Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4)

by Amos, Richard

“I need to ask the same thing! Why’s Gabriel at your place? What’s happened?” I told her. “Oh. That’s intense.”

  “Yeah, was super-weird.”

  “I bet, sweetie. I’ve never heard of a half-elf werewolf. Can he shift?”

  “A little bit. More than I can. He’s like a wolfman.”

  “Do you really think he’s related to you.”

  “Right now, I don’t care. This is all about you. Fuck all that shit. What do you need to talk to me about?”

  She took a moment to answer. “There have been people hanging around my place.”

  My blood went cold. “You what?”

  “Shady-looking bastards.”

  “Oh, shit. This is ‘cos of me. They’re sniffing around you for me.”

  “But, you dealt with Violet.”

  “Don’t be daft. You know as well as I do that this ain’t over.”

  She sighed. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m calling you about this. It’s pathetic. These things don’t scare me normally. I was just a bit freaked out.”

  “You’re allowed to be freaked out.”

  “I guess.”

  “I’m coming over.”

  “No, don’t worry.”

  “Please, I want to.”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  It was my turn to sigh. “I can’t leave you over there like that. Let me come over. I’ll bring G and Beth and some guy called Carl, and it’ll be cool. You’ll sleep better, and we can play some games if you like.”

  “No, sweetie. There’s no need. I’m an elf with tricks up my sleeve. I’d like to see these bastards try it.”

  “Don’t care. Coming as soon as G’s out the shower.”

  “If you come, I’ll never make you beef lasagna again.”

  I was frowning. “You’re gonna threaten me with meat and carbs?”

  “Or lack of.”

  “This goes against all my bestie duties, you know. I’m honor-bound to haul my arse over there.”

  “Honor-bound? What are you, a knight of the realm?”

  “Maybe back in the day, I would’ve been.”

  “Way back in the day.” She chuckled. “I’m fine. Really. They’re not here now.”

  “Stop cooking as much lasagna as you want. Like fuck am I not coming over.”

  ****

  In the end, Mama Rita ended up coming over here—which had pissed me off as she’d come over alone in a cab. I didn’t press her, though. At least she’d compromised and was with us and was safer than on her own. Didn’t matter how tough she was—she was my friend. I wasn’t having her scared and alone.

  So, we’d played some board games she’d brought with her, gathered at the kitchen table with the red velvet cupcakes and a few beers. Not for me, though. I stuck to tea, still having the stain of booze on my tongue from Friday night.

  The biggest game was so hard, and I’d had my backside kicked from one side of the board to the other. All about conquering nations and being strategic. Give me a sword and something to hunt, and I was all up in that. But get me to conquer a continent and then set up a political system and negotiate with trading partners, and you’d have me dribbling on the floor.

  Gabriel had won that one.

  “You’re wasted as the beta,” Mama Rita said with a yawn once the uber-long match was over. “You should be more involved with governing.”

  “Happy as I am, thanks.”

  She smiled at him, her silver eyes heavy. “It’s good to be happy.”

  G nodded, looking a lot better than he had even an hour ago, still smelling of my lemon shower gel. “Good game.”

  Mama Rita yawned again. “It was, but you’ve worn me out. Mind if I hit the hay?”

  “No problem,” I said.

  “And you’re okay with me taking the bed?” she added. “You’re the patient, Gabriel. I wouldn’t want to leave you discomforted.”

  “No way. I’m good. Looks cozy on the living room floor. Thanks anyway. Enjoy the bed.”

  “Oh, I will. Goodnight, both of you.” She pushed her chair out and padded down the hallway to my bedroom.

  “She’s so sweet,” G said as the door closed.

  “She thinks the same about you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Come on. I’m shattered.”

  We went into the living room, which I’d defo made nice and comfy. I had a shit load of bedding stuff. All about the comfort in my flat. I’d used some duvets to make mattresses, added some sheets and sleeping bags and pillows. The whole thing looked like a nest on my floor for us to share.

