The Moon Shadow : The Wolfrik Trilogy | Book 1

by K. Rea

  “These are not topics of conversation you tell your ex over the phone an ocean away. As for the bond your father was supposed to tell you long before now,” Mason said, the frustration in his voice clear.

  “Well, he didn’t. The Kensley’s had that pleasure.” I muttered.

  “I’m sorry Eves, none of this has gone the way I hoped.” Mason admitted. He circled around me to look me at me. “I am truly sorry.”

  “I know.” I said and took a steading breath. “After I became your little bride, you planned to start a war, didn’t you?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Mason answered.

  “You would be king?” I asked.

  “I wouldn’t turn down the offer if the packs suggested it and supported me,” Mason admitted. “I know I can damn well do the job better than a vampire.”

  “Bonding with a Wolfrik, even a corrupt one like me, would help your cause.” I spoke.

  “Bonding with a Wolfrik, who is royalty in her own right and more powerful than even she realizes. It could help.” Mason admitted. “At worst, I’d at least get a reputation as a trophy husband.”

  “Eves, you know you could be queen if you wanted. Your brother is the rightful king, but he does not want it. It probably makes him the best suited for the job, but no one can force him.” Mason said.

  “What would they call me?” I whispered at him, thinking back to my vampire wedding ceremony. The slurs and insults they callously taunted me with.

  “Wolfrik Queen, Queen of Wolves, Wolf Queen? It won’t matter unless you break the bond to the vampire. He is going to die, either by Gaius’ hand or the Court of Light’s vengeance. If you’re bonded to him when he dies, it could kill you,” Mason said.

  “The Court of Light doesn’t want to kill him,” I responded, though the little flame of hope in my chest dimmed.

  “If you believe that, then you have a lot more to learn about Court politics. Gaius stole and destroyed their princess. At the least, I suspect they will wipe the Kensley House off the face of the earth. If the Court of Light doesn’t kill Aiden, then they want him for a far grander statement,” Mason speculated. He strolled up next to me. He smiled sadly. He took my hand and rubbed his thumb over the ring Aiden had placed there. The opal glittered in the evening light; he made no effort to remove it.

  “Eves, I wish this was under different circumstances. I wanted to court you, woo you, and show you what life in my pack would be like. I care for you. I still want you to be at my side for the war that is coming, as my partner. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Mason asked as he slowly lowered himself to a knee. The forest seemed to still for a moment. Blood rushed in my ears, but my bond remained silent.

  “Can I have time to think about it?” I asked as my heart clenched and my wolf growled. Mason’s shoulders tensed as he rose from the ground and nodded.

  “Of course. Take the night, my Wolf Queen,” he said before kissing me on the forehead. He tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear, then shifted and trudged back toward the woods he emerged from.

  THIRTY

  That night I dreamed of fire, blood, and stormy gray eyes. I woke multiple times covered in sweat and twisted up in the sheets. I kicked off the blanket long ago. I felt feverish, and my back ached where the lashes landed not that long ago. Despite the exhaustion that seemed to grow with every hour, I got out of bed and wandered to the kitchen. The cupboards in the safe house kitchen were better stocked than Aiden’s cottage. I found a mug, heated some water, and made a cup of tea.

  “Can’t sleep?” Calla asked from her spot on the living room couch on interior guard duty. Her hair braided back away from her face. She had a gun strapped to one thigh and a dagger to the outside of her opposite arm.

  “Too much on my mind. Is Mason still out?” I asked, his scent was still weak in the house.

  “He prefers to sleep under the stars unless he’s home,” Calla said. “We leave tomorrow. You should get some sleep. Tomorrow we travel the old-fashioned way.”

  “On foot?” I asked, remembering my father’s old-fashioned camping trips. Usually, we had to portage canoes around river areas I couldn’t handle.

  “By truck,” Calla said, smiling.

  “May the Goddess watch over you, goodnight,” Calla said with a wink. I nodded at her and walked back down the hall to the room they had given me.

