Midnight moon rebel wolf.., p.1
Midnight Moon (Rebel Wolf Book 1), page 1
Midnight Moon
Rebel Wolf Book 1
Linsey Hall
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Thank You!
Acknowledgments
About Linsey
Copyright
1
Lyra
* * *
“Please, Lyra, I’m begging you.” Desperation flashed in Meg’s eyes. “Take the end of my shift, and I’ll owe you forever.”
I stared at my friend, my stomach twisting. “Seriously, Meg? You know I can’t afford to lose this job. And I’m not even supposed to be on the top floor.”
Meg’s eyes dropped to the insignia on the ugly teal maid’s uniform I wore, a badge that indicated I was one of the lower-tier maids who worked the bottom floors of the Windracer Hotel.
“No one will notice your badge,” Meg said. "Let your hair down. It will cover it.”
I raised my hand to my dark hair, which was pulled back in a boring bun. “You know I can’t do that. Boris would have a fit.”
Our boss was notoriously picky and mean-spirited. He’d recently fired a girl for having a tattoo that peeked out of the sleeve of her shirt, and another employee for being late.
“Please. Tommy can only get this afternoon off, and I haven’t seen him in a week. You can be in and out of the penthouse in no time. He’s not even there.”
The penthouse.
I’d never been on the top floor of the hotel, much less inside the penthouse. But that wasn’t the part that got my heart racing—no, it was the mention of him.
Garreth Locke, the wealthiest and most dangerous man in Seattle. And handsome, so handsome he could grace the covers of magazines—if he’d ever lower himself to do something so plebeian.
He was young—only five years older than my twenty-four—but my father had spoken of him before he’d died eleven years ago. He’d said that Garreth was the son of another mob boss who ran an organization that rivaled the one my father was involved with. My father had seen Garreth kill a man in cold blood. Apparently, he’d broken the man’s neck for deceiving him.
Garreth had been only seventeen at the time. He’d disappeared from Seattle shortly after but returned a few years ago when his father had died.
I shivered at the memory of the story.
The first time he’d shown up at the hotel, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He’d never been caught for what he did. Not surprising. People with that kind of power were seldom punished. I’d caught a glimpse of him a few times as he strode across the lobby, followed by a small group of people nearly as good looking and scary as him. He was more than merely handsome. There was something about him that was otherworldly.
“It won’t take you any time at all,” Meg said.
I glared at her. This was one of the few decent jobs that paid under the table—thank fates Boris was cheap about paying employee taxes—and I really couldn’t afford to lose it. But it was rare she asked for anything, and I hated to say no. “Fine, but I'm going to make it quick. I'll do a pretty crappy job, but I’ll do it.”
“Oh, thank you!” Meg threw her arms around my shoulders and squealed in my ear.
I winced, my ears ringing. My hearing had always been freakishly good, and Meg had the pipes of a banshee.
She pulled back. “I’ll make it up to you.” She grimaced slightly. “Oh, one more thing. Boris said we’re not to be in the room when Garreth Locke is there—no matter what. So, get in and out.”
“What the hell?”
“Sorry, should have mentioned it earlier.”
“Should have mentioned that I was really risking my job by doing this for you?” And the last thing I wanted was to be caught by Garreth Locke.
She waved a hand dismissively. “You’ll be fine. He’s not supposed to be back for hours.”
“All right. But if he comes back while I’m in there, I might run for it and leave the housekeeping cart behind.”
“Fair enough.”
“Good. Now get out of here and go see your boyfriend.”
She grinned widely, then spun around and raced out of the breakroom on the bottom floor of the hotel. I sighed and looked up at the clock. I still had a few more rooms on the second floor to clean, but if Garreth Locke wasn’t in the penthouse right now, I should go now and get this over with.
Anyway, Boris was supposed to be out to a late lunch. I couldn’t afford for him to catch me on the wrong floor, or I risked another mark on my record. One more infraction, and I'd be out on my ass without a job.
Heart pounding, I grabbed Meg’s housekeeping cart and hurried to the staff elevator. As it whizzed toward the top floor of the historic hotel, I went over the tasks that I absolutely had to do in the penthouse. The bare minimum—that’s what I’d do.
When the elevator opened on the top floor, I peeked out into the entry hall.
Empty.
Thank God.
I hurried toward the penthouse door, careful to keep my face turned away from the security camera. From the back, I looked enough like Meg that no one would think to check twice if they couldn’t see my face.
With faintly shaking hands, I used Meg’s key card to get into the room. As the door opened, a low chime sounded. Every room in the hotel was equipped with one so guests would know if their door had opened while they were in the bathroom or resting.
