by J. E. Taylor
Fear-laced rage wound around her, and she forced herself to her feet. She didn’t want to die out here in the woods. Not at the claws of a wild beast, not on the eve of the harvest moon. A guttural roar of frustration leapt from her lips and she struggled to break the binds holding her in place, but the rope wouldn’t budge. “Son of a bitch!” she repeated over and over and over at the top of her lungs until she had no voice left.
That’s when the leaves shuffled under padded feet.
Alessandra crouched low to the ground, bringing her face to her knees, praying and shimmying the blindfold far enough to uncover her eyes. Gleaming bones, whole rib cages and skulls, along with disembodied arms and legs, littered the ground around her and her breath hitched in her chest.
Anchored to a metal bar planted in concrete in the center of the perfectly round clearing, she studied the discolored rope binding her in place. Glimmering black liquid dripped from the twine.
The shakes that gripped her this time around were not from the cold.
The ground surrounding her feet was soaked with blood. It pooled in small divots, shimmering black in the moonlight. It dripped from her torso down her legs, and it filled the night with a succulent scent of fallen prey. Marked with deer blood, she was fair game to the scavengers in the woods.
Thoughts of bears and any manner of wild cats, especially cougars, made her skin break out with droplets of perspiration, announcing her fear to any beast surrounding the clearing.
She raised her eyes to the wood line. Golden eyes peered out from the dark, dozens of them, and a low grumble surfaced in unison. Her eyes darted to the bones on the ground and back to the eyes.
The first wolf stepped into the clearing, baring his teeth and keeping his dark hungry eyes locked with Alessandra’s. The mammoth wolf stood close to six feet, his fur a mass of gray, black and white markings swirled together to form a pelt worthy of a hunter’s gun.
Alessandra stopped shaking and struggling with the binds around her wrist. “Come on.” The words came out in a low rumble from her chest and the wolf paused, its slow stalk forward halting, his teeth no longer bared.
The pack stepped into the circle, lining the woods.
Alessandra broke the stare with the alpha wolf, glancing around the clearing and counting. She brought her focus back to the first animal, tilting her head slightly. There were fifteen wolves including the magnificent gray wolf in front of her. They sniffed the air, bringing their tails between their legs, and lowered their heads in unison. A low growl broke the silence.
The mighty beast resumed his approach, slowly crossing the distance alone. The rest of the pack hung back, watching their leader.
He sniffed the blood surrounding her feet and lapped at it without breaking eye contact, the rumble still building in his throat.
Alessandra dropped to her knees in front of the wolf. “Hunter, get me the hell out of these binds,” she whispered.
The harvest moon reflected red in the wolf’s eyes as they moved from her face to the soft tissue of her neck.
“Belladonna,” Alessandra warned, causing the wolf to return his gaze to hers, his eyes widened in understanding and sadness filled the deep blue eyes.
“I know, but you can’t bite me. None of you can. If you do, you’ll die, too.”
Teeth grazed her wrists and she glanced back at the pristine white pelt of another wolf. Its powerful jaws clamped on the rope and she offered a smile to the silver eyes before she focused back on Hunter.
The pack closed the distance but was too skittish to partake in the spilt blood surrounding Alessandra, the blood the gray wolf lapped, his tongue soaking up the thick substance with each stroke before it disappeared between his giant teeth.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, glancing at the circle.
Tentatively, they lowered their snouts to the blood and began to drink.
The ties holding her wrists loosened and she shifted so the white wolf could break the binding the rest of the way. A few minutes later, she rubbed her wrists, scanning the surrounding pack.
“There is a way,” she said and stood. She traded a glance with Hunter and his eyes narrowed in dissent. Even so, when she stood, they parted, letting her through. Without looking back, she walked into the thick woods, her head tilted low, her teeth grinding together and her eyes glimmering with the red moon.
She had a score to settle and before she stepped out of the woods onto the edge of the road, she tilted her head back, letting out a haunting howl. The pack followed suit.
She lifted her nose to the air and caught the scent, heading in the same direction they had a few hours earlier after leaving her in the clearing. Jeremy mentioned a camping trip tonight. That was before he drugged her, before he bound her and left her for dead.
She walked, ignoring the burning ache in her muscles and the sharp pain in her feet, heading downwind and reaching their campsite at almost four in the morning. She didn’t have much more time before the Belladonna seized her heart, leaving her in a death spasm. His musky scent mingled with the smoke of burning pine and hickory was a welcomed relief.
They were still up, laughing and toasting their success at bringing another shape-shifter into the woods, wondering how long she lasted before the animals attacked and if anyone heard her dying screams.
She stopped, still hidden by the thickets, her anger coiling inside, warming her near frozen skin. Reaching her hand out, she found Hunter’s soft fur at her fingertips. Stroking his massive head, she felt the flick of his tongue on her calf cleaning a small patch of dried blood from her silky skin.
“I know we swore, but it’s the only thing that’ll counter Belladonna,” she whispered under the crackling of the fire. She glanced in his deep blue eyes. “It’s the only thing that’ll save me and that bastard deserves it.”
