Unleash The Moon (The Preternaturals Book 6) (23 page)

“
It could have
been different with me,” Noah said, still angry with
her.

“
No. It
couldn’t.”

He moved closer and pulled her into his arms. “Feed,
and I’ll think about forgiving you for scaring the shit out of me
twice today. And get out of those clothes.”

The killing urge Noah had pushed away, had
transformed into something else. Not that she was complaining.
She’d ran off as a kid when things had turned in this direction
with Noah’s parents. She’d tried to bleach what she’d almost seen
out of her brain with bunnies and baby deer. But as an adult in her
mate’s arms, she was more than happy to watch the rest of it unfold
in real time.

She wriggled out of her jeans and top. As soon as
she bit him, he was inside her. They were both still. He didn’t
thrust, and she didn’t drink. They just stayed that way. She
couldn’t read his mind, but somehow she knew he felt what she felt.
A completeness, as if the last day had been erased entirely. He
began to move slowly within her as she drank, and everything felt
right again.

Chapter Thirteen

Noah sat beside a stream with Sydney while she
finished bathing, alert for anyone who shouldn’t be out here. He
was both irritated and embarrassed with how she’d played him
earlier, but if she hadn’t done it, things would have grown colder
and colder between them. As long as he could trust that the mating
instincts were stronger than the other wolf instincts, he knew he
could protect her.

He’d been sure that being kept prisoner had turned
him wrong somehow, but it was garden variety wolf nature—something
he would have known if he’d been raised normally. If anything, the
facility had forced him to suppress all the things that were
natural, causing them to grow even larger in his mind.

Sydney put her jeans and T-shirt on. “We have to go
talk to our parents. We should split up.”

Noah growled. “We aren’t splitting up. We’ll go
together.”

“Noah, I need to talk to my family alone. And so do
you. You know how they’ll be if we go together. And we don’t have
time. We have to warn them so they can strengthen the wards. And we
need our place warded as well.”

He sighed. “I know. Just be careful… If anything
happened to you…”

“I know. I’m fast now. I’ll be okay.”

Noah watched her blur through the trees. When she
was gone, he began to pick his way through the forest, his senses
on high alert. If he could remember Sydney’s scent after all this
time, surely he could also remember family.

After a few miles, he caught a scent he recognized
and followed it through the forest until he saw the outline of the
entrance to the hive. The hive was what the pack called their den
because the interlocking network of underground caves resembled a
beehive. It had always been heavily warded both with magic and
tech. Noah had no doubt, given his dad’s nearly supernatural
computing skills, that the cave’s technological security was as
strong as ever.

He took a deep breath and began to pace. In theory,
he’d wanted nothing more than to be reunited with his family and to
be free. But now, with the prospect of them mere yards away…

Noah had to fight the urge to flee. It would be so
much easier to run, but his mother had a direct connection to the
demon world. They needed Tam and the demons. They needed to rebuild
Cary Town.

He pushed past the large branches that grew over the
mouth of the cave and stepped inside. It was dark well into the
cave. He bumped into solid steel. A computer touch pad lit up at
his nearness and a robotic female voice said: “Please state your
business.” A second steel wall came down behind him, blocking his
exit.

“Please state your business,” the voice said
again.

Noah tried to speak, but the voice was too similar
to the one he’d heard every day for years of his captivity, and the
steel walls trapping him didn’t help. The logic that family and
safety was behind this door couldn’t penetrate the flashback.

He’d had to be so strong. For the pack. For Sydney.
Now that he had privacy, it all started to unravel. He felt himself
like a tightly wound ball of twine, slowly coming undone.

“State your business!”

Noah backed up until he hit the other wall. The fear
overwhelmed him, and he shifted and huddled his wolf body as far
from the screaming computer as he could get.

The door slid open to reveal several members of the
pack, armed. Noah howled, a long mournful howl, and a second later
a black metal rectangle was jabbed into his side, and everything
went dark.

When he woke, he was in a glass-enclosed room that
was far too familiar for comfort, lying on a table, wrapped in a
sheet. Then he smelled the salt and heard the quiet crying of his
mother.

