Dark Moon Falls: Volume 2

by Bella Roccaforte

  Leira walked until she hit rock and Ciaran came up behind her, pausing only to reach out and shift the rock aside. He watched her face as her eyes widened.

  “Nice,” she whispered. “Looked like a rock to me.” She sounded impressed and he wasn’t surprised.

  He’d been impressed too when he’d seen how well the fabric had blended in with the rock, right down to the color of the stone and the texture of the rock-face.

  They ducked inside a tiny cave which would have been home to a wolf pack or a bear or two back in the day. Today it was home to an ATV that Ciaran had secreted there for just such an occasion.

  He’d never really thought that danger would come to Dark Moon Falls but he’d still made his way through the town, planting hidden holes filled with emergency supplies of various natures. And it wasn’t as though his stashes had gone unused. The Hunters had made use of his emergency supplies on the odd occasion. Probably why they wanted him to join their organization.

  Problem was, too many of the Hunters were glaring reminders that he was still alone. Goddess knew by now he’d have gotten over it.

  Be a fucking man and move on with your life.

  He’d said those words to himself over and over again but in the end he still came back to the silent question of why. Now as he approached the ATV painted in a green-and-brown camouflage pattern, he focused his mind on the task at hand. Get Leira to the cabin in the snow. Then he can take up his little pity party again.

  “Wow,” Leira whispered from beside him.

  She’d come to stand at his side as he reached into the vehicle to check for the keys which he’d stashed under the seat. His fingers grasped the ring and he let out a silent sigh of relief. It was weird that he would be relieved given that he checked on the vehicle every now and then.

  But Aldrich had the power to put anyone on edge.

  Aldrich wasn’t even his real name, but it was the one he was most known by. Ciaran found it odd that the man had used that particular alias in his dealings with Leira. Wouldn’t he have been smarter to use one of his fake names while in a relationship with a woman who worked with the kind of ancient relics that he often traded in?

  The man never did anything without a good reason, and Ciaran had to wonder whether Aldrich had intended for Leira’s name to be linked to the stolen relic. Had he wanted to set her up all along?

  A question to ponder at another time.

  Ciaran stuck the key into the ignition and was about to turn it when Leira lay a hand on his to stop him. Her green eyes met his, fear and worry turning them a dark emerald.

  She shook her head. “Is it smart to use something with an engine that could be heard up and down the mountain?” she whispered. Then she stiffened and removed her hand, sitting back quickly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to question your methods.”

  He shook his head. “It’s fine. You’re smart enough to know the potential risks. But it’s ok.” He held a hand up and then turned the key in the ignition.

  The ATV sprang to life, the engine purring to a start, emitting no sound at all other than the vibration he felt against his hip.

  Leira’s eyes widened. “Impressive,” she said, pursing her lips as she stared at the vehicle, nodding slowly.

  He straightened, then swung her backpack off his shoulders and settled it securely into the back of the two-seater. He wasn’t at all sure why it was called a two-seater given that the front seat was hardly wide enough to accommodate two people of his size. Wolf shifters tended to have human forms much larger than the average human male.

  But, since Leira was of a smaller build, they should have no problem with space. He jumped into the ATV and forced himself to avoid looking at her as she slid in beside him.

  “Seatbelts,” he said softly.

  She rolled her eyes but obeyed. He noticed she didn’t remove the small backpack he’d included in the case. Which made him certain now that whatever this relic was, it was small enough to fit inside that bag. Her story had only begun and he was fascinated, barely able to wait until he found a chance to have her tell more of it.

  He pushed his curiosity aside and guided the ATV toward the curtain which had pretended to be a rock. A look of consternation filled Leira’s eyes but she merely bit her lip as Ciaran guided the ATV out onto the narrow ledge, then made a sharp left turn and expertly maneuvered the vehicle down the incline.

  The silence on the mountain was a comfort to Ciaran and he was glad he’d thought of putting the ATV inside the cave. He’d always lived by the code of you-never-know.

