Unleash The Moon (The Preternaturals Book 6)

by Zoe Winters

  “Don’t make me regret it, Kristen.”

  She shook her head and ran in the opposite direction.

  At the end of the hallway was a steel elevator.

  “Thumbprint required for entry,” a recorded voice said out of the box next to the elevator.

  He shifted partially and used his claw to rip open the box. He tore out a few wires and pressed a bunch of buttons on the keypad in quick succession.

  “Thank you,” the computer said as the doors slid open.

  “Come on,” he snarled, dragging her into the enclosed space with him.

  Sydney moved into the back corner of the elevator as if she could go invisible. He was obviously attempting to break out of here, and he’d get her killed doing it. Why had he brought her with him? Was she a hostage?

  The elevator went down what felt like thousands of floors but was probably only about thirty-five. The wolf was still naked, his clothing lying somewhere out in the exercise yard with all the others. She shrank back when he turned to her.

  “I don’t know the whole layout of this place, but my guess is the security bug is throughout the building. At least I hope it is if we need to go through anymore thumbprint scanners. When we get outside, I’ll shift again under the moon. I can’t stop it. Whatever you do, follow me, and when we get to the edge of the city, run for the desert and do not stop. I’ll be right behind you.”

  “Why—”

  But the door opened on the ground level, and he grabbed her arm again.

  The happy robotic voice said, “5856 and 5857B are out of their rooms, please stop them and bring them to the courtesy desk if you see them. Thank you.”

  Sydney froze in the face of the melee. There were too many people in lab coats running toward them. Some had weapons. The wolf’s eyes darted around as if he were doing math equations in his head, then he grabbed her and tossed her in a big laundry bin nearby. She landed on a soft pile of freshly laundered white clothes and peeked out to see him shift again. He moved faster than she could track, dodging bursts of light that came out of the weapons. He ripped out throat after throat until dead bodies covered the floor with little room to walk.

  “Unit B, please report to the lobby,” the voice said. Sydney wasn’t sure if she imagined the voice sounding somehow less cheerful and upbeat this time.

  The wolf shifted back to his human form, ran for her and lifted her out of the bin. He carried her, running to the doors. “Remember what I said.”

  Outside he set her down and immediately shifted, then he began to run. Sydney ran behind him. She didn’t have the kind of stamina he did, and she’d had bagged blood. She was going to lose him, but she pushed and ran even though her lungs burned, because if she didn’t they’d kill her tonight. There was no way they’d bother with her any further when she’d proven to be so much trouble. She’d seen action movies, ancient and outdated though they were.

  The lights of the city were practically blinding. Loudspeakers were everywhere and the same cheery robotic voice she’d heard every day inside the building was speaking, only this speech was intended for a very different audience.

  “Everyone likes a good citizen. If you see something strange, please report it to one of the officers so that we can help keep everyone safe. Please stay far away from the perimeter. We can’t protect you out there. There is no need to fear the wilderness. Only bad people go there. You’re a good person. You would never do anything wrong.”

  Sydney saw the perimeter and ran. There was a giant red sign that read Turn back, wilderness less than 500 feet. She ran straight for it, and a few seconds later crossed into the open space outside the boundary of the city. She turned back to see the wolf bounce off an invisible barrier. Why had she gone through but he bounced off?

  Because you’re not a real vampire.

  Except this time, for once, it might have saved her life. The wolf began to dig, and she kept running.

  When she reached the desert, she stopped short at the sight of a wall of vampires and werewolves all in their wolf form. The wolves growled.

  “Pretty thing all alone outside the city,” one of the vampires said leaving the line of them to approach her.

  When he got closer, he sniffed the air, and his eyes narrowed. “You aren’t a human.” He grabbed her by the shoulders as if to shake her. “What are you,” he demanded.

  A wolf jumped up and bit him on the arm, and the vampire let go of her. It wasn’t one of the wolves from the group. It was her cell neighbor. He put himself between her and the others and growled something to the other wolves. They growled back. And Sydney might be going crazy, but it seemed like they were actually talking to each other instead of just making random angry sounds.

  One of the wolves struggled to reclaim a human form. It was a female wolf. She had a black snake tattoo that wrapped around her upper arm, slithering all the way down her forearm. Not that the smirking vampires were looking at her tattoo. She was attractive and naked, and occasionally vampires could be pigs.

  The woman rolled her eyes. “Shut up.” She turned to Sydney. “Sydney?”

  “Umm, yes?” Sydney wasn’t a hundred percent sure she wasn’t in her cube dreaming all this.

  “You guys come with me. I’m going to take you some place safe. You can stay with my pack.”

  “We aren’t just letting them go,” the vampire that had grabbed Sydney said as if he were upset his only entertainment of the night was being taken from him. “That thing shouldn’t even be alive.”

  Her wolf—because it was all Sydney could think of him as, now that there were about twenty of them all standing around snarling—growled at the vampire. But then a second vampire said, “Shut up, guys. There’s a LOT of dinner coming right for us.”

