Blood Moon: Book 2 of the True Mates Series: A Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance

by Alicia Montgomery

  "Please, Estella, Lara," the middle witch warned. Grant cleared his throat. "Sorry...right...Alpha, my name is Vivianne Chatraine. I'm Cady's aunt. Her mother's twin sister. And head of our coven."

  "Of course!" Alynna slapped her forehead. "That's why you look so much alike!"

  "Yes. And this is Estella Rodriquez, one of the senior witches from our coven and," she motioned to the younger woman. "My daughter, Lara Chatraine."

  Lara smiled at everyone and gave them a shy wave, while Estella simply looked at her fingernails.

  "No wonder she and Cady could be twins!" Jade realized.

  "Er, can we get on with it?" Grant sounded impatiently.

  "Of course. Again, apologies for bursting in like this," Vivianne continued. "Where do I begin? We saw the news footage of course, and some of the cellphone videos online. The explosion at your office was definitely made by Ognevaia."

  "We knew that," Grant confirmed. "But what does this have to do with Cady?"

  "Well, it's a long story."

  Grant sighed. "Why don't you sit down? All of you?" He motioned for them to take a seat on the couch and everyone made way as they walked to the center of the room. Vivianne sat in the middle, with the two other witches on her side.

  "Thank you. Alpha," she began. "You're aware of Cady's heritage right? My sister was...well she's always been very troubled and rebellious. She married Luther Gray without telling us. Not that my mother wouldn't have approved, but it was certainly unusual. But she just left our coven to be with him. We just assumed that she had a happy life with her husband and her daughter. She never contacted us after they got married," Vivianne sighed sadly. "Also, in the last few years, the witch covens around the US and the Witch Assembly have been noting down some strange occurrences."

  "What occurrences?" Alex asked.

  "Well, a few...dark incidents. The traces of the use of blood magic, specifically."

  Jade gasped. "Oh no! Blood magic!"

  Vivianne trained her eyes towards the Lycan. "You know of blood magic?"

  She nodded. "I'm studying magic," she paused and then looked at Grant. Her eyes grew wide and she placed her hand over her mouth.

  "Purely informational reasons," Grant explained.

  Vivianne narrowed her eyes, but continued. "Blood magic is the opposite of nature magic. It's an abomination, something real warlocks and witches would never attempt. You need to take blood, unwillingly and often involves killing. We've seen a rise in the use of blood magic in the last few years and so far, we've narrowed it to one ex-warlock. Stefan Nemajic."

  "What do you mean ex-warlock?" Jade asked. "I thought you could never take anyone's powers away?"

  "Well," Vivianne looked apprehensive. "As you know, magic takes many forms. There's nature or elemental magic, which you already know of and sometimes, we'll have people born with 'blessed' magic, like my daughter. She was born with the ability to manipulate air currents."

  Lara smiled and as she waved her hand, a gush of air swept through the room, sending various papers scattering to the floor.

  "Amazing!" Jade jumped up from her seat and rushed to the young woman. "What else can you do? How much control do you have?"

  "Dr. Cross, please," Grant looked like he was going to have an aneurysm.

  "Sorry!" the young Lycan scampered back to her chair. "Please, go on."

  "There's Lycan magic, which for some reason your kind seems to have lost, but is retained in some other forms," she turned to Alynna. "Like when True Mate children are born. The power of it sends a beacon throughout the magical world."

  "So you know about True Mates and my sister?" Grant raised an eyebrow at the older witch.

  "Purely informational reasons," Vivianne replied with an impish smile. "Anyway, when you use blood magic, it takes its toll on you. You become...something different and you lose your humanity and some say, your soul. You also lose all connection to the rest of the magical world, becoming what we call a mage. Or in the case of Stefan, a Magus or a master mage. He's the only one we know of that has reached that status, but we're quite sure he's turned a few other witches and warlocks into mages as well. Victoria too, possibly, as we believe she's been working for him for the last five years, at least."

  "How do we Lycans fit into all this?" Nick asked. "And what do they want with Cady?"

