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

by Amos, Richard

  “I will add to that.” Joji.

  “My darling boy.” Mrs. Wallace was on G’s left, waving. “I always told you there was a light inside you.”

  “Mrs. Wallace. I’m so—”

  “Don’t you start with that. Don’t be sorry for my death. Celebrate it, be happy to know you’re sending me on to a happy place. It’s right here, just behind me. Not a city, but a place so beautiful I can’t think of the words.”

  “She’s right,” Gerald’s voice added. “It’s wonderful.”

  “We have to go now,” Mrs. Wallace announced. “Time for the next life. The true next life.”

  I wanted more time.

  There wasn’t any.

  “Goodbye, Akira,” she said. “Until we meet again.”

  “Goodbye,” Jessie added. “Thanks so much again.”

  Mitesh, Gerald, and Joji all said their goodbyes, thanking G, thanking me. Then came the voices of Paul, Becky, and Janet.

  Oh, man. This was too much.

  Another shaped joined them. “Farewell, son.”

  “What? No! Mum!”

  “This is where we part. For my human life, I had woven myself, I now fade into death. It is glorious, as your friends have said. Warm your heart with thoughts of joy, of how you have healed this place.”

  “Mum…”

  “I will hold this moment in my heart forever, Akira. My son.”

  “Everything is in its right place at last.” A tenshi voice that wasn’t Mum’s.

  “Wait…”

  The figures became petals and feathers, drifting away into the purple sky.

  G took me in his arms as I collapsed into sobs.

  My mum… I’d met my mum, and now she was gone. I didn’t have enough time. Here and gone. Taken away. This is all I’d ever have of her.

  G smoothed the back of my head, my face buried into his feathery chest.

  Mrs. Wallace was gone…

  At peace.

  My mum…

  They were all at peace.

  We stood locked together in the place with no pagoda until I found the strength to lift my head again.

  The changing mountains were gone, the snow too. All that was left was the pond and the blossom tree, already fading along with the white moon.

  It was time to go.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  I took another look behind me at Mount Tate. At the summit, what looked like a blue flame flickered. The lights the tenshi had mentioned?

  A sign that the afterlife was back on its feet again.

  This three Crowns stuff? Major headfuck. But I was glad it was sorted, even if my heart was aching.

  There were no baku in the snowfields, only snow and a cold wind under the red moon. Good. The keycard my uncle had given me that could open any door (apart from the pagoda), was still in my pocket where it’d been when I’d been ‘killed’. I used it on the panel of the doorway in the barrier around the snowfields, stepping out into the carpark of Murodo Station.

  G’s car was exactly where he’d left it.

  He wouldn’t shift ever again.

  I turned to him as the barrier door closed behind him. “Bit of a cheek, making us do the drive back to Tokyo, right?”

  He laughed. “It is. You’d think there would be such a thing as teleportation.”

  “I wanna live in that world.”

  We hadn’t talked about the words he’d said to me the whole walk back to the car. Those three little words that packed some hardcore wallop.

  “I’ll call your father as soon as we find a phone,” he added, then paused.

  I stepped closer to him. “G, I—”

  “You had to do what you did, Aki. Don’t even go there, okay?”

  “You want me to make the call?”

  “No. This is still my job until…it isn’t.”

  “Shame they couldn’t give us back your phone.”

  “Lost it in the baku fight, like my real clothes. I guess there have to be some rules to these things.”

  “Rules are bullshit.”

  He didn’t have his keys either, but the keycard worked on the car door.

  “I love this thing,” I said somewhat glumly.

  There was a shed load to be glum about.

  G hotwired his car like a boss, and we were off, heading back to Tokyo with time really against us now.

  Two more days until the silver moon.

  Yeah, great.

  * * *

  G’d made the call, shocking the shit out of my dad when we pulled in for fuel halfway back.

  There’d been a big deal made of the death of the High Alpha’s son and his beta. It was all over the news, and the kiosk girl who’d taken the fuel payment (G had a credit card in his glovebox) was taken aback—and not just by his shocking feather outfit.

