Bound to the Moon

by Kristy Centeno

  Bound to the Moon

  Secrets of the Moon Saga

  Kristy Centeno

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Bound to the Moon (Secrets of the Moon Series, #2)

  Dedication | To my five little miracles... | Your presence makes each day worth any struggle.

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Other books in the Secrets of the Moon Saga...

  One important night from Kyran’s point of view...

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, places, or events is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property and reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher. In such case the author has not received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  Bound to the Moon

  Copyright © 2014 Kristy Centeno

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: (ebook) 978-1-939590-39-8

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908413

  Inkspell Publishing

  5764 Woodbine Ave.

  Pinckney, MI 48169

  Edited By Melissa Keir.

  Cover art By Najla Qamber

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The copying, scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions, and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Dedication

  To my five little miracles...

  Your presence makes each day worth any struggle.

  Chapter One

  There’s a clearing up ahead and I know our target is heading right for it. He intends to get away but I don’t plan on letting that happen. He’s my only chance to get answers and if he escapes my opportunity will vanish with him. I pick up my pace, rushing forward, using momentum to catch up with his preternatural speed.

  He’s fast, but I’m faster. Relying on my sense of hearing, I haven’t detected any threats but another might show up. Betas don’t usually travel alone. This one is running scared and he’s already called for backup—twice.

  I run faster, keeping my target within eyesight. He’s pushing himself. His stamina is winding down and he’s growing tired, while I haven’t broken a sweat. He’s bound to become exhausted way before me. Then his options will be limited. Chances are he’ll either give up and surrender easily or turn around and fight.

  I’m excitedly waiting to see which one he’ll pick.

  He jumps over a fallen tree and pushes forward. I follow. He’s not getting away. I’m going to catch him before he can make it to the clearing and he knows it. Movement to my left alerts me to a presence. I sniff the air, trying to determine if the invader is friend or foe. The familiar scent identifies the newcomer as my older brother, Gage.

  Alexis, Gage, and I split up a while back. We’d been tracking two individuals we suspected of belonging to the invading alpha’s pack. They caught whiff of us before we could surprise them and bolted, each running in different directions. We had no choice but to separate. Alexis had gone after a second beta, and Gage, had run off to see if he could locate the beta’s hideout.

  Gage’s return tells me he’s been unsuccessful. I shouldn’t be surprised. The betas have proven to be far stealthier and smarter than we’d anticipated. I know from experience betas—especially those having been born human—rarely have the capacity to outwit direct descendants of alpha blood but these, I suspect, are working under the command of the alpha we have been looking for.

  Kyran, we have to stop him before he gets to the clearing. I can hear Gage’s voice in my head. I know what I have to do so I don’t respond. There’s no need to. My lips open and a growl escapes from deep within my chest, shattering the silence of the woodlands surrounding us.

  Our target flusters and stumbles, giving me the perfect opportunity to catch up. I pick up speed and rush forward, concentrating on reaching the frightened wolf ahead of me. My feet hit the ground hard, disturbing the soil, picking up pebbles as I run by trees. I see only blurry objects. My eyes are focused, centered on the man running ahead of me.

  Determination fuels every step I take. Finally, I’m close enough to bound forward and jump on my opponent, forcing him to nose-dive right into the ground. He lands with a humph, crying out when I flip him over using brute strength. His eyes show panic as he looks up at me. I’m stronger. He’s looking death in the face and he’s well aware of it. I can finish him off easily—with just one swipe of my paw.

  My canines extend automatically. I make sure he can see my silver eyes glowing. “Who is he? What does he want with Marjorie?” I growl.

  Gage stops besides me. He’s only here to keep me in check, but for once I wish he was far enough away to not be able to stop me if I get carried away. Marjorie’s life is at stake and I’m pissed. Because of a power hungry alpha, she’s in the hospital, recovering from wounds she received at the hands of the alpha’s lackey, Santos and his followers. I know the alpha’s after her and I aim to stop him from hurting her more than she’s been already.

  “Talk! Now!” I practically snarl out each word. I’m holding on to my remaining patience by sheer will, but my control is slipping. I’m bordering on desperation. Time is of the essence. The full moon is but a few weeks away and we know that’s when the alpha plans to strike.

  The beta tries to talk, but I realize my hand on his throat is stopping him from speaking so I loosen my grip. The man coughs, trying to let in some air. His face slowly regains its normal pale color. Moments before it was red and puffy.

  “I...don’t...know,” he chokes out. “The alpha doesn’t say what his plans are. And we know better than to question him. We only follow orders.” His big, brown eyes stare up at me in horror. “Please. I never wanted to be this beast. I’m just his lapdog. I...can’t say anything. He’ll kill me if I do.”

  I look up at Gage as we exchange worried looks. The alpha’s presence in the area isn’t a coincidence. He’s here for one purpose...Marjorie.

