Rising Moon: The Awakened Trilogy #2

by Amanda Carol

  “No, it really wasn’t.”

  “Aria, please.” Hunter looks torn. “Look, I know having you there would be better, but you’re needed here. Apart from Declan, you’re the only one strong enough to handle Luna in case something happens.”

  I inhale sharply. He’s right. Luna is powerful, but so am I.

  “Okay,” I concede.

  “Thank you.” Hunter says, taking my hand and walking us back to my cabin. “So, when are you moving in with me?”

  “Whenever you give me space for a studio,” I half-joke. I don’t mind walking back and forth, but it would be nice not to have to do that.

  “Noted,” Hunter laughs.

  We’ve talked more about the whole moving in together thing. One option was for Hunter to move in with me and give Declan his old cabin. Then we would each have our own space and I would still get to keep my studio room. The downside is, my cabin doesn’t have a garage. Of course, Hunter doesn’t mind walking over to his garage, but he’d prefer not to have to.

  When we make it back to my cabin, I go into my studio room, and Hunter follows me in there. It’s a similar set-up to how Ciera and Declan were in her classroom, except I'm painting while Hunter plays “December” by Collective Soul. It’s always nice not having to listen to my playlist on my tiny stereo. I always tend to sing while I paint, and I love singing. Especially with Hunter. I’m not sure how much time has passed when I look up to see Abby standing in the doorway.

  “I heard you were looking for me,” Abby mumbles.

  Her brown hair is back in two French braids, and her eyes are red and puffy, as if she’s been crying. I set my paintbrush down as she walks into the room, and Hunter sets his guitar down and walks over to me.

  “I’ll give you two some time to talk.” He kisses my cheek and excuses himself from the room.

  “I was,” I tell her after I hear the front door close. “I wanted to apologize to you. Out of all the people here, you got the brunt of it. It was unfair of me to do that to you, when it was your mom who I was angry with.”

  Abby’s eyes snap to me. “You pushed me.”

  Her eyes fill with unshed tears, and now I feel even worse. She’s my best friend and I treated her like crap.

  “Abs, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know how to handle it, and I took that out on you.” I start to reach for her, but she jumps back.

  “You could have talked to me about it. I’m your best friend, Aria! We tell each other everything!” Abby sobs and I feel tears start to swell in my eyes. “You went through something horrible, and I really tried to be there for you, but you pushed me away. You pushed all of us away. And now I find out that it was my own mother who had a hand in it, and I…I…”

  Abby covers her face with her hands and cries. As soon as I wrap my arms around her, she collapses onto the floor, bringing me down with her.

  “Your mom didn’t have a hand in my attitude toward you, Abs,” I tell her. “That was all me, and I promise you, I will never do that again.”

  I hold onto her tightly, and we sit there in the middle of the floor, holding each other and crying. A few minutes pass, and she pulls away.

  “We should talk,” she says.

  I nod. We go into my bedroom and lie on the bed, like we always used to do when one of us needed to vent. I tell her everything. I tell her about the night my parents died. I tell her about my time in Maryland with Hunter and meeting my new friends. I tell her about the night Isabella took me, and why I believed her when she told me it was Luna. Abby then tells me all about her beach trip with Zayne, and how they became a couple. We talk about everything, holding nothing back.

  “He has nipple piercings, you know.” Abby blushes.

  “What?! Abby! Have you flicked it?” I laugh.

  “Well….” Abby drawls before we both start laughing.

  “Abby! Oh my God!”

  “I didn’t exactly flick it with my fingers…” She trails off.

  “You hussy!” I giggle.

  She hits me with the pillow.

  “Takes one to know one.” She winks at me.

  Man, I’ve missed her. After our laughter dies down a bit, Abby looks over at me, a serious look on her face.

  “Aria, I know what you said makes sense about my mom. And I'm not saying that I don’t believe you. You would never say something if you didn’t believe it to be true. But I think you guys should let me talk to her.” Abby sits up. “You’ve known us for how long? I don’t think my mother would do such horrible things if she didn’t have a good reason.”

