Moon Born (The Wolf Wars Series Book 3)

by H. D. Gordon

For me, though, there was only one male I wanted to see.

  But, first, I needed to visit a hot spring myself, as I had grown weary of the smell of my own body over the past two weeks.

  Goldie found me when I was on my way there. When she spotted me, her eyes went wide and she rushed over, throwing her arms around me and nearly tackling me to the ground. I inhaled the familiar scent of her, burying my head in her golden-red hair.

  “Dear Gods,” she said, pulling back and shaking me by the shoulders and making me wince. “I was so worried about you.”

  “You were?”

  Goldie pursed her lips, her green eyes narrowing. “Don’t be coy, Rook, and don’t ever run off without telling me where you’re going again.”

  I nodded. “Oh, you mean the way you ran off after our fight?”

  She gave me a little shove. “We’re talking about you, not me. And you stink, so let’s go to the spring together, and you can tell me all about your little expedition.”

  I paused. “Maybe I should see Adriel first.”

  “Adriel’s not here.”

  My heart sank like a rock. “Where is he?”

  “There was a big transport supposed to go down, so he went with Yarin and Yarik to intercept it,” she said.

  I cursed. “Why didn’t you go with them?”

  One side of Goldie’s mouth pulled up into a half smile, and she hiked up her pant leg to reveal the bandages around her lower leg. I’d been so caught up in seeing her again, that I hadn’t noticed her favoring her left leg.

  “Things got a little rough on the last mission,” she said. “Yarik demanded I stay and heal.”

  “That might be a good idea for us both, and it sounds like we have stories to exchange.”

  Goldie nodded. “Yours any good?”

  “I’m not sure yet.”

  My old friend wrapped her arm around my waist, and we hobbled toward the cleansing spring together.

  “Ain’t that the Gods damned truth,” she agreed.

  While bathing and talking with Goldie, I learned that Yarik and her had gotten to Bo Benedict, our former Master, and the head of the Midlands Wolf Pack. They’d snuck into his home and killed him, barely escaping with their lives.

  My friend was short with the details, and I sensed that she was not willing to dive into it yet. I recognized the look in her eyes, though, knew it because I’d seen it so many times in the mirror. Whatever the details of what had happened on her and Yarik’s mission, she had taken lives to accomplish the task. From what my gut told me, she’d likely taken several.

  She was eager to hear about my journey instead, and sat wide-eyed through most of my tale. We talked for hours, and though I loved her to death, I was ready for some solitude after not having any for nearly two weeks.

  So I went to the sanctuary of the library and tried to read a little bit.

  But I could not focus, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Adriel, worrying that something would go wrong with the interruption of the big transport, and that he might get hurt, or worse.

  It occurred to me that this was likely a small dose of karma, as I’d run off without telling him anything, except for that I would return when I returned, written on a note I’d left by his bedside.

  The anxiety I felt about his absence was too distracting to allow me to sink into a story or history book, so by the time night fell, I found myself wandering through the streets of Mina.

  A full moon rose above the town, and as I wandered between the structures, I spotted a familiar figure leaping among the rooftops, and smiled.

  Climbing the side of one of the houses, I followed her trail. I found Freya in much the same position as the last time I’d climbed up here with her, and she spoke before I was able to sneak up on her.

  “You’re back,” she said as she sat on the sharp slope of the roof, her knees folded up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her. I saw that she had cut her hair very short in my absence, and her face was turned toward the moon.

  “How do you always know when I’m near?” I asked, crawling over to the side of the roof where she was and claiming a spot beside her. “I climbed up that side just because it was downwind.”

  “I know what it sounds like when you move,” she replied, and grinned crookedly. “From the rooftops, I always see you before you see me.” Her head tilted in a very Wolf-like manner. “And you only see me because I want you to.”

  “You’ve been reading those adventure books I gave you, haven’t you?”

  “I love them,” she said. “The danger, the excitement, the mystery. Except…”

  “Except what?”

  “Most of the characters are male,” she answered. “And none of them are like me.”

  I nodded slowly. “So you have a little bit of a harder time relating to them,” I guessed.

  “I just think it would be nice to read about a female who does amazing things. I know they exist, so why don’t people write about them more?”

  “How do you know they exist?”

  She turned toward me before jerking her gaze away again, her eyes darting around in that way of hers. “Because I know so many of them,” she answered. “Akila and her Harpy daughters, Miss Asha and Goldie, Miss Aysari and Griselle... And, you, of course. You’re one of them, too.”

  I had not expected this answer, and I swallowed past the lump that was forming in my throat.

  “Why don’t you write about them, then?” I said. “I’m sure you could do it. If there are no stories about people like you, then create them. Don’t accept unacceptable things. Change them.”

  Her face lit up, and I got the feeling that she had considered writing her own stories, but had been waiting for the encouragement of someone she trusted in order to do so.

  Someone like me.

  “What if no one ever reads them?” she asked.

  I leaned into her shoulder a bit, and to my delight, she did not shudder away. “I’ll read them,” I promised.

  Comfortable silence fell between us, as we watched the stars glittering over the town of Mina.