  The vampires lost interest in them as unit B showed up. They and the remaining wolves converged on the humans as the female wolf shifted to lead Sydney and the guy who’d inexplicably saved her life, to the den.

  Chapter Five

  The makeshift den was only about five miles outside the city’s perimeter, but Sydney felt like she might drop at any moment. The sun would be up in a few hours, and she couldn’t remember ever feeling this exhausted.

  The den was an old train station that looked to have been converted into a hotel and restaurant before it became a werewolf den. A large connected building rose behind the main lobby that no doubt had accommodated human guests at one point. When they got through the first set of doors into what had once been the station, the two wolves shifted back, neither of them concerned with their nudity.

  “This guy is staying with us while he forms a plan to get his girl back to their place. I’m sorry, what was your name?”

  Sydney hadn’t cared what the surly werewolf’s name was a few hours ago. She’d only hoped she never had to interact with him again. But now it was getting a little weird. She couldn’t call him “5856” or “Hey you”. And if she called him “her wolf” in front of anybody else for lack of a better naming convention, she might just go greet the sun in her embarrassment. Better to roast to death than to have to suffer through his nasty sneer again.

  Before mystery wolf could reply, several other people—werewolves—filed into the main lobby. “What the hell is that?” one of the males asked, pointing at her.

  When she’d spent all her time in the compound, she’d known she was weird, but it hadn’t been driven home just how weird, until everyone else in the outside world seemed able to pick up on it instantly. And whatever they were picking up on, they didn’t like.

  The woman who’d brought them caught a pair of pants and top mid-air when they were tossed at her and began to dress. “They are our guests until tomorrow night. They need some place safe for when the sun comes up.”

  “Oh, no,” the guy said. “That is not staying here.”

  Her wolf, now in his human form and very very naked, growled and moved into the other wolf’s space. “She is mine. She goes where I go.”

  “Oh yeah?”
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  The female wolf stepped between the posturing males. “Cool it, Rafe. This one is strong. You don’t want to challenge him.”

  Was she their leader? Sydney wasn’t sure. Maybe she was part of an alpha pair, but she was obviously strong to be able to reclaim her human form under a blood moon. A full moon by itself would have been impressive enough.

  “If she’s his then why hasn’t he marked her?”

  The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed off the walls of the old train station lobby as she slapped him. “That’s enough, Rafe. I said they stay. Unless you want to challenge me?”

  He dropped to one knee and offered his throat. “No, Ma’am.”

  Shit, she was the leader.

  “That’s better.”

  Sydney’s wolf spoke up, then. “Can I borrow some clothes, and I’d like some privacy. I haven’t had a chance to explain things to her. I just found her.”

  “Of course. We have a few rooms built against the original structure that don’t have windows. That would be safest.”

  “Thanks.”

  The look she gave him made Sydney wonder if the alpha wanted Noah leading beside her, but the female wolf seemed to shake herself out of it. “No problem.” She barely spared a glance to Sydney.

  A pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt sailed through the air, and he snatched the clothing and put it on.

  When they reached the windowless room, the alpha said, “I’m Shira, by the way. You never told me your name.”

  Was she flirting with him?

  “Later,” he said. “I need to talk with her first.”

  Her smile was tight. “Sure, no problem.”

  When she’d disappeared down the hallway he shut and locked the door, then shoved a chair under it.

  Sydney took a step back. “Ummm.” He’d better start explaining something fast.

  He put his hands in the air. “Relax. Without a window, we don’t have an alternate exit. I need a warning if they decide to come in guns blazing. I think she’s only helping us because she didn’t want me to challenge her for her pack. I have no interest in her pack. I just want to go home.”

  “I’m sorry, but who the hell are you? And why did you take me out of there? You made it pretty clear you hated me. I can’t figure out why you’d bust me out with you if you find my very existence so vile.”

  He kept staring at her mouth. She didn’t like the way he kept staring at her mouth. Or maybe she did. No she didn’t. She didn’t know. If he turned out to be only moderately crazy, maybe she did.

  “I’m Sorry. Everything I said to you, everything you think you saw was only to protect you. There was surveillance everywhere, and I couldn’t risk them thinking I cared what happened to you. I had to wait on the moon. When everything started happening, there wasn’t time to explain, and then once we were here, I preferred privacy to tell you.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “Sydney, do you not remember me at all?” He looked almost hurt.

  She shook her head slowly, but a hope started to bloom in her chest. She wouldn’t let the name form in her mind. If she thought it and then it wasn’t true… And it couldn’t be true, anyway. He couldn’t have survived this long.

  “You do remember.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Noah. I’m Noah.”

  Before she’d thought she might drop from exhaustion, but now she hurled herself into his arms with renewed energy. “Noah?” She looked hard into his eyes, the planes of his face, his smile, his hair. He was only a boy the last time she’d seen him, but he looked a bit like his dad now that she thought about it.

  Why hadn’t she realized that before? Maybe because he’d looked so angry all the time.

