Dark Moon Falls: Volume 2

by Bella Roccaforte

  35

  Ciaran

  When Ciaran and Leira returned to the clearing everyone had already left. He’d kept his arm tightly around her shoulders all the way as they followed the trail back to the cabin where the wolves were gathered, the air around them relaxed.

  “We wasted their time,” Leira said as she smiled at two pack members who waved at her and Ciaran.

  He didn’t get a chance to reply as Elias’s voice came up behind them. “No wasting was done. They got to see a powerful necromancer bested, and they got a good dose of why it’s important to listen to women when they speak. Especially that woman happens to be your woman, right Ciaran?” Elias was laughing as he walked around them toward the house.

  Leira’s cheeks were pink but she didn’t say anything. She looked distracted and he guessed she was worried about fending Arania off. But when they entered the cabin, they saw none of the djinn had remained behind.

  “She’s gone,” a new voice piped up. “She sounded pissed. Also more pissed when she couldn’t use her portal thingie to get back home.”

  Ciaran and Leira turned to face the speaker, and the look at her face said she already knew who it was before she said, “Nice to meet you, Frankie.”

  His eyes widened and he glanced briefly at Ciaran before saying, “Guilty as charged.” Leira only smiled as Frankie said, “Your high priestess was furious. Apparently she couldn’t tell Aldrich that she had to shut the portal down entirely. He didn’t have any special magic when it came to using the portal. He was stealing your mother’s power. So technically Arania couldn’t shut him out.”

  “So she had to shut it down completely,” Ciaran said, his smile and tone impressed. “Pity she had to take the pleb way back though.”

  Laughing, Leira said, “Serves her right for never telling me how the whole teleportation thing worked. Or that it existed at all.”

  Ciaran was tempted to have a word or two with the high priestess regarding her lies to Leira but he figured his mate would be all too happy to deal with her mentor when she was ready.

  Now, Leira was looking around her again, took in the sight of people milling about the cabin, talking and laughing in the wake of the dramatic ending to Menephilos, the immortal necromancer. He knew she wouldn’t tell him what she planned to do about the tablet.

  But Ciaran suspected she’d figure something out soon. He’d come across her hiding spot out in the forest when he’d done the last sweep of the clearing before they’d brought the necromancer down. He was curious now what she planned but he wouldn’t ask.

  He wasn’t sure he would not be tempted by the promise of power offered by the Book of Anubis. But he was damn certain Leira was strong enough to resist that temptation.

  She was a unique creature.

  And she was his mate. He was certain of it.

  But would she agree? Ciaran knew she’d felt it too, had seen her reaction to his touch. But had he imagined it? Did she feel it too?

  He had to know.

  His wolf demanded it. As he felt the surge of passion rush through him, he understood everything. His beast had taken a backseat all this time, waiting patiently in order to assure Leira’s safety, but no that the ordeal was finished, his wolf raged for the mating bite to be performed.

  Ciaran turned her Leira and took her hand. “We need to talk.”

  Her green eyes flared with fire as she studied his face. And when she spoke, her words came as a surprise him. “I know.”

  Ciaran led her down the hall into his bedroom, shutting them away in privacy. “You feel it too. Don’t you?” he asked, his voice husky.

  “I do. And…it’s something completely unexpected, Ciaran.” She sounded hesitant but her eyes blazed.

  He cupped her cheek. “For me as well. I don’t want to reject this. We belong to each other, Leira.”

  “How can this happen so quickly?” she whispered, leaning into his touch.

  “I’m not sure, but I know it with a certainty that I feel in my blood, in my soul. You are my mate, Leira. We belong together.”

  She straightened and met his gaze, uncertain now. “It’s been such a whirlwind.”

  “It has. And out bond waited for us, for the danger to end. Now, if you will have me, we can spend our time here, enjoying each other, and cementing our bond.” Ciaran’s breath caught, his heart going still as he worried that Leira wouldn’t agree, that she would run from him again.

