Bound by Moon & Blood (Book 1)
023

Liv muffled her quiet screams in her elbow as she felt the last of her bones move back into place and her skin close again. Two hours had passed and Devon had only left her side once to keep some kids from entering the woods. She knew she hadn’t made it very far into the woods and knew that no matter how hard she tried to keep anyone from knowing, they heard her scream and smelled her blood. They must have. Yet, she wasn’t going to give them the same explanation she was going to give Devon in a few minutes. They didn’t need to know. They can’t know. She just hoped that Devon will keep his mouth shut after he knows her story.

Devon stroked her hair to soothe her. Even though she knew it had been better that he hadn’t found out, she was glad he was here and that she wasn’t alone.

“What happened, Liv?” He asked as she released a strained breath and relaxed a little. Only her left hand and both feet still needed to heal, but she knew that would be soon as well. Liv turned her head on her arm and looked up at him.

“Ask your brother.” Her voice sounded as exhausted as she felt. Devon gave her a confused gaze. She sighed as she briefly closed her eyes. “I guess you know about the urge to mate?” He nodded; realization slowly crept over his face. “Well, it’s almost at a point where I can’t keep my head clear anymore and your brother just found out as well. He drove me to the edge and then threw me over it only to let me fall instead of catching me, if you understand my meaning.”

“He played with you and left you wanting.” Devon said, proving the fact that he indeed understood her meaning. She nodded. “Thanks to him I lost control over myself and with it the control over the wolf inside of me.”

“But why didn’t you just shift?” Before she could answer she felt multiple bones in her right foot mend back into place. Making her whimper and turn her head in her elbow again. Normally it didn’t hurt this much for broken bones to heal, but thanks to the unusual nature of the broken bones, it was. She closed her eyes, preparing for the reaction she knew she was going to get after she told him the reason why.

“Because I haven’t shifted in eight years.”

Devon’s hand stilled on her hair. It was like every animal in the forest even knew how big of a deal her words were as they also silenced for a brief moment. She turned her head towards him and saw his pale face and large eyes. Yep, this was the reaction she expected. Right that moment, the bones in her hand and foot decided to heal as well. Liv gasped in pain as she felt it, and counted the moments before it was over.

Devon still hadn’t said a thing, he hadn’t even moved. Slowly and weakly, Liv pushed herself off the ground until she sat across from him. His hand had now finally moved back to his lap and his eyes had followed her.

“Are you okay?” She asked softly. Devon shook himself out of his stupor and looked at her with unbelieve. “Am I okay? You’re seriously asking me that!?” Devon yelled all of the sudden. A little taken aback she recoiled. “You haven’t shifted in eight years and you’re asking me if I’m okay!?” He whisper-yelled at her, as he remembered why they were alone in the woods and why she didn’t want him to get help. “Are you okay? What the fuck made you be stupid enough to block out your wolf?! Even I know that is one of the most dangerous things to do as you could lose the ability to shift all together or the wolf goes feral the next time you shift!”

“You think I wanted this?” The crack in her voice was noticeable. “Every time I shifted, I was a beacon for King to track. The only thing I could do to stop him from having a GPS tracker on me was to keep my wolf side locked up. Being a mercenary helped me to disappear from the human radars, blocking the shift helped me disappear from the wolf one.” She never spoke these words to anyone. No one knew about this. Not even Emil. It took a lot for her to trust Devon to know about this. Also, because she knew she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. It wasn’t like he was going to accept to walk away from what happened without any answers.

“By the gods, Liv...” Devon breathed before he ran his hands over his face.

She said nothing, she just let his mind go over everything she just told him. Her body still ached so she took the time to relax her muscles and crack her neck. “Always nice to hear that sound when you just say multiple bones sticking out of someone’s body.” Devon commented as he met her eyes again. She gave him an apologetic look.

“This is also the reason why you didn’t want me to get help, isn’t it?” She nodded to confirm his question. “I don’t know what they would do to me if they found out about this, but it’s a fact that it’s something that I would rather avoid.”

“You’re going to ask me to keep quiet.” Their eyes met again and it was enough for Devon to know that she indeed was going to ask that. “Livana...”

“My whole live has been a series of torture and abuse, with brief moments of peace at the start and in between, Devon. All I ask is that you don’t tell anyone about what you saw and what I told you.”

“You know they heard your scream and probably smelled your blood. What am I going to say if they ask me about it?” Devon immediately asked. “You, tell them that all you know was that I was going through hell. If they want to know more, send them to me.” He gave her a wary look. “What are you going to do if I send them to you?”

“Politely tell them to mind their own business.” She said with a fake smile. Devon rolled his eyes and shook his head. Liv dropped the smile as she dropped her head, before she grabbed his hands. “Please, Devon.” Liv looked back up and met his eyes. “Just give me time.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she made a mistake. Devon gave her a confused gaze and she knew why. She screwed up. “Time to do what?” She couldn’t exactly tell him that she needed the time to figure out if she was going to make the deal with Finnegan or not. Her mind reeled, but she needed to answer as quickly as she could before he was going to be even more suspicions.