  With weary bones, I climbed into it. My body was proper happy to be horizontal, resting on something soft.

  Ah, bliss.

  Gabriel climbed in next to me. We were some good inches apart, but were still in the same bed, with nothing but our underwear on.

  Oh, shit.

  No. No! This was G. This was just two buddies sharing a bed ‘cos of the circumstances.

  He was on his side, his head propped up on the pillows, watching me. The lamp was still on, casting its faint glow over his dark skin, drawing the right kind of shadows over his handsome features.

  “Thanks for this,” he said.

  “No worries.” I was in a mirror position, feasting my eyes on him.

  Huh? He wasn’t mine to feast on! And I didn’t …want to. “Did all this shit on your plans for the weekend?” I asked.

  “I didn’t really have any.”

  “Oh. Nothing with Tristan?”

  He locked me still with his gaze for about thirty seconds, making my breathing weak.

  What the hell?

  “No,” he finally said. “I’ll see him again in the week. Maybe. Depends on our schedules.”

  “Right. Busy lads.”

  “We are.”

  He shuffled closer, and I froze. “Are you alright, Aki? You seem…pale.”

  “Knackered,” I replied.

  “Same.” He sighed. “Thanks.”

  “Thanks?”

  “I don’t know why I keep saying it. I’m just so grateful for this.”

  “For letting you crash on my floor with me?”

  “It’s sweet.”

  “Alien, eh?”

  He smiled. “No. I’ve always known you’re kind-hearted.”

  Why did that make my chest ache? “That’s nice of you to say.”

  He moved closer, fluffing the pillow. My eyes traced his body, down to the marks that still tainted his abs.

  “Does that hurt?” I asked.

  “Not anymore,” he answered. “Should all be gone by morning.”

  “Good.”

  Why was he looking at me like that? Worry. That’s what it was. Worry. Why? Why? Why? I wasn’t the one who’d been trussed up with silver. I was alive and fine and happy to be here in bed with him.

  What?

  In bed, like seeing him safe and shit.

  Uh-huh.

  “I’m going to ask you something,” he said, his baritone softening.

  “Cool. What is it?”

  “Stop me if you want.”

  “Ask me.”

  “What happened between you and Colin?”

  “Oh.”

  “You don’t have to talk about it.”

  Some memories were barbs, like the fists of a vicious lover who loved the control more than you. Wham! Wham! Wham! They’d come down heavy and hard on my naked body, his rage a creature I couldn’t escape from. Lost, lost, lost in the wilderness of love and pain, caught between them both, stars in my eyes like I’d seen in Zach’s, but for all the wrong reasons.

  Dead stars now. All the stars were dead…

  I blinked, which seemed to clear my head like a window wiper. “Shit.”

  “Sorry.” He reached out to me, his hand on the bare flesh of my left arm. Electricity danced across my skin as if his fingers were magic.

  Dead stars. The pleasure…oh, man, the pleasure! When all the pain was done, the arms and the flesh and the fu
cking and all the things that made it better, that made the stars brighten again.

  Man…those dead stars.

  “Aki?”

  I let out a shuddery breath, the past slapping me over and over again. “Shit,” I whispered, the feel of G’s hand was doing something to me, cutting through the dead stars.

  “I’m sorry, Aki. I didn’t—”

  I pushed myself across the short gap between us, taking him by the back of his warm head with my sweaty hand and planted a kiss on him. My eyes were closed as my lips met his, full of the need to shut everything up because the dead stars were too fucking loud.

  His lips parted a little as he sucked in a shocked breath. His hand was still on my arm, but still, not sliding anywhere because this was pretty mental.

  My lips were on G’s! What the fuck?

  Was this some dream, some out-of-body experience I was having? Where was the bird’s eye view for me to watch all this shit go down?

  Nope. It was me. All me, caught in some net. I wanted to move closer, to keep on falling into the kiss, put my hands all over his half-naked body, see if he was as hard as I was, that he wanted to get lost in limbs and lips and cocks.

