Lunar Rebirth (Lunar Rampage Trilogy Book 3)

by Samantha Cross

  “Enough with the chit-chat. Let’s just get this over with,” I said.

  The Master smirked. “I forget how precious every minute is to a human. Everything is a rush, rush, rush.”

  “Yeah, we’re all kinds of obnoxious like that. Let’s get on with it.”

  His black eyes left me and landed onto Melanie. “Hop on over,” he ordered. He wanted her to climb over the gate without ever opening it. That wasn’t gonna fly.

  “No,” I said. “I may seem young in comparison to you, but I wasn’t born fucking yesterday. We do the trade when I have Cora next to me.”

  “You seem to be under the impression this is your trade to control.”

  “You seem to forget that if you want to go through with your asinine plot, you need what we have.”

  “And I have what you love,” he replied and then wrapped his hand around Cora’s throat and yanked her back several feet and close against his chest. “I’ve been more than magnanimous with her, but if you’re going to unnecessarily drag this process out, I can find ways to kill time.” He slipped his tongue out and dragged it across her cheek and down to her neck. It was only then that I realized she had cuts running across her skin. “I assume she tastes sweet everywhere,” he finished and then smirked.

  I clenched my fists so hard I could feel the skin breaking.

  He was dead. He was fucking dead.

  “Please don’t,” Melanie cried. “Open the gate and you can have me.”

  “No!” Cora yelled and fought against his arms. He restrained her, and I had to hold back every urge to tear him apart limb from limb. His disgusting, pasty ass hands needed to be off of her.

  Melanie took a deep inward breath. “I’ll walk to your side. Willingly. But Cora and I meet halfway,” she declared. “That way it’s fair. You get me and they get her.”

  The Master’s face managed to be speculative, yet somehow blank. “No tricks?” he asked.

  “I would never do anything to put my cousin’s life in danger. She means too much to me.”

  The girls shared a heartbreaking stare. I hated this for them. I detested that this prick was in control and we had to play by his rules.

  “Is it a deal?” she asked.

  There was no expression on his face as he thought this through, and then with a curl of his lip answered, “Deal.”

  The agreement came almost too easily. I didn’t trust it.

  The Master nodded his head to Veronica and watched as she approached the gate, unlatched it, and slowly swung it open. The three of them then retreated several feet to keep a good distance between our groups. In front of us was a narrow walkway, but it was enough for us to charge through and fight them. I just had to play it smart.

  Melanie stood there for a moment and collected herself. Her gloved hands were stretched at her side, working out the tension and nerves in her body before she took the first step. Once she did, I immediately felt Dana’s hand on my arm. “Max,” she said, her voice breaking. “How can you let her do this? This wasn’t supposed to happen…”

  I wanted to calm her down and assure her we would handle this, but I had to keep my mouth shut. The more freaked out she was, the better. It meant the vampires would believe I had no intention of murdering each and every one of them.

  Melanie approached the open gate, and Dana sniffled at my side the entire time. I felt for the girl. Seeing Melanie leave our group and inch her way to the vampires was tearing her apart, and I knew exactly how she felt. My heart was on the other side of that fence, too.

  But we’d get them back. I wouldn’t leave this yard until I had them both.

  The Master’s grip on Cora was still tight, but when Melanie stood at the entrance of the gate, she stopped moving completely and said, “Now let her go.” I could tell he didn’t trust this arrangement by the way his eyes narrowed and his expression soured. He didn’t strike me as stupid enough to trust us. It was more like he was testing us to see if we would stay true to our word. We would. For now.

  He released Cora, and for a moment, she was confused. She had to be thinking what I was: this seemed too easy. Her hand rubbed her sore upper arm where he had had a grip on her, and then staggered her way through the snow toward us, constantly looking over her shoulder to see if they were following her. Master, Veronica, and Molly remained still, though Molly swayed back and forth like a caged animal. I kept my eye on her, because I knew she had it out for Cora. No agreement on our part or order on her master’s would stop her from fucking up the trade just to hurt Cora. It’s why she had to be dealt with. Even if we completed this exchange the way The Master wanted, Molly would hunt us for years to come. It’d never end.

