BrightBlueMoon

by Ranae Rose

  Bright Blue Moon

  Half Moon Shifters, Book 2.5

  by Ranae Rose

  Copyright © 2013 Ranae Rose

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  eBooks are not transferable. This book may not be sold or given away. Doing so would be an infringement of the copyright.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are products of the author’s imagination and are in no way real. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Bright Blue Moon

  A second chance at a happily ever after only comes once in a blue moon – or in Kimberly’s case, once in a lifetime. After the disappearance of the only man she’s ever loved, she knows that after so many years, chances are slim that Michael is still alive. But when her world is shifted on its axis at their daughter’s wedding, it becomes clear that anything is possible.

  Leaving behind the woman he loved and their unborn child was the hardest thing Michael ever had to do – even harder than seeing his pack massacred, or spending most of his life on the run, hunting and being hunted. In the aftermath of a battle that finally ended the threat posed by a vicious clan of shifter hunters, he’s finally free to return to Kimberly.

  Despite the passage of time, the spark of their love is still alive. Unfortunately, their reunion coincides with the strangest trouble the Half Moon Pack has ever encountered: the arrival of a monster hunting TV show crew determined to prove that something unnatural is lurking in the Great Smoky Mountains.

  Book 2.5 in the Half Moon Shifters Series

  Praise for Lonely Alpha (Half Moon Shifters, #1)

  "Lonely Alpha is one sizzling hot romantic thrill-ride. The danger is intense and it keeps things heated as the romance builds between Mandy and Jack. Ranae Rose's Lonely Alpha is a sultry, delightful novella." -Joyfully Reviewed

  "[Mandy] and Jack have incredible chemistry. [...] Ms. Rose kept me on the edge of my seat." -The Romance Studio

  "The love scenes fit perfectly." -Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews

  "A must-read for werewolf fans." -Sizzling Hot Book Reviews

  CHAPTER 1

  Strawberries and cream. The scent drifted across the small cabin’s main room, preceding her entry. Michael inhaled deeply, savoring the heavenly aroma, and lost it in a rush of breath when she appeared.

  Sometimes he wondered if this – if she – was really real, and every time, it was the scent that ultimately convinced him: yes. Yes, he’d made it. After years of fighting he had his prize – one he’d doubted, many times, he’d live to enjoy.

  “I’m ready – let’s go.” Kimberly stood by the hand-made dinette table, a backpack – his backpack – slung over one shoulder and a red handkerchief tied around her head, folded into a triangle that held her strawberry-blonde waves back.

  “Go where?” The earthy tang of decaying leaves hung in the air, reminding him of the season – autumn, his favorite. The mountains called to him, but not like she did. If he got closer to her, he’d only be able to smell strawberries and cream – her and only her, the scent he’d craved throughout years of deprivation.

  A glimmer passed through her brown eyes. “Searching, of course. Official search parties set out earlier today, and the rangers have been looking ever since a report was filed, but nobody knows these mountains like the Half Moon Pack.”

  The fact that he and she weren’t technically part of the Half Moon Pack didn’t seem to enter into her thoughts.

  “Right. The missing hiker. You want to join the search?” The news had spread all over the mountains that morning – a hiker who’d been visiting the Great Smoky Mountains on vacation with his fiancée had gone missing the day before.

  She took a step backward, like she’d received a small shock, her eyes narrowing. “Did you think I’d just sit around the cabin twiddling my thumbs while you were out scouring the woods with the others? I may not be a wolf, but I can still help.” She spoke with remarkable matter-of-factness for someone who’d just learned that her daughter – and the father of said daughter, who she’d only recently been reunited with – were wolf shifters.

  “The others are meeting up at six.” He’d agreed to join the rest of the pack then, at Jack and Mandy’s cabin. Knowing that many of the human search parties would be turning in for the night, they’d have free roam of the woods under the cover of darkness. Their lupine senses would allow them to search effectively by moonlight, to hopefully locate the lost hiker without risking running into humans in their wolf forms.

