Moonlight Wolves Box Set

by Sarah J. Stone

  “But everyone’s okay?” she asked again, needing to make sure that no one was hurt.

  “Everyone’s okay, baby,” Kato whispered, smiling as he played softly with her hair. “You scared me, though. You really scared me.”

  Thea looked up at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about. The letter. Her leaving. Her leaving and not telling him anything. It was almost like the last few days were just a dream, because as she looked into Kato’s eyes, she knew that she didn’t want to be anywhere else but with him.

  “I’m sorry,” she told him, tears filling her eyes as she reached for his hand, clasping it between her two hands. “But I felt like I had to do something. I couldn’t just wait and watch as you gave your life to try to protect me. I wanted to save you.”

  “I’m not mad at you,” Kato told her. “I understand. But I was devastated, thinking that you were gone forever. But now that I’ve had time to think, and now that I have you back in my arms again, I realized why you sacrificed yourself. And that just makes me love you more. You’re the strongest woman I know. I love you, Thea. I always have, and I always will. And I’ll always protect you. I know that at times, especially with the Elders, it seems scary because they’re so different from us, but that doesn’t mean anything. Look what happened today. The whole pack came to support us, to support you. And the Elders came together, knowing that what Gabriel and his Elders were doing was wrong. I’ll always have your back, Thea. We all always will.”

  Thea felt the tears fall from her eyes, and once they started, she couldn’t get them to stop. Kato pulled her gently into his arms, wrapping her up in his warmth and letting her rest her sore head on his steady chest. She wrapped her arms around him, listening to his heart beat as she sniffled and tried to stop crying. But it was like she hadn’t cried in years. She couldn’t stop.

  “I love you,” Thea finally managed to get out. “I never want to be apart from you. Never again.”

  “I won’t let you,” Kato laughed into her hair as he kissed her head gently. She felt her heart bloom from his sweet touch, so she lifted her head up to meet his lips with her own.

  “So, the pack is okay then? With us?” she asked Kato, wondering how they even found out about their relationship so quickly.

  “Yeah, for the most part,” he told her, sighing. “Everyone showed up to support us, but there are a few people who don’t understand it. But just because they don’t understand it, doesn’t mean that they don’t support us. They still showed up, and they still had our back. And they’ll come around. I’m not worried about them.”

  “Has anything else happened since I’ve been asleep?” Thea asked, trying to change the subject even though her heart felt lighter than it had in weeks from the idea that the pack was okay with her being with Kato. She felt almost uncomfortable from their approval, as she didn’t know if she truly deserved it, and she knew that she would start crying again when she remembered how they all showed up to fight for her and Kato.

  “No, everyone’s just been resting and trying to catch their breath for a second,” Kato said. “Michael says that he doesn’t know where Gabriel or the other Elders went, but he’s going to be keeping an eye on the Moonlight Pack, as well as them to make sure that they don’t come back. He doesn’t think they will, though. At least, not anytime soon. Michael just wants to make sure that they don’t cause any trouble anywhere else, either. They’ve never had rogue Elders, so this is new territory for everyone. They’re also worried, because of his Kaiser comment, that he’s going to try to join some pack with other rogues that hate the shifter society and what it’s become as much as him. Of course, all of this is just Michael thinking twenty steps ahead. Nothing’s happened yet, and I hope nothing will. Or if something does, I hope it happens miles and miles away.”

  “Well, let’s hope he stays away,” Thea murmured into Kato’s chest.

  “You know what this means, though, right?”

  “What?” she asked him, looking up to see him smiling down at her.

  “It means, that for this moment, everything is okay.”

  Thea couldn’t help the huge smile that lit up her face.

  Chapter 36

  Britta still felt the fear from last night coursing through her veins. Even when Kaiser had come to town a few weeks prior with his merry band of murderous rogues, she hadn’t felt fear. Even when Kaiser and his pack had killed some of her pack, even as she had watched her friends die, she hadn’t felt fear. Well, not fear like the kind she felt when she looked into the white eyes of Gabriel, the craziest, strongest, evilest being she had ever been in contact with.

  She needed to let her emotions loose, and the only way she could truly do that was to go run. To howl at the moon and dance through the trees. To feel the cold air hit her fur, cooling the heated emotions that were still running through her brain.

  “You heading out?” she heard someone call after her.

  She was currently at the pack bar, where she spent a lot of her time. The pack had gotten together to talk about Kato and Thea, and Britta made sure to yell at the ones that questioned their love at first. Overall, though, everyone was pretty accepting about it, making her proud that Thea would be welcomed into her pack. Britta was going over later that night to make sure that she was okay. She couldn’t explain it. She had a soft spot for the human.

  Britta turned around to see Grant at the bar, leaning on his forearms and staring at her. Grant had recently been taking over more bar duties, something that she found quite annoying. She hated the confidence he carried on his shoulders, and the way he used to swagger around like he owned the place made her want to punch him in the face.

  However, since they had started training together with Kato, he had begun to grow on her. Maybe he wasn’t the biggest dick in the world . . . .

  “I just need some fresh air,” she told him. When he got up to go outside with her, as the bar was now basically empty other than a few drunk shifters in the corner, she didn’t know what to say or do.

