Kissed by Moonlight

by Cate Corvin

  He inclined his head. “The same. In short, his family couldn’t accept their son and his eccentricities, but instead of sending him to Steelblood they chose to abandon him here. We received word of his death three months later, before we were able to have him released.”

  I remembered a boy with short, sandy hair and crooked grin, but I couldn’t place where I’d seen him, or why he’d cried out to me so desperately.

  “That’s what you’ve been hiding this whole time?” I licked my lips and almost gagged when I tasted blood. “You’re searching for your brother’s spirit? I would’ve helped you, Dom! You didn’t have to lie and let them take me!”

  Dominic drew closer, like a predator sensing weakness.

  “I shouldn’t have told you even now,” he said darkly, but his powerful arms around me were so warm and comforting after being manhandled through the dark that all I could do was melt into him, my anger forgotten. “There are many ways to pry the truth from someone.”

  I would’ve put up false bravado, protested that I would never spill his secret, but it was true. Some truth spells couldn’t be fought.

  They were highly illegal, but thanks to covenstead sovereignty, who would know what went on behind closed doors?

  I shivered and pressed myself against him, relishing the feel of his body against mine after what felt like months apart, and laced my hands around the back of his neck.

  All I wanted to do was lose myself in him, forget everything that had happened tonight.

  I gazed up into hazel eyes, feeling terrible about how much I’d pressed him. The whole time he’d been here to avenge his brother and lay the wandering spirit to rest. I could’ve jeopardized that plan at any time, but he’d still chosen to let me in.

  He was playing Ivy Bloom because she was a viable path to that vengeance, and I was behaving like a jealous little girl, not seeing the bigger picture.

  Shame mixed with the residue of fear, and something Locke had said clicked into place. He’d implied that when Dominic had offered a bargain, he hadn’t considered his objective important enough.

  No wonder he’d been furious. His objective was his brother’s soul.

  “I’m sorry I pushed you away without listening.” I buried my face against his chest. “I would’ve helped you if I’d known. I don’t even care about Bloom- I hope you got what you needed to help Simon.”

  I shivered from both pleasure and broken nerves as he stroked my filthy hair and raised my face to kiss him.

  “I did. I’ve made my own sacrifices to get this far, Lucrezia. I don’t enjoy playing games, least of all with the one I love.”

  His lips brushed mine and heat flared to life in my abdomen, kindling the tiny flame inside me. I pulled him down, devouring his mouth and washing away the darkness of the night, gasping when he gripped my hips and jerked me against him.

  “Interesting thought, Justiciar Steele. You seem to be playing a game with her right now.”

  Justiciar?

  I froze against Dominic, who’d become a statue in my arms.

  Bloom stepped into the moonlight, a smug grin pasted on her face, twirling a silver object on a chain.

  It was a Warden’s medallion, forged in the shape of a ruby-eyed ouroboros.

  She let it fly, and I automatically reached out to catch it, the silver thunking solidly into my palm.

  I knew what the name on the back would be before I turned it over in my hand and read what was engraved there, the rank denoting him as Warden Steele, Justiciar of the Tribunal.

  I looked up at him. His sensuous lips were pressed in a thin line, his eyes narrowed and hard. “When did you take that?” For all the tension in his face, his voice was calm.

  “Don’t knock a woman of many talents,” Bloom purred. “You got sidetracked from your mission, Justiciar. That’s a very dangerous thing to do around here.”

  I took a wooden step back, slipping free of his arms, staring at a stranger.

  I saw it now, in the hard lines of his face and body, the way he walked, how rigid and severe he could be when he ran his classes.

  I didn’t understand how I hadn’t seen it before. He was careful, disciplined, stern. But he was also from the same people who let predators like Warden Vega run free.

  He’d been here for a year, bearing witness to countless torments, and he hadn’t tried to save one of them.