  “Tell us,” Gage demands in a less threatening tone, playing good cop. “Who is he? What name does he go by?”

  The man’s eyes dart from Gage to me. “I...am not sure.”

  “You’re lying.” My fingers close around his neck, tightening dangerously. “You belong to his pack therefore you must know his name.”

  The beta claws at my hand, trying desperately to unlatch my grip.

  “Kyran, stop!” Gage commands. “We need him alive.”

  I loosen my grip and release him. “He’s lying, Gage.” My face comes within an inch of my older brother’s. He doesn’t even flinch. He knows me and recognizes that my anger isn’t directed at him. But my anger can’t be directed to where it really belongs. I need to keep my hands free of blood.

  My promise to my parents has already been broken. I took a life. I took Santo’s life. And although my family will argue I did it to save Marjorie, it doesn’t change the fact that I killed someone.

  “If he knows who this invader is, the only way we are going to find out is by making sure he’s still breathing.”

  My nostrils flare as I stare into
my brother’s eyes. I want to hit something. Anything. My anger is threatening to get the best of me and I can feel it rising like a bad fever.

  “Since when do we let possible witnesses go?” Alexis asks.

  I turned and find that our prisoner has indeed taken advantage of our momentary argument and hightailed it out of the area.

  “Damn it!” I start after him but Gage grabs hold of my arm and pulls me back. “What are you doing?” I snatch my arm back, gawking up at my brother in disbelief. “He’s getting away.” I turn my attention back to the beta only to see him make it to the clearing and hit the road, scurrying away with each breath we take. “Look what you did!”

  “There’s no use in going after him. His backup has arrived,” Gage says.

  The wind blows in our direction and I pick up the scent of at least ten wolves. We’re outnumbered three to one. Even though this is a fight we can win, I know my brothers will likely try to avoid a battle from ensuing.

  “He. Got. Away.” I practically hiss, holding on to what little patience I have left.

  “He’ll be back,” Gage says, unfazed by my anger.

  The rage boiling inside of me blinds me and I lash out by punching a hole right through the trunk of the tree to my left. Two of my fingers fracture instantly and even though I can’t feel much pain now, I know they’ll hurt like hell later.

  “Was that really necessary?” Alexis turns toward me and frowns.

  “Better the tree than your face,” I snap, irritated.

  “Let’s move.” Gage is no longer looking at me but out in the distance. “They’re hesitating but if we stay, they’ll come in this direction.”

  “Let them come,” I say, opening and closing my two broken fingers to alleviate some of the dull pounding I can feel emanating from the bones.

  “Marquis wants no more bloodshed. Our mission was to try to locate the hideout. We couldn’t so we must head back.”

  Marquis, the alpha of our pack and my oldest brother, is always so sensible. He prefers to make peace and avoid fighting for as long as he’s able to. What he fails to realize is that eventually, we are going to have to set peaceful thoughts and good intentions aside and use every battle move we know to shelter the one we came here to find and protect.

  “Gage is right. Let’s live to fight another day.”

  I spare a glance in my twin’s direction, wondering how we can be physically identical yet think so differently. He’s a more immature, annoying version of me.

  “Fine.” I grit my teeth. I can argue all I want but my brothers are determined not to waste stamina on the approaching betas.

  Gage turns to leave first. Alexis and I follow. We take no more than three steps when a series of loud yaps erupt from the adjacent woods about fifty yards away. To normal, human ears, they sound like a normal pack of wolves roaming the woods. To us, the threat is as clear as day.

  We’re being warned to stay away. To keep from ruining the alpha’s plans.

  I turn, furious at being warned away. Lately, my patience has been short. Today, I have none at all.

  “That’s exactly what they want, Kyran,” Alexis reasons. “They want you to give them an excuse to fight. They’ve been given orders to leave us alone. While I don’t understand the reason, if you go over there it will be an open invitation.”

  Alexis is right, but I’m too pissed off to care.

  “They know who is after Marjorie,” I argue.

  Gage saunters over and looks down at me. “The alpha can’t hide forever. We will find out who he is before he gets to Marjorie.” I’m tall, roughly around six-foot-one, but Gage is even taller. And bulkier—about sixty pounds heavier than Alexis and me.

  “What if we don’t?” I look up at my brother, staring into his blue eyes with an uncertainty I feel deep down in my gut. Time should be on our side but every day that passes only reminds me I have one day less to figure out how to save Marjorie.

  “We will,” Gage says with a confidence that should’ve brought me some piece of mind but it only makes me feel helpless. I swore I’d protect Marjorie before and I almost didn’t make it on time. What if next time I get there a moment too late? Or never arrive?

  “Let’s get back home.” Alexis flips off the betas, lifting his hands up high so they can see his gesture even from far away. Judging by the angry snarls that travel back to my sensitive ears it’s easy to assume they find his actions less than amusing.