  They walked outside together, both of them welcoming the night air, a contrast from the stuffy air in the bar. They walked and sat down on the bar’s front steps, which were connected to a form of a patio, together. Britta welcomed their comfortable silence, not truly knowing what to say to him. They had never really been friends, though she had found herself relying on and trusting him recently because of their training.

  “You’re okay?” Grant asked. Britta looked over at him to find that he was staring at the moon, not looking in her direction. She was amazed that he even asked her. It was so unlike him.

  “I’m okay,” she told him, assuming that he was talking about the incident with Gabriel and the rest of the Elders. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” he responded, and they fell back into that comfortable silence, both of them refusing to look at each other and instead, focusing on the moon and the bright night sky.

  “I’m thinking of continuing to train and hone my skills,” Britta told him, breaking the silence for something to say. It wasn’t a lie, she desperately wanted to be in the best shape possible in case something else came their way. She didn’t like that Gabriel left with his demented Elders, spewing out curses as he left. She knew that there was no way that was the last they had seen of them.

  “Really?” Grant asked, looking over at her for the first time since they sat outside together.

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “If you want, you can train with me like we did with Kato. I don’t know if he’s going to, I haven’t asked him yet, but it would be good for us to become the strongest we can be.”

  Britta couldn’t deny that Grant wasn’t strong. He was, and if he practiced and honed his skills in a battle form, he could be unstoppable.

  “Yeah, that actually sounds good,” he nodded. “We should train at least once a day to get our strength up to where it needs to be.”

  Britta smiled slightly, and they both launched into ways that they could train and get the best results. B
ritta didn’t know why she even asked him to join her, but she was glad that she had a training partner now.

  “I actually came out here to run,” she told him, standing up and looking down at him, the moon reflecting off of his face. “You wanna race?” She winked at him, and the smirk that landed on his face made her take off, shifting immediately to get ahead of him.

  She heard him howl as he raced to catch up, making her laugh in her head as they tore through the forest together.

  To say Gabriel was upset would be an understatement. He was fuming with anger, making it seem like it was dripping from his pores. Four other Elders stood around him, attempting to calm him down with whispers of plans and greatness that was sure to come, but he ignored them.

  He left the room where they all stood, wanting some fresh air from the idiots. They were currently locked up in a castle in France, hiding from Michael and his friends that were out to get them. Gabriel spewed with hate every time he thought of Michael–the no good, idiotic Elder that always seemed to get what he wanted.

  Gabriel paced along the corridors in the castle, taking his hood off so that his bald scalp could get some fresh air. He hated the cape and hood that the Elders were forced to wear because of their disfigured skin. He didn’t care if he attracted the attention of humans or enemies. He would just kill them in the end, wouldn’t he?

  Gabriel paced, thinking of the next move that he would make. He knew that he had to return to Maine. Return to the Moonlight Pack. The level of ignorance and rule-breaking had gone on for too long in that area of Maine, and Gabriel desperately wanted to put them in their place. He wanted Hann Bellova to feel shame over how he had led his pack. He wanted him to pay for the decades of rule-breaking that had gone on in the Moonlight Pack. And now, rumors were swirling that the new alpha, Kato, was taking the human, Thea, as his mate.

  Gabriel scoffed at this. He had longed for Thea for so long, and now that he was denied it, he felt himself almost seeming to go crazy. Gabriel told himself that it would be okay. He didn’t long for Thea’s blood anymore–or not just her blood. No, he wanted everyone’s blood.

  He wanted to destroy the Moonlight Pack from within. He only wished that Kaiser had had a greater impact on them. Kaiser had failed so horribly and miserably, just like his father did all those years ago.

  Gabriel spat just thinking about those days when Hann created a halfie with his human mate. Against all the rules in the book. That child was an abomination. He’d wanted to get rid of it that night, especially when he learned that Hann had killed someone over it. But no, Michael wouldn’t let him. Said that times had changed and that they shouldn’t think like that anymore.

  Maybe, if Gabriel had had his way then, things in that pack would be different now. Maybe Hann would be more respectful now. Maybe Gabriel would have more power now.

  Cursing his bad luck, Gabriel again tried to focus his anger and funnel it into plans. Plans to destroy the Moonlight Pack. Plans to destroy and disrupt the balance that the Elders longed for. Plans to make them all pay for casting him aside as some crazy that lived in the past.

  He would make them all pay. He would make them all realize that he wasn’t someone they could mess with and then toss aside. He was someone to be feared. He was an Elder that would bring destruction to all that came in his way.

  And he would revel in it.

  Chapter 37

  A few weeks later, Kato decided to throw a barbecue at Annie and Thea’s house, which he had basically moved into, for the pack. Kato and Thea wanted to show how much they loved and appreciated the way the pack had welcomed Thea into their society, as well as how honored they were that they showed up on that fateful night in the woods with all the Elders surrounding them.

  Kato, as he was grilling the pile of meat that Hann had brought over, glanced over to see Thea laughing with Annie and Britta as she sat at one of the many tables they had littered over the big backyard. Even though the area where everything almost fell apart wasn’t that far away in the forest, it wasn’t on Kato’s mind. It wasn’t even on Thea’s mind. For the first time in a while, they were able to relax with their friends and family and have fun.

