Luna Captured: Book 2 of the Luna Rising Series

by Sara Snow

  I hope my beta had received my message and had taken my father away from the pack. While Mathieu’s pack will be fine for now, Olcan might feel the need to get revenge on me and mine for me betraying him.

  It was almost morning and the potions we drank would be wearing off in a few hours. Olcan will realize we’re missing soon, if he hasn’t already, and then we’ll have people keeping an eye out for us. Or worse, rogue wolves. The faster we get out of here, the better. I looked up at the moon and buried my hands in my jacket pockets. This was going to be a journey and then some because neither of them trusted me or wanted me around. I wasn’t in the mood to go out of my way to prove myself, but I’d have to work to gain their trust eventually or this would be much harder it needed to be. We had wasted precious minutes back there standing and bickering.

  Also, while Ruby had been in the bathroom, Xavier had taken the time to warn me.

  “I’m only okay with you being here because she needs to be protected, and I can’t do it on my own if the Council decides to treat us like rogues.”

  “I think that’s exactly what we are now, Xavier. But it’s big of you to admit you can’t care for her the way I can.”

  Of course, I knew that's not what he meant, but I hadn't been able to stop myself from razzing him just a bit. I hated how she stared at him as if he was the sun or moon and her world revolved around him. I hated how much she hung on to him as if he was keeping her grounded to the earth while she looked at me like I might steal her panties. I’ve treated her badly from the start, so I know I don’t deserve her kindness. But dammit, I’m not a monster.

  “You have nothing to worry about,” I had told him to head off the inevitable argument. “Your girlfriend is yours and yours alone.”

  I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Why was I bothered about all of that anyway? I said it myself - I don't want to be with her - so why am I wasting brainpower obsessing about the connection she has with someone else? They were made for each other, and I was just unlucky enough to get tied into their romance. Maybe the goddess was punishing me by giving me a mate I can't really have

  They were standing a few steps away from me bickering, and I honestly had no interest in listening to their conversation. We needed to find a car. I could smell rotting garbage, gas, and nature, and I frowned as I forced my senses to do better, to stretch further After a moment, I caught onto the scent I was looking for.

  "There are humans near here," I said, and they looked my way as I removed my bag and placed it on the ground. “Maybe it’s the owners for this place, but either way, I’m going to check if they have a car.”

  I started walking off when Ruby spoke. “Don’t kill them.”

  I froze. I’m not used to words being hurtful because I rarely give a fuck about what people think of me, but that had stung. So that's what she thinks of me? That I'm a cold-blooded killer? I may hate humans, but I have never and would never kill them without reason. I shook my head and kept walking. “Don’t worry, Ruby, I’ll only kill them if they see me.”

  ◆◆◆

  Ruby

  Axel had been gone for twenty minutes before he returned with an SUV. It was a relief to get off my legs, but the awkward silence in the car was driving me up a wall.

  I was sitting in the back while both men were in the front. I don’t think either of them was particularly excited about being in such close proximity to each other. I looked from one man to the next, my annoyance peaking since neither made a move to turn the radio on. Did neither of them know that playing the radio is the number one way to cover an awkward silence? We’d been driving for almost an hour and no one had spoken since we had left the gas station.

  I knew we were on the run for our safety, but at this point, I think Olcan’s company would be preferable to these two brooding men. Olcan might be evil, but at least he was chatty. I hated awkward silences.

  It was getting closer to dawn, and I desperately needed sleep. It had been a long night. No, a long couple of days and nights. I scooted closer to the door to rest my head against the window and sighed as I closed my eyes. They soon popped open after I started seeing more of those disturbing images behind them, the very things I didn’t want to see more of.

  No matter how exhausted I was, however, no matter how my legs felt like they were going to fall off, I couldn’t sleep. I was haunted by the events that have happened so far, each and every time I closed my eyes. I kept seeing Olcan staring at me, and I kept hearing screaming. Falling asleep would offer me a few minutes or hours of escape from this world, but now I wasn’t even being afforded that basic luxury.

  I tried to bring a good image to mind, the one of Xavier and me at the hidden falls. I focused on remembering the sound of the crashing water. I focused on the feel of it on my skin and tried to remember exactly how relaxed I had felt. After a while, my eyes closed and I must have fallen asleep because whispering voices had me jumping up. Thankfully, it wasn't the voices I had heard in the halls of Xavier’s house. It was just Xavier and Axel talking.

