All Chapters of Moon kissed, Blood crowned: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

MayaI had not thought this part through.I had thought about everything else: the disguise, the money, the cover story, the fake kidnapping, and the destination. I had lain awake for three nights, turning every possible detail over in my mind with the focused desperation of a woman who had nothing left to lose.I had planned for almost every possible complication.Almost, but somehow, in all that meticulous planning, I had failed to plan for one very important detail. An extra horse. And now I was left with the humiliating reality of sharing one with him. In a formal wool dress that was about as suitable for riding astride as it was for swimming.“Why don’t we just shift and run?” Valeria suggested, with the cheery practicality of someone who genuinely believed she’d come up with the perfect solution. “It would be faster.”Tyler looked at her, then at me.“Wolves leave a scent trail,” he explained. “Anyone tracking us could follow it for miles.”He swung effortlessly into the saddle

MayaI had never understood how painful freedom could be until today. I was a proficient rider. I had ridden for years, through forests, across open fields, and along winding mountain paths. But I had never ridden for endless hours at such a gruelling pace. By the time Tyler finally slowed his horse, I was certain the skin on the inside of my thighs had been completely rubbed away.I couldn’t even tell whether the slickness between my legs was sweat or blood. My back throbbed, my thighs burned, and my muscles screamed with every movement.There were parts of my body aching that I didn’t even know existed until today. And no matter how many times I shifted my weight, the pain refused to ease.Behind me, Valeria was suffering just as badly. She had been leaning heavily against my back for the last hour, and whenever the horse took a particularly rough step, she released a low, miserable moan.I wanted to laugh, but I was too exhausted.“We’ll stop here for the night,” Tyler announced a

MayaI opened my eyes slowly, feeling strange and completely out of place. The forest floor was hard beneath me, and a tree root was digging painfully into my ribs. I was curled on my side with nothing but my old cloak covering me against the cold and damp. If it weren’t for Valeria, I wouldn’t even have that.All my clothes had been left behind with the carriage. I couldn’t exactly tell my kidnappers to stop and wait while I collected my luggage; that would have made the entire kidnapping look suspicious. Thankfully, Valeria had the foresight to pack her raffia bag with a clean shift, an extra dress, a hairbrush, and, hidden at the very bottom, the clothes I had stolen from Kai’s chamber when I disguised myself as Theo.I moved my limbs carefully and swallowed a whimper of pain. Despite my wolf’s speedy healing, my muscles were still sore and stiff, and my skin was raw from the saddle. Tyler Kingston’s salve had helped considerably, but there was only so much an ointment could do for

MayaFor hours, we rode through the creek, the horses patiently pushing against the current. With every passing hour, my hope of reaching a village before nightfall faded a little more. Most of the time, the water came only to the horses’ knees, but occasionally we passed through deeper stretches where it rose to their bellies. The sun blazed overhead, its reflection glittering mercilessly across the slow-moving water until my head began to ache behind my eyes.Sweat trickled down my neck and soaked through my dress beneath my breasts. Flies buzzed around my face, persistently seeking the tender skin behind my ears.The only mercy was our slow pace. At least I wasn’t being bounced and jostled painfully against the saddle. By late afternoon, my body felt as though it had been wrung dry.Finally, Tyler guided his horse toward the bank and hauled him up onto a sandy stretch of ground.“We’ll camp here tonight.”Arion grunted as he climbed after him, carrying me toward the grassy clearing

MayaI sat on the horse blanket with my knees pulled tightly to my chest, watching Tyler move around the camp with the practiced ease of a man who had spent more nights beneath the stars than beneath the chandeliers of a pack dining hall.He had butchered the boar with frightening efficiency and arranged the meat over a spit he had fashioned from sticks. Every few minutes, he turned it over the flames, watching the skin slowly brown as fat dripped into the glowing coals.The smell was torture and my stomach growled loudly. Beside me, Valeria was practically drooling. I pretended not to notice.She had not said a single word about what had happened at the creek. She didn’t need to.The moment I had returned to camp, flushed from my bath and deliberately avoiding Tyler’s direction, Valeria had taken one look at me and understood everything. Without a word, she handed me my red dress. I pulled it over my clean shift as quickly as possible and sat down, determined to look as though nothin