Dark Moon Falls: Volume 2

by Bella Roccaforte

  “Hannah’s your sister?” Ben asked, apparently speaking to Nick.

  “How do you know my sister?” Nick asked back.

  “How do you know Durango?” Ben asked again, looking back to Hannah.

  “They used to date,” Nick offered helpfully.

  Ben narrowed his eyes, which weren’t leaving Hannah’s face. For a moment, she felt guilty, like she’d done something wrong.

  But she hadn’t. She had no idea Durango was a rogue shifter when she met him. Okay, yeah, she’d been young and stupidly attracted to his bad boy vibes back then. But she’d learned her lesson. At least, she thought she had, until Ben came along. Except he hadn’t given off those same vibes.

  Which somehow made it worse.

  Or maybe it was the fact that she’d fallen for him harder and faster and more real than anything she’d had with Durango.

  And he’d lied to her too.

  “I told you I couldn’t stay,” Ben said, once again seemingly reading her thoughts. “I never gave you hope or expectations.”

  He was right. Damn it. All that hope, all those expectations; that was all in her own head. He’d been upfront with her from the moment they met. He had made it clear he was only in town temporarily. She was the one who’d convinced herself that temporary could be changed.

  She was such a fool.

  “Whoa, hold on.” Nick stepped closer to the group. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  Everyone gave him an expectant look.

  “Did you sleep with my sister?” he roared, and then, without waiting for an answer, he dove at Ben, knocking him onto his back and letting his fists fly. He got in a few good licks before Durango grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him off the other man.

  Hannah cocked her head and studied her brother. “How come you didn’t react that way when you found out I was sleeping with Durango?”

  Nick glanced at the massive man still holding his collar. “He’s huge,” he said, as if that was explanation enough.

  “I can’t believe you hooked up with that guy,” Ben said, his voice full of disgust. He spat blood on the ground and shook his head like he was dazed.

  “As entertaining as this has been, I have far more important things to tend to,” Vape declared, and then he shouted, “Durango, kill them.”

  Durango reached for Hannah. “Seriously?” she said, dancing out of reach. “You’re going to kill me?”

  He advanced, one massive step for every three of her own. “Vape gives a command, I follow it.”

  “That’s not very rogue of you.”

  “Keep talking. You’re making it easier to do what I’m told.”

  He put on a burst of speed and would have grabbed her arm except something zapped his hand and he jerked it back, snarling obscenities. He turned his attention to Natalia, who stood a few feet away with her hand poised in the air. She’d obviously tossed a spell at him to keep him from reaching Hannah.

  He shifted, turning into a wolf that was easily twice the size of Hannah or Ben or Nick when they were in their wolf forms.

  Uh-oh. Hannah didn’t hesitate. She shifted too and immediately jumped on Durango’s back and clamped her jaws onto his neck. Luna grabbed Natalia and tugged her out of the way as Durango bucked and snapped and growled while Hannah held on for dear life.

  He twisted and managed to bite her foot; she released him as she howled in pain. He threw her off, and she slammed into a nearby boulder before crumpling to the ground in a heap.

  Two other wolves flew past her and charged at Durango, working in tandem to try to take the giant down. Hannah lay there, panting, her vision blurry, her legs refusing to help her stand so she could help. Finally, she gave up and summoned her human form, hoping the shift would speed along the healing process.

  That’s when an arm snaked around her from behind and tightened, cutting off her air supply. She scrabbled against the iron grip, digging her nails into flesh and wiggling like a fish out of water, but whoever it was didn’t loosen his hold.

  “A-hem,” someone said next to her ear, exaggeratedly clearing his throat.

  Vape.

  The three fighting wolves stopped and turned her way. Ben was the first to shift back, followed by Nick, and, lastly, Durango. Ben started forward, his gaze on Hannah’s face.

  “Stop right there,” Vape said and Ben paused. Hannah felt Vape move, like he was twisting his head to and fro. “I see the witches abandoned ship. Of course.”

  Seriously? Her friends left her at the height of battle? Outnumbered or not, that was pretty shitty.

