Moon Child: A PNR Shifter Romance (The Year of the Wolf Book 2)

by Serena Akeroyd

  The creature’s ears perked up, and its tails speared into life, all nine forming an erect circle as he leaped out and onto me.

  I didn’t scream, didn’t jerk back and away as he plunged into me. Todd’s hands grabbed my ass, and he urged me into moving, into riding him, and I knew then that this was normal. Even if, deep in my psyche, I’d known it too.

  As I rode him, I felt the fox, the kumiho, inside me, as real a presence in my soul as Todd’s dick was in my pussy.

  The fox marble I’d swallowed, the energy that I’d consumed that was a gift, a burden of knowledge, burned in my chest, and I saw the light shining between my breasts. Todd leaned up on one elbow, then pressed his fingers to that point.

  As he touched it, I groaned like he’d rubbed my clit and rocked my hips harder. His heat funneled into me, and I felt his knot start to come to life. The vibrations that followed had me tensing and relaxing as I powered through the intense sensations he urged me to feel.

  As I rode him faster, I could feel my heartbeat starting to pound, and as I surged toward a peak I’d only ever felt with him, the light burst out of me, the kumiho with it. But when I looked, I saw the light was shaped like a hyena.

  I gulped at the sight, but there was no time for revulsion. If anything, Todd’s fingers on my clit wouldn’t allow for that. My shoulders rounded as I pushed my hands onto his chest, shifting position slightly. In front of me, as I rode my man, as his knot did all kinds of wicked things inside me, I watched the kumiho circle the hyena, his tails swiping left and right, moving faster and faster, until I felt sure he was spinning us both into a trance.

  The hyena twirled in a circle too, moving so rapidly that I couldn’t even see any sight of it, until the light died, shadows crawled over it, until, with a bang that stunned me, because it had me screaming out with my orgasm, I could no longer see anything other than the pleasure my mate granted me.

  My head fell back, and my hips twisted and writhed as I wrung every ounce of ecstasy out of us both, but when his cum spurted inside me, I felt every drop and sagged on top of him. A limp, ragged, exhausted, ecstatic mess.

  Todd’s breath was rough and loud in my ear, but he managed to gasp out, “Look.”

  I twisted my head to the side, but didn’t gape when I saw the hyena—she, it?—now looked distinctly foxy. Her snout was more pointed, her ears pricked high on her head, and her eyes gleamed like silver pennies. Her fur was also a touch redder than before.

  Blinking at the sight, I muttered, “What the fuck?”

  He laughed. “For every year we’re mated, she’ll look more and more like a kumiho. She’ll gain more tails too.”

  I didn’t bother peering up at him, just burrowed my face into his throat as I recognized that the ‘thing’ inside me wasn’t all that had changed… My left ear? The perforated ear drum that was a gift from my father? I could hear again.

  Tears pricked my eyes, but I shoved them away, not wanting to spoil this time with thoughts of him, and rasped, “That’s a good thing? Isn’t one tail enough? Or are kumiho just greedy?”

  He hummed but he was smiling. “When you get your ninth tail, you’ll be able to shift.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  Another laugh escaped him, and I almost purred as his hands ran up and down my back. “You will. Eventually.”

  “How does it work? A hyena and a fox walk into a bar and—”

  “We’ll be the first cross-species couple to produce a child,” he told me, rocking my world before he distracted me by cupping my butt, jiggling my ass, which tested the knot that was burrowed into my flesh, and murmuring, “Perfection.”

  A sigh escaped me, because what the hell did it matter if we were the first or the last? All that mattered was this. And I whispered again, “I was such a dumbass.”

  “At least you learned your lesson,” he said dryly.

  I hummed in agreement. “At least I did that.”

  Eli

  “I think we’re owed an explanation.”

  I scowled at Maggie May, wondering why she had to be such a pain in my ass, even though I loved that about her. She’d never let me get away with shit, but damn, sometimes, she asked for too much.

  Not because I didn’t want to give my people an explanation, but because I didn’t necessarily have one.

