Moon Bound

(48) Feast |Regan's POV|

Like putting out small fires, their lives were being taken. Resting on my hind legs, right next to my mate, I watched as the hybrids in wolf form put down the remaining challenger wolves. Wounded and struggling to keep their breath for another moment of life just before hungry canines clamped over their exhausted and vulnerable frames, they still wanted to go on.

This was no longer a fight to the death; these were the final touches at the end of a massacre.

The rest of my pack, the people awaiting their own fate after deserting their leader, were now just silent observers to that show the fate dealers provided to them.

Standing at the edges of the vast forest clearing, they no longer possessed that air of defiance, instead, they were hunched in their defeat, hopes to overthrow my rule over them squashed.

Being charged to take care of those who were not supposed to see this or just excluded from the fight because of their age, both mated females and juveniles were missing. The patrols were doing their own jobs.

There were no more than a hundred of my wolves here now with most of the challengers dead. The better part of the wolves who rose against me had been high-ranked and most of them had lived with me in the packhouse.

With them gone and the punishment the present wolves were going to receive, both pack and place were going to be very quiet. No alpha left standing after a rebellion could spare them the punishment.

No alpha who lived after one did.

You may want to get back to the house, Scarlet. I don't think you will like what I'm going to do next, I warned her.

With her being a shifting female and the packbond restored, I could now tell her what I needed without vocal words. We still didn't have that emotional connection. The matebond still had a long way until it was complete but right now what we had was enough.

I was so much closer to her than a few hours ago, it felt as unreal as it was overwhelming.

She angled her head towards me, unusual for an animal intelligence swirling in her wolf eyes, the same color her human eyes were. Her dark, nearly brown fur was gleaming different shades of red under the pale moonlight, lighter in the illuminated spots and darker where the shadows stayed unperturbed by the Moon.

Warmth crept, desire flooded inside. I fought to keep my muzzle away and not bury it in her fur, scent her, mark her wolf's body just like I'd marked her human one, do what a wolf does to his mate.

You forget who I am, Regan, her voice rang back soft and gentle. Like a quiet lullaby sang only for your ears in the darkest of nights, it gave solace yet stated a claim. Addicting in its timbre, it sent more heat down the wolf's body.

And who are you, Scarlet? I sent back, my voice a growl. The wolf liked this side of her. It made him excited to see that strong female finally showing her dominance and he wanted to show her his own.

I'm not a gutless juvenile who will be scared and flee at the first sight of blood, she said. I know you're going to punish them and I'm not scared of seeing it.

She didn't know how I was going to punish them. She had no idea what I was going to do. She didn't know the old laws, the old punishments.

I know that, I admitted to her, pained to do so, pained to acknowledge that I'd turned her into this savage, bloodthirsty creature and that I liked it. I just... I just don't want you to witness—

It's fine, she cut in, turning back to the scene of death and gore dispersed all over the forest floor. Whatever you are about to do won't harm our bond or our relationship.