Dark Moon Falls: Volume 2

by Bella Roccaforte

  “Hi, beautiful.”

  “I’m so sorry. You could have been killed, and it’s all my fault,” she says and I can smell the tears falling from her eyes.

  “No, Gianna. I’m fine. You’re the one who was hurt. I am so sorry I didn’t protect you like I promised I would. He was seconds away from dragging you out the door and far from me,” I say and brush the hair out of her face.

  “No, you saved me and..,” she starts then stops to take a deep breath. “You never should have been involved in mine and Owen’s mess.”

  “I’ll always be there for you, no matter the problem. Don’t you get that yet? You’re my everything. My heart, my soul, my life; they’re all yours now. Gianna, I know you feel the pull and don’t understand it, but I’ve known since the moment I laid eyes on you, and when my wolf caught your scent, I knew there was no turning away from you.”

  “Kaden, I’m not sure I can handle this right now.”

  “I’m sorry. I just need you to know how I feel.”

  A soft knock sounds on the door and I barely have time to register it before Deputy Jagger Johnson walks in with Elias right behind him.

  “Is this a good time for us to talk?” Deputy Johnson asks.

  Gianna sits up farther in the bed and pulls the sheet up for modesty’s sake.

  “Yeah, I’ll tell you what I can, but honestly I thought I’d left Owen behind. Hell, I didn’t even know he was a shifter, so I suppose I don’t know as much as I thought.”

  She wiggles on the bed and I can feel her unrest as Deputy Jagger asks about their relationship.

  “He was an asshole. He cheated, then he beat me black and blue, and nearly choked me to death, when I told him it was over. I’m not sure how he found me since I refused the never-ending calls and I only replied to one text. That’s when I told him to leave me alone.”

  All three of the males in the room growl, there’s nothing worse than hearing about a woman being beaten. My wolf claws at my conscience, he wants out. He wants to be the one to track the bastard down and tear him to pieces.

  “Well ma’am, he’s a shifter and I’m sure he’s been on your trail since you left,” Deputy Johnson says.

  “That gives me the creeps. Have you caught him, please tell me he’s in custody,” Gianna replies.

  “I’m so sorry. He has alluded capture thus far, but I can promise the hunters won’t give up on finding him.”

  * * *

  Gianna

  Dressed in only a hospital gown and sheets pulled up to my chin, I stare at the three men before me. I know the tall one with the scar is important by the way he carries himself and both Deputy Johnson and Kaden give him deference. Shock runs through my system when deputy Johnson tells me that Owen is still out there. My body starts to tremble, and tears sting my eyes.

  Kaden stands from his chair, sits on the side of the bed, and pulls me into his lap, being careful not to disturb the IV in my arm. He bends and kisses my forehead.

  “Gentleman, I think if you need anything else, it would be better handled after she’s had some time to heal and the shock of finding out that the asshole is still on the loose has worn off,” Kaden says sternly.

  “I agree,” the tall, scarred man, says.

  “Thank you, Gianna. If you can think of anything else that will help, please give me a call,” Deputy Johnson says as he hands me one of his cards before both he and the taller man leave.

  “I will,” I mumble, burying myself deeper into Kaden’s chest.

  He smells so good, it helps take my mind off of all the shit going on. I sniff his shirt and I smell clean rain and cedar.

  “Did you just sniff my shirt?” Kaden laughs.

  “I did, it’s only fair since you smell all my moods and know my scent,” I smile up at him.

  He chuckles and squeezes me to his chest tighter, being mindful of my injuries as he holds me. “You are going to keep life interesting, for sure.”

  “Kaden, even though I’ve given in to us dating, I’d like to get to know you better before this relationship progresses. I mean, I have a batshit crazy ex on my tail and I’m not sure I can still stay in Dark Moon Falls with him being on the loose and after me.”

  “I’ll always be here to protect you,” he tells me, and I hear his wolf growl in his chest. “I know I failed earlier, but it will not happen again. Even if I have to sit outside your cabin day and night, it will be done,” Kaden retorts.

