Dark Moon (Illumination Book 1)

by Paige Taylor

  “I’m sorry, Beautiful, is everything okay? Any pain anywhere?” he asks, his eyes running up and down my body taking full survey of any injuries.

  “Oh, I’m fine, babe. No injuries, I’ve got a very hard head,” I say before grabbing his hands, pulling them off my face, and linking my fingers through his.

  “That was not funny Ava, I was worried,” he tries to say with a hint of sternness.

  “It was a little bit funny,” I reply while pinching the fingers of my free hand together in front of my face, receiving a grunt in reply. He totally thinks it’s a little funny, even if he won’t admit it.

  He walks us over to a little, shady spot not far from the river, and lets go of my hand to unfold the blanket and lay it down over the grass. I sit down on the blanket and help unpack the basket, laying out all sorts of food and drinks off to one side of the blanket, so that we have room to spread out. I’m genuinely amazed at how delicious the food looks.

  “Did you make all of this, babe?” I ask curiously. If he can cook, I will be in Mate heaven. I cannot cook anything other than steak, eggs, and toast. Even then, toast can be tricky.

  “Uh, yeah, I did. I like making food, its calming.” he says sheepishly.

  “Yes! Thank God, one of you can cook!”

  “I will cook for you any time you want, Beautiful, you just tell me what you feel like,” he says, laughing. His laugh is such a nice sound, it’s such a baritone laugh, almost musical. It makes you want to laugh with him.

  “That sounds great, Dyl. So, what else do you do for fun?” I ask.

  “I don’t have a whole lot of time. I’m either busy with Alpha things, or I’m working on the accounts for a few of our local packs. Outside of that, I cook and might do a crossword. That about sums up my spare time.” His body crosses over mine to open two bottles of water, handing me one and taking a drink from the other. Dylan’s body inches closer to mine, his sandalwood and tea scent invaded my senses. My eyes close at the feeling of serenity that courses through my body, every breath relaxing me further.

  “You’re an accountant?! Well, you’re not what I’ve pictured accountants to be like, you’re a lot less weedy-looking. The Alpha and cross-word thing I can see you doing, though. You just always seem so self-contained, reserved, and very serious. I want to help make things easier on you, to share your life with you,” I say my hand skimming across to caress his shoulder down to his fingertips. My tone transitions from light to serious in the space of a few words.

  “Yes, I’m an accountant, and you should know by now that werewolf men are never little. But, I want to share this life with you, too.” He ends on a chuckle.

  “What do you do in your spare time, Ava? I know you have the underground, which I still don’t like, but what else do you do?” he asks, shuffling closer to me on the mat, and leaning over me to hand a meat and salad sub over to me first, and then taking another for himself.

  “Well, I work at a Dojo, twice a week with some kids, teaching them Karate. I have the underground three nights a week, and those two things combined meet all my financial needs, plus a bit extra. Outside of that, though, I love reading. And, I have what others would consider an unhealthy addiction to anything with cerulean,” I say right before taking a big bite into my sandwich.

  “Ohmagohd. Thish is sah grood,” I try to say with a full mouth of food. It’s like heaven in my mouth right now. I continue to take bite after bite, until suddenly I have no sub left. I look around me, searching for more of that yummy bit of deliciousness. Dylan’s hand appears out of nowhere with another packaged sub in front of my face. I don’t even stop to say thank you before grabbing it, and biting in without taking a breath.

  Two subs and a very full stomach later, I realise that that probably wasn’t my most attractive moment. Well, he should probably see me in my natural state early on, no false pretences and all that jazz. Sneaking a glance over at him, he seems to be in a similar state, laying on his back, hand on his stomach and head turned towards me. Yet, I don’t see any judgment, I just see happiness. Happiness in his usually heavy gaze, happiness in his smile with his dimple, and I could feel the happiness inside of me, in one of those glowing, little stars I know is Dylan.

  “Do you want to go for a swim, Dyl?” I ask softly.

  “Sure, Beautiful, anything you want,” he says, getting up, and reaching down his hand for me.