  I watched with a held breath as Cora continued her journey back to me. It was the most excruciating thirty seconds of my life, because I could do nothing but wait. Wait, and watch these goons like a hawk. Melanie crossed through the open gate so they would meet at the halfway point, and instantly my body tightened up, because they had the upper hand with both of them on their side of the gate.

  Just as Cora and Melanie were within a few feet of each other, The Master dashed forward and put his hand on Cora’s shoulder to hold her in place. I moved forward to attack, but his nails dug into her skin. It was a threat. “Not so fast,” he warned. “I’m gonna need more of an offering on your part.”

  My brow furrowed. “Excuse me?”

  What more could this fucker want?

  “Twenty-four hours ago, I had four vampires. Now, I’ll have three. Two, after the night is over…it appears as though I’m losing more than I’m gaining.”

  “The fuck you’re not. You’re getting exactly what you came for.”

  “I’m getting back what I already had, but without Tiffany. Your girls took her away from me. Permanently. I’ve been hearing a lot about making the trade fair, but from where I’m standing, that’s just not possible. Unless, of course, we go an eye for an eye.”

  I knew exactly what that meant. “You’re not killing anybody else,” I seethed.

  Melanie turned to The Master, and through tears said, “This isn’t what we talked about. We made an agreement. I’m doing what you wanted!”

  “And you’re paying your debt with your sacrifice. Things between us will be settled, but just us.”

  “But I’m the one that killed Tiffany! It was me! Take it out on me!”

  “I am,” he said plainly. “And moving forward, your little group will know there are consequences for the obscene things that they do.” Like a malfunctioning robot, his head slowly turned away from Melanie and to us on the other side of the gate. “You took one of mine, so I’ll take one of yours. Who is it going to be?”

  The muscles in my neck tightened. “We’re not playing this game,” I said.

  “This isn’t a game. This is me graciously giving you a choice. You don’t have to lose someone you love, it can be one of the extras.”

  Priscilla, Daggett, and Dana all turned to me, and from the defeated look in their eyes, I knew they were waiting for me to throw one of them to the wolves. They were nuts to think I’d do that.

  The Master’s grip on Cora tightened as he cocked his head to one side in thought. “I do wonder what would be a more impressive display on my mantle—the head of a werewolf or the head of a human. Humans are far more common, yes, but it is a bit of a tradition to hang your successful hunts on the wall as a trophy. Though a werewolf…” He exhaled and smiled, the thought of collecting us giving him a hard-on. “Now, that’s not something you see every day.”

  I fumed. “The only head you have a shot of getting is from the two dipshits at your side.”

  Veronica flashed her eyes toward Molly, who was nonreactive and still staring at me with that pissed off look on her face. Veronica then scrunched up her nose and huffed and puffed. She wanted to give me a piece of her mind, but didn’t want to speak out of turn. She was too obedient.

  “You have many werewolves to spare,” he began. “I’d even take the male
.”

  “You’re not taking shit!”

  “Then you’re not getting your lover back.” Cora was in close proximity to him, but he still managed to pull her in even closer. I was ready to wreck him. “The choice is yours, Max.”

  Melanie stayed near the opening of the gate, close enough for me to snatch her up and make a run for it if I needed to, but Cora wasn’t. His hands were like ropes around her, restricting her and keeping her motionless. If I did anything stupid, he’d snap her neck in an instant. He wasn’t going to let her go until one of us was in her place.

  I knew what I had to do.

  A heavy breath escaped my lips as I said, “Okay. Take me.”

  “No…” Cora whispered, her words only loud enough for my enhanced hearing to hear. I could sense her heartbeat racing from twenty feet away, as well. It was pounding like crazy.

  “How noble,” Master said. He sounded skeptical, but intrigued. “You would give your life for all these mindless sheep surrounding you, who will never have half the importance or intelligence that you do.” With a chuckle, he added, “It’s almost a pity.” He promptly untangled his hands from around Cora’s throat, and for a few moments, she knelt forward and gasped for air. Once she was able to catch her breath, she lifted her head to stare at me through the gate and her eyes welled with tears. They were tears for me. I don’t think anyone else had ever cried over me like that. Not even my mom or my old man.