  Kato felt his body relax as he smiled, happy that Thea seemed to be enjoying herself and having fun. It had taken a while for them to get there. She’d had nightmares for about a week after the whole thing happened, and Kato didn’t want to leave her alone at any time of the day. He was scared that she would up and leave again.

  But when Michael came by and reassured her that they were protected, and that she was protected by him and the other Elders, Thea began to relax slightly. Now, she was finally sleeping throughout the night, and her mental stability was slowly growing back to how it used to be.

  Kato and Thea were back where they used to be, as well. They confessed their love and everything to each other, and Thea made Kato promise that if there was ever anything going on in the pack, or if there was ever any danger to her again, he had to tell her. And Kato knew that he would have to. He never wanted to keep her in the dark again.

  Kato also made Thea promise him that she would never leave again in order to try to save everyone else. Or, if she did try, she would at least tell him before. He couldn’t imagine living without Thea, but he thought being blindsided by it was even worse. He at least wanted a goodbye. He wouldn’t make her stay in a relationship if she didn’t want to, though their relationship had begun to move faster since everything had calmed down.

  Hann took over the task of grilling the pounds and pounds of meat that they’d bought to feed the entire pack, letting Kato go over to Thea. As he walked over to the table where she sat, other shifters from the pack clapped him on the back or pulled him over for a quick chat. The news that he was going to be the next alpha when Hann stepped down had gone very well throughout the pack. They accepted Hann’s decision overwhelmingly, making Kato feel proud and honored to be able to lead such an exceptional pack one day. They also took the news of Thea one day being his mate very well. Of course, there were a few that didn’t understand why Kato would choose a human as his mate, but they hadn’t been very vocal yet. He would deal with them when they became defiant or vocal. Britta also made it clear that she would personally deal with anyone that defied their eventual alpha or his eventual mate, making them all shut up.

  Kato admired the way Britta protected Thea from the very beginning. Thea and Britta had formed a bond that surprised everyone–especially Britta and Thea. They considered themselves close friends now, and Kato couldn’t be happier. He was so impressed by everything that Britta had done in such a dangerous time that he decided to ask her to become his right hand man and bodyguard–the Ross to his Hann. Britta agreed excitedly, already taking the job into her own hands and staring down anyone that even joked wrongly at Kato.

  “Hey, you.” Thea smiled up at him as he joined the table. She grasped his hand as he sat down next to her. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it quickly before letting it go, making her blush. He loved that he could still make her blush from just the simple things.

  “You two are so adorable it makes me want to throw up.” Britta gagged with a smile on her face.

  “Tell me about it,” Annie chimed in, also trying to cover up her own smile. “Try living with them.”

  “Don’t get me started about how horrible you and Lukas are,” Thea countered, fake glaring at her.

  Grant then walked over, a beer in his hand and a smile on his face as he nodded to Kato. Their friendship had also grown since the attack, and Kato found he had a soft spot for Grant and Britta because they were the first shifters to show up and fight against what was happening. They were there for Thea and him from almost the beginning, and Kato had to respect that.

  “Britta, we still on for tonight?” Grant asked as he walked past, smiling when she nodded at him. He left to go join some other shifters that were hanging out with Lukas and Hann by the grill.

  “Ooh, what’s going on tonight, Britta?�
� Thea teased her. Thea, like Kato and everyone else who knew the two, thought that Britta and Grant were in love with each other and just didn’t want to admit it.

  “Nothing, Thea,” Britta sang back to her, rolling her eyes. “Grant and I have been training together to try to hone our skills better, just in case something like this ever happens again. Plus, now that I’m Kato’s bodyguard, or will be, at least, I need to make sure I’m up to par so that your man doesn’t die.”

  Thea rolled her eyes back at her, laughing. Kato pulled her to him slightly as they all fell into a casual and comfortable conversation about the latest pack gossip. Thea leaned her head against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, his hands playing with her light-blonde hair. She looked gorgeous in the sun that was coming through the clouds, and she seemed content with being around the pack. He was so happy that she was able to relax around them, and that they were able to relax around her.

  Kato smiled as he took in the people around him. His love, his friends, his family. For the past few weeks, life had been hell, and his world had been flipped upside down more than once. But as he held Thea in his arms, as he realized that he had her and no one would ever be able to take her away from him, he smiled bigger.

  For the first time in a long time, Kato felt like everything was going to be okay. And even if it wasn’t, even if Gabriel came back and ignited a true civil war among the rest of the Elders, it would be okay. As long as he had Thea by his side, everything would be alright.

  * * *

  * * *

  Book 3: Grant

  Chapter 1

  Britta was late meeting with her alpha, and it was all Grant’s fault. Well, not technically. Technically, it was Britta’s fault because it took her almost an hour to get ready, simply because she couldn’t figure out what she wanted to wear or how she wanted to style her hair. Which was absolutely crazy. She couldn’t figure out why she was doing this–she was just meeting with her alpha, after all. But then, it hit her like a train that didn’t even attempt to slow down before impact.