Over the Moon (Gemini Book 6)

by Hailey Edwards

  Isaac dropped the kill at my feet, as any good mate would, and shifted in the time it took me to flick open the blade. “You’re tired and hungry.” He sat beside me. “You need more than this, but they got smart after I took the fourth one down.”

  “Outsmarted by cottontails.” I tsked at him. “What would Cam say?”

  “That I’m not a real wolf, and I ought to leave the bunny catching to the pros.”

  “You’re right. She would.” I leaned over and kissed him soundly. “You caught, I’ll clean.”

  “I’m glad you volunteered.” Tension melted from his shoulders. “I’m not sure I could stomach skinning them.”

  “Sentimental?” We’d met a púca in Faerie who preferred the form of a black rabbit to his others, but these were a mottled brown. “Thinking about our buddy Leon?”

  “After he almost got us killed?” He tugged the single-burner stove he’d hauled with us into Faerie from his pack. “I have no trouble eating them, I just don’t want to ruin my tough hunter-gatherer image by tossing my cookies.”

  “I didn’t know you brought that.” Truthfully, I hadn’t given it a second thought since Faerie.

  “Your wolf has a cast-iron stomach,” he countered. “I figure Tiberius would appreciate the ability to cook our food as much as I do.”

  The smell of cooking meat would act as a lure for predators, but the blood would do that anyway. And if we let them get that close, then all of us deserved what we got. Between the three of us, there was no reason for our camp not to be secure during the few hours of downtime we could steal.

  While I did the dirty work, Isaac warmed the stove I had learned was solar powered, and Tiberius set to treating the water. I plated dinner in record time, and we all ate a bland, if filling, meal that tipped us over into snuggle-and-snore territory.

  “I’ll take the first watch,” Tiberius volunteered. “I want to keep an eye out for Bea.”

  Depending on the news she brought, we might be losing our third wheel. That made whatever sleep Isaac and I could squeeze in between now and her arrival all the more precious. “Wake me in four hours, okay? Sooner if you get tired.”

  “I will.”

  Motion at the corner of my eye drew my attention to Isaac as he attempted to signal for Tiberius to wake him instead.

  “Bug.” Isaac swatted the air. “Big one. Maybe a horsefly.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” I stretched out on the pine needles. “You sure you’re not furry on the inside? You’d give any male warg a run for his money in the overprotective category.”

  “Fae are just as territorial.” He lay down beside me, curving his arm over my hip and hauling me flush against him until he spooned me. “I want to take care of you. I need to. Cut the newly mated guy some slack.”

  I understood the urge to claim, to possess better than most. I would humor him for a while longer because it was nice having a partner I trusted with my whole heart, but I would bite him if he kept trying to out alpha me. Isaac wasn’t a dominant in the way my wolf was, and she would only tolerate his overprotectiveness for so long.

  This is what you wanted, I reminded the irritated wolf. Now he’s ours for life.

  Funny how neither of us could work up the energy to complain about that.

  Once Isaac’s breathing leveled off, I did a very mean thing that had me chuckling long before I closed my fingertips over the soft part of his arm and pinched. Isaac yelped and rolled away, shoving up on one elbow to stare down at me.

  “What the hell was that?” he demanded while rubbing his arm.

  “Must be that horsefly again.”

  A dangerous note entered his voice. “Horsefly, huh?”

  “Bzz-bzz,” I agreed solemnly. “I hear their bite hurts like a mother.”

  I bowed off the ground when he sank his teeth into my shoulder, and it wasn’t all pain that had me bucking against him. When my mouth started working again, I threw his question back at him. “What the hell was that?”

  “Wolves nip each other to curb bad behavior.” He stared down at me, his face earnest and open. “I’m just trying to get our mating off on the right paw.”

  The dominance play snapped the thin leash restraining my wolf. I rolled in a fluid motion that brought me over his thighs. I straddled his hips and shoved him down, following his retreat until I closed my teeth over the tender skin of his throat. A warning rumble vibrated my chest as I held him pinned.

