Waiting For August

Part 23 ~ Push the bond

Friday was the first compelling moon. Three days a month, most of us would be forced to release our wolf selves. I say most because every individual had their own personal relationship with their wolf. Some wolves were more dominant and fought aggressively for control. These wolves had to run every night, leaving little choice. For them the pull of the moon was just too strong.

Other more submissive wolves were laid back enough and more at ease during this time. These wolves were often satisfied by running only the night of the true moon, when it was at its fullest. Older wolves too, often only ran one moon at best, while younger wolves had far less control and ran each night.

At noon, my friends began to arrive. Because we knew the lunar schedule, we could arrange our workdays accordingly. Most took these days off. The full moon had a way of turning our normal everyday lives upside down. We ran late into the night, usually running our wolves ragged – until they literally dropped. We'd wake up early the next morning, naked and far from home. Then we'd shift back and return to the farm. It left the afternoon for sleep. For many it was then, rinse and repeat. Some chose to drive home come morning. For others, I had cots available in the loft above my barn. My closest friends always stayed with me.

I was brewing coffee as they began arriving within a few minutes of one another. Naomi was first to walk through my door. She was wearing an ear-to-ear grin. She wasted no time in throwing her arms around me and squeezing me tight. She made a squealing sound as we embraced before she dropped her hands to my arms and looked up at me.

"Are you excited? You must be excited! Your first moon-run with August, how could you not be?

I smiled and nodded. "Of course, I am."

Little did she know, it almost hadn't happened. He'd been planning to skip out on it – run away again; head back to the city he'd once called home. There was so much I still didn't know about him, and I found it worrying.

Finding out that he'd been locked up during the moon, never being allowed to run free... I'd had to guard my reaction from him very carefully. There was already an overload of emotions coming across our bond... he'd been unable to stifle any of them. The strongest emotion had been shame; followed closely by embarrassment. It had left him physically ill, and the impulse to hold him, to try to comfort him had overtaken me. He'd been shaking as I held him. His entire body trembling uncontrollably against mine. All I could do was hold him tightly against my chest until the tremors subsided.

My wolf had released our pheromones as we held him, and August's reaction had been to immediately calm down. I realized then that I needed to learn better control. As a young wolf I'd learned how to reign my scent in for the purpose of hunting. However, purposely releasing it for the sake of attracting or comforting my mate was brand new territory. So far, I'd left it entirely up to my wolf. He often released them in response to Augusts own wolf. It especially happened after we hadn't seen him for a few days. August's scent too, always seemed stronger when I hadn't seen him for a while.

"I expect you'll be wanting to run alone with him?" Naomi was smirking at me in a knowing way.

I did, but not for the reasons she was thinking.

For those who knew he was my mate, they would be expecting me to mark him this moon. It was typical for a mated pair to consummate their relationship rather quickly, sometimes only hours after meeting; like the pull of a full moon, the draw between mates was just that strong. Then, they would mark one another at the next full moon, announcing their commitment – their pairing – to the entire pack.

August and I, however, weren't typical. I had just discovered that my little mate had never run free under the full moon. And we hadn't been physical yet. In fact, we haven't even kissed. Then, there was the little matter of us both being Alphas. For me to suddenly push the issue with him, I could foresee only one result, and it didn't end with happily ever after.