Blood Moon (13 page)

Sarah’s face twisted with rage. She screamed
and pointed her fiery hand at him, sending an arcing flame in his
direction. He dodged away from it, ducking down behind the barrel.
Sarah aimed again, but before she could release her wrath on him a
second time, a gray wolf soared over the altar, taking her to the
ground.

Logan glanced back to the circle of fire
where he’d last seen Zelda, but she was gone. Violet whimpered and
turned a circle on the altar, as if she were looking for Zelda
too.

Maggie moved to help Sarah, but Violet
jumped down, blocking her path. The clueless witch stumbled back,
clumsily turning in circles before taking off over the hill. Logan
let her go. All he wanted to do was find Zelda.

Sarah screamed as the gray wolf latched onto
her arm. She swatted at the ground, until her hand clasped around
her forgotten dagger. Her fingers wrapped around the handle, and
she plunged the blade into the gray wolf’s side.

The wolf’s yelp unnerved Logan, and before
he could think on it, he was on top of Sarah, closing his teeth
over her throat. The witch gasped her last breath. Then Logan bit
down and shook her, making sure the job was done.

The gray wolf took a few steps back. She
slumped to the ground and whimpered. Logan could smell Zelda
everywhere. When he stood over the gray wolf and her caramel eyes
turned up to meet his, he knew why.

Logan tilted his head back and howled, a
long pitiful wail. Violet joined him, crying out a miserable echo
of his grief, before nudging Zelda with her muzzle and licking at
the knife protruding from her side.

She was dying. Logan could feel it. He could
feel more than he’d ever felt in his life.

You can stop this.
Violet’s voice crept into his head, and he turned
to look at her.

She whimpered and dropped
low to the ground in submission.
Please
stop this.

I don’t know how.
He howled again, lifting his face up to the blood
moon.
Tell me how.

Claim the title of alpha.

Logan froze. He’d heard of pack magic, but
he knew nothing about how it worked.

I’ll show you.
Violet inched closer, her yellow eyes pleading
with him.

Logan looked back at Zelda and whimpered.
Her belly rose ever so slightly as her breath slowed.

Do it.
He turned to Violet.

She had rolled onto her back and exposed her
neck to him. The act sparked a memory in Logan, something lost from
his youth. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew what to do. He stepped
over Violet and ripped the silver chain away with his teeth before
gently placing his mouth around her throat. Then he bit down until
he felt flesh break, and a trickle of blood found its way into his
mouth.

I am alpha to your beta. You will hear my
call and heed.

I am beta to your alpha. I
will hear your call and heed,
Violet
echoed back.

Something passed between them—an energy that
felt both foreign and familiar—and through Violet, he felt the
presence of others: Grant, Kerri, Charlie, Jamie, Pat, Nick.

And Zelda. He felt her link to him. And it
was fading fast.

Violet stood and shook out
her fur with a soft whimper.
You are alpha
now. Give her your throat before it’s too late.

Logan pushed his dark muzzle against
Zelda’s, and her eyes flickered open and rolled up to meet his.

I’m so sorry.
She licked his muzzle and whined
softly.

Don’t be sorry. Be alive.

Logan stood over her and tilted his snout
down to the earth, wedging her mouth open with his narrow chin.

You are alpha to my alpha. Take of me and be
well.

Zelda bit down suddenly, and Logan went
still. Blood dripped from his neck and splashed the ground. He
hoped some of it would make it into her mouth, and he prayed that
Violet was right.

As Zelda pulled back and licked his neck,
Violet took hold of the dagger with her teeth and extracted it,
causing Zelda to yip and roll onto her stomach.

The shadow over the moon was slipping away,
and a sliver of bright light shone down on them. Heat stirred in
Logan’s chest, intensifying with every breath.

He was alpha. He had claimed his pack. He
had claimed his mate. She couldn’t die on him now.

Distant howls echoed over the hill, and
Maggie’s desperate voice urged them on.

Violet turned a panicked
circle and growled.
What now?

