Blood Moon Rising Box Set (Books 1-6)

by Lola Taylor

  She looked up at her mate. “For what?”

  “For pouncing on you like that,” he admitted with a boyish grin that she adored. “The fight brought my wolf to the surface, and I guess I hadn’t quite tamed it before you brought me in here and demanded I strip down.”

  “It’s okay,” she said with a smile, leaning forward and kissing him. “My inner wolf was restless too.”

  “You can feel it?” he asked with an excited sparkle in his eyes.

  She nodded. “All I can think about is being outside. Or on top of you,” she admitted sheepishly.

  He laughed, and the hearty sound rumbled through her chest. “It’s only going to get worse the closer we get to midnight. Come on. Let’s wash up and get ready to go.”

  He turned her around so his legs were on either side of her and tucked her against him as he grabbed a cloth and began washing her back. It was so sweet she couldn’t help but snuggle up against him. She almost hated to sour the moment, but she had to ask. “So that was Malachite, huh?”

  The washcloth paused in its trek across her shoulder blades. “Yes,” Gage said darkly, continuing to wash her.

  “Is he here to put his name in for king?”

  “I don’t know why he’s here,” Gage sighed. “He isn’t an Alpha and he isn’t mated, so he can’t be king.”

  “Hmmm….” Danica worried her lip. “Why do you think he acted that way around me? It was like he’d seen a ghost.”

  “I don’t know. He was always off-kilter.” Gage growled, pulling her into him and wrapping his thickly muscled arms around her. “But I swear I won’t let him harm you.”

  She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes, savoring the quiet moment.

  And I swear not to ever let him hurt you again.

  She could feel his protective urges toward her, as well as the dark, undeniable truth he would kill for her.

  Could she ever kill someone? She had never considered it to be in her nature to take a life, but she knew all the same she’d do whatever it took to protect Gage.

  The conversation shifted to other things—werewolf politics, mostly—and the mood was noticeably more somber. As they dried off and got dressed quietly, both of them lost in their own thoughts, Danica couldn’t help but fear this might be as good as it gets in this world.

  A stolen moment here and there, never knowing when your next kiss might be your last….

  She’d always wanted an exciting life, but now that she had one, she found that “boring” sounded a lot more appetizing.

  The grass is always greener….

  A frantic knock at the door startled them. Gage glanced at her. “Wait here.” He went to the door. She could hear Nik speaking in hushed tones on the other side.

  Danica padded closer.

  “Are you sure?” Gage said. “She’s probably lying in an attempt to get closer to Danica. What if she’s an assassin?”

  “Alara doesn’t seem to think so. She had one of her best witches scan her with a lie detector spell.”

  “Oh, right, so I suppose since your mate says it’s okay, it’s fine to put mine in harm’s way.”

  “Easy,” Nik growled.

  Gage sighed. “Sorry. My mouth ran away with me. I’m just… fried.”

  He lowered his voice, as did Nik. Danica had a hard time hearing what they were saying, but Gage didn’t look happy. He pressed his lips together, deep in thought. She could hear Nik arguing with him. Finally, Gage nodded. “Very well. I’ll meet with her.”

  He shut the door and hurriedly finished buttoning up his shirt.

  “What was that all about?” Danica asked.

  “Nothing important.”

  She crossed her arms and cocked her hip. “Really? That’s the best line you can give me?”

  He stopped and slowly grinned. “I gotta be more careful around you, or you’re going to learn to read me like a book.”

  “Already can, love,” she said with a smile as he came over and kissed her.

  Worry creased his brows. “Look, Nik says there’s a witch here to see us.”

  “And?”

  “…It’s the same witch who owns the cabin in the woods.”

  She stared. “With the crazy wraiths?”

  Gage nodded.

  “Oh. Wow. What does she want?”

  “She says she has information that’s valuable to us, but she’ll only speak to me—and you.”

  Danica weighed the decision. “It could make or break our victory in this war against the witches. I say we go.” She started for the door when he grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

  “It could be a mistake. What if this is a trap?”

