Dark Moon (Illumination Book 1)

by Paige Taylor

  Zane’s whole upper body rocks as his deep, baritone laugh breaks through, his hands coming up to rest on the back of his head, his muscles straining against his tight, white shirt, the outline of piercings showing through the thinning shirt. Holy fuck, he has piercings! Mm so yummy, just that look has me almost salivating. Wait! Focus, Ava!

  “That wasn’t a rhetorical question, guys, what am I walking into today?” I tap my fingers on the table waiting for a response. My Mates’ faces grow paler by the second, the anxiety pulsing down our bonds from all three of them.

  “Sweetheart, none of us want to give you a numerical value. But, suffice it to say that it was a few people spaced over the years. It’s just very hard for us to find women outside of the pack that can deal with us. As for how many challengers, we honestly don’t know,” Marco says apologetically, three of my Mates’ faces all blushing, their eyes focused on the food they are shovelling into their mouths.

  “God damn wolves,” I huff before distracting myself with the mountain of food I still have to get through on my plate, Guess I’ll need all the food I can get.

  Before I know it, breakfast is over, and my Mates take up position around me in a square formation, we stand at the front door for a minute before I get frustrated with the waiting. I quickly dive forward and pull the door open, the site that greets me is a little more intimidating than I thought.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The sight in front of me is not what I expected. I was under the impression that each pack had under fifty wolves in each, what I’m greeted with is no fewer than two hundred wolves.

  “Holy shit,” I whisper.

  I can feel the thundering steps of my Mates at they move forward and build a wall of muscle in front of me, effectively shutting down my view. The strong, broad backs of Wade and Dylan are in the middle, flanked by Marco and Zane, their muscles clenching and releasing with each breath, like they are preparing to launch themselves at any possible attack. The Alpha dominance emanating from them saturates the air and almost has me cowering.

  “Thank you for meeting us here, today. It’s not very often that our two packs come together like this, but it looks like that will be happening a lot more often in the future. As some of you know, in the last week we found our Mate. Unlike most Matings, the four of us are all her true Mates.” Dylan pauses, waiting for the whispers I can hear floating around to stop before continuing.

  “Both Wade and I have made our intensions clear regarding her status in our Packs. She will be part of the Alpha pair. That is not to say she is not dominant in her own right,” he insists, his dominance flaring up once again causing whimpers to fly out of the mouths of wolves I cannot see.

  “We will not demand you to accept this blindly, which is why we have made the Pack challenges a combined, public event. This will run just like every other challenge an Alpha’s mate would have. Any female wolf who thinks that Ava is not suited to be Alpha’s Mate can challenge her, it will be only hand-to-hand, no shifting, and no weapons,” Dylan explains with a hard tone. With no words necessary, all four of my Mates turn their bodies towards me, opening a space between Dylan and Wade for me to walk through so that I could address the many wolves in front of me.

  I let my eyes scan across the open space in front of me, there are so many wolves present, all in human form and all staring back at me with different expressions. Some with open curiosity, boredom, and happiness, others with disdain and anger, those are the faces that I try to commit to memory. I turn my head, trying to at least glance at every face, I see Sophie and Trent off to the left. Trent giving me a casual nod in greeting and Sophie trying to wave subtly. I can feel myself starting to get overwhelmed. So many people are about to entrust their safety to me; so many lives to protect. I look up and try to find my serenity within the tree line that is creating the most beautiful backdrop to the shifter standing in front of me. I focus my thoughts on finding that beautiful pine smell, feeling the breeze glide against my skin and letting the sun warm my skin. Within seconds, I am once again grounded to the present.

  “Hi, I’m Ava Pearce. I know that most of you have no idea who I am, might not trust me, and some may even just down-right hate me. I promise with every fibre of my being to do my best to live up to everyone’s expectations. I promise to always care for the Pack, and I will dedicate my life to making sure this family is as safe as I can possibly make it,” I say with steel lacing my words. I will not let these Packs or my Mates down. I feel the heat of my Mates move behind me, their stance only strengthening my claim to them. I can feel pride from all my Mates zapping down our bonds, spreading throughout my body, my wolf humming in contentment.