  “Now,” Vape said, “explain, Ben.”

  “Explain what?”

  “Who is this woman to you?”

  “Why does it matter?” Ben asked.

  Hannah felt Vape shrug. “It doesn’t. Other than I’m curious how upset you will be when I kill her.”

  “Don’t!”

  Hannah felt Vape move again; he might be shaking his head. “I should have known you were a traitor. It’s always the ones who seem too good to be true.”

  “How did you figure it out?” Ben asked.

  “Nick. He’s been following you, on my orders.”

  Ben gave Nick a solid glare, and Nick snapped, “Obviously, I missed the part where you slept with my sister.”

  “Obviously, I missed the part where you could be trusted,” Ben retorted.

  “You shouldn’t trust anyone in a pack like this one,” Vape said. He tightened his hold on Hannah’s neck and she made a gurgling noise as she gasped for air. Black dots danced at the edges of her vision, and she was losing feeling in her extremities.

  “Stop,” Ben shouted.

  Vape loosened his hold slightly. Enough that Hannah could suck in about half a breath.

  “Stop what?” Vape asked mildly.

  “You’re going to kill her,” Ben said.

  “Yeah, that’s the point.”

  “I don’t want you to. I…I—”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Hannah saw Vape lift his free hand, palm facing out. “For the gods’ sake, don’t use the L-word. Let’s just leave it at you want to fuck her again.”

  “Fine,” Ben said, sounding weary. “I want to fuck her again.”

  Somebody growled. Hannah was pretty sure it was her brother. Nick. Who was supposed to be dead. Instead, he was part of the same rogue pack as Ben. And Durango. If she weren’t so busy attempting to breathe, she’d probably feel pretty overwhelmed by all of that information.

  “The only way she doesn’t die is if she joins my pack,” Vape said. He relaxed his hold, allowing her to suck in a proper amount of oxygen. “Which means she needs to be hazed.” He sounded downright cheerful as he pulled his arm from around her neck and wrapped his hand around her bicep instead.

  “No,” Ben and Nick said at the same time.

  Vape chuckled and gave her arm a tug. “Let’s go. We need to let the pack know, set up a makeshift ring.”

  “I don’t think so,” Hannah said. She bent at the waist and pulled her elbow forward, planning to shove it into his groin as hard as she possibly could.

  Except he anticipated her action and kicked her legs out from under her. She landed with a thud on her ass. When she looked up at him, a fist crashed into her right eye. She cried out and pressed her hand to the pained area. A flash of fur zoomed past and slammed into Vape, knocking him backward.

  Vape shifted and the two wolves clashed, fangs and fur flying as they snapped and bit and growled, battling for dominance. Hannah recognized the other wolf as Ben, and he sure seemed to have a lot of rage, all directed toward Vape.

  The sounds of a scuffle pulled her attention to the left, where Nick was attempting to keep the massive Durango from stalking over, presumably to help his boss. Since Durango had easily eighty pounds on him, Nick’s efforts were failing miserably.

  Hannah struggled to her feet, trying to shake off the double vision that was no doubt a result of the punch to her eye. H
onestly, she wanted to jump into the fray with Ben and Vape and get in a few licks of her own, but Ben was holding his own, which meant Durango was the biggest threat at the moment.

  She staggered toward her brother, who had his palms pressed against Durango’s obscenely wide chest. He’d dug his heels into the dirt, but Durango simply walked forward anyway, pushing Nick along in front of him.

  “Go help him,” Nick said to her with a nod of his head toward where Ben and Vape were still battling.

  Hannah shook her head, which sent her vision bouncing. She pressed her hands to the sides of her face and said, “Ben’s holding his own. You need help.” And then she straightened. “Wait. Why is Ben fighting with his alpha?”

  “Because he hit you,” Nick said.

  “Yeah, but—”

  “You need to shift, Hannah. It’ll clear your head. And maybe you’ll see what’s really going on.”

  Durango, apparently tiring of the minor impediment Nick was causing, shoved him out of the way and stalked toward Ben and Vape.