  “So what if it is? What if staying here and refusing to see her is the greater mistake?”

  The frown he gave her said he didn’t like this decision one bit, but as a leader, she knew he couldn’t fault her logic. They were really no better off than they were in regards to finding out Mistress Black’s true motives. If seeing this mystery witch could somehow help the Underworld….

  “Very well. We’ll go,” he said at last.

  She laced her fingers with his and squeezed his hand.

  “We’ll go together.”

  Gage couldn’t help but think “this is a bad idea” the entire time he, Danica, and Nik walked to the room where the witch informant was waiting.

  Nik had advised them both not to make a sound, thus the silence had stretched so taut that Gage thought his nerves would snap altogether.

  This part of the palace was infrequently used. Though everything still shone with fresh polish, it became clear from the tomb-like silence enveloping them that the only visitors in this wing were palace staff and the occasional patrol.

  Nik paused by a wall, glanced in either direction, and lifted up the flap of a tapestry to reveal a door. It nearly blended in with the stone walls; someone was a remarkable artist. The tapestry’s surface had been painted in the same shades of blue and gray to match the texture of the stone around it.

  A cool draft smelling of damp earth greeted them as they followed Nik inside the hidden tunnel. A flashlight beam split the darkness, lighting the narrow, winding staircase as they went deeper into the earth.

  “Hardly anyone knows about this passage,” Nik said quietly. “Alara said back during the wars, the royal family kept their prisoners down here.”

  “Charming,” Gage said dryly. In a way he found it fascinating. The inner architectural geek in him wanted to explore the old parts of the castle, but his enthusiasm would have to wait. Now, he needed information. He needed to find out why this woman who had cost him so much had suddenly decided to seek him out and supposedly help him.

  The stairwell ended in a long corridor with no lights. Rusting prison bars shone in the sterile light of the flashlight.

  Danica clung to his hand, her nails biting into his skin. “They don’t still keep people down here, do they?” she asked with a quaver in her voice, staring warily at the darkness within each cell as they passed.

  Nik grinned at her. “Nope. But wouldn’t it make a kinky place to mate? Each cell already comes equipped with shackles and a cot.”

  “Nik…” Gage warned.

  “All right, all right. Just saying.”

  Gage shook his head. He was hoping Nik’s more carnal tendencies would settle down once he’d mated, but he could see that wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon.

  Once past the dungeons, Nik led them to a small room with sparse candlelight. It might have been romantic, had shackles and an Iron Maiden not been in the corner of the room.

  The hairs on the back of Gage’s neck stood on end, and he raised a brow. “We’re meeting the informant in a torture chamber? Really?”

  Nik shrugged. “This place gives what few people know about it the creeps. Naturally, they try to avoid it. Alara thought it to be the least likely place you’d be discovered.”

  Danica looked around her with a morbid sense of curiosity. “I can’t ima
gine why this place would freak anybody out. It’s so homey.”

  Gage snorted.

  Nik whipped out his phone and texted someone. A moment later, the door opened and four figures stepped inside.

  Alara lowered the hood of her cloak, her brown curls tumbling out over her shoulders. Two guards flanked her, perfectly stone-faced.

  Nik went to his mate and gave her a surprisingly tender kiss on the cheek. “You all right?”

  Alara nodded. “I’m fine.” She glanced at Danica and Gage. “You ready?”

  Gage glanced at Danica, who nodded with a firm squeeze to his hand. He looked back at Alara. “Ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s hear this groundbreaking testimony.”

  Alara nodded and stepped aside, motioning someone forward. A smaller, robed figure hesitantly stepped into the room, and two frail hands lowered the hood that cloaked her face in shadow.

  Gage blinked. Judging from the state of the cabin in the woods, he’d been expecting more of a fairy tale witch, complete with brittle white hair, warts, and a snaggletoothed leer.

  What he received instead was a beautiful, pale woman with flowing light-blonde hair and big violet eyes with sooty lashes.