  I grab his hand, and we stroll towards the river, I suddenly realise that I have no swimmers. Well, looks like I’ll be swimming in my underwear. We reach the edge of the river and I start stripping off, Dylan doing the same. Holy shirtless men. He is perfection. Dylan is fucking chiselled; Lean but muscular, with a very large bulge outlined in his underwear. He turns to face me, and I see his pack sigil, clearly emblazed on his chest over his heart. It is the side profile of a wolf, intricately worked into a crescent moon with swirls and curls; it’s utterly beautiful. I reach forward towards him, his body going completely still, my hand pressing gently over his heart. Dylan’s breath catches, his heart rate picking up and beating wildly against my palm.

  “It’s magnificent, Dylan,” I say simply.

  “Something I hope you will have on your skin very soon, Beautiful,” he says gently. Without warning he jumps into the water, the splash back hitting me in the face, the cold water shocking my system causing me to squeal.

  “Oh, you will pay for that, old man!” I laugh and jump in after him.

  “Hey, I’m twenty-eight! No need to be picking on my age,” he says when I resurface, pushing the water from my face.

  We spend the next half an hour or so getting away from the world. Acting like kids playing games, and enjoying not having any pressure of the outside world. As much as I enjoy just relaxing and, floating around in the water, the real world always creeps back into my mind.

  “Dyl, how did you become an Alpha of a pack this big at such a young age?” I ask tentatively, not wanting to ruin the moment but deeply curious about his heritage.

  “It’s not a very pretty story, Beautiful. I’d rather my past not swallow you.” His somber tone causes my heart to ache. Maybe he inherited his pack from his Father passing? Could that be why he is so sad? I don’t think I’ve even heard him talk about his family yet. You’d think that by being Mated into the family through two people, I would have at least seen them around the property in the last two days, then again, I did only meet Marco’s mom this morning.

  “Please, Dyl, I want to know everything about you,” I tell him sincerely, pushing my feelings down our tentative bond. I wade over to him, my lips brushing over his in a soft kiss, before pulling away.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, then,” he says, following a deep breath.

  “My father was the Alpha before me. I had been away at college, in my last year when I came home after my last set of exams. My home looked the same as it always did, it was immaculate. My mom wouldn’t let anything look less than presentable,” he says with a gentle smile, like he is reliving a memory.

  “I walked in the front door and all I could smell was death. I ran from room to room, looking for a dead animal. What I wasn’t expecting to find was my little sister, my mother, and my father all in their beds. They looked like they were asleep, except I could smell rotting flesh. No signs of death, no blood, no poison; just dead. I was twenty when I lost my family, and the responsibility to run the pack was on me. Everyone’s lives depended on me getting my shit together. My sister was eighteen years old, my parents were only in their fifties; they had so much life to give, and I lost them all in one night,” he says, his head bowing and tears falling from his eyes. The devastation of the events clearly written across his face, the emotion saturating the air making it hard to breathe through the raw intensity of it.

  “I’m so sorry, Dylan. I’m so sorry.” Wrapping my arms around my mate’s strong shoulders, and my legs around his waist. Clinging to him, wanting to squeeze every inch of hurt from his body. We stay there for what could be
minutes or hours, letting him take whatever solace from my body he needs.

  I feel his lips kiss up my neck, his hands moving from around my back to cupping my ass. My hands slide up to his neck, pulling his head to mine and kissing him with every emotion that I have in my body. Our mouths open at the same time, our tongues tangling with each other, each one of us fighting for dominance in the kiss. His hands pull my body closer into his body, my core grinding against his growing cock.

  Our hips begin to move in tandem, his hands reaching up to rip off my bra. Dylan’s mouth kisses down my neck and sucks on my nipple, biting into the sensitive skin gently, pulling it further into his mouth, making me moan loudly. My hand runs down his chest and towards the bulge in his underwear, I begin stroking his cock, through the material, slowly at first, but his answering groans spur me on. Faster and faster I move my hand until I find myself slipping inside and grasping him firmly. My god the man is bigger than I expected, how the hell am I supposed to fit that?