  “Why do you feel like home, when I’ve only known you for a couple of days?” Gianna asks, but I know it’s a slip of the tongue because she covers her lips with one of her hands immediately afterwards.

  “It’s the mating bond. There’s some part of you that recognizes me as your mate just as my wolf and I know you’re ours.”

  “Thank you for being here while the deputy interviewed me and for tossing them out. I’m really tired now, and think I need to rest.”

  “Of course, I’ll be right over there if you need me,” I reply pointing toward the recliner in the corner.

  I lift her out of my lap, help her to wrap up in the stark white sheet and blanket, kiss her cheek and move to the recliner.

  Sometime later, the door opens, and a young nurse walks in. “Sorry to disturb you Miss Jones, but it’s time to check your vitals.”

  I look around the small room and find Kaden stretched out in the recliner asleep. The nurse leaves after checking my vitals and I sit up. Getting to the bathroom is the only thing on my mind. Pain radiates up my leg as I stand on my foot. A soft “ouch” leaves my lips before I can pull it back, Kaden is at my side in seconds.

  “What are you doing, Gianna?”

  “Bathroom.”

  “You should have called me, or asked the nurse who just left.”

  “I thought you were asleep.”

  “Resting my eyes, love.”

  “That’s what I call sleeping,” I reply with a laugh.

  “Fine I was drifting off when the nurse walked in, Miss Jones.”

  He lifts me into his arms, cradles me against his chest, and carries me to the bathroom before gingerly sitting me down on the seat.

  “Call me when you’re finished, and I’ll help you back to bed.”

  Heat infuses my cheeks as he walks out. I’m so embarrassed to have him bring me back and forth to the restroom. Standing cautiously, I grip the side rails and make my way to the sink. After I’m finished I push the door open, Kaden sweeps me off my feet and into his arms.

  “I told you to call me, love. I don’t want you falling and hurting yourself worse.”

  “Kaden, you need to get something straight. I allowed Owen too much control over my life and I will not do that again, with any man. I am my own person, now put me down.”

  I can see the hurt I’d caused with my words shining back at me from Kaden’s eyes and I feel so bad. I want to reach up and wrap my arms around him and tell him how sorry I am, but I hold back. I refuse to let any man have that much power over me again.

  He lays me back on the bed and steps back, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans, “I don’t want to dominate you. What I hope for is an equal partner in life, not a submissive one.”

  Tears form in my eyes and I’m not at all sure why, but I know in my heart that what Kaden and I have will be true, and not at all what Owen and I had for the year we’d been together. He leans over and wipes the tears away with the pad of his thumb then rubs the same thumb over my bottom lip.

  Chills race through me followed by a desire so hot I could melt right through the bed. I watch as he licks his lips and bends to brush them softly against mine. Once he backs away, I look up at him and smile. I want to know so much about this man that my heart pulls me toward.

  “After all we’ve been through, I feel like we should know each other better, but we really don’t. We just have this all-consuming need to be near each other. To rationalize this in my head I need to know who you are besides this nice guy I’m attracted to.”

  Kaden
rubs a hand over his jaw, sits on the bed beside me, and wraps a hand around one of mine.

  “I had a great life growing up. My parents were in a pack named after my grandpa. It was a good pack until rogues came in and took it over, killing my father,” he lowers his head to our joined hands and briefly kisses my knuckles.

  “Kaden, I’m so sorry,” I whisper.

  “They kept my mom and she just let them. She just fucking stayed. I knew if I fought back, I’d die at their hands, so I left. I traveled some, so lost and broken after my father’s death and my mother’s betrayal I didn’t know what to do. A short time later, I joined the Navy and pretty soon I found myself fighting in a war I didn’t want to be in. The SEAL team I was in was sent into many hazardous situations. Iraq, Iran, so many places I don’t want to remember, but they are all right there, you know?” He says pointing to his head.

  I run my hand through his hair, trying my best to soothe him. Acting on instinct, I lean forward and kiss his forehead then trail my fingertips down over his face and into his five o’clock shadow.