  “Smart girl.” Bloom planted a hand on her cocked hip. “Never trust a Warden, isn’t that what they say? Hecate only knows how many of you nutjobs Vega’s taken for a test drive.” Her cold laugh made me sick, and she let out a dramatic fake gasp. “Do you think… that Dom knew about that? A Warden would never turn on another Warden, though, isn’t that right?”

  “Lucrezia. I have my reasons.” The one thing I respected was that he didn’t deny it. His lies were all out in the open now.

  “You could’ve helped so many people.” My lips felt numb, the medallion an unbearable weight. “You could’ve saved lives.”

  Bloom gazed at him triumphantly. “My aunt doesn’t know yet, Dom. It’s not too late to take this covenstead together.”

  He just stared at her with hateful eyes, frozen between her and me.

  A tiny flame of anger finally burst into life again, illuminating some of the numb coldness in my heart. “What makes you think either of us will go along with that?”

  Bloom tossed back her hair. She looked so perfect and put-together it was hard to believe she’d just been in the reeking pits under Cimmerian with me only an hour ago, bowing before a monster.

  “Because he’ll die if she knows what he is.” She rubbed the ruby on the Steelblood ring with her thumb. “And that doesn’t benefit any of us, does it?”

  Seeing her touch his coven ring so possessively sent fire roaring through my veins. “That’s all you want? Money?”

  I couldn’t let her have him.

  I hated that he still had the power to make me want him, even if he was one of people who went out and made other people’s lives miserable. Just seeing his coven ring, a declaration of intentions, on another woman’s hand infuriated me.

  No one should have that much draw over another person.

  “Shut up, you ignorant little girl. You have no idea how important coven connections are. The right handfasting can make or break a family legacy.” Her smirk was the epitome of smug. “You think you stand a chance now that you’re a Gilt? You were only ever his little diversion.”

  My fingers clenched around the ouroboros, the smooth silver scales imprinting themselves on my fingers and palm.

  That was one of my fears, and it was a painful sucker punch.

  “Here’s your choice. You agree to a match between Steelblood and Springbloom, drop the little twit, and my aunt never finds out who you are or what you’re here for, and Lucrezia lives to see another sunrise. That’s my rather generous offer.”

  “Springbloom must be in dire straits.” Dominic’s lip curled, making him look more leonine and savage than ever. “Most witches manage to handfast without resorting to blackmailing someone who loathes them.”

  Bloom’s eyes flicked to me before she wrenched them away, and I realized why she was so desperate to marry into Steelblood.

  I’d just taken her place as the sole heir, and she had nothing to her name, not even from Springbloom. “My motivations aren’t your concern, only the knowledge that I hold all the cards here.”

  His hazel eyes burned into me and I finally stared back. It hurt to admit that even knowing who he was and how much he’d lied about, I still felt that burning, consuming love for him.

  He wouldn’t do it. He couldn’t.

  “Please don’t,” I whispered. I’d seen too much tonight. Every new shock felt like another dagger being driven into my heart.

  He’d once told me that if I found that place between agony and peace that nothing could touch me.

  At this moment, I felt like I’d never find peace again. Agony ruled everything.

  �
��She’s a Gilt now, Dom. My aunt owns her. She could do things to lover-girl here that would make you beg for us to put her out of her misery.” Bloom’s voice was smooth malice. “And you would have no jurisdiction whatsoever, thanks to your precious Pacts. You have no say over how we handle our own.”

  His lips twisted and I read the expression in his hooded eyes too late. “Run along and plan your wedding, then.”

  Bloom and I both stared at him in shock. My throat constricted into a painful lump.

  “Wise choice, Dom. But do keep in mind: from the moment Lucrezia signed the grimoire, she belonged to your enemy.” She smiled, recovered from her surprise and snatching at the upper hand. “And by extension, me. So, think long and hard before you consider trying to fuck me over.”

  She glanced at me with complete disdain one last time, her eyes dropping to my hand, clenched around the Warden’s medallion. “You can keep that. Let it be a little memento of how monumentally naïve you are, coven-sister.”