  Vivianne narrowed her eyes at Nick. Her face suddenly changed, then she smiled, her eyes sparkling. Estella and Lara also looked at one another. "Mother," Lara began.

  "Later, child," Vivianne put her hand on her daughter's. "Anyway, let me continue. Our kind and yours have never had easy peace, but to tell you the truth, many of us now simply prefer to live our own, quiet lives. Not all of us were taught to hate Lycans. But, Stefan was part of a coven that always despised your kind. They see the Lycans as a threat to us and he was obsessed with destroying all of you. We believe that when the first True Mate pairing of the last generation came about, he plotted to stop it, and also the beginning of his rise to mage and magus status. There was no way he was going to let Lycans increase in numbers again."

  "Wait, you mean..." Grant's voice dropped.

  "I'm sorry, Alpha," Vivianne nodded. "He was threatened by Alynna and Alex, and as well as your father and her mother. Now that we witches have begun to connect the dots, recent evidence we uncovered suggests that he likely caused the death of your father."

  "I knew it wasn't an accident," Grant gritted his teeth. Alynna grew pale. "So, the mages hate us," Grant said in a steely voice. "They killed my father and tried to kill Alynna. But what about Cady? Why her?"

  "Several reasons, one was because she was so close to you. Stefan loves to play mind games, cruel as he is evil. He wanted you to believe she had betrayed you, to catch you off guard and confuse you. Next," Vivianne's voice croaked slightly. "This is difficult to say, but there's no other explanation. Stefan wants our bloodline. We are descended from the Fontaines, a powerful and old witch family. Victoria, myself, Lara, and Cady are the last carriers of Charlotte Fontaine's blood."

  "They're going to take her blood?" It was Alex who asked the question.

  "If only, handsome," Estella chortled and winked at Alex. The young Lycan blushed and his wife tried to hide a smile, amused by the cheeky old witch.

  Vivianne cleared her throat. "Not just her blood. Her bloodline. They want her children. They will make her breed as many witch and warlock children and turn them into mages as soon as they manifest any power."

  Nick shot to his feet. "I'll kill them before they lay a hand on her!" he roared. This time, Alex and Grant had to hold on to him, as his eyes began to change and the muscles underneath his skin began to shift.

  "Nick, please, calm down," Grant soothed. "We will find her, before they...do anything." He turned to Vivianne. "What do you know? How do we rescue her? Where is she?"

  "Well, they won't just mate her right away. To guarantee powerful offspring, witches usually wait until certain times of the month or year to, uh, procreate, plus they will probably perform some type of blood ritual before then to make sure. If my calculations are correct, tomorrow night should be the next possible date for the mating ritual, assuming they've found the right candidate."

  Nick had calmed down and sat on one of the chairs. "How close are we to finding her?"

  Alynna shook her head. "I'm sorry, the trail went cold after the gas station." Everyone else looked at each other and silence filled the room.

  "Alpha," Vivianne spoke up. "We can help. Or rather, someone close to Cady, who has formed a bond of sorts with her, might be able to reach out to her."

  "I'm the person she's known the longest," Grant offered. "But we've never shared any sort of bond."

  "Well, it's not about how long you've known her," Vivianne placed her hands on her lap. "Bonds are strange that way. They can form instantly, or maybe simmering on the surface. It could be something as simple as knowing how someone feels without saying it or..." She looked slyly at Nick. "Sharing dreams per
haps?"

  Nick shot to his feet. "I think I can...reach her. Through dreams."

  All eyes turned to him.

  Vivianne looked like the cat that ate the cream. "Good. Beta," she looked at him, her green eyes piercing into hers. "Both you and Cady must be asleep for this to work, so we'll assume that she'll go to sleep sometime before midnight. We can help ensure you do reach her in the dream state, if you don't mind us performing a ritual of our own?"

  "Whatever it takes," Nick answered. "If it means getting her back."

  ***

  Cady was lying in the most amazingly soft bed, the linens soft and smooth.

  "Cady," a voice called her. "Cady, please."

  "Hmmm?" she opened one eye. She smiled as Nick's handsome face looked down at her. He was sitting on the bed. "Nick...where did you go?" She stretched and yawned. "Come to bed, make love to me," she purred.