  With restlessness and unease eating at me, I walked around the room sipping tea. I paced from the door to the window and box. My steps making a loop, an endless loop for an hour? Two hours? Still, I did not know if I would break the bond with Aiden and accept a bond with Mason. No matter how many loops I walked, I could not calm myself enough to sleep. I saw a shadow through the window streak across the yard, then ran back into the woods, a wolf. He stopped at the tree line and looked up at the window. Mason, no doubt.

  Agony flashed through the bond, followed by a level of pain I hadn’t felt since that damned bear trap closed around my ankle. The mug slipped through my frozen fingers as the muscles in my arms, shoulders, and back seized. It felt like someone had stabbed me in both shoulders. The mug shattered on the floor as a scream escaped my lips. I fell to my knees; the blue ceramic shards pierced my knees. The iron smell of blood reached my senses. The pain stopped as quickly as it started. A wave of heat and remorse rippled through the bond, then silence. Cool darkness soothed where before there was only pain and fire.

  Aiden still lived.

  The door to the room busted open. Mason was there with Orion behind him. They both scanned the room for attackers.

  “You’re hurt,” Mason said, walking toward me. He reached down to pull me up from the remnants of the mug. Ripples of pain overwhelmed me; I sunk back into the glass as I felt my skin rip open. Fresh blood in the air. Mason cussed, and then the pain blinked away. No heat, no soothing darkness, only silence as the bond shuddered, and then it was gone, as if someone had thrown a wall up between us or severed the connection with scissors.

  “They’re torturing him,” Mason whispered. I looked down at my arms; though the wounds had healed immediately, the bloody stripes on my shirt made it clear. Something or someone was clawing Aiden apart piece by piece.

  “Come on Evie, let’s get you cleaned up,” Jane whispered gently from the door.

  “You men can deal with the mess, don’t forget the door,” Jane said. Then I followed her out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. Inside there was a first aid kit waiting on the counter along with my canvas pack and another set of clothes.

  “How did you know?” I asked, looking at the prepped supplies and the waiting clothes.

  “Let’s call it intuition,” she suggested. “Sit, let me help you clean those up before you heal with the shards still inside.”

  She didn’t bother with bandages once she had picked the ceramic from my knees. Though bloody, my arms didn’t need any attention; the cuts were already gone. She locked the bathroom door and turned both the shower and sink on.

  “To stop prying ears from hearing us,” she said at my questioning look. “If you choose Mason, you will need to bond before the sun rises. It may break the bond with Aiden. It may create a triad. That future is unclear to me. If you choose Aiden, you need to sneak out and rescue him now. If you refuse to make a choice, you will not live past tomorrow’s sunset. For now—imagine building a wall between you and Aiden. Brick by brick, I use it with Orion to keep some aspects of my thoughts private. It will help protect you from what is happening to Aiden when his walls fall again.”

  “What do you mean again?” I asked.

  “They’ve been torturing Aiden since we escaped, and you’re only feeling it now. What you felt will happen again if you do not protect yourself from him. Yours is not a genuine bond; it is something else—you should be able to block it,” Jane said, frowning. “He is growing weak; he is pulling strength from you. You look
ill. Don’t you feel it?”

  I knew what she said was true; I didn’t want to hear it, though. The fever, body aches, exhaustion, and restlessness weren’t mine. Not truly. Maybe the exhaustion but the rest; Aiden was sick and weakening. In my mind, I thought of the bond like a tunnel and mentally built a wall around it. As I did, most of my ailments melted away, as did that constant pulsing warmth. I didn’t realize that was him.

  “Good, you look a little better already. Take a shower, decide which path to take. If you choose Mason, you’re woman enough, you can sort that out on your own. If you choose Aiden, take the packs with you. Leave the shower going; it should give you enough time to reach the tree line. Jude is waiting for you by the tree. May the Goddess protect and watch over you, sister,” Jane said before hugging me and leaving the bathroom. I locked the door behind her. I could barely hear her shooing the men away to give me some privacy.

