Blood Moon (MalexMale Paranormal Fantasy)

Chapter 13 ∞ REEVE

I hunker down in our basement gym and unload my tension onto my punching bag, yet no matter how hard I hit it, I can't make the itchy restlessness leave my body. I can't subdue the desire to yell, bite, squeeze, pound until there's nothing left, and tomorrow's full moon feels like a lifetime away.

Rainer enters with Daire behind him for our training session, and I track the latter like a starved hunter. Thankfully, I don't think he knows how long I waited this evening, hidden along the border trail to be sure that he made it home safely from the valley. I blame him for my agitation, the ceaseless need to have him near me and meet his approval.

I punch the bag with added weight. Satu's hell.

His presence vibrates through me, but he doesn't look this way, and I want to do something that forces his attention on me.

I hit the bag harder.

My brother manages a polite external simmer next to my unending boil this close to our shifts, and I envy him for the small semblance of control.

"It's like a ghost town out there today," Daire comments to Rainer. He then grabs a set of wraps from the locker near the door and brings them to where my brother holds his hands out to him—clearly something the two have done before. Their comfort bothers me. And just like that, I have a target for my anger.

Rainer's words are distantly polite as he says, "Yeah, our wolves tend to stay inside or wander off alone until the moon ceremony tomorrow morning. Less confrontation that way with everyone ready to bite each other's heads off over dumb shit."

Daire methodically wraps Rainer's hands, and each time he touches my brother's skin and gets his scent on him, I want to tear the two apart from each other.

The warder's voice hits me like a splash of cold water as he says, "The pack my tutor lived with would gather all of the wolves together in the days leading up to the full moon. The alpha thought it would help them release their tension to just beat the shit out of each other."

Rainer grins, but I can't find it in me to dim my glare. Look at me. He looks up at my brother with bright hazel eyes and jealousy flickers inside me like a dark and poisonous beast. I can't abate this obsession with him. After tomorrow it will be better; at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I punch the bag again, harder, harder still until Rainer taps my shoulder and nods toward the mats. "Let's go, pup. I've got an itch that no bag's gonna scratch."

For the first time today, I grin and give in to everything inside me that's trying to chew its way out. "No groin shots."

"Deal," he says, then hits me with an uppercut that rocks me back and has me spitting blood.

"I'll go grab my med kit," I hear Daire say somewhere behind me, then I stand with a thirsty grin and unleash everything I have on Rainer.

∞   ∞  ∞

As the sun rises on Moon Morn, I hear the beckoning howl of my alpha sever my thoughts, piercing through my body's functions, pulling me toward him, luring me so innately it's as if I slip into a trance.

The howls continue, and will continue, until the entirety of the pack arrives at the ceremonial grounds. I can feel the symmetry between all of us build within my coursing blood. There's energy in it, taming the chaos that has ruled over the past day. My drive, my aggression and restlessness are all aimed at one goal and serve one purpose: getting to my alpha.

Rainer is ahead of me as we hustle down the front stairs of the pack house. He jogs toward the grassy clearing at the base of the trail that leads to Arym's Rock, and I divert to the right toward the cluster of cottages where I know Elder Beck will need help.