Shadow Moon

by Gaja J. Kos

But there were a whole lot of juicy things I was feeling.

  Linus threw me on the bed the instant the lock clicked behind him, my ass bouncing on the mattress and giving my breasts a perky shake. Without hesitation, Linus bunched his fingers in his shirt and literally ripped it off, then tugged down his pants before liberating me from mine.

  Neither of us seemed too keen about taking it slow.

  Or gentle.

  A low growl trickled from his sin-worthy full lips as his gaze raked down my naked form like I were something to be devoured. I would have chided him for ogling so bluntly—if I wasn’t doing the exact same thing.

  Shit, he looked even better now than he had when we were dating. And despite the slight bitterness that still coiled somewhere inside my body, I was glad to find him a changed man. The reason behind it was irrelevant. Linus seemed confident in his new skin—not cocky, just…confident. Like some invisible bond had snapped and the pretense had fallen away.

  And I was so, so grateful it had.

  Our scents revealed more than words ever could when we’d met down at the party and sent us rushing towards the northern side of the compound mere seconds later.

  I barely had enough time to wink at Alec who’d been pressed up against the wall with the stunning physician. Just the briefest of contact to let him know I was all right before Linus took over my senses. All of them. He’d slanted his mouth over mine, his hands roaming across my body not in a caring exploration, but an eagerness that couldn’t be sated. Couldn’t be stopped.

  This small reprieve, with him towering above and me spread on the sheets beneath, was the only one we got so far. But with the growing hunger turning his blue gaze dark—by the tightness growing between my thighs—I knew it wasn’t going to last all that much longer.

  For a moment, we went perfectly still, drinking in each other’s bodies and tasting the sex that rode the air. The next Linus was upon me, in me, his thickness filling me again and again in rapid thrusts until I was screaming his name.

  Contrary to my beliefs, waking up next to Linus wasn’t all that uncomfortable.

  There was an air of easiness surrounding him. No demands. No expectations. Just the satisfaction of spending the night doing something both parties wanted, without any hidden agendas lurking beneath. It was all I could ask for, really.

  He pulled me into his arms, nestling my back against his front until I felt the distinct press of his erection against my butt.

  Excitement swirled through me, and I let out a husky chuckle. “Not that I mind, but I do need to use the bathroom first, you know.”

  Linus, the bastard, slipped a hand between my thighs. I pressed them together and tried to squirm out of the playful cage his embrace had become—which only made me rub against the thick length of him harder. I gasped, lust stirring deep inside my core and spreading through my veins, burning hotter as those sneaky fingers of his dipped into my folds, tasting just how treacherously wet I was for him.

  “I want to be inside you, Lotte,” he whispered into my neck, scattering any and all thoughts until only the unbearable need remained.

  I lifted my hips, just enough to brush up against him with the silken heat blooming between my thighs, and then Linus was inside me, his arms keeping me pressed close to him as he surged, burying himself as deeply as he could. My muscles clenched around his thick steel, my nipples tight with raw pleasure. He rolled one between his fingers, then the other, an utterly male growl rising in his chest at my response.

  He teased me. Played me. Taking his time to bring me to the edge just to retreat again.

  I ground against him in a silent plea, and Linus started to move, his hips finding a steady, but merciless rhythm. Each new thrust made me groan, my orgasm growing to that delicious point where it flirted with pain. I writhed, but Linus’s arms held me tight, the flex of his muscles riddled with such masculine, unyielding demand that I barely kept myself from unraveling completely.

  With a growl, he flipped me on my stomach, then mounted me from behind.

  Faintly, I heard the rip of sheets, and it wasn’t until I opened my eyes that I realized it was me clawing at them. I twisted my fingers into the fabric, the only tether I still had to this world as Linus pushed himself inside me, again and again, the way we were locked together only increasing that damning, brilliant friction.

  His cock was mind-blowingly thick, straining at my walls and teasing the swollen folds until I couldn’t hold on any longer. I cried out.