  I’m a chaotic mess of emotions, but at times like these, when Alexis acts like a total airhead, I can’t help but smile. If only slightly.

  Alexis laughs and says, “Right back at ya.”

  I’m not really paying attention but I think I make out one of the betas calling Alexis an asshole.

  “Enough.” Gage smacks Alexis upside the head. “Idiot. Get moving.”

  The corners of my mouth curve up into a half smile.

  I follow Gage, trudging through the trees still abundant with greenish brown leaves, and leave the area. It will be winter soon. I’m not looking forward to the climate changes. Werewolves tend to move a lot during this time of year, searching, prodding, getting into trouble. The ones already in the area—the man-eaters have caused enough problems.

  They have killed, maimed cattle, and recruited weak humans as betas so they can keep us running around, cleaning up their mess. They’re distracting us and its working to their advantage. There’s only so much we can do with our pack numbering six and they know it. We may be stronger, but they far outnumber us and that’s their number one weapon.

  We can’t be at two places at once. I only wish we could because at this rate we’re bound to lose. Inevitably, they’ll figure out how to get us far enough away from Marjorie, preventing us from protecting her long enough for them to take her and then...I don’t know what I’ll do if that happens.

  I don’t even want to think about it.

  An image invades my mind—a bleeding, broken Marjorie lying on the ground, unconscious—and I involuntarily flinch. It’s not an image I remember seeing, but one Alexis has unknowingly shared with me. He saw her, went to her when I was too weak to help so he knew exactly what she looked like that night.

  Now I know too.

  “Damn it, Alexis!” I stop and bawl my fists at my sides.

  “Sorry.” Alexis looks at me and runs one hand over his long hair. “I was just thinking about—”

  “I know what you were thinking. Just...keep it out of my head.”

  “I didn’t mean to—”

  I take off running. I run because seeing her broken, bleeding body in such a rough condition makes me wish I could bring Santos back to life just so I can kill him a second time. Slowly, painfully.

  What if one day I’m responsible for inflicting that kind of damage on her? It’s crossed my mind often in the past few days. I’m conscious of my condition more now than I ever was. It scares me to death to know I’m like them.

  I must live with my curse. There’s nothing I can do to change my DNA. Ever since I met her, though, I wish my defect was nonexistent. With it, I am as much of a threat to her as the alpha hunting her down. There’s little I can do to protect her when I’m in the cellar, locked away like some wild animal anytime my inner man-eater gets out of control.

  There’s so much I wish I could change.

  I let out my frustration by running, pushing my limits as much as I can. It’s refreshing, feeling the wind on my face, being able to enjoy what every other werewolf probably takes for granted. Rushing through the woodlands, using my preternatural speed as an advantage, is one of the little things I still enjoy. It gives me the illusion of being free.

  Free of defects. Free to love.

  It’s only an illusion. I can’t hide from what I am. Only pretend I’m different—even if it’s only for a few meager minutes. I will never be normal.

  Unlike the rest of my family, I was born with the werewolf curse. Something so common in the old days quickly became an abomination as the years
progressed. More werewolves carried the genetic imprint of the curse. A curse which saw humans as a food source, not as friends and family. Fewer are cursed these days, but they’re still out there. The numbers not as elevated as they once were, but are still significant enough to pose a problem among human society.

  With modern technology, accounting for missing humans gets harder and harder every time. And hungry wolves aren’t very careful or sufficiently conscious to remember their human side.

  Me...I’m one of them. A man-eater. It runs in every werewolf family’s DNA. One out of every fifteenth child born in the same bloodline will inevitably inherit this trait.

  I’m the first Rousseau to have been born with this defect in over a hundred years. It turned me into a freak. Werewolf families this day and age have a hard time procreating. Both my parents were the only children born to their parents. The fact that they had so many children, two twin pregnancies, was an abnormality within the werewolf world.

  Inevitably, one of us is likely to pass down the gene to one of our offspring—if we’re ever lucky enough to have the opportunity to find a mate, settle down, and have babies. I don’t have to be an expert to know that out of the five Rousseau’s; I’m the one with the highest chances of passing down the trait. Which is why I decided, long ago when I was old enough to understand what made me so different, that I’d never have children.

  I never wanted to mate either, but my desire changed the second I met Marjorie. Everything transformed the moment I met her. She gave my life meaning all of a sudden. But she’s not for me. I know that. I’m not right for her. Not because she’s human and I’m a werewolf. Normally, that would be the only issue we’d have to deal with. It’s not that way with her. She loves me regardless. The real issue is me. I’m just as likely to love her as I am to kill her.

  She’s well aware of that fact, but she has faith in me. I am also well aware of what I’m capable of, but I’m not gullible. I have a hard time controlling myself around her and my limits are tested.

  I don’t want to hurt the only good thing that has happened to me in a long time.