  Strong hands gripped my hips and held me still. The confinement irked me enough I tightened my jaw.

  “You win,” he whispered, voice hoarse. “I submit.”

  Pleased with herself, the wolf urged me to lick the sting from his throat. The salt on his skin had me wetting my lips before I trailed a line of stinging kisses across his collarbone.

  “I don’t want your submission.” I sat up as my knees dug into the dirt. “I like that you bite back.”

  Leaves rustled overhead, and I spied midnight eyes peering down at us.

  “We have an audience.” I sighed and rested my forehead on his. “What’s the use in being mated if we don’t get any of the benefits?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” He nuzzled my hair. “I get to spend the rest of my life with you. I’d call that a benefit.”

  Heart melting like the sap I was, I pressed a kiss between his pectorals. “You’re sweet. I think I’ll keep you.”

  “Just try to get rid of me,” he murmured, stroking long fingers down my spine. “Now go to sleep.”

  “I can’t stay like this.” I tried to sit up, but he hauled me back flush with him. “I’m too heavy. I’ll suffocate you.”

  “Move, and I will bite you again.”

  I spent too long recalling the delicious sting of his teeth and ended up falling asleep to the sound of his breath at my ear.

  Chapter 3

  I woke sneezing and spitting out feathers. Not for the first time, mind you, but the rumble in my stomach informed me I hadn’t gone on a chicken murder spree the night before. “Whmph?” I reached up to pull fluff out of my mouth and caught a thick, feathered wrist in my hand. “Tibs?”

  Tension ratcheted through my spine until I spotted Isaac crouched in the grass beside me.

  Slowly, Tibs lowered his wing, which did nothing to help my sudden KFC craving, and gestured between two large trees. Faint blue lights glittered and danced as though whirling on a gentle breeze. But there was no wind. The air was still but for our breaths, which meant one thing.

  Fae.

  I was a little slow on the uptake since I’d just woken, but I thumbed through my mental files on all the fae types I’d been studying prior to my incarceration and came up with a likely candidate.

  Will-o'-the-wisp.

  They appeared as small orbs of light and led travelers off safe paths and to their doom.

  “We need to get out of here,” Isaac whispered. “Load up your pack. We’ll shift elsewhere.”

  The flickering light kept drawing my eye until Tibs placed himself between me and the phenomenon. Sheepish at being ensnared so easily, I ducked my head and stuffed my bag before slinging it over my shoulders.

  We walked in silence for a while, admiring the almost tropical sunrise, until we reached the pro shop and sat on one of the benches outside the glass display window showcasing lots of polos, plaids and other golf paraphernalia.

  “Well, that was an adventure.” I rubbed my arms to soothe their prickling. “How much trouble are wisps?”

  Isaac didn’t answer, and he didn’t look surprised I’d guessed at what had hunted us. Tibs wasn’t as circumspect. His forehead creased while he rolled the answer around in his head.

  “They’re not dangerous at all if you don’t look at them.” His gaze lingered on the woods where we had slept. “The trouble with wisps is what you see is rarely what you get. There are some wild herds who delight in general mischief, but other fae tame them and use them as bait to lure the unwary.”

  “You think someone set a trap for us?” I stu
died him. “That was fast.”

  “I am a prince,” he reminded me.

  A prince with a power-hungry aunt eager to sink her claws back into him. That didn’t take into consideration the myriad other enemies who each wanted a bite out of one or all of us.

  I massaged my temples. “What are the odds this is Rilla’s doing?”

  Dragging the prince along with us might keep Rook safe, for now, but if she had put a price on Tibs’s head, then we had problems. We were headed in the opposite direction from our allies, and we were traveling blind. We had no idea how large of an area the magic surge had affected. There might not be any tech running from here to the prison, and that meant we had no means of checking in with the pack or calling for help if things got dicey.

  We were on our own, and for a pack animal, the notion terrified me a teeny bit.

  I was a beta and not an alpha for a reason.

  “Word would have spread by now.” Isaac sat beside me and rubbed my back. “We made a splash leaving Faerie. Too many people saw us for Rilla to silence them all.”