  Instead, she whispered, “Maybe you should kiss me.”

  As soon as the last word left her mouth, Ciaran dipped his head, meeting her lips with his. Energy and heat built between them, and a moment later, she clung to him, kissing him with the same needful urge that he could barely control.

  His fangs lengthened, and he broke their embrace so he wouldn’t hurt her. “Do you agree, Leira? Will you be my mate?”

  Seconds ticked by as he waited for her to reply.

  And then she smiled and nodded, her eyes sparkling, though a little uncertain. Without a word, he touched her chin and bent her head to the side, baring the flesh of her neck to him.

  “Trust me?” he whispered.

  “I do,” she replied softly. “Always.”

  Joy filled him and her bent close to her neck. He bit deeply, and her blood, like ambrosia, washed over his tongue.

  Ciaran and Leira moaned within the ecstasy of the bonding, caught up in the passion of the mating bite as their cries and their blood and their sounds joined together for eternity.

  * * *

  Find out more about Dark Moon Falls and Hot Box Publishing by clicking HERE and sign-up to be kept informed about any of their exciting news HERE.

  Also by Pia Milan

  The Sarkozy Brothers

  A Siren for the Bear

  An Heiress for the Bear

  A Healer for the Bear

  About the Author

  Pia Milan has always loved books and the escape they can provide. She soon discovered that she loves writing and bringing her own characters to life. If Pia’s not writing, you’ll find her curled up with a good book.

  BENJAMIN

  Tami Lund

  Editor: Julie Sturgeon

  BENJAMIN

  Benjamin Martinez joined the most dangerous rogue shifter pack in the country on his pack alpha’s orders. For five years, he’s been trying to figure out how to take them down.

  Hannah Montgomery left her old pack and moved to Dark Moon Falls in an effort to forget her past. A past that involved rogue shifters. She swore she’d never have anything to do with them ever again.

  When Ben meets Hannah, he doesn’t intend to tell her who he is or what he does for a living. Except the rogues are now after his pack.

  And her.

  Chapter One

  Even when he was relaxing, having a beer in a familiar locale, Benjamin Martinez preferred to sit in a corner, a dark one, his back to the wall, with clear line of sight to the entrance.

  The Wolf Inn was certainly familiar. Hell, before he’d left town it practically had been his second home.

  That had been five years ago. Long enough that he didn’t recognize a fair number of the patrons who were hanging out on a Friday night, kicking back after a long work week.

  Given the reason he’d returned, that played in his favor.

  Lyall Wilson was behind the bar, Natalia by his side, and they were flirting with each other as they concocted some fancy drink that most certainly involved magic, to the thrill of the group of ladies hovering and clapping and oohing and aahing. A cluster of witches and a single, redheaded wolf shifter in their mix.

  Natalia Vasquez, who was a member of the local witches’ coven, had left Dark Moon Falls even before Ben had, but clearly she’d returned at some point. And gotten back together with Lyall. Good for them. Ben had always thought they were one of those couples who were perfect together, and he hadn’t understood why Natalia had taken off so abruptly after high school.

  Not that he was in a position to reacquaint
himself with his old friends and have a catch-up session.

  He slid farther down in his chair and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to become invisible? Sure would have made his job a hella lot easier over the years.

  One of the waitresses noticed his empty pint glass and asked if he wanted a refill. He grunted and nodded, and she left again. On the negative side, it would be hard to get a drink if he were invisible.

  He scanned the crowd again, taking note of every individual, cataloging his gut instinct about each one, doing the necessary recon for both of his bosses.

  While he appreciated their collective beauty, he dismissed the group of women at the bar as unconnected to his current mission.

  The two shifters who were hunched over their drinks and sat a few feet from the women were hunters from the local pack. Luca and Samira Basile, twins, scary as hell and faithful to their family, friends, hometown.

