Dark Moon Rising (The Revenant Book 2)

by Kali Argent

  In response, she arched into his hand, crying out when his middle finger slipped between her folds to brush over her clitoris. The embers of desire erupted into flames of need, burning her from the inside out until everything disappeared except for her mate. His dark, musky scent surrounded her, filled her, stoked the fire that seared in her belly.

  “Fuck,” he groaned, resting his forehead against her shoulder as he shuddered around her. “You’re so wet.” Two fingers slid along her core and pressed into her opening. “So warm.” With his palm pressed to her clit, he continued to stroke her, pumping his fingers into her depths. “So fucking tight.”

  Delirious with need and unable to hold back any longer, she pushed his hand away and turned to face him, winding her arms around his neck to pull him into a hungry, heated kiss. Their mouths crashed together, their lips and tongues battling for dominance, and Thea growled as she lost herself in the taste of him.

  “I’m not going to break.” Locking her legs around his waist, she molded herself to him like a second skin. “Please.” She’d never begged for anything, and it sounded stranger to her ears, but she didn’t care. “Please, Rhys.”

  The air rushed out of her lungs when he pressed her roughly against the shower wall, anchoring her there with an echoing growl. Gathering both of her wrists into one hand, he stretched her arms over her head, pinning her hands to the wall. He didn’t move, and he barely breathed as he stared into her eyes, and when he spoke, his tone was pained, tortured.

  “I can’t, angel.”

  His thick cock pressed against her, trapped between their bodies, so she didn’t think he meant in the physical sense. “Why?”

  “This isn’t the kind of world I want to bring a child into, not like this.”

  She understood and agreed wholeheartedly, which was why she’d renewed her birth control shot before leaving Trinity Grove. It wasn’t permanent, but it would be a year before she’d have to worry about the possibility of getting pregnant.

  “We’re safe.” With her hands still pinned to the wall, she arched just her neck and shoulders to deliver another scorching kiss. “We can still practice, though.”

  Releasing her hands, he tangled his fingers in her wet hair, still pinning her in place as he devoured her in a deep, desperate kiss she felt down to her soul. Thick, hard, and throbbing, his cock pressed insistently at her entrance, teasing her with the pleasure to come. Her skin tingled, her pulse raced, and her lungs burned with the need to breathe. Dragging her mouth away from his, she leaned her head back against the wall, panting and moaning, writhing against him when his lips clamped around her erect nipple.

  It was too much and not enough, all at the same time. When his mouth left her breasts and traveled up the arch of her neck, she almost begged again, but her plea was lost in a strangled cry when he thrust forward, spearing her in one swift plunge. Her inner walls stretched to accommodate his girth, the slight burn only adding to her pleasure.

  Rhys couldn’t think past the roar of his own blood in his ears. Reduced to his most primal self, he rocked his hips, pistoning into his mate with an unrestrained intensity that pushed them both closer to the edge. Her velvety heat grasped him in rhythmic waves, massaging his pulsing cock within her depths. Again, their mouths collided, their tongues tangled, and the taste of her nearly propelled him into orgasm.

  When he’d stepped into the shower with her, he’d only wanted to offer comfort, a reprieve from the trauma she’d endured. Every time she’d moaned or arched against him, the leash on his self-control had unraveled a little more, until he could think of nothing else but having her. She was more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen, and the way she responded to his touch awakened the beast inside him. He didn’t just want her body, he wanted her heart. He wanted to consume her, bathe her in his scent, and drive the thought of every other male from her mind.

  The gums around his canines stung when his fangs elongated, the desire to claim her as his own clawing at him. He couldn’t, though, not yet, not in the midst of so much chaos. Still, he buried his face against the side of her neck, drawing his tongue over the jumping vein there, and inhaled her spicy fragrance.

  A tingle started in his lower back, and his sac drew close to his body as his cock throbbed within her core, heralding his impending climax. Each hard thrust pushed her higher up the wall, and she clung to his shoulders as the water sloshed over them, creating a slippery glide between their tense bodies. Lifting his head, he stared into her eyes, watching as they changed from a deep brown to a golden amber. He wanted to see her, to watch as she fell over the edge, and his mate didn’t disappoint.