  I breathe in and start my tale. “My parents were wonderful as well. I was an only child to two amazing people. They tried for years to get pregnant and when they gave up, bam I came along. They were older, but they still rocked as parents. Of course I was spoiled, I took dance and played violin for a few years until I decided that the only thing I wanted was boys,” I stop and laugh as tears fall from my eyes.

  “I caused them so much trouble, but they loved me all the more. I went off to college and in my senior year our next-door neighbor called me. They’d been riding to a friend’s house when a drunk came out of nowhere. They both died immediately, or so the report says. I was broken for a long while, but I went back to school. That’s when I met Owen and you know pretty much the rest of that story.” I sigh.

  He pulls me into his arms and cradles me against his chest.

  “Life will get easier.”

  Sliding out of his arms I lean back into the pillows and look him in the eyes. “How? He’s still out there, so as soon as my car is repaired, I need to leave.”

  “Gianna, you can’t run forever.”

  Shrugging my shoulders with tears rolling down my cheeks, I keep my eyes latched on his. “If I don’t, he will eventually kill me.”

  A deep growl rumbles from within his chest and I can tell he’s barely containing his wolf. “He will not touch you again. I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands and feast on his still beating heart before that happens.”

  Ice cold fear races through me at Kaden’s anger. He notices and calms immediately.

  “I’m sorry, Gianna. I never meant to scare you. I would never hurt you.”

  “I know, Kaden, it just took me back to Owen for a couple seconds and the times when he would rage and come at me as if I was to blame for all of his problems.”

  5

  Kaden

  Running my hand up and down, Gianna’s arm, I try to calm her. Owen did a number on her emotionally, as well as physically, and seeing her like this makes me want to be gentle with her, while my wolf wants to spring free and rip Owen apart. I want to cuddle her in my arms, hold her there forever, and wipe away every fear that she holds within her heart.

  “Can I hold you for a little while?” I ask, knowing the feel of her in my arms will calm my wolf. “I can hear your racing heart, and smell the fear coming off of you.”

  She nods her head and I pull her into my lap then, leaning back on the bed, I rest us against the pillows and whisper, “shhh,” over and over.

  She nestles deeper into my arms and we both drift off to sleep. A loud bang from outside wakes me, and I lay Gianna gently on the bed not wanting to wake her.

  “Where is the bitch? Bring her out here now, she’s mine!” I hear Owen shout, and I reach for my cell to call Deputy Jagger and the Hunters.

  My instinct tells me to shift and kill the bastard and I have to fight for control every second I stand here. My wolf is being an ass, and tugging at my conscious, but the man in me fights him. I refuse to do that to Gianna. She needs her justice, if she can get it, but Owen is a slippery fucker.

  “Kaden?” She calls out from the bed.

  “I’m right here.”

  “What’s going on? You look like you want to kill someone.”

  “Shhhh,” I say and turn back toward her. “That’s because I do. Owen is out there.”

  “I have to get out of here. He’s going to kill me if he finds me.”

  “Never,” my wolf growls deep in my chest.

  I rush to her side as she tries, and fails, to stand up.

  “Here let’s get you in the bathroom. You can lock the door till it’s all over, and you’ll be safe.”

  “I can’t leave you out here to face him alone.”

  Lifting her in my arms, I walk the short distance to the bathroom, place her ever so gently on the toilet seat, and crouch between her legs.

  “Love, don’t worry about me. I have a mean, badass wolf inside me who can handle whatever is thrown at him,” I tell her with a soft laugh and kiss her clasped hands.

  When I stand to walk out she grabs me by the arm. “Please be careful.”

  “I will,” I respond and look into her eyes. I see fear, and worry in them, but there’s also something else. Something I can’t take the time to process at the moment. “You lock the door after I leave, and don’t come out until I give you the all clear.”

  She nods and I walk out. I wait until I hear the faint click as she locks the door, then, with her tucked safely away, I walk to the hospital room door and out into the littered hallway. Nurses stand clustered together, tears falling down their faces and the scent of fear permeates the hallway. All the patient’s doors are open, and I can hear Owen as he yells a few rooms down. This man has seriously lost it.

