Moon Broken

by H. D. Gordon

  But I had loved him. Even if the love I was feeling now was only a result of whatever potion he’d made me drink, the love that had existed prior to that was not.

  It had not been a beautiful love, and certainly not a logical or rational love, but it had been something. When I’d been with Ryker, I’d definitely felt something.

  My mind was pulled out of these thoughts as my little entourage exited the huge arched doorway on the face of the castle overlooking the Western Sea. The moon hung high above the land, the sound of the ocean endlessly crashing against the shore in the near distance.

  I remembered being awed by the sight of Ramsey’s seaside castle upon arriving in Marisol. In fact, I’d been in awe of the entire place. With the stunning seaglass and sandstone that made up the buildings, and the Apollo-blessed torches with their blue flames, the place was a wonder of architecture.

  Built on the backs of slaves, of course, just like everything else in our world, but stunning, nonetheless.

  Now, as I exited the castle, with its countless towers and balconies, its overt display of wealth and luxury, my breath caught as my eyes travelled down to the beach. Gathered there, stretching off in either direction as far as the eye could see, were all the people of Marisol.

  There were thousands. Dogs and Hounds, working ladies and handmaidens, Sellers and Traders—all manner of Wolf. The Dogs were distinguished from the rest with the collars they wore, just as the Hounds were easy to spot for the batons and whips hanging from their hips. The working ladies wore their revealing slips of dresses, while all the other worker slaves wore those brown potato sacks.

  And every single one of them was staring up at me, with my ridiculous blue gown and Hound escort.

  A winding pathway led down to a large dock that jutted out over the water, and a high platform had been erected at the end of it.

  There, I saw Ryker waiting for me. Even from this distance, it was easy to recognize him.

  There was a knock on my mental door, strong despite the space between us, and I let him in. There was no hesitation. I’d never let a male speak into my mind before, but I wanted to hear what he had to say.

  “Come to me, my love,” Ryker told me.

  And I began the trek down.

  One foot moved and then the other, closing the distance between destiny and me.

  In all of the Gods’ honesty, even as I followed the winding trail down to the dock where Ryker waited, I still had not truly decided about the two choices with which Kalene had presented me. The very fact that deciding between Mating Ryker and killing him was so difficult highlighted the absurdity of the whole situation.

  And if I refused entirely, the fact that I had no idea if Ryker would kill me or return me to the life of a Dog was equally ridiculous. The only thing I was sure of was that he would not just let me go, and even if he did, where would I go? There was nowhere in this world for me.

  So I continued my march toward him, Mekhi trailing close behind me while the other two Hound escorts flanked my sides. My stomach was weak with whatever elixir I’d been forced to drink, my head still foggy and memory blurred. Thousands of eyes were locked on me, Wolves of all kinds gathered up and down the beach, facing the dock where Ryker waited and the winding pathway on which I walked.

  I’d been in The Ring enough times that the public attention should not have bothered me, but it did. Was I really prepared to let all these Wolves witness Ryker Mating me?

  No, I decided, despite the way my heart fluttered when I looked at him.

  But did that mean I was prepared to put a blade through his throat to prevent it?

  That, unfortunately, was also a no.

  I looked down to see that my feet had reached the edge of the dock. Wooden steps led up the planks. Now there was only thirty paces or so between Ryker and me. All I had to do was climb the stairs and cross to the end of the dock that hung out far over the churning ocean, where Ryker was waiting for me.

  I watched the flowing blue gown I was wearing swish around my feet as I set them moving again. I wished they could carry me away from here, far away from all these eyes and blank faces, far away from a decision that would cause me pain no matter what.

  The breeze from the ocean brushed by me, carrying the scents of seaside and sunshine, and I found Ryker’s gaze at the end of the dock. I held it as I closed the distance between us. I couldn’t be sure whether or not it was the potion he’d given me, but under the light of the silver moon, back dropped by that rolling, endless ocean, I was sure that Ryker had never been more beautiful than he was right now.