“Mom?”

Jane was as beautiful as ever. But then, not ever
aging would do that for you.

“I can’t believe you’re alive. I hoped, but I didn’t
think I’d ever see you again.”

He took another look around the room. It was the
pack’s clinic—a glassed room at the back of the hive where pack
members who needed medical care went. Werewolves healed so fast
that it was rarely used, but if silver was involved in an attack,
or if a wolf got sick, it came in handy. It was good to keep a sick
wolf quarantined from the others. They rarely got sick, but when
they did, it was impressively bad and dangerous.

“Where’s dad?”

“He’s hunting. Blake went out to find him. Sorry
about the tazer. The guards grew up with you but they didn’t
remember your scent. When you blacked out, you shifted back, and
one of them thought you looked like Cole and brought you in. What
happened? Tam and Dayne did spells for years, but we couldn’t find
you.”

“I was in a city. They kept me in a glass cell
and…”

Jane glanced around the room. “Oh. I’m so sorry. You
know your dad and his tech aesthetic.” She looked down at her
hands. “And the security at the front… we didn’t know. Cole… he’s
gotten more paranoid since you were taken. I thought the security
was ridiculous before, but now… It’s just a whole other level.”

Noah reached out and took her hand. “Mom. You’re
rambling. I’m okay.” It was strange being here again. He’d been in
captivity longer than he’d ever lived with his parents. Jane felt
alien to him, but he would never say it. She was in too much pain,
and he wouldn’t be able to properly explain what he meant without
hurting her more.

She broke down into sobs. He’d been trying to make
things lighter, not worse.

“It’s just… I lost you when you were a baby, and
then we got you back and only had you for a few years before… And
now… you’re all grown and I missed all that time. I missed all
those years of your childhood. I missed your teens. I’m afraid if I
close my eyes or look away you’ll be gone again, and I’ll miss
something else.”

There was a growl from the doorway. Noah looked up
to see his dad glaring at his throat.

“Who the fuck bit and claimed you?!”

Oh right. That.

“Cole!” Jane said. “He’s been held prisoner for
years. It’s not his fault!” So his mom had noticed the claim, too.
She’d just had the good sense to keep her mouth shut about it.

“I will kill the vampire that marked my child,” Cole
said.

Noah growled. “You will not touch a hair on my
mate’s head.”

A sick look came over the alpha. “You
allowed
a vampire to mark you? It wasn’t just some fucked-up
experiment?”

“Well,
allowed
is a strong word,” Noah said.
“I knew she was my true mate, but she marked me first before I
could stop her. She wanted our lifespans to match.” When he said it
out loud to explain it, it was sort of sweet and logical.

The alpha growled again, pacing the metallic floor.
“There is no way that a
vampire
is your true mate. If you
expect me to believe… Whatever happened to you when you were locked
up must have messed with your mind. She must have done something to
make you believe…”

A throat cleared. Jane had gotten control of her
tears. “Umm, hi, Cole. Remember your mate, Jane? The one who
started out human and was only mystically able to be your true mate
because of the vampire blood that somehow was part of my genetic
makeup? It’s a fun story. I could break out the slides.”

“That’s different. It’s different. You and I are…
You weren’t a vampire!”

“It’s not from being locked up,” Noah said. “It’s
Sydney.”

“Ha!” Jane said. “I told you. I told you when they
were toddlers. I called it. You should have just let him feed her
when they were small. There was no stopping this.”

Cole rounded on Noah again. “Are you feeding her?
She’s weak and sick and… a vampire. And if you’re feeding her…”

“If I’m feeding her then what, Dad? I thought you’d
be glad to see me. I thought you’d miss your fucking son and be
glad I was all right. It’s been two decades. I wasn’t expecting
balloons and streamers, but I thought you’d at least give a
shit.”

The alpha spun on his heel and stormed out of the
sick bay.

Jane’s eyes glowed red, and she partially shifted
into the demon form: red scaled skin and black claws. Noah reached
out and took her hand, and she melted back into her normal human
visage.