  At times like today, he was glad he was the type to think ahead, to consider worst-case scenarios. The ATV climbed the mountain and Ciaran had to concentrate on the terrain, leaving Leira to her thoughts.

  He considered what she’d told him about her escapade at the museum. He had to admit she had spunk and a whole lot of guts. And dedication. To go to such lengths in order to protect a relic? She hadn’t yet told him what it was she’d taken but he suspected she’d eventually tell him.

  They seemed to fall into a comfortable rapport when they talked and Ciaran was glad of it. Imagine being stuck in the snow up at the cabin with a woman who refused to engage?

  Sounded like pure hell to him.

  17

  Ciaran

  The first of the snow appeared as Ciaran cleared the next rise, and then slowed the ATV. He wanted to keep an eye on the mountain below, just in case. Leira didn’t voice her question, simply watched as he put the ATV in park and jumped off to listen to the trees and the mountain.

  Something was bugging him, an instinct saying this was too good to be true. They’d made it this far without anyone springing up on them out of the trees. He found that hard to believe.

  As he approached the ATV, he slowed to a halt. He’d have to report to Frankie once he got to the cabin but he realized that the hacker would have been connected to the GPS on board the ATV. He’d have no reason to tell Frankie where he was.

  But the knowledge of the GPS System on board the ATV didn’t sit well with Ciaran. How had he forgotten about it? Had his client distracted him so much that he couldn’t focus long enough to do his job the way he normally would? Professionally?

  He returned to the vehicle and reached under the dashboard to feel around for the GPS box. “What’s wrong?” Leira whispered, her breath hot on his ear.

  He grunted as he tugged the box free of the wiring. “I’m just being careful. Putting the GPS offline.”

  Her eyes went wide. “There was a GPS tracker on this thing?” The accusation in her tone was well justified. If she only knew what had happened to the B&B, she’d likely lose her shit.

  He nodded. “Frankie would know by now that we’re on our way. Time to go offline.” He tried to keep his tone light, to not let on that he’d fucked up and forgotten about the damned thing.

  Leira relaxed a little, sitting back against the seat as Ciaran guided the ATV back onto the trail. They’d gone off the track quite a bit though he’d weaved back and forth to muddy any trail they would be leaving.

  The temperature had dropped and he looked over at Leira as an icy breeze slapped him hard in the face. “You warm enough?”

  She smiled secretively. “Yes, thank you. I’m fine.”

  He wondered at the look on her face, but he refused to lose his focus. Eyes on the track, he kept driving higher and higher until the mountains around them were covered in snow.

  “Won’t anyone be able to see us from down there?” Leira asked, staring down at the steep incline of the side of the mountain they’d just climbed.

  “No. We’re far enough back from the edge and we have enough tree cover. Anyone looking up won’t be able to see us. Looking down is another story altogether, though.”

  Leira’s brow furrowed with worry. “You think someone may be up there already?”

  Ciaran pursed his lips. “Always a possibility. And it’s smarter to think negative and be wrong.”

  She nodded and fell si
lent as he took another narrow trail off the main track that would take him to the cabin. He was wasn’t about to drive the vehicle right up to the doorstep though.

  As he closed in on the cabin grounds, he slowed the ATV and headed toward a dense clump of trees. Without a word, he drove straight into the copse and stopped the vehicle underneath a covering not too different from the one beneath which they’d hidden the truck at the bottom of the mountain.

  Leira looked up and nodded, as though providing her approval. Somehow, her reaction didn’t annoy him. Usually he’d take such a response as a show of patronization.

  Ciaran shifted his focus to the cabin now. “Come. We should be quick about getting inside. Better safe than sorry.” Leira simply nodded and jumped off the ATV, ready to go with her backpack still on her shoulders. He motioned for her to follow him between a narrow opening in the trees. “Stay behind me. I know the way, just keep close. Sorry. I don’t want to use any flashlights just in case.”

