Rising Moon: The Awakened Trilogy #2

by Amanda Carol

  “Does Abby know how to control her powers yet?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure, but I know Zayne’s been helping her,” Declan responds, watching everything unfold before us.

  My heart rate kicks up as I see the Alpha approach with Hunter and Lydia flanking him.

  “Oh, no,” I murmur. I stand and line an arrow up, trying to aim it at Ronan. “I don’t have a clear shot. Other vamps are surrounding him.”

  “Three!” Ronan shouts pulling something out of his jacket.

  I feel the blood drain from my face as I realize what it is, and I take off running. I’m running faster than I ever have before, but it feels like I’m running in slow motion; that everything around me is in slow motion. Declan is right beside as we get closer to them.

  I scream. I don’t even know what comes out, but it catches Hunter’s attention right before Ronan lunges forward. A knife glistens in the moonlight, and its covered in Wolfsbane. Part of me knows that he’s wearing the Moonstone, but the other part of me fears that it won’t save him.

  Time stops.

  I halt my steps as the blade comes down, straight and true toward Hunter’s chest. Declan grabs my hand and I watch in horror as Alexander leaps in front of Hunter, and the blade punctures his chest instead.

  “No!” Lydia wails as Hunter catches his father in his arms.

  Then all hell breaks loose.

  I grab an arrow, line it up, point it directly at Ronan’s heart, and release it. He catches it just before it pierces his heart. He smirks at me, before disappearing into the fight. I race forward as the vampires rush the Compound and the shifters and witches fight back. Vampires are being thrown back by the air element or set on fire. Some of the water witches are mimicking what Grace did at the cemetery. Earth witches are summoning boulders, rocks, sticks, anything to try and help the wolves.

  “Declan, go help the witches,” I say quickly as I race forward over to Hunter.

  He’s on his knees, resting his father’s head on his lap. He’s not crying; he’s just staring down blankly at his father. His mother holds Alexander still while he convulses in her arms.

  Lydia holds onto her husband’s hand as he stops convulsing, and his eyes look up at Hunter.

  “Hunter, m-my boy,” he chokes out.

  “No, Dad. It’s okay. You’re g-going to be okay,” Hunter stutters as he reaches for the amulet.

  Alexander uses the last of his strength to grab Hunter’s hand. He coughs up purple goo, and his breathing becomes hitched.

  “I’m p-proud of you.” His hand falls to the ground as he exhales his last breath.

  There is commotion going on around us, but the silence that surrounds the four of us is deafening. Lydia collapses on top of her husband's body. I look at Hunter, his eyes are glowing as he stares down at his father.

  I’m sucked back into reality when I see vampires starting to circle them. I use the air element to knock them back. Bennett and Knox have shifted and are keeping the vampires away from Hunter. One by one, we fight them off, but there are just too many of them. I’m killing as many as I can as quick as I can to protect my man.

  “Hunter!” I shout as I punch a vampire in the gut, then pierce its heart with an arrow. “Hunter! We need you!”

  I turn quickly and shoot off an arrow into the heart of a vampire who was sneaking up on Lydia. Hunter is still staring down at his father’s lifeless body. Three vampires surround me, and I glance over at the others, who are all fighting off vampires. I use the air element to knock them back and manage to shoot an arrow into two of the three. But the three have now turned into six.

  I try to open the link to Hunter, but he shuts me out. I’m fighting and using my powers, but it's becoming useless. A vampire wraps his arm around my neck, and I hear the hiss in my ear as his fangs drop. I cry out as the vampire sinks its fangs into my neck. I start to struggle, but another vampire comes over and grabs my arm, and she sinks her fangs into my arm. Hunter’s head whips in my direction as I let out another scream. He jumps up and shifts into his wolf. He latches onto the vampire’s shoulder and rips him off me and I push the other vamp off. Bennett runs over to kill her as I fall to the ground. I look up just in time to see Hunter tear the head off of the vampire who bit my neck.

  “Aria!” I hear Ciera’s panicked voice echo’s loudly through the crowd. “He has Declan.”

  My heart drops as I get to my feet.