  "Later, love," he said, stroking the side of her face. "I want to. I promise I will, but I need you to tell me where you are."

  She sat up and looked around her. "I'm at home, of course," she smiled dreamily. Everything was beautiful and perfect and white. "This is our home, the way I've always imagined it to be. Isn't it perfect?"

  "Yes, Cady," he touched her cautiously, as if he was afraid she would vanish. "But you need to tell me where they took you."

  "Them?" Her eyes suddenly cleared. She looked at Nick and then scrambled to the edge of the bed, away from him. "You!" she hissed.

  "Cady, love, I'm so sorry for all the things I said. If I could take them back-"

  "But you can't" she shouted at him. "I never want to see you again! Those things...you called me a..." Tears began to fall down her cheeks.

  "I swear I will make it up to you! Or leave you alone, if that's what you want. But only after we rescue you! Please tell me where they're holding you!"

  She looked confused. "Holding me? Where? Nick?" The edges of the dream began to fade as she began to remember. Victoria. Daric. Stefan.

  "They warned me about this," Nick grabbed onto her, crushing her against him. "You're starting to recall what happened in the real world, but that also means the dream state we're sharing will fade soon. It's really me, love. Don't you remember? The dream after the wedding. The car. It's real, we've been sharing dreams all this time."

  "Oh god!" she pulled away and scratched her head. Her dream home was disappearing, the edges turning to black. Nick began to fade in and out. "It's some mansion. Abandoned. Probably still in New York, but near Connecticut. I remember..." she wracked her brains, thinking of some clue. "The mansion was turn of the century, had a big ballroom with an entire wall made of glass, overlooking some mountains. There's at least two floors and there was a grand staircase and a large portrait of a woman in white with this gigantic ruby necklace! Oh Nick, I wish I knew more! They're keeping me in my room, I can't go out and I can't even look out the window!"

  "Have they...did anyone hurt you?"

  She shook her head. "Not yet. Tomorrow they said..."

  But the dream ended before she could continue. Cady's body was soaked with sweat as she woke up. She sat up, turning on one of the lights beside her bed. "Oh my god," she cried out. "Nick..." It had felt real. Wait, it was real. Nick really was in her dream, right? Hopefully she had given him enough information to find out where she was being held.

  ***

  Nick woke up with a start. He was back at The Enclave, in his own apartment and the three witches peered down at him as they sat by his bedside. Everyone else was waiting in his living room.

  "Did it work?" Lara asked excitedly.

  He nodded his head and she hopped off the bed to call everyone in.

  As the rest of them walked in, he reached for a bottle of water, trying to calm himself. His heart was beating fast, his anger rising again. It was his wolf, wanting to be released. He had never felt like this before.

  "She's...unharmed, for now," he took another swig of water. "She's being held by the mages in an old, turn of the century mansion either upstate or in Connecticut. It's at least two stories and has a ballroom with one side that's entirely made of glass and view of some mountains and trees that have already turned."

  Alynna was jotting down note furiously into her notebook. "What else?"

  "There's a portrait of some sort, probably in the main foyer. A woman in white wearing a large ruby necklace."

  "That's it?" Grant asked.

  He nodded. "She faded away before I could get any more."

  "It'll have to be enough," Vivianne sighed.

  "My team and I will get to work," Alynna said as she raced out of Nick's bedroom.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  In the small setup in Nick's penthouse, Alynna worked for hours, going back and forth with her hacker friends over video chat. There were three of them on the screen, but they only agreed to work for them if no one except Alynna saw their faces.

  Alex and the everyone else tried to assist, but none of them were as computer savvy as Alynna, except Liam. Much to Alex's annoyance, the Alpha took a seat across his wife and they worked together with ease, throwing research and computer jargon at each other.

  They all waited around, taking turns assisting Alynna and Liam when they could and also finding spaces to take quick naps. Alynna herself stopped at around 3am, cuddling up to her husband on one of the couches. By the time she was up again, Liam was getting ready to crash in the guest room. The witches had long retired to one of Nick's spare bedrooms, and the Lycans lounged around the living room. Nick was alert and up, not even feeling slightly sleepy.

