Accepting the Moon: Prequel

by K. S. Haigwood

  Werewolves and vampires are not meant to bond, he told himself, yet again.

  “You will be fine,” he lied. “Take out the biggest one first. It will let them know you are serious, and maybe they will back off.”

  Mena nodded and tears filled those beautiful eyes.

  Christ! She was going to be his undoing!

  He shook her a little. “You have to be strong. They can smell your fear. If you can make it through this first change without them killing you, you‘ll be fine. You took the life of the pack leader, Mena, so you have more power than they do. I wish we had time to discover all the abilities you have, but sadly, the moon is rising and you‘ll change soon. I don‘t want to be anywhere near you when that happens.”

  Her breath hitched and he struggled to keep from comforting her; it would only cause her to fall apart, and focused and strong was what she needed to be at the moment.

  “I will be expecting your call in the morning. Stay alive and make that happen, Mena.” He took a step back and held out his hand to lead her to the car, but she flung herself on him and wrapped her arms around his torso. His reaction was instantaneous. His arms enveloped her and held her shuddering form tightly in his embrace.

  How could he do this? How could he just let her go in alone?

  “Stay,” he heard himself whisper. He moved back enough so he could frame her face in his hands. “I know it sounds cruel, but I have a cell I can lock you in until you change back. We need more time to sort this out before you go to them.”

  Mena gave him a sad smile and shook her head. “I need to do this now. I will look weak to them if I hide. I can do this, Phoenix.”

  “I‘ll come with you and bring some of my clan as backup—” he started, but she was shaking her head again, refusing his offer to help.

  “We are trying to stop this war. If you or any of your people show up, I fear it will only enrage them. I haven‘t even met them yet, but I can somehow feel them in me. They are waiting.”

  Phoenix sighed and pulled her to him once again. “You have my number. I will be there with an army the moment you call. Well, as long as it‘s still night. The sun and I don‘t exactly see eye to eye on a few things, well, actually just one thing.”

  Mena snickered and pulled out of the embrace.

  “You are not alone in this.” He brushed the back of his fingers over her cheek and sighed, knowing he needed to pull away and put some distance between them. How had he fallen under her spell so easily?

  “I will call if I need you,” she said and backed away.

  With an ache in his chest he was unfamiliar with, he let her go.

  “I‘ll walk you to the car.” Phoenix turned on his heel and strode to the door. It felt like he had a thousand pound weight on his arm as he lifted it to put his hand on the door handle. He had to let her go. She could change at any minute.

  Mena cleared her throat from behind him, and he turned the handle and opened the door a few inches, and then shut it with a slam and turned to her wide eyes.

  He didn‘t give himself time to talk his way out of it; he just took her face in his hands and brought her mouth up to meet his.

  There was a short surprised sound that came from her, but it quickly turned into a low moan of approval and her lips parted, inviting him in. He didn‘t need any more encouragement than that. He took. Greedily. Without remorse. He was sure she would probably feel regret later. He didn‘t care. This was now. And that was all that mattered to him.

  His hands slid back behind her head and he pulled the long braid Lea had constructed and broke away from her mouth to take possession of her neck. Even though his fangs protruded slightly, he didn‘t strike her. Blood wasn‘t what he wanted from her. He wanted her body, blissfully naked, on his bed and spread out for the taking.

  He kissed over her collarbone and made his way back to her mouth, knowing full well that his fantasy wasn‘t going to happen this night, nor would he even try if they hadn‘t been faced with the cruel reality that she would turn into a wolf and howl at the moon in only a few short hours. Minutes. Seconds. Who the hell cared when it would actually happen? The fact was that it would happen, and a lot sooner than he wanted it to.

  “You have put a spell on me, wolf. Each second that passes that I don‘t have your mouth on mine is sweet, agonizing torture. Give me your lips.”

  “Come get them, bloodsucker,” she said in a husky whisper, and man, didn‘t that make him want to risk Father Time and the beast that was sure to come.

