Fighting by Anaya Phoenix (black books to read txt) 📕

“When we were sixteen you asked me to homecoming and I said yes, and I was so excited and happy, but then she asked you to prom and you went with her and I let you because I knew you had feelings for her. You won homecoming king and queen and when we went to sleep you told me that you would’ve rather I won because I was your queen.” Tears came to my eyes at the memory and I moved closer to him, needing him to understand it was me. He flinched away and looked disgusted and it hurt so badly. I could feel the link slowly piecing together, but I know he couldn’t and wouldn’t be looking for it. 

“When you won your first football game I ran onto the field and you hugged me so close to you I thought you were going to squeeze me to death, and then she came and you put me down and kissed her. When we went out to dinner to celebrate it you sat as far away as you could from me and were so enraptured in her that you didn’t sleep with me that night.” My voice wavered and I didn’t care, I needed to relate to him. He wasn’t buying it, if anything he got angrier. 

“Think about it. Do you really think I’d let a demon access to all of this information? Information I’ve safeguarded for all my life? Only I would know this, Ander, please just think logically!” I reached for him and he summoned his earth elemental weapon, something he’s seldom done in anger, which was a sword that he aimed at my neck. 

“Come closer, Demon, and I will end you. Even in death my mate can’t have peace, and I will not have you desecrating her body with your presence. Leave or be forced out.” He grit through his teeth and my family growled in agreeance. In a last ditch effort and with a small prayer to Mother Moon I brought out my victor and closed my eyes, focusing really hard on our link. 

“What the hell are you doing Demon, and think about doing it before I end you.” He snarled out, the sword touching the base of my neck and I knew if I were to mess up he would have no problem with slicing my neck and bleeding me out. 

“Connect the link, now.” I growled at her. 

“These things take-“ 

“Now!” I barked at her before opening my eyes and looking at him. Suddenly everything felt right and I was connected to them all. They all hissed air between their teeth and grabbed their heads, but for me it felt like I was being split apart. My body bowed slightly and quickly the weapon was gone and I was in his arms. I closed my eyes and needed a breath before I could say anything because my brain was on fire, and slowly it died out. I opened my eyes and saw him staring into my eyes, his eyes the ocean blue that plagued my dreams for most of my life. 

“You… you were dead.” He whispered, his eyes flitting from one eye to the other and his hands tightening around my waist. 

“Luna?” My mother hiccupped as she stepped closer, tears gathering in her eyes. I looked to her and smiled sadly, not fighting the tears that rose up and threatened to take over. I ran out of his arms and into hers, gripping her tightly and her reciprocating. She sobbed into my shoulder before kissing the crown of my head and sniffing my hair. My dad walked over and wrapped his arms around us both, sniffing my hair too and letting his tears fall down. Lifting his head he howled loud and happy, making all the other wolves howl including my mate who hugged me from behind. I took a deep breath and let in all the scents that seemed new to me since I’d been gone. With a sigh I squeezed tighter around my mom who’d gone hysterical, and I wasn’t sure if she could take much of the stress any longer. 

“It’s good to have you back Luna, Leo’s been insufferable since he killed you. Tomorrow we start song training, so I suggest you don’t celebrate for too long.” Eva whispered through the link and I sent a small sound of affirmation before relishing in feeling my family around me. 

                By the time they’d let me go I was exhausted and hungry, my stomach rebelling against me for having been empty for as long as it was. As soon as Ander heard my stomach rumble he growled everyone away from me and practically carried me to the dining hall, not noticing or caring how people stared at me. I didn’t fight against it, relishing in feeling his skin against mine and hearing his heart beat. When we got there he sat me down before rushing to bring me food, snapping at anyone who got in his way or didn’t move fast enough for him. I watched him with muted happiness as he came back with a mountain of food on two plates and sat across from me, pushing the two plates toward me and looking directly in my eyes. 

“Eat, you haven’t… just eat.” Was all it seemed he could say and I smiled softly while picking up a piece of chicken and biting into it. He took a deep breath and I kept eye contact while eating slowly, ignoring the groaning of my stomach as it got used to the weight of food. My spine tingled and I straightened, looking at the door and watching as Izzy ran in suddenly and launched herself at me. With an oof I went down as she wrapped herself around my waist. 