“To figure out what I’m going to do.” It wasn’t a lie. That was, probably, also the reason why Devon bought it. He nodded and gave her hands a small squeeze. “Okay, I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Liv released a long breath in relieve.

“What are you going to do about your clothes though?” She looked down at herself. “If I recall correctly, there is a part of the lake that is inside the pack borders. I’ll clean myself there.” Devon nodded as well. “There is, but first you need to go through the pack you just ran away from to get there.” The pointed look he gave her was unmistakable. Liv let her mind reel as she looked around her. Thanks to the collar she couldn’t go outside of the pack borders and the only part of the lake that is accessible from inside the pack was... where Caden’s pack was located. “Fuck.” She breathed as she dropped her head.

“I know you don’t want anyone to know about what happened, but you need a set of clean clothes and rest. You may heal quickly, but you still need to take it slow.” She met his gaze again with an alarming one of her own. He sighed as he removed one of his hands and laid it on her shoulder. “How about this explanation. Thanks to the fact that Caden drove you crazy, your wolf broke free and forced the shift, searching for blood. You killed a deer when you were in the woods, but it also got a piece of you when it tore open your belly.” Before she could object, Devon grabbed her blouse, that was plastered on her belly thanks to the blood, and ripped it on both sides, to make it look like something sharp had done it. “That way no one will have many questions and you can just come back with me and take a shower.” Her gaze was still on the skin she could now see through the rip. The ‘K’ scar was visible, barely, but still visible. Wrapping her arms around her exposed skin she met Devon’s gaze, hoping he didn’t see the hideous scar. “How sure are you that Caden will allow me to just be in your pack. He made it very clear that he doesn’t want me there.” It was a weak attempt to have Devon agree with her to just go back to her room, but then again, how was she going to explain her state to everyone else? Devon’s story was nice and Caden and the Alphas that don’t really know her may buy it, but not King. He would know she was lying and she didn’t want him to know anything.

“He will.” He stated with a small smile, before he moved to stand up and held out his hand to her. “Trust me on this.” Liv looked at his hand before her eyes travelled up. It was as is fate was playing a game with her as she recalled the conversation she had with him about trust. What choice did she have though?

Reluctantly, she reached out her hand and placed it in his. He helped her up. Her legs were sore and felt a little like jelly, but she could keep herself standing. Together, they walked back towards the pack. Her dread growing with every step she took.

Soon they walked up the stairs of the house. Liv had already braved the stares and murmurs of the wolves and humans in the pack, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet. Devon opened the door and helped her in. Caden, Rev... and Ben... Looked up as they walked in. Sure, let’s involve another Alpha in this.

“What the hell happened to you?” Ben asked wide eyed as he got off the couch. “You should ask the deer that was ripped apart.” Devon commented as he closed the door behind him. Pushing down everything she felt, she met the gaze of Caden. “Thanks for driving me insane.” That actually wasn’t acted. He narrowed his eyes at her before a crooked smirk appeared on his face. Yet, he didn’t say anything. Even after everything her body had been through, it still reacted to him. She cursed the swirl she felt in her stomach.

“You shifted?” Rev asked. A stone dropped on the curling feeling in her stomach at his question. She met his gaze and gave him a small nod. Rev gave her an expression she couldn’t quite read. She didn’t know if he believed her, and that terrified her. The last thing she needed was to have them question her and finding out more than she wanted them to. “You going to explain what happened or are we going to keep playing the guessing game?” Rev asked irritated.

“Thanks to Caden, my wolf forced the shift and I ripped apart a deer before I would come back here and try to do the same thing to your precious Alpha.” Pride filled her chest at the fact of how steady her voice was. She met Caden’s gaze again who snorted and shook his head before he took a sip of his beer.

“If that is true, why do you only have one familiar blood scent on you.” Caden asked as he looked back at her. “Because that fucking deer ripped open my stomach.” She said with a hard voice. The look on his face told her that he didn’t believe her story. “I told her she was welcome to take a shower and rest here.” Caden’s gaze was drawn to his brother. There was a brief silence between the brothers, but she didn’t miss the changing color of Caden’s eyes. He couldn’t use the Link on a human right?

Caden gave Devon a small nod before he turned his back towards the two of them. Yet, she didn’t miss the look both Ben and Rev gave him. She’s screwed. Devon placed a hand on her lower back and pushed her towards the stairs.

Upstairs the both of them also shared a look, before Devon brought her to an empty bedroom. He walked through it and opened another door to a bathroom. “Take as long as you need. I’ll get some clothes for you to wear.” He said before he walked to the bedroom door.

“Dev.” He stopped walking and faced her. “Thank you.” He gave her a small smile before he left her alone in the room.

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