The room itself was silent as the grave, and my heart slowed its frantic beating.
“This will be fine,” I whispered to myself. "You can do this."
I didn’t believe it, but I ignored the warnings screaming at the back of my mind.
The penthouse was a good enough distraction, however. The main room I had entered was large, with enormous floor-to-ceiling windows. They were an older style, installed when the hotel had been built over a hundred years ago, but the long panes of glass still revealed a phenomenal view of Puget Sound and Mount Rainier. The dark water glittered under the light of a rare sun, the snow-capped mountain in the distance standing sentinel.
As quickly as I could, I made my way around the living room. The furniture was simple and luxurious—far nicer than the furnishings on the lower floors of the hotel. And that was saying something, considering those floors contained furniture about ten times nicer than the stuff that decorated my tiny studio in the shit part of town.
I ignored the fabulous view in favor of looking for clues about the life of someone as powerful and dangerous as Garreth Locke. There was nothing, of course. He was tidy as a monk, leaving no indication about his personality or lifestyle.
Most people thought of him as a slightly shady businessman, but I knew differently from my father’s stories. He was fully entrenched on the wrong side of the law, and he wouldn’t want people to know what he was capable of.
The bedroom was a bit different, the sheets tangled and mussed, as if he’d had awful nightmares. Or excellent sex.
“Get your mind out of the gutter,” I muttered, yanking the sheets off the king-size bed.
I remade the lake of smooth cotton as quickly as I could, my gaze snagging on a book that sat on the bedside table. It looked old, really old, and my heart raced.
I loved books, and I knew at a glance this one was special.
I arranged the decorative pillows at the head of the bed and picked up the book. I shouldn’t do it, but I couldn’t help myself.
Just one little peek.
The cover was embossed with flaking golden script—The History of the Wolves of North America.
I felt my eyebrows rise. The hardened criminal was an animal person?
That was unexpected.
Gently, I flipped open the cover and revealed the title page. The scent of old paper wafted up, and I inhaled deeply. Before I knew it, I was sucked into a description of various wolf packs that lived around the upper northwest.
I had no idea how much time passed, but the sound of the penthouse door opening made my heart jump into my throat.
He’s here.
Triple shit.
He was in the living room. I couldn’t see him from the bedroom, but I could feel him. His presence was impossible to miss.
I was screwed.
If only I could wave a magic wand and get myself out of there. Shame that magic wasn’t real.
From the living room, he had two options—go into the bathroom or into this bedroom.
Please choose the bathroom.
The bathroom had two doors—one that entered from the living room and one that entered from the bedroom, where I was trapped. I could see right into the bathroom through the cracked door, but if I tucked myself flat against the wall, I’d be mostly concealed by the heavy bed frame.
With any luck, he would go in there, take a shower, and wouldn’t turn and see me. Then I could sneak out.
My heart thundered, nearly deafening, as I slipped into my hiding spot.
Garreth
* * *
She was here.
My mate.
Inside, my wolf howled.
Down boy.
The beast didn’t listen, but I didn’t care. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I’d release him. Not in the city in the middle of a human hotel. Instead, I stood stock still inside the penthouse living room.
She was in the bedroom. I knew where she was because I could smell her, her scent twisting around me—lavender and honey and a fresh breeze. I wanted to breathe it in for eternity, surround myself with it.
No.
I couldn’t be distracted by her. Couldn’t let her get under my skin or into my heart. Not that I had a heart.
Protect.
The instinct welled so strongly inside me that I could barely tamp it down.
It was clear as day from her scent that she wasn’t a wolf. She was something magical, though I had no idea what.
Why the hell was she in this hotel?
If she was here to confront me, it was a terrible location. The damned place was full of humans. I stayed here when on business purely to make them think I was one of them. They didn’t know about magic, and I wasn’t going to be the one to let the cat out of the bag. Or rather, the wolf.
The scent of her hit me like a bus. I hadn’t expected it—now or ever. As Alpha, I had planned to walk the earth alone, solely dedicated to my pack. I’d been born to this role and kept my status through sheer strength and pack loyalty.
So what the hell should I do?
“Take a shower,” I muttered to myself.
It was what I’d come here to do, after all I'd worry about her later. Anyway, I wanted to see what she’d do. If she thought my guard was down, she might reveal her true motivations for being in my hotel suite.
I strode into the bathroom, flicking on the light inside the white marble oasis. There were two doors—one that led back out into the living room from which I’d come, and another that opened into the bedroom.
I made a point not to glance into the bedroom as I stripped my shirt over my head. The cool breeze of the air conditioning wafted over my heated skin but did nothing to tamp down the inferno inside me. My wolf was going mad, demanding to be set free. I kept it on a tight rein. My impeccable control was half the reason I was qualified to be alpha, and I wouldn’t allow it to fail me now.
