Genesis: (Book One of the True Luna Series)

by Texie D. Freeman

  “The dream walkers never saw him coming. He killed them while in wolf form and snuck into the cave. Lucien’s teeth were around the prince’s neck, ready to end the war, when Nyx screamed. The ground shook as she cried out, stopping the wolf. She told him to leave, and he did.

  “Nyx had once again created another deal with Zeus. She vowed to never step foot on earth if he kept Endymion powerless and caged. The god agreed but nothing is certain. There’s no proof that Zeus kept his word.

  “Before he was bound, Endymion vowed to Nyx that he would massacre her children. To this day, the dream walkers are still searching for a way to bring back their father. They terrorize shifters endlessly while they sleep because it’s only in dreams that Nyx cannot reach,” Donovan finished.

  June’s mouth went dry as she said, “He has to be the dream walker that attacked me in my nightmare. Bran warned me about something, but I can’t remember what exactly. What if it was about Endymion this entire time?”

  “And Lena,” Thalia added, her eyes going to June, “you said that in Marigold’s memory she wanted to come here. I’m starting to think that that wasn’t random. She had to know who Marigold was from the beginning. She sought her out for a reason.”

  “Which could mean that Clark may not have been taken for revenge,” Creed finished.

  “But he’s human,” June remarked.

  “As was Endymion and the hunters,” the alpha commented, his arms tightening around her as if he could protect her from all the dangers of the world. “At this point, everyone is a threat. If Lena was willing to pose as a human to get here, then we have to assume she wasn’t Endymion’s only pawn.”

  Everyone seemed to have the same realization at once, but it was June who aired it. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she said, “We can’t tell the pack.”

  “Not a single member,” Donovan stated in a tight voice. “It’s not ideal but until we have a clue about what’s coming, we have to play it safe. That means keeping this conversation private, and June, no more spirit realm visits, okay? It’s too dangerous. We’ll find Clark the old-fashioned way.”

  Keeping her face impartial was the hardest thing she had ever done. “Yeah, okay.”

  Thalia’s eyes met hers, reading right through June. For a moment she was afraid the beta was going to rat her out but then she yawned, “I think I’m going to leave. I had a long night.”

  “Can you bring June home?” Donovan asked, oblivious. Behind his eyes, a plan was taking root, occupying his focus completely.

  “Of course.” Thalia nodded. She walked over to the door and opened it. “Whenever you’re ready, Luna.”

  Donovan’s arms dropped but she didn’t get up right away. Twisting to face him, she cupped his face and kissed him long and slow. It wasn’t until Creed coughed that she pulled back, face flushed. “When will you be home?”

  The alpha grimaced and looked at the pile of papers on his desk. “An hour, maybe two.”

  “Take your time,” she said and got off his lap. It took longer than necessary to leave. Outside of the office, accompanied by Thalia, shifters offered her words of congratulations. Her smile was so tight that June thought her lips would crack. She let the façade fall as soon as the front door shut behind her. To the beta, she said, “You can just drop me off. I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

  “And miss out on whatever you’re planning?” Thalia quipped while opening the driver’s side door. “No thanks.”

  “It’s just an idea,” she spoke when they were in the car, “but I think I know how to find Clark.”

  “Let me guess, you have to use the spirit realm.”

  “I have a theory and it’s kind of crazy. Since Marigold showed me her memory, I’ve been wondering if it works in the opposite direction. Instead of blindly looking for Clark, I’m going to see if I can look through his eyes.”

  “That… makes absolutely no sense to me. However, I’m willing to try anything, even if it means breaking a few rules,” the beta claimed.

  June had a feeling that a broken rule or two was going to be the least of their problems.

  /CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE/

  Déjà vu washed over June when she noticed a figure on the porch when Thalia’s car pulled up to the house. In her head, Genesis perked up in curiosity, and then, something within the wolf changed. Before June could grasp what, she was suddenly not in control of her limbs anymore. She was thrusted into the back of her mind, watching as an outsider as her own hand pushed open the car door and then she was racing across the yard.

  Dani didn’t stand a chance as June tackled her. On the floor of the porch, her grunted and stared up at her with flashing gold eyes. “Hello to you, too, Luna.”

  A sound she had only heard from her mate, a low growl, vibrated June’s chest, and throat. Genesis cut it off instantly when the shifter under her bared her neck. The wolf rumbled with satisfaction as she rubbed her cheek against Dani’s.

  “Luna?” Thalia called. The beta stopped her pursuit towards the house when June’s head whipped over her shoulder, canines bared. Thalia’s hand went up instantly. “I can see you’re busy, never mind.”

  Perturbed but satisfied, Genesis went back to her ministration. Her cousin sighed after a long three minutes. “I love you, too. Now, can I have my cousin back? Please?”

  Once the wolf was satisfied that Dani was well coated in her scent, the world faded out of focus. June rolled off her cousin, head spinning. When the dizzy spell passed, she sat up and looked at Thalia, knowing her face was pale and her eyes were full of fear. “What the hell was that?”

  Thalia came up the porch and helped Dani to her feet and then June as she said, “Your wolf took over. It’s a common side effect all shifters deal with when they experience a bout of intense emotion.”