  I closed my eyes once more but tried to listen to what they were talking about. I soon gave up and moved forward so I was between them.

  “What are you two talking about?” I asked as I looked from one to the next.

  “Private conversation,” Axel replied, and I flipped him the bird.

  "Once we get to Axel's safe house, our next move has to be finding a way to break through that wall in your mind," Xavier replied. Axel, who was driving, nodded. "We'll just need to find a witch, a strong one."

  “One that won’t tell the entire supernatural community about us,” Axel added. “Witches gossip too much, and it’ll be hard to find one that’ll want anything to do with wolves, to begin with.”

  “What about Willow?” I suggested. She was the only witch I’ve met so far, and Xavier seemed to trust her. “If she’s not strong enough to do it, maybe she’ll know someone that is.”

  He nodded. “We’ll see. You didn’t sleep very long. How do you feel?”

  “Like shit. I swear I’m usually more fit than this.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Axel murmured under his breath, and I pinned him with a glare. I was just about to give him a piece of my mind when Xavier leaned forward.

  He looked from left to right on either side of the road, and soon Axel started to do the same. Is this a wolf thing? I wondered as I watched them when Xavier suddenly pinched his nostrils.

  “What the fuck is that?” Xavier asked, and Axel’s face twisted with disgust. I didn’t smell anything however and it must be fuel with the way they both looked.

  I inhaled deeply, but still, I didn't smell anything. "What? I don't smell anything."

  “I can’t explain it,” Xavier said as he started to look in the back of the car, but there was nothing to see but our bags and me. “It’s like something is rotting or dead, but there is another underlying smell as well. I feel like my eyes are going to start tearing up. What the hell is that?” The car suddenly swayed, and I was thrown against the door. “Axel, what the fuck?!”

  “Something just ran across the road!” Axel yelled back, and the car suddenly accelerated. “Something’s wrong here. Something is outside. That’s what we smell.”

  “I’ve never smelled anything like this. What is it?”

  Axel didn’t respond. I leaned forward again, my hand holding onto Xavier’s seat while the other massaged my shoulder that had smacked into the door. “Is it a supernatural?”

  "With the incredible speed it ran across the road with, it must be. No human is that fast," Axel replied and his grip tightened on the steering wheel.

  I couldn’t see his face since I was behind him, but I could see his jaw and the way it was clenching. I looked over at Xavier, and he, too, looked more disturbed than I’d ever seen him. Then I remembered they still couldn’t shift. They were vulnerable with some unknown supernatural creature following us.

  "Maybe it's the Council. Maybe they sent someone, or som
ething, after us," I said as I sat back. Axel was hitting 160mph, and I knew if he suddenly stepped on the break, I'd be thrown through the windscreen.

  Axel shook his head, “They would have had to track our scent. The potions haven’t worn off yet. Do you have a gun?”

  Xavier nodded, “Yes. Ruby?”

  I had grabbed for his bag as soon as he had said yes. As the lone human here, I wasn't happy knowing that there was something unknown out there that was threatening enough to rattle two male werewolves. For once in my life, just once, I'd like the universe to give me a win. And by a win, I mean a fucking break.

  My hand touched something cold. I pulled the gun from the bag, but as I handed it to Xavier, something slammed into the car. I was thrown back against the door, my head slamming against the dark glass. Axel was cursing profusely as he tried to regain control of the car.

  I didn’t have time to see if my head was bleeding because I had to grip Xavier’s seat with all my strength until the car stopped spinning. We swerved back and forth as Xavier dived into the back of the car to grab the gun that had fallen out of my hand and onto the seat.

  Something barrelled into the car on the left side where I was, and I was thrown to the other side of the car as we were sent off the road.

  “Xavier!” I screamed, but as soon as his name left my lips, the car came to a stop as it slammed into a tree.

  I groaned and held my head, my hazy eyes trying to focus on the roof of the car that was still spinning. Whatever was outside was definitely trying to kill us. I sat up slowly, my hand holding the back of my head. Although I couldn’t see anything, I could feel the warm liquid and knew I was bleeding.

  I swallowed and blinked slowly, my eyes finally focusing when Axel appeared in the space between the seats, blood running down his face from a cut above his right brow.

