His Mute Luna
Chapter 16

Taylor

“What pack did you come from?” Alpha Morgan asked.

I tensed, not wanting to think about that place…about him.

This Alpha seemed to sense I didn’t want to answer and moved on. He didn’t look much older than myself, probably about his age. He held a kind face that showed no malice towards me…but so did he, once…

“Ok, how about your age? How long you been a rogue?” He asked.

“25. Been on my own five years now…” I quietly replied.

“Why were you made a rogue? No offense, but you don’t seem dangerous or threatening.”

Why was I a rogue?…How could one, simple question make my heart break all over again?

~~~~

I had been working as a gardener at the pack house of Monkshood Moon since I had finished school at 18. I already knew I would be an Omega, even before my wolf appeared. I never had an aptitude for fighting or being a warrior, though I could defend myself pretty well. I was fairly tall for an Omega at 6’3 and, because of my physical job, it had given me a little muscle and definition. I had seen the future Alpha around the pack and I remembered him from school as he was only two grades above me, Hunter Firth. He always looked so sullen and brooding, never really speaking to anyone but always with a pretty she-wolf…but he had looked my way once and it was the first time I had seen anything close to a softness on his impossibly perfect face.

It was ridiculous in thinking that way about him. He was completely out of my reach. A future Alpha like him would never want an Omega like myself…or a man. Everyone knew how his father, our Alpha, Nicholas, dealt with people like me. So I kept that part of myself hidden.

Everyone, also, knew Hunter had a chosen mate picked out for him. One taken from her pack and held within the pack house under lock and key. Hardly anyone had seen her. It was another reason no-one spoke against Nicholas…the man was insane and very dangerous, with no lengths he wouldn’t go to for power and to keep people under his control…something my parents found out the hard way.

But the day I shifted, at 19, to my small, sandy coloured wolf, every fantasy I had had about Hunter came true.

“I wanted it to be you. I’ve never wanted anyone like you. Will you be mine?”

And like a love-struck i***t, I believed him.

I had never been in love, I had never been kissed…touched. And the mate bond was like a drug, inducing a captivating delirium that blinded me to the fact that this was all too good to be true.

For a year we snuck around in secret. I would become jealous seeing him with a woman on his arm, but he’d see me and throw me that devilish wink that made my heart beat wildly. It was our secret code…that he loved me.

And one night…it all changed.

He had mind-linked me to meet him in the woods behind the pack house. He couldn’t get away for long, but I savoured every minute he sacrificed for me.

‘Hunter?’ I called out in mind-link.

…Nothing.

Where was he?

A strong, firm hand grabbed me from behind. One placed over my mouth, the other secured around my waist.

I knew instantly who it was, from the tingles, warmth and hard chest pressed to my back.

‘You are terrible at sneaking, my little dew drop,’ I heard him chuckle in my mind. That husky deep voice of his was just as strong in my mind as it was in my ears.

I loved his name for me, ‘dew drop’, because he said I smelled like fresh rain. And to me he smelt like sweet, musky neroli, like the bitter orange trees that I tended in the orangery.

He spun me round and crashed his lips to mine, pouring all his yearning and love for me into it. I pulled away a little breathless and feeling lightheaded, but looking up into his heated brown eyes had my knees growing weak all over again.

He was a few inches taller than me at 6’7, with beautiful wavy, caramel brown hair that clung around his neck. He always pulled it to the side on his neck, exposing that patch of sun-kissed skin I wanted to taste…to mark. His thick beard gave him a more mature look, which only heightened the masculine features of his face.

Our wolves, Talon and Hawk, perfectly named for each other and smitten from the first moment their bond was set; whenever we were around the other they would fall into complete silence, linking one another and longing for physical connection.

His hands slipped under my shirt tracing the muscles of my stomach and chest as mine did the same, rapidly unbuttoning the shirt he wore. No-one could compare to him, his rock-hard chest covered in the perfect amount of dark hair that contrasted my smooth chest perfectly. He pressed me up against the large chestnut tree, his lips descending down my jaw, to my neck, nipping at my marking site.

