Blood Moon Rising Box Set (Books 1-6)

by Lola Taylor

  “Hmmm,” he purred. She could feel his bulge against her thigh, turning her stomach. “I wish I had more time. Might be fun to fuck a queen.”

  Queen? Now, she knew this guy was crazy.

  The man licked his lips. “Any last words, sweets?”

  Danica trembled, her brain paralyzed by terror. It occurred to her how much more she could have done with her life if she’d only had more time. She felt stupid for taking it all for granted. But most of all, she felt angry. Really, really angry.

  This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. It was supposed to end sixty years from now, with her spending the last years of her life with the man she loved.

  Now, she’d never get a chance to meet him.

  She thrashed, but that only made Crazy drive his elbow harder into her windpipe. Her lungs screamed for oxygen as she tried clawing at his hands, but she might as well have been scraping at cement for all the good it did her.

  “Yeah, I have some last words,” a deep voice said from behind the man. “Get your paws off her, Onyx.”

  The man didn’t spare a glance over his shoulder. He smiled. “Well, if it isn’t the King of the Moonstruck Pack himself—Gage Johnson.”

  Danica peered past Onyx’s shoulder, and her eyes widened. It was the handsome stranger who’d eyed her from the dais like she was a piece of candy he couldn’t wait to eat.

  That intense heat spread below her navel, warming her despite the chill Onyx’s death threat had left in her bones.

  What the hell was wrong with her? Clearly, she was caught up in the middle of some gang-related violence, and she was horny?

  It had to be something they’d done to the beer. So help her, she was never having another drink again.

  Gage stepped forward, one deliberate step at a time. “You’re on my soil, Onyx. What’s a Nightshade wolf like you doing all the way out here, I wonder?”

  “Just passing by,” Onyx replied smoothly, still not letting up on her throat. Stars started to sparkle at the edge of her vision. Soon, she’d black out altogether. She clawed at Onyx’s hands, but his attention was fully on Gage.

  Gage cracked his knuckles. “You must think I’m pretty damn stupid to believe that.”

  Onyx’s toothy grin widened. “Almost as stupid as you leaving your mate unprotected.”

  Gage’s eyes flicked to her. “What are you talking about? Let’s get real. She’s human.”

  Onyx shrugged. “Your loss.” He took advantage of the other man’s surprise. He threw Danica down hard, swinging out with his other hand, fist angled for Gage’s jaw.

  Gage’s reflexes were crazy; he ducked and followed up with an uppercut that connected with Onyx’s chin, sending him staggering back.

  Onyx wasn’t down for the count for long. He lunged at Gage, snarling, getting in a swipe at the man’s ribcage before Gage blocked his assault and decked Onyx hard across the cheek.

  Danica watched in morbid fascination from her lovely view on the ground as she waited for her world to stop spinning. Her temple had connected with someone’s bumper on the way down, making her whole face hurt from the impact.

  The men moved in blurs. Onyx’s hat flew off, revealing the outline of a pentagram on his neck. A word was scribbled at its center in another language.

  Gage yowled as Onyx raked his nails—which had morphed into claws—across his face, leaving behind marks. They healed as fast as they’d been received.

  She blinked. That had to be her imagination, something brought on by the terror flooding her veins and the tampered beer.

  She had to do something. She couldn’t just lie there, helpless. Getting to her feet, she grabbed her keychain. “Hey, asshole!”

  Onyx looked over with a snarl, and she let the pepper spray fly.

  It hit him square in the eyes. He howled with fury, clenching his eyes shut while he stumbled about blindly for a few seconds.

  Gage wasted no time. He seized the man’s head.

  Danica realized with dread what was about to happen. “No!”

  As Gage started to twist, Onyx grabbed something from his pocket and threw it at the ground. A pillar of black smoke went up, crackling with purple electricity. Gage cursed, shaking out his hands.

  The smoke billowed for a bit, then it was sucked backward into the object Onyx had thrown on the ground. It was a silver locket, which split apart the moment the smoke cleared.

