Dark Moon Falls: Volume 2

by Bella Roccaforte

  “I’ll never let you go, never. You can’t get away from me. You thought you could, and this is what you get for even thinking about leaving me. I know, I read your fucking diary, you stupid whore.”

  More blows rained down on her as she curled into a ball, trying to shield herself from the pain in her head, her stomach…and her heart.

  The man who said he loved her, the one who was supposed to protect her now replaced his fists with his boot covered foot as she screamed.

  And screamed.

  And screamed.

  “Remember, you’ll never leave me. I’ll kill you before I let you go, and I’ll kill anyone around you. You have no one and it will stay that way because if it doesn’t then I’ll kill your friends, and anyone else you run to. You’re mine. Always and forever, darling.”

  “Rebecca?”

  Why did he sound so concerned when he was about to kill her, and why was he using her new name?

  “Rebecca?”

  “No, leave me, leave me alone.”

  “Wake up!”

  She shot awake, gasping but unable to take in air.

  Oh God, she couldn’t breathe. Her hand went to her throat automatically, but she couldn’t get air in.

  “Breathe out first. Try to blow some air out, Rebecca.” The soothing voice had her looking into concerned, deep blue eyes. Warm hands gently took hold of her shoulders as Josh blew a breath out, holding her gaze.

  She followed his lead, and he smiled. “That’s it, now breathe in.”

  Glorious, welcome air filled her chest, soothing her aching lungs.

  “Okay, good, and out again.”

  As she breathed with Josh her panic receded, and she began to feel less like she was on the verge of collapse.

  Then it hit her.

  She remembered.

  For the first time in…forever, she remembered a night terror. Usually, she woke screaming or crying, right at the end of the dream, or so she presumed, with the memory already fading so fast, she couldn’t grasp it, but Josh had woken her in the middle this time. And she remembered.

  Those words. He had said he’d never let her go, hadn’t he? That no matter where she went, he’d find her, and that he’d harm those around her.

  Did that mean she ought to tell Josh to leave? Tell him he too might be in danger? She couldn’t bear it. She needed him to stay, even if only for tonight. Just one night when she didn’t feel so alone would be wonderful.

  She shivered, terrified beyond anything she’d felt in months now that the memories were there, eating away at her mind, making her relive the horror.

  “Are you okay now? I’ll…I’ll go back to the sofa.” Josh seemed reluctant to leave, and truthfully, she didn’t want him to.

  For the first time in a very long time, Rebecca let her guard down. “Could you stay?” she asked. “I mean…just…you know…to sleep…here next to me?”

  For a moment, he hesitated. Oh, no, had she been too forward? But then he smiled and nodded.

  “Of course, I can stay, will stay. I’ll lie on top of the covers. I run hot anyway.” He joked, but while part of her was grateful for his chivalry, and thankful she’d get his company without worrying about anything untoward happening, another part of her saw his words as a small rejection.

  Josh settled onto the bed behind her, his big, warm, solid body close to her, but with the sheets between them. Then his arm came around her, heavy and comforting. His scent wrapped around her as surely as his body did, and against all the odds, Rebecca felt the terror fade, and a warm security take its place.

  She closed her eyes, and found herself drifting pleasantly into a light sleep.

  * * *

  Blinking, Rebecca peeled her eyes open and winced at the bright light flooding the room from between a crack in the curtains. She rolled over, saw Josh asleep next to her and smiled.

  In sleep he looked somehow more serious. Instead of younger, as many people looked, Josh seemed sterner, older. It was as if the animation of his face during waking hours lent him a youthfulness he didn’t really own.

  She studied the planes and dips of his features. His sharp cheekbones, full mouth, blade of a nose, and his strong jaw. He was a handsome man…very handsome. She thought about what he’d said, about them being fated mates. Could it be true?