  I look at Hunter, then I feel the tug and open the link.

  Go, he tells me. I’ve got this.

  I nod and take off running toward the woods. Ronan is not leaving the Compound alive. Not this time. I am the demigoddess of the hunt. I know when I’m being hunted, but Ronan is now about to become my prey. I focus in on him and find him dragging Declan into the trees.

  “Gotcha, you son of a bitch.” I run after them.

  When I catch up, I stop and line a silver arrow up, aiming right for Ronan’s Achilles heel. He cries out and tumbles to the ground right before he grabs Declan. Declan stops running and whirls around as I walk over and pull the arrow out of Ronan.

  Declan jogs over to me. “The Achilles heel. Nice.”

  He holds his fist up and I bump it with mine.

  Ronan laughs humorlessly. “You missed the heart.”

  He clutches the bottom of his foot, before jumping to his feet. I don’t think he’s fully healed yet, because he stumbles a bit.

  “I meant to.” I wipe the arrow on my pants and shove it back into the quiver on my back. “You know who I am. I’m surprised that you thought I’d miss.”

  I toss the bow to the ground and do the same with the case of arrows. I reach into my back pocket and do the same with the silver dagger.

  “You think you can take me?” He laughs again. “You could barely fight me off before.”

  “That was before. This is now. It’s just you and us. No magic and no special weapons.”

  “Do we want to place any bets?” Ronan quirks a brow. “If I win?”

  “We know you can’t kill us, so...” I trail off looking over at my brother.

  “You get my blood,” Declan replies coolly, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “And if you lose, well, you die. Think you can take us?” I finish.

  I don’t even give Ronan a chance to respond as I rush forward and punch him square in the jaw, sending him flying backward through the air.

  Declan quietly whistles. “Splat.”

  Ronan spits out blood. “Someone’s been practicing.”

  “No. I’m just pissed off.” I shrug as Ronan stumbles back over. As soon as he gets closer, I throw a punch. “That’s for murdering our parents.” I throw another punch. “That’s for ruining our lives, and this…” I kick him in the chest. “…is for killing my boyfriend's father.”

  I go to throw another punch, but Ronan grabs my fist and wraps his other hand around my neck, bringing my face inches from his.

  “I. Don’t. Care.” He squeezes my neck harder and lifts me off the ground. “Does this mean I win?”

  “Nah, I don’t think so,” Declan says, rushing forward and wrapping his arms around Ronan’s waist.

  We all tumble to the ground and I gulp in a breath of air as Declan and Ronan spring back onto their feet. Declan manages to get a few good punches in before Ronan blocks him. He goes to grab Declan by the neck, but I quickly jump in, grabbing Ronan’s wrist and twisting it back behind his back. There’s a satisfying snap, and Ronan lets out a wail. I grab his other arm and hold it while Declan punches him hard in the jaw. Ronan roars and breaks free from my grasp, spinning around and grabbing my shoulders.

  “You’re beginning to piss me off. I will get what I came for,” he hisses.

  “Yeah? And I’m going to stab you in the face.” I knock my head right into his chin and he stumbles back.

  Ignoring the pain, I reach for him and punch him, then Declan punches him from the opposite direction. We take turns getting a few good hits in, and I use the air e
lement to bring my silver dagger into my hand.

  “Ahh, so we’re using magic now?” Ronan asks before flicking his hand, sending me flying back into Declan.

  We hit the ground hard, but I still manage to keep a tight grip on my dagger.

  Declan narrows his eyes at Ronan. “Nice trick. Bet you can’t do this.”

  He lifts his hands up, bringing tiny rocks up with him, and then sends them flying through the air straight at Ronan. The tiny pebbles hit him like bullets, and he falls to the ground. Declan gets to his feet, then helps me up, and we slowly walk over to where Ronan is lying on the ground.

  When we get closer, Ronan springs to his feet and Declan jabs him in the throat. Then Ronan lunges forward, but I meet him halfway and bring my dagger up, piercing right under his jaw. Blood pours out of his open mouth. I can see the blade go straight up into his head. I use the air element again to summon an arrow. It flies through the air and I catch it with my other hand.