  Onyx was gone.

  Danica stood there, trembling so badly she thought she might shake herself apart. Holy crap. Did she just see that? A scream slowly built in her throat, but it never came. Her legs gave out, and Gage rushed forward to catch her.

  He pulled her to him, tucking her head against his chest. “I’m sorry,” he muttered against her hair.

  “What… was that?” she blubbered.

  “A cloaking charm,” he said gravely.

  She pushed away from him, shaking her head and stumbling about. He reached to steady her, but she stepped out of his grasp. “Cloaking charms, packs, wolves… What the hell are you?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, love,” Gage murmured with a hint of humor.

  “So, my date from hell just up and vanished into thin air?”

  “Something to that effect, yes,” he said without hesitation.

  She laughed, sounding more than a little loony. This whole night had taken a turn toward the insane. She never should have come here.

  “Somebody slipped something into my drink,” Danica said. “That’s it. I’m having some kind of hallucination. About creepy dude, my hot rescuer—”

  “You think I’m hot?” he said with a smile.

  She shrugged. “You can’t be real, so why the hell not? Yes. You’re hot. With a capital H.” She looked around and found her keys lying a few feet away. Falling to her knees, she snagged them, then used a car hood to help pull herself up.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Gage said, following her.

  “To the ER,” she said, trying to remember where she’d parked. It shouldn’t be hard. She was one of the few people who’d driven a car. “I need to get a blood test, see what kind of drug this is.”

  “Your blood is fine,” Gage said, grabbing her arm.

  She jerked free and rounded on him. “Don’t tell me it’s fine! I just freaked out and thought someone tried to kill me!”

  “That’s because someone did try to kill you!”

  “Oh, right. So says the hallucination. I’m probably standing out here right now talking to myself.”

  “This is no dream.”

  She stared at him. He looked so serious.

  And so delectable.

  Damn, my imagination can cook up a stud.

  Her eyes dipped to his mouth. She swore she heard him take in a sharp breath, then his eyes darkened and flashed gold.

  Her mouth went dry. “I have to get out of here.”

  She started to turn again when Gage grabbed her, this time by her bare wrist. “Wait. You’re not safe.”

  “No shit? I’m in the middle of nowhere, I’ve clearly been drugged, and I should probably—”

  All the warning she had was a strange tingling along the back of her hand before blue light lit up the area, shooting straight out of her.

  Danica shrieked. “What’s happening?”

  Gage swore, staring at her hand. “It can’t be…”

  Danica held her breath, staring at the light, too afraid to move. This couldn’t be happening. Light didn’t just shoot out of people’s skin.

  But it sure as hell looked like that was what it was doing. It was gone as quickly as it came, dissolving into a pretty, shimmering crescent moon marking. “What the hell?” she muttered when she’d recovered enough of her senses. She examined her hand, turning it every which way. Licking her thumb, she rubbed it against the mark. “It won’t come off! What the hell is this?” she said, her voice ratcheting up in pitch.

  Gage sighed, looking grave and awed at the same time. “That, my dea
r, would be the Blood Moon Mark.”

  “Am I supposed to know what the hell that means?” Danica said, tasting panic.

  “It means,” Gage said, pulling her to him and staring down into her eyes, “that you are my mate.”

  “Excuse me, I’m your what?”

  Gage stared at the Mark. I don’t believe it. “This can’t be possible,” he murmured. “You’re human.”

  “Right now, I’m apparently high,” the woman said, “and I need medical treatment.”

  “You need to come with me.” He had no idea what the hell this meant, but he knew he would be a fool to stay here. There was a chance Onyx could come back to finish the job.

  Gage started to pull her away when she dug in her heels and pulled back. “Whoa, cowboy, I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  Her willfulness was not unlike the she-wolves he bedded. It was one of their more enticing traits. The promise of a challenge only served to pump more blood south of his navel. “Do I have to pick you up and carry you?”

  She crossed her arms. “I dare you.”

  Shouldn’t have done that.

