When the Luna Walked Away novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The King's Terms

Thane admits he marked Ilsa as a move against the Blood Moon, she sets her own terms, and a video shows Tarran planning to lock her away and make sure she never breeds again.

I woke up in a bed the size of my whole room at home, with a stranger's hand flat on my belly.

It was a woman's hand, old and dry.

"Strong heartbeat," she said, to someone behind me. "Stronger than hers."

"Good," said a rough voice.

I turned my head.

Thane Trevelyan was sitting in a chair by the window in a black sweater and jeans, his boots up on the sill, eating an apple.

He looked like he'd been there all night.

The healer packed her bag and left without looking at either of us.

"Where am I?"

"Cold River. My house." He took another bite. "You slept fourteen hours. You snore."

"I do not."

"You do. The pup kicks you when you do it, and you stop."

I put my hand where hers had been.

My son rolled under my palm, slow and heavy and alive.

I didn't cry.

I wanted to, very badly, and I didn't.

My shoulder throbbed.

I pulled the borrowed shirt aside and looked.

Two crescents of teeth marks, already healed pink, and around them a dark ring that wasn't going to fade.

"That's permanent," Thane said.

"You told me."

"I'm telling you again. Before you start thanking me."

"I wasn't going to thank you."

That got the corner of his mouth.

He dropped his boots off the sill and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Here's what happened last night, Ilsa Hollen. The Blood Moon Pack has been walking south into my land all winter. Redfern is the soft spot on my border, because your Alpha is a vain fool who'd sell the valley for a compliment."

"He isn't my Alpha anymore."

"No. Now his Luna wears my mark." He tipped his apple core at my shoulder. "That gives me Redfern without a fight. I didn't bite you because you were pretty in the snow. I bit you because it was a good move."

I stared at him.

"You could have lied."

"I don't." He shrugged. "You'll find that annoying."

"I already do."

I swung my legs out of the bed.

The room tilted.

He was out of the chair before I'd decided to fall, one big hand under my elbow, the other spread across the small of my back.

He was very warm.

The mark on my shoulder went hot at his touch, a deep low pull that had nothing to do with my shoulder.

He felt it too.

I watched his eyes go black at the edges.

He didn't step back.

"That's the bond settling," he said.

His voice had gone lower.

"Does it always feel like that?"

"I've never marked anyone who was already carrying."

His thumb moved once against my spine.

Then he set me on my feet and stepped away.

"Sit down before you fall on my floor."

I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the shirt back over the mark.

"All right," I said. "Your move. Here's mine."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going back to Redfern."

"No, you're not."

"My mother's ring is in that house. My mother's land is in their name. Every jar in my greenhouse is mine. I'm not running off in the night like something they chased out."

"They left you for dead."

"So they'll see me walk out in daylight. Alive. With what's mine."

He looked at me for a long moment.

"And my mark?"

"Stays under my collar until I'm gone. Then you can have your border."

"You think you can make terms with me."

"I think you need me to."

He laughed, one short rough sound.

"Three days," he said. "Then I come and get you, ring or no ring."

"A week."

"Three days, and you keep your phone on, and if he touches you I'll take his hands off."

"Fine."

My phone was on the nightstand, cracked from the fall.

It buzzed as I picked it up.

A video, from Raine.

The caption said, "In case you're still alive. You missed the party."

I pressed play.

The pack hall, full and loud, the long tables lit with candles.

Tarran on the dais with a glass raised.

Raine beside him in a green dress, glowing, one hand cupped under her belly.

"Twins," Tarran announced, and the whole hall roared.

He pulled Raine in and kissed her, long, in front of everyone.

"My Luna," he said into her hair.

The pack cheered louder.

Thane had come to stand behind me.

I could feel him reading over my shoulder and I didn't stop him.

On the screen, one of Tarran's warriors called out, "What about the omega?"

People laughed.

Tarran waved his glass.

"Ilsa's sick. Has been for months. She ran off into rogue country in the middle of the night, God knows why."

He smiled at the room.

"When she turns up, she'll be looked after. The pup goes to the omega nursery. She goes to the sanatorium at Kettle Falls."

He took a sip of wine.

"And the healers will make sure she never breeds again."

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