  It was a stupid thought to have, considering all we’d been through, but this girl really did love me. It was the kind of unconditional love I never knew I even wanted, and I’d die without it.

  “Set her free, and I’ll come over,” I stated.

  My words set off his paranoia, and he yanked her back close to him. “I’ll set her free when I know this isn’t a setup.” Goddamnit, I just wanted his hands off of her. He was squeezing too tight.

  To my right, I heard the overlapping sounds of panicked whispers and mumblings from Daggett, Dana, and Priscilla. My focus was solely on Cora and the dick who had her trapped, so nothing they said beside me was all that clear. All I gathered was that they were confused and freaked out over my decision and what it meant for all of us.

  But one voice was louder than the rest. “You can’t do this,” Dana quietly pleaded as she reached for my hand. “We can’t lose you both.”

  “You’re gonna be alright,” I assured her. “Trust me.”

  Dana’s head shook, the disbelief so thick in her eyes I could almost touch it. “You two are the strongest ones here. If they take you, I doubt we’ll be able to rescue you.”

  “I don’t want you to.”

  That disbelief in her eyes drained and turned into utter despair. I hated putting on this act of self-sacrifice and hurting her in the process, but I needed them to let Cora go so I could kill him.

  Daggett leaned in close to the two of us, his eyes wide and cautious as he said, “Max?” It was one word, but I knew from the way his voice raised that it was his way of asking me if I had lost my mind and if I was actually going through with this.

  “Don’t be a dumbass,” Priscilla harshly whispered. “It’s probably a trick and he won’t even give Cora back.”

  I exhaled slowly and nodded. “Don’t worry, guys. I got this.”

  “Don’t worry?” Daggett repeated. “You’re offering up your life, man. Don’t tell us not to worry.”

  I placed my hand on his shoulder and said, “See you on the other side.”

  None of them had a chance to talk me out of it. I turned around and headed for the open gate, my sights on Cora the entire time. The closer I came to her, the more distraught she became, as her lips began to quiver and her red cheeks glistened with tears.

  Everything was gonna be okay.

  “Wait!” It was Dana. She rushed from behind, stopping me at the gate entrance. Her hands wrapped around mine and lifted them to my chest, squeezing them, as she stared up at me with tears in her eyes. “Take me instead.”

  She couldn’t be serious. “No,” I growled.

  “You have people who look up to you, love you, would miss you. I’m a nobody. My life has less meaning. Take me instead,” she wept.

  Dana was really about to trade places with me. I could kill her.

  The Master chuckled in the distance. No doubt our misery was an entertaining show to him. “Please do decide quickly,” he said, his lips a mere inch from Cora’s cheek. “I have waited long enough.”

  I pulled Dana in close to me and whispered, “Go back with the group. Now.”

  “Yeah, scram, you total waste,” Veronica called from across the yard. “No one is gonna miss you anyway.” Under her breath, she chuckled and said, “Makes the kill less fun that way, if you ask me.”

  We ignored her, and I gestured for Priscilla to come to us. “Take her,” I ordered. Priscilla approached us and attempted to drag Dana back, but Dana clutched onto my shirt.

  “Max, you promised! You promised nothing would happen to her!” Dana cried.

  This was about Melanie. This was always about Melanie for her.

  Dana’s face went red as a tomato and her eyes slowly tinted to a shade of yellow. It was uncontrollable anger that was doing this to her. I knew because I had seen it happen to our kind, and I’d felt it too. The frustration, the rage…it was forcing the beast to come out of her.

  The more Priscilla urged her away from me and the gate, the more worked up she became. “No! They won’t take her!” she yelled. In a flash, she pulled back Priscilla’s jacket and grabbed hold of a hidden silver butcher knife before shoving Priscilla to the side. Dana then dashed through the open gateway, and that’s when I knew exactly what she was gonna do.

  She was going to stab one of them.

  Goddamnit! Dana wasn’t thinking. Dana wasn’t even waiting for us to back her up.