  Leira nodded, her expression sober. Satisfied she was ready, Ciaran led the way out into the clearing. The sky had grown dark in the last few minutes and the lack of light helped them to cross the field of fresh snow and make it to the house under cover of shadows.

  At the door, he pressed his thumb and fingerprint against the correct positions on the handle and the door clicked open. He slipped aside to allow Leira to enter first, then spun on his heel to scan the snow-covered yard outside. He’d felt on edge all the way up the mountain and there was always the chance someone was out there, waiting to pounce.

  Paranoia was his business of course.

  Ciaran closed the door as silently as possibly, aware that in the dark and cold air, any sound would travel much further than he’d prefer it to.

  He felt Leira’s warmth at his back and he shifted slowly to face her. She’d entered as he’d instructed but hadn’t moved as he’d focused on the checking out the yard.

  Now with the door closed the shadows blanketed the pair or of them in darkness and silence. There were no lights on within the cabin, which is how Ciaran had left it. Though he’d installed a generator in the basement, he didn’t run any lighting on it. The generator powered only the freezers which stocked food and water for a few week’s stay at least.

  He lowered his head and whispered, “Before we get settled in, I want to do a perimeter check. You okay to wait here while I do a quick sweep?”

  The shadows shifted and he assumed she’d nodded.

  Ciaran held back a grin. “There are sofas to your left. You can take a seat while I go check on the cabin first.”

  “Do you think someone could be inside?” she whispered, a note of fear rippling through her voice.

  “No. The alarms weren’t tripped so I’m pretty confident nobody has broken in and nobody is lying in wait for us. I just want to be careful.”

  She didn’t reply. Ciaran sensed her move, the lack of warmth left him feeling bereft as she walked slowly and carefully over to the sofas.

  The front windows were floor to ceiling and Ciaran loved the cabin, especially the view of the mountains from his living room. He wasn’t a fan of drapes and none of the windows were covered in any kind of fabric. What he had used were rollaway blackout blinds that were almost invisible and could be tucked away inside a panel above the windows as though they didn’t even exist.

  For now, he didn’t mess with the windows. One last glance in Leira’s direction confirmed she was seated and waiting, if a little impatiently.

  18

  Ciaran

  Ciaran left the living room, gave the kitchen a quick inspection, then walked along the pitch-dark hall that cut the back of the cabin in half. To his left was a small study, to the right a shared bathroom. A second larger room sat at the end with a small bedroom across from it.

  All the room doors sat open, the way he’d left them when he’d last checked on the place. He moved stealthily down to the end of the hall, ears cocked for even the slightest sounds. Ciaran listened, for a long moment before peering inside the small bedroom.

  It sat empty, the darkness coating the oak sleigh bed and the navy-and-white patterned bedcovers. He was relieved to confirm it empty and untouched. The main bedroom returned the same result. All the blinds were pulled down, the air icy from standing empty for weeks.

  Ciaran turned back up the hall and moved to the bathroom and the study, which were again both in the same condition. Empty, untouched, if a little layered in dust which had his wolf nostrils twitching, the urge to sneeze almost impossible to ignore.

  Ciaran sniffed the air again, echoing the irritation away then returned to the living area. At the kitchen counter, he slowed to a stop and shrugged the rucksack off his shoulders, setting the heavy bag on the floor without making a sound.

  Then he moved to the kitchen and past the slim fridge to a door that was fitted discretely into the wood wall. A gentle press of his finger to the invisible biometrics pad resulted in a soft click before the door swung inward. He didn’t bother with the light as he descended the stairs and entered the basement.

  Again, silence greeted him but he remembered another basement he’d not checked out in time. He still felt awful about the destruction of the B&B. Thankfully, this basement was empty like the rest of the house.

  The walls were lined with extra supplies, food, first aid, firewood, cylinders of gas and enormous bottles of water just in case. Frankie had accused him of being no different to the crazy doomsday preppers but Ciaran had been determined to cover all possible outcomes. He’d even filled a hidden closet with weapons and ammunition. When he’d told Leira that they didn’t need to take anything with them up to the cabin, he’d meant it.