  “Ruby? Are you okay?” He asked me as he reached out to me. I pointed to Xavier, my hand shaking because there was a large crack in the windscreen where his head had hit it. He wasn’t moving.

  Axel grabbed him and pulled him back so he was sitting back in his seat and not hunched over the dashboard. He started to regain consciousness as he groaned and raised his hand to hold his head.

  Neither of them was healing as quickly as I knew they could. “Xavier?” I called, my voice weak and broken, “It’s still outside the car.”

  I shouldn’t have said that. I never should have opened my mouth because a second later, Axel’s door was ripped off the car. A clawed hand reached in and pulled him out.

  I screamed. I screamed like I’ve never screamed before in my life as Axel’s deep cry pierced through the night, and Xavier instantly regained full consciousness. He opened his car door shakily, and I did the same. I stumbled out, and strong hands grabbed me before I could fall onto my face.

  This can’t be happening. We’ve come so far; we had almost gotten away! Xavier started pulling me, but I was looking behind me for Axel. We can't leave him, we can't just leave him. The night had fallen silent once more, and my heart felt heavy with dread.

  He can’t be dead! Please don’t let him be dead!

  “Xavier!”

  “Ruby, I need you to…”

  He didn’t finish his sentence as he was yanked away from me. I fell backward as I watched a man cloaked in darkness climb onto him. Xavier’s howl pierced through the night as he fought the shadowy figure.

  “Run!” Xavier yelled. “Ruby, run!”

  I can’t leave him! I can’t! I got to my feet, nonetheless, and started running. My eyes were blinded with tears, my body aching with pain, and my heart-breaking as I listened to Xavier's howls and cries. I pumped my legs despite the burning, but I didn't get far.

  Something grabbed me and threw me forward. The pain burned through my left shoulder as I skidded on the cold highway. I tried to get up, but I only fell forward once more. I could hear slow footsteps behind me, and I rolled onto my back.

  It wasn’t a shadow. It was a man, but it was like no man I’ve ever seen. He was pale, his eyes like two flashlights in the dark, but what chilled me to my bone was when he opened his mouth and revealed his massive fangs.

  I began dragging myself backward, the pebbles on the road cutting into my arms, but I couldn’t stop. He was advancing on me, his lips pulling away into a wide smile.

  "Please," I begged, my hot tears cooling as soon as they fell from my eyes to slide down my cheeks.

  He tsk-tsked at me, and the last thing I saw as he fell onto me was his glowing red eyes. The last thing I felt was the piercing pain of fangs ripping into my throat.

  Other Books By Sara Snow

  Destine Academy Series

  Destine Academy (Book 1)

  https://ssbks.com/DA1

  Destine Academy: The Return (Book 2)

  https://ssbks.com/DA2

  Destine Academy: Secrets (Book 3)

  https://ssbks.com/DA3

  Destine Academy: Prophecy (Book 4)

  https://ssbks.com/DA4

  Destine Academy: Changes (Book 5)

  https://ssbks.com/DA5

  Destine Academy Boxed Set (Books 1-5)

  https://ssbks.com/DA1-5

  Destine Academy: Bound (Book 6)

  https://ssbks.com/DA6

  Destine Academy: Charm (Book 7)

  https://ssbks.com/DA7

  Destine Academy: Shatter (Book 8)

  https://ssbks.com/DA8

  Destine Academy: Pain (Book 9)

  https://ssbks.com/DA9

  Destine Academy: Betrayal (Book 10)

  https://ssbks.com/DA10

  Destine Academy Books 6-10 Boxed Set

  https://ssbks.com/DA6-10

  Destine Academy Books 1-10 Boxed Set

  https://ssbks.com/DA1-10

  Luna Rising Series

  Luna Rising (Book 1)

  https://ssbks.com/LR1

  Luna Captured (Book 2)

  https://ssbks.com/LR2

  Enjoy This Book? I would love to hear from you…

  Thank you very much for downloading my eBook. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!

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  But I do have something much more powerful and effective than that, and it’s something that those publishers would kill to get their hands on:

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  Much Love,

  ~Sara

  About the Author

  Sara Snow was born and raised in Texas, then transplanted to Washington, D.C., after high school. This is Sara’s first series for young adults. When not eagerly working on her next book, she loves to geek out at Marvel movies, play games with her family and friends, and travel around the world. No matter where she is or what she is doing, she can rarely be found without a book in her hand.

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