  Danica shifted her weight. Gage squeezed her hand to let her know he wasn’t the least bit interested in the woman and that he was merely surprised.

  “This is Violet,” Alara said. “Violet, this is—”

  “I know who they are,” she said with a soft voice bearing quiet strength. Suddenly, she fell to her knees and bowed low. Words poured from her mouth. “Please forgive me. Oh God, I didn’t have a choice. She said if I didn’t do as she asked, she’d kill my family—”

  “Whoa, whoa.” Gage knelt and reached for her. The second his fingers brushed her shoulder, she flinched like a dog expecting to be beaten. Glancing at Danica in puzzlement, he withdrew his hand but remained kneeling before her. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  The woman trembled. “But you want to,” she whispered. “Anyone would want to after what I did.”

  Gage’s hand tightened into a fist as anger surged through him. Violet was right. Oh, how he wanted to hurt her. He swore he’d never strike a woman, but he was sorely tempted to make an exception. He wanted to kill her, to cause her as much pain as she had caused him. “You were coerced?”

  She nodded, still trembling.

  He sat there, unsure what to do. Comforting women had never been his strong suit.

  Luckily, Danica was an expert. Her nurturing instincts must have kicked in because she knelt beside him. “It’s okay,” she said gently. “You don’t have to be afraid. We’re not going to hurt you.”

  Something in Danica’s voice soothed Violet’s tremors. She slowly looked up with those wide, violet eyes that were no doubt her namesake, and stared at Danica. Tears brimmed along the rims of her eyes and fell in silent streams down her pale cheeks. “You’re more beautiful in person,” she said, reaching out to touch a strand of Danica’s hair.

  Gage instantly grabbed Danica and pulled her up with him, keeping her out of reach of Violet.

  Violet let her hand drop and ducked her head in shame. “I deserve that. I can’t blame you for not trusting me.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Nik muttered under his breath.

  Alara elbowed him and gave him a stern look, then gazed at Violet. “Why don’t you start at the beginning? How did you get involved with Mistress Black?”

  Violet blinked away her tears, her child-like face becoming more businesslike as she nodded. “Of course,” she murmured, standing. She clutched at her cloak as if to drive away a chill while her eyes grew distant. “I’ve always tried to stay away from witch politics, but the scope and depth of my powers have often forced me into the spotlight. Despite my best efforts at hiding myself away and pretending to be a nutcase, I attracted the attention of some powerful people.” She gulped. “When I wouldn’t comply with their demands, they forced my hand by kidnapping my family and threatening to kill them should I not cooperate.” Her tears started falling all over again. “Please understand. I didn’t have a choice! If there were any other options, I would have taken them. I even tried killing myself to stop the Order, but they kept watch over me day and night to ensure I did myself no harm before my job was done.” Her face grew more haunted. “And even after I finished the deed, they didn’t let me go.”

  “Is that how you met Onyx? Through the Order?” Gage asked.

  Violet nodded, looking miserable. “I’m the one who sold the spell to him.”

  “We know,” Nik said sourly. “We found that out the day we met your wraiths. Charming, they were, especially as they were ripping our comrades to pieces.”

  “Nik,” Alara snapped.

  “It’s okay,” Violet said, crying uncontrollably now. “It’s the truth. They made me cast that spell before taking me prisoner.”

  “How did you escape?” Gage asked.

  “I didn’t—but my astral form did.”

  Everyone’s brows rose but Danica’s. “What?” she said, looking around. “What am I missing? Is that a big deal or something?”

  “Only the most powerful witches and warlocks can project themselves outside their bodies,” Gage said, staring at Violet. She looked so real. To be able to put that amount of detail into the spell….

  He shivered at the power this young woman wielded. No wonder she’d been so attractive to her captors. He almost felt sorry for her because he knew that power was more of a curse than a gift.

  “There’s more,” Violet said. “As if you don’t hate me enough,” she muttered miserably.

