I turned toward her voice. I heard the pounding of her feet on the ground just as she dropped to the ground seemingly out of the sky and ran towards me. I had barely realized she was heading my way when she leaped and shifted midair into a wolf. Her mouth opened in a snarl and aimed for my neck.I screamed, throwing my arms in front of me, but the bite of her jaw never made it. I lowered my hand and saw Candido in front of me. He’d leaped in between us, catching her in midair, subduing her with his strength as she thrashed and struggled to get out of his arms.“Candido, don’t let her hurt me!” I cried. “Protect me!”Candido grunted, stumbling forward and away from me. Other people came closer.“I have her,” Candido said. “Stay back.”She howled in his arms and shifted with a shriek. Fur turned into feathers, fluttering around. Her sharp talons dug into Candido’s shoulders as she tried to get free. He held onto her as she cawed and kept aiming for me. Feathers flew up as she flapped he
I wanted to call out to him, to demand a personal apology, but he started talking again.“I am sorry to have failed you all so much and in such a little time. If you choose to withdraw from this war and retire to Lunae, I will understand and hold no grudge. You have stood with me thus far, and you will always be welcome under this full moon. If I manage to reclaim the lands of Full Moon and all of the other territories, you will still be welcome. I will still and always consider you all allies, friends, family….” He paused and looked toward a group of vampires. “Welcome and honored allies and equals.”He looked up at the moon. He looked troubled and beautiful as the moonlight seemed to focus on him, bathing him in its light. I could almost see the hands of the Moong Goddess drifting over him. He closed his eyes, and the moment seemed to end. Then, he bent down and grabbed the shovel that was on the truck beside him.“For now, we bury the dead, we honor them, and we get some rest.”He
It was the first time I thought someone might care about my life as they should since I would be luna, but the look on her face said she didn’t care what I did.“You’re supposed to make sure that doesn’t happen. I’ll be queen and luna, you know?”She rolled her eyes and hustled onto another jeep, and grabbed another gun. Shiloh and Messiah join the efforts to fight while Ian was maintaining the shield that was keeping everyone alive.Where were they before when we were being ambushed? This is what I meant by it was their fault. If they were real allies, they would have been here helping us. If they were really here to help us, they would be helping us from the start, not just when it seemed like a good idea for them. I’d have to talk to Candido about getting rid of them altogether. We were werewolves. We didn’t need the help of vampires. We should be trying to kill them too.Then, I saw Damien coming out of the forest with a large group of vampires that ran at the wall. The jeeps star
I looked over at Estella as she aimed her gun in my direction and kept firing. My heart raced as the bullets flew through me. I screamed for Candido to stop her from killing me, then the hissing of vampires behind me filled the air. They screeched, and I felt their ashes drifting over my back.I turned around to look as the ashes vanished and gritted my teeth. Again. She’d saved me again. She was just doing it to look good in front of Candido. To make her seem less like Sibyl, but I knew better.She wanted to get rid of me. She wanted to take my place as the future luna, and I wouldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t le t that happen. Candido was the only one I wanted. He was mine, and I had to make sure he knew that we were meant to be together no matter what Estella said or did. I pushed myself to stand and stumbled further into the fight, ignoring the calls for me to come back.I wasn’t going to hide behind the barrier. Candido was going to protect me. I headed through the fight until
The vines turned hard and brown like tree bark. Then, Ian picked up his head and set it on his shoulders.I had never seen a vampire revived before, but it was kind of horrifying. The blood stopped, his face slowly began to regain color then his eyes popped open as if he had just been sleeping. He let out a scream and looked around before gnashing his teeth.“Of course, the little welp’s mother was the one.”Francia backhanded him, and I saw a tooth go flying out of his mouth. A bruise started to bloom on his face as he grunted. He panted and turned back to look up at her with a leering, bloody smirk.“Don’t you think you should buy me dinner before foreplay?” He chuckled. “I thought you old ones were all about the old ways?”My face heated. What did that mean?Francia grabbed a hand full of hair and jerked his head up.“That wasn’t even a warm-up,” Francia said softly. Her eyes filled with red light. “And if you’d like me not to get serious and beat you into your second afterlife, I’
Ian cast a thick wave of light between us and the forest as bullets started to rush toward us.In the darkness, I saw a man with glowing golden eyes. His hair was as blonde as mine was. He looked older than Ian, older than Candido, but the way he moved made him seem longer.“Maker, I—” Damian choked as Francia stabbed him through the heart, and he screeched as fire seemed to consume him from inside.From the look on Candido’s face, he hadn’t been the one to do it.“I can hold them for a bit, but you have to go now,” Ian growled. “Shiloh!”“Raven’s opened the caves for us. We’re getting them through,” he looked at me. “What the fuck are you doing here? Get going!”“I’m not leaving Candido!” I cried, turning, only to find him already hustling back toward the rest of the camp. He lifted someone off the ground onto his shoulder and shouted.“Five minutes top. Get moving!”My jaw dropped as Estella got down from the truck, taking the person from Candido and getting off the truck. I couldn’
“Does that mean we finally get some rest?” Estella asked, leaning against the wall. She was pale and shaking, and light drifted over her skin as if she was about to shift. “I really, really need some sleep.”“Yeah. I think we all do come on.”Candido walked toward her, and it looked as if she would push him away, but he nudged her hands away from him and swept her off her feet, cradling her close. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. Raven got to her feet as he walked away towards the light on the other side of the cave.“I’m not a damsel. Put me down, ‘Dido.”“Right now, you are a damsel, so I won’t put you down. You can barely keep your eyes open. I think your dignity can take a hit until we find a space on a truck for you to sleep.”I hurried as fast as possible to get in front of him and block his path. How dare he do that in front of me? How dare she lure him into carrying her, getting closer to him, and driving a wedge further between us? Then, my legs felt trapped in plac
Peter carried me for a long time. While Peter walked, I kept thinking of ways to get Candido away from Estella and focused back on me. I was still sure that getting rid of her and everyone else who was on her side, everyone who didn’t respect me, was the best way. But how? If I could get my hands on the Heart of the Moon, I could make Candido want me, make him unable to think about anything but me.The walk was quiet. The jeeps and trucks rattled on. It looked like some people traded off with the people on theI thought we'd be okay until someone up ahead started to call back that there was trouble, they said something about people coming our way.Peter sighed. “Sounds like Cillian had the right idea. None of you are in fighting shape.”He jogged further up the line towards the trucks and lifted me into one of them. It was a tight fit, people grumbled, but at least they gave me the seat I deserved.“Stay here, and we're going to try and get out of this.”Peter turned away, leaving me