  Tossing her head back, she cried out, bucking against him as her inner walls closed around him like a vise. The sight of her flushed cheeks, the feel of her tight pussy, the scent of her release, sent him into a tailspin of pleasure, and he followed her into orgasm with a roar that shook the walls.

  Wrapped together, they held onto one another as they struggled to catch their breath, neither of them ready to let go and face reality.

  “Holy shit,” Deidra called from somewhere down the hall. “Did you eat her?”

  Leaning away from him, Thea glanced toward the open door of the bathroom and grinned. “Oops.”

  “You could at least try to be discrete,” Cade added, his voice echoing through the cabin.

  “It wasn’t that loud,” Kamara argued. “I don’t think anyone in Kansas heard them.”

  “Stop,” Abby said, her voice much quieter than the rest. “Leave them alone.”

  Thea closed her eyes and groaned. “I’m never going to hear the end of this.”

  “Yeah, well,” Zerrik called, “I can never unhear that.”

  Resting his forehead against Thea’s, Rhys pecked at her lips and chuckled. “As tempting as it is to stay like this forever, you need to eat, angel.”

  They took turns washing each other again, sharing kisses and light touches until the water ran cold. When they’d dried themselves, and Thea had changed into clean clothes—a plain white T-shirt and a pair of khaki cargo shorts—they made their way to the kitchen, enduring more good-natured jibes as they passed through the living room. Once in the kitchen, Rhys steered his mate to a wooden bar stool at the center island and motioned for her to sit.

  “How about a turkey sandwich?”

  “Is there mayo?”

  Going to the fridge, he pulled open the door and inspected the contents. “Mustard, ketchup, and strawberry jam. No mayo.” In the bottom drawer, he found something even better than mayonnaise. “Bacon?”

  Thea nodded eagerly, a slightly dazed expression on her face. “Goddess, yes, please. Are there tomatoes?”

  “There are.” Rhys moved around the kitchen, finding the ingredients for club sandwiches. “Mustard okay?”

  Thea nodded, but she seemed lost in thought. After another minute, she finally asked, “You really don’t know why we’re here?”

  “I really don’t, angel. I do know there are about a dozen enforcers outside with rifles and shotguns, so that might be why they removed the collars.”

  “I don’t get it. They’re not just going to let us go.”

  Rhys agreed. “No, they’re not, but we’ll find out why we’re here soon enough. Might as well enjoy it until then.” He held up the package of bacon, waving it at her. “At least there’s bacon.”

  To his relief, she laughed, and some of the light returned to her eyes. “Yeah, at least there’s that.”

  They fell into silence again, him cooking and her watching. It was easy, comfortable, and almost normal. He wished it didn’t have to end.

  He’d finished frying the bacon and started constructing the sandwiches when Thea slipped up behind him, wound her arms around his waist, and rested her cheek in the center of his back.

  “This probably isn’t the best time to bring it up,” she murmured, “but…did you see your mom last night?”

  Rhys tensed, but the anxiety passed quickly. The mention o
f his mother didn’t send him into a dark void the way it once had, and he knew he had Thea to thank for that.

  “I did, right before sunrise.” She’d been fighting another Ravager, and while every part of Rhys had wanted to go to her, he’d finally accepted that he couldn’t save her. “It hurts, but I can’t keep holding onto her. She’s gone.”

  Thea’s arms tightened around him briefly before she let go and moved around to face him. “I’m so sorry, Rhys. I lost both of my parents right after the Purge, but I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you to see her every full moon.”

  Driven by guilt and blinded by love, he’d tried so hard to help her, but in his heart, he’d always known he’d never get her back. Jenna Lockwood was dead, and the thing that inhabited her body was just a ghost, a cruel reminder of everything he’d lost.