He was going to leave a hickey again, I knew it.

He couldn’t mark me properly, so he would often settle for this. Not that a bruise would last long on my skin, but it was still his mark on me which I loved.

His rough but gentle fingers undid my jeans and slipped down my a*s, stilling when he felt it. He gave me a sly smirk, feeling I had already prepared myself with lube.

‘What? It’s not as though I didn’t know what you wanted when you asked me down here,’ I grinned back at him. I was desperate for him too.

‘Always so eager…what if I didn’t give you what you obviously wanted?’

It always made me laugh that he thought he could play with me like this…as though he wasn’t dying right now to take me.

‘Fine with me. I’ll just go home then,’ I challenged, moving to grasp my t-shirt that he had stripped me of.

I loved it when his eyes widened as I called him out on his empty ‘threats’. I don’t think anyone challenged him like this, let alone an Omega like myself.

He caught me, spinning me around to press me against the tree, his very excited groin pressing hard into my behind, which I ground against him, making him g***n loudly.

‘Want to be a little louder?’ I cheekily provoked.

‘Oh, we’ll see who’s loud,’ he taunted, as he pushed my jeans and underwear down while unbuckling his own.

‘Is that a promise?’

My eyes fluttered closed as he pressed himself inside me and he m****d quietly into my neck. I felt my breathing become more ragged with each thrust of his h**s, his hands gripping me so wonderfully tight. A loud cry escaped my lips as his pace hit that delicious spot, making me see stars.

His hand grasped my mouth playfully as his lips skimmed my ear, breathing huskily against my skin.

‘Want to be a little louder, dew drop,’ he hummed in my mind.

I could feel I was close and by the strength and speed of Hunter’s h**s, he was too. All of a sudden, he stilled abruptly. His grip on me increased, no longer playful but serious. I could feel his apprehension in our bond and his body was now rigid with agitation, not l**t.

‘Don’t move and don’t make a single sound,’ he commanded.

There was no mischievousness in his tone, no warmth. It was a warning and I obeyed without question.

No sooner had he mind-linked me, that we heard the loud bang of the pack house back door slam open. We were far enough from it to be somewhat hidden in the trees but close enough that if we did in fact move, we would be spotted by the figures that emerged from the house. We had been a little impatient in getting physical and stayed maybe a little too close than what we should have, I realised now.

It was Alpha Nicholas and what looked like some warriors holding a man by his arms. I could just about make out what was said.

“You left an injury on her skin…I thought I warned you well enough. If any harm came to that girl, your life was the fee,” the Alpha’s menacing voice carried as he slowly enunciated each word.

“She was being difficult, I was just trying to get her to do her tasks,” the man tried to argue.

If he wasn’t about to die before, he was now…no-one spoke against Alpha Nicholas and lived.

The man’s throat was torn out before another word was spoken and I looked away, not wanting to see anymore b***d.

“I expended a lot of effort to acquire that girl. Make sure this is known,” the Alpha spoke calmly, like he hadn’t just killed a man on his knees.

I chanced a glance up at Hunter, his face was hardened, emotionless, a deep scowl painted on his beautiful face. I was used to seeing this face on him, but never when we were together, like this. Hunter’s hand still held my mouth and I could almost feel the tremble in his skin as his grip tightened, painfully.

I tapped his hand rapidly, ‘Hunter, you’re hurting me.’

His grip relaxed instantly and his reply came a few seconds later, ‘you need to leave. Stay away from the pack house from now on.’

His voice was cold and detached, nothing like the Hunter I knew. He never spoke to me like this, ever.

I heard dragging and the sound of the pack house door slamming again, but I didn’t dare look.

‘Hunter, I can’t…I work here…what am I meant…’ but my words were cut off.

‘That wasn’t a request! You’ll stay away,’ he threatened, as he pulled out of me and did up his pants, throwing his shirt back on.

I had never felt so small or disregarded by him before. He didn’t even spare me a look as he quickly walked off, heading in a different direction of the pack house. His wolf had shut mine out and Talon was howling mournfully in my mind at his silence. I just stood there like an i***t, watching after him, slowly pulling up my jeans and bunching up my shirt in my hands. I couldn’t help the tear that slipped from my eye, which I wiped away quickly.