  He quickly turned them around and shoved her against the door with his body, his thick erection pushing against her pelvis, seeking access and being denied by the denim of his jeans and the slick leather of her pants.

  She cried out in pleasure and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to claim her mouth once again.

  A soft knock came from the door he had Mena‘s body pressed against, but Phoenix ignored it as he devoured her sweet, supple lips. The nipping, teasing and tongue tango was cut short when the knock came again, loud and furiously demanding his attention.

  Damn it, Lea!

  “What?” he barked, and pulled Mena closer as she nuzzled and kissed his neck. His damn head was completely clouded with lust for this woman. What day was it again? Oh, right. Full moon! Son of a bitch!

  “Master, I think Mena‘s pack is coming to get her. There are a lot of howls going on out here and they seem to be getting closer.”

  Phoenix sighed hard and slapped the door with his palm.

  Mena stood up straight and he took a step back from her so she could adjust her clothing.

  “I have to go. They can sense where I am and they will find you and your clan. I don‘t want to put you in jeopardy.”

  “We can handle them, Mena.”

  “Still, I don‘t want any bloodshed if I can prevent it from happening. Your clan of vampires aren‘t the only ones I‘m worried about. The pack might not have accepted me as their leader yet, but they are my pack and I intend to protect them the best I can. They will see reason, Phoenix. Give them time.” She reached up to touch his face when he placed his hands on his hips and looked away. “Believe me. I wouldn‘t ask you to choose between your clan and me, so don‘t expect me to just side with you when our families have their differences. It will all work out in the end. You‘ll see.”

  “Master,” Lea said again.

  Mena rose up on her toes and kissed him tenderly on the lips. “I‘ll call you in the morning—”

  “Come to me,” he demanded. “I need to see that they haven‘t harmed you in any way.”

  She shook her head and took the black strip of fabric from his pocket. “I‘ll see you soon, Phoenix.”

  Mena turned and opened the door then handed Lea the material so that she could be blindfolded.

  Phoenix watched Lea drive her away with his jaw clenched and his fingers curled into tight fists at his side. Patience wasn‘t something he was good at.

  “You let her go?” Jaxon‘s voice came from behind him, and Phoenix turned to glare at the male.

  “Get a dozen men together. We‘re going after her. Make sure they are all aware that if anyone hurts her, they will answer to my wrath.”

  Chapter 13

  Mena

  Pitch. Black. There was no light getting through this sucker, but even though I couldn‘t see anything as Lea drove me away from Phoenix, my other senses had heightened and I knew exactly where I was.

  That didn‘t make me feel good. I mean, if I knew how to get back to the Master Vampire of the city, then my new pack wouldn‘t stop interrogating and torturing me until I told them his location or they killed me.

  Damn the choices.

  I could feel their presence all around me. Curiosity was the emotion I was picking up most, so I felt relatively safe still. Although, I knew that could change at any given moment. I wasn‘t naïve to believe otherwise.

  “Lea, you can pull over here.”

  The beat of her heart escalate
d, and I suppose it was the first time I realized that I could hear it… and that it pumped blood through her veins. What was a human doing as a Master Vampire assistant?

  “Phoenix gave me strict orders to—”

  I reached up and ripped the cloth from my eyes, meeting brown frightened ones in the rearview mirror. “Tell Phoenix to take it up with me or that I put a gun to your head, whichever you think would be more convincing to him, but you need to stop this car and let me out before my pack stops it for you. They‘re here.

  Lea jerked the wheel and the car came to a stop on the shoulder of the two-lane road.

  I glanced out the window at the dark woods. It unsettled me a bit, how they felt like home to me. I grabbed for the handle—

  “Wait,” Lea said, turning in her seat so she could look back at me. There was still a faint glow from the setting sun on the horizon, but I was betting she couldn‘t see me as clearly as I could see her; my night vision was impressive.

