could never uncross.
“I can feel your cold, Lunara,” he countered. “You can’t lie to me.”
I huffed, pressing closer against him.
“Privacy is everything, you know?” I teased.
“Not when you’re a mated wolf. You’ll never have privacy again.”
“I’m not sure that sounds so good.”
The wind struck us as soon as he stepped out of the lake. I laid my head on his shoulder again, hiding from the breeze. He crouched without letting me go, grabbed my coat, and draped it over my back. The fabric was cold, wet, and sticky—but better than the icy sting of water droplets on my skin.
“Maybe not,” he agreed, heading toward the house.
“We’re walking back like this… naked?” I laughed.
“Our clothes are soaked—it’s not worth putting them on. Body to body will keep us warm on the way home.”
I frowned.
“That’s just an excuse to carry me naked in your arms.”
He tilted his head, brushing his chin against the top of my head, his rough beard tickling my skin.
“Pray no male crosses our path, or I’ll have to kill him for seeing your ass.”
I scowled.
“That wouldn’t be his fault. That’s unfair.”
“Maybe. But that doesn’t mean I won’t do it.” He met my gaze. “I never claimed to be fair.”
I licked my cold lips.
“But possessive, on the other hand…”
“Only with what’s mine.”
“I don’t belong to you.”
A sharp smile curved his lips.
“I wouldn’t bet on that, if I were you.”
After seeing him rip out Bogdan’s heart simply for touching my waist, I knew better. He was more than capable of keeping that promise.
“You’re insane,” I whispered.
“As I said before, little wolf—and I’ll say it again.” He gripped the back of my neck, stopping midstride and forcing me to look at him. “You are mine. Purely and completely mine.”
I didn’t argue—because deep in his eyes, I saw it. The absolute truth.
(...)
POV Edric Eldoria:
I brought the axe down on the block of wood with too much force. The log split into several pieces, shards flying in all directions. I grabbed another from the towering pile and swung again, splitting the wood that would be distributed among the pack—to warm the houses and fend off the biting cold.
The task didn’t tire me; it was therapy for my weary mind. I spent so many hours repeating the same movements that I barely noticed the time passing.
The Samhain night with Lunara hadn’t left my thoughts. That moment with her at the lake had meant something.
Earlier that day, I had taken the little box containing the ashes that remained from Catalina’s pyre and carried it in my pocket. I had already half decided to do what I did—to let it go, to release the weight of her death and my grief, keeping only the good memories we’d shared.
I realized it when I looked back and remembered her—but found no pain, only the faint trace of guilt that still lingered. It was different from when I was with Lunara, and thoughts of Catalina struck me then.
It was as if what had happened to the omega—the way those wolves had hurt her—had triggered something in me. She was alive, she was there, and though I didn’t want to admit it, I felt something for her. I just didn’t yet know what that something was.
Then Thalira tried to strike Lunara and humiliate her again in front of everyone. One moment I was talking with some of my men, and in the next heartbeat, I was behind her, gripping the arm that would have hit the she-wolf.
Thalira was going to hurt Lunara—she knew it, and she wanted it. She was cunning, older, more experienced.
Lunara deserved the respect of everyone, without exception—and I made that clear when I defended her against my oldest lover in front of the entire pack.
I didn’t regret it, and I would keep my word if anyone dared defy me.
Still… I was truly surprised. I hadn’t hesitated. Not for a second.
For a long time, I had let Thalira do as she pleased. She had been my best friend, my lover, and the only one who had stayed by my side through every moment of my grief, sharing my pain. We had grown up together, freed ourselves together, and learned to move forward. Beyond the respect I held for her, there was gratitude—deep and genuine.
But ever since Lunara came into my life, Thalira had changed.
She wasn’t the same. And, to be honest, neither was I.
It was time for things to change. I could feel it, see it—but the omega seemed to disagree completely.
Through all the years we were involved, I had always given her the freedom to find her fated mate, to take any lover she desired. She never wanted to. Her only desire was to stay by my side.
And so, for years, that was how we lived—bound by something that was never quite love, yet more than mere habit.