Stronger

Chapter 34

I won her.

I knelt to the ground, laughing silently. My arms were bloody, and I think I had lost a tooth. I knew I had a cracked rib, but I was so excited.

I stood and hobbled out of the arena. Cea and Eva came forward to their men.

I made my way to her, my body aching and throbbing. I opened the door to her sweet, wide, wet eyes. She sobbed and ran forward to me, her body turning red with my blood.

She moved me to the couch, and she sat beside me. We spoke no words, but it felt like heaven.

She washed my face and arms. She cleaned my wounds and bandaged them. Her fingers traced over my skin, and I unabashedly watched her for peace. I savored her kindness towards me, who had hurt her family. I had hurt her, and she was worried for me and healing me.

She finished wrapping up my chest and sniffled. “I have to go see my family.”

“Go,” I nodded to her.

Stay.

I watched her leave me for the second time that day, but this time it felt different. I knew now what I would give for her. I had been beaten, and all I thought the whole time was of her.

It’s terrifying when there is someone you need with your whole being, and every time you try, you freeze because you are afraid.

“How can I still be afraid now? I’ve promised to try, and she is still the one thing I am fearful of.”

I ran to the keep and into the clinic. My brother lay passed out on tables as my mother and Cea cleaned Charlie and my dad's wounds.

“Goddess be,” I turned away from them, bile creeping up my body.

He had done this...

“I can’t be upset; they had all accepted this. He did this for me.”

I breathed in and put my eyes on the fact that I had healed him before my flesh and blood. I felt gross and sickly with myself.

I turned and walked up to my father, bowing my head and ready to beg for forgiveness.

“Do not feel guilty,” he commanded me.

“But, Papa, he hurt you, and I...”

“In your family, you have to choose him. That’s how it is. It is a choice, my darling. You choose every day to have him.” He gave me a soft smile.

“I still think he’s an ass,” Charles rolled his eyes.

“Cea, go to them,” I grabbed the cloth from her.

Before she left, I quickly wrapped her in a hug and whispered an apology that she had to witness it.

I dabbed the cloth in cold water and cleaned his fingers. They were stained red.

“So you used your claws?” I looked at the red on his hands. “Like a child?”

“An-”

“Why are you acting so weird?” I gave him a serious look.

“He hurt my sister, and... and I wanted to prove myself,” he looked nervously around the room.

I shook my head. “Beating Grayson will not prove you are ready to be alpha. You are ready, and you know it.”

“That’s not what I mean,” he whispered under his breath, and I wanted to ask what he meant, but my mother came over.

“He fought with everything he had,” she looked over at me with an unreadable face.

“Your brothers will wake up soon, but I have to take you to get ready for the feast,” she sighed, and now I saw the disappointment in her eyes.

We walked to my house in an uneasy quiet, her anger or sadness. I could not tell what she was going to say to me when we were alone, but I knew she was upset.

Grayson wasn’t there when I opened the door, and I thanked the goddess silently. We went up to my room and sat down where she pointed.

“I don’t feel good about this,” she finally said.

“Mama,” I started.

“Anna, let me finish,” she told me. “I know he will do anything for you, but he is fractured. It is hard to start a relationship when one of the people isn’t whole,” she stood behind me brushing my hair.

“He is willing to do what it takes, and I can sense his care. But this situation is not one any mother would feel good about,” she looked at me through the mirror.

“How am I supposed to leave you now that I know he’s publicly hurting you?” she whimpered.

I turned and hugged her. “I will not break for anyone, Mama. That’s how you know, because you raised me, and you made me stronger than any kind of sadness. Even if he hurts me, even if there are challenges, I will always be standing in the end.”

She held me for a while, and I felt the years fade, and I was a small child in her arms.

She pulled away eventually and looked at me. “I still wanna kill him,” she joked.

She sat me down and began braiding my hair in an intricate four-stranded braid called the ones we leave out to frame my face.

She tied it with silver necklaces that went below my neckline. Then the cuffs. And finally, the anklets. These were to symbolize my journey to Luna and how soon I would be bound in gold to him.

The men had it to welcome me before dinner tonight. They selected fighters, and whoever won would bear the mark of Luna’s warrior.

Tonight, I had to serve everyone. I would fill their cups and their plates to show my devotion to my pack.

Then, in thanks and celebration, Grayson would serve me. I found it funny, the thought of Grayson serving me.

I walked out in my white dress and bare feet, and the people were laughing and dancing and singing the praises of Grayson, who stood with my brothers. Theo joked with him, and Charlie was stone-faced.

“Men!” Matthew called when he saw me. “Time to welcome our Luna.”

The men encircled me and led me to a throne beside Grayson. I felt like a china doll with all of them towering over me.

“We have chosen our fighters for you,” Grayson called to me.

Aaron, Matt, Brian, and Leo all stepped forward.

“We will fight for the prize of champion and brand of our Luna.”

They would fight to get a brand from me, which felt slightly off-putting. I did not find it pleasing to push a piece of hot metal into the skin of these men who had been friendly to me.

Luckily, it was not much of a fight. Matt was taller than the other men and quickly had them out for the count. He had punched Leo once, and he went dizzy. Aaron put up a better fight, but Matt was larger and could take his blows. Brian only needed a trip and push before he went down. Eventually, Aaron gave in to a chokehold.

I walked over and grabbed the metal. My symbol was a crescent moon with a paw print next to it. I felt like puking as I walked over to him, pity in my eyes.

“I am honored, Anna,” he whispered. “I can take it.”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

I gulped down and pushed the metal into his skin. The smell of burning flesh and the sizzle made me flinch slightly. I let it go as soon as I could, a sickening feeling crawling all over me.

I cleared my throat. “Let us eat,” I called, and they all bowed their heads to me and got into a line to wait for the food.

Grayson came first, his eyes burning into me. I handed him his plate and his finger grazed over my hand.

When Matt came, he was the last one, and he was painted with sweat. He looked at me intently and gave me a kind smile. Then went down the line serving his family and mine.

Eli and Charlie gave me bright smiles as they passed, and Elizabeth gave me a nod of encouragement.

Once everyone had been served, Grayson came over and knelt beside me.

“It’s time to serve you, my Luna,” he said softly.

I waited until the men had gone, and Grayson went towards my foot. He took the very meal I had served him and lifted it to my mouth. I opened my mouth to the taste of him, potent and with wide eyes.

I couldn't help blushing at this man, and the scene we were in seemed surreal. It was so intimate and only looking at him, a compelling feeling tugging her warm...

Grayson knelt in this eve, whom he brought a goblet of wine to me. I drank from it.

So exposed and worried to peel off of him, and he growled and brought this humor around lower until...

My breath turned to fumes and my chest ached. I felt the pull into him, the echo of his sum intensity.

I might die if this keeps up.