  For all the shock, the call had been short. G’d been instructed to make the drive back to Tokyo as it would be quicker and easier than a pickup crew being sent out—less conspicuous and stuff. He then had to call my dad when we got back to Mūnfurawā (Moonflower) Hotel in Minato City. He didn’t want to speak to me.

  I let it wash over me. There was too much on my mind to let it bother me. A seven-hour car journey gets you thinking, turning all the crap over.

  Pure death in my blades… I was capable of bad shit, a dangerous creature with a dangerous power ready for me to use. An anomaly…

  Destruction…

  I had to make sure to hold onto myself at all times. No letting some evil side of me let loose.

  Evil? I didn’t feel evil.

  I couldn’t have done this saving the afterlife thing without G, without everyone who’d helped me get this far. I was only as awesome as the sum of my parts. I wouldn’t let those parts down.

  I also had to figure out my relationship with G.

  “I love you, Aki.”

  * * *

  We arrived back at the hotel just after midnight, where more shocked faces of the staff greeted us. Not for long, though. They went back to being awesome and discreet—my father’s peeps through and through, looking after our every need, keeping us hidden.

  Tokyo had seen some mazoku activity while we’d been gone, several incidents in the streets. There was smoke rising in the Shiba-koen district of Minato, which I was watching from the balcony of mine and G’s room. There’d been an attack there from Mama Rita, an attempt to take Tokyo Tower down. More destruction from her. She wanted to spread it, clearly, like when she’d started burning pixie hollows back in London.

  The wolves, led by Tokyo’s alpha, Yua Ito (like an area manager), and the SCU, had stopped the attack, but people had been killed. And Haneda Airport had also been hit hard, a plane going up in smoke, more people killed by mazoku.

  There’d been no sign of Mama Rita since the airport incident. That’d been three days ago. G had been filled in by the London werewolf, Ally, in a telephone report.

  Mama Rita would be fuming that I was still the hurdle in her way of becoming mazoku queen—still in the running to break the curse.

  Ha! Had to laugh.

  Tokyo was in lockdown, no travel in and out, the SCU and werewolf army on high alert. But we’d get out. A private plane was being arranged for us to head back to London. We were under strict instructions to wait at the hotel, to only travel to Narita Airport when told.

  Uncle Ryoka was still missing, the search still on. I’d sent my babies out to see if they could find him.

  Nothing yet.

  Hold on, Uncle. We’ll find you.

  So, we waited, me and my buddy, standing on the balcony, taking in the lights of the city. Smoke aside, it was still beautiful.

  “Feels good to be back,” G said. “Even in these circumstances.”

  “Yeah. Anywhere is better than that shit hole.”

  “You didn’t notice your dreamcatcher necklace vanish, did you?”

  “Nope. Was there one moment, gone the next. We’ll have to send the dream witch a gift basket.”

 
; “Maybe we should.”

  “Or a bottle of brandy. She seemed to like that.”

  He moved closer, closing the gap between us, so his hip bumped me. “How are you holding up?”

  “How are you holding up?”

  He hadn’t told anyone else about losing his power yet. That was a whole other story to tell my dad.

  “Processing.”

  I nodded. “I—”

  “But I’ll get there. And I don’t blame you. At all. What you did… I’m happy to have been a part of it.”

  “You’ve lost a part of yourself from hanging around me. That’s gonna sit bad for a while, G. Real bad.”

  He turned to the side, facing me. “I’m still here, aren’t I? Not dead. Alive and well, even if I am human now. The most important thing is I’m here with you.”

  I faced him, leaning against the balcony with my right hip. “G…”

  “What I said to you—”

  “You don’t have to—”

  “I meant it, Aki. I do love you. That’s not something I say lightly.”

