CHAPTER FOUR
THE ECLIPSE PACK
~~XANDER MORTAIN~~
The ceremony was successful. The moon had moved past its peak. However, the curse remained.
Every other wolf in this pack was granted the ability to divinely recognize their mates when they were in proximity. But the curse had denied me the privilege. I could stand in a room with my soul’s match and I would regard her as nothing but a stranger.
I was twenty seven, nearing the age of my doom. If I didn’t find and mate my Luna by my thirtieth winter, it would be the end.
Three years of sanity remained before I rotted from the inside out.
The pain began to claw at my insides again, making it difficult for me to function.
I had left the ledge the moment the ritual ended, unable to withstand the suffocating atmosphere of it all. I never wanted to be there, but my father had convinced me to attend, boring me with talk of the duties and responsibilities of a potential Alpha.
I hated being in public places; I hated being watched. I wasn’t blind. I noticed the way their faces paled and the way fear curdled in their eyes when they caught sight of me.
I pushed open the doors that led outside the manor.
A cold, oily sweat broke across my brow. It was as though my bones were being disconnected and rearranged. I felt a chill spread inside my body, yet my blood felt like it was simmering. My skin became too hot to touch.
I forced myself through the quiet streets in a bid to reach the larger woods without calling attention to myself. I kept my head down, my teeth clamped shut to stifle the constant grind of my jaw. I needed to shift, to let my beast take control until the pain was dulled. It was the only thing that helped, even if the pain of trying to shift would spike.
It was during this crucial moment, while I was fighting for my sanity and survival, that my mind took a turn of its own. Memories of large, hazel eyes filled my head.
The Branded Null.
For a split second, our eyes had met, and that one gesture had created an effect I couldn’t decipher. I’d see how Conor had tried to play Saviour. I could have ignored, allowed him to have his way but for some reason…
I shook my head, snarling as the woods came into view. It made no sense then, and it made even less sense now.
I was prowling the outskirts of the Lower Quarters, my jaw clenched so tight it ached, when I sensed it. The scent hit my nostrils. Lilitu Root. It was unmistakable.
“It has been banned for decades. How could a-”
My soliloquy trailed off when I caught the whiff of another scent. It smelled like jasmine and overripe blackberries. I inhaled deeply to be certain. In that instant, the pain in my chest dulled and my beast stopped snarling.
It was her. The Branded Null was nearby.
The scent of the Lilit Root came again. I put the bits and pieces together until it dawned on me: someone had intoxicated her.
Without thinking, I moved swiftly with an intense sense of urgency. With every step I took closer to her, the pain waned. I trailed her to the corner of a quiet alleyway that led to the quarters where the Omegas and the Nulls resided.
There, I found a drunken wretch leaning over her, attempting to touch her. Searing rage surged through me. I sent the man sprawling with a force that likely cracked his ribs. He scrambled back, looking up at me as if he’d seen death itself.
“I’ll give you the chance to run,” I growled, “before I decide to feed your remains to the crows.”
He didn't need a second warning. He scurried off, whimpering into the night.
I turned to her. Up close, the scent was overwhelming. The drug had forced her body into a feverish state. Her scent was stronger; the drug had done its part in forcing her into a premature heat.
For me, it was like breathing oxygen after a lifetime of drowning. The pain caused by the curse diminished, and my simmering blood cooled icily. Then, reality surfaced.
I needed her.
“Stand,” I ordered.
She looked up at me with trembling lips and unfocused eyes. “I c..can’t,” she whispered.
I reached down, my hands trembling slightly, and held her up.
The rumbling sound that emitted from my throat was inevitable.
The relief her skin provided almost had me weak at the knees.
The moment I scooped her up, tucking her small, shivering frame against my chest, the pain of the curse vanished entirely. My wolf let out a long, satisfied purr deep in my subconscious.