  “Those who wish to challenge Ava, step forward. You have fifteen minutes to warm up and prepare. The challenges will be in the field behind the pack house,” Wade’s voice carries out across the field. With that finalised, the guys walk down the steps, with me tightly packed between them. Because of their ginormous frames, I still cannot see much around me. I catch glimpses of faces, but for the most part, my view is the tight ass of Marco walking at the front of our little posse. I know I should be getting myself in the zone, but I just can’t drag my eyes away, just like the first night I saw him. These men shouldn’t be allowed to wear jeans, it’s not good for my concentration.

  Within a minute, we are in the open field behind the house. It looks like a large-scale version of the cage, except the walls are the trees, and the door is the monster of a house behind me. I continue trying to see around the statues of men around me. Without warning, a hand snakes around my waist and spins me into a very large chest. I hug my arms around the thick frame of Zane and squeeze him tight, his hand moving to the back of my head and holding me still. His hands pull me back quickly to bend his head down and brush his lips against mine before twirling me off to Marco. That fucker, I’m about to get into a fight and he just air kisses me! Before I can even have time to build my frustration and argument Marco’s mouth seals over mine. His lips press into mine with urgency, and his tongue quickly licks over mine gently before pulling away. His arms release me before he takes a step back. Dylan takes hold of my hand, pulling me towards him. I feel like a dog toy, being thrown around right now, and I’m totally okay with it. I slide my hand up his shoulders and stand up on my tippy toes, linking my hands behind his neck. His lips drag across my lips before he sucks in my top lip, his lips alternating pressure over mine, and biting down gently. Dylan’s hands close over mine around his neck and pull them down gently. I feel his hands on my hips rotate me slowly until I’m face to chest with Wade. I’m seriously going to get a crick in my neck from how tall they all are. Wade’s hands come up to frame my face, while my hands move from his hips around to the top of his toned arse. His lips move down, and in a series of small, butterfly kisses, covers my eyes, nose, cheeks, and lips.

  I’m pulled away from my Wade a long time before I’m ready, but I can no longer ignore the hundreds of wolves surrounding us. My Mates step away from our circle and into a straight line behind me, clearing my vision to see the five women in front of me. Well, I suppose five dominant women aren’t too bad out of two packs, but that begs the question, how many submissive women have they slept with? Oh, that is definitely a conversation we are having later, I won’t let that unknown hang over my head. Okay, this is so not the time to be thinking about who your Mates have slept with, although that’s a bit hard when five of those women are standing in front of me and want to punch me in the face, going by the looks I’m being given.

  All five women look like models, of course they had to pick the five most gorgeous women in the pack. Three of them are blond, one is a brunette, and the other a red-head. Oh god, the jokes that I could come up with right now, that thought sends me into a fit of giggles that I only just manage to contain. The red-head with an hour-glass figure steps forward, fucking hell, she looked like an angry version of Scarlet Johannsson.

  “We’re going in order of dominance, Bethany will cha
llenge you first, then you work your way up to the most dominant, which is me. Or you can just take me on, and skip everything in between” she huffs, exaggerating her head movements of looking me up and down, trying to belittle me.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?” I ask nicely. Be the bigger person. Be the bigger person. Don’t rip her a new asshole.

  “Rachel,” she replies with a huff, as if I’m the stupid one for not knowing who the hell she is.

  “Well, Rachel, I’m not going to go for either of those options. What I will be doing is fighting all five at you at once. I won’t back down from any fight, nor will I let anyone make it out that I didn’t earn my position. So, if you guys are ready, then I am,” I say with a cheerful smile at the end. I know the instant my Mates realise what I’ve pulled because I can hear the grumbles instantly shred through the air.

  “If that’s what you choose, so be it. Makes it easier for us,” Rachel snarls.