  Her footsteps disappeared back into Cimmerian and faded, leaving a heavy silence behind.

  My chest felt like it had been filled with cement. Dominic let out a slow breath, his tortured gaze fixed on my face.

  I didn’t know what to say, and every part of my body was so heavy all I wanted to do was lie down on the stones and go to sleep, where I wouldn’t have to face anything.

  I waited for him to break the silence and explain himself, but the awkward seconds stretched into painful minutes.

  Dominic broke first. My breath hitched when he stepped closer. “I may be a Warden, but I never lied about my feelings for you.”

  If he came any closer, it would be all too easy to fall back into his arms and forget that he’d lied through his teeth the entire time I’d been falling for him. The effect he had on me was too powerful.

  I gripped the medallion, the edges of the ouroboros biting into my fingers. “It doesn’t matter now, does it?”

  As a Gilt, I’d be required to attend the handfasting between one of the men I loved and Bloom. My new adoption was just one blessing piled on top of another.

  Bloom had to be bluffing. Gilt wasn’t going to do shit to me as long as the horrible creature they called Grandfather ran their show, and I already feared what he wanted me for was much worse.

  “Of course it matters. I meant it when I said there was nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” I wished I wasn’t so good at reading the nuances of his rough-hewn face, or the pain there.

  Or maybe it was all another act.

  The charcoal drawing of Dominic and one of the wolves rose to the surface of my thoughts. That hadn’t yet come to pass… but if the future could be changed, perhaps this moment was leading up to it. Maybe I’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and averted that future.

  But as long as he belonged to Bloom, he was no longer one of us. He couldn’t be.

  She’d hemmed him in as neatly as Gilt had done to me, but a small part of me was furious he hadn’t fought harder.

  I would have to be the one to walk away from this.

  “Nothing you wouldn’t do except tell the truth. I don’t want to hear anymore right now. I already saw…” I tried several words before my voice worked again. “Terrible things tonight. And somehow none of it hurt as badly as you turning on me.”

  He winced, looking at the bloodstains on my gown, gaudy and vivid. “Lu… I love you, and I’m not going to stop. Not until you and Simon are free. I couldn’t let her hurt you.”

  I flipped the ouroboros and looked at the engraving on the back one last time. “Pretty promises, Justiciar Steele. This is yours. Keep it safer next time.”

  Seeing him with Bloom would just twist the knife deeper, but I saw no way out. Would Gilt dare to murder a Warden?

  Furious as I was, I wasn’t willing to risk it.

  I held out the medallion, part of me hoping he would argue with me so I could scream back, and we could vent our rage and melt into each other and everything could be forgotten.

  Dominic wasn’t that kind. He knew there was nothing he could say that would thaw the frost around my heart right now.

  His fingers touched mine when he took the medallion, and my heart burst in my throat. There was a dark promise burning in his eyes that threatened to scorch me where I stood.

  “You can walk away now, but I’m not done with you,” he said. His voice was rough. “I will never be done with you. We will end them, Lucrezia.”

  Aradia help me, I wanted him so badly.

  But he wasn’t mine now. Somehow, belonging to the same enemy widened the distance between us more than ever.

  It took every drop of effort I had left to turn away from him. I moved silently through the rose garden, kicking my shoes off and letting the gravel cut into my feet. The pain kept me sharp and aware when my body just wanted to collapse.

  I was too tired to be surprised when I came across a redheaded figure, sitting on a bench alone in the moonlight.

  Daphne’s eyes were red, like she’d been crying. “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Can I sit with you?”

  She patted the bench and I sat down next to her, washed out and emotionally exhausted. We stared at the stars together.

  The half-moon scars on either shoulder finally tingled, pulsing with incandescent wrath.

  My wolves were finally coming home.

  Chapter 24

  Shane

  The vampire was almost impossible to control, even though we showed no mercy in herding him with tooth and claw.

  Snarls streamed, constant and vicious, breaking the peace of the silent forest.