  “Great.” I leaned against him. “We might have freelancers on our trail too.”

  Bounty hunters who would just as soon deliver Tiberius to his aunt—or his parents—whole as they would deliver his severed head in a bag to one of the other sidhe vying for the throne of Faerie.

  “Any idea when Bea will arrive?” News on that front would go a long way toward soothing my snarly wolf.

  “I can sense she’s near, but not an exact location.” Tibs clacked his talons together. “I expect she will have caught up to us by the time we make camp tonight.”

  The desire to drag my feet until Bea reappeared evaporated when I glimpsed the solemn mask Isaac wore. He must have anticipated the tug-of-war happening in my gut, but I had made a promise to him, and I wasn’t about to break his trust.

  “Hey.” I tapped his cheek with my pointer. “We’re going to break Theo out. He’s going to be okay.”

  Isaac snapped at my finger, and heat rushed through my limbs. “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to wait.”

  “I would blame myself.” I shucked the pack and stuffed my clothes in as best I could. “He stuck out his neck for me. I owe him. I’m not going to leave him hanging.”

  The change shredded me for a good half hour before sewing me back together again. Isaac shifted and licked my muzzle until I could twitch my toes without agony screaming through my joints. When I made it to my feet, Tibs loaded Isaac and me up, and we hit the road as he vanished into a breeze that rustled my fur.

  We made it as far as D'Iberville, Mississippi, before thirst forced us to locate a water source. For a time, we had a clear view of I-10 and all the abandoned cars littering the asphalt. Apparently the blast hadn’t stopped with Alabama. It had rolled southwest too. Just how far west we were about to find out.

  Isaac bumped shoulders with me when my energy level forced me into a slow trot, and we paused long enough to hunt ground squirrels for a power snack. Tibs declined the tiny carcass I dropped at his taloned feet and pulled a bag of pork rinds from his pack to eat instead. As much as I wanted to launch into a speech about how junk food wasn’t real food, I had to settle for growling at him.

  Judging by his slight grin, I was guessing he knew what I wanted to say and was pleased as punch that a wolf mouth couldn’t form the words to scold his dietary choices.

  Really, I ought to let the kid live while he could. Assuming we didn’t all die horribly, he would return to Faerie and pick up the crown one day. This was as free as he had ever been in his life, and I was willing to bet it was the most freedom he would ever taste. It was the sacrifice rulers made, but that didn’t make it suck any less.

  Nightfall found us in Slidell, Louisiana. We might have pushed on had the skies not forked with lightning and a cool wind smelling of rain not ruffled my fur. Bea had returned, and I couldn’t find it in me to budge until I had gotten the full report.

  Tibs landed in front of us, Bea on his arm. She flapped her wings like she wasn’t quite done with the high of flying, but settled when he began stroking her back and uttering soothing nonsense. He’d told us once that a banshee had sung their fates and woven their harmonies. However that worked, it allowed him to gather intel from her while I slunk off into the marsh to start my change.

  Isaac hovered near the edge of the tall grass, protecting me while my body reversed itself and spat out a human-shaped lump of exhaustion a charitable person might call Dell.

  “The changes are taking longer.” Isaac offered me the same panties and tee from the night before. “I made sure you got extra calories today, and you’re still getting weaker.”

  “Faerie is polluting our world too fast.” I dressed and stumbled into his arms. “I hope the others are dealing with this better than I am.”

  “The others have Cam and Graeson to pull them through with help from the pack bond.” He held me while my gut settled. “You’re out here alone.”

  “Not alone.” I pressed a kiss to his frowny lips. “I’ve got you.”

  Prying myself from his embrace, I plodded back to Tiberius and sat on the ground, legs crossed, ready for story time. “Well?”

  “Bea’s understanding of technology in this world is limited, but she claims there were no lights last night.”

  “No electricity?” Isaac’s eyelid twitched. “I wasn’t expecting a miracle within twenty-four hours, but hearing it out loud...”