  Gage wasn’t sure he could hate her any more than he already did, but he remained silent. Though brutally honest at times, he was not cruel. “Go on.”

  Violet stood there, gathering her thoughts. Her throat flashed as she swallowed hard and inhaled a deep breath. “The High King was the one who placed the hit on Danica’s head.”

  “Tell us something we don’t know,” Nik drawled, only to earn another reprimanding glare from Alara.

  Violet shook her head. “What you don’t know is that he paid for a reading in order to find out if he’d ever be toppled from his throne.” She met Gage’s gaze. “He knew you would be his greatest threat, but he also knew that in order for you to overtake him, you’d have to be mated.”

  Gage went still. “What are you saying?”

  Violet seemed to brace herself as the room held its breath.

  “I’m saying I’m the one who sold him the premonition that resulted in him putting a hit on your mate’s head.”

  Gage stood there, dumbfounded.

  Then his control snapped.

  He lunged for Violet, claws aimed at her throat, when Nik and the two guards intervened.

  “You bitch!” Gage spat. “I’ll kill you for this!”

  “Brother!” Nik yelled, struggling to contain Gage, who’d halfway transformed into a wolf. “Calm down!”

  Danica ran forward, grabbing hold of Gage’s face and forcing him to look at her. “Gage, look at me.”

  His eyes stared into hers, and he started to calm down.

  “I need you to hold it together,” she said firmly. “Yes, what she did was wrong on so many levels, but she risked coming here tonight to tell us the truth about what happened so we may be able to stop the enemy. Isn’t that what we wanted? Wasn’t that the whole point to this? Killing our only informant won’t do us any good, and you know damn well she’s the best lead we’ve had.”

  Gage blinked and the wolf in him vanished. Nik and the guards slowly stepped away, though they lingered beside him should he snap again.

  He ran his hands through his hair and over his face. God, he felt so ragged. How much more shit would he have to put up with before he could finally find peace with his mate? Why couldn’t the world just leave them alone? “I’m sorry,” he said wearily. “I couldn’t help it. Today’s been hard on me.”

  Danica pressed her lips together. Gage knew she was t
hinking about the source of his anxiety—about Malachite—and he appreciated the fact she had enough sensitivity to not speak his enemy’s name aloud right now and put him even more on edge.

  Violet trembled from her spot beside Alara.

  Gage turned to her and gave her his best apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I promise it won’t happen again.”

  Violet searched his eyes before at last nodding.

  A moment passed as the tension in the room subsided somewhat before Gage spoke again. His voice was ragged from the aftereffects of partially changing so many times today. “The High King belonged to the Order of the Sun. Do you know what they want?”

  A shadow passed over Violet’s eyes as her skin paled. “To bring about the Cleansing, which Mistress Black believes she can instigate.”

  “Cleansing? That sounds like some apocalyptic shit,” Nik said.

  Violet began to ramble, as if driven by her fear. “She means to rid the world of those she believes to be inferior to her, both human and paranormal alike. She surrounds herself with powerful paranormals, not just in magical ability, but people who hold significant political sway. She’s everywhere, always watching. Not even the DPI is resistant.”

  Gage looked at Nik, who frowned. Did Verika know the DPI was compromised? They’d have to figure out a way to reach her later without drawing attention to the fact they now knew there was a mole. Now that Violet had come forward, they couldn’t risk leaking any information that would lead back to her. Danica was right—Violet was the best lead they had.

  Maybe the only one they’d get. They had to play this carefully and correctly.

  Alara stepped forward. “Do you think you could find out more?”

  Violet shivered, shaking her head. “I don’t think spying—”

  “What if we offered you protection?” Alara said, interrupting her. There was a hunger in her eyes, a spark that thirsted for blood. Gage could understand it after what had happened to her. The Order had cost Alara her entire family. Gage would want revenge too. If Nik had noticed the subtle change in Alara’s normally docile demeanor, he hadn’t mentioned it to him.

  Violet shuddered and looked away. “None of you can protect me. I’m already as good as dead.”