  In answer, Locke’s growls held human curses, so twisted by his primal need for blood that he sounded almost demonic.

  I could’ve kicked myself for allowing Bambi to do something as stupid as healing a vampire with her own blood, even if she was his thrall.

  Better to let him bleed out and die in the sun.

  But we couldn’t have done that. She never would’ve forgiven us for letting him die, and now that the burning need to mate her had finally been fulfilled, I would do anything to please her and keep us all together.

  Roman nipped at Locke’s arm with long white teeth, driving him north. I kept pace on the right, ready to rip into him if he tried to wheel around and go after Lu or the town.

  Branches lashed at him as we ran, but the two mouthfuls of Bambi’s blood had restored his exterior appearance, and each time a new wound split his flesh it healed again almost instantly.

  He needed to find an animal. Something large and filling that would slake his thirst long enough for his head to clear.

  Locke skidded to a halt and Roman almost ran into him. The vampire took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring and pupils widening.

  About fucking time.

  The stag didn’t stand a chance. My brother and I collapsed into a panting heap while the vampire fed, ripping the deer’s jugular out and almost bathing himself in the steaming blood. The thick, coppery scent washed away everything else, filling the beast-side of my mind with a red haze.

  When the stag had been reduced to a husk of dry meat, Locke stood up. He was trembling and smeared with red from head to toe. “The sun,” he rasped.

  I was so tired, my paws sore and close to bleeding, every fiber of my body screaming with thirst. I just wanted to go back to Bambi and resume my constant vigil against danger towards my mate.

  We were far from most human civilization, luckily for them, but there were no buildings or basements for Locke to shelter in.

  Roman whined, his ears flicking back flat against his skull. He trotted to the northeast, slapping Locke with his tail as he passed.

  My twin took point and I held the rear to ensure Locke didn’t break and run, but the vampire followed him readily enough.

  Maybe the stag had been enough to replenish his blood and pull him back together.

  We followed the bottom of a ravine and eventually came to a hole in the ground, an even darker shade than th
e darkness around us.

  It was an old mine shaft; the wood logs supporting the entrance were still sturdy. A small sign declared it uninhabitable and dangerous for humans.

  Roman licked his lips and sniffed. We followed.

  The mine shaft opened wide as we paced into the darkness. Finally, the entrance was far enough that no sunlight would penetrate, and Locke collapsed against the wall.

  He ran a hand over his face, his skin dark and healthy. If it wasn’t for the thick layer of dried blood that was starting to crust over, he would’ve been the picture of health.

  Roman sat next to him, but his ears were stiff, and he stared further into the darkness of the mine.

  I was too tired to care about what might live down there. I just hoped Locke had spent enough venom to heal the bite on Lu’s wrist, that she wasn’t in terrible pain when we were too far to hear her.

  For the millionth time, I wished I’d let Locke die. I needed to be with her, needed to be at home where I could protect her. It was wrong to be this far from our mate.

  Roman whined again, bothered by something he smelled in the mine. I let out a grumbling sigh and scratched at the musty dirt of the mine’s floor.

  There was no reason to worry. Locke would heal and we’d come back to our overjoyed mate, she’d be pleased we didn’t let him bleed out or savage a bunch of humans, and everything would be just fine.

  I knew it was the power of the newly-established mating bond making me such an asshole. It was hard to control the primal instincts it brought to the surface.

  “We don’t stand a chance,” Locke said, his voice bouncing off the walls and echoing down the tunnel. It was so dark and still in here, his words seemed to fill the air and come alive. “There are curses, wards, spirits, and a weapon that rips my own mind away from me.”

  One of Roman’s ears flicked his way, making it clear he was listening even if he remained on guard.

  I snorted and scratched. Locke ran his hand through the stubble on his head.

  “I didn’t make it far enough to see what it was. It felt like voices speaking to me, but they were so beautiful I couldn’t resist them.” Impressive he’d understood what I wanted to know. There was no way in hell I was changing back into my human skin around such a bloodthirsty creature.