  It explained a lot. Such as the way she wanted to be physically close to him whenever he was in her vicinity. It explained why his touch soothed her so easily. And why she craved his scent. It surely explained the desire coursing through her veins right then.

  She’d never wanted another person so strongly. It took all of her willpower not to reach out and touch him. She itched to touch his jaw, trace his lips, kiss his throat, and nuzzle into his neck and just…inhale.

  Oh damn, she had it bad.

  Josh stirred, moaned in his sleep and pulled her closer, and even with the bedcovers between them she felt the hardness nudging at her thigh.

  It was as if the realization he was hard flipped a switch in her. Rebecca turned over fully, so that she faced him, and without even thinking through the consequences, she pressed her lips to his.

  8

  Josh

  Heaven. He was in heaven. Something exquisite tormented him, bringing him to the edge of wakefulness. That scent…that taste. Utter perfection danced across his lips.

  Josh moaned and moved into the taste, into the warmth, his mouth opening even while he remained half trapped by sleep. His hands reached out to pull the warm, feminine body into his own. This was a dance as old as time, and he didn’t need to be fully awake to know the steps. There was something in the way though, something stopping him from what he wanted…needed.

  Josh opened his eyes with a frustrated groan, and saw the blankets between him and the female he craved. With a grunt he pushed them away, using his legs to kick them down the bed as his hands roamed all over Rebecca’s warm, soft curves. She wore a long T-shirt as a nightdress, and he reached down to pull the material up, until it rested at mid-thigh. Acres of her glorious flesh were exposed to his greedy gaze. He’d never seen her in revealing clothing and he wanted to see the rest of her so badly.

  She seemed totally with the plan too because she rolled her hips into his, pressing her core against his hardness and opening her mouth, parting for him so he could sweep his tongue in and taste her.

  Colors flashed behind his eyes as he closed them to relish the taste of her. Oh Goddess, he’d heard finding your mate was good, but this? He’d fallen from the earthly realm surely and now walked in heaven.

  Nimble fingers pulled at his T-shirt and he got with the program, tearing the offending material from his body and throwing it onto the floor. Rebecca stared at him for a moment and then she trailed her fingers down his pecs, down, down, until she dipped over his abs and let her hand flutter over the trail of hair leading down into his sweatpants.

  He expected her to stop, but she didn’t. Her fingers trailed over the ridge of elasticated material hanging low on his waist and then on down to dance over his aching erection.

  He hissed, and not thinking, acting on instinct, placed his hand over hers, pressing her palm more firmly where he needed her touch.

  She swallowed and licked her lips as their gazes locked. She stroked him through his sweatpants, and he wanted throw his head back and howl at how good it felt. His wolf was doing a happy dance inside, delighted that they had found their mate, and she wanted them as much as they wanted her.

  His hand at her thigh, he moved up, up, ever up, past her panties, and he’d be tearing those off in a minute, to her waist. And she tensed.

  She literally froze, and all the lust that had filled the room seemed to disappear like smoke.

  What the hell?

  Had he read her signals wrong?

  Then he looked down at where his hand hovered over her belly and he froze too.

  She was covered in scars there. Ragged lines dissected her stomach where she’d clearly been badly cut. Over her
hipbone was a horrible, jagged scar, and there were other marks, too.

  Rebecca blinked at him and tried to pull the T-shirt back down, but he held it in place. Rage suffused him, rushing through his veins, filling his blood with molten lava. “Is this what he did to you?”

  She nodded and tears filled her eyes. “I know the scars are ugly. It’s why I don’t date…why I won’t ever date. I got carried away, I’m sorry. You don’t have to stay. I know they are awful…hideous.”

  He didn’t let her get out another word. Instead, he crushed his lips to her mouth and kissed her as if his life depended on it, which frankly it felt like it did. He banked his rage, because he knew she’d mistake it for disgust of her…of her scars, and he let his lust take full control once more.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said as he tore his mouth away from hers and kissed her neck. As he kissed the soft skin of her throat, he had the overwhelming desire to bite down and mate with her there and then.

