Page 45 of The Red Moon

“Not so bad, huh?” he says and nods to the next row of chains. “Only few dozen more to go.”

He’s testing me. More than that, he’s punishing me for the dishonor I brought on his house. His name. What’s most surprising is how little one of the only weaknesses known to our kind affects him. I can hardly stand, and yet, he appears completely calm. Constant exposure makes silver easier to be around, sure, but I never imagined it was to this extent. My father kept the ability to shift at will a secret from the other packs to give him an edge should they ever try to overthrow him. It seems that Clément Duval kept secrets of his own.

I look down at my hands, noticing the new layers of flesh healing over the burns. The bleeding stops. The torture remains a constant. It won’t kill me to complete his challenge, though it might be painful enough to wish for death. I still think we should kill him, my wolf says, his voice low and strained.

Clément walks to the wall and leans against it, crossing his arms. “I don’t like to be kept waiting, Nikolai.”

Two agonizing hours later, I toss the final set of chains to the side of the room, falling to my shredded hands and knees. Blood paints the stone floors beneath me, pooling with sweat and the spit dripping down my lips. I try and let go of the key still sizzling my flesh, only for it to stick, branding the outline into my palm. The wolf taking residence in my head hasn’t said much in the last hour, and if it wasn’t for the subtle growls and grunts, I might’ve thought he left me, altogether.

Thunderous claps erupt, echoing to each end of the chamber. Clément struts toward me, his heavy steps equally as loud. “Not bad,” he says. “For a Vostik.”

I lock eyes with him, ignoring the sweat stinging my eyes. I can’t move. Gods, I can’t even speak. The only thing I can do is stare at him, unprepared to fight him off should the alpha decide I took too long to accomplish his task.

Clément turns to Dimitri, and in my brother’s eyes is an unforgiving rage like nothing I’ve ever witnessed. Human or not, there’s something deadly in him as he stares down the alpha, and just like the silver in this hall, Clément isn’t bothered by it in the slightest. “You. Take the chains to the room in back. He will heal faster.”

Dimitri looks from him to me, large fists balled at his sides. He doesn’t move at first, not until I give him an exhausted nod. Grabbing the first chain within reach, Dimitri slings it over his shoulder and moves for the next. Alexey trails after him but stops when Clément speaks again.

“Not you, comrade. Go fetch water, she can’t even move,” he says, voice somehow more merciful than it was a second ago.” He points behind me, finger aimed at the spot I kept a close ear on during my trial.

The chains stripped me of my flesh, sure, but the pain-filled cries coming from my Natalia did something I’m not so sure I’ll ever unhear. She hasn’t moved, and despite every worn muscle begging me to crawl to her, I know I won’t make it a few short feet. This alpha has beaten me without lifting a single claw. Here I am, barely able to lift my arms, and he still stands, showing more leniency than I’ve ever seen living under Vlad Vostik’s roof.

He kneels next to me, stiff bones cracking in his knees as he squats to my level. “I think we’ve learned our lesson, yes?”

I nod, spitting the excess blood and saliva filling my cheeks.

Clément grins, long white fangs complementing the rest of his polished teeth. “Good. That means we can move forward.”

The lesson is, if you plan on betraying Clément Duval, make sure you’ve built up a tolerance to silver. I’ve never heard of such a thing being possible, not even from rumors in passing. I was told they had numbers. An amount far exceeding any pack, even my own. His expansion came at a cost, though. Next, it wasn’t about how many wolves the Duvals had, but how their alpha was becoming unstable. Reckless. Speaking of some inevitable war, and how the survival of our kind was at stake. The soulless, he called them. My father dismissed his claims as propaganda, a way for Clément to add numbers under the guise of preparing for some unbeatable enemy. Little did my father know, Clément didn’t stop at building an army. No, he built an army resistant to our one fucking weakness. Silver.

I’m not sure what kind of barriers Clément has in that backroom, but the moment Dimitri seals the last set of chains inside, the invisible clamp squeezing each of my organs into a pulp eases within seconds. Standing upright proves difficult. Staggering towards her? Damn near impossible.

“Nat—Natalia,” I stammer, bringing myself within arm’s reach of her motionless body. Every molecule of the curse running through her veins screams, fighting off the silver she didn’t know she was heaving in with each breath. And Clément did this. He not only brought me in this chamber for some sick form of retaliation. He used her as leverage.

I tilt my head to the wall, eyes landing on the alpha crossing his arms over his chest in satisfaction. Clément knew, and he’s fucking smirking. When those doors closed behind us, he weighed what would happen. Considered the consequences. Not only to me, but to her. And he still went through with it.

An uncontrollable rage takes over my limbs, every bone ready to crack out of place. Thick cords emerge at my neck. My heart races at a shuddering rhythm. I arch my back, trying to ignore the monster ripping the seams of my human flesh. It isn’t pain that I feel now, but my body giving into the fury surging through me. Acid boils up my throat, spilling strings of spit down my fangs. I don’t care how red his eyes are. How many there are in his pack. I want his fucking head for what he did to her.

Clément stands tall, readying himself for an attack.

“Nikolai.” A voice pulls me from the black void taking over my eyes. Dimitri walks toward me, no noticeable fear on his stoic face. He doesn’t tremble when fur appears on my cracking forearms. No, he moves without hesitation. “She needs you.”

I look down at Natalia once more, my blurred vision coming into focus. Small whimpers escape her. Every muscle in her body contracts. She’s fighting it. Doing her best to stay conscious. My claws retreat. The lesions on my arms seal, broken tattoos becoming whole. I lift her limp body from the floor, cradling her head to my shoulder. Each breath in is ripe with the mouthwatering scent of her, calming the animal inside of me. “You did good, Natalia,” I rasp, my voice losing its carnivorous edge.

She peers up at me through winced eyes, mouth creasing to a slight smile. “So much for training.”

I brush the brown hair away from her forehead, matching her grin. “It will pass. Save your strength.”

Natalia closes her eyes and inhales deeply, heart rate returning to its regular cadence. “Do you smell that?”

I glance from her to every corner of the chamber, sniffing the air for good measure. There’s nothing. Nothing my heightened senses didn’t catch before, at least. “I don’t smell anything, Natalia. Let’s get you to bed.” I take a few steps forward, keeping her close to my chest.

“No,” she says, shaking her head while drawing another deep breath. “It’s here. It’s—” Her chin slumps down, crown resting against my collarbone. Soft snores are the next thing to fall from her partially open lips and gods do I want to keep her here. Encased in my arms until death is the only thing that can take her from me.

THIRTY

NATALIE

“Courtney!” I scream. My pleas are met with silence, and when I open my eyes, I’m not in the same forest backdrop of my nightmares. No, I’m on a bed in the Duval property, wiping away the sweat staining my forehead. The wolf got closer this time, deadly nails inches from me before I woke to a migraine and my stomach knotted like a balloon animal. Is the wolf stalking me in my dreams some kind of omen? A vision of what might be coming for me during the red moon? It isn’t Nik when he’s shifted, and certainly not big enough to be Viktor. It’s different. Small but agile. Eyes a striking shade of brown. The thing that stands out the most is the way it attacks, and for some reason, the monster only does when I reach for Courtney.