Their forced luna

Amanda

Tugging Clara by her wrist, we ran through the snow. "Faster," I ordered her.

She huffed. Her steps were uneven. She hadn't been cared for very well. She was criminally thin and had the stamina of a baby sloth. "I can't," she wheezed at me.

"You can, you have to. You don't know Javier as I do." I looked back in the direction we'd fled from. How long would it be until he checked on us? I was doing all I could to not alert them through our mate bond. Even Ares was distracted by something.

"Do you have a plan?" My wolf questioned with a judging sniff. "Once they catch you it won't be a laughing matter. You know what happened to you last time you ran from anyone."

She didn't have to remind me. I knew better than anyone what happened to runners. "We can't stay here, you know that. If we do we won't be able to carry out the Moon Goddess' will. We promised."

"You promised, Amanda. I only went along with it because you were desperate. Granted, we probably wouldn't have survived without that promise. But I told you there would be a price to pay for it. This is that price."

Sometimes I really hated my wolf. "Mom, I can't run anymore," Clara whined. She bent over and grabbed her knees, struggling for breath. "You gonna tell me what we're running from?"

"I can't give you all the details, I'm bound by the Goddess. But, I made a promise to her, and if I stay here I'll break it."

"But, if you go out there, dad is going to get you," Clara complained. "We can't go."

I wished I could agree with her. But I wasn't going to hurt my mates, no matter what. "Trust me, this is better."

Clara took a few more steps and crumpled onto the ground in a heap. "Please tell me you've at least talked to them about this, mom. They're a bit intense, but they love you."

"That's the problem," I whispered. I squeezed my eyes shut. "What do you expect me to tell them? Oh, I'm sorry. I know you need me to be your Luna, but I can't stay here so I'm taking off?" I gestured to her fallen form. "Clara, if you can't keep going, I'm going to have to leave you behind."

"Again," she whispered with a little sob.

Goddess, I truly was a horrible person. But I didn't have a choice. Just like when I ran the first time.

Truth be told my own exhaustion was creeping up on me. The marathon sex sessions and sheer drama of what I was constantly dealing with wore on me. Not even the adrenaline of escape was helping me make progress. I was running on empty and there was nothing in my reserves.

"Mom, let's go back. They'll forgive you. Whatever this is about, we can figure out a solution."

A solution that would just make my life worse. No, it was better to crush them now than to let them endure agony later. This was the right thing.

I looked around us. We'd managed to get quite a bit away, but was it enough? No, it would never be enough. We were close to the northern border. One of those guard shacks was ahead of us. We just needed to push a little bit harder.

But what would we do when we got there? I didn't know how to control the shield. But it at least gave us some height. Maybe we could figure out a solution from there.

Clara stayed crumpled on the ground. "I can't go on."

"There," I pointed to the guard station. "Make it there and we can do this."

She wrinkled her nose at me. "Please, I don't want to do this."

"Stay here. They'll take care of you and protect you, I promise. I can't do anything else for you but this." She was staring at me as if I had betrayed her. I had but what could I do about it? I swallowed. "Please, Clara, understand. I don't have a choice."

I turned and left her in the snow, running towards the tall border patrol station.

Off in the distance from where we'd taken off, the howl of a furious wolf echoed. It took only a few seconds before two other howls split the air.

My mates had discovered my run. I scrambled up to the guard station. Strange, there was no one inside. Shouldn't there have been at least one guard? The entire place smelled burned too.

Wait, I remembered that scent. It was like what that Yale guy smelled like. Was he the reason no one was here? I shivered. I didn't want to run into another demon.

The howls were getting closer. I was off the ground by a fair bit, but not high enough to escape the magical spell. I looked back over my shoulder. Three huge wolves were clear in the distance. If I didn't go now, I wouldn't have a chance to escape again.

"Amanda," my wolf cautioned again. "We shouldn't do this."

No one understood, but I did. At least things couldn't get any worse than all of this. "I'm sorry," I replied to her and jumped from the platform that was as high as a tree and through the magical barrier.

The magic was like plunging into a boiling pool of water. It wasn't as intense as the encounter with the demon, but I wasn't nearly high enough to escape the pain. It ripped at my skin, and my face burned.

The pain stopped, replaced by a cooling sensation. In front of me was another wolf, one I didn't recognize. He was taller than my mates but had a slimmer build. His outfit was black with green trim and very form-fitting. His long golden hair was in a long ponytail top-knot and he bowed before me.

"I'm sorry about this, Luna. But I can't lose any more of my pack."

My mates howled again but the man wrapped a clear bubble around me and we rose in the air.

I couldn't stop the fear creeping through me. Only wizards had power like this.

I had been so wrong. Things could indeed get worse.