  Shoving my hands into the back pockets of my jeans, I eyed my pack, ignoring Maggie May, and taking them all in.

  It was the first time we’d gathered since the hyena attack. The first time since I’d seen them all standing, looking like nothing had happened, even if, deep in their minds, I knew they were feeling the pinch.

  We’d gone through a battle, and some of us were made for that, but a lot of us weren’t. Even if someone was beta-type, that didn’t mean they were okay with killing or being killed, so I knew the shifty looks and the way most of the pack were staring down at their feet was for a reason. These people worked in factories, had farms, lived behind computers and desks… They weren’t soldiers.

  If wolves could have PTSD, some of them had it, and I knew that was yet another burden that was going to land on my mate’s door.

  As omega, she’d be able to help, but I’d admit to feeling scared. One day, she’d wake up and figure out that this was just too damn much, and I couldn’t blame her.

  It was.

  Some days, it just was.

  “Eli?”

  Her voice was soft, soothing. Calm. I pulled one of my hands from my pockets and reached for her. She slipped her fingers into mine, her grip gentle, as silken as her voice, and she nuzzled into me, shoring me up as she murmured, “They just want an explanation.”

  The trouble was, that was easier said than done.

  The aggression we’d faced was something that I didn’t think any pack had seen since pioneer times. We lived in harmony, only fighting in one-on-one challenges. And we never, ever, had cross-species battles.

  What we’d gone through had been unprecedented. How could I talk about that in any way that made sense?

  Still, I was alpha, so I cleared my throat and tried to do my best. “Sabina’s family is a little unusual,” I started, then winced because that sounded like I was trying to blame her, when I wasn’t.

  “Don’t worry, my love. All is well,” she whispered into my mind, and though the words were reassuring, they were also difficult to accept.

  We were all a little traumatized by what had gone down. By the sheer stupidity of it.

  When I found it hard to continue, unsure of what to say, unsure of how to give my people an explanation they deserved, I wasn’t altogether surprised when Sabina took over, stating, “My family is Roma. Gypsy to some. But one of the main reasons why I’m a strong omega is because of my roots.

  “Each of my siblings had power. My brother was a wolf child too, and he was alpha-type, capable of things we don’t need to discuss.” Her smile was tight, and it made sense that she didn’t feel like getting into the fact that her brother had the power to force her transformation, a talent that was something only a leader of a pack should be capable of doing. “Lara has always been able to read people’s emotions, and Jana? She could get glimpses of the future from time to time.”

  “Where is Lara?” That was Elsa. I scowled at her, because she should know not to stir gossip at a pack meeting when she could easily have asked us around the house. There had to be some perks to working for the alpha.

  “I don’t know. She’s with her new mate,” Sabina explained calmly, and her answer lit up a whole flurry of interest which, thankfully, took some of the doom and gloom away from the meeting.

  With them focused on that, they weren’t focused on the hyena attack.

  “Who is her new mate?” Sarah Langley asked, her tone eager.

  “Todd Choi,” I told her. “The Rainford alpha.”

  Everyone’s brows rose at that, except for Maggie who, as always, seemed to know everything, but Sabina corralled them quickly by explaining, “Jana had a vision of
one of her sisters’ mates being the reason for her death. She was mated to a hyena, and she used her position as leader of her clan to make a pre-emptive strike against us.”

  “Is she dead?”

  “Yes, Maggie. She’s dead. Todd killed her. I saw it with my own eyes.”

  I cut her a look at that, hearing something in that final sentence that had my brow furrowing with curiosity.

  She’d seen something else too.

  Something she hadn’t shared with us.

  “So she was right, then,” Elsa pointed out. “One of her sisters’ mates did kill her.”

  “Yes, but she was the reason behind her prophecy’s fulfilment, because we’d have left her the hell alone if she hadn’t come and started a war with us.” Sabina cleared her throat. “I thought she was dead. Lara did too.” She hitched her shoulder. “There was no reason for her to come and attack us, but she did anyway, and a lot of people died in the process.”