  Ben glanced at the cluster of young wolves over near the pool tables. They were all doing a lousy job of pretending to play a game while salivating over the ladies, who were all now doing shots of whatever Lyall and Natalia had created for them.

  Ben needed to figure out a way to get the pool players out of the bar before other members of his pack showed up. They were exactly what his pack liked to recruit: young, aggressive, hungry for adventure.

  Except the sort of adventure his pack dabbled in was not what these guys wanted. Not even the romanticized version.

  Samira glanced Ben’s way, and, with his gaze on the ladies at the bar, he gave an almost imperceptible nod toward the fellas hanging around the pool table. She smacked her brother on the arm, and they both slid off their barstools and headed that way.

  Ben watched as the two hunters chatted up the young guys.

  He knew that they wouldn’t look his way. He’d bet money that none of them were even aware that he was in the room. He wasn’t wearing a short skirt and heels, after all.

  After a few minutes and with only minimal protest, the young guys returned the pool sticks to the holder in the corner and made their way out of the building. Ben noticed they deliberately walked close to the bar and a few interacted with the group of ladies who were on their second round of shots. But Samira was nothing if not efficient, and she didn’t give anyone time to exchange numbers as she herded them toward the door.

  Ben waited five minutes then slipped his phone out of his pocket and typed out a text message:

  No potential here.

  And then he made his way to the restroom. He needed to piss before he headed back to where his pack was waiting on the outskirts of town. Depending on how annoyed he’d be over Ben’s text, Vape, their leader, might decide to pull up stakes and head on to the next stop that very night.

  Ben certainly hoped so. Not that he relished getting on the road so quickly, but he certainly wanted Vape and his dangerous crew as far away from Dark Moon Falls as he could get them.

  After draining the main vein and washing his hands, Ben tugged open the door to the men’s room as his pocket vibrated, indicating he had a text. Distracted, he stepped into the hall and slammed into another body.

  Automatically, he reached out to steady the other person. His hands landed on the curve of a woman’s hips. A nice curve. The flesh underneath the skirt fit so nicely in his palms, he smoothed his hands down so that his fingers could stroke over a plump, yet firm ass.

  “Hey!” The woman whose ass he was fondling gave him a shove; he realized what the hell he was doing and threw his arms into the air as he backed up a couple of steps.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to, uh…”

  “Grab my ass? Because it sure felt like you deliberately put your hands on my rear and gave it a squeeze.”

  He swallowed. “Um, sorry?”

  She shook her head. “Whatever. Just don’t touch me again without my permission.”

  A pretty face that was a dangerous mix of wholesome and sexy, plump cheeks, ruby lips, and wide, blue eyes was framed by vibrant, red curls. He’d always had a thing for redheads. And even though he should get the hell out of here and head back to where Vape and his crew waited on the outskirts of town, he stayed right there in that hallway and nodded. “I promise, next time, I’ll get your permission first.”

  Like there would be a next time.

  She canted her head. “You don’t look familiar.”

  “Neither do you.” He grew up in this small town, so chances were good that if she had, too, they would have crossed paths at some point.

  She glanced at the bar, like she was about to excuse herself and walk away.

  “How come you’re hanging out with witches?” he blurted.

  Jesus, he was usually way more suave than this. And honestly, he shouldn’t even be interacting. Even if this woman decided to give him her number—highly unlikely after this exchange—he’d never call it. He couldn’t. Maintaining contacts in Dark Moon Falls was dangerous to his undercover operation.

  Turning back to look him in the eye, she arched her brow. “How come you’re hanging out alone?”

  He shrugged. “Used to it.”

  She mimicked his action. “I’m used to hanging out with witches.”

  “Why?”

  “The first person I met when I moved here was a witch. We hit it off, we started hanging out. Hence…” She nodded at the cluster of women bellied up to the bar. “Why am I even telling you this?”