  I sit up and stare at her for a few moments. As much as I hate to agree with her, I do.

  “Okay. But you aren’t going to talk to her alone,” I tell her.

  “Thank you.” She smiles at me.

  “There you two are. We are about to head out. Grace, Declan, and Zayne are downstairs,” Hunter says.

  He’s standing in my doorway, wearing his patrolling uniform: black shirt, black tactical pants, and black boots. I can see the chain that holds his moonstone charm still around his neck, tucked under his shirt. I find this look extremely sexy. Abby rushes from my room and past Hunter.

  “I take it things went well?” he asks.

  I walk over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck, and his hands find my hips.

  “Yes. We needed that. But I need this—” I stand on my toes and kiss him, savoring every moment of his lips against mine.

  “I need more.” Hunter smiles before kissing me again. “And then one for luck.” Another kiss. “And one for the road.” Then another, this time taking his time, as if he’s committing it to memory. “Okay, if I don’t stop, we’ll never get out of here.”

  I giggle as he takes my hand and leads me downstairs. Everyone has made themselves comfortable on our couches. I let go and take a seat next to Grace on the floor, and she hands me a Twizzler.

  “Bye, guys,” Hunter says.

  Everyone says their own version of a goodbye as he leaves. I feel the tug and open the link, and Hunter’s husky voice enters my head.

  Love you, baby.

  I smile as I take a bite of my Twizzler.

  Love you too. Come home to me, I reply and close the link.

  Time to watch movies and eat junk food until I can’t move.

  I climb into the passenger seat of Knox’s Suburban and he drives us out of the Compound. Jasper, Kai, Bennett, and that fucker Blaine are all in the back seat. None of us say a word as we drive along the highway and into the city limits. Typically, when we go out on missions like this, car rides are silent.

  Vampires in the city are nothing new to us, but Sloane said she sensed a lot of them when she was in town. Once we get into the city, Knox parks the car on a quiet street. Everyone gets out, coming over to me for orders.

  “All right, let’s split up. Jasper and Kai, you guys head to the French Quarter. Blaine, you’re with Knox on Bourbon Street. Benny, you and I will stick to the outskirts of town. No vamp will take a human life tonight, you got me?” I command, glancing around at my men. “If you get into trouble, you call for help.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jasper says, pulling his dreads back from his face.

  He and Kai walk off in the direction of the Quarter. Blaine rolls his eyes as he stalks past me.

  “We’ll be in touch,” Knox says as he catches up to Blaine.

  I turn to my best friend, and he nods at me.

  “Let’s head toward Lafayette Cemetery and do a loop,” I say.

  “So…” Bennett drawls out when we start walking. “How was Maryland?”

  “It was good. Intense, but good.”

  It was nice seeing my friends that I haven’t seen in a long time, while also spending some much-needed quality time with my girl. I was able to help her and love her through all of the pain and trauma, among other things. I start to smile at the memory of us in her bedroom.

  “Yeah? Just good?” Bennett wiggles his brows at me.

  I laugh. “Yes, Benny, it was
good. Great, even. Aria and I are in a good place right now.”

  I couldn’t be happier with where we are now. Don’t get me wrong; we were never in a bad place. But now, we are closer than ever.

  “That’s because you got that noodle wet, didn’t you?” Bennett jokes.

  I narrow my eyes at him.

  “I can assure you, my dick is not a noodle. It’s much, much bigger, thank you very much.” I shove him, and he trips off the curb. “You’re an asshole.”

  Bennett laughs. “Noodles do get thicker when wet.”

  “Benny, will you shut the fuck up about my dick?” I shove him again.

  “I’m just kidding. But all joking aside, I'm glad Blondie is doing better. I was really worried about her. I mean, I knew you’d get through to her eventually, but with Blaine being…well, Blaine…and your dad being your dad, I was—" Bennett starts to say.

  I hold up my hand, cutting him off, as we get closer to the cemetery. I slow my tracks, sniffing the air. It’s faint, but it’s there.

  “You smell that?” I whisper.

  He inhales through his nose. “Shit. That’s blood, dude.”