  Hannah started to scramble after him. Two streaks of dark fur flew past her on either side. The two wolves simultaneously leapt and landed on Durango’s back. He howled as he fell forward and shifted at the same time, landing on his feet and twisting around to face his two adversaries.

  Hannah recognized those wolves. The badass twins, Luca and Samira Basile. They were Dark Moon pack hunters, and as Hannah understood it, they were a seriously lethal team. Which was proven as they efficiently took down a wolf that should have taken an entire army to beat.

  Kit Daniels, another hunter from the pack, was holding Nick’s arms behind his back. Levi Gunner, the leader of the hunters, and his second-in-command, Teri, headed toward Ben and Vape while Elias and Barnett Templeton, who was the sheriff of Dark Moon Falls, stepped around the hill and onto the scene.

  Vape clearly wasn’t ready to go down without a fight, because in a matter of seconds, Teri and Levi had shifted into their wolf forms and the battle was three on one, and for a few terse moments, Vape actually had the upper hand.

  But then Ben slipped behind him and rolled, taking out his back legs, and Teri jumped onto Vape’s back and latched onto his neck while Levi used his own wolf’s body to knock the rogue leader onto his side.

  Teri, Levi, and Ben all shifted into their human forms, while Vape’s wolf was pinned to the ground by the two hunters. He alternated between struggling and panting but was unable to wiggle out of their grips.

  Ben stood next to them, hands on his knees, breathing heavily, sweat and blood dripping from his brow. He looked up, his gaze raking over Hannah’s face, and she automatically touched her swelling cheek.

  His brows furrowed as his eyes narrowed and his lips thinned, and then he turned to the wolf, grabbed its head, and twisted. A crack rent the air, and the rogue pack leader’s body went limp.

  “Damn it, Ben, that isn’t how we do things here,” the sheriff yelled as he stomped toward the dead shifter.

  “I’ll try to remember that next time,” Ben said.

  Barnett shoved him out of the way, cursing under his breath as he knelt and felt for a pulse, shaking his head when he presumably couldn’t find one.

  Ben stalked to Hannah, reaching for her, but she staggered backward so he couldn’t touch her. "No.” She lifted her arm, palm facing out. “I need a minute to wrap my head around all this.”

  Elias held out his hand. Ben grasped it, and the alpha used the contact to pull Ben into a one-armed hug while saying to Hannah over his shoulder, “What Ben should have said back at my house, before you took off, was that he has been living with Vape’s pack in an effort to figure out how to stop them. On my orders.”

  “Wait…” She blinked rapidly, but her vision wasn’t getting any less blurry and the fuzz wasn’t easing out of her brain.

  “She might have a concussion,” Ben said. “Vape clocked her pretty hard.” There was steel in his voice and in his grip when he reached out and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side.

  “That why you killed him?” Elias asked.

  “Yes.”

  Elias nodded once. “Well, we’ve got a hell of a mess to clean up here. The witches and the other hunters are rounding up the rest of the pack. We’ve got to figure out how to deal with them. Weed out those who can be rehabilitated from those who can’t.” He gave a pointed look at Durango’s lifeless body, lying at his feet.

  So Luna and Natalia hadn’t left after all. As relieved as Hannah was over that revelation, she still had so many questions.

  “Why don’t the two of you get out of here?” Elias suggested, giving Hannah a sympathetic look. “She needs to shift to kick the healing into gear, and I’m sure once that happens, she’s going to have a million questions.”

  “He’s right,” Hannah said, her voice slurring slightly.

  Ben used his arm around her shoulders to guide her away from the busy scene. “Wait,” she said, trying to stop him. “Nick. Don’t let them hurt him.”

  Ben glanced over his shoulder. “He’s fine. As long as he cooperates, they won’t harm him. Now come on, shift. You’ll feel better.”

  She did, willing her body to change form. The magic that transformed her body also soothed her aching head. The swelling on her face immediately began to recede. Her tailbone, which she was pretty sure was broken, would take a little more time to completely heal, but it was already feeling better. She shook like a dog and then shifted back into human form.