I wouldn’t fall apart here at his sudden coldness to me.

…That came as soon as I entered my small home and slid down the door, where I slept the whole night…

For the whole week, I never saw Hunter once. Every mind-link was met with silence. His wolf was completely unresponsive to mine. Everything in me ached to see him.

What had happened?

Why was he avoiding me?

We couldn’t have been discovered because I would have been dead otherwise.

He could tell me anything in confidence and he had before.

I would have stood by him through anything, supported him.

…I thought he loved me…

Then it came…when my life as I knew it ended.

Two warriors entered my home without knocking. I was dragged roughly to the pack borders, receiving a swift punch to my jaw when I apparently wasn’t quick enough for them.

This couldn’t be happening.

There was only one reason I would be taken to the border…I was being cast out…made a rogue.

I was an Omega…I could shift but barely…and my wolf was so small compared to other warriors and stronger wolves. If I was cast out, how would I survive?! I couldn’t fight other wolves!

Hunter was there waiting, his face an impassive, emotionless canvas…but still as beautiful as ever.

…He was doing this to me?

He said he would always protect me and now he was practically handing me a death sentence.

“Leave us,” he commanded to the two warriors. I noticed his eyes zero in on my jaw, darkening.

We stood in silence while they left, his intimidating stare never leaving me, making me almost shiver in fear. I had never felt scared of Hunter, ever. Even when he was just a gorgeous fantasy to me…I wasn’t scared of him…but now I was.

“You will accept this and you will leave. If you ever come back, you will be killed on sight,” he growled out, never once averting his gaze.

“Accept what? Hunter, why are you doing this? Please just tell me. You’ve always told me everything. There’s nothing you could tell me that would scare me away,” I tried to beg, losing any control over my voice.

I saw him take a deep breath, before I felt our bond twist painfully…he was trying to sever it…he was rejecting me.

“Don’t! Please don’t do this!” I begged, grabbing his hands.

He pushed me away like my touch burnt him.

“Accept it! Now!” He bellowed.

Another twisting pain, made my head throb and my legs collapse from under me. My chest felt like it was being ripped in two, my very soul shuddered like half of it was being ripped out of my skin. I wanted to fight it, to cling to our bond, but he was forcing the break.

“Do it! Accept the damn rejection and get the f**k out of here! Why would I ever want some weak Omega male, like you!” He spat.

He had never been this cruel, the Hunter I knew was kind, sweet, loving, loyal…was it all an act? Was he really just like his father?

I closed my eyes and focused on our bond, accepting the rift that was forming, feeling a pain that I couldn’t have even imagined.

He threw a packet at me and quickly strode off, shifting mid-step and running off into the night.

I knelt there for some time. How long? I had no clue, it could have been 30 seconds, it could have been 30 years. I stumbled to my feet and saw the packet. Picking it up and opening it, my eyes widened at its contents.

A wad of cash and a set of keys with instructions that at the nearest road was a vehicle for me.

I didn’t want any of it…I wanted to leave it and just run away.

But I literally had nothing except the clothes on my back. I hadn’t been able to grab my phone or my wallet…and I couldn’t hunt worth a damn either…I would starve before I even figured out a plan.

And right now, death felt like a better alternative.

I begrudgingly took the envelope and walked with heavy limbs to where the car sat, climbing in and set off to goddess knows where. Everything felt numb inside me. So numb, my tears couldn’t even fall.

What was the point in anything now?

~~~~

“My mate rejected me…and I left, just like he ordered,” I summarised, leaving out all the personal details and keeping my answers short and to the point.

Maybe this pack would just let me leave.

“He ordered you to leave? How would he do that?” The future Alpha in front of me asked.

“He was a soon-to-be Alpha, like you…so he could do whatever he wanted,” I replied, monotone. I felt as the sting in my eye betrayed me.

The door to my right that I had come through was launched open. The scent of sweet geranium and sweet pea invaded the whole room as two identical faces stood, their chests heaving, staring at me with hungry eyes.