  “Owen come out here and face someone who isn’t afraid of your crazy ass,” I yell, trying to distract him from Gianna and the other patients.

  “You,” he hisses as he steps out of a room and glares at me. “Where the fuck is she? She’s mine. I deserve to know where my mate is.”

  “The moment you touched her with unfeeling madness, the instant you put fear in her heart, is the moment you lost her. She is mine now, and I will protect what is mine until my dying breath.”

  “Then you will die today,” he responds with a growl as he starts to shift and so do I.

  We meet head on, teeth madly gashing at fur. I grab him by the neck and fling him into the opposite wall. He whines but comes back with renewed vigor. He jumps and lands on my back, and I shake myself trying to dislodge him, but he holds true. I feel as his teeth sink into my neck and I smell the sweet, coppery scent of my blood as it pours from the wound, but I don’t feel any pain as my adrenaline pumps up a notch. I know if he takes me down, Gianna will be next.

  He digs deeper, and I hear the crunch of bone and blackness edges in my sight. I know I can’t let the darkness overtake me, so I shift my thoughts to my Gianna and fight harder. I will not give up. I will crush him.

  Roaring, I buck wildly and Owen flies from my back and collides into the wall. He scrambles back to his feet and rushes back toward me. He slips in the blood on the floor and lands on his back. I see my opening and dash toward him. Sinking my teeth into his neck, I hold him there for what seems like hours, but I’m sure only minutes have passed.

  “Let him up Kaden, we have it covered now. You don’t want his death on your hands,” Elias says with his alpha timbre.

  I release him and collapse on the floor. The wound in my neck is still seeping blood, but I can feel it stitching itself back together. Sam and Levi grab Owen after he shifts and place handcuffs on his arms. They drag him out of the hospital just as Deputy Jagger arrives.

  “Sorry I’m late, but Summermire isn’t my district and I had to call and talk to their sheriff department to get permission to even be involved.”

  “It’s alright Jagger, we got here just in time. He will not be
hurting anyone else. I’m going to follow the hunters. I’ll talk to you later,” Elias murmurs.

  “I’ll be by later so we can talk. Before you go, can you assure the nurses and other patients that they’ll be okay while I go check on Gianna?” I ask, looking at Elias.

  “The Summermire Sheriff will be here shortly, I’m sure he’ll handle it. He knows all about shifters and I’ve informed him of the goings on of this crap show. He’ll have questions, and I’m positive he’ll want to interview Gianna, but for now go ahead and check on your mate,” Deputy Jagger says.

  “See you later,” I nod heading off to Gianna.

  Seconds later I enter her room. The room is dark, and the bathroom door stands ajar. I freeze and look around, my wolf on high alert for any danger to our mate. The room looks empty, but I can hear soft whimpering coming from the bed. I walk silently to the bed, sit down, and gather Gianna into my lap.

  “Shhh, baby, it’s okay. We got him.”

  She looks up at me, her emerald eyes sparkling with fresh tears. “I am so embarrassed that I brought that scum all the way out here to bother you, the pack, and all of these people in the hospital. I’m so sorry. I should have just stayed at home and had his ass locked up then none of y’all would have been bothered.”

  I lift her chin with my forefinger, wipe away the tears that are running down her face, and lean my forehead against hers.

  “I’m so glad you didn’t stay in North Carolina. You are my mate, my world, and I would have searched for you until my last breath.”

  I catch her gasp when my lips land on hers. The kiss starts out gentle, but when I push for entrance she opens her lips to me. Her tongue meets mine, and at first it’s only an exploration on both of our parts, but soon we get carried away and start a rhythm all our own.

  One of my hands cradles her neck while the other explores the soft curves along her back. Her arms come up and around my neck.

  Claim her, she’s ours. My wolf screams at me, but I take my sweet time enjoying what she offers. She’s been through too much to rush her. Gianna scoots over a little on the bed leaving room for me to lay beside her, so I enfold her in my arms, and everything is finally perfect within my world.