  “It will take weeks to gather the resources to start rebuilding the power grid if this is countrywide.” Or worse. There was no reason to think it would stop at the US borders. Magic and water didn’t play well together, so there was a chance only North America would be affected. But a surge powerful enough to short-circuit all unprotected tech might have made the issue a global one. “You don’t have to panic yet.”

  His hand trembled when he raked it through his hair, the first sign of withdrawal. “Remember our suicide pact?”

  Only every morning I woke without coffee and the means to brew a steaming mug.

  The day in question I had teased he couldn’t live without the internet, and he had pointed out the odds of me surviving without caffeine weren’t high either. We had jokingly made the pact, but facing a reality without modern conveniences wasn’t so funny now.

  “I’m not going to let you kill yourself.” I patted him on the head. “Think about it. The conclave has known about the rift for months. You don’t think they’ve taken precautions? Consider the fae cities and towns scattered all across the country. Most of their tech is spelled to make it impervious to magic, right? Otherwise it costs too much to maintain. I’m betting more resources survived than you might expect.”

  And humans would soon be paying the price for their shortsightedness.

  “Anyone with power wouldn’t be quick to advertise it,” he agreed, thinking it through.

  “Not unless you want your skull bashed in for your generator, no.”

  While Isaac busied himself clinging to the lifeline I’d tossed him, I turned my attention back to the prince. “What about the pack? The rift? How are things at Stone’s Throw?”

  Tibs scratched Bea under her chin. “Branwen’s forces arrived before the magic surge hit. The wargs are holding their own, but there are too many fae. The pack will be forced to fall back or—”

  “Don’t finish that thought,” I snarled while the possibilities choked me.

  Our family, our home, our future was in that park. The pack wouldn’t give it up without a fight, but if the cost of winning meant sacrificing even a single pack mate…

  “It’s just dirt and trees,” I managed a few minutes later. “We can rebuild. As long as the pack is safe, we can come back from this.”

  “Cam is smart. Graeson is too.” Isaac pulled me into his arms. “They won’t let the others get hurt. They won’t die holding the line. They’ll fall back and regroup, whatever it takes to survive.”

  “How do we fix this?” I tilted
my head back so I could glimpse those eerie double moons hanging in the bruised night sky. “This isn’t a tear we can patch anymore. This is—this is—”

  “Shh.” Isaac pressed a kiss to my temple. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Once I could talk again, I remembered my manners. “How’s Leandra holding up?”

  “The pack witch set a ward around the stone house. It was extinguished in the surge, but it protected the building from damage.”

  “Thank God for Enzo.” Protecting Leandra kept the prince firmly on our side, and if Faerie was here to stay, then we needed that alliance to be as rock solid as the cottage she called home. “I’m glad she’s safe.”

  “Will you return to her?” Isaac asked the question I had been circling. “Or can you spare another day or two?”

  “I would prefer to return.” A click of his tongue sent Bea rocketing into the air. “Your people have the luxury of retreat. Leandra doesn’t have that option.”

  His answer was nothing I hadn’t expected, but the rest of the trip would be harder without our aerial scout.

  “I understand.” I offered him the best smile I had left. “Safe journey to you both.”

  Razor-sharp talons flexed in the earth. “I could leave Bea…”

  “No.” I cleared my throat. “I mean, that’s not necessary. Really. I’m sure she’ll be more comfortable with you.”

  Isaac chuckled softly, and I elbowed him. That bird hated me. She would zap me the second Tibs turned his back and then zip right back to her master.

  “Isaac?” The prince offered his wing. “Would you like blood before I go?”

  “I was hoping you wouldn’t make me ask.” Isaac stood and performed an awkward handshake that resulted in the spur under his right hand’s middle fingernail darting out to draw blood. “We appreciate all your help.”

  I joined them and pulled the prince in for a brief hug. “Be careful out there, kiddo.”

  Tibs stiffened in my arms, and I released him before it got more awkward.

  “I will be.” He brushed the tips of his feathers against my cheek. “You’ve been good to me, to us. I won’t forget.”