  “Yeah. Let’s go,” I say, voice low.

  We jog along the path and come up to the gates. They are bolted shut, so Bennett and I leap over it, trying to be as quiet as possible. I glance over at Bennett and nod. We both shift and slowly creep along the crypts. My ears pick up on a faint whimper. I sniff along the ground and follow a trail of perfume.

  Why do they always bring their victims to a fucking cemetery? Bennett asks using the link. Is it mandatory? Oh, shit, Hunt, there’s more than one.

  I sense it too. There’s at least ten, maybe more.

  I’ve never seen them travel in a group this large before, I reply.

  I open the link to Knox. We’re surrounded at Lafayette.

  Then I open the link to Jasper and tell him the same thing. Both respond that they are on their way.

  What are we going to do? Bennett asks as we slowly make our way toward the smell of blood.

  The whimpers get louder, the closer we get.

  Keep a low profile while we wait for the others to get here, I tell him.

  “Come to see the show, mutts?” a voice from behind us says.

  I whip around, snarling at the male vampire standing in front of me.

  “You think the two of you can take on all of us?” he asks as several vampires step out from the shadows.

  Fuck this guy, Bennett says through the link. And fuck them too.

  He growls next to me as I lower my head and snarl.

  Let’s split up. They can’t track for shit. We can buy some time playing a game of cat and mouse, I tell Bennett.

  I roar, rushing forward. It catches the vampire off guard just long enough for me to leap into the air. My jaw clamps down on his neck, and I shake my head viciously, ripping its head off. When I land on all fours, I spit his head out and it rolls along the pavement. The other vampires hiss, dropping their fangs, ready to attack. Bennett turns, sprinting off deeper into the crypts. Half the vamps take off after him and the other half surround me.

  Game on.

  I turn and take off running. I’m faster than these vamps which makes me think they are newly turned. I turn quickly down a row, then quickly hide in the shadows. The vamps run past me, so I jump out and bite the head off the slowest one.

  How’s it going, Benny? I ask, running away from the vampires who noticed I just killed another one of their own.

  Just fucking peachy. There’s so many of them, bruh, Bennett’s voice echoes through my head.

  He’s right. I sense them everywhere in here. I’ve never seen this many of them at once.

  Blaine and I are here, Knox tells me.

  I glance around and find that there’s at least seven of them coming for me. I tuck tail and run to the entrance of the cemetery. It would be so much easier if we could all communicate at once. But we can only use the link to one wolf at a time. Except the Alpha, who can talk to his whole pack at once.

  Incoming! I tell Knox as I come around the corner.

  They quickly turn their wide gazes to me and then shift into their wolves. They growl and leap forward just as I slide past them, my paws digging into the pavement as I turn around. Knox and Blaine have killed two more vampires and have started attacking the rest.

  One of these assholes just bit my tail! Who the fuck bites a tail? Bennett’s voice rings through my head just as I rip the head off another vampire.

  I look up and see that Jasper and Kai have arrived.

  These bloodfuckers are everywhere, I hear Jasper say through the link, just as vampires start to rush them.

  Jasper and Kai are quick and jump out of the way before rearing back and biting their heads off. Then they take off deeper into the cemetery.

  Where are you, Benny? I ask as Blaine and Knox take off running, getting the vampires to follow them.

  I’m somewhere between rows J and I don’t fucking know, Bennett responds, and then I hear a howl. That was me.

  I take off in the direction of the howl. I turn a corner and come to a dead stop. Dead bodies are lying on the ground, piled on top of one another. It’s a bloody massacre. I shake my head and continue on to find my best friend. Then I hear a sound I always hate to hear.

  A yelp.

  I quicken my pace and come up to Bennett. Two vampires are on his back; one has its teeth sunk into his neck. It won’t affect him, but it sure hurts like hell. I growl and tackle one to the ground. I rip its arm off, then go straight for the kill. I look up just in time to see Bennett finish the job from another vamp.

  How many are there? he asks.

  I’m not sure, but we’ve taken a ton of them out. But it’s like they keep coming, I reply. I can still sense them around me.

