Jonah's POV
It takes me only a moment to process what's happened. She's running? Fuck, she's running.
Is there a plan in place to get her here and now? Do the witches know that we're here? How did Imani even get to them? I grit my teeth and spring out of the water, shifting immediately. If she can't shift, she can't get far. I'll be on her in a few moments. Of a few minutes if I'm unlucky.
I follow the scent of her. It's especially strong now; it can't be missed. I turn the trees looking for her. Maybe it's too strong. It seems to be everywhere. Something isn't right. I've been running for almost ten minutes and she's nowhere around. Is she hiding?
It seems now like her scent is everywhere like she's run all over this place. But that isn't possible. Heat. It's her heat. It's scattering her scent, confusing me. And at this moment it's working against me.
I suck my teeth as my bones break. Fur sprouts from my skin. I've done it so often it doesn't hurt as my face is contoured and broken and moved. It's a slight pinch, a little tingle and then it's over. I roll out the crick in my neck and breathe in. There we go, the scent is more concentrated now. And it's not far. I take off running.
Imani went Northwest, away from the city and deeper into the woods. She doesn't know the terrain, I'm sure of it, so this was just a desperate attempt to escape. A bad one at that.
I'm hot on her trail. She's running barefoot and she's left light imprints. She's running pretty fast. Then they stop. I stagger back. I turn all around me, looking for them. But they're just not there.
Was she picked up? The scent has ended yet. What the fuck is going on here. I look closer, bringing my head to the ground and breathing in deep. She kept on going. And this ground is still damp. I should be able to find tracks.
I run a little farther and stop. Wolf tracks? But....but...Imani can't shift. She can't shift. The wind changes direction and I catch the scent of blood. My skin prickles under my fur. Something is horribly wrong.
I follow it, all four feet slapping the ground as fast as I can. I catch a glimpse of mousy brown fur, dark in some places, lighter in others. I move faster. Imani. I don't know how she shifted, we'll get to that later, but all that matters is she ran. She ran. I leap, knocking her down in the process, then shift.
"Shift," I command. It's Alpha speak. Luna or not, she can't fight it. "Shift!"
I hear the snap and crackle of moving bones. She grits her teeth as her face comes back together, until finally, she stares up at me, skin smooth and brown again. "Get off me," she says.
I grip her wrists. "You ran away."
"Get the hell off me."
"You're not one to be commanding me right now." I squeeze tighter. "What the fuck did you think you were doing?"
"Get off me, Jonah." Her voice is eerily calm and her chest rises and lowers in erratic bursts. "Get off me."
"Don't run again." Again, it's Alpha speak. I let the power roll off my chest, I let the pheromones smother her. Her fingernails dig into me as her eyes bleed gold. "I am your Alpha, you are my Luna, I am your mate and you are mine. Repeat it."
She looks like she's in pain when she repeats my words. It's mechanical and forced, but I can't let this go. Running like that was reckless, wild and stupid. So, so, stupid. "You are my Alpha and I am your Luna. I am your mate and I am yours."
"Again. I am your Alpha."
"You are my Alpha."
"You are mine."
She chokes out the words. "I am yours." There's moisture beading at her eyes. She's crying? I don't care.
"You are my Luna."
"I am your Luna."
"The only place you belong is by my side."
"The only place I belong is by your side."
I let go, dropping the aura of authority. She takes a deep, shuddering breath and wipes at her eyes. It's only then I see she's speckled with blood. I lean in to touch her. "What happened?"
She turns away, radiating anger. "I shifted."
"You ran first."
"I ran because I was angry, I ran because I wanted to think. I'm not stupid, we're in the middle of the woods. Did you think I could escape?"
"I thought you would try."
Her smile is rueful. She wipes more tears away. "Then I came across a deer and I shifted."
"Involuntarily?"
"It had a cut and it was bleeding. The scent sent me wild and I shifted." She stares down at her red stained skin. "None of this is mine." She wipes more tears. "It's dead now." She points to something in the distance. "Over there. A doe I'm pretty sure."
She stiffens at my touch, but I pull her up and drag her with me as we go to verify her claims. Just as she said, there's a deer here. I bend down. "It's a buck, he's just shed his antlers." I run my fingers over the punctures in his fur. She sank her teeth into his throat and he bled out in moments.
I turn to her. "I'm sorry." I run a hand through my hair. "But you still ran."
"I already explained."
"I know." I purse my lips. "I'm sorry."
She doesn't look at me. "You're just doing what you know. A good old all American boy."
###########################################################
Imani's POV
He ties the buck up and hoists it over his shoulders. The sun is setting and I've left my coverup by the spring. It can stay there for all I care. I leave him in the front lawn to cut it up. There's excitement in his eyes, despite everything that's happened. Venison. It must bring him back to childhood.
I take a shower, scrubbing at the dried flecks of blood. I watch as it swirls on the bottom of the shower. Blood. Like the blood on my hands. It looks like no matter how I move I'm going to take people down with me, even if I don't move at all.
"Ah." I run my hands over my face as the water pours over me. "Why am I thinking about that now?"
"You are my Alpha and I am your Luna. I am your mate and I am yours." I want to scrub my tongue so hard that the words never existed. The hot memory of being forced to talk is still on my mind. "The only place I belong is by your side." How did she do that? How did she force me to shift, forced to talk? It was like he took the reigns of my mind. Worse, it was like I wanted to say it in the first place.
And then what did he say when he learned it was all a mistake? What did he say after he forced what he wanted to hear from my mouth? "But you ran." I wipe angry tears from my face. I can't tell which is water and which is tears until I turn off the tap. My skin is blotchy and my eyes are red-rimmed. I scowl at the mirror and slip into a cotton nightie. I just want to go to sleep.
I stare at my fingers. If I focus hard enough, I can see the blood. The blood that's been there and the blood that will be there. The Witches. If I don't continue on my path, all my friends will die.
And if I do, all his will.
I just have to decide whose blood matters more to me.
The scent of roasting meat fills my nose. I press my face to the window. He's roasting the deer, spit style. I watch him drip sauce over its belly and run it down to the legs.
He turns, as if sensing my gaze. I close the curtains and turn, moving quickly across the floor. If he asks, I'm sleeping. I dash into the bedroom and fall into bed, lying on my side. The door creaks open minutes later. My breathing is shallow as he moves across the floor. "Imani? Imani?"
He sits on the edge of the bed and it groans under the new weight. "I know you're not sleeping already."
I look at him through bleary eyes. Or at least what I think is bleary eyes. "I'm trying to."
"I know you were just by the curtain."
Fine. I sit up and pull my knees to my chin. "Do you need anything?"
"Don't go to sleep. I'll have dinner done in three hours. And it's not even that late."
"Is that another command?"
Instead of frowning or scowling, his face stays plain. "I'll wake you up then." His voice is too soft and my stomach lurches. I want to beat him over the head, hell, I want to beat myself over the head. "Listen," he says. "Alpha commands are part of what it means to be in a pack. My father used to do them on me."
"I don't like what you made me say."
"It's true isn't it?"
Isn't it? Isn't it? I'm going to be erased here, swallowed up whole. The only thing my children's children's children will know of me is that I was a Luna. is that I was his Queen. His image will destroy me because I am his. Even in death, I'll be tied to him.
I don't want it. "Wake me up when it's done," I say sharply. And with that, I've ended the conversation.
I won't let myself be destroyed, consumed, erased. Not here, not now, not ever.