  “That’s in twenty minutes.” She hiked the backpack a little higher onto her shoulder. “We’d better head down the mountain.”

  It’d only been a week since they’d been reunited, since the terror and carnage of a shifter-hunter attack had drawn them back together. Though his latest bullet wound had faded to a harmless scar, his body fully restored by moonlight, he still heard bullets flying, still felt a prickle at the back of his neck that told him he was being tailed.

  He wasn’t – it was all over now – but nearly three decades of hunting and being hunted could do that to a person, could train the mind to see danger lurking where there was none. So it was only natural that he wanted to keep her safe, and yet…

  He knew that look. They’d been separated for far too long, and yet, he didn’t dare protest. Not when her eyes were shining like that. “We takin’ your car down to Jack and Mandy’s?” The safest place for her was probably by his side, anyway. Especially if the rest of the pack were going to be out on the search.

  And he’d make sure he kept her close – he’d be breathing in the scent of strawberries and cream all night, or he’d be damned.

  She raised one hand, jingling her keys. “Yeah.”

  He walked with her, out of the rental cabin and to the car. “You gonna be warm enough?” She wore jeans that looked like sin wrapped around her long legs, hiking boots and a mid-weight jacket. Unlike him, she wouldn’t have fur to ward against the night’s chill.

  “I’ve got a sweater on under this,” she said, plucking at her jacket sleeve as she slid into the driver’s seat. “I’ll probably be too warm, once we get moving.”

  “All right.” He settled into the passenger seat, head spinning with thoughts of what lay under her jacket, her sweater… Good lord, what he wouldn’t give to know. To see. To…

  “I packed snacks,” she said, steering out of the rental cabin’s driveway and onto the mountain road. “Dried fruit, trail mix and bottled water.” She gestured toward the backpack she’d placed in the backseat. “Just so you know.”

  “Good thinking.” Food was the farthest thing from his mind, though he hadn’t eaten since lunch.

  Even being alone with her in the car was a thrill. Her scent filled the cab, making his thoughts go hazy around the edges as he simply breathed, forgoing conversation in favor of the simple luxury of being in her presence.

  They’d spent far, far too long apart. Being near her, he was like a starving man trying to keep his hands off a filet mignon. Every second that ticked by was an exercise in self-control; he craved her – his mate, whether she saw it that way or not – with every fiber of his being.

  The drive passed in a blur of orange-gold foliage, fall’s last blaze of color, and ended far too quickly. Before he knew it, they were pulling into the driveway in front of Jack’s cabin, parking behind Mandy’s car.

  The pack was already gathered on the porch. His and Kimberly’s daughter, Mandy, stood beside her mate – the alpha, Jack. The others were nearby, two other couples and a single female.

&nbs
p; Michael couldn’t help but stare at Mandy, marveling at how much she resembled her mother – and even him, when he looked closely. She was 28 and he’d never met her as a child, had been forced to abandon a pregnant Kimberly in order to preserve her life and the life of their unborn baby girl. Now, she was all grown up, and about ready to give birth herself.

  Crazy.

  He cast a sideways glance at Kimberly, his heart beating faster as he eyed her pale, slender fingers and threw caution to the wind, reaching for them.

  She let him take her hand, even flashed him a small smile as they approached the cabin together, though there were little lines of tension around the corners of her mouth and eyes.

  Did she hate him as much as he hated himself for leaving her and Mandy?

  There was a gap between them, for sure, but he’d bridge it … or die trying.

  Jack nodded at Michael and Kimberly as they approached, and Mandy smiled. “Looks like everyone’s here,” Jack said. “Let’s get started…” He gave a brief overview of his plan for searching the surrounding mountains. They’d be breaking into pairs. “Mandy’s not coming, so we’ll have an even number if Kimberly’s on board.”

  Kimberly nodded, her expression serious, almost fierce.