  It was the same as it always had been with him; I was captured by the blue of his eyes, by the shape of his jaw, by the muscles and golden skin. He was exactly what an Alpha should be. The idea of perfection that had been painted and dictated by the culture, but was nonetheless effective even when one understood it as so. Even now, with all the conflicting emotions within me, I wanted to touch him, and to let him touch me.

  But Kalene’s words came back to me. That little red flag waved insistently. There were things I was forgetting, and I had the feeling that if I could remember them, this decision would be much easier to make.

  “Thank you for coming,” Ryker said, because I had reached him.

  “Of course,” I replied.

  I hadn’t had much of a choice, had I?

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  I drew a slow breath, which made my chest rise and push against the dagger that was tucked into the fabric there.

  “Yes,” I said. An outright lie.

  There was another knock on my mind. I let Ryker in again. If for only a final time.

  “You won’t regret this, Rook,” he told me, his sapphire eyes holding mine with a sincerity that made my ruined heart ache. “I will make you happy. I will give you the life you always wanted, and I will protect you from anyone who’d try to take you from me… I love you. I’ll love you until the day I stop breathing, and after still. I promise you this.”

  His hands closed over mine, and I suppressed the tears that wanted to burn my eyes. Since we were communicating privately, I asked the question for which I needed the answer.

  “And if I said that I wanted to be free instead? If I just wanted you to let me go, to make my own choices… What would you say then?”

  With the moon and all the Western Coast Wolves as witness, Ryker leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. “This is the only way to keep you safe, Rook,” he answered. “The only way for me to protect you from the other Pack Masters.”

  This, I supposed, was all the answer I needed. I did not fail to recognize that this answer didn’t address my question directly, and in doing so, addressed it indirectly.

  Ryker would never let me go.

  Whether that was because he genuinely wanted to protect me, or because he wanted to protect something he considered his property, really didn’t matter. No, he would never let me go.

  The blade tucked into the folds of my bodice sang out to me, its call in time with the beating of my tattered heart.

  34

  I nodded my understanding, and Ryker took this as consent to continue the ceremony.

  We stood atop a platform on the dock, surrounded by Hounds, the churning dark ocean and the hammering of my heart the only sounds.

  Mekhi came forth, horrible grin still stuck on his ugly face, and produced a goblet and knife from a bag one of the other Hounds had been carrying.

  He took his sweet time climbing the steps of the platform on which Ryker and I stood, as if he knew of the dilemma I was facing and delighted in the delay.

  When he reached us, I got the feeling that he had specifically requested taking part in this piece of the ceremony, and I hated him all the more for it.

  Even so, I refused to flinch as Mekhi took my hand and cut into my palm, drawing a line of scarlet blood that bloomed in the wake of the blade.

  As I watched it pool in my palm, I thought to myself that scarlet was a beautiful c
olor, that maybe, of all the colors in the world, scarlet was my very favorite.

  Mekhi cut into Ryker’s palm the same as he had mine. Then, he held out the goblet, and Ryker and I tipped the blood on our hands into it, squeezing our fists until there was enough of our mixed blood in the cup for each of us to take a healthy sip. He handed Ryker the goblet first.

  Ryker held my gaze as he drank a long swig, and continued holding it as he passed the goblet to me. It took effort to keep my hands from shaking as I took the cup and tipped it up to my lips. The irony taste filled my mouth, settling warmly in my stomach.

  With that done, the thousands of Wolves lining the beach sent up a symphony of howls, the first of three recognitions from the Pack. After the third, the ceremony would be complete, and Ryker and I would be Mated.

  Mekhi took the empty goblet and retreated a few steps, his gaze lingering on me with such satisfaction that I again considered using the blade in my dress to kill him right there.

  But, then, Ryker began reciting the Moon Oath, and my attention was drawn back to him. His handsome face was so intent that my heart cracked right down the center as I realized what I was preparing to do, as I at last came to reconciliation with it.

