Free Moon Bound (Glorious Darkness Book 1) by Unknown Page A

it?
    Sacrifices , the voice within my head whispers, an echo of my father's voice haunting me from a past I wish I can leave behind. It always comes back.
    Letting out a sigh, I back off from the door. "Come in," I utter, not letting the desperation into my voice.
    An alpha doesn't let others see the turmoil wrecking what's inside of him.
    She enters the room, her steps deliberately slow in her caution. Hesitant to look at me, her eyes are cast downwards as she approaches.
    "Alpha," her melodic voice is barely a whisper, her head bent low in submission. She has learned a lesson or two about me after all.
    "What do you want?" I grind out, the picture crumbling under my fingers.
    "I... I-"
    "Just say what you've come for and don't let me repeat myself," I cut her off, already tired of this, her.
    "I... just wanted to check on you. See if you're okay," she blurts, her cheeks filling with color as she peers up at me.
    She's got me confused with someone else. A weaker man. "And why wouldn't I be okay?" I inquire, the beast raising his head as eager as I am to find out this female's opinion of us.
    It shouldn't matter. The only one who should have any importance to us isn't here now to bestow her judgment, however, we need to find if this other female will give us her approval. Am I weak for needing another's affirmation? Should I feel guilty for seeking the comfort she must give me from someone else?
    Can the woman looking at me see it's what this is?
    For a few moments, Sasha fumbles with the hem of her dress, fingers raking over the material in suggestion and perhaps a bit of uneasiness. She snaps her head up at me, tucking the few locks that have escaped her ponytail behind her ear.
    "I presumed she'd rejected you," she says slowly, almost as if she's tasting the words on her tongue, the same one that's now flickering over her lips. "I thought you'll need-"
    "You thought wrong. She didn't reject me."  She just didn't say it , I add silently, hoping she doesn't see the heartbreak in me. And perhaps, she doesn't. What we had has never been the emotional kind of relationship. She doesn't know me this way. No one has ever known me this way.
    "She didn't?" So much doubt in those words.
    "She didn't," I confirm, biting back the beast's anger for being questioned by someone as low in the pack ranks as this female is. "You may leave now. Your services are no longer required."
    Shoulders slumping in defeat, she gives me a slight nod, turns back, retracing her steps, glass crunching under her feet. A lie being revealed.
    I look at the broken frame pieces long after she's gone, wondering if it will be Scarlet to come and clean them up, hating myself for even considering asking her to do it so I could see her, breathe the same air.
    Being blind and stupid for two years is now turning me into someone I despise more than the person from yesterday. It pains me to look at the mess I've created but I know that there's no other way for me to ever approach her.
    I lay on my bed, thinking about her as darkness fills up the room. Even in the dark, I can see her face, so close yet so distant. Probably for hours, she's haunting my dreams, the ones I'm not allowed to have.
    I keep waiting for her to come back, to tell me she meant nothing of what she said but it's not Scarlet who comes in the early hours of the morning.
    It's a cry. Loud inside the mind-link, one of the patrols is reporting a disturbance in the territory.
    Jumping out of bed, I run outside into the morning darkness. Listening for the patrol. Trying to pinpoint a location.
    The moon is low in the brightening sky, sinking down for the new day to come as I discard my clothes and shift, running into the forest.
    Breach in pack land , others join, panic penetrating their mental voices as I race through the trees.
    Uneasiness creeps over my stretching form, the beast howling inside, clawing at me to hurry up, catch up before it's too late. Afraid, he is so afraid.
    I slow my pace, breathing