I heard the faint intake of her breath as I walked by the open door, and it took every ounce of my strength not to turn and look at her.
She’d make the first move if I had anything to say about it.
I unbuckled my belt with one hand while cranking on the water. It roared forth, and I couldn’t help but look forward to the water pressure. It had been a long day.
As I shucked my trousers, I felt my wolf go wild. He sensed that I was planning to ignore her, and he was pissed.
“Tough luck, buddy,” I muttered.
I climbed into the shower and turned to face the back wall. The water dampened my hearing, though not completely. She wouldn’t be able to sneak up on me. I doubted she’d approach me in the shower, anyway.
Still, anticipation flooded me.
My mate.
After so long alone, so long expecting I would always be alone--she was here.
2
Lyra
* * *
I stood, stunned, my breath caught in my chest. Sound roared in my head, the crashing of waves on the beach.
His body.
I’d caught a glimpse of him through the cracked door, but that had been enough, providing a too-good-to-be-true view of his back as he stripped out of his shirt.
Holy tits, he was ripped.
My mouth went dry with fear—and even a little bit of desire—as I took in his broad shoulders and smooth skin. He was all muscle and a lot of it. I couldn’t see his face, but his long dark hair was held back with a leather strap. It shined beneath the light, putting the finest silk to shame. There was the strangest golden glow around him, but that had to be a trick of the light.
But it was his scent that really got me—a divine combination of the forest and rain. I wanted to suck it into my lungs forever. As I stared, the taste of chocolate hit my tongue. He was making me lose my mind.
When he passed by the bathroom door, he somehow didn’t turn to look at me. It was a gift. A few precious seconds to figure out what the hell to do.
I need to run.
But I couldn’t. I felt trapped, ensnared by his beauty and frozen with fear. It was the strangest sensation and nearly impossible to place.
Until I did.
I felt like prey.
He was ignoring me, and yet I still felt like he was a predator toying with me.
I shivered.
I needed to get my ass out of here, pronto, Meg’s warning about not being caught while he was there ringing in my head.
Cold fear iced my skin.
I can’t lose this job.
And I really can’t get caught by Garreth Locke.
More than that, I felt an overwhelming desire to run. It was so strong that I couldn’t fight it.
The shower turned on, and I thanked my lucky stars. The sound of the water would give me a little more cover.
I grabbed the cart and pushed it toward the living room, thankful that the wheels were well greased, and it was silent. Every inch of my skin prickled as I approached the bathroom door. I had to pass right by it, and it would be the riskiest part of my escape.
The second door was wide open, and I peeked inside.
Garreth Locke stood in the shower, his back to me as water sluiced over the endless planes of muscles. My gaze raced over his form, quickly taking it all in as I pushed the cart past.
Almost to the door.
When I reached it, I looked out the peephole to make sure the coast was clear.
My stomach plunged. A member of his entourage was approaching the door, along with my boss.
They were coming right in here. I'd be caught.
Panic shot through me. Mind racing, I stumbled back.
The closet.
There was a large closet near the door. I’d seen it when I’d first come in. I yanked open the door and pushed the cart inside. it barely fit, but I managed to shut the door behind it.
With any luck, no one would look inside, and I could come back later and retrieve it. I’d warned Meg I might leave it behind, but I hated to get her in trouble.
Fast as I could, I raced back to the bedroom where the huge old windows gave a glorious view of the sound.
The prey feeling was so strong inside my chest that I felt like I might pass out at any moment. I wasn’t normally such a wimp, but something about this situation seemed to be taking over my body.
I was going to get the hell out of here, no matter what.
Silently, I pushed a window open, thanking my lucky stars that this was an old hotel with normal windows. If I’d been in one of the modern high rises, I’d be screwed.
Cool wind whipped my hair around my face. I ignored the dark strands and climbed out of the window, clinging to the side of the building. I was ten stories up, and the fall would certainly kill me.
Garreth
* * *
I stiffened, my preternatural hearing picking up the slight creak of a window opening.
Was that my mate? I strained my ears but couldn't be sure. I’d heard her run for the hallway door, then scurry back into the bedroom and over to the window.
And now she was leaving? Through the window?
Suddenly, this was a hell of a lot more interesting.
Interest piqued, I stepped out of the shower, water dripping onto the marble floor, and walked into the bedroom. The wind caught a flicker of skirt outside the window.
Holy fates, she was scaling the outside of the building.
As I hurried over to the window, the main door to the suite opened. Ignoring the distraction, I pushed the window open and stuck my head out, not wanting to startle her.