  “How did Knight bring us back to life?” That haunted question came from Marjory, the first wolf Knight had saved.

  “We have no way of knowing the answer to that,” Sabina replied, but she squeezed Knight in a hug, gently patting his back as he carried on sleeping through the meeting. “He just did. I assume it’s because he’s Roma too.”

  Whispers stirred at that, whispers that I knew brought peace to some, but would leave others with more questions in need of answering.

  I couldn’t blame them.

  What Knight had done was enough to make him a saint to the human’s Catholic Church. He’d done the impossible. Done the unforgettable.

  And if anyone knew?

  They’d come for him. Would want to harness his gifts, steal his powers.

  I gritted my teeth at the thought, a fear that had been hovering at the back of my mind ever since Knight had reaped a miracle. “If I hear of any whispers of this from outside the circle, if anyone talks about Knight in my hearing, there will be punishments. I command you all to inform me of any chatter about my son. His safety depends on you all keeping this a secret.

  “Honor his gift to you, honor your lives, something he gave back to you, by keeping him safe.”

  Eyes widened at my hard tone, but Maggie nodded. “I hear anyone talking about it, I’ll bring them straight to you.”

  Hushed whispers surged at that, but I sensed they were in agreement.

  No one had thought about the repercussions of Knight’s gift, but it was my duty to see the pros and the cons to every situation. I’d just found a massive con.

  There was someone out there who’d either want to monetize or weaponize my child, and that was never going to happen. Ever.

  “That’s the only reason the hyenas attacked?” Maggie’s mate asked.

  “No.”

  The voice came from outside the circle and, brows high, I saw Todd and Lara standing there, the supernatural pack of wolves clustered around them in a loose open-ended semi-circle that was protective.

  I wasn’t sure if they were protecting us or the couple, but I figured I’d find out soon enough.

  “No?” Sabina asked, her eyes on her sister. “That’s all we found out from Jana’s mate and her second-in-command.”

  When Lara turned to look at us, I gritted my teeth at the sight of her eyes.

  Didn’t take a genius to sense that the silver in her eyes was not a good thing.

  Most of the pack twisted to look at her, saw what I had, gasped, and immediately ducked their heads and stayed out of it. Smart bastards. Even Miss Know-It-All herself, Maggie May, kept her nose out of things.

  “What happened to you?” Ethan demanded, striding forward, not out of the circle, but closer to the edge so he could see her.

  “She ascended to her rightful place,” Todd told us, his voice calm as he raised his arm and lifted it to her shoulders.

  “What place is that?” Sabina asked, confused.

  “We can discuss that, leader to leader, later,” Todd reasoned, his gaze meeting mine. He didn’t push any dominance on me, because if he had, I’d have gone for him, especially with my pack looking on the way they were, but instead, I dipped my chin.

  Elsa surprised me by speaking up, “We have a right to know.”

  “This isn’t relevant to the pack,” Todd assured her. “It’s family business.”

  “How do we know that?” Harry Jessop grumbled.

  “You don’t,” I snapped, whacking pressure onto the words so that the few of them who weren’t tucking their heads under their tails to keep out of it, hunched their shoulders, aware they’d tested my patience. “You fought bravely for the pack, and all of you will be honored with raises and notes in your files that might, at some point, see you be shuffled into council positions, but we’ve given you the answers as we know them. It’s our job to bear the strain of leadership, not yours. Go and lead your lives and be grateful that, tonight, you’re getting into bed with your mates, and your children aren’t motherless or fatherless whelps, but safe in their family homes.”

  A few Adam’s apples bobbed at that, and I sighed as they shuffled out, guilt hitting me for being a little rough with them, even though they needed it.

  Sometimes, people got too big for their boots and I needed to make sure they didn’t make a habit of it.

  Sabina squeezed my hand. “It’s okay, love. They wanted answers, they got some. As much as we know.”

  I sighed and, watching the backs of people drifting out of the circle, muttered, “Couldn’t your sister have come to us at a private moment?”