  Linus followed, spilling inside me with one last, fucking amazing quiver that reverberated through my very flesh.

  For a few moments, all we did was gulp down some much needed air. Then, Linus pressed a chaste kiss against my back, and pulled out. I let out another gasp—one he caught with his lips as he spun me around, claiming my mouth. I bathed in his warmth, kissing him until my head started spinning again.

  With a laugh, I pushed him away.

  His body tangled with the scattered sheets, and I couldn’t help but grin as my gaze skimmed his honed form before coming to rest on his face.

  His smug face.

  I rolled my eyes and chuckled, then stabbed a finger in his chest. “I’m so paying you back for this once I hobble back out of the bathroom.”

  Mercifully, there was no true hobbling involved. Although I definitely was sore from the several rounds we’d gone through during the night.

  Once again, I was more than grateful for the tradition of giving the competitors a day off to chase away their hangovers. Or sexovers. Playing in this state would have been a bitch.

  I took my time under the shower, stealing a bit of Linus’s shampoo to wash my hair and left it lying damp across my naked back once I finally climbed out. The droplets cooled my heated skin, sending little goose bumps dancing down my limbs and—I smiled—peaking my breasts.

  Not a bad side effect at all.

  I checked myself in the mirror dominating the wall above the sink, and grinned.

  Linus wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Quickly, I rummaged through the cabinet tucked behind the mirror all rooms at the Zentrum were equipped with, but couldn’t find any breath mints. Damn it. I whirled around the bathroom, debating using my finger and a bit of toothpaste to scrub my teeth and rid myself of the lingering traces of champagne and sleep, when I spotted a small cosmetics bag, its contents visible through the open zipper.

  I knew it.

  With his reputation, I just knew he’d have some mints lying around. It was just plain bad form to practice one-night stands without them.

  I opened the small metal can and plucked one between my fingers. The minty scent tickled my nostrils, but underneath—

  Motherfucker.

  13

  How long?” I roared as I exploded from the bathroom, taking the door right off its hinges.

  It clattered onto the ground, but I was already moving past it, backing Linus against the wall before he could catch on to what was happening. Fury rolled red-hot through my mind as I pinned him with my forearm across his collarbone, his muscles tensing under my touch.

  I shoved the metal container in his face with my free hand. “How long have you been dealing, you asshole?”

  He head-butted me. The bastard head-butted me.

  Pain flashed through my skull, although I counted myself lucky our difference in height made him miss my nose.

  Still, the shock of it caused the drug-filled container to slip from my hand. I felt more than saw it skid across the floor and towards the bathroom, but mercifully the bloody lid stayed on.

  Shaking off the pain, I growled, then threw myself after Linus when he tried to slip from my grasp. My fingernails scraped his skin, grappling for purchase before I sank them deep enough to keep the fucker from getting away.

  With a kick to the back of his knee, I tackled him down on the ground, straddling him as I rode the fall. His elbow collided with my face the instant my fist slammed into his ribs.

  Tears welled in my eyes, fu
cking up my vision, but I managed to curl my fingers into his hair and smash his head against the laminate.

  The distinct crunch of his nose sliced through our heavy breaths, followed by a pained howl. But even before the sound died down, Linus bucked, throwing me aside.

  The coppery tang of blood tainted the air, as well as the scent of anger. I rolled away, narrowly evading his fist. Linus was on his feet just a tenth of a second before me, and it was enough for him to gain the upper hand.

  I blocked his first attack, missed the second. Only instead of recoiling, I went against all instincts and moved in.

  I came down hard on his instep, then quickly jabbed at his chin. Snarls bounced off the walls as we exchanged blow for blow, an endless roller-coaster of gaining and losing advantage.

  Fuck, he was strong.

  My nose was bleeding viciously, as was my brow, and the unpleasant tingling of bruises down my side made it difficult to breathe. But even as crimson overtook my vision, even as I sucked in each agonizing lungful of air, I didn’t stop.