  No, he told his wolf, not yet, she’s not ready.

  “I want you,” she whispered to him. “But I’m scared. It’s been a long time for me, and I’ve not been with anyone since the attack.”

  “I’ll make it good for you,” he whispered back. “I want you, too.”

  Then he crawled over her, and down her body, stopping where the scars crisscrossed her stomach and he kissed them, each and every one. When he’d finished, she was breathing heavily, her stomach rising and falling under his mouth.

  He wanted more, needed to taste her.

  Moving farther down her body, Josh kissed her right over her cotton panties, breathing deeply as he scented his mate at her core.

  She moaned as he kissed her again there, and he pushed her legs further apart with his shoulders. Then he pulled her panties to one side and licked her right over her clit.

  She gasped and squirmed so he held her hips, holding her still as he went to work on her, getting her to climb to the heights of desire, until she came, moaning and pressing herself against his mouth.

  He drank it all in; the taste of her, her cries and moans, and her amazing scent. Then he kissed his way back up her body, over her scars, taking her T-shirt with him as he swept it over her head and discarded it on the bed next to them. She was so beautiful. Her full breasts rose and fell with every breath, but he noticed more scars, on her upper arms, and one on her right breast, which filled him with despair and rage. It seemed such a savage place to hurt her.

  He kissed the scars again, all of them, and then he kissed her lips.

  She bent down when the kiss stopped and pulled her panties off, then spread her legs wider.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, wanting to be certain they were on the same page.

  “Yes,” she breathed.

  He shucked off his sweatpants and lined up his aching cock with her core. She was so wet, and warm, and he knew when he entered her it would take all his control not to come there and then.

  She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him again. Goddess, she was amazing.

  He pushed into her, and stilled. Holy fuck, his world had changed on a dime. One moment, he’d been Josh, the lone wolf, no pun intended, the next he was no longer a single entity. He knew that whatever happened between them next, he and Rebecca would always be somehow linked.

  She moaned, and arched her hips, demanding more, and he gave it to her. He thrust into her, taking care not to be too fast or hard, and she cried out, but it sounded like a good cry, not one of pain. Moments later, she confirmed it.

  “God, yes, more, Josh.”

  She didn’t need to ask twice. He began to fuck her properly, and she gave as good as she got. This wasn’t the gentle love making he’d imagined, this was one wild, animalistic fuck. Her nails raked his back, and she wrapped her legs around him, trying to bring them even closer.

  Shit, he was going to come, and she hadn’t, and he was determined to get her there again before he found his own release.

  He reached between them and found her clit, stroking as he thrust into her. She arched her back, cried out and climaxed, convulsing around him. He followed her immediately, spilling inside as he found himself filled with so many emotions.

  He itched to bite her, and clamped his mouth shut, in case he did it without her consent. He couldn’t mate her, not yet, not until she wanted that, too. All his worries about human-shifter matings flew out of the window as he found the reality of being one with his mate.

  When they’d both come down, Josh rolled to one side and took Rebecca with him.

  Shit, he’d opened Pandora’s box and changed his whole damn world. No way could he go back to being the loner he’d always preferred to be. Now he had two promises to keep. His vow to always keep Kat safe, and a new vow, to ensure for always that Rebecca was safe too.

  She was his mate now, whether they made it official or not. So far as he and his wolf were concerned, Rebecca was it for them. Forever.

  9

  Rebecca

  She spent the day in a daze. There were many different kinds of sex. Bad sex, good sex, hate sex, love sex…but she’d never had sex quite like that. Mind blowing, body pleasing, soul fracturing sex. The kind of sex that you started as one person, and finished as quite another.

  All she knew was that Josh had made her feel in ways no one else ever had, and it wasn’t just physical. She felt bonded to him now. As if she knew him, soul deep, which was crazy, but true. He was taking a shower while she made them something to eat. They’d made love twice more, and both times had been amazing, gentler than the first, but no less incredible.