  “Would you like to do the honors, big brother?” I ask, keeping my eyes on Ronan while holding the arrow out to my brother.

  Declan walks over and places his hand on mine. “Together, little sister.”

  And together, we plunge the silver arrow straight into Ronan’s heart.

  Ronan falls to ground, and I glance at Declan. We did it. We finally got the revenge we’ve been seeking since we started this journey all those years ago. But he and I both know that this isn’t the end for us.

  “We need to get back,” I say.

  I quickly grab my bow and toss the arrows over my back, and Declan and I run back toward the Compound. We emerge from the woods; Declan is using his powers to knock vamps away as I shoot off arrows. Wolves are ripping heads off left and right, witches are fighting as best they can, using their magic and trying to fend them off. I shoot an arrow into a vamp’s back right before it sinks its teeth into Kat, and she whirls around and drives a stake through his heart.

  I take a second to look around, and the vampires’ numbers have dwindled drastically. Abby is with Zayne, and she’s using the fire element like a pro. I search for Hunter, and he’s surrounded by vampires. Bennett and Knox are off fighting their own battle. All the wolves and witches are working together to kill the vampires.

  Declan and I take off running toward Hunter. Declan uses the air element to knock a vampire off of him as I line up an arrow and shoot it off into the vamp’s heart. And together we fight side-by-side with him. I’m tackled from behind and a vampire sinks his teeth into my shoulder.

  “Aria!” I hear my brother call out to me as I cry out.

  Then the vampire is ripped off of me. Something plops on the ground and then rolls in front of me. I’m face-to-face with the vampire who was on top of me. Its torso is lying next to me. I hear howls and sit up, and I watch as what’s left of the vampires run off into the woods.

  “That’s a little weird,” I say as I spring to my feet.

  “I agree, but at least they’re leaving. We can worry about that later.” Declan runs a hand through his hair as he searches the crowd.

  Knox has shifted back into a human and is now with Grace. Kat is with Abby and Zayne and they are helping other witches get to their feet. Ciera emerges from the schoolhouse with all the children. Luckily, the schoolhouse is far away from where all the chaos was happening, so no vamps were able to get that far.

  Finally, I lock eyes with Hunter. His eyes, they hold so much.

  I walk over to him. “I’m here.”

  He nods.

  All the wolves start to gather around in one spot. I glance back at Hunter, who is still in wolf form and frozen on the spot. I make my way over and see Lydia still hunched over Alexander’s body and crying into his chest, oblivious to the carnage that surrounds her. Kora walks over and puts her arms around her.

  I take a step closer and notice that Alexander’s eyes are still open, so I kneel down next to him and close his eyes. Hunter doesn’t need to see that. I don’t want him to see that. The crowd parts as Hunter’s black wolf approaches, and I stand.

  Hunter cautiously walks forward. His glowing bright blue eyes bounce back and forth between his parents and me. He shifts back into a human as he gets closer, his eyes are still glowing, and I can see them filling up with tears. As he gets closer, he comes over and falls to his knees down in front of me and he wraps his arms around my waist. His body shakes with silent sobs as I hug him. He grips the back of my shirt as I stroke his hair. Tears are streaming down my cheeks, and as I glance around, there’s not a dry eye in sight. The Alpha may have been an asshole, especially to Hunter, but at the end of the day, he did the one thing that Hunter least expected.

  He gave up his life to save his son.

  I feel the tug and open the link.

  Aria, I-I can’t, Hunter’s voice breaks in my head.

  I hug him tighter, but he pulls away and shifts back into his wolf. I hear his soft whimper as he steps closer to his father. I cover my mouth as he lets out a heartbreaking howl and then takes off running into the woods.

  I feel an arm wrap around my shoulders, and when my tearful gaze meets Bennett’s, I start to cry.

  The air around us grows thick with power as Artemis appears beside Alexander. The people around us gasp and some of the shifters turn back into their wolves. Bennett and I step closer to her as she kneels down, placing two gold coins on Alexander’s eyes. Lydia looks over at her, still in shock from losing her husband.