  He reached under her knees, lifting her into his arms as if she weighed no more than a feather.

  “Hey!” She struggled, and he tightened his grip. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “You did dare me,” he said, smiling slightly.

  “Put me down! Help!” A few men—all weres—came out of the bar, took one look at them, and chuckled.

  “Oh, my God,” she said, digging her hands into her hair. “I’ve decided to have date-night in psycho central. You’re kidnapping me. You’re going to kill me.”

  “I’m not going to kill you,” Gage said, rolling his eyes. “But that other man might.”

  “This is a dream,” she said, not even listening to him. “That’s it… I’m dreaming. This can’t be real. Nothing this effed up would happen to me in real life. My life is boring. Predictable. Safe.”

  Gage sighed in agitation. “Well, for someone who’s supposedly so ‘safe’ and ‘boring,’ you sure do cause a lot of trouble.”

  She scowled at him, but he smelled the desire wafting off her like perfume. His sex quivered, putting a hitch in his step. God, if he didn’t hurry up and get her home—and away from him—then he might just set her in the nearby grass and take her then and there.

  Damn this mating Fever!

  He walked on with determination. His queen deserved more than a roll in the grass, even if most she-wolves didn’t mind it. He had to remind himself she was not a she-wolf—at least, not yet, though she would start exhibiting the traits of one since being marked. Besides, he wanted her to want to mate with him. Call him old-fashioned, but he’d always had this image of true love and finding “the one” to spend his life with. Maybe this was his chance.

  That is, if this wasn’t some cosmic mistake.

  Once they got to his Audi, he tucked her into the backseat and slid in beside her. She didn’t go in easily; she kicked and shoved the whole time. It was cute.

  When they were inside, he locked the doors right as she was reaching for the handle. She pulled, but nothing happened. “Is this the part where you break out the knife?”

  If he rolled his eyes one more time, they were going to roll right out of his head. “For the last time, I’m not a serial killer.”

  “Then you’re a rapist.”

  “No.”

  “Drug lord?”

  “Really? We’re going to play this game?”

  “This isn’t a game. This is serious! Why are you laughing?”

  Lord help him. Maybe he should have let Onyx knock her out to save his sanity. He wasn’t even sure mating was worth this.

  She crossed her arms, pouting and looking all the more adorable for it. The fact she looked adorable while being such a pain in the ass only irked him more. “I’m not laughing at you,” Gage said with all the care of speaking to a temperamental child. “You’re just overreacting.”

  “Overreacting? Are you kidding me? I’ve been drugged and I’m having kidnapping fantasies!”

  “Just keep telling yourself that, sweetheart,” he muttered, growing impatient. He pulled out his phone and pressed 1 on his speed dial.

  Nik picked up on the first ring. “Hey, there, Master. Need me to bail you out of trouble with the little lady?”

  “Onyx was here.”

  “What?” Nik growled. Gage heard footsteps—the wolf was probably on his way out now. “What the hell is a Nightshade wolf doing here?”

  “That’s exactly what I’d like to know. We’re in the car. Hurry.”

  “We?”

  “… The girl and me. I’ve marked her.”

  There was a moment of stunned silence. Nik swore, then the line went dead. A few seconds later, Nik climbed in the driver’s seat and revved the engine. “Crescent Manor, my liege?”

  “Yes,” Gage clipped. His thoughts were too overrun by the girl to reprimand Nik’s use of a royal title.

  Tires spun as Nik gunned the gas pedal. The woman toppled over, and Gage steadied her. She looked up at him through her dark lashes. Her eyes were green, the color of summer grass. Staring up at him, she looked so vulnerable. He resisted the urge to pull her closer when she cleared her throat and blinked, then moved back over into her seat.

  Nik pressed a button on the dash and a wall of tinted glass rose up, separating the front from the back.

  Gage almost begged him to keep it down, to not leave him back here with this crazy woman whom he was starting to doubt more and more was his mate. Too late, the glass closed shut. Gage looked at the woman, who sat staring straight forward with a blank look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. “You’re oddly silent.”

