Axe presses me for an answer. "Does that sound like a fair offer?"
Maurleen was right, of course. Standing in front of me is a man, handsome beyond reason, who is willing to offer me a second chance. The first real choice I’ve been able to make for myself in a long, long time.
Clearing my throat, I tilt my head back up to him. “Have you ever been with a human before?”
A glimmer of mischief dances in his eyes. “Are you asking about my bedroom habits, Vespera?”
“Gods on high.” I fold my arms around my torso. “Never mind.”
Leaning against the doorway, he mirrors my pose. “I’m not asking you to be with me. I’m asking you to come home.”
The words yank hard on my heartstrings. "I'd like to sleep on it."
Chapter 13
VESSA
Abeam of moonlight shines into the bedroom, settling at my lap. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it—the heartline, the channel of the mating bond.It really exists.And mine is tethered to the deadliest lycan in Agathora.
I’ve witnessed my fair share of Maurleen and Wyatt’s unspoken exchanges through gentle touch. Watching them communicate so intimately elicited a degree of loneliness so cold I grew apathetic towards the thought of ever finding someone who one day might truly understand me. Albeit I wasn’t prepared to encounter the depths of Axe’s pain—tophysicallyfeelthe impact of my own blow. It set something off in me.
I flick on the nightstand lamp. The top drawer reveals a phone charger, pink crystals, and a deck of vintage tarot cards. In the lower compartment, I find a stack of colorful composition notebooks full of spells, sigils and herbal remedies passed down from Maurleen’s family. And there, beneath a discreet loose panel, is her journal.
Its pages are filled with graphic details about my life and hers, insights as to how one day our paths would eventually intersect. All the proof I needed to believe in her visions was recorded here. Over a dozen years of entries. I flip to a randompage towards the middle of the journal. The passage is dated back nine years ago.
The girl takes the stage, draped in silver from head to toe. The young empress commands the actors, daring them to try to burn as brightly as she does. Every face is glued to her mesmerizing performance, beholding what can only be a riveting, trailblazing star. Little does the young actress know, she possesses more power than the monarch she is portraying. She may win a standing ovation from the audience tonight, but one day she will bring the entire lycan kingdom to its knees.
A shudder echoes through me as I reread the final sentence. Was this the moment Maurleen realized that I was destined to be a Luna? That, as big as my dreams once were, I was made for more?
Perhaps within Bleeding Sun lies a family that cannot be broken. Isn’t that what Axe is offering me?
Switching off the light, I open the drapes and watch the darkness draw back. Something about this shimmering pearl in the night sky has always called to me. Even as a child I would often stare at it for hours, transfixed by its luminous glow. To the stars, I would whisper my hopes and dreams of performing for audiences all over the world. To the moon, I confessed the secrets I was too afraid to speak out loud.
The moon is the best listener I’ve ever known. Perhaps the earth feels the same, loving her so profoundly that, unlike the other planets, it only needs one in its orbit. Though it offersno warmth on this waning winter night, the moon fills me with wonder—and then, a mission.
Stepping lightly, my feet carry me down the hall and into the lounge. Axe is sprawled out on the floor, dozing peacefully as the orb’s soft ambience paints his resting features. Gods, why does he have to be so beautiful?
Even now, I’m just as overcome as the moment I emerged from the cabin. The way the wolf knelt beside me, curling into me. My safety never felt more assured. Still, as a man, he intimidates the hell out of me.
Slowly, I sink to my knees. As I reach for his arm, he shoots up and catches my wrist, the lightning-fast reaction startling me.
Unfurling his grip, Axe rubs his eyes, making sure what he’s seeing is real. “Everything alright?”
I nod, though my heart does an involuntary flutter. “You have yourself a deal.”
We seal the bargain with a warm handshake. Under the moonlight, my heart swells with a feeling I thought had long abandoned me.
Hope.
As the suncompletes its morning salutation, Axe rounds the back of his car to shake Wyatt’s hand. Maurleen wraps an arm around her mate’s torso.
“If the two of you decide to have a mating celebration, we'll be there." She shoots me a wink like she already knows the date printed on the invitation.
“No pressure,” Wyatt coughs.
In my mind, I recite the instructions she whispered in the privacy of her bedroom while I dressed. “Wait until after thenext full moon. If I don’t have any new visions before then, I will come up to join you, and we’ll come up with a way to tell him. In the meantime, just lay low and charm his pants off.”
Axe gives the trunk a good slam and we drive off. In a flash, the small town of Pinesdale fades away behind us.