  Within seconds I close down my senses like I do for every fight I’ve been in. I see all of them break out into a run towards me, trying to corral me into a tight circle. I angle my body towards Bethany, the weakest link. When she is within reach, I snap my arm forward, hitting her in the sternum hard enough for it to crack. I hear her whimpers ring out a second before I duck to avoid the incoming punch to the back of my head that Blonde two is throwing. I spin down and kick out my leg behind her knees, which brings her down to the ground hard, my elbow swiftly whipping into her nose, and hearing the cartilage crunch under the impact. I jump to my feet and get into my fighting stance, ready for the next attack. I see blonde three and the brunette trying to once again cage me. Did these women learn nothing? I turn and sprint for the brunette, launching my full body weight onto her chest which sends her tumbling to the ground with me on top. I bring my fist up and deliver a hook straight to her temple, effectively knocking her out.

  I felt someone try to grab my bun and pull me off, except my bun is too tight and close to my head to give them any form of grip. That one slip of the hand gives me the perfect opportunity to turn and deliver a few quick jabs to the stomach, and one, big uppercut from the base of the chin. Blonde three’s head snaps upwards. At least, this one is still standing. I stand up slowly, plant my left foot on the ground and swing my right foot up and across the side of her head. She is out cold in under a second, her body falling to the ground. I grab her shirt tightly and lower her slowly to the ground. That one bit of compassion costs me, though. I feel a foot connect with my back, and my body goes sprawling towards the ground. Unfortunately, Rachel seems to have caught onto my speed and falls with me to the ground, her weight trying to pin me. Her fist connects with my jaw twice before I can manoeuvre one arm around her neck, pulling her towards me and shifting her weight off my legs. Once my legs are free, I wrap one leg around her torso, squeezing it between my thighs. My other arm comes across to hold her in an arm bar, I squeeze tighter and tighter under the arm bar, hoping that she will submit before I have to break her arm.

  “Tap . . . out . . . Rachel.” I grit out between my teeth

  “No. I will not submit,” she gasps out as I tighten the pressure on the elbow joint more.

  “Fuck me.” I quickly let her arm go, and tighten my legs together to keep her in the same place. I wrap my hand around her throat, my fingers cutting off the supply to her brain. I can feel the fight leaving her with every second her brain is deprived of oxygen, her body lightly flailing in a last-ditch effort to get free, her grip around my forearm loosening. In under a minute, I feel her body completely relax under mine, and I roll her off as gently as I can. Well, that certainly was over quicker than I thought it would be. I push up onto my feet and do a quick circle to make sure none of the others would be able to attack me by surprise.

  I close my eyes and let all my senses come back to me, my hearing is the first to clear. The howls and clapping from the rest of the pack is so loud, I try to wade through the background noise to figure out what else was going on around me. I hear the whimpers of the women who were too injured to stand, the soft breaths of the women who were still unconscious, and a few very distinct growls.

  I let my eyes flutter open and look in the direction of the growls, my heart beating a hundred miles an hour. We can officially be mated now, I’ve won against the challengers. A smile breaks out over my face, and I run towards them. Dylan steps forward with his arms open, and I jump into them without hesitation. I bury my neck in his and hook my legs around his waist, clinging onto him tightly. I feel the rest of my Mates surround me, all of them touching me in some spot. Wade’s calloused hands rub my back up and down, Zane’s fingertips run across the side of my face, and Marco leans across Dylan’s back to rest his head against the side of mine. My eyes close, and I just enjoy their touch.

  In this moment, there is nothing but us. Nothing but the scent and the presence of my Mates soaking through my skin and into my soul. Everything is going to be okay, as long as I have them.

  The fire crackles around us, flecks of warmth flying towards our knees. I snuggle further into Zane’s arms and legs, pulling his legs closer around me to protect me from the chill in the air. After the fight, everyone went about their day and only came back to the pack grounds late in the afternoon, in preparation for the party Wade was throwing on his Pack’s property. I spent most of the day asleep, still recovering from the previous injuries and trying to pry out of my Mates who of the people I fought they had slept with. After hours of bugging them non-stop, they cracked. Rachel and Bethany were Wade’s ex-girlfriends, Blond two, AKA Megan and Brunette, AKA Zoe, were Dylan’s ex’s which meant Blonde three, AKA Bree, was Marco’s. It turns out most of my Mates looked for sex outside of the Pack, but I can’t blame them for five girlfriends over thirty years, but did they seriously have to pick the five most glamourous women out of two hundred and fifty shifters?

