Free Run with the Moon by Bailey Bradford

for air. His head broke the surface of the water and he gasped, sucking in a great breath. He flung his head back, his wet hair slapping his neck and shoulders. His heart pounded and his fingers tingled.
    Aaron spun around, looking but not finding what he’d hoped to see. There were no glowing yellow eyes in the shrubs. Valen was well and truly gone.
    I should have begged to go with him. Aaron almost laughed at himself. As if Valen would want to be slowed down by him. As if finding a release together meant anything to Valen.
    “Get out of the water!”
    The sharply yelled order snapped Aaron out of his musings. His heart raced now for an entirely different reason as he looked at his father. “Yes, sir.”
    “Walter, remember what we discussed.”
    Aaron was relieved to hear his mother Anita’s voice. She was often the voice of reason when Walter was angry with Aaron.
    “I’m not likely to forget,” Walter snapped. “Get out of the water before you catch your death!”
    Aaron had been trying to do just that. It’d have been the coward’s way out. Part of the reason he’d considered it was to avoid his father’s wrath.
    Now there was no way of doing so. Aaron made his way to the bank of the stream.
    A figure dismounted from one of the horses. “I’ll help him.”
    No one told Lin she couldn’t assist him. She was Aaron’s favorite sister because she had such a big heart.
    “Here, Aaron.” Lin held out her hand. “Be careful.” She leaned closer to him. “I won’t let you be hurt.”
    Aaron felt more bruised inside than he’d ever been on the outside, and he didn’t understand why. He clasped his sister’s hand and let her assist in pulling him up. Aaron took a couple of steps.
    “You’re limping,” Walter pointed out, not very helpfully, Aaron thought.
    “I fell out of a tree.” Aaron cringed, waiting to be told how foolish he’d been to climb it in the first place.
    Walter only sighed and offered his own big hand to Aaron. “Up with me. No sense in soaking your sister or anyone else.”
    Aaron frowned in confusion. He’d expected a slap at the very least, and a solid chewing out. He let go of Lin’s hand and took his father’s instead.
    The ease with which Walter hefted him up reminded Aaron of Valen’s strength. It was an inappropriate comparison yet there nonetheless.
    “Hold on,” Walter said, as if Aaron didn’t know how to ride behind another person.
    Aaron wrapped his arms around his father and closed his eyes as his emotional turmoil ramped up. So much had happened in so short a time, and he couldn’t process it.
    All he could do was picture Valen’s eyes, remember the sounds he made when he found his pleasure. Aaron let those memories keep him company on the ride back to the village.
     

Chapter Six
     
     
     
    Valen’s first week as his own alpha was uneventful, which was a good thing as far as he was concerned. After sleeping the morning hours away, he and Rivvie would chase down a meal then laze in the sun for a while, enjoying their full bellies. Valen felt no need to hurry up and move on. They didn’t remain in the same place, with Valen only leading them around the forest to the other side of the village where Aaron resided. That was far enough for now. Fortunately, Rivvie didn’t question or nag him about staying in the area.
    Eight days after he’d left his original pack, Valen awoke before Rivvie did, when the sun was still out for another few minutes. Something had disturbed his sleep, a sound that didn’t belong, and in addition to that, Valen had been the recipient of strange dreams, something that rarely happened to him. Last night in the dream, he’d been scaling a great cliff. A glance down and he’d nearly fallen. How he’d come to be there didn’t matter. There’d been no seeing the ground below, nor the top of cliff.
    A strong and unsteady wind had kept battering at him. Each gust had carried whispered words of doubt to him. He was too weak, too