  “Under the eyes of the moon, I, Ryker, Pack Master of the Western Coast, take Rukiya as my Mate, for now and for always,” Ryker said.

  When it was my turn, I recited the same words, rearranging the names so that I was taking Ryker as my Mate as well. With every syllable, the blade in my bodice seemed to dig in a little deeper.

  When I was finished speaking, the Wolves gathered up and down the beach sent up another chorus of howls. The sound was so loud that my sensitive ears buzzed with the strength of it, and goosebumps broke out over my arms and the back of my neck.

  Step two was complete.

  Now there was only the final part. The part, that in order to avoid, I would put the blade Kalene had given me through my lover’s throat. I would kill Ryker before I would let him have my body in front of all these Wolves.

  Even if I was willing to withstand such violation, I could not Mate a Pack Master. Whether I loved Ryker or not, and despite the potion still holding sway over me, I would not sit by his side in a world where Dogs and working ladies and slaves still existed.

  I would die before I let it be so. And I would take him down with me.

  I supposed, in some fucked up way, that this was my version of love. I loved myself enough not to stoop to such hypocrisy, and I loved Ryker enough to save him from a lifetime as a malevolent dictator. If I saw him in the afterlife, he might even thank me.

  The space between us was mere inches, but the gap may as well have been whole realms, because as Ryker’s blue eyes burned in anticipation of completing the third part of the Mating ceremony, the cold, brutal killer in me rose like a ghost from a still body. My gaze went to the pulsing vein on his neck, my heart coating over with steel.

  I would not feel bad. I refused to feel bad. The lifeline I was walking was coming up on a dead end, anyway, so there was no reason to kick myself for what I was about to do. This was what they had made me. This was what I’d had to become to survive. And as it turned out, one could take the Dog out of the Ring, but it was impossible to take the Ring out of the Dog.

  Now they would reap the consequences of their violent system, their structure that routinely turned good Wolves into rabid beasts. No amount of love potion could root that out of me, no handsome face or grand proposals. Countless Hounds had taught me that when you were a female, the whole world was The Ring, and you were going to need to fight for your own honor every single step of the way.

  So I would go down swinging.

  In my head, Ryker asked, “Are you ready?”

  I gave him a smile that may have bared a bit too much teeth. “Yes,” I told him. “I’m ready.”

  As Ryker’s hands came up to rip the fabric of my gown, my hand went for the blade in my bodice…

  Before either of us could accomplish our tasks, an ear-splitting shriek rent the air. Every Wolf present shuddered under the shrillness of it.

  Then, all manner of hell broke loose.

  All eyes went to the sky.

  The first shriek was followed by another, and another, until the very night seemed to tremble with the sound. I blinked several times in an attempt to process what I was seeing.

  At least ten enormous, colorful birds had come sweeping down on the dock, their wingspans so wide they blotted out the stars.

  When they swooped down on the dock, I ducked for cover, along with everyone else around me. But, apparently, the enormous birds weren’t after me.

  Instead, they used their huge talons to snatch up the Hounds on the dock as if they were no more than fish in a stream. The birds lifted the Hounds—(all of Ryker’s personal guard, including that bastard Mekhi)—right into the air and dropped them into the churning ocean below.

  By the time I was able to process this, I realized I was now alone on the dock with Ryker. If I was going to do what I’d decided I would, now would be the time.

  But there was so much going on. Two of the birds circled back, and two people jumped down off their backs. One was a beautiful female with brown skin and wildly curly hair. She hit the dock running, her black boots thudding on the boards. I watched in utter astonishment as she charged down the dock and used some form of electrified magic to knock back the Hounds who were trying to reach the end of the dock, where their Master now stood unguarded.

  The other new arrival landed on the platform beside Ryker and I with a feline grace.

  The male was tall and dark-haired, his muscled body clothed in fine black slacks and a black button-up shirt. My gaze travelled up the front of him until it settled on a devastatingly handsome face, and eyes that gleamed a lovely shade of…

  Scarlet.

