Moon Bound (Forgotten Series, #5)

Chapter Twenty-One

Besides, I didn't really want to be drawn into Delly's drama. My only opinion on it was that Aiden needed to run... very fast and very far away. I didn't think that the younger woman would appreciate me telling her that. I grabbed my jacket and slipped it on as I headed out the door. There was a cold breeze on the mountain and it always seemed to cut straight through me and to my bones. I didn't like it but I knew I had to get used to it.

I moved away from the bathhouse and towards the training grounds. I hunched my shoulders forward, attempting to shield myself from the breeze that was trying its hardest to sneak underneath my collar. It was July, I didn't know why the mountain still had to be so stubbornly cold. I hurried my pace, knowing Bastian would chase away most of the chill. If there was one good thing having a shifter as my technical husband, was that if I ever got cold I could sidle up to him and his high body temperature warmed me up.

It was still a weird concept for me to get used to, I was technically married. Bastian was my husband. It was so strange for me because I still felt like we were in the weird phase of a relationship, trying to work things out. It didn't feel like we were married but in shifter culture we were. It was a disconnect between reality and my brain as it struggled to catch up with everything that had happened. It was slow going but it was coming.

I looked up, my eyes darting around the training grounds for Bastian. I narrowed my eyes at the circle of shifters that stood in the middle of the training grounds. They were cheering something on and I moved forward quicker, not seeing Bastian in the ring. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as I shoved through the crowd.

Bastian's wolf hunkered down close to the ground, his back leg at an awkward angle as his hackles were raised to the tip of his tail and his lips were pulled back in a heavy snarl. He looked scared and beaten. My heart lodged into my throat as two males moved forward, one distracting Bastian's wolf and the other grabbing the wolf around the middle and throwing him. I inhaled sharply as he yelped, flailing before trying to get up but failing.

"Fucking useless." One of the males spat on the ground before he and the other moved towards Bastian once more.

"Stop!" My voice felt lost in the cheers of the crowd and frantic panic rose up in me. There was no way Bastian's wolf could protect himself from two able bodied shifters who weren't shifting down. It wasn't fair. I watched as Bastian's wolf struggled to his feet, limping as he tried to crouch down, staring down the two males but his eyes darting around for an escape.

I inhaled again as they started it all over again, picking him up and slamming him to the ground while he yelped and did his best to escape. "Stop!" My voice was just one out of many and my heart thudded hard in my chest. I knew this wasn't training, this was them pushing around a weaker wolf. I bolted into the ring, shoving one of the males. "Enough!" I got between him and the wolf and his barely glanced at me before he swung out with his hand hitting my chest hard enough it knocked the air from my lungs and sent me stumbling, landing hard on the ground beside the ragged wolf.

I coughed, trying to inhale as I grabbed my chest. A still hush followed my hacking as I tried to get air. Bastian's wolf growled low and heavy, his nose pressing to my side, nudging me before the sound of shifting filed my ears. "Are you okay?" Bastian grabbed me, thumping on my back as he tried to help my lungs work properly. He held me close, words escaping him that I couldn't hear as he rubbed my back. Anger rose up in me, sharp and vicious, as I inhaled sharply. My eyes narrowed as my anger caused that tightness in my skin, stretching it over my bones as Bastian helped me to my feet, wrapping me in his arms.

"Send her on her way. We aren't done." The low rumble sent my anger straight to my bones, a molten core grew within me and I could sense the shifter approaching.