  June tried to think of what would bring it on. She had felt bad for not thinking much of her cousin with everything that had happened since they last saw each other. Still, she knew her guilt wasn’t the source of her out of body experience. Her theory was confirmed when Genesis spoke one word in her mind. She turned to Dani, her eyes going from her cousin’s flat stomach before meeting her gaze. “You’re pregnant?”

  “As of yesterday, I’m nine weeks along.” Dani offered up a sheepish smile which turned into a frown. “We crashed not too far from a camping spot. The humans heard us and came running. I couldn’t risk moving you so I hid in the woods, hoping Donovan would arrive on the scene first but the campers beat him and called for help. After they took you, he found me in the woods and had Creed bring me to the clinic. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you came back, June. Dr. Vick had me on bedrest, which I thought was overboard, but Noah was paranoid, and he already has bad anxiety—”

  She had wondered how she ended up in the hospital alone but at Dani’s confession, she balked. June’s mind went backwards in time and she felt sick. “Oh, goddess. If you’re nine weeks—”

  “I was pregnant before I was bitten,” Dani remarked and her eyes flashed gold. “The council knew when they had me poked and prodded by the physician. They were probably waiting for you to kill me first before telling my mom and dad. A little salt to rub in their wounds.”

  Her guilt amplified. Hoarsely, June vowed, “One day, I’m going to make them pay for everything they did to you.”

  “To us,” Dani corrected. The gold in her eyes faded back to hazel as she sighed, “I know you will, but for now, let’s go find ourselves a human.”

  Realizing that she wasn’t there by chance, June faced Thalia. “You mind linked Dani?”

  “I knew you wouldn’t be able to concentrate because you’ve been worried about her,” Thalia answered with a shrug. “Plus, I could always use the extra support. Other than Donovan, we’re the only ones who know about The Order. I think that counts as something special.”

  “I do, too,” June agreed and the three of them proceeded inside. “We have to make this fast and leave no room for error. I’ll need a few candle
s and a pillow to sit on. Dani, you can search the house for those while Thalia and I move the furniture.”

  Dani nodded and started up the stairs while Thalia and June set the mood. Together, they made quick work of clearing the space and closing the curtains. The couch had just been pushed against the wall when Dani came back with a pillow from the spare bedroom and four candles in her arms. Borrowing a lighter from the beta, Dani set them up in a circle, placing the pillow in the center.

  June was stared down at the makeshift nexus, hoping it would work. The only candles Dani had been able to find were labeled with titles like Urban Vanilla, Charming Cherry, and Late Lavender. At one point in her life, she would have loved how the scents mixed but now all she could smell were the underlying chemicals.

  Sensing her apprehension, Thalia said warily, “We don’t have to do this today, Luna. If you need Lycos, we can wait.”

  “I’ll be fine,” June told her, not believing her own lie. Before she could back out, she stepped into the circle. “It’s not just Marigold and Clark we have to worry about anymore.”

  “It’s not fair that you have to carry the whole world on your shoulders,” Dani protested.

  Just a few days ago, she would have agreed with her cousin.

  And yet, something had changed after she had talked to Claire. Her mother had died for June to live. Dale had gone to prison for her. Jace risked everything to let her go. Donovan went against his nature, and even his people, to be with her.

  Their sacrifices had forged June a path, a road that led to something bigger than herself. She had searched for a purpose her whole life and finally found what she had been looking for. It wasn’t anything like what she had in mind, but fate was fickle and who was she to deny the universe what it was owed?

  June sat down on the pillow as she responded, “It’s not that heavy when I have others around to help me hold it up.”

  She shut her eyes only to notice that it was much harder to focus. June couldn’t seem to concentrate enough to block out the whistling of the air conditioner, the chirping of birds outside the window, and the erratic beating of Dani’s and Thalia’s hearts.

  A sound of frustration left her. She was about to consider her experiment a failure when a wave of calm washed over her from Genesis. The wolf was thinking of Donovan and how he kept them grounded. Warmth flowed through June and she smiled, her body melting as if he was right beside her.

  “Baby?”

  June’s smile straightened out and she froze. “Hello?”

  Donovan laughed and it sounded like he was speaking into her ear, “I see you figured out the mind link.”

  “Yup, guess I did,” June said, glad he couldn’t see her grimace. “Um, okay, bye.”

  For a moment, she thought she was free and then, “June, can you explain to me why the bond feels like someone stuck a fork in an electrical socket?”

  “That’s…so weird,” she thought back and felt her stomach clench in protest.

  The alpha picked up on the feeling right away. His tone was frighteningly calm as he responded, “Please tell me you aren’t trying to enter the spirit realm.”

  Before June would come up with a plausible excuse, she found herself blurting out, “It’s only for a second! I think I know how to find Clark.”

  “Whatever you’re doing, stop right now,” Donovan snapped. “I’m on my way home.”

  “I can do this. You’ll see,” June said and cut him off. The last thing she heard was a half-uttered protest.

  She sucked in a lungful of air and blew it out slowly, putting all her focus into expanding the nexus. Little by little, she felt the pull in her chest grow and a connection form. June gripped it like a rope and let it pull her forward, picturing the boy from Marigold’s memory in her mind. She was yanked over the edge just as the front door slammed against the wall and deep voice screamed her name.