  “If you don‘t call Phoenix, he will come looking for you. I‘ve never seen him act this way about anyone before. You mean something to him and… he protects things that are important to him. Don‘t get yourself killed or this war will have seemed like a battle up until now.”

  “Tell Phoenix to keep his shirt on. I‘m a big girl.” I grabbed for the handle and opened the door.

  “Uh… Mena?”

  With a huff, my head whipped around to her, but she was looking out the windshield. My gaze shifted to see more than twenty men in the high beams. Phoenix was standing in the center of the frontline.

  “Tell him yourself. I guess he decided not to wait for your call after all.”

  This had disaster written all over it. What the hell was he thinking?

  “Get out of here, Lea. This is going to get ugly and I don‘t want you in the middle of it.”

  She nodded vigorously and shoved the car in drive. I jumped out and slammed the door just as she punched the gas, doing a U-turn and leaving me to face a vampire clan and a pack of werewolves on my own.

  If I survived this night, Karma and I were going to have a serious talk when the sun came up.

  The bright silver glow of the moon shone down, spotlighting Phoenix and his men. His jaw was clenched tight and his eyes were intense as they glared at me, daring me to disagree with his decision.

  I shook my head. “You shouldn‘t have come here.”

  “I‘ll ask forgiveness in the morning.”

  A long howl cut through the night‘s stillness and my eyes drifted closed as a shivering feeling of a foreign power caressed my skin. The moon was asking me to accept it as my own, to assume ownership of my freak change in fate.

  I could feel the beast in me stretching its long legs. She would make her appearance soon.

  A low growl reverberated from my chest and my knees buckled under the pressure.

  “Mena!” Jaxon shouted, and my head shot up to see Phoenix had the male held back with one of his arms.

  Had Jaxon lost his mind? “Get him out of here!” I roared, and another howl echoed through the air, forcing me to drop to my palms on the pavement.

  Two more howls bellowed from the shadows of the forest and I screamed out as the pain consumed me. They were calling for her. They were calling my beast out.

  Through tear-filled eyes, I looked up to meet Phoenix‘s stare.

  “Accept it, Mena. Let her free,” he said, and then a choir of howls bellowed thoughout the night, knocking me flat to the asphalt.

  I writhed and seizured uncontrollably, the unyielding pavement scraping against the flesh of my face and hands.

  “Claim it, Mena!” Phoenix shouted.

  I rolled to my side and my eyes fluttered open to see the moon, shining magnificently down on me. In that moment it was all so clear to me what I had to do. Phoenix was right. I knew then he hadn‘t brought his clan here to start a brawl with my new family. He wanted to make sure I knew I wasn‘t alone, that he would be there for me in anything I went through, even if it meant putting his own life on the line.

  A sense of peace washed over me and I nodded to the moon. “I accept you.”

  I could feel the beast in me. We were one and the same. She had her own thoughts and intentions, but in the end, we were one. She was me and I was her. We both seemed to be content with that.

  “Mena?” Phoenix‘s voice was low and confusion was clear in his tone.

  Lifting my head, I realized the pain was gone. My wolf was still there, but she hadn‘t forced herself out. She knew me, because she was me, and we were both conscious of the fact that this war between the vampires and werewolves would not end unless changes and new laws were put in place. I assumed she was leaving this one up to me. Though, I had no doubts she would have her say about things to come.

  Hmmm… I wondered what she thought about Phoenix.

  I got to my hands and knees, and then stood and wiped at the dirt and tiny pebbles embedded in my leather clothing. I was sure glad my wolf had decided to wait for her grand introduction. I was just beginning to like the clothes, or maybe it was the way Phoenix looked at me when I wore them that I liked best.

  A low growl came from the edge of the forest and a large wolf emerged into the moonlight, his teeth bared, bright white against the black of his fur. I could see the yellow eyes of others, flanking his heel, but they seemed hesitant to follow him.

  Was this one challenging me? The wolf in me snickered and I knew she had my back if things escalated too out of control for only my human form to handle.