“It’s okay,” he said.

“It really isn’t. But he’ll come around. You just
have to give him time. He doesn’t deal well with reunions. He
doesn’t know how to process it, so he lashes out at the first thing
that doesn’t line up with what he’s used to.”

Under most circumstances, Cole was solid and
dependable. But certain scenarios set off his less-than-reasonable
side. This appeared to be one of them. If stories were true, his
mom’s transition to demon had been another.

“I need you to get him to come to the Cary Town
Luxury Apartments, to the roof,” Noah glanced at the wall clock,
“in two hours. We’re going to have a meeting. Get Uncle Cain and
Aunt Tam. And Uncle Dayne and Aunt Greta. We could all be in
danger. Dad needs to put this stuff aside for a night or two, then
he can hate me all he wants to.”

Jane brushed the hair out of his face. “Oh, honey,
he doesn’t hate you. He’s just how he is. You’ll understand if you
ever have your own pack.”

Noah cleared his throat. “I… um… sort of have my own
pack. We’re staying at the apartments. When Dad gets over his snit,
I need his help with electrical wiring and security if he’s not
disowning me.”

“I’ll talk to him.”

Jane left Noah alone, and he scrambled back into his
clothes, hoping his mate was having better luck.

Chapter Fourteen

Sydney had lurked outside the compound for over an
hour. She couldn’t just walk in there. At some point someone had to
come outside. As if the universe heard her thought, a side metal
door swung open, and one of her dad’s guards stepped out. He
carried a large human military-grade weapon. Despite vampire speed
and fangs, sometimes a gun was still more menacing. It depended on
what species the threat was.

Their primary enemy was human, and sometimes a
bullet got to a magic user better. Fangs were too close, and if
they’d ingested something as a vampire deterrent it was best not to
have any of their blood. It was too easy for them to turn the
tables on a cocky fang-happy vampire.

Sydney had changed at the last minute into a
turtleneck, hoping her father wouldn’t question the clothing
choice. Vampires didn’t always dress seasonally, anyway. She tugged
at the fabric to cover Noah’s mark. Maybe her dad wouldn’t smell it
before she had a chance to figure out how to tell him.

She jumped out of the tree she’d been sitting in,
and the gun swung toward her. She threw her arms up. “Reynard, it’s
just me.”

The vampire’s eyes glowed a dangerous red, and his
fangs dropped. “Where the fuck have you been, Syd? The king is
going to kill you. He almost killed me for letting you out of my
sight. Then where would my mate have been? You think Anthony would
let Persephone hang around the compound without a vampire
protecting her? He’d toss her out on her ass. How would she survive
all by herself out here? You don’t think about anything but
yourself and your own petty dramas. Did the little princess get
tired of being locked in the tower?”

Sydney shrugged, feeling once again like she’d
regressed in age back to the teen years. They’d always treated her
like a kid. They’d never once seen her as an adult. She wanted to
shove her dad’s vampire goon back on his ass. He deserved it. The
shock and surprise on his face would be worth it. But she wasn’t
ready to play that card yet. Let them think she was the same
weakling that had run away.

He cocked his head to the side. “Get in there. Don’t
make me drag you in kicking and screaming. If I accidentally shoot
you, you might bleed out before we can find you someone to
eat.”

“Maybe my dad will kill you, then I can have your
mate.”

Reynard growled. “If you weren’t the princess…”

“You’d what?”

“You have no idea little girl. And you don’t want
to.”

The urge was strong to wipe the smug smile off his
face. He thought her only safety and protection was who she was. He
had no idea how much the game had changed.

None of them would let her feed off their mates.
Jacob had been her only human food source for years. Anthony could
have made them all share, but Sydney suspected he had enough
trouble dealing with the possibility of what she’d done with Jacob
while feeding. The visual of girl-on-girl action would be way too
much for him to cope with.

Sydney pulled the door open and turned back. “What
kind of mood is he in?”

“Just go. He’s only had one mood since you left.
Bad.”