  He chuckled. “No idea. But I don’t mind. Tell me your whole life story, if you want.” Except he didn’t have time to listen to the woman’s personal history, and, frankly, he didn’t need to learn anything else about her because he was leaving town, hopefully sooner than later, and he had no idea when he’d be back.

  “Maybe some other time. I’ve got to get back to my friends.”

  She was tall and curvy and she walked away with a confidence that was both refreshing and a giant fucking turn-on.

  His phone buzzed, reminding him why he’d run into her in the first place. He pulled the contraption out of his pocket and swore when he saw the messages on the screen.

  Get back here. I want a full report.

  Where the hell are you?

  Both from Vape. Ben needed to get out of the Wolf Inn before the man came looking for him.

  He hurried through the bar without looking at Lyall or Natalia or the group of women who had taken over the area near the pool tables. But he still noticed all of them.

  Especially the redhead who paused in the act of selecting a pool stick to watch him leave.

  * * *

  They’d set up camp in the mountains. Far enough away not to raise the suspicions of Dark Moon pack alpha, Elias Grant, but close enough that they could get in and out of town easily enough, especially as wolves.

  Ben shifted into his human form when he reached the first of six checkpoints set up around the perimeter. Vape had made a lot of enemies over the years. He never went anywhere without his security detail.

  Even when he was getting freaky with one of his paramours, there were always a couple of guys standing guard right outside the door. Ben happened to be in the general vicinity one time when Vape had unzipped the tent flap and invited one of the guards to come in and enjoy sloppy seconds.

  Ben made sure he was never in the area again when Vape decided to bang one of his groupies. He had no interest in having sex with anyone associated with this pack, frankly, and certainly not some girl who found Vape attractive enough to want to fuck him.

  Sometimes it sucked having such high morals because now that he thought about it, it’d been a damn long time since he’d gotten laid.

  Also, given what he did for a living, those morals were damned ironic.

  The guy keeping watch nodded at Ben as he passed. “Vape’s been looking for you.”

  Ben grunted and kept on walking.

  The guy at the next checkpoint snorted. “No one keeps Vape waiting, you know.”

  “A
pparently, I do,” Ben replied.

  At the mouth of the cave where Vape had set up his temporary residence, Ben paused and waited for Durango to motion him inside. “He’s annoyed,” the beefy, dark-skinned man warned.

  “So I’ve heard.” Inside the lair, the temperature dropped quickly as the twilight faded, courtesy of a full moon.

  Ben was glad he was a shifter for a lot of reasons, including his elevated body temperature and the ability to see in the dark. Convenient when one sometimes took to living in caves.

  Vape was the leader of what was rumored to be the largest—and definitely scariest—rogue pack in North America. The irony that rogue wolves left their packs and joined up with Vape because they didn’t want to follow the rules wasn’t lost on Ben. Vape had a lot of rules, and he acted swiftly and deadly if anyone dared to break them.

  But his rules weren’t the same as, say, Elias Grant’s. Elias expected his wolves to act in a way that maintained the peace, while Vape thrived on destroying said peace. And given the size of his pack, there were a hell of a lot of wolves who thought that was cool.

  This pack, which didn’t have a formal name because that would make them too similar to standard wolf packs, was transient. But that didn’t mean they didn’t appreciate the normal creature comforts, and most of them figured out quickly how to create a relaxing living space each time they moved to a new location and Vape decided to set up camp for however long it took to accomplish whatever objective was currently numero uno on the man’s agenda.

  Vape, especially, was good at making himself at home wherever he temporarily settled. Not surprising, considering how long he’d been rogue.

  He’d claimed a roomy, hollowed out area as his own, and some peon in the pack had set up plastic racks and hung heavy curtains from them, which helped keep the dampness at bay. There was a pallet in one corner piled with so many blankets it was probably a foot thick. Rounding out the space was a card table and four folding chairs, and a couple of Rubbermaid bins where Vape kept his clothing and toiletries and personal belongings.