  I broke the kiss, staring once again into those lovely green eyes, my dick aching to pop out of my tight boxers.

  There was something wrong with me.

  “Aki,” he said gently, taking his hand away.

  Once, I’d thought he’d wanted more from me. Well, that’d been shut down in seconds.

  “Aki,” he said again.

  “I’m sorry.” I pushed myself back. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

  “You don’t—”

  “Don’t be nice about it, G, yeah? I’m a twat. There was shit going on in my head. I reacted like a…wanker.”

  “You didn’t. I shouldn’t have pried.”

  I turned my back on him, unable to look at him anymore. I didn’t even want him to want me, or me to want him. All this was a reaction, a need to block the noise out. Sex always did that. But I didn’t want to have sex with my friend, even if my cock still throbbed at the thought. If we had sex, everything would get messy.

  “I always screw shit up,” I mumbled.

  I felt him move closer. “No, you don’t, Aki.”

  “I kissed you, G. That’s fucked up.”

  “What’s fucked up about kissing me?”

  “You’re dating Tristan, and that’s not what we do. We’re not that kind of vibe.”

  “I guess not.”

  My chest ached again. I thought about rolling over, wanting to see his face again.

  I took the safe road. “Can we just forget about it?”

  “If you want to. But please, don’t punish yourself. And remember, whatever’s going on, you can talk to me. Or Mama Rita, if you don’t want to talk to me. Don’t suffer, Aki. Okay? Please, don’t suffer.”

  Now he’d probably think I was fruit cake extreme, a broken mess who sucked dick down dark alleyways and went all crazy over some wolf from his past. It was so fucking clear Colin had screwed with my head. How couldn’t it be? Gabriel wasn’t stupid. He’d tapped the well, and I’d spilled all over him without telling him a single thing.

  “Can we go to sleep? I’m not being all wankery. I just need to sleep. Clean slate?”

  “Of course. Clean slate.” A hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “It’s been a long day.”

  He moved, sounding like he’d stood up. I glanced over my shoulder to see him turning off the lamp.

  “Thanks,” I said, curling up into a ball.

  “Goodnight,” he whispered.

  “Night.”

  Gabriel moved back down beside me, back to the other side of the chasm between us. I kept to my side, wishing for sleep with a head full of Colin, with G still on my lips.

  When he was snoring lightly an hour later, I got up and made some dark chocolate and raspberry brownies.

  Boom. I’d finally nailed it! Best batch ever!

  Still didn’t feel any better, though, and no closer to sleep.

  I made a second batch to try and burn away the pain.

  Chapter Fifteen

  My left sword went down the throat of the female banshee, my right in the belly of her male comrade. Two famous faces from Krystal Days who’d somehow got wind of me helping bring down Daria. Not part of the Krystal family, but two gold-digging friends who featured in every episode.

  I’d clearly been burned.

  Great. So, that was Violet’s crew and now the banshees after me. I needed to find out what’d gone wrong here to put me on another hit list. It didn’t help that my face had been all over the papers this past week since the murder in the elven tunnels. Story after story had run, without much info as I’d been hiding out at G’s place over in Hackney Wick. The community there didn’t go for any bullshit and wouldn’t rat me out to the press, so it’d been a bit of a haven for me.

  Reporters had tried grilling Lucy and Polly in the café to get the scoop on me. Lucy had broken a camera and two noses on my behalf.

  It also didn’t help that there’d been another two werewolf murders in the last three days, bringing the total up to five. The first of the new victims had been found, with that same circle drawn in blood, over in Camden. The second victim had been found outside the slums at the Wood Green borders.

  My dad was raging, telling G to tell me to be on the hunt for this killer. I’d been officially employed as hunter of the perp, patrolling every night with G, done up all in black to hide my face, and G’s new car had tinted windows, wasn’t posh like the late Merc—more robust and good for stalking.

  I missed the old car like I missed my Cindy. She was still over where my babies had found her.

  “Fucking banshees,” I said. Their stolen power thrummed in my blades.