  “I’m sorry, too.” Placing the butter knife down on the counter, he wound an arm around Thea’s neck and pulled her close to kiss the top of her head. “How did your parents die? Was it Ravagers?”

  She shook her head. “Hunters, like the ones who killed your dad. I barely got away, but my parents didn’t make it. Sometimes…” After a pause, she pulled in a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “Sometimes, I think that if I had the training back then that I do now, maybe I could have saved them.”

  “Maybe,” he conceded, because he knew she’d want the truth. “But you didn’t, and there’s nothing you could have done. Don’t blame yourself, angel. Blame the assholes who killed them.”

  “I do,” she said, a hard edge to her tone. “It’s not your fault, either, Rhys. What happened to your mom? You can’t blame yourself for it.”

  Oh, but he could. “My mom is here because of me. I told you before that being a prisoner, being forced to participate in the Gallows, that wasn’t my punishment.”

  A quiet gasp escaped her parted lips, and her eyes widened with unrestrained horror. “The alpha brought your mom here? He knows who she is?”

  Rhys nodded, releasing his mate so he could continue preparing their meal. “After my dad died and I became an enforcer, my mother came to live with the pack. Partly for protection from the Hunters, but I think mostly to be close to me.” Of course, back then, he’d never had time for her, so caught up in his rage and despair. “When the pack raided the bunker and found me there, Alpha Chase decided I needed to be taught a lesson. He didn’t just bring her here. He’s the one who pushed her over the edge.”

  “Oh, my god. Rhys…I don’t even know what to say.”

  He finished building her sandwich, added a few sticks of celery to her plate, and slid it across the counter. “Eat, angel.”

  “Rhys…”

  “Eat,” he repeated as he washed his hands at the sink. It was easier to talk about his mother with his back to her. “They put one of those sadistic collars on her, took her out into the woods, right above my cell, and zapped her with enough volts to kill a full grown man.” The cruelty had gone on for hours, and Rhys would never forget the sound of her screams. “They tortured her until she went insane, until she finally stopped fighting and let the madness claim her.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  By the fourth morning of their respite, the walls that sheltered them from the falling temperatures were starting to close in on Thea.

  The enforcers never came inside, but half a dozen of them took shifts patrolling the grounds, each with a rifle slung over his back. No one in her group knew why they’d been taken to the cabin instead of the enclosure at the zoo, nor did they have even a working theory. It didn’t make sense that they’d been given food, fresh clothes, and had their collars removed. Not even Rhys had a guess as to why the sudden change in routine, and he knew the pack better than anyone.

  Men like Bricksten Chase never did anything unless it benefited them in some way, and she wanted to know what he had planned. The three nights in the cabin hadn’t been a show of mercy, nor had it been a reward for surviving the full moon. Whatever he had planned for them, she couldn’t imagine it would be worse than the Gallows, but mostly, she was just tired of sitting around waiting for something to happen.

  The morning had dawned cold and gloomy, and the clouds beyond the window held the suspicious hint of snow. Growing up in Pennsylvania, Thea was no stranger to snow, but she’d only had to spend the night in it once, and it had been the worst night of her life. While the cabin protected them from the elements now, she had the feeling their level of comfort would take a drastic turn soon.

  “There you are.” Crossing the room, Rhys leaned over the back of the chair where she sat by the window and kissed the side of her neck, the stubble along his jaw tickling her skin. “What are you doing in here by yourself? Breakfast is ready.”

  The scent of maple syrup drifted to her in the little room where she’d been brought to dress for the Gathering on her first night with the pack. Her stomach rumbled in response, but she didn’t much feel like socializing.

  “Thanks. I’ll grab a plate in a few minutes.”

  Dragging one of the other armchairs over to the window beside her, Rhys settled into his and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Talk to me, angel. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

  “It’s nothing.” A grin twitched at the corners of her lips when he grunted at her. “Nothing new,” she elaborated. “Still worrying about why we’re here and what it means. I’m glad not to have that collar around my neck, but it doesn’t exactly fit with what I know about the pack. It seems like a huge risk to just let us run around uncontrolled.”