  Dylan lifts us out of the water, his mouth swapping over to my other nipple, sucking on it firmly while his tongue brushes over the bud repeatedly. My hands move into his hair grasping it firmly and holding it against me. Dylan pulls his mouth away and gently lowers himself to his knees, placing me on my back against the blanket. His hands move down my hips and slowly pull off my underwear, the anticipation is almost too much to bear. I gently push down on Dylan’s shoulder, and his head lowers quickly, his tongue running from my core to the top of my clit in one stroke. I dig my nails into his shoulder, almost breaking the skin, his hands tighten on my legs pushing them further apart as his tongue finds my core once again. My back arches, and my hands dig into his soft hair, holding his head to me. His tongue works in and out of me, fucking me, before sliding up and fluttering against my clit. The sensations are all too much, and I’m quickly pushed over the edge.

  “Babe, I’m coming. Don’t stop,” I pant out, before screaming in such intense pleasure, all I see is white light.

  “So beautiful, so exquisite,” he says as he sits up, my body still quaking from the workings of his tongue.

  He pulls his boxers down and kicks them off, pushes my legs apart, and slides into me quickly. The pleasure with that bite of pain at his thick size, moving his cock in me, has me nearing a second orgasm. Dylan’s arms bracket my head, our bodies touching from our chests down, my legs wrap around his tight ass, locking him in place. I’m flipped over with Dylan underneath me, thrusting up into me, pounding his length deeper. I start to move my hips, undulating them on top of him. My hands land on his chest, using them as leverage so that I can move faster and faster.

  “Don’t stop, Beautiful, that’s it. Oh god, that feels good,” Dylan groans out. His hands grasp my hips and help move me up and down on his length, our groans get louder and louder. My body falls forward until my head is next to his, his hips are doing most of the work, pumping into me over and over again, hitting every single nerve ending inside me.

  “Do you accept me as your Mate, Dylan Andrews?” I whisper in his ear, unable to hold back any longer.

  “Yes! Oh God, Yes! I accept. Do you accept me, Ava Pearce?” he says while continuing to pound his hard length into me, one of his hands reaching up to run his hands over my breast and up to my face.

  “Absolutely,” I whisper before leaning down and biting into his neck with no hesitation. I feel my teeth pierce the skin right under his left ear and over his jugular. Dylan’s body starts to tremble underneath me, his cock slamming into me faster. I feel him kiss the same spot I bit him on me, right before his canines pierce my skin, as his orgasm shudders through him. The bite, our emotions, the incredible feeling of Dylan being inside me is too much to bear, I explode around him, working myself faster over him. Our trembles start to ebb away after a minute or so, but I am unable to move off him, so I simply lay down on top of him and cuddle into his warmth.

  “That was perfect, Ava, I will do everything I can to be the Mate you deserve. I’m never letting you go, Beautiful,” Dylan whispers into my hair as his hand strokes up and down my spine, giving me goosebumps.

  “I feel the same for you Dylan, I never want to be separated from you all. I know that me having three mates makes things complicated, but I swear on my life that I will do everything in my power to be the best mate I can to all of you. I never want you to feel left out,” I say, placing little kisses all over his chest and shoulders.

  “Ava, what about your family? Why didn’t they go with you when you went lone?” His hands run up and down my spine, before holding me down when I try to get up and away from the question. I try to keep my breaths as even as possible despite the anxiety clawing through me.

  “They were killed when I was twelve. Vampires killed them while they were on a trip away from the pack. They never even had a chance. No one found them for a week, their bodies were hidden behind a dumpster,” I say, utterly failing at keeping the quiver from my words. The loss of their presence in my life is too much to bear some days, I think of them every day, what they would think of me, my choices. My heart aches at the thought they might be disappointed in me for taking the path of least resistance, for not standing up to the man who has ruined so many lives.

  “Fucking hell. I’m so sorry, Ava. I hope your Pack, and the council, found those fuckers.” Dylan’s voice bleeds out sympathy for our shared parental loss.