  Hunter! Bennett’s wide gaze meets mine just when I feel something land hard on my back.

  I feel arms latch around my neck, and then—

  Darkness.

  “Why? Why does every single person yell ‘hello’ into the night, like the killer’s actually going to respond?” I ask as we watch our second movie of the night.

  It was Declan’s choice, and he picked horror, of all things.

  “Because, someone needs to die first, and it’s usually the virgin,” Declan responds, shoving a mouthful of popcorn in his mouth.

  Ciera would be here, but she is working on lesson plans and spending some time with Kora.

  “Good thing no one in this room is a virgin,” Zayne comments, wrapping his arm around Abby.

  “Yeah, we know Grace definitely isn’t,” Abby adds as she snuggles closer to Zayne.

  “I’m most definitely not a virgin. Lost that shit when I was fifteen.” Declan tosses a piece of popcorn in the air and catches it in his mouth. “Aria? Well, I’m not sure. I know she was celibate there for a while.” He brings his fingers to his chin as if he’s thinking. “Actually, she seems happier now. Definitely not a virgin. You’re safe, little sister.”

  I toss a pillow at him, but he ducks out of the way before it hits him. “Asshole.”

  “That’s awful!” Grace giggles.

  She and I are sitting next to each other on the floor, propped up against the couch that Abby and Zayne are cuddling on.

  “It what makes horror movies great. I especially love it when the girls trip and the killer just walks to them.” Declan laughs. “They don’t even get up to keep running.”

  “Right? They just scoot away. Like, you have time to get up and keep running!” Zayne joins in.

  We all laugh. Then I feel the familiar tug and open the link.

  Uhh Blondie… The tone of Bennett’s voice causes me to sit straight up.

  “Aria? Sweetie? Are you okay?” Grace asks as Declan mutes the TV.

  I hold up my finger.

  Bennett? What’s going on? I think back to him.

  We’re surrounded at Lafayette Cemetery, and we’re trying to keep Hunter safe. Don’t wo
rry, he’ll be fine. He’s just…incapacitated right now. But we need help. We need a distraction, Bennett explains.

  I quickly get to my feet. We’re on our way.

  I close the link off to Bennett and look at my brother. “They need our help. Bennett says that they’re surrounded by vamps. They need a distraction.”

  I run over to throw on my shoes as Declan rushes to get his as well.

  “I’m coming with you.” Zayne gets up from the couch, and as he does, Grace and Abby follow suit.

  “It’s too dangerous,” I reply, throwing on a hoodie while Declan grabs our silver daggers. He tosses mine to me, and I shove it in the back pocket of my jeans.

  “I’m not asking, Aria.” Zayne’s tone leaves no room for argument.

  I nod as he gets ready.

  “I’m coming too. That’s my man out there,” Grace says, tossing the blanket to the side.

  “You aren’t leaving me here to miss this action.” Abby gets up and throws her shoes on.

  She and Zayne exchange a look, but once Abby’s mind is made up, let’s just say that she’s a force to be reckoned with. We all exit the cabin and run to the parking lot.

  “Give me a minute!” I yell and run into the barn to grab my bow and quiver of arrows. I’m not using the ones Artemis gave me. Not yet.

  I run back out and hop in the passenger seat of our Honda HRV. I don’t even get the door closed before Declan puts the car in drive and speeds down the driveway. I’m not sure if we’re technically allowed to leave or not, but none of the witches said anything, so I guess we aren’t breaking any rules.

  “Where are we going?” Declan asks as we get to the end of the road.

  “Make a right,” I reply.

  I can’t explain it, but I know where I'm going. I’m channeling my powers and trusting my instincts. My main focus is getting to Hunter. Declan turns right and speeds down the road.

  “What’s the plan?” Declan asks, keeping his eyes on the road.

  “You’re asking me?” I look at my brother’s profile.

  “Yes. You have a connection to the wolves. What are we going to do?” Declan glances over at me.

  “We get them out of there,” I say, then glance out onto the road. “Turn left!”