  Clark Anderson could willfully say that he was over the quiet.

  It was an odd thought because not too long ago, he craved silence. For him, the world had always been too loud. Whether it was the screaming kids in the foster homes he had lived in, or just a car passing on the street, or people conversing near him, everything was always amplified.

  The loud made it hard to focus.

  Now he wished he was unable to think.

  The cold, dark basement Lena had placed him in was always silent. He couldn’t remember when he last heard someone speak. They always waited until he was asleep, pressed into the corner of the stone wall on the small, dirty mattress, to bring him water and food.

  Not that they did much of that anymore.

  A tremor went through Clark as he was reminded of the desert that was his throat. Only a quarter of the water remained in the plastic bottle he had found beside his head two days, or had it had been four days?

  Clark’s hand shook as he reached blindly for the bottle. It was right next to him, but his sore body protested. His ribs were taunt against his skin but that was the least of his problems. The right side of his body was red and the skin enflamed. If he had a mirror, Clark knew his face would be flushed with fever.

  He unscrewed the cap on the bottle and tilted back his head. He couldn’t stop himself from drinking the whole thing. Knowing he would regret it later, Clark tossed it aside and grabbed the book off the bed, his only form of distraction.

  He didn’t crack it open just yet. Instead, his thumb ran over the cover. Lena was getting better at torture. The latest library book she had brought him, as depicted on the cover, was about a heroin with curly black hair and endless eyes.

  He forced Marigold out of his mind but not before hoping she wasn’t in the same situation as him. Lena assured him that she would never hurt Maggie. However, it wouldn’t be the first time she had lied to him.

  Before he had ended up here, Clark had been preparing for the summer semester. He was staying on campus, as usual, and apparently so was Lena. She had found him the library and asked to talk.

  Clark should have known something was up. She barely acknowledge his presence when Marigold was around. But for some reason, the two had stopped hanging out altogether. When he had asked Maggie, she told him that it didn’t matter.

  But it did to him.

  People had come and gone in Clark’s life. His natural response was to think it was his fault. Even if he didn’t like Lena, he wanted to please her. So, he had taken the latte she offered him not realizing that he would wake up her prisoner.

  Clark stared down at the book cover again. He felt his eyes itch but there wasn’t enough water in him to produce a single tear. His thumb ran over the face of the drawing and tried to pretend it didn’t look like the only person in the world who loved him.

  June was snapped back into her body without warning. Her hand flew to her throat and she stood up so fast, her head spun. Someone spoke behind her, and footsteps followed as she went into the kitchen. She stuck her head under the facet and drank water until she choked. A heavy hand patted her back until she finally caught her breath.

  Turning around, June flung herself into Donovan’s chest. He was still for a moment and then sighed, encasing her in his embrace. She closed her eyes and let it diminish the agony that wasn’t hers.

  His body rumbled underneath her as he ground out, “Well? Did you get what you risked your life for?”

  June noted Dani and Thalia were standing in the doorway. When she was sure she could speak without breaking down, Clark’s pain fading from her body, she nodded. Her attention was solely on the beta as she answered, “I found him. I found Clark.”

  /CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO/

  Only a day had passed and somehow, June found herself back in the alpha’s office at the pack house. She stood over the desk, her finger tracing the highway that connected Ashby to a small town called Bryan. The county was so small that it was just a dot on the map.

  Donovan had spent over a year looking for Lena and June had found her in seconds. While Clark had been occupied with the book
cover, she had memorized the barcode tag which expressed the address of the library it belonged to. The results came back to the small town that was a three-hour car ride away. The fact that the dream walkers had always been this close was a slap in the face. June knew it hurt even more for him because he wouldn’t be able to face his sister’s tormenter just yet.

  Lena would see him and Thalia coming from a mile away. Other than a pregnant Dani, no other shifters knew about the dream walkers. All who was left was June and Creed. While she was used to having less than pleasant company on missions, she never imagined herself being accompanied by a shifter.

  Well, almost a mission, that is.

  All they knew was that Clark was being kept in a basement. Together, she and the gamma would scope out potential spots. With the help of the internet, a quick search, and some light hacking into a local Bryan plumbing company, they put together a list of every residential building that had had their pipes replaced in the last twenty years. Over the past day that list had been narrowed down to five places. They had ruled out the suburbs and business like the local grocery store and the library itself.

  A straight shot, Dale would have called it.

  At the thought of her dad, June felt her throat get tight and her eyes burn. She wiped the tears away fast but not before Donovan saw, given by how he put his hand on her shoulder, asking for the hundredth time, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Creed has already packed the car,” June told him, adding, “I made a promise to Thalia and Marigold. They deserve a chance to be together and Clark will die if we don’t get to him soon.”

  Donovan pressed his cheek to the top of her head. “No risks, okay? At this rate I won’t live to see my next birthday with how you keep my blood pressure on the rise.”

  “Oh, I just realized I have no clue when that is or how old you are,” June voiced and then she laughed, “Goddess, we’re a mess.”