  I stepped into the shower and washed away the blood. Mason was my first love. An alpha in his own right. A moon shadow like me, not a bloodsucking vampire. He was good, strong, and faithful. He would stand by me and protect me against Gaius. Mason made me extremely happy before it stands to reason, he could make me happy again. The wolf within growled appreciatively.

  Yet my heart ached as I thought about everything I knew about Aiden. The way Aiden’s gray eyes looked at me when I bumped into him at Elexon flashed in my mind. His curiosity and interest, then his remorse when he realized who I was.

  Mine, the wolf within whispered.

  The first time I saw his tattoo, the genuine man behind the façade of a prince. The fierceness in his eyes when he stood next to the fireplace as I chose my husband, as if daring me to choose him. The cockiness in his attitude when he claimed he was the strongest, fiercest, and most ruthless mate around. The passion he brought me in bed, and his gentleness afterward. The freedom and joy we had at Jude’s village. The tryst in the woods by firelight.

  Mine, the wolf within growled possessively.

  The fear in his eyes as I fell into the river, and how he didn’t hesitate to dive in after me. He knew returning to Court would be dangerous. The warm, fun man I had gotten to know in the woods melted away into the Dark Prince the closer we got to Court. Even then, he had taken my pain, saved my family, and sacrificed himself. Even now, he was protecting me as a mate should.

  Mine, the wolf within roared as my heart broke.

  The shift to wolf had already started as I threw myself from the shower. I dressed quickly, the beginning of my claws tearing and snagging on the fabric. I threw Aiden’s canvas pack on my back and sneaked out of the bathroom. I left the shower running and locked the door behind me.

  I shifted into wolf form, even with the band around my neck. It was a struggle; it took more energy than it should, but I did it. I ran across the yard to the tree line in a moment. I darted through the trees as I honed in on Jude’s scent. He was there waiting for me like Jane promised. I slid to a stop in front of him and growled softly. Jude smiled.

  “I wasn’t sure you would come back for a vampire, for him,” Jude breathed, his voice barely a whisper on the wind. I switched back to human form and tightened the pack on my back.

  “Aiden’s the fiercest, strongest, and most ruthless mate around. He’s mine,” I growled. Jude smiled and held out a glowing hand.

  THIRTY - ONE

  It was midmorning when Jude left me at the edge of the forest; he promised to wait at the tree line for me at sunset. He vanished into the tree as the wall I put up on the bond crumbled. Aiden’s agony hit me like a wave repeatedly. Each time, more of my strength ebbed away. I leaned against a tree and watched the patrols stroll by as I worked to rebuild the wall on the bond, mental brick by mental brick.

  Six patrols had come and gone before I could seal the bond; they didn’t notice me. Thankfully, none of them were werewolves, and only one appeared to be a vampire. The patrols were all dressed in black, with a maroon sash across their chest, and guns strapped to their waists. They looked weary and sounded angry as they talked between themselves. There were only minutes between when one patrol left, and another arrived to pace up and down this side of the palace. After the last pair turned a corner out of sight, I shifted and ran for the side-door. I shifted back, pulled the door open, and ducked back inside.

  Inside the halls, the bodies were gone, and the floors scrubbed clean, but the smell of smoke and blood still hung in the air. I could barely smell the path Mason and I had taken previously; I followed our scent through the hallway to the stairs for the dungeons. The stairs were unlit. I focused on shifting my eyes to use my wolf night-vision. Nothing moved in the stairwell as I walked down.

  The dungeon’s damaged door wasn’t replaced yet. Someone had laid all the pieces up against the wall, partially blocking the stairwell. The smell of Aiden grew stronger with each step, but I only heard myself moving in the darkness.

  The dungeon was empty. Scorch marks climbed the walls and covered most of the pathway. The faint smell of blood and cleaning agents clung to the air. As I walked to the other doorway, a round object crunched under my foot. The black leather bracelet was damaged, the ends scorched, but the dragon opal and metal setting remained intact. I slipped the bracelet into my pocket and walked on through the door even as my heart raced.