  “Okay, now start talking. And you’d better make it good, Ben.”

  Chapter Eleven

  He refused, at least until they were back at her apartment.

  Because he wouldn’t talk on the way back into town, she shifted into wolf form and took off at a run, which had been his plan. He knew she’d feel better after multiple shifts.

  The run also helped to cool his still raging anger. The quick, painless death had been too easy for Vape. After witnessing the other man abuse Hannah, Ben had wanted to torture him until he begged.

  But he was a better man than that. Besides, Sheriff Templeton wouldn’t have let him get away with it.

  Both Ben and Hannah shifted into human form at the base of the stairs leading to Hannah’s apartment. After tossing him a scowl, she walked up first, running her fingers along the top of the doorframe until she came away with a key in her hand.

  “Where’s your truck?” he asked as she unlocked the door.

  “Still at Natalia’s house. Hopefully, she’ll bring it back for me. My favorite pajamas are in my bag, which is in my truck.”

  Because he’d convinced her to leave town. Or so he’d believed at the time. “Why didn’t you leave?”

  He followed her into the house. She headed straight for the cabinet where she kept the booze. He pulled two pint glasses out of the cupboard and half filled them with ice. She gave him a grudgingly approving look before tipping the bottle of Tito’s over each glass in turn.

  “I couldn’t. I had no idea what was going on, but I could tell by the way you were acting that it was bad, really bad. This place has become my home, my safe haven, and I didn’t want anything to disrupt that. So I decided to go to Elias instead, figuring I needed to warn him.”

  Ben nodded, and after she grabbed one of the drinks and took a long sip, he swiped the remaining one off the counter.

  “And then when you left Elias’s, after you believed I was part of the rogue pack?”

  She cocked her head and leaned against the counter, wincing a little before taking another drink. He wanted to run her a bubble bath. He wanted to call Natalia and ask her for some magical herbs to add to the water. He wanted Hannah to not be in pain anymore.

  And he wanted to ensure she never was again, for the rest of her life.

  “Why did you say you were part of that pack?” she asked instead of responding to his question.

  He shoved his hand through his hair. “I’ve been doing undercover work for so long, I�
�ve learned to listen instead of speak.”

  “Interesting that you and I have understood each other just fine until that point.”

  “Yeah, that was pretty fucking scary at first, to be honest. You know why we were able to, right?”

  Ignoring his question, she wandered into the living room and dropped onto the couch with another wince.

  “Here,” he said, offering her a pillow. His gut reaction was to pull her into his lap, to situate her there so that she could relax without putting pressure on her tailbone. But he could tell she needed a better understanding of what had just gone down with Vape before she would be ready to accept that Ben was going to be a part of her life for the long haul. And that meant he was going to take care of her, whether she believed she needed his ministrations or not.

  He sat in the chair, giving her the space he knew she still needed. “I was trying to explain that I was working undercover for Elias, but it came out wrong. And you bolted before I could elaborate.”

  She stared at her drink. “You didn’t know Nick was the brother I thought was dead.”

  “Or that you’d dated Durango.” For a minute there, his vision went red.

  She shook her head. “I wouldn’t call what we did ‘dating’ precisely. It was more of a young woman being given the opportunity to enjoy the bad boy fantasy for a while. But of course, the reality doesn’t live up to expectations. Unlike you, he wasn’t forthcoming about his intent to leave at some point.”

  Ben clutched his drink. This all occurred before he met Hannah. This all occurred before he met Hannah.

  She sighed. “About two and a half years ago, Vape’s pack had made their way to Chicago, where I’m from.”

  “I know. I was with them then.”

  She gave him a surprised look.

  He nodded. “I didn’t actually go into town. One of Vape’s policies is that everyone in the pack has to carry their own weight. Kids obviously can’t do that, so if a female member ended up pregnant, he kicked them out of the pack. Only them. Wouldn’t let the guy who knocked her up go with her, even if he wanted to.