  “Just say the word, Mena. He won‘t touch you. I swear it,” Phoenix said.

  I shook my head and took a confident step closer, not even bothering to palm any of the weapons he had loaded me with. “Stay where you are. You can‘t earn my respect for me.”

  “Just remember what I told you.”

  I never took my eyes away from the giant wolf. “I won‘t have to take him out. He‘s going to listen to me.”

  A fierce growl vibrated from the wolf‘s throat and his lips curled even farther up over his sharp-looking canines. It was obvious he didn‘t agree with me. My wolf, however, did.

  I looked over his head to the woods behind him. I knew I was completely surrounded by the pack, and they would all hear me.

  “My name is Mena and I am the new pack leader. I am not aware of the leadership my late husband enforced, but I can assure you… things are going to change.”

  The wolf nearest to me growled again and took a step closer. I ignored him, and that seemed to anger him even more. My guess was he was Marc‘s second in command and he aimed to knock me out from under the crown. That wasn‘t happening tonight.

  “I‘ve spoken with Phoenix, the Master Vampire, and we have decided to be allies. The war between his clan and my pack is over. I know it will be a slow process, but I believe we can reach out to other packs and clans and convince them that this is the right thing to do.”

  “It won‘t work!” a female voice said, and the blond chick that had decorated Marc‘s arm in the motel parking lot walked from the woods, immodest of her nudity. “We don‘t need you and your new way.”

  A short laugh escaped me. “Well, you‘re welcome to challenge me anytime if you think you can do a better job of leading this pack. Until then, you will do as I order you to do.”

  The girl was stunned speechless. I supposed she thought I would tuck my tail and run away from her confrontation. That wasn‘t going to happen. I still had a bone to pick with her, and I would have been elated if she had taken me up on the offer of a challenge, but she took a step back.

  “No?” I said to her. “I didn‘t think so.” Looking back to my audience, I continued. “I plan to be fair, but firm, and I will give you the utmost respect as long as I receive the same in return.”

  The black wolf crouched and then sprang toward me. I pulled the dagger from the sheath on my right thigh the same time his massive paws knocked me flat of my back on the road.

  A short yelp fill
ed my ears before his jaws could close around my throat in what was sure to be my imminent and gruesome end. I pulled my knees up and used my feet against his stomach to send him flying over my head.

  Quickly jumping to my feet, I expected the beast to come at me again, but he wouldn‘t. Not tonight. Not ever again. The four-inch hilt was all that could be seen of the silver dagger in the center of the man‘s bare chest. There was no rise and fall, because he no longer breathed. There was no heartbeat, because he was dead. I had killed him.

  Hot tears pricked my eyes and I fell to my knees beside the male and wept.

  Phoenix

  Phoenix watched as at least seventy werewolves stalked toward Mena, and regretted not bringing more of his clan with him.

  “No!” he shouted as he rushed toward her, but stopped in his tracks when each one of them began to shift back to their naked, human forms. They enclosed Mena and the fallen male in a tight circle and then they all dropped to one knee and began to chant, their heads dropping low in respect for their pack leader and the fallen warrior in her arms as she cried great tears of sorrow.

  Phoenix wanted to comfort her himself, but he knew this to be a pack tradition. No matter the great plan of Mena‘s to make the vampires and werewolves allies, he knew he wouldn‘t be welcome. Not yet.

  “You think she‘s going to be okay?” Jaxon‘s voice broke through Phoenix‘s concentration, and he found that he was smiling as he nodded.

  “Yeah. I think she will be just fine.”

  “It‘s going to be quite the experience getting along with our enemies now. Do you think this was meant to happen all along?”

  The pack began to stand and then they parted down the center. Mena was talking with a tall male, and then the guy bent and picked the body up from the pavement and cradled him to his chest, like a sleeping child.

  Mena looked up and their eyes met. Even through her grief, she smiled at him.

  “Yes,” Phoenix said. “I do think this was meant to happen… all along.”