  “Apparently not. I told you before, Lara acts on her instincts. It makes her do stupid stuff.”

  When the circle was cleared, I called out, “Enter the circle. If your intent is pure, the totem will let you pass.”

  Within seconds, they were through to this side of the totem, and they’d passed my measure of their honor with flying colors.

  I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck as Todd and Lara approached me. “Go on, then. Spill. What’s going on with your eyes?”

  “She’s the Moon Child,” was Todd’s simple answer.

  I cast a look at Ethan, because he’d be the one to know about that shit. But he shrugged. “Never heard of it.”

  “When the Moon Child ascends, the Sun Child shall be born in her light.” Todd’s smile was warm. “It’s a good portent.”

  “And why couldn’t you share that in front of my pack?” I groused. “Who the hell’s the Sun Child anyway?”

  “Because it is information they shouldn’t be privy to.” Lara’s voice was…odd. It was tempered in a way it hadn’t been before. No longer scratchy with youth, but weathered. Like she’d lived a hundred years when I knew she was twenty-four.

  “Why shouldn’t they?” Austin argued. “Nothing you said sounds all that bad.”

  Sabina cleared her throat, but her hand tightened around mine to the point of pain. “Shadows.”

  Lara tipped her head to the side. “Shadows?”

  She gulped. “I had a dream yesterday afternoon,” she admitted. “A strange one. I-I saw a lot of things that didn’t particularly make much sense. But I saw a girl born in the light of the sun, before shadows came and overtook her. And her mates.”

  Todd had tensed at her initial statement, before he rasped, “You saw the Sun Child’s mates?”

  She licked her lips. “I-I think I did. Maribel’s daughter is the girl I’m talking about.”

  “Daughter? She’s barely pregnant,” Ethan argued. “We don’t know her sex yet.”

  “Since the very first days of time itself, the Sun Child was destined to be a girl,” Todd intoned, and he too had a weird voice, like… He wasn’t ancient. How could he be, dammit?

  They were both in their fucking twenties, so why they sounded like they knew all and saw all, I’d never know.

  Grinding my teeth with impatience, I gritted out, “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Who were her mates, Sabina?” Lara demanded.

/>   My mate gulped. “Knight. Daniel. And your son.”

  Neither of them appeared overly taken aback by that, but Austin muttered, “Well, someone worked fast. You’ve only been gone two days.” He sniffed the air in front of Lara. “You don’t scent pregnant.”

  “I’m not. Not yet,” Lara reasoned. “And we were in Nevaehai. That was where we claimed each other as mates.”

  Nevaehai?

  I scowled. “Where’s that?”

  Todd smiled at me. “I know you’ve been there. I scented it on you the first time we met.”

  Casting looks between my brothers, I murmured, “Another time? Another place?” That was what Sabina had taken to calling the realm where we’d been sent to claim her.

  “Yes,” Todd agreed, “it’s the Mother’s soul. We were fortunate to go there.”

  Lara grumbled, “Fortunate? My ass. You almost died.”

  “But I didn’t. You saved me.”

  Ethan’s eyes widened. “The weird fruit thing? With all the bugs around it? That’s what saved you, isn’t it?”

  “The loenai,” Todd corrected.

  “How do you know all this stuff?” I rasped.

  “It’s my duty to know,” he explained. Which explained nothing at all. Mother, I was starting to understand why my pack had been peeved at the reason we gave them for Jana’s attack.

  “Okay, look. You said that Jana did what she did for another reason. What was it?”

  “So Lara would accept me as her mate, which triggered her ascension.”

  The simple reasoning made no sense to me, and my scowl evidently showed that.

  “She would never have given me a chance were it not for the unique situation into which we fell. As a result, this is the start of a new beginning.” Todd turned to Sabina. “The shadows, Omega. Where did they come from?”

  She gulped. “A boy.”

  Lara nodded. “Seth.”

  The sisters shared a look, and Sabina rasped, “I think it’s wise to send Seth to the other side of the country. We were planning on that before the attack.”