She whistled at a frequency too low for the human ear, sending out her command. The pack silently padded through the woods, surrounding the clearing.
She stepped into the opening, accompanied by the mammoth gray wolf.
The laughter died as three pair of wide eyes stared in her direction.
Jeremy shot to his feet, eyes darting between a blood-soaked Alessandra and her companion. He put his hands out in front of him. “You, you, you should be dead,” he said, taking a step back. A wet spot spread across the front of his jeans, filling the air with an acrid stench mingled with fear.
The full moon hung low in the sky as the collective growl of the pack filled the clearing and they stepped into view, blocking any chance for escape.
The alcohol that prohibited her from transforming had finally worked its way through her system and Alessandra smiled. Slightly tilting her head, her teeth transitioned from blunt incisors to razor-sharp fangs.
“You do know human blood counteracts Belladonna, right?” Her teeth gleamed in the moonlight; the long canines glistened, saliva dripping at the prospect of her next meal.
Wolf Moon Chapter 1
Alessandra Tate stood on the balcony of the old cabin, staring out into the woods with a cup of hot chocolate in her hands. Her thoughts kept drifting to the night she was attacked. As much as she wished she could shut the memories down, they kept crawling to the surface. She shivered. Hands came to rest on her shoulders, and she jumped, nearly spilling the scalding liquid down the front of her.
“How are you doing?” Hunter’s deep baritone whispered.
His concern grated on her nerves. “Fine,” she said, even though she was anything but. She had crossed the line and was now a fugitive. Killing a human for any reason was taboo.
The tribal community didn’t care that Jeremy and his fraternity brothers had beaten and raped her. They didn’t care the bastard had injected her with belladonna and left her for dead.
All they cared about was that she had spilled human blood.
“Bull,” he said.
She turned. Hunter’s sharp blue eyes held her gaze. He was as handsome a man as he was a wolf, but she had always
seen him as her right hand, her beta in charge of the pack when she wasn’t around. She had alpha blood running through her veins. Hunter Blaez didn’t.
Besides, he was six years older, and had always viewed her like a little sister who needed to be protected. The night she was attacked, he crossed the line with her, tearing into those frat boys with as much feral fury as she had, while the rest of the pack looked on in horror.
The only reason she was alive today was because of the human hearts she’d ingested. That was the only thing that reversed the deadly effects of the belladonna.
“Why did you do it?” she asked, searching his eyes.
His lips twitched, and he glanced out at the woods, scanning the trees as if the answers she was looking for were carved into the bark. When his gaze returned, he sighed and gave her a single shoulder shrug.
Hunter wasn’t much for small talk, and Alessandra had been thankful of that the days following the massacre, but that was three months ago. Now, his quiet demeanor just made her want to scream and shake him. She needed more than silence and sullen glances.
It was one of the reasons she had fled her home to go to college. She needed active participation in conversations, not blind followers. She needed someone who would debate issues with her. She needed someone who challenged her.
“Hunter, talk to me,” she said, using the alpha tone he had to obey.
He snarled and turned away. “I hate it when you do that.”
“Why did you spill their blood when you didn’t have to?”
“Because what they did to you pissed me off.” He glanced over his shoulder at her, with eyes full of hellfire. “Shits like that don’t deserve to live.” He ran his hand through his dark hair. Hunter’s mouth opened as if he wanted to say more, but then his lips clamped together.
Alessandra set the hot chocolate on the table and crossed her arms. “And?”
He stalked to where she stood, towering over her. “If you don’t know by now, you’re as blind as you are naive.” He spun and disappeared into the house, leaving her staring after him.
She charged in after him. “What the hell does that mean?”
He stopped halfway up the stairwell. “Ally...”
“No, Hunter. I need to know. I need to know why the hell you would damn yourself to a life on the run?”
“I didn’t want you going through this alone. Besides, your innocence wasn’t theirs to take.”
She didn’t disagree, but there was something deeper in his gaze, more personal. He trudged up the stairs without saying more.
“Hunter?”
He stopped but didn’t turn.
Alessandra wanted to push him for more, but the tight set of his shoulders kept her quiet. “I don’t know if I ever said thank you,” she finally said.
His glance and nod warmed the chill between them, and then he disappeared into his room.
She blinked as the conversation settled into her and his words finally sank in. She crossed to his door on the far side of the house. Hunter had his back to her and was in the middle of peeling his sweater off. His muscles rippled as he tossed the garment into his hamper.
“What do you mean by ‘if I don’t know by now’?”
He spun in her direction and she stared at his bare chest and carved six-pack. Alessandra tried to recall the last time she’d seen him bare-chested. She thought it might have been when she was in middle school and he was a senior in high school. His physique distracted her and she completely forgot the question she just asked.
“You really don’t understand, do you?”
Her gaze snapped from his chest to his eyes. “Huh?”
He raised an eyebrow.
Alessandra shook her head to clear her mind. “I don’t understand what?”