  “Tell me about it.” G wiped the warlock blood from his face with the back of his hoodie sleeve.

  I’d been hunting down a warlock who the wolves had marked as a possible suspect. Goal was to take his power and bring him in. If the guy was innocent, then he’d get his power back and keep his life. But only until he was fully clear. Mama Rita would deal with moving the power around and was more than happy to help out as long as the wolves stayed away from her.

  Fair enough. There were two wolf guards watching her place, keeping a safe distance.

  “Because I love you, I’ll put up with them,” she’d said.

  The warlock had run like a total fuckhead, and then the banshees had shown up during the chase, leaving G no choice but to kill him while I took down the screamers.

  We were out on the wasteland that was the Isle of Dogs. The night was much cooler than it’d been over the last few days, a bit of a breeze licking at my hair. A loose strand had come free, flapping by my right ear. I took a pause, drinking in the air, watching the city’s skyline glisten across the other side of the Thames.

  These wastelands would be handy for burying the bodies. Chock full of weeds and bogs, plenty of wet clay and mud, they were the ideal place to discard the bullshit of life. Shopping trolleys and white goods on the surface, and a few bodies rotting down in the dark. Not the kind of place I hung out in but ended up gracing a lot. Marks, man. They loved a good old shady area to run to.

  As I watched the city over the water, I got to thinking about the wolf murders. That made five now. There was a plan behind them, like the preparation of something. Ritualistic symbols weren’t painted for kicks. But not one person was closer to cracking the code. Not even Mama Rita, who was good with her elven symbols and stuff, could figure it out.

  Something real bad was going on, and I was worried for G.

  “You bring a spade?” I asked.

  “Actually, yeah.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Why not? Good to be prepared. I’ll have to hand over the warlock, though.”

  “Why?”

  “Your dad will still want to be sure,” G answered.

  “Won’t trust me, will he?”
>
  “Just have to.”

  “Fine. Go get your spade, and tell Beth we’ll be with her shortly.” She and Carl tagged along to a lot of our patrols, keeping a distance unless needed.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Is this you giving orders?”

  “Ah, let me at least try.”

  We hadn’t mentioned the kiss, or Colin, since. A no-go zone we were both skirting round and could keep on doing so as far as I was concerned.

  “Try? Since when were you not bossy?”

  I smirked. “Just get the damn spade.”

  He laughed and made his way across the manky land, not entirely swallowed by the dark ‘cos of the bright moon. I watched his silhouette until he passed through the hole in the fence.

  My scalp prickled, and I put my attention on the Thames.

  It was pretty quiet, even with the noise of the city running in the background. Water lapped at the edges of the dirty shore. The river was the darkest part of the city, hiding its creatures well. Not so well to hide the head hiding in the water weeds, though.

  “I can see you,” I said. And smelled it—briny and fishy, like a strong smoked salmon mixed with tinned tuna that’s sat in the sun too long.

  Not a great perfume.

  It pushed its head farther through the dark water, revealing a gray, bald head with barnacles all over it.

  River mer were strange creatures, so far removed from the glamour of their ocean counterparts. Where the sea mer were beautiful and deadly, the river mer were slimy and sad-looking. Big eyes and mouths full of sharp, snaggled teeth, I always felt pretty sorry for them. I dunno why. Kind of judgmental ‘cos I was comparing them to their beautiful counterparts. Still, I’d rather tangle with a river mer than a sea one—even if they did like eating dead bodies.

  Ping! Bonus time. “Watcher in the water, will you bind to me for food from the land?”

  The mer was male, exposing his torso and scaly gray tail as he climbed onto the muddy shore. “You have three morsels there,” he said.

  “I do. But only two of which shall you feed upon.” Had to put on the formal tone for some creatures. “Do you bind yourself to me?”

  The mer made a wet clicking sound, the gills in his belly fanning out to adjust to the land air. “I would like three, kind sir.”

  I shook my head. “No, I cannot permit you three. For one belongs to me. Two, you shall have.”