Chapter Twenty
-six

Zelda’s body felt strange—not just because
she’d shifted into a wolf, but because of what Logan had done to
her. Because of what he had said, and how she responded on cue, as
if under a spell. His blood had definitely tasted like magic.

Sarah’s dead body lay a few yards away, and
while Zelda felt responsible, she could no longer feel guilty, not
after watching her dissect Marla and hand her pups over to a
psychopath.

Logan’s blood worked its way through her
body, and she felt it searching for her wound, where the dagger had
pierced her heart. It knit her together from the inside, and as she
healed, she began to notice other things.

We’re coming.
Grant’s voice cut through her mind.

Hold on.
Kerri was there too, and Zelda wondered if maybe
she was going mad.

Over the top of the next hill over, where
the brightest of the moon’s unfiltered beams fell, a dozen wolves
dotted the landscape. The Raymore Clan. A large, dark brown wolf
stood at their center, and when he spotted them, a howl rippled up
from his throat.

Devin.

His pack joined in, sending a symphony of
chilling howls up to the moon. And then they descended into the
shadows, disappearing a moment before creeping up the hill
featuring the altar and their unwelcome guests.

Zelda’s side wasn’t quite mended yet, but
she tried to stand, painfully pulling herself up on all four feet.
She wanted to shift back into human form and climb a tree, but she
feared whatever Logan had done to heal her would stop working, and
she also couldn’t bear the thought of watching Logan and Violet
battle the Raymores alone. She stood tall, forcing her flattened
ears up at attention.

Her charm necklace lay discarded near
Sarah’s feet. She nudged her nose under it and rubbed her face
along the ground. The necklace slid over her fur, falling in place
around her neck like a collar, and the weight of the world was
suddenly bearable again.

The Raymores crept closer, circling in. Low
growls hummed from every throat. Logan and Violet were the loudest,
trying to make up for their lack of numbers, Zelda supposed. She
growled with them, knowing it was no use. Three against twelve was
hopeless.

A series of yelps sounded from the edge of
the woods, and Zelda turned to watch six panting wolves bound up
the hill behind them. Excited, disembodied voices spilled into her
mind, and she saw her wolves together as a pack for the first time,
with Logan as their alpha. Her heart swam, and she wanted to greet
them properly and with joy—but it would have to wait.

Devin Raymore barked out an order, and his
pack moved in.

Zelda didn’t know what to do. Her adrenaline
spiked, and she felt her magic peak as the lump of barite she had
absorbed coursed through her, enhancing her flow of energy. Blue
lightning crackled over her wolf body, sending her gray fur up on
end.

The Raymore wolves edged back, flinching
when their alpha barked again. Their golden eyes had turned blue,
reflecting the light coming off of Zelda.

A black wolf growled and
stepped ahead of the others.
Hyde.
He zeroed in on Logan, pouncing on the new alpha.
Logan bared his teeth and rolled onto his back, kicking Hyde’s
underside with his hind legs. Hyde snapped at Logan’s throat, but
before he could make contact, Violet soared through air, knocking
him away.

She didn’t wait for Hyde to recover, biting
into the soft flesh of his exposed belly and digging out his
insides with her teeth and claws, while he yipped and whined.

Two more wolves rushed forward, but a white
wolf, Charlie, cut them off. The rest of the Raymore Clan moved in,
snapping and snarling as their alpha barked, ordering a full-on
assault.

Zelda stepped forward, but stopped suddenly
when another howl tore through the night. The moon was halfway
home, shrugging off the eclipse. Another wolf appeared in its
light, her dark red coat glowing softly. She had slipped in behind
Devin, who stood a safe distance away as he ordered his pack into
battle.

The red wolf seized him by the neck,
throwing him to the ground. He rolled sideways, his feet sprawling
in the air, kicking at her. But she refused to let go. She growled
evenly, waiting until he went still, and then she ripped out his
throat.