  Fury unlike anything I’d ever felt coated my mind in a red haze, numbing the pain.

  I punched and kicked him, slicing his skin open with my nails while trying to hold my defenses at the same time.

  At some point, I landed on my ass with him on all fours a couple of feet away. Losing no time, Linus lashed out at me with his foot, but I regained my senses just fast enough to process the movement. I caught his ankle and wrung it around. Hard.

  He screamed out, a howl that had me wincing involuntarily, though it failed to throw me off. I used the moment to pounce on him, smashed my fist right into his fucking face, then cracked his head against the ground for good measure.

  Not a killing blow—not for a were, at least—but it did knock him out cold.

  Panting, I scrambled up and reached for the bed. Every part of my body hurt to the point of making me swear, and I was faintly aware of the droplets of blood I was leaving in my wake. But as much as I wanted to lie down and curl up in a little ball, my job wasn’t done.

  I tore up the sheets into straps, then bound Linus’s hands and feet before attaching them to the radiator beneath the window. The fabric wouldn’t hold him, but it would buy me those precious seconds to react in case he came to while I wasn’t watching him like a hawk.

  Once Linus was a neatly wrapped package of lying filth, I scrambled over to my clothes and pulled out my cell.

  “Yes?” the familiar smooth voice answered.

  “Isa, it’s Lotte. I’m in room 217b in the Zentrum. I found a bastard in possession of what I suspect is Nill.”

  Her brief silence spoke volumes. “Don’t move until I get there.”

  Mercifully, nobody had stolen my shirt from where I’d left it yesterday in the hallway. I pulled it on, along with the rest of my clothes while I waited for Isa to arrive, then allowed myself a brief trip to the bathroom to wash away the crusted blood.

  I sighed in relief as my skin breathed freely, and returned to monitor Linus’s unconscious form. He’d shown signs of waking once, but a quick smack over the head remedied it.

  The bastard didn’t stir again.

  A brief, hard knock on the door was all the warning I got before Isa burst into the room, two ICRA agents fast on her heels. Her sharp green eyes took in the room, almost imperceptibly lingering on Linus’s nakedness and my own crumpled appearance, which must have seemed even worse compared to how crisp she looked.

  I presumed she hadn’t been fighting her ass off this morning, although given how she narrowed her gaze at me, it was fair to assume she wasn’t about to cut me any slack.

  “Needed a little variety, Ms. Freundenberger?” she asked, her voice ice-cold.

  The two agents lifted Linus up and dragged him unceremoniously out of the room, leaving us alone. I got the distinct feeling there was more than just an unconscious piece of shit driving them away.

  “I know morals don’t rank particularly on your list, but having sex with a dealer?”

  I snorted. “For fuck’s sake, are we really having this conversation? I don’t recall you prohibiting me from sleeping with suspects…”

  “Was he a suspect?” Her gaze flashed to the stripped bed, then back to me. “Have you spent the night searching for evidence? No, I believe you had your hands full with something else.”

  Briefly, guilt rushed through me. Not because I had sex with Linus, but because I did it while I should have been downstairs, keeping an eye on things.

  Still, regardless of whether I’d let my needs get the better of me or not, she couldn’t contest the result.

  “What’s your problem?” I snapped, then tossed her the metal container without warning.

  Of course Isa snatched it in her infuriatingly graceful way, seemingly unruffled. By this, at least.

  “I made progress on the case, didn’t I? Does it really matter how I got here?”

  “It’s distasteful.” There was a hint of something ancient in her voice, reminding me that this vamp had been here for a long, long time.

  Gods damned old people.

  She arched a shapely eyebrow. “Do you intend to fuck everyone in the tournament?”

  “Just those who are willing.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

  Isa shot me a murderous glare. I winced inwardly, but my anger kept it from showing on my face.