  “G…”

  “I’m not fishing for the same thing back. I just wanted you to know I do. You amaze me. Everything you’ve been through… I’ve never been so proud of anyone in my life. Colin, all the pain of your past, losing Mrs. Wallace and finding out what you are… Shock after shock after shock. And you’re not defeated. You’re fighting on. You’re amazing, Akira Murakami.”

  “G… I don’t…”

  “I’ll be here, Aki. When it gets too much, I’ll be your ear and your shoulder. Always. Because there will be days when it hurts so bad, and I’ll be here.”

  Blimey. Things really did come thick and fast.

  G was…everything. He loses his wolf nature, and he’s worried about me? “The same goes for you, G. I’m here for you.” I let out a breath. “You were plonked in my life. You… You’ve always been by my side. You killed… You killed Colin. For me.”

  “I had to take him away, Aki.”

  “You’re the amazing one, G. You put up with so much.”

  He smiled, tracing my jawline with his finger. “Destined to be together.”

  Wow did that make my tummy flip. “Destined?”

  “Don’t you think so?”

  “I like it.”

  “Me too.”

  I closed my eyes, letting him draw his invisible line on me some more. His fingers ran across my lips. I kissed his soft fingertips.

  “What is this?” I whispered.

  “Something new.”

  “I—I like it.” I opened my eyes. “I really like it.” I leaned in closer. “I like you. I can’t hold it back anymore. I’ve liked you for ages and tried to fight it, but not now, G. You’re the one man in my life who’s made me feel anything good.” My turn to draw on his face. “You…you’re you.”

  What about love?

  “Aki….” His voice was so delicious.

  What about love?

  I ignored the voice, basking in the starlight. Alive stars. Their light was mega bright, more radiant than any fucking bullshit pain, more radiant than a broken past. We were connecting, connected, in need of skin and kisses and softness, to work through our pain with the language of our bodies, to let the sorrow fall away for a little while.

  Tenshi! I’d never felt so connected.

  This wasn’t like my fuck and fumbles with random guys in the past, and not even like the sex me and G’d had before. I didn’t understand the intimacy of it. But I loved it. The kissing and softness, the way his hands moved across my shoulders, down to my hips, stroking my erection through my jeans. Tenderness. Care.

  I stopped the kiss, our lips lingering less than an inch apart. I licked his chin, letting my tongue slide across the rough stubble, the sensation making warmth pool in the pit of my belly.

  I was so tired from everything. Body and mind needing to hit a bed. But I was also too awake, more alive than I’d ever been.

  And I needed G.

  “Let’s take this inside.”

  “Really?” he asked. “You’re not too tired?”

  “Are you?”

  “No.”

  So much warmth, so much shifting. “I want you to, you know, fuck me.” My forehead creased up. “That sounds too off. Make love? Is that too cheesy?”

  His hand caressed my cheek some more. “You want this?”

  Since Colin, I’d never let a guy take me, not allowed myself to submit because I saw it as leaving myself vulnerable.

  But not now.

  “Fuck me, G.”

  He scooped me up, making me giggle in shock.

  Without a word, he took me to his bed, laying me down, pressing down on top of me. Kissing me. His weight was amazing. My legs were open, wrapped around him, locked together behind his arse.

  We kissed and kissed and kissed. His hands were planted either side of my head, my hands around the back of his head.

  Me and G.

  The best thing was, I didn’t wanna break away. I didn’t wanna run or talk it away in some bullshit speech.

  I pushed him up and rolled him onto his back. Now I was on top, straddling him, looking down at him as lustful green eyes looked back up at me.

  There would never be gold inside them again.

  He pulled me down into a kiss.

  After five minutes of snogging, I tugged at his feathery white top. He lifted his arms to let me whip it off easily. I tossed it aside, and moved my face down to his chest, licking his skin, nibbling, stopping to work on his nipples. They were juicy and erect, poking out of his pecs, just waiting to be devoured. I so got off on the moaning he made, the way his hand rested on my head.

  I made my way down his chest, all the way to the belly button with my mouth, licking at that line of dark hair that started at his navel, disappearing into his annoying clothes.