  I look around at all the people scattered across the field at the back of the property, there are people dancing by the speakers that are pumping out My Chemical Romance, people wandering back and forth between groups of people, some running around as wolves or sneaking out to the woods to fool around with their partner for the night. My mates are spread out around the bonfire all deep in conversation with the people in front of them. I’ve shaken more hands tonight than in my whole life combined, most people coming up to congratulate me or my Mates, others just coming up to see what their soon to be Alpha Female is like. I tried to be myself, or at least a little more of the nice Ava and less of the hostile Ava, but right now all I want to do is go to bed.

  “Hi, Ava,” a gentle voice draws my focus to the left. Sophie is sitting on the ground next to me, Trent flanking her side. I wonder if anything is going on between them, they always seem to appear like a two-in-one deal.

  “Hey, Sophie. Trent,” I say, nodding my head and smiling in their direction.

  “This is Zane. Zane, this is Trent, the Beta of Crescent Moon Pack, and Sophie, the Omega of Crescent Moon.” Zane’s hand moves out in front of him at my introduction to shake the hands of our visitors.

  “How are you feeling, Ava?” Sophie asks gently. Well, if I’m going to share my feelings with someone, it may as well be the Omega.

  “I’m feeling good, just ready for some alone time with my Mates, to be honest. Feels like I haven’t had time to just be with them since I met them.” My shoulders rise and fall with the sigh that releases from my lips. I feel Zane’s arms and legs tighten around me like he is trying to protect me from my own feelings. Aww, my tank is a softie.

  “That’s understandable, I’m sure soon you and your Mates will find your equilibrium. Let’s just focus on getting you officially Mated first,” Sophie says with a little twinkle of a laugh.

  “You’re a little brunette Tinkerbell!” I burst out. My comment causes a round of laughs in the crowd around us.

  “Sorry, it’s just . . . it’s been bugging me that I couldn’t put my finger on who you reminded me of, and I fina
lly figured it out! It’s Tinkerbell!” I exclaim, joining in on the laugh.

  “And, yeah, I think you’re right. Once we’re all Mated, I will feel better. This week has just gone so fast. I’ve found four amazing men, and, in the space of a week, I moved in with them. I’m going to mate them which is a lifelong commitment, and on top of that, we were attacked. I just need life to slow down for a little while,” I explain, my body rotating to face Sophie.

  “By wolf standards, a week is normal. Don’t think like a human because you aren’t one. You are a wolf, and this is what we do when we find our Mates. It goes fast and is intense, and that’s nothing to feel confused about,” she insists softly, her hand coming to rest on top of my knee. I can feel her trying to send as much serenity into me as she can.

  “As for the attacks on the pack, I’d like to talk to you about that, if you don’t mind, Ava?” a voice I recognise says from behind Zane and I. Twisting around, I see Steven with a very pretty woman holding his hand.

  “Hi, Steven! I take it this is the Mate you told me about?” I ask, smiling and beckoning them over with my hand.

  “Hi, Ava, I’m Annabelle,” the lovely brunette says, taking a seat next to me. She has lovely, chestnut-brown hair hanging dead straight down to the middle of her back, highlighted by beautiful, pale-green eyes. Her face is angular but in more of a refined manner, showing off her lovely bone structure. But, it’s the eyes that I can’t stop coming back to, those pale-green eyes are shining with kindness and happiness.

  “Hi Annabelle, it’s nice to meet you. I’m just putting it out there, I’d love to spend some time with you and Sophie and get to know you a bit better. I really want to make some friends in these packs, and I’m just a little awkward when making friends. Apparently, I have a temper,” I lay my cards on the table, my shoulders shrugging at the honesty.