  “Look,” I said, leaning against the wall—more for support than an easy display. “If you don’t like casual sex, that’s your choice, and I respect it. But it doesn’t give you the right to slut-shame others because of it.”

  “I believe I was merely looking at things at face value.” Her expression told me clearly what she thought my face value was.

  A growl trickled from my lips. “You know what, Agent Vogt? Fuck you.” I exploded off the wall and pushed past her, rushing towards the door. I might have agreed to work for her, but I certainly didn’t have to listen to this bullshit.

  My sex life was my own, and I’d be damned if I let her walk all over me just because I didn’t abide by her fucking standards.

  I was almost at the threshold when her voice snaked around me like a poisonous vine.

  “You would, wouldn’t you? Fuck me?” Isa’s gaze burned into my back, those last two words lingering in the air until I could taste them on my tongue. It took every ounce of my will not to turn around, not to see the heat I knew I’d find there.

  “Sorry, love,” I said calmly. “I don’t tangle with judgmental fucks.”

  The sound of the door shutting in her face behind me was the best thing I’d heard in a while.

  My mood was positively foul when I dragged my ass back to my office. I’d walked by several other ICRA officers milling around the ground floor despite sticking to the less populated passages, and was more than eager to escape their presence. The thought of a certain somebody they stirred wasn’t one I cared to have.

  Not that it made a difference…

  What the fuck was Isa thinking? If I didn’t know better, I’d say that had been one nasty bout of jealousy. But aside from the whispers of not entirely unpleasant tension that had slipped between us from time to time, she hadn’t shown any interest in me. Not sexual, at least.

  I rubbed my hands across my face, letting out a sound that was disturbingly more dying walrus than werewolf.

  The worst part of all this shit was that she was right. I did want her. Despite the threats, despite the attitude, there was just something about her that…sparked.

  Gods. Maybe something was wrong with me. Not in the way she had clearly meant it, but…

  Alec appeared on my threshold just as I threw myself down in my chair.

  “Please tell me the only reason I’m not smelling coffee right now is because it’s magically warded.”

  I desperately needed a healthy dose. Or several. But my grumbling plea went unanswered.

  I looked up to see that Alec was still standing by the door. His sun-kissed brown hai
r was jutting in every possible direction and, like me, he was still wearing yesterday’s clothes. But the look on his face wasn’t one of a night well spent.

  My blood froze in my veins.

  “What’s wrong?” I shot up and nearly upended the desk. “Alec? What happened?”

  He cupped my face with a cold, sweaty hand, small tremors reverberating across my skin. There was a faint sheen of silver lining his eyes, and before I could ask again, he wrapped his arms around me, smothering me in a tight embrace.

  “I’m so sorry, Lotte.”

  The question lodged in my throat.

  I felt his distraught agony clearly, heavy ropes of it wrapping around me until I was pinned to the spot and struggling for every breath.

  “Alec…” I rasped.

  “It’s Rosalie.” He let me go just enough for our gazes to meet. “Her coach found her this morning…”

  My stomach dropped. I didn’t want to hear more. Didn’t want to know…

  “She’s dead, Lotte. Rosalie’s dead.”

  14

  It felt like someone pulled the floor from under my feet. Rosalie…

  Oh, gods.

  My stomach churned, but I didn’t even have it in me to throw up.

  Rosalie’s face filled my vision. Her mischievous carefree smiles. The way we seemed to fit together—friends despite the odds. The long talks to pass the time at airports. Sneaking into each other’s rooms after a difficult day to vent to someone who understood all too well how stressful our job could be.

  I wanted to cling to those moments, scoop them up in my arms—

  But my fingers passed right through them, scattering the flimsy mist.

  Everything seemed so far away. Like I was stuck in a void. Falling.

  All of a sudden, reality slammed into me, and I half expected to be sprawled across the floor, given how weak my knees were.

  Then I realized it was Alec’s hands that kept me upright. Kept me from shattering completely.

  I shook my head to clear the daze, my mouth paper dry. “I need to call Isa.”