  A gasp got caught in my throat, and my voice came out a whisper. “Adriel,” I said, and with the name, the entirety of what Ryker’s potion had made me forget came flooding back to me.

  Adriel and Goldie and Amara and Mina. All of it. My head whipped toward the mouth of the dock, where Asha was batting away Hounds with that curved blade and magic as though they were mere flies. A glance down at the beach told me more Hounds were coming, though, and they would keep coming.

  My friends had come to get me, and there wasn’t much time.

  “You dirty son of a bitch,” Ryker spat. In all the commotion, I’d nearly forgotten he was beside me, but he gripped my arm now hard enough to leave marks.

  Adriel ignored him entirely. He looked at me. “Rukiya, are you okay?”

  I went to take a step toward him, but Ryker yanked me back.

  “Of course she’s okay,” Ryker spat. “She’s with me.”

  Around us, chaos was erupting. The Hounds were scrambling to reach us, while every Dog and slave and working lady stood along the beach and watched the commotion in utter shock. Akila and the other Harpies were still swooping and screeching as they assisted Asha in battling the Hounds.

  For all of this, there may as well have only been Ryker, Adriel, and me on that beach, because they were the only two I could see.

  “She can speak for herself, Hound,” Adriel replied.

  “It’s Master,” Ryker growled.

  Adriel only cast him a look as though he were stupid, and returned his attention to me. His dark brows rose just slightly, the question obvious.

  Would I come, or would I stay?

  My body moved toward Adriel, my eyes locked on the scarlet of his. In the red of them, I could see everything. I could see Goldie and Amara. I could see the Emerald Forest and the glittering hot springs. I could see Mina, with its humble buildings and happy people.

  I could see home.

  That’s what scarlet was—the color of home.

  All of this ran through my head in a matter of half heartbeats, but in the split second it took me to process, Adriel had been distracted with his attention on me. I cried out as Mekhi appeared behind
him, soaking wet from having been dropped in the ocean.

  He must have climbed back up the dock, and now he was only a few feet behind Adriel, a wicked looking blade clutched in his hand.

  There was absolutely no time to think. If I had, Mekhi would have jabbed the knife into Adriel’s back. I realized only as I felt the cool metal between my fingers that I’d taken the dagger Kalene had given me out of my bodice… and I launched it at Mekhi with all the supernatural strength and precision I could muster.

  The world seemed to grow absolutely silent as I watched the knife whizz over Adriel’s shoulder, as it buried deeply into Mekhi’s eye, which went as wide as a saucer. His forward momentum was halted, and the Hound let out a sound like a choke and a whimper.

  Adriel turned just in time to see Mekhi slump to the ground behind him.

  With this turn of events, Ryker had released my arm, and I wasted no time in crossing to Adriel. When I looked back at Ryker, the expression of betrayal on his face was enough to squeeze my soul. He looked at the knife protruding from Mekhi’s eye, and back at me, apparently too stunned to move.

  “If you’re coming,” Adriel said gently, drawing my attention away from Ryker, “it’s time to go.”

  I stepped into Adriel’s arms and placed my hand on his smooth cheek. “Take me home,” I said.

  A rare, full smile lit up Adriel’s face, and he dipped his head. “As you wish, Rukiya dearest.”

  He whistled, and two of the Harpies swerved in mid-flight to retrieve us. I ran alongside him toward the edge of the dock.

  Ryker’s voice called out to us. “He can’t protect you, Rook,” he yelled. “The Masters will come for you, and I won’t try to stop them. Not if you choose this.”

  The Harpies were almost upon us, ready to carry us away from this city by the sea, just as that Firedrake had carried me all those moon cycles ago. But I cast one more glance back at Ryker. Despite the Pack gathered around him, he looked quite small on the platform, alone in the midst of the crowd.

  “Stupid Hound,” Adriel replied. “Rukiya has never needed anyone to protect her.”