Blood on the Moon

Asher

“This can’t be fucking happening,” I mumble for what must be the thousandth time in the last hour.

Why’re you acting like this is a bad thing?

“What do you mean? Do you have any idea how fucked up this is?” I ask. “The Night God must be behind it.”

Don’t be so superstitious. The Night God has been out of power for some time now. This must be the work of the Moon Goddess.

“So you’re saying the Moon Goddess gave me Genevive, then felt bad and swapped it over to Rose?” I ask with a scoff. “That’s not how the mate bond works.”

I walk into the bathroom, trying to pull my thoughts together. Maybe I’ll dunk my face in cold water, and all of this will be out of my head.

I feel awful for Rose. I want nothing more than to say she’s my mate and for that to be true. If it were, maybe I’d have a chance at a happy life? A life where I felt valued by my partner?

But it’s not true. And I can’t give Rose false hope like that when I know she has feelings for me, as much as I like to pretend that’s not true. It’s easier to think we’re just friends because then I can create an emotional boundary between us.

One that I ache to cross but know I can’t.

Asher, look.

I glance at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes glowing slightly from Cato’s influence, but what interests me more is the mark on my neck.

It’s fading. It's almost as if it’s disappearing like an old bruise, only a small red splotch on my skin that could be mistaken for a rash.

“What the fuck?”

I rub the skin, hoping to wake it up, but nothing.

Even your mark knows your connection with Genevive is over.

“Moon Goddess?” I whisper, glancing at the ceiling. “What is going on? Please, I need guidance. I-I don’t understand what’s happening to me.”

My hands shake as I gulp down the lump in my throat.

What if Genevive sees this? Will she get the wrong idea? What’ll she do if she finds out I-

Would that be so awful? Maybe you could goad her into rejecting you, and we can finally leave this hell hole.

And abandon Margaery? Abandon our family and pack?

We need to be with our mate.

“Asher!”

I flinch as the door slams against the bathroom wall, Genevive behind it, the handle cracking the drywall, leaving a hole.

Fuck, she is mad.

“Where have you been all day?” She shrieks, her fists balled and eyes flaming. “I’ve been looking for you all afternoon, and you were nowhere to be seen! Do you know how embarrassing that is?”

I roll my eyes, brushing past her out of the bathroom. I don’t want to be stuck in such a confined space with her.

Besides, I’ve got bigger fish to fry than explaining where I was.

“It’s none of your business, Gen. I was out. Not like you give a shit because you probably weren’t asking me to help with any official business.”

I rest my hands on my hips as I face her, and the look on her face is pure disbelief. But I don’t care.

All I feel is tired. I’m exhausted from being so scared of her all the time that I don’t feel anything anymore.

I’m just so numb. Indifferent, almost.

“Does it matter what I was trying to find you for?” She seethes. “I have the right to know where my mate and Alpha is at all fucking times!”

“Yeah, and do I get to know where you are and what you’re doing and who you’re fucking?” I fire back. “What? Were you looking for me so you could fucking force me into another threesome?”

“You’re so dramatic,” she mutters, shaking her head scornfully. “You wanted that, even if you don’t want to admit it. You were practically drooling.”

“Drooling?” I scoff. “You fucking sexually assaulted me, Genevive!”

“Oh, give me a break!” She laughs. “Cry me a river and try to take that one to the Tribunal. I’m sure they’d find your sad sob story of being a man who didn’t want to go down on his mate very compelling.”

“You’re truly something else,” I mutter, holding back tears, my throat closing around the words.

I hate how she’s minimizing what happened, but I shouldn’t have expected anything less.

“Maybe if you just said sorry and apologized for the shit you did, we could actually work through our problems,” I say. “But, no! Instead, you blame everything on me and make me out to be the bad guy and gaslight me!”

“Oh, what a big word you found, Asher! How long did it take you to find that one in the dictionary?”

“Will you stop insinuating that I’m stupid?” I yell, this time straightening my posture. “I’m sick and tired of you acting like I’m some kind of idiot! The only person here who’s stupid is you because you had a mate who would’ve done anything for you, and instead of loving and caring for him as you should have, you discarded him! You abused him! You deserve everything that’s coming to you.”

She growls, charging my way and slapping me across the face, but I’m having none of that bullshit today.

I grab her by the arms and throw her to the ground, and she falls in her ass with a thud, looking up at me with a look in her eye that resembles fear, but I know it’s not.

She’s only scared that she doesn’t have control over me anymore.

I glance at the nightstand, ripping the extension cord from the wall and tossing it out of the room. “You’re not going to catch me off guard with that anymore, so don’t even try to come at me again. I’d be real fucking careful if I were you 'cause I’m not fucking around.”

“Oh, what?” She whispers. “Are you going to hit me? Fine! Beat me to a bloody pulp. We’ll see what the pack thinks of you then. What your precious family thinks of you. I’ll tell them all what a woman-beater you are.”

I scoff, rolling my eyes. “Unfortunately for your little narrative, I’m not a violent person. I won’t lay a finger on you,” I reply, stepping away as I catch my breath. I don’t want to sink to her level. “But what I will do is…”

I trail off, taking a deep breath.

Do it.

Whether or not Rose is my real mate doesn’t matter to me. All I know is I can’t be with Genevive anymore, even if that means being alone for the rest of my life. That’s better than this.

“Genevive, I reject you as my-”

“Finish that fucking sentence, and you will regret it,” she warns spitefully, her voice dripping with anger as she rises to her feet. “I dare you.”

“I don’t want to be with you anymore,” I tell her, standing my ground. “Why would you want to be mates with a man who hates you? It’s not as if you’re my biggest fan, either! We aren’t meant to be together, and it’s better if we just separate before shit gets worse.”

“You’re not leaving me.”

“You don’t have control over that!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

I grab her face, and a little gasp escapes her lips as I hold her eyes directly across from mine, enunciating my words slowly to make sure they get through her thick skull.

“I, Asher Blue, reject you, Genevieve Moldroth, as my mate.”

I let go of her with a little shove, stepping back as I watch her closely.

“You better take that back, Asher, or so help me!”

Oh fuck.

What did I just do?

You did the right thing. The strong thing.

Cato, holy shit! I just rejected her!

Oh my Goddess, what am I going to do? Where am I going to go? Wh-What about the pack?

What about Margaery?

I glance back at Genevive, who must see the panic in my eyes. She smirks.

“You, Asher Blue, are my mate. Whether you like it or not,” she says, trailing her long fingernail down the center of my chest. “And I’m going to make sure you know that.”

Her eyes contain a kind of evil that I can’t put words to, and when she turns to leave, my mind can’t even begin to imagine what she’s planning.

I need to get out of here.

Fast.