  How dare they get in my way!

  More. I needed more.

  I pulled down his feather trousers all the way to his knees, then his white boxers in one swift move. His cock sprang free. Man! Oh, man!

  I took him into my mouth, devouring every last inch of him.

  “Gosh…” he gasped in a full-on Texan accent. Sometimes it was really thick and yummy like that.

  I rocked my head back and forth, working that shaft with my mouth, massaging his balls as I worked him.

  “Gosh…” he said again.

  It made me chuckle on his dick.

  Salty pre-cum hit my tongue. I stopped, taking him in my hand, licking the tip of him, running my tongue up and down his shaft, down to his balls. Taking one in my mouth got another “Gosh” out of him.

  Back to it, I built up my rhythm quicker, fucking his cock with my mouth. Kind of a reverse face-fuck.

  “Aki… Oh, fuck!”

  I stopped again, looking up at him with the cheekiest grin I could summon. He smiled back, panting.

  “Aki, that was amazing. You don’t want to keep going?

  “Cheers.” I kissed his shaft, gave the tip another lick. “But no. This dick has got somewhere else to be.”

  The wild look of lust he threw me almost had me coming in my underwear.

  “Stand up,” he commanded.

  I got to my feet.

  “Take it off.”

  My T-shirt came up and over my head. I tossed it onto the other bed.

  He was propped up on his elbows and had fully kicked off his trousers, boxers and socks. Stark naked. Stunning, the light of the lamps casting gold streaks across his dark skin, accentuating every contour, every toned muscle.

  “Now the jeans.”

  Jeans came off. I left my socks and boxers on.

  He licked his lips. My cock flexed in response.

  Shit. I was so damn hard.

  “Now, the rest.”

  I watched him as I fingered the band of my underwear. Giving him a show, I pulled them down a little, showing off my pubic hair and the root of my dick, but lifting them back up again.

  The w
ay he cocked his eyebrow was so fucking hot.

  I turned and slowly bent over, playing with my socks, giving him a peachy view. Okay, his arse was so much peachier than mine, but I used what I was given to shake.

  Nice growl. Sexy as fuck.

  Socks gone, and my back still turned, I peeled my boxers off, giving him the full moon. Doing it slowly, letting him get a good load of it.

  I spun my underwear on my finger, winked at him, then left them fly across the room.

  He chuckled, sitting up a bit more.

  I watched him drink in my slender physique, just like I greedily lapped up the view of his muscles.

  He was still built the same, still a powerhouse of strength.

  Gabriel beckoned me to come closer. He got off the bed to meet me as I slowly approached.

  He kissed me again, the pair of us naked and standing, cocks rubbing together.

  “You’re so beautiful, G.” Whoa. What was that?

  “And so are you.” He pulled my hair out of its man bun. It fell to my shoulders, and he ran his fingers through it, teasing it, leaning in to smell it, then kissing me on the neck.

  “Aki…” he whispered.

  His fingers moved from my hair to my chest, tracing the smooth olive skin. He took a nipple between finger and thumb, giving it a twist.

  He laughed at my growl of pleasure.

  “The other one?” I said.

  “Oh, you like that, Aki?”

  “Do the other one,” I demanded. “Tune me like a radio.”

  “Funny.” He obeyed, leaning forward to suck the erect nubs, bite on them, flick his tongue all over them with his hands going further south until he was stroking my cock with one hand, the other caressing my arse.

  “Yeah…” I breathed.

  “Aki?”

  “Yeah?”

  “We need some lube.”

  “Wha—what?”

  “I’m not going in with saliva.”

  “But…”

  “One moment.” He got off the bed, slipping his feather trousers back on and left the room.

  Talk about blue balls!

  He was back in less than two minutes.

  Phew!

  He had a bottle of lube with him.

  He’s not a wolf anymore…

  My desire drowned out the inner voices, washed away the fatigue temporarily. I needed this.