“Who the hell do you think you are? Dying, and leaving me here with all these wolves! Then coming back and not even bothering to let me know!? You are something else you know that, LunaRosa? How long have we been friends, and I can’t even get a complimentary ‘Hey I’m not dead anymore!’? Fame has changed you my friend, and I don’t know if it’s for the better or the worse but from the little snapshot I’ve got it seems like it’s for the worst!” She screamed into my shoulder all in one go. I rolled my eyes and tried to push her off of me but she was holding on to dear life. 

“Get this female off of me, somebody!!” I screamed and all Ander did was chuckle and I swore vengeance when suddenly she was pried off of me and I was lifted by a massive trunk of an arm. 

“I only got her off of you to yell at you myself. You’ve gotta be more careful, your body isn’t what it used to be. You’re too fragile.” I narrowed my eyes at the lycan I was regretting healing and pulled away from him to sit down. 

“You look good in white. That’s good at least. So when you actually die you won’t look horrible. My aunt looked like a bloated whale when we buried her.” Blake sighed, sidling next to me and picking up a french fry. 

“We knew she wouldn’t keep you up there though, we tried to tell them they were jumping the gun but snarky mcsnarky pants over there kept snarling and howling. It was a shame really, got the wolves all riled up and we almost had to put some of them down.” Rhonda said contrarily sitting next to Ander and throwing him pointed looks. 

“Well to be fair, the links went dead and I was gone for two days.” 

“Yeah but you’re too vital to the war, and she’s wanted this war for a long time now. She wouldn’t let a fuck up from one of her nephews fuck that up.” Matt said while shrugging and sat down on the other side of me, putting a struggling Izzy on his lap and patting her on the head which only caused her to get angrier. I started eating again instead of saying my input around my friends and smiled as they talked around from me and as Izzy tried her damndest to get away from Matt. I could tell that Ander was trying his hardest to enjoy himself, but he couldn’t connect with them the same way anymore. We ran in the same circle of friends when we were younger, but because him and Matt had problems he’d never gotten that close to the group. There was still some affection there, but the ties didn’t go as deep for him as they did for me. I could see, though, that for me he was making a genuine effort and that meant a lot. Slowly more and more people started filling the dining hall as dinner time was approaching and they all seemed to crowd around me. Family and friends, and friends of friends all seemed happy that I was back and I’d never felt more appreciated and seen than in that moment. Leo walked in and locked eyes with me, pain swirling in those eyes before he grit his teeth and looked toward the food and made a straight path there. I groaned internally, knowing that even though I’d managed to pull him out of his funk I’d done it too late and probably not in the best way.  

“Hey, ignore him. He’s been sulking around this place since…” Blake pulled my attention away and shrugged, her eyes not giving anything she didn’t want to away. I bit on my lip and looked around at everybody as they talked and laughed amongst themselves but around me, like my presence calmed them. 

“It was dark days when you weren’t here. Your family went feral, and they were already pretty nasty. If Valerie and Vixie hadn’t put Leo under a pretty powerful protection spell they would’ve attacked him. They still came pretty close though, I think that angered them more but under the contract of the spell they couldn’t attack Leo in anyway, so they kinda turned that anger outward. Any person that got too close to you, them, or Izzy and her family quickly learned not to do that.” She was talking in hushed tones and I looked to my family then, furrowing my brows before seeing it. Their faces were more terse than I’d ever seen, there were more lines there that had been there before I left. I looked to Lina and realized that the soft twinkle in her eye was gone, and she looked to me. She smiled, a smile that was more like our father’s, and came over. She sat on the table next to me and looked me up and down. 

“Are you gonna cut your hair before training?” She asked teasingly, while picking up a red strand. I rolled my eyes and leaned forward on my elbows, grabbing a section of my own hair and pulling it in front of me. 

“I’ll have to, because there are a few cunts out there that play dirty.” I threw her a pointed laugh and she threw her head back and laughed. 

“I don’t play dirty, I play by the Green Code.” 

“Oh that code is a bunch of bullshit and you know it, it basically outlines playing dirty and praises the dirtiest player.” She looked back at me and smirked before leaning forward, so close we were almost touching noses and she peered at me with green eyes that used to sparkle with so