  Joy filled her, but at the edge of it, eating away, was a darkness. Memories she’d long suppressed were rising to the surface, and she didn’t know if she could handle them. She also knew that she must, she had to face them because she might be placing not only Josh, but Kat too, in danger if she continued to see him.

  She ought to end this now. Call it off. But first, she needed to see her therapist. The woman had been after Rebecca to try hypnotherapy, but she’d always said no, too scared of the memories. Now though, now she had something she wanted enough to face the fear…Josh. She wanted him, and she knew the only way to have him was to face her past. It was the only way she could have the man she wanted and not put him or his sister in danger.

  Terrified, but determined, she picked up the phone and dialed her therapist, Lucy Rogers.

  Two hours later, Rebecca sat herself down on the soft fabric chair she used in Dr. Rogers’s office, eschewing the couch, and sipped at her water before placing it on the table next to her. The office was decked out in neutral, calming tones of creams and beige, with a few pale green accessories, such as the curtains and pillows. A box of tissues perched at a jaunty angle on the table by her chair, and Dr. Rogers’s desk was clear except for a thick, leather notebook and an old-fashioned fountain pen. She’d told Rebecca at their first meeting that she took notes by hand. Each client had a notebook, and those books were locked away in drawers at night in the office. There were no computerized records, except for the basics such as name, date of birth, address, and next of kin. It struck Rebecca as very sad indeed that her next of kin was a cousin she barely knew.

  Maybe one day that would change, and she’d have a significant other…perhaps someone like Josh. The thought had her smiling and that’s how Dr. Rogers found her when she entered the room.

  “Well, Rebecca, I don’t think I’ve seen you smile like this since we began our work together.”

  Another sad fact. She’d not smiled properly in months, and now she could hardly stop herself from grinning, but then her smile faded. This was her problem, wasn’t it? Falling too hard and too fast for unsuitable men. She’d done the same with Nigel. At the mere thought of his name, her stomach lurched, and she tightened her jaw.

  “What’s wrong? One moment you seemed genuinely happy, the next on the verge of a panic attack.” Dr. Rogers didn’t pick her pen up as she usually did, but instea
d leaned forward, observing Rebecca, concern etched on her face.

  “I’ve decided that it’s time I faced my demons,” Rebecca said. “It’s time I remembered…I want to try the hypnotherapy.”

  “Today?”

  “Yes. I had a dream last night and for the first time in ages, I remembered some of what happened during the attack. I recalled things Nigel said to me, threats he made. I think I may still be in danger. More importantly, I’m scared others around me might be in danger if I try to start a new relationship, and I need to know. I’m going to read the crime report, but I wanted to prepare myself first, by remembering as much as I can. Plus…the things Nigel said to me, they won’t be in the report, only I can recall those. It might help the police if I can tell them exactly what happened from my own point of view.”

  So far, when the police had asked her, she’d simply told them she’d given them all the information she could. Sadly, it hadn’t been enough to help them find Nigel, who had disappeared the night of the assault. He faced life imprisonment if he was ever arrested, for grievous bodily harm, but she bet he was long gone by now. In fact, she knew he had a brother who lived in Brazil and she’d figured he’d fled there, and she’d told the police as much. She’d wanted him found, but deep down also dreaded it. Part of her believed if she let things go, forgot about it all, he’d stay away, and she could start a new life.

  Now though, as she remembered his words, and more, the ferocity and conviction he’d stated them with, she doubted her belief.

  Had it simply been a dream? Or was it a bona fide memory? She needed to know, and she had to face her fears to do so.

  As Dr. Rogers talked her down into a trance, she had a few moments of panic overwhelm her, and it took her out of the moment. She felt as if the trance were water, and she needed to surface every now and again. Eventually though, she stopped struggling and let the dark pull her under.