  “Is that what you’re doing, Miss Rook?” Freya asked after a while. “Changing the things that are unacceptable in the world?”

  The memory of handing over the stone to the Seers, of the Firedrake’s final words to me, flashed through my mind, and I let out a heavy sigh.

  “Honestly, I think most of the time I’m just trying to get by,” I said.

  Freya was quiet for a bit. Then, she said, “I think that’s what we’re all doing, Miss Rook.”

  I looked over at her, and felt a small smile pull up my lips. “You’re a smart one, you know that?”

  Now Freya’s grin was big enough to make a heart break. “Only because you tell me,” she replied.

  I swallowed hard, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and giving her a small squeeze. When she didn’t shy away in the least, I felt a bit of pride swell inside me, and clung to it.

  “We’re all just doing the best we can, I guess,” I said.

  “Is that good enough?”

  I shrugged, a sad smile coming to my lips. “I guess it has to be.”

  32

  Mina slept, but I stood on the arched bridge spanning the canal, alone under the blue glow of the moon.

  The sound of the moving water and my own heartbeat played in harmony, and I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn’t hear the Demon sneak up on me.

  “Can’t sleep?” Asha asked, joining me at the railing overlooking the water.

  “I’m waiting for him to come home,” I replied.

  Asha sighed. “I know. Me too.”

  We were silent for a while, and I realized that I felt utterly comfortable beside her, as if we had known each other for a lifetime.

  “Will it always be like this?” I asked. “The constant danger, the fighting and running… Will it always be this hard?”

  Asha looked over at me and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “I suspect that the
answer is yes, unless we choose to bury our heads in the sand.”

  I snorted. “Too late for that.”

  She nodded slowly. “Once we use the information the Seers gave us, and free the Dogs of their collars, it will most certainly get much worse before it gets better. Bodies will fall and blood will be shed.”

  “Brutality and killing to prevent more brutality and killing… Does that even make sense?”

  She let out a short laugh. “If we always judged the world by what makes sense, we’d all lose our damn minds, don’t you think?”

  “Or maybe it’s that we already have,” I replied.

  Asha scooted a little closer. She looked over at me, her light brown skin glowing under the moonlight. “I promised you an adventure, Rukiya dearest.”

  I chuckled, nodding. “Yes, you did.”

  “And what are your thoughts now that we’ve safely returned home?”

  I took a few moments to consider. “We came up against some terrifying things, but we also met some really good people. Females who helped us get where we’re going, helped us for no other reason than because they thought it was right… We wouldn’t have made it without them. I guess I forgot people like that even existed in the world.”

  Asha grinned, her beautiful face turning back toward the water. “Mm, see why I love the ladies so much? So what are you saying?”

  “There are good people in the world.”

  “Ay,” the Demon agreed.

  “People who deserve saving. Who deserve to be free.”

  Asha wrapped her arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. I leaned into her hold.

  “Look at that, Rook. Look at all the things upon which we agree. Not such a fucking idiot at all.”

  We both chuckled at this.

  In the distance, we heard a commotion, and I knew the sound well enough to know what it was. Our laughter dried up like summer rain.

  Asha took my hand and began pulling me off the bridge. “Come on,” she said. “He’s back.”

  He arrived with thirty pups in tow, bleeding and limping.

  His clothes were torn, and his ebony hair was tousled on his head, his beautiful face set in a grimace as he held Yarik aloft in one hand and a pup in Wolf form in the other, tucked closely against him.

  The little guy was shivering in Adriel’s arms, his ears flat on his head and his eyes as wide as full moons. The rescue must have been harrowing, because every one of them looked shaken to the core.

  The people of Mina were quick to assist. They swarmed the new arrivals and wrapped them in warm blankets and towels, and when Adriel looked past the gathered and finally met my gaze, I swore that my heart skipped three beats in my chest.

  I blinked, and he was before me.

  The powerful aura that surrounded him wrapped me up, swaddling me in safety that I had been terribly deprived of. The rest of the world dropped away, the pups and the people and the town of Mina blurring until it was just Adriel and me.

  His hand stroked down the back of my head, caressing my hair as I buried my face in his neck and breathed deeply of the peppermint soap scent of him.

  “I missed you so much,” he mumbled.

  My eyes burned, and I had to clear my throat before I could respond. “I missed you, too,” I said.

  When he pulled back a little, I remembered that we were still standing in the street. Yarik and Goldie arrived, and they began helping the new arrivals toward a bed and some food. Asha strolled over and clapped Adriel on the shoulder, and he released me long enough to return her embrace.

  “I’m glad you’re back, brother,” she said. She nodded at me. “We have much to tell you.”

  Adriel’s brows went up, his handsome face curious as he glanced between us. “Yes, it would seem that you do.” One of his arms went around my waist and pulled me against him. “Does it have to be right away?”

  Asha grinned, winking at him. “I got this,” she said. “You two go have a nice reunion.”

  “Thanks, Ash,” Adriel said, and transported me elsewhere.

  We reappeared near one of the hot springs, the green smells of the emerald forest rushing in to take the place of that of the gardens in town.