  I couldn’t even make a step forward to catch up and stop her because she was running so fast. It was a speed that wasn’t at all human. Instead of going for someone weaker like Veronica or Molly, she went straight up to the leader. I yelled for her to stop and came chasing after her, but it was like the universe had slowed down and I was pushing through quicksand to get to her.

  Dana let out a guttural scream as she raised the knife above her head and jammed it into The Master’s eye in one quick stab. His grip on Cora loosened and his entire body whipped around, the pain not registering for him at first. Seconds later, it was him that was screaming as his own hands shook and attempted to pull the knife out of the oozing wound. The instant he touched the blade, a small mist of smoke trickled from his skin, and he gave up trying to remove it. The silver was actually burning him.

  “Holy shit, it worked!” Daggett excitedly noted. We didn’t think silver would work on him at all. If it did, it meant he was turned from a werewolf as well.

  Maybe this fucker wasn’t as powerful as we imagined.

  But there was no moment for celebration, because even with the knife in his eye, he was on the attack. He backhanded Dana so hard that she took flight across the yard, soaring for several feet before crashing into a statue made out of stone. The impact was so brutal that it busted in half as soon as she hit it. Dana was out like a light.

  Now was the time to fight. Their leader was momentarily weakened, and we had the advantage.

  The gate suddenly slammed shut without anyone even touching it, and the three of us that remained ran to push it back open, only it wouldn’t budge. Some kind of bullshit mystical force was gluing the bars together so we couldn’t get in. The Master dragged Melanie toward his castle while Molly grabbed hold of Cora and followed. If they were to get inside, they’d kill them both. I didn’t even have to question that.

  “Max!” Cora yelled as she struggled to get out of Molly’s grasp, her hand reaching out to the air that was between us. She was waiting for me to break down this gate and come to her rescue.

  I screamed at the top of my lungs as I attempted to bend the steel with my bare hands. I had st
rength, I had power, but whatever they had done to the gate made it feel like I was trying to move the Earth. I wouldn’t let them hurt her… Not again.

  It was time to unleash the beast.

  I tore open my flannel and let the buttons snap from the material and fall to the snowy ground. I pounded my fist against my chest, beckoning for the turn to take place. Within seconds I felt my flesh heat up and my bones begin to shift beneath my muscles. My joints popped and cracked so loudly that it rattled my eardrums.

  “Oh my god, what is he doing?!” Priscilla shrieked.

  “I think you know what he’s doing,” Daggett replied.

  The two of them nervously backed away from me as I clutched onto the steel of the gate to keep myself standing. Cora’s screams echoed in the distance, and I cursed at myself for not shifting quicker to get to her. Normally, I’d let my body ease into the transition, but if I did it that way, I’d never get to Cora and Melanie before they were killed. I beat my chest over and over and over until my body snapped at the waist like a pretzel. No matter how many times I did this, it always hurt like a son of a bitch. Every. Fucking. Time.

  Like a cyst being popped, I exploded out of my human flesh and dropped to all fours. I let out a long, sharp wail to let them know I was coming, and then I broke that motherfucking gate down.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  MELANIE

  I had never seen him weakened before, so it was freakish to hear heavy breathing coming from Master, along with the constant downpour of blood from his eye socket. The blade was still jammed inside of his eyeball when he grabbed me by the upper arm and dragged me through the snow and toward his castle. Dana had done this to him…for me. But I couldn’t feel gratitude or happiness over her act of courage, because she wasn’t here. She was somewhere, out of my line of sight, knocked out and hurt. I agonized over it.

  Please be alive, I thought. Please, please be alive.

  Poor Cora was screaming, and I knew I had to do something to protect her from them. I saw what Veronica and Molly were like when they had their sights set on feasting and getting a kill, and that’s a fate no one deserved, especially not someone like Cora. I wiggled my arm free from Master’s weak, slippery grasp, and I leaped toward him with my fangs out. I was immediately knocked on my ass by Molly. “I don’t think so, you stupid bitch,” she hissed as she pressed the heel of her shoe against my chest, keeping me pinned to the cold ground. She had a hold of Cora by the wrist, and Cora was in agony over how tightly she was hanging onto her.