  Another set of stairs, this time I climbed. A soft breeze carried the smell of jasmine into the stairwell. The stairs led up, a slow winding ascent with no doors. Minutes ticked by. The sound of my breathing and the soft rustle of my feet echoed in the stairwell.

  The black oak door was a welcome sight even in the darkness. Trying to hear anything through the door was pointless. I cracked the door open and paused. The throne room sat before me, the black throne directly in front of me. The king wasn’t seated at it, but Aiden’s slumped form was chained, kneeling to the floor in front of it. His shirt was gone, his pants torn and bloody. He had a knife lodged in his shoulder joint, as well as cuts and wounds all over his body from what I could see. Except for his heart, the area around his heart and neck were unmarked. They didn’t want to kill him yet, only make him suffer.

  Aiden wasn’t alone. A man, reeking of chemicals and blood, stood at a table nearby. He rolled his purple dress shirt up past his elbows. I recognized him. Tattoos covered his hands and crept up his arms. Tattoos of ravens in flight and in different stages of life and death circled his arms with skulls and snakes woven into the design. The rest seemed to be a series of words and symbols in a language I didn’t recognize. A large amethyst hung on a leather cord around his neck. A familiar book lay open on the table next to a syringe he picked up. He was one of my groomsmen the Council had selected for me.

  “Let’s try this again, shall we?” the man said. “Where is Prince Alex?”

  “I’m not my brother’s keeper, Bishop, you know this. Alexander goes, does, and fucks whoever he wants. When he shows up, tell him he owes me a hundred bucks,” Aiden said with a grim smile.

  “What bet did you two have this time?” Bishop asked.

  “Whether you have the balls to leave me unchained this time, I was right,” Aiden said, laughing. Bishop’s face changed into a sneer before he blurred to Aiden’s side and punched him. Aiden’s head rocked back, but the chains kept him upright. He could only kneel unless he put his head to the floor.

  “You know better than to place bets, Dark Prince. Where are the Wolfriks? Where is Alpha Mason Faolmen? Where are Mistress Tessa and her coven? Are you working with Court of Light?” Bishop asked as he grabbed Aiden by his hair and pulled his head back to force him to look up. There was a gash above his left eye, his right was swollen shut.

  “Maybe they all went out for dinner,” Aiden suggested before spitting blood in Bishop’s direction. Bishop laughed and wiped the blood away.

  “Do you think they would come back for you?” Bishop asked as he released Aiden. “I thought they would.�
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  “They would be fools if they did. There’s nothing left for them here,” Aiden said, his eyes darting to the door I hid behind. A pulse of anger hit against the wall I built in the bond. It was hot, fiery rage. His emotions black and roiling but gently, a warning, a plea to leave. It was so different compared to the first time I’d felt his black rage. This time it was a rage born of helplessness and fear for my safety instead of vengeance for his brother.

  “We both know that’s a lie. Bonding with that wolf changed you. Normally you would have given into the darkness and accepted the role that Gaius has given on you. Done what you were asked to do. Yet look at you now, still kneeling, not bowing. Not answering questions, and healing faster than ever. Your wolf girl should be proud to see you like this,” Bishop said, smiling. “I made something special for you since you seem immune to our old games now. Do you want to know what it is?”

  “No,” Aiden said harshly. He didn’t look in my direction again. The bond was silent.

  “I’m calling it frost bane. It burns like fire, or so I’m told, but it is like ice in the system. Slowing the circulatory system while causing havoc with the nervous system. The humans I’ve tested it on all died within minutes. I had to bring them back and ask them about it afterward. You should be fine, mostly,” Bishop said casually, like using humans as guinea pigs and bringing them back from death was normal.

  “Gaius ordered you not to experiment anymore,” Aiden said, his breath a bit ragged.

  “He also told you to kidnap the Princess of Darkness and bring her to him. We don’t follow orders, now do we?” Bishop sneered as he twirled the syringe between his fingers.

  “Do you think if I promised not to stick you with this, the princess might come out and play?” Bishop asked.

  “The Princess of Darkness is dead, died in childbirth, or so I was told,” Aiden said.