  “Shouldn’t take us long to find this hiker.” Jack nodded toward the wilderness that stretched behind the cabin, miles and miles of mountains, shrouded in twilight. “He’s a tourist – sounds like he went off on his own while his fiancée was cooking dinner at their campsite. Never came back. Probably got lost – it happens every now and again.”

  The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the most visited national park in the entire country – the occasional lost hiker did make sense. Still, the back of Michael’s neck prickled, and he gripped Kimberly’s hand a little more tightly. Over the past thirty years, being on guard had become as natural as breathing. The tension in his bones was likely a permanent part of him, just like his scars were.

  “We know these mountains like the backs of our own hands, and with our speed and sense of smell, we should be able to track this guy down tonight. The important thing is to not reveal our secret – no approaching him, especially in wolf form, even if he appears hurt or unconscious.”

  Everyone nodded and murmured assent.

  “When we locate him, I’ll give Ronnie a call and let the authorities take care of things.”

  Ronnie.

  The man was a large bear of a park ranger. Literally – he was a member of the nearby tribe of bear shifters. Their war chief, in fact. He was also Jack’s best friend and a ranger who was involved in the official search efforts.

  “We might run into some bears tonight – the Roaring Water Tribe is sending out a team, too.”

  “Is Ronnie leading them?” Violet – the single female – piped up.

  Jack shook his head. “He’s been searching during the day, as a ranger, but I reckon organizing the tribe’s search is a job for the peace chief – his grandfather.”

  Violet looked disappointed.

  Jack looked over his shoulder, as if he could see through the cabin and into the forest beyond. “The sooner we find the hiker the better – howl if you need to, and we’ll pass the noise off as coyotes if anyone hears.”

  The pack broke into pairs around Michael and Kimberly, who still stood with hands clasped. “I’m gonna shift into my wolf form, all right?” Michael said, meeting her gaze. “That way I’ll be able to search for his scent.”

  Jack had assigned him and Kimberly a search territory that was relatively easy – not as deep into the mountains as some of the others, the terrain navigable for a human. It would be doable for Kimberly, and it might even be where the lost hiker had wound up – after all, it wasn’t as if the hiker had the ability to shift into a wild animal.

  She nodded.

  Clothing was set unceremoniously aside as the pack stripped, shifted and disappeared two by two into the woods, lupine bodies blending with the darkness that defined the tree line. Michael abandoned his jeans and t-shirt before assuming the form he’d spent most of his time in over the past couple of decades. When he was on all fours, Kimberly buried a hand in the ruff of fur above his shoulders.

  Her touch felt good no matter what form he was in.

  He stood as high as her hip, so it was easy to move along as she let her hand linger, fingers curled in his dark brown fur.

  They hiked in silence for a solid hour, the only sounds the crunching of fallen leaves and snapping of twigs beneath Kimberly’s boots. He kept his ears pricked forward, straining for any other noise – a voice, a shuffling of leaves. Maybe even a call for help. Most importantly of all, he drew regular, steady drafts of night air into his lungs. If they got anywhere near the hiker, he’d probably smell him before he heard him.

  “I wonder if he could really be this close to Jack’s cabin,” Kimberly murmured after a while. “He’d have to have hiked nearly six miles from his campsite to reach this neck of the woods.”

  Surprise skittered over the surface of Michael’s mind. She’d obviously looked at a map and done the math. Mere weeks ago, he’d spent so much time lurking in Half Moon Pack territory that he’d grown familiar with the land, but she’d only been on a few hikes in the woods near the cabins. He hadn’t expected her to want to come along, let alone be so invested in the search.

  He shrugged, knowing she’d feel the motion in his shoulder muscles.

  After a few seconds of silence, she nodded. “I guess people can lose their sense of direction and wander pretty far when they’re lost.” Her hand grew tense against his body, her fingers curling until they pulled lightly at his fur. “He could be anywhere by now.”

