LunaI wake to the sound of crashing that shakes the floors. I sit up, blinking in the blinding sunlight that makes my head pound. For a second, I can’t remember where I am.Then a familiar voice booms through the house, bringing the whole overwhelming day before back to me. It must be midday judging by the position of the sun, but I feel as groggy as if I barely slept. I can’t remember ever having slept so late. I must be sick. That explains the headache and the oversleeping.“Give me back my mate,” a familiar voice thunders from another room. “Or you’ll wish you could die, you bloodthirsty leech!”A rush of joy floods my heart at the sound of Axel’s voice, and the brand on my arm pierces me with fiery heat. But then I remember fleeing his house, hiding from him, the pain and confusion of the mating ritual he performed.“I’m not keeping her from you,” Evan says. “I’m merely offering her rest. She chose to come here and did so of her own volition.”Loud footsteps tromp in my direction
The elder retrieves a knife and a long, carved stick painted with symbols. Feathers dangle from the end of the carved wood. She retrieves another wooden wand with something like deer hooves affixed to the end. The dried hooves clatter and set my nerves on edge as she rests them on the table. Next, she pulls out two tiny jars of something that glows like the bioluminescence I’ve seen in the sea sometimes when I’ve been exploring with my mother.When she’s laid out all her instruments, the shaman says, “Close all the curtains and lock the doors. We must seal the space.”“Ama,” Axel snaps, and Ama rushes around the house, covering the windows and slamming the doors, turning a part of the knob that makes a snicking sound.When Ama’s done, the elder turns to her and says, “You stand as a witness, Second. And you…” She points a bony finger at Axel. “Come and stand before your True Mate.”Axel progresses toward me like he’s trudging through quicksand toward his death.When he stands before m
CallanEthan is my wingman as we hunt swamp rabbits today—he’s on one side, I’m on the other. The helpless little bunny has nowhere to go. I lunge and snap, ending his life with one chomp of my canines. When my teeth connect, I shake the soul free from the rabbit. It flies from the prey’s body. Dinner is fucking served.It’s a perfect day to hunt as my brother and I slink through the edge of the woods in Creebay Preserve. The temperature is warm enough but not too warm, and a breeze kisses the fur on our bodies, stroking it like a lover’s caress.We stay watchful for Jacksonville pack members—the pack that owns the land and that Axel, the biggest dick on the planet, commands. That bastard would kill us for taking one fucking rabbit. Thinking of Axel makes my hackles stiffen and bristle. I can’t stand the guy, and ever since my brother Warrick challenged him for the Alpha position, the feeling is mutual.As a result of that little scuffle, we were all banished from the pack. Nah, who a
LunaA long, loud groan leaves my lips as I wake. I try to remember where I am, what happened. I’m in a bed that smells… Foreign. I take a few sniffs. The scent is musky and makes my body warm. I turn my head in the other direction and smell something sour like the way the clothes Mama and I found wrapped around the bones smelled before we washed them. It seems to be emanating from the sheets themselves, which feel a little greasy to the touch.I think back, trying to remember coming here. An assault of pain, both emotional and physical, launches through me instead.A bond I never wanted in the first place, torn from my soul. Mama’s eyes closing, never to open again.With a gasp of shock, I sink into the excruciating aches and gaping holes that leave my body open, vulnerable, and bereft.Why am I still here? Why didn’t I die like I wanted?Footsteps tromp about somewhere in the house. Men growl and laugh. I struggle to an upright position, finding myself in a small room with the door
I take his hand and let him pull me up. Then I touch the fur on his cheek. It’s bristly but soft, too. I give it a little tug, curious why anyone would have fur on their face.“What are you doing?” Callan asks.“Are you human?” I ask. “What creature has fur on its face?”He lets out a booming laugh. “I do, that’s who,” he says. “Now we’d better hurry or the food will be gone when we get there.”I want food, so I follow him out of the room, but my body is on alert and ready to bolt if I need to.The house is big like Axel’s—more than one room—but all of this one rests on the ground instead of having stairs. The same brown bottles and silver cans I found in the bedroom are scattered everywhere, empty of their contents. The smell of their contents, heady and somehow alive, lingers faintly in the air. Through a doorway, I spot paper cups littering the counter, a slightly fishy, skunky scent wafting from them. Dirty dishes are stacked in the sink. A mattress covered with tangled bedding is
LunaThe tragic events of the last few days hit me like a sledgehammer. The disaster of the pack gathering, bonding with Axel, fleeing into the woods, meeting a vampire, and telling him “pack secrets,” and the subsequent dissolution of the True Mate bond all collide in my head. I sway in my seat across from the three ravenous males who sit noisily inhaling their meals.Even though I’m starving, I suddenly can’t eat. Instead, I stare at the inked pictures of wolves that adorn the men’s bodies. “Are y’all wolves?”I spit out the sentence like a poison seed.Warrick looks up from his food. “You can smell as well as we can.”Ethan smirks, picks up his bowl, and tips it to his lips, sucking the liquid into his mouth. When he’s done, he sits the bowl on the table with a thunk and gestures to Callan. “Fill ‘er up, brother.”Callan frowns but says nothing as he ladles more rabbit stew into Ethan’s and Warrick’s bowls. “Not hungry?” he asks me, raising a brow and glancing at my bowl.“Wolves a