Her bloody muzzle lifted slowly, gnawing
lazily on a piece of gristle. The Raymore pack yelped and whined,
then they scurried off, disappearing into the woods as quickly as
they’d arrived.

The red wolf watched Logan and Zelda’s pack,
considering them as she chewed out Devin Raymore’s heart. When she
finished, she nodded to the alpha’s remains, inviting them to
partake of her leftovers. Then she slinked off to the woods as she
licked her muzzle.

Zelda breathed a sigh of relief, which
sounded more like a snort in her wolfish form. Logan circled her
and dipped his nose beneath her tail, earning an annoyed groan.

The other wolves took turns running circles
around the alpha pair, yipping happily. Nick less so, with his
splinted paw. Still, he seemed glad to be a part of the new
pack.

Zelda knew she wasn’t really one of them—but
she felt so close, closer than she’d ever felt to any family. And
now that she could shift with them, her heart felt complete.

She caught Logan looking at her, his golden
eyes hinted with green mischief she knew too well. He circled her
again, running his muzzle along her healed side and licking her
nose.

The night is young. Let’s go home.

Epilogue

Selena Chase sat behind
the wheel of her truck and glared at the bystanders through her
tinted windows. She hated the Cheese Festival. She hated tourists.
And she
definitely
hated parades. Especially when Christian Delph tricked her
into hauling the gaudiest float ever around town square.

The good doctor sat in the passenger seat,
grinning like an idiot as he tossed handfuls of candy to the
tourists. Selena grumbled to herself and waited for him to roll up
the window before answering his question.

“
No, I’m not joining the
new fucking pack. Don’t be stupid,” she said, rolling her
eyes.

“
You killed the Raymore
Clan’s alpha. By all rights, you should be ruling
their
pack,” he said,
folding his hands in his lap.

Selena cleared her throat. “No one can prove
it, and you can’t rat me out. Isn’t there some doctor-patient
confidentiality rule about that?”

“
But you’re not a
patient.” He grinned at her.

“
Don’t fuck with me,
Delph.”

“
I’m sorry,” he said,
sounding just a bit too sincere for it to be genuine. “What was it
you were saying about the visiting witches?”

Selena huffed and glanced at her rearview
mirror, double-checking the inflatable mouse and hunk of cheese
bobbing over her flatbed trailer. The youth group had covered it in
pastel colored tissue flowers, and every time she looked at it, she
wanted to vomit.

She glanced back at Dr. Delph and frowned.
“They’re dead.”

“
All three of them?” he
asked.

“
All three,” Selena
answered, her skin crawling at the uninvited memories.

“
You did the right thing,”
Dr. Delph said. “Spero Heights owes you a great debt.”

“
Fuck Spero Heights,”
Selena snarled. “And fuck you.”

The crowd cheered as a marching band began
playing, and Selena looked out her window to hide the tears
prickling her eyes.

Logan was a grown man. She
knew that. But she couldn’t help but view him as
hers.
Of course he’d
make a good alpha. Of course it was the right thing for him to do.
But she had alpha in her blood too. She’d always been content
bossing him around, but now she was alone.

“
You’re not, you know,”
Dr. Delph interrupted her thoughts.

“
Stay out of my head,” she
growled.

He ignored her outburst. “The Raymore Clan
is broken without an alpha. There is much fighting in their ranks
right now, and there will be for some time, until their leadership
is settled. Their territory is not a safe place to rear pups.”

“
What are you saying?”
Selena frowned at him.

“
One of the Raymore omegas
visited last night. She delivered Devin Raymore’s twins. Seeing as
how you’re a wolf, and you killed their father, it only seems fair
that you raise them.”

“
What?” Selena stomped the
brakes suddenly before a horn honked and she remembered the parade.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She swallowed and felt her skin grow
clammy.

“
Why not?” Dr. Delph
asked. “You’ve done a wonderful job with Logan. And we both know
you’re depressed over his pack formation.”

Selena stared out the windshield, her heart
thundering with anxiety and anticipation. “Who’s taking care of
them now?” she asked.