  Rhys arched a dark eyebrow at her. “Is that what you think? Angel, there are guards surrounding this place, armed with enough firepower to take down a city block. There are cameras everywhere.”

  Thea’s cheeks heated when she thought about someone watching her with Rhys in the shower. Nudity didn’t bother her, but what she’d shared with her mate had been private, intimate, and she hated that the pack had managed to taint it.

  Unaware of her embarrassment, Rhys pointed to a small rectangular opening in the ceiling, covered by a black grate. “If anyone tries to shift inside the cabin, the pack would pump gas through these vents, and everyone would be out cold in a matter of seconds.”

  “Okay,” she relented. “I get it. We’re locked up tighter than a virgin’s asshole.”

  He snorted at her crude metaphor, but otherwise didn’t comment. Linking his fingers together, he bobbed his head a couple of times. “I’ve been thinking about why we’re here as well.”

  “And have you come to a conclusion?”

  “More of a guess, but you’re not going to like it.”

  It couldn’t be worse than the scenarios that had starred in her dreams recently. “I feel like they’re luring us into a false sense of security, but I can’t figure out what purpose it serves. So, I’m open to ideas if you have them.”

  “I don’t think it’s that.” With a huff, he pushed back in his chair and scrubbed both hands over his face. “I think we’re being fattened like calves for slaughter, so to speak. There’s enough food in the kitchen to feed an army. We’re warm, sheltered, and no one has threatened us in days, so we’re calm. Well, as calm as we can be given the circumstances.”

  It made sense, but like her theory, she didn’t understand the end game. “I can see that, but why? What is this metaphorical slaughter?”

  Rhys shrugged. “Maybe they want us healthy before the next Gallows. It wouldn’t be as much fun to watch us fight if we can barely stand.”

  Thea thought it over for a few seconds and shook her head, rejecting the idea that their current seclusion had anything to do with the Gallows. “They can just kidnap more people before the full moon.”

  “Yeah, but like I said before, no one ever survives. It’s always a bloodbath, but it’s not much of a fight. We gave them one hell of a fight, angel.”

  “See, that’s the thing. I don’t think the Gallows are just for entertainment purposes. Are you sure no one has survived
? I mean, have you actually seen them die?”

  She could practically see the wheel turning inside his head. “A few, but the previous groups, they weren’t big on teamwork. I’d wake up alone in an isolation cell and never see them again, so I just assumed they’d all died.”

  Something big, something that would explain everything, danced just beyond her comprehension. “What if the Gallows are a test? Survival of the fittest. That kind of thing.”

  “And the winners…what?” His fingers fisted in his shaggy locks, and a frustrated growl rumbled through his chest. “What happens to the survivors?”

  Neither of them questioned why Rhys had never been placed in that distinctive category. Alpha Chase wanted to control Rhys, and he wouldn’t give that up, not without a damn good reason. Whatever was happening to the survivors of the Gallows clearly didn’t qualify as a sufficient motive.

  “Guys,” Kamara appeared at the doorway, her ebony hair twisted into a messy bun at the top of her head. “I think you need to get in here. Deidra just overheard one of the enforcers say Alpha Chase is on his way.”

  “I think we’re about to get some answers.” Rising from his chair, Rhys offered a hand, pulling Thea to her feet as well. “You still need to eat.”

  She wanted answers far more than she wanted food, but her stomach rumbled in protest. “Fine. I’ll grab something portable.”

  Following her mate down the narrow hallway, she could feel the tension in the air before she ever reached the living room. For the past few days, the atmosphere had been one of cautious optimism from most. Now, her friends gathered on the sofa and armchairs, some curled up on the floor, their expressions guarded, anxious.

  When Thea nodded and turned toward the kitchen, Rhys stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll get it. Go.”

  She didn’t know how he did it, how he always knew the right thing to say, the right move to make, but she adored him for it. Food was the last thing on her mind, and with the alpha’s arrival imminent, she wanted to be with her friends, presenting a united front when he walked through the door.