  He couldn’t speak in his wolf form, so he settled for nudging his muzzle against her hip in what was hopefully a reassuring gesture. If the hiker was in their territory, they’d find him. He might be injured, but October in Tennessee was warm enough that exposure wouldn’t be a real threat – not over a mere span of 24 hours.

  Another hour bled by in a blur of shadows and night breezes, all carrying typical woodland scents – dying leaves and fresh evergreen needles, along with the occasional whiff of deer or raccoon, sometimes elk. Not a single out of the ordinary sound echoed through the mountains – no voice, no howl from another pack member. Not even a single distant footstep.

  Michael shifted back into his human form. “What do you say we take a break? You’ve gotta be getting tired.” Though she still moved at a clip, Kimberly was breathing harder than she had been when they’d started out, and two hours of non-stop, off-trail hiking was a lot to ask of any human.

  Her hand slipped away from his bare shoulder and sparks of heat flared beneath the surface of his sensitive human skin, burning where she’d touched him. He was as bare as the day he’d been born, and although that felt natural to him, her eyes were wide as she held his gaze.

  For a couple brief seconds, she said nothing, then she looked away abruptly, lowering the backpack from her shoulder and rummaging through it. “Are you thirsty?”

  “I could use a drink,” he said, mostly because she was already thrusting a bottle of water at him.

  He drank as she unscrewed the cap from a bottle of her own.

  “I have extra water for the hiker, in case we find him.” She focused on her water bottle, her gaze darting toward him for the briefest of moments, locking him in a heartbeat’s worth of eye contact.

  Instant electricity sizzled and snapped through his veins, lighting up his nerve endings. And she hadn’t even touched him. She – his mate – didn’t have to.

  Did she feel the same way when their gazes locked? She was so caught up in the search, he couldn’t be sure, but over the course of the past week he’d certainly felt something mutual – something far too strong to be one-sided.

  Before he could say anything, she tucked her half-empty water bottle back into her pack and started forward, kicking up a spray of fallen leaves with her boots.

  “Hey, wait a m
inute – I thought we were taking a break.”

  She turned with wide eyes. “We just did.”

  “Figured we’d rest for a few minutes. How about those snacks?”

  A hint of reproach entered her gaze. “Are you really hungry, or do you just think I’m too fragile to keep going?”

  He shrugged. “I could eat – but yeah, I’m thinking of you, too.”

  She frowned. “I’m fine. We should keep going – that hiker is out there somewhere.”

  “Don’t want you to over-exert yourself.”

  She flipped a stray lock of hair over her shoulder. It glowed, even in the faint moonlight drifting through the forest canopy. “Someone is out here, lost and maybe hurt – so what if my calves will burn a little in the morning? That’s no reason to slow down.”

  “We’ve gotta take a break at some point. We’ll cover more ground overall if we move at a sane pace. Come on.”

  She hesitated, but eventually reached into the backpack again. “I, uh, brought you a spare change of clothes.”

  “Thanks.” He accepted the jeans and long-sleeved shirt she held out, slipping into them quickly, feeling the gap between them more acutely than he had mere minutes ago, when her hand had been buried in his fur.

  She knelt and laid out a small buffet of trail snacks, dried fruit and nuts, spreading them over the green nylon backpack – even a little jerky. A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth.

  “What?” She looked up at him, assessing.

  Her thoroughly human night vision was better than he’d thought.

  “I was just thinking – remember when you used to bring me home dinner from the bar on work nights?”

  “Yes.” Her voice was softer than her gaze.

  “They had that amazing pecan pie…” He scooped up a handful of trail mix, and sure enough, there were pecans.

  “It was the only amazing thing they had,” she said, her voice hardening a little. “That place was a dive.”

  “It wasn’t so bad.” Twenty-nine years later, he could still feel the heat of stage lights on the back of his neck, the bite of guitar strings beneath his fingertips and sweat trickling down his spine, dampening his shirt. The scent of strawberries and cream had drifted to him from across the building, just like it drifted to him now.