  Finally, at around 11 am, while everyone was eating lunch, Alynna had a breakthrough. "I think I know where they're holding her!" She said, turning one of her monitors towards the others. "Gracie House in Upstate New York, about 3 hours drive from here." It was an old mansion on a sprawling estate near Connecticut. Alynna clicked through the photos, showing a large picture window in a ballroom overlooking some mountains. The next photo showed a portrait hanging in the foyer, with a woman in a white dress, a huge ruby pendant hanging over her chest.

  "That must be it!" Nick urged. "Let's go now!"

  "We should verify it first," Grant calmly added. "What if she's not there and we spend three hours driving up there and it turns out she's across the state?"

  "How can we be sure then?" the Beta's hands curled into fists. "We need to act now."

  "How about we start with satellite photos first? Guys," Alynna looked at her hacker friends on her screen. "Any satellites we can borrow today?"

  ***

  It was hours after her last meal, and Cady assumed it was probably nearing evening time. They didn't tell her anything but she only assumed, from what little she knew of witches, that there would be some ritual before they made her...she shook her head. She mustn't think of that. Nick said they were going to find her, right? That they would come for her and rescue her. She would just have to resist and stall as much as she could.

  As time passed, Cady lost all hope of a rescue. Finally, the door to the room opened and Victoria, plus two other women she'd never seen before came in with her. "Finish this meal," she placed a tray on the table. "Don't even think about disobeying me, child."

  She was so hungry, she devoured the food quickly. Afterwards, she felt lightheaded and the world around her became blurry.

  "Now, be a good girl, take off your clothes and get into the tub," Victoria ordered.

  Cady made her way to the large bathroom, removed all her clothing and stepped into the tub. The other women must had filled it with warm water while she was eating, along with some scented oils that made her sleepy. Strangely, she felt calm, even as they helped her out of the tub and began to dry her and then dress her. They put her in a white linen dress that came down to her heels, but had a deep V that ended just above her bellybutton, exposing the deep curves of her cleavage. They brushed her red hair until it shone, then arranged it artfully, pinning a few curls up while leaving some tendrils down.
Finally, they placed a gold circlet around her head.

  "You're ready," Victoria proclaimed.

  Cady felt like she was floating as she was led out of the room, down the staircase and into the ballroom. There was a large wooden square dais in the middle of the room and a dozen or so hooded figures stood around it. Daric, dressed in white linen robes himself was standing up on the dais, a small table with a large gold bowl in front of him.

  "Time to begin," Stefan proclaimed. He stepped towards the circle and they parted as he went through, joining Daric.

  Victoria brought her up to the dais, guiding her so she stood in front of Daric. She looked up at his cold, handsome face. Cady thought she'd be more scared, but instead, felt dazed. Everything around her seemed to blur and shimmer. "Why...why am I feeling so..." she looked at her mother. "You drugged me!"

  "For your own good, my dear," Victoria patted her arm and she flinched.

  "Don't touch me!"

  "Don't fight it, my child, this is meant to be. Years from now, you will be a hero. The mother of mages."

  "No," she tried to protest, but she felt too weak.

  "Get on with it!" Stefan ordered.

  "Yes Master," Victoria bowed. She took something from her belt, a long, sharp jeweled knife that she held up in the light. She took Daric's hand and then cut into his palm, squeezing it until drops of blood flowed out, dripping into the bowl.

  "His blood, and then your blood," she grabbed Cady's hands and repeated the motion, slashing deep into the young woman's hands and letting drops of blood fall into the bowl. "Your blood and his will mix together and we will know you will be blessed tonight."

  Victoria placed her hands on the rim of the bowl, closing her eyes and murmured some words. Around them, the hooded figures began to chant. She opened her eyes, which had now turned fully black, like Stefan's and Cady gasped at the sight.

  "Mother," she cried out. "No..."

  The witch looked straight ahead, unmoving as she continued the chant and the others grew louder and louder as they followed her.