  “No, our Alpha determined that it was rouges in the city who did it. No point in going to the council for that.” The explanation is still as weak as the first time I heard it. How were my parents lives not worth an investigation by the council?

  “What happened to you then?” Dylan’s voice brings me into the present.

  “I went to live with my best friend, David, and his parents. They were the closest thing to family I had after that. David was like a brother to me, and he is probably the only thing I regret about going lone. That I couldn’t contact him.”

  “Why couldn’t you contact him?” The question sets alerts off in my head that the truth was too close to being revealed.

  “Because the circumstances that caused me to leave the Pack were really sudden, and it put me in a position that I wasn’t able to stay in contact with him. Before you ask though, I’m not ready to tell you why I left my Pack,” I say quietly, trying to prolong telling him the truth as long as possible. I don’t want to drag any of them into my history, but I feel like I’m setting myself up to lose the only good thing that’s happened to me in a very long time because of secrets.

  “That’s horrible, Ava, I hope that we can help you find a way to contact him again. We want to be a part of your family as much as we want you in ours. Okay, if you aren’t ready to share, yet, I understand. But, please know that we are all here for you, we want to support you in every aspect we can.” His strong voice is steeled in resolve. The support and comfort soothe the bond between us and make me take a deep, calming breath.

  We lay like that for a little longer, just enjoying the feel of being skin to skin. Eventually we decide to shift and go for a run, except our run turns more into a game of wolf tag. His wolf is so much more playful than I would have thought, although that mirrors Dylan’s personality. I had him pegged as the serious one, and yet, I find myself challenging that idea. He’s serious because he has the responsibilities of the pack, and the guilt of his parents, on his broad shoulders. Take away those things, take him out of his own head long enough, and he is playful and fun. After alternating between wolf and human, eating, and some very hot sex, we finally decide to put our clothes back on and head back to the pack house. We get in the car, and Dylan turns on the motor, that’s when I realise the time.

  “Shit! Dyl! I’m going to be late to my class!” I yell at Dylan, who, obviously, wasn’t ready for my outburst, and the car almost swerves off the path. My hands grab the ‘Oh Shit’ handle and my legs come up to brace myself against the dash, my heart jumping into my throat as Dylan tries to stabilise the car.

 
“Jesus Christ! You scared the crap out of me. Do you have gear at the Dojo? We can go straight there, you go do your class, and I’ll go pick up some stuff for the pack in town,” he says calmly.

  “Oh, well. Yeah, that works well then. I do have clothes there. Seriously, how do you come up with plans that easy, you didn’t even need to think on that one,” I say with incredulity.

  “Honestly, I just deal with one piece of information at a time. You thought you were going to be late, so we go straight there. You didn’t have clothes here, maybe you have some at the gym. I needed to go into town tomorrow, so I can just do that today, saves me a trip. See one thing at a time, and it all makes sense,” he says shrugging, and reaching over to hold onto one of my thighs with one, big hand.

  “Well, alrighty then, Handsome.” I turn up the volume of Carrie Underwood playing through his radio and close my eyes to the sweet, female voice singing about love in a country town.

  Within twenty minutes, we are in town, and I’m directing Dylan to the Dojo. I’m so excited to see my kids, it feels like it has been ages since I saw their faces, when in reality, it’s been only three days. In any given class, I had up to twenty kids under the age of twelve, which to some might sound like lunacy, but for me it is perfect. What I’ve found is that most kids respond to focus, you give them something interesting to focus on, something that they genuinely enjoy, and they won’t cause a scene. I have off days where a few kids are having a restless day, which then catches on like a fucking, super bug on speed. By the end of those sessions you’d have more success getting their attention by repeatedly banging your head on a wall than anything constructive. But, I love it all the same. The kids are a shining light in an otherwise dark period of my life, and I love taking the time to teach them about something we share a passion for.

  “Beautiful, I’ll be back in half an hour, then I’ll come see your lesson, if that’s okay?” Dylan says before reaching over to give me a kiss that leaves me breathless.