  Ciaran hurried back upstairs and shut the door quietly, then returned to the hall in front of the door. He glanced over at Leira who was watching him from the shadows. His wolf vision had adjusted, and he could see incredibly well, the room appearing as though lit by a low-watt glow.

  She sat quietly, not a hint of impatience in her expression or stance, though she did appear to be stiff as a board. Fear, he was sure. He understood her worry, which was entirely warranted given the identity of the man who was after her. Running from Aldrich would put the fear of all the Hells into anyone, even Ciaran himself.

  Satisfied that the interior of the cabin was clear, Ciaran strode to the door again, shifted the blind aside with his forefinger and studied the yard again. The snow was pristine, unmarked, revealing not a single soul around the cabin. Or out front at least.

  What the trees hid, he couldn’t see. Neither could he see what lay behind the cabin unless he used the cameras that covered the perimeter. But he’d turned the access off, worried about hacking. Even Frankie didn’t have the codes anymore. So Ciaran was technically blind.

  Which made him uneasy. Shooting one last glance over at Leira, he pointed a finger outside, waiting only until she responded with a nod. Then he slipped outside as silently as he could—which meant he literally made no sound.

  He shut the door behind him and waited, listening to the mountains, to the trees and the underbrush within the forest. No sounds alerted him to the presence of anything that shouldn’t be there.

  He moved to the shadows and remained out of view of the door and the front windows. Here he shifted quickly into his wolf form, a part of him wanting to ensure he didn’t alarm Leira by giving her a view of his shifting process.

  Now wasn’t exactly the time to unsettle her. One never knew how humans would react after witnessing a shifter transform. He’d seen a range of responses in his lifetime, all the way from fascination to disgust and everything in between.

  Ciaran hunkered low as he snuck along the edge of the cabin, sniffing the air and allowing the chilled wind to drift across his fur. The night smelled clean and pure, and Ciaran completed a perimeter check within a few minutes.

  Still not satisfied, he crossed the snow covered clearing and entered the tree-line, scouring the pathways which would lead anyone to the cl
earing in which the cabin had been built.

  Finally satisfied, Ciaran returned to the cabin, careful to avoid the fire-pit. The ground around him was covered so thickly in snow that he could have tripped on the hidden boulders had he not known exactly where they were.

  Back on the porch, he merged with the shadows closest to the cabin wall before he shifted back to his human form. Then he stood still, listening to the trees and the mountain again, listening until he was satisfied that nobody was out there.

  Or at least satisfied enough to allow himself to stop patrolling the perimeter all night long. Ciaran slipped quietly back inside the dark cabin, then looked over at his client. Leira appeared to have not moved since he’d left and he felt more than a little relieved.

  Not that he enjoyed the fact that she’d obeyed him—he wasn’t the type who expected obedience in the women he interacted with. No, he was simply glad that she’d understood the dangers and had kept herself safe.

  19

  Leira

  Leira waited in the silent darkness of the cabin while Ciaran did his perimeter sweep outside. She wasn’t as confident as she’d hoped to be. Her mind kept conjuring up images of people emerging from the trees, firing on Ciaran as he came around the building, gunning him down in cold blood.

  But there was no gunfire. Nothing except for silence as she sat on the sofa, fingers gripping tightly to her backpack, as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. She hadn’t missed the way he’d opened the front door to the cabin using a simple grasping of the handle and a slight pause before it opened. No key in sight.

  Inside, of what she could make out, she saw a blend of comfortable cozy furnishings and new world tech. Dark roller blinds hid her from the outside world but, though it gave her a little reassurance, she remained on edge.

  The cabin wasn’t as tiny as she’d expected it to be. The living room was spacious enough to accommodate three sofas and what appeared to be a wall of bookcases opposite the enormous window. A variety of rugs dotted the slate floor though she couldn’t tell what color anything around her was. Shades of gray. Lots of shades of gray.