EthanAs I edge away from the table, I crack my knuckles with my thumbs, keeping my gaze pinned on Warrick. I goofed around with Luna too much, and now Warrick is pissed. I hope to put off the ass-chewing that’s sure to come my way for as long as I can.“You must be tired, Luna,” I say, my gaze flicking back and forth between Luna and my Alpha.Warrick busies himself with rolling a cigarette, but I know he’s tracking my every move.“You want me to sleep here?” she says, wiping her mouth with her sleeve and setting down her empty bowl.“Got somewhere better to go?” I ask.“No. Now that Mama’s gone…” Her voice trails off, and she sniffles.“Head on into the bedroom, and I’ll be there in a second,” I say, trying to be helpful by clearing the dinner dishes.Warrick strikes a match against the table and lights his smoke.Luna stands, coughs at the tobacco, and shuffles out of the room, looking like a lost kitten. And if there’s one thing I’m good at it, it’s taking care of the kitty.As I
I turn on the water and fill my hand with some of it. After slurping it into my mouth, I swirl and spit into the rust and soap-stained basin, then twist the spigot off. When I straighten, my eyes fall on Luna’s pretty lipswrapped around the handle of my toothbrush as she studiously and clumsily manhandles the brush against her teeth. A little frown of concentration pulls between her brows, and between that and the thought of my toothbrush, still wet with my spit, inside her mouth, it’s all I can do not to back her against the wall and show her a few more things I can do.“Would you look at that,” I say. “You’re great at that. Keep on doing what you’re doing.” I stare at her mouth as a little trickle of saliva escapes and trickles down her chin. I swear my dick is going to shred my shorts at any second. I’m definitely going to need a good tug session tonight.“I guess I need to learn how to do all this kind of stuff, don’t I?” Luna asks.“If you’re going to live here,” I say, tugging
Callan and Ethan position their shoulders against the door, crouched between Axel’s and Warrick’s spread legs. Water has begun seeping across the floor, leaking from under the door dining room door as well as the front door.“On three,” booms Axel. “One, two, three.”They grunt, straining against the door as it gives a couple of inches. Small waves slosh against Ethan’s and Callan’s knees on the floor. “On, three,” Axel commands again. “One, two, three.”They get a few more inches of space in the door.“One more shot, and we got it,” he says. “Ready?” The other men nod.“One, two, three,” he roars, as if priming himself for the ultimate exertion.This time the door opens wide.Warrick, Axel, Ethan, and Callan move away from the door. Water rushes out, since apparently the dining room is more flooded. Water drips from Callan and Ethan as they stand. The drips echo into the water sloshing up to their ankles.Borris rushes into the room as much as one can run while splashing through wat
LunaWarrick, Ethan, Callan, Axel, and I sit around Axel’s kitchen table, drinking beer and talking, trying to ignore the storm gathering strength outside and hoping it won’t be a big one.Warrick and Axel are already talking pack strategy, Axel filling in the new Second about pack laws. Even though Warrick can’t officially start until we’re sworn in, Axel sharing the details is a sign of trust that goes a long way. Instead of growling and snapping, Warrick is soaking it up like a sea sponge. It’s good to see them working together instead of tearing at each other’s throats.Callan nudges me under the table with his feet, bringing my attention to him. He gives me a smile and a wink that makes my heart flip, then takes a swig of his beer. My whole belly fills up with warmth. Ethan squeezes my hand on the other side. I want to stay this way forever, but a loud banging on the front door interrupts.“That doesn’t sound good,” Axel said, pushing up to his feet. “Must be an emergency for som
LunaI’m still humming with the bliss of orgasm and the satisfaction my wolf feels at being claimed by Axel when I look up and see three hulking shapes standing in the doorway.“Oh,” I cry, scrambling up right on Ama’s dead body.Axel sucks in a breath, and I realize he’s still knotted up inside me. “What are you doing here?” I ask the triplets.“We got worried about you,” Ethan says. “We thought something might have happened to you.”“And now we can see that something did happen to you. He happened to you.” Warrick steps through the doorway and charges toward us as if he’s going to fight with Axel again. I wince when Axel pulls the swollen base of his cock from me, stepping in front of me to block Warrick’s path.“Wait,” I cry, leaping to my feet and darting between the two men. “Axel saved my life.”Warrick halts, eyes the dead wolf, and then turns to us. His gaze sweeps my bruised, battered body, covered with bumps and scrapes. “What happened?” he demands.“Ama tried to kill me,” I