  “He is at peace now.” Artemis places a hand over Lydia’s. “The coins are for the ferryman, who will carry his soul to the Elysian Fields.”

  Lydia breaks down and mumbles her gratitude as she throws herself on top of her husband again. Artemis stands and places a hand on my shoulder. No words are exchanged as she gives me a sad smile, and then she disappears.

  I look up at Bennett, who is staring at the spot in front of me. He blinks, but doesn’t say anything. I watch as a few of the other wolves come over and take Alexander’s body back to his home, careful not to lose the coins. Declan comes over and takes my hand as I face the woods. I can see the outline of a black wolf, his glowing blue eyes watching on from the shadows.

  I open the link to him.

  Come home to me, when you’re ready.

  I still haven’t moved my stuff into Hunter’s cabin yet, so I shower and change at my old cabin. I pack a bag and walk back over to my new home. I don’t even bother with getting another wolf to walk me. They’ve been through enough. Feeling restless, I go into the garage and start to pick up where I left off on the painting of Hunter’s Impala. I have it coming out of the woods, and the trees form an illusion of his black wolf. I start to paint the moon when I catch movement in front of me. My eyes flick up and meet bright blue ones.

  Hunter.

  I set my paintbrush down and walk over to him, throwing my arms around his neck. I give him all my love, my strength. Anything he needs, it’s his. From losing my parents, I know there are no words that I can say that would make this any easier. I’ve always found comfort in an embrace. Holding someone when they’re grieving is more powerful than words.

  “He’s gone,” Hunter mumbles into my neck. “Aria, m-my dad.” He starts to tremble in my arms, and my eyes fill up with tears. “What am I supposed to do?”

  He slowly pulls back and I get a glimpse of his face. He’s crying, and my heart breaks. He’s been my anchor, the person who brings me home when I feel myself going adrift. Now, it’s time for me to be his.

  I cup his cheeks. “You grieve.” I stand on my toes and rest my forehead against his. “And you say goodbye.”

  “What if I’m not ready?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

  It takes me a moment to realize that he’s not only talking about losing his father, but also about becoming the Alpha.

  “You are ready.” I realize that I’m saying the exact same words as Artemis has. “I’ve only been on the Compound for a few months, but even I can see that this pack may have
followed your father’s rules, but they didn’t respect him.” I pause as our eyes lock. “Your protective instincts have kept people safe. You care about what others have to say because you listen. This pack respects you, Hunter. The witches respect you. I’ve always seen an Alpha in you, and I need you to see it too.”

  Hunter’s lips crash into mine.

  “Thank you,” he breathes.

  All of a sudden, Hunter yells, grabbing his head and collapsing onto the ground.

  “Hunter!” I scream.

  He looks up to the ceiling, and his eyes flash blue, brighter than they ever have before. He yells again, clutching his head and falling back.

  “What’s happening?” I ask, panicked.

  “He’s accepted his role as the Alpha.”

  I turn my head at the sound of Lydia’s voice.

  “He’ll be all right. He’s just linking to all the packs,” she tells me.

  Ahh, what’s going on? I hear a voice in my head. It sounds like someone with an Australian accent. Then I hear more voices and I can’t make out any coherent sentences.

  Having one voice in your head takes some getting used to, but to have what feels like a million? Well, it hurts like hell. Now I know what Aria went through when she started to come into her ability to use the link.

  “Aria, honey, step back.” I hear my mom’s voice as I lean back against my car.

  I’m gripping my head so tight, I feel like I’m ripping my hair out. I feel hands on my knees and I look up to see my mom kneeling in front of me. My eyes find Aria’s behind her, and she looks worried, maybe even a little scared. The pain shoots through my head once more and I scream out in pain.

  What’s going on? I hear a voice say, and then more respond.

  It’s hard to make it all out.

  “Fuck, this hurts!” I yell.

  “Hunter, sweetheart, I need you to look at me.” My mom’s voice draws me to open my eyes and look at her. “That’s it. Look at me and focus. This is the hardest part. The connection. You’re linking with all the other packs now. Just breathe and focus on me.”