  “That’s because I’ve decided I’m dreaming. And nothing can happen to you in a dream, right?”

  Gage felt pressure start to build between his brows. What he wouldn’t give for some aspirin right about now—or a very stout drink.

  He caught movement from his eye. Her hands, which were piled in her lap, were trembling.

  His eyes softened. Of course she was scared. The poor woman had been viciously attacked, and now she thought she was drugged. Given the situation, he would probably overreact too if he were in her shoes. The strange sense to chase her fears away and make things better overcame him. With too many other things on his mind to think about it, he reached over and grabbed her hands, taking them into his own. Her hands were so delicate compared to his, so soft.

  “Don’t be afraid,” he said gently. “I will not harm you.”

  “Why else would you take me if not to have your way with me?” she said simply, though he caught a quaver in her voice.

  He winced. “I promise you, my lady, I have no intention of hurting you.”

  She stilled somewhat, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “I need water to help flush this stuff out of my system.”

  “You’re not drugged,” he insisted, “but I’ll have Mary give you some ice water once we get to my house. I’ll have her draw a hot bubble bath for you, as well.”

  She stared at him, mouth open in shock. “You have servants?”

  He looked away. “Yes. It comes with the title.”

  “Are you like a CEO or something?”

  He snorted. If she was pretending not to know anything about the Underworld, she was doing a good job. Then again, most humans weren’t aware of the supernatural creatures that walked the earth alongside them. “Something like that,” he said.

  She seemed to be calming down, her curiosity taking over. “If you’re such a big shot, what was a guy like you doing in a bar like that? It didn’t exactly scream opulence.”

  “That was the beauty of it,” Gage said, letting go of her hands now that they’d stopped shaking. He leaned back in his seat and stared pensively out the window. “I came from a normal family. I had to fight my way to riches and power. I guess I wanted to be reminded of home.”

  She cocked h
er head at him, blinking as if surprised. The way her blond hair shone in the moonlight coming through the window… Was she aware how beautiful she was?

  He blinked. First, he thought she was crazy, now he was getting all sentimental over a little moonlight? The Fever sure did behave in strange ways.

  “What’s your name?” he asked, trying to distract himself.

  She swallowed, staring back at him unblinkingly. “Danica. Danica Williams.”

  “Gage Johnson,” he said, offering her his hand. She stared at it, then reluctantly took it. At the last minute, almost as an afterthought, he brought it to his lips and kissed it. “A pleasure, Danica.”

  She shivered. Her jacket had been nearly ripped off during the assault, as had her sheer tunic. Her lace bra exquisitely showcased her luscious breasts, which rose and fell as her breath quickened.

  Without meaning to, he found himself leaning in toward her, his hand reaching for her waist.

  Her pupils dilated. He could smell the lust coming off her as surely as his own suddenly saturated the car. She licked her lips as his mouth hovered closer to hers.

  “Might as well enjoy the fantasy right?” she whispered, closing her eyes.

  He stalled. Oh, he could give her a fantasy, all right, as he had many she-wolves. Fantasies were what he specialized in. Except for tonight.

  Squeezing his eyes shut while he composed himself, he leaned back against the seat.

  She opened her eyes and blushed when she realized he wasn’t about to kiss her. Falling back with a “humph,” she crossed her arms and said, “Weird. What type of fantasy doesn’t allow you to control it?”

  He groaned. This was going to be a long night.

  An uncomfortable—albeit lust-charged—silence stretched between them for the rest of the drive. Danica had no idea what to believe right now. Part of her thought, “Break the windows, stupid! Get the hell away from this guy!” and the other part was content believing this was some kind of half-baked fantasy her drug-addled brain had cooked up. After all, there weren’t such things as men with glowing eyes, claws for hands, or razor-sharp teeth. It had to be drugs. In a few hours, she’d probably wake up to the sound of her alarm, press snooze a half dozen times like she usually did, and finally drag her ass out of bed to barely make it to her day job from hell.