AxelSomething is wrong. I can feel it somehow, even though Luna hasn’t sworn into the pack, so we don’t share the pack bond. But we still share some other bond, a curse that ties me to her no matter how much I deny it. My wolf frets inside me, sure that something is not right.I sigh and try to focus again, piling sandbags along the edge of Kato’s backyard to keep the water at bay. Luna finally got it through my thick head that she’s with them now, not me. She wants nothing to do with me. She’s got three thugs protecting her, and even though they’re worthless wastes of wolf skin, they’re not going to let anyone touch her. They’d rip anyone’s head off who tried. It’s a miracle they put up with me as long as they did. If I’d understood how things were, I would have walked away before. But I listened to my wolf, and I sure as fuck suffered enough for it. I don’t need to go running to her house now. I never want to set foot in that place again.But the little voice in the back of my mind
LunaThe tempest is on its way, and I think it’s going to tear me from everyone and everything, just like in my dream. The winds are howling, screaming through the rafters, whistling through the telephone poles. Axel hasn’t stopped by to make sure we’re safe, even though I put my name on his list like he asked. He’s supposed to tell us where to go if things get worse. We’re not safe—we never even got the shutters on. The triplets are frantically trying to get them up before the worst of it hits.While they’re busy, I decide to run back to Axel’s and get the emergency plan myself, since he was too mad to bring it to me. Head down, raincoat wrapped around my body and tied securely at the waist, I power through the wind that nearly takes me off my feet. When I get to his porch, I have to pry open the screen door with both hands. I don’t bother knocking, just hurl myself inside and release the door, afraid it’ll knock me out if it hits me.“Axel? That you?” comes a dreaded, familiar voice
We sit in silence for a minute, and I try to ignore the weight and heat of Luna’s body in my lap. “Have you always been mean?” she asks after a while.“Nah, not always,” I say. “I thought I loved a woman once—the first woman I ever fucked. But I was just a pup like you—even younger. I didn’t know better.”“Better than what?”“I must’ve been sixteen, and she was twenty-four, twenty-five.”“So?” Luna says. “I’m eighteen, and you guys are twice my age.”“But it’s different with you.” I bunch her flying hair in my hand and hold it behind her head.“How so?” she asks, staring up at me with open curiosity.“I don’t know.” I shrug. “It just is. You’re fucking irresistible.”I like how with her, there’s no games. She doesn’t know to play coy, to hide what she truly wants and pretend to be what someone else wants until she has him reeled in. She’s just herself, our luscious little Luna, and that’s a thousand times more enticing than any put-on air.“What happened with the older woman?” Luna as
EthanThe wild winds have already begun testing the roof’s mettle, so after the hunt, I start gathering my tools to work on it. This storm’s going to be a bitch. The clouds look like bloated cows, and every body of water has white-capped waves. Mother Nature’s serving us up one whale of a weather front—for the millionth time this decade. We just can’t catch a break around these parts.“What are you doing?” Luna asks, watching me as I buckle on my tool belt.“Gonna go make sure your pretty little house doesn’t flood,” I say,smiling down at her. “Secure the shingles and add shutters to the windows.” “Can I come?”I open my mouth to say no, she’ll ask too many questions and slow me down. But she stares up at me with her big pretty eyes, and my resolve crumbles. I just can’t take it when she fixes me with those purple doe eyes. I can’t bring myself to deny her anything her sweet little heart desires.“Sure, pup,” I say. “Come on up with me.”None of us can seem to get her out of the hous
A blade of regret cuts through my muscles and bones, leaving me raw and bloody. I should never have made him stay and see that I’m someone else’s mate. His wolf will never believe it.The coffee doesn’t even taste good, even though it’s filled with cream and all the flavors of syrup that I want. I only drink half of it before I ask Callan to take me home.The next week passes the same way. I’m happy that the brothers are sharing me, that there’s no secrets between us. We’re our own little family, closer than ever. We eat together every night. We joke around as usual. During the day, they head out and do whatever boys do. At night, I fuck Warrick and sometimes Callan, too. It feels as good as it always did, but something’s different.Sometimes they ask me if I want to go out somewhere, but I politely decline. I need to stay close in case Axel stops by, and to guard my house. My wolf feels strangely, jealously possessive of it, even though no one has tried to mess it up, and Axel hasn’t
LunaI’m yanked from the fog of bliss at the sound of the front door slamming shut. I can feel Axel’s wolf, how wounded it is, and guilt cloaks me like a shroud. I didn’t mean for this to happen, even though some part of me thought Axel deserved to see what he threw away. That’s why I let him stay and watch.“Go make sure he doesn’t destroy shit,” Warrick says to Ethan.Ethan leaves the room. I know Axel wouldn’t destroy my house, though. At least I hope he wouldn’t. He did demolish our swamp home, according to Evan. But I don’t trust vampires, so I’m not sure if that’s true.The light of a half-moon streams through the slit in my blue and white lace curtains, lighting up the bed. Callan lays on one side of me, playing with my nipples and stroking my breast.Warrick gives a low growl and settles in on my other side. “Did my baby girl like that?” he asks.“So much,” I say, snuggling in beside him.“You want me to share you with Ethan, too?” he asks.“Yes, please,” I say, squirming at t