  Adriel actually stumbled a bit when we landed, and this was the only indication that he was more hurt than he’d let on upon arrival.

  “Would you help me, dearest?” he asked.

  I only smiled and began unbuttoning his shirt, my fingers working quickly. “As it turns out,” I said, “there is very little I wouldn’t do for you.”

  The sculpted muscles of his abs were revealed as I finished with the buttons and slowly pulled the shirt down over his strong shoulders. My eyes drank in the beauty of him, even beneath the blood and dirt that covered various wounds. I discarded the shirt beside us.

  “Is that so?” he asked, and when I looked up into his eyes, I saw that the scarlet of his irises had brightened a touch. He was clearly in pain, but I was apparently inciting some other emotions in him as I pulled him closer and began working on the buckle of his belt.

  “It is,” I said, my tongue running out over my lips as my eyes continued to roam over him. He was so beautiful that it almost hurt. “We found a way to remove the collars,” I added, and pushed his pants down over his hips.

  I opened my mouth to continue, but he pressed his lips against mine, effectively cutting off my words.

  “Later,” he said, his lips still against mine.

  Heat spiraled low in my belly, and I warned that I might have to bite him, if he was going to keep on being so Gods damned delicious.

  This made him laugh, and I watched in a trance as the muscles in his stomach contracted with the movement.

  No more words were spoken for a while.

  Just as it had before, the world dropped away until it was just Adriel and me. He removed my clothing in the same reverent manner that I’d done for him, and stood drinking in every inch of me with that scarlet gaze. It seemed to burn every place it touched.

  Then he was lifting me easily into his arms, scooping me up as if I weighed nothing. His eyes still eating me up, he carried me into the warm, crystalline water. My body shuddered at the feel of it along with the closeness of him. Steam floated along the top of the pool and around us, the tall trees of the forest providing a curtain against the rest of the world.

  Adriel found a spot where we could sit with the water coming up to our chests, and pulled me atop his lap. I faced him, straddling his legs, and finding him more than ready beneath me.

  As much as I couldn’t wait to come together with him, to feel him inside of me, for our bodies to become one, I took a few seconds to absorb the joy of the moment.

  If there had been any doubt in my mind before, there was absolutely none now.

  I loved Adriel. I loved him so much that it was bound to get me killed.

  And if it meant that I got to have moments like these, that was a price I was willing to pay.

  I rose up on my knees, holding his gaze as I took him into my hand and guided him into me, unable to bear the separation any longer.

  Drawing in a gasp of air that felt like the first I’d taken in days, my head tipped back and my eyes closed in ecstasy as my core blazed with the heat of a thousand suns.

  “I love you,” I said, the words slipping past my lips almost of their own volition. This was the first time I’d spoken them aloud.

  Adriel’s beautiful face looked almost painfully relieved to hear this, and his fingers dug into the soft skin of my hips, tugging me down further, pushing himself in deeper.

  “I love you, too,” he said, and chuckled breathlessly. “I have for quite a while.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck, my tongue exploring the smooth skin there, his hold on me tightening as he stood strong within me. The various wounds we’d both sustained were singing, but the pain was overridden with the pure pleasure rippling through me, and I moved a little faster, wanting every bit of him forever and ever.

  We
reached the tipping point in the same moment, and my cry of pleasure echoed through the woods. His scarlet gaze watched me as I called out his name, as the joy of being with him overcame me entirely.

  “Beautiful,” he said, placing a kiss to my neck, pulling me close, wrapping me up in that powerful, magnificent aura. “You’re so very beautiful.”

  I made no move to climb off of him, only looked at the male I’d come to adore, wondering at the way things were between us.

  For just a moment, as he held me in his strong arms, as we washed away the blood of battle and cleaned the wounds we’d sustained, it was almost as if we were not facing a deadly war, almost impossible to believe that such a thing could be true with love like ours in the world.

  Almost.

  Epilogue

  “You’re different,” said the Queen, red lips pursing as she tapped a finger at her chin. “I can’t place how, exactly, but it’s there… Tell me again what happened.”

  The Valac Warrior fought and defeated the urge to release a frustrated sigh. He was exhausted. He hadn’t slept, eaten, or even sat down. His body was aching from travel and injuries, and his head was starting to throb at the temples.

  But he took a deep breath and began the tale again.

  She listened intently, her eyes not blinking once as he recounted. He hated it when she looked at him like that.

  When he was finished, she sat staring at him for a while longer, and it took enormous effort for him just to maintain his feet. He wondered not for the first time what her plan was, what the end game of his queen really entailed. He knew that she’d wanted Rukiya and Asha to succeed in this most recent task, but why was still anyone’s guess.

  “The Seers,” she said. “Tell me about them again. And their city, too. Every detail. Everything you can remember.”

  He did. Leaving out nothing, because she had ways of detecting when her soldiers lied to her, and he was in no hurry to return to that damn jungle as punishment if he pissed her off.

  The only thing he dared to leave out was something the Seer had said to them when they’d first arrived in the City. The Seer had greeted them by reciting their various names, and the male had called him an oath breaker.