I was aware that the noble thing to do at that point was to take her home, but I knew nothing of where she came from. I could have taken her to the guest house to spend the night until she was okay, but she would never be okay until she mated with someone. It was the side effect of the Lilit Root, the very reason it was banned in the first place.
“I need you,” she whispered against my chest where her head lay.
The admission made my breath stop for a moment. Maybe more.
She needed me. I needed her.
Which meant taking her to my home wouldn't be traced back to me being selfish.
I arrived at the manor and walked straight toward my private wing where no one was permitted without an invitation I never gave.
I pushed through the doors.
The late shift maids froze. Their eyes widened in a bewilderment they did not bother to hide.
I couldn’t blame them. They had seen me indifferent, cold, brutal but they had never witnessed me carrying a woman.
Especially not a girl in a torn linen dress with the brand of a Null.
I didn't glance at them. I didn't need to. They all knew enough to keep their heads bowed and their questions locked behind their teeth.
I took the stairs two at a time, my wolf pacing inside me with a rhythm I couldn't control.
Once inside my chambers, I kicked the door shut. The room was cold. I usually preferred it that way to numb the burn of my blood but now it seemed as though a bit of warmth wouldn’t be a bad idea.
I laid her on the dark silk of my bed. The scent of jasmine and blackberry was now so thick it was intoxicating with the mix of Lilitu Root.
Her breath was coming in short, pained gasps. Her skin was flushed. Sweat dampened the hair at her temples.
I forced myself to pull away, seeking a shred of the discipline I had spent twenty- seven years perfecting. It was wrong to stay, even more dangerous to be this close.
But I didn't get far.
Her trembling palms shot out, clutching my wrists.
“It hurts. You have to help me get rid of it.” she choked out.
“You don’t know what you’re asking. Once I start. I won’t be able to stop”
Half lidded eyes looked up at me. “I’ll never ask you to stop”
Every ounce of self control I had fought to rein in shattered that instant.
I pulled her small frame against myself, lowered my forehead until it touched hers.
I made mental notes of reasons why I should be gentle. Why I shouldn’t hurt her. However, all trace of reasoning flew out the window the moment her arms rounded my neck and her lips crashed on mine.
I took all she offered, hungrily because I needed every bit of it.
The taste of her caused an explosion of sweetness that finally silenced the storm in my mind.
My inner beast roared in sheer satisfaction. The curse retreated into the darkest corners of my mind at the frictions of her body against mine, providing the only medicine I ever wanted to take again.
I rolled with her, pinning her into the silk sheets. My hands slipped beneath her dress, trailing over her bare skin.
I stripped the linen from her body. My breath hitched, caught in the back of my throat at the sight of her.
She was beautiful.
My lips claimed hers again, harder this time, as if I could breathe her soul into my very lungs.
“Xander,” she gasped into my mouth
Her hands fumbled with the buttons of my shirt, her movements clumsy.
I didn't wait. I stripped myself off the clothes that felt like an obstacle between us, needing every inch of skin-to-skin contact.
I buried my face in the curve of her neck and greedily inhaled the scent of jasmine and overripe berries.
She arched beneath me, her fingers digging deep into the muscles of my back.
“Do it now,” she whispered, her body trembling against mine
I succumbed.
The feel of her healed me in ways I couldn’t comprehend. Every time I tried to hold back, to remember that she was fragile, she pulled me closer, her nails scoring my skin as she demanded more.
I couldn’t maintain control. Not with her. I lost it
I felt her walls tighten around me. We collided into ecstasy together.
The once frantic gasps soon quieted
I stayed draped over her, my head buried in the crook of her neck, listening to the steady beat of her heart. For the first time in twenty-seven years, the air didn't burn my lungs. The oil-slick sweat was gone. The grinding of my jaw had finally stopped.
I looked down at her. She had fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep. I brushed stray hair from her forehead.
I had saved her from the street, but she had saved me from madness.
She was mine now. And woe to any man, god, or demon who ever tried to take her from me.