Hunter crossed to the door and grabbed the doorframe with his hands, blocking her from entering farther. “You don’t want to get into this with me right now.”
His tone ruffled the alpha in her and she straightened, with a glare. “Yes. I do.”
“Alessandra,” he said, his tone held a warning as clear as the use of her full name. He dropped his arms and stepped back, putting distance between them.
She encroached on his space. “Hunter, what is with you?”
His jaw clicked closed and the blaze in his eyes turned feral. “You can’t be this close to me right now.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” he growled, and his hands curled into fists.
Alessandra looked up into his electric blue eyes and something inside her fluttered. His musky scent mixed with the aggravation radiating from him. “Because why?” Her question came out in a soft whisper.
“Because I can’t get that shit out of my head. I wasn’t there to stop them, and it burns more than you can fathom. Every night I hear you screaming in your sleep and that just magnifies my failure.” He turned away from her and his hands slowly uncurled.
The tension in his back remained and she reached out, placing her palm on his shoulder.
“I was the one who blew you off that night. It’s not your fault.”
Hunter sighed. “I should have been close enough to do something,” he whispered. “I should have known.”
Alessandra stepped to his side, taking in his profile. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye but he didn’t turn to meet her gaze. “Hunter, there was no way you could have known. I didn’t even sense it until it was too late.”
His eyes closed. “You were too caught up in trying to be normal to sense the danger.”
His tone was harsh enough to draw her hand away from his skin. Hunter glared sideways. “You are always too caught up in Alessandra to see anything beyond your narrow view.”
“What the hell...”
He turned, grabbed her by the arms, and slammed her against the wall, pressing his form to her with a low growl. “I’ve always been your equal in speed and strength out there.” He nodded towards the window. “And I did a damned good job leading the pack while you were away, but you never even acknowledged it. Just like you’ve never acknowledged this.”
Alessandra stared wide-eyed into his angry features, but that wasn’t what clouded her mind. It was his hard body pressed against hers, all of it, including parts she had never associated with her beta. She gasped as his hips pressed into her, making his point clear.
“That is what you do to me. Now do you understand why I damned myself alongside you?”
Alessandra couldn’t speak, she just searched his eyes. Flashes of pain and want echoed in his irises like a warning signal, and her breath hitched.
“They took what I have wanted for years. They hurt you in ways I don’t know how to heal. They made it so that when I brush against you, you flinch. That is harder than your naive ignorance ever was.”
“I just never...” Alessandra started
Hunter lowered her and stepped away. “You never saw me. I get it.” He put his hands up, increasing his distance.
She blinked and took him in as if staring at a stranger. “That’s not it. I guess I always assumed your interest lay elsewhere, so the thought of you and me being more than just an alpha and her second in command never entered my mind.”
His eyes narrowed. “But you see me now, right?” He held his arms wide.
Heat filled Alessandra’s cheeks. “It’s kind of hard not to.”
His lips thinned as he pressed them together like he was trying to keep a comment to himself. He rolled his eyes and reached for the t-shirt on the edge of the bed.
When he covered his chiseled chest, a measure of disappointment filled her, and that reaction sent a jolt of electricity from her fingertips right into the center of her soul. She had never viewed him as mate material before, and now that his true intentions had finally been laid out before her, it sparked a fiery current. One that she was deathly afraid of.
Alessandra took a step backwards, putting a buffer of space between them, and Hunter sighed.
“Really?”
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Her eyes darted around the room as the discomfort built inside her like a wild fire, turning her confidence into fear. The panic attack squeezed her lungs and all her mind focused on was the abuse she’d endured in the van. The thought of another man touching her made her stomach roll, and she bolted into the hallway and nearly dove at the toilet in her bathroom, reaching it just in time for the contents of her stomach to paint the bowl.
“This is why I shredded their throats,” Hunter said from behind her.
His hands gently pulled her hair away from her face and he knelt beside her, rubbing her back as the memories overwhelmed her once more.
Wolf Moon Chapter 2
Hunter sat in the dark, staring out into the deep woods. He had cleaned Alessandra up and tucked her into bed before retiring to the living room and the fifth of vodka he had stashed away. Alcohol wasn’t a werewolf’s friend, as Alessandra had found out. It shut down their senses and made it impossible to shift.
But it was also something that numbed the pain.
Alessandra’s reaction tonight was not what he thought it would be. He thought by now she would have warmed up to him, or at least have seen the possibilities, especially with the spark that had filled her eyes at the sight of him shirtless.
Instead, the thought of being with him made her vomit.
He scoffed, and drained the glass, letting the bite of the vodka settle his nerves.
“What the hell did you expect?” he asked his reflection. No answer came, so he filled the glass and repeated, grimacing at the slow burn sliding down his esophagus.
He downed another drink and picked up the bottle, pouring the last few drops into his glass. His hands tingled, as did his cheeks, and he let out a large sigh.
“Hunter?”
He stiffened on the couch but didn’t turn. The fact he hadn’t heard her pad down the stairs or caught her scent on the air gave testament to the risks of alcohol for their kind.