  “Noah? It’s really you? We thought you were dead!”

  He held her while she cried. She couldn’t believe it had been him in the cube next to hers.

  “It’s my twenty-eighth birth moon. I was planning to break out tonight. I’ve been planning it for months. I didn’t know it would be a blood moon, though. When it was, it was just that much luckier. I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to get you out of there. I couldn’t take any chances that they might separate you into another group before it was time. I almost lost my mind when they burned you, but I couldn’t let it show.”

  Noah. She’d spent years trying to push the memory of him into the background of her mind. She’d spent an equal amount of time pretending that not being able to feel love for Jacob before had nothing to do with her little girl crush on the werewolf.

  “Sydney, you’re my mate.”

  She searched his face. “What do you mean, mate? You mean… like a friend?” Was this the, I like you but not that way, speech—just in case she was getting ideas in her head after his big “she’s mine” thing out in the train lobby?

  Then his impossibly warm lips were moving over hers, his large hands tangled in her hair. Her brain decided at that point to tell her about forty times that Noah was kissing her, just in case she was having a black-out/out-of-body experience combo and had missed the memo.

  After a couple of minutes, she pulled away first. “So… n-not a friend?”

  He smirked. “Not a friend.”

  Noah didn’t ask how she felt about it. He didn’t need to. She was smiling so hard her face hurt.

  Then he let out an angry growl. He turned her face toward the light. “Look at what those bastards did to you. It still hasn’t healed. I need you to feed from me.”

  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to. The idea of drinking from Noah was about the best menu offer she could ever remember receiving. It was just that she wasn’t sure if she was quite ready to move things that fast. If she fed on him she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep her clothes on, and what if he was wrong? What if she wasn’t his true mate?

  What if he hooked up with that alpha bitch and realized he’d just missed Sydney because she’d been familiar and had reminded him of home?

  He ran his fingers through her hair. “What is it, Sydney?” He’d never called her Syd. Even when they were kids.

  “How do you know I’m her? I mean you were locked up in that horrible place for so long. It’s only natural that someone from your past might make you feel a certain way and…”

  “Sydney, no. It’s you. Don’t you remember how we were when we were kids? I guarded you half the time when you slept. For hours. That’s not normal. And I would have watched over you every day if the adults had let me. I knew when we were kids, I just couldn’t articulate it. But I’m not a kid anymore. I know you’re my true mate.”

  “My father will never allow us…”

  Noah snorted. “Anthony has no say in this. You’re an adult. It only matters what you want.”

  “Oh, so if I said, ‘You’re a nice guy, Noah, but I just like you as a friend,’ that would be it?”

  He rolled his eyes. “You feel it, too. Maybe not as strong because you’re not a wolf, but you know it’s always been you and me.”

  He pulled her back into his arms and gently pressed her face against his neck. Her fangs obligingly came out.

  “Feed,” he whispered. “And just a friendly warning… you can do whatever you want, but if clothes come off, I will mark you, so be sure you’re ready to commit to me before you try to seduce me.”

  His voice rumbled against her when he spoke.

  She sank her fangs into his throat in response because she didn’t trust her voice, and she might say something stupid enough for him to reconsider this true mate business.

  He was her favorite flavor, uncomplicated desire. It was an emotional bouquet that she’d felt strange savoring before because it had always come from someone she didn’t want in equal measure. It was like reading the diary of someone who had a crush on her. It had felt dirty and like violating someone’s privacy. But Noah had already let her in.

  It was the taste of his blood that took away her doubts. At least in his own mind, he was completely su
re she was his mate. And for now, that had to be enough. It wasn’t as if there was a way one could prove a true mate. There was no lab test that could be done. There was no potion they could drink that would reveal all. You just had to take the leap and trust it.

  The flavor was intoxicating, but the strength of the blood was hard to take. She only drank a little before pulling away.

  “You need more,” he said gently, to get her to keep feeding. “I don’t mind.” He took her hand and pressed it against the front of his pants. “I like it.”

  If any other guy had done something like that, she would have had a panic attack and fantasized about drop kicking him, but as far as she was concerned, Noah could put her hand anywhere he liked.

  “Just let me get used to it,” she said. “I’ve only drank regular humans before.” It was like going from watered down wine to 100-proof whiskey. Or like trying to consume an entire chocolate cake in one go.

  He chuckled. “You do wonderful things for my ego, Sydney.”

  She looked down at her arm. The burn marks from the UV laser were gone.

  Chapter Six

  Noah still couldn’t believe they’d made it out, that she was in his arms now, and that she seemed on board with the mate thing. He would have understood if she’d argued more. Of if she hadn’t seemed as into it. If it took her feelings a while to catch up to what his blood had always known, it was the price he would have gladly paid. He would have given her time, but the way it was going, he may have her marked before the sun came up.

  That would be his preference given how defenseless she’d be during the day. But he’d guard her from the moment she fell dead for the day until she woke again. She made another effort at drinking from him, taking more this time.