Midnight moon rebel wolf.., p.16
Midnight Moon (Rebel Wolf Book 1), page 16
Confusion flashed in her green eyes. She opened her mouth, but no words came out, of course.
“Shift back,” I said. “I want to talk to the woman who betrayed me.”
She transformed, but the process took a moment. Finally, she stood in front of me.
“Betrayed you?” Anger echoed in her voice. “I was trying to save you. But it’s hilarious to hear you talk about betrayal, when you’re the one who brought me here to erase my memory.”
Guilt flashed through me, but I banished it. “For this very reason. I knew I couldn’t trust you, and making you forget you’d ever met us was the kindest thing for you.”
“I think I should get to decide if I keep my memories, thank you very much.” Rage vibrated in her voice. “I knew I never should have trusted you.”
“You trust me? That’s rich.” Anger bubbled up inside me, along with betrayal. “You’ve been trying to steal from me all along.”
I’d begun to suspect it today. She’d been too interested in the book on my office shelf, and it was the one I’d had with me in the hotel.
She’d been after it all along.
The knowledge had made me finish reading it, and what I’d found had chilled me to the bone. I’d locked it away inside my office, behind protective shields that she shouldn’t have been able to break through.
Lyra was a woman of unexpected talents.
“Do you know what was in that book?” I asked, anger vibrating in my voice.
“No.”
“It contains a spell that will evict my pack from this land. Kate didn’t think it would work, but apparently Montblake thinks it will.”
Her jaw dropped and her eyes flashed with doubt. “That can’t be right.”
“Of course, it is. You know he wants this land. I’d thought I couldn’t trust him, but this was worse than I expected. How long have you been working with them?”
“Working with them? Are you crazy?”
“I saw you give him the book. What do you call that?”
“Being blackmailed.” Her jaw tightened. “Not that you would care.”
“Blackmailed with what?”
Her jaw moved, as if she were debating telling me. I could all but feel the anger and hurt radiating off her, and it didn’t make any sense.
“You don’t care,” she said.
“You’re right, I shouldn’t. I saw you betray me and then run away.”
“I suppose that’s what it looked like I was doing, huh?” She laughed bitterly. “What a fool I’ve been, thinking that I could maybe have a place here.”
“Among my pack?”
“It was a brief, stupid thought, all right?”
A short, incredulous laugh escaped me. “Stupid is right. You’re a damned mountain lion and you thought you’d join my pack?”
She stiffened, surprise flashing in her eyes. “Mountain lion?”
“Don’t play dumb. Of course, you know what you are.” The hurt I’d felt when I’d seen her transform had nearly killed me.
I’d suspected her of something, but not this. It was too similar to what had happened to my father.
And yet, here I was. Mated to a mountain lion who had betrayed me. Had my line been cursed?
“You don’t even want me to try to explain, do you?”
“No, I don’t.” I couldn’t listen to anymore of her lies. Not right now, at least.
“And you have no defense for your plan to erase my memory?”
I shrugged, the anger a toxic sludge in my veins.
She scoffed. “I’ve been trying to live my life and get by, then I get dragged into your stupid magical world. And your big plan was to erase my memory and chuck me back out, huh?”
It sounded terrible when she said it like that, but I wouldn’t stoop to trying to defend myself to her.
“Montblake left you behind, did he?”
“Of course, he did. I was chasing him.”
“Trying to get away, more like.”
“Of course, I wanted to get away from you.” She shook her head, incredulous. “I knew what you planned.”
How naive I’d been, to think that I could erase her memory of me and then watch over her while she lived in the human world. My desire to protect her felt ridiculous now.
“You’re a thief.” I was satisfied to hear that my voice was cold, hard. “And you’ll answer to the council.”
Lyra
* * *
I never got a chance to get my bike and escape. After Garreth found me in the woods, his pack had joined us. I’d been so outnumbered there was no point in trying to fight my way free.
Now, I found myself in a cell. It had been twenty-four hours since the full moon, and I was still locked up. Someone had pushed food through the door a couple times, but that was the most I’d seen of anyone.
Apparently, this was what happened to shifter thieves.
I should have stuck to human crime. At least then, I’d have gotten a lawyer.
But I’m not human.
I was a damned mountain lion. I’d had no idea. When I’d been fighting, I’d just known that I felt big and powerful. I hadn’t taken the time to think about what I might be—I’d been too busy trying to survive and catch Montblake.
Deep in my heart, I’d figured I was a wolf like the Olympia Pack. It’s what I’d wanted to be.
And yet, I was a mountain lion.
It only made sense, considering my father had been affiliated with them, somehow. I just hadn’t wanted to think it was real.
Damn it.
I rolled over on the shitty bunk and stared at the stone wall. How long would they keep me here? Surely, I’d get a trial of some kind.
By the time I heard footsteps in the hall, it could have been minutes or hours. Time had no meaning in this miserable place.
I rolled over, staring at the door made of iron bars. When Garreth stepped into sight, I sat up, unable to help myself.
“You.” My heart raced a mile a minute. “You can’t hold me like this forever, you know. I have rights.”
“Not here.”
Fear iced my heart, and I stood, trying to look more confident than I felt. “That can’t be true. You have a council. You have rules.”
“We do. And I’ll turn you over to them. But you won’t like it there any better.”
Shit, shit, shit.
I believed him.
Hurt and fear gripped my heart.
“I had started to trust you,” he said. There was something in his eyes—some kind of pain—but it was gone so fast I thought I might have imagined it.
“That was stupid,” I said. “You can’t trust anyone.”
“That’s how you live your life?”
“Of course. I’m not stupid.” I shouldn’t be hurling insults, but it was the one thing I could do to keep myself from crying. I couldn’t bear to break down in front of him. “I know what you do to people who betray you. I was too scared to tell you the truth when I first met you, and then I was in too deep.”
“The truth.” He scoffed.
“Yes, the truth. Montblake kidnapped my best friend and threatened to kill her. And then he threatened to kill you.”
“I’m supposed to believe that?”
“I’m telling the truth, damn it.”
“Maybe you are.” He pulled a small glass vial from his pocket. “Take this truth potion and tell me again.”
I was so pissed that I wanted him to believe me. I shoved my hand through the bars and grabbed it. “I’d be happy to.”
Quickly, I swigged it back, realizing at the last minute that maybe I’d gotten ahead of myself.
What if it was poison?
“It’s fine,” he said. “Not dangerous.”
“You can read minds?”
“No, but you looked worried.”
“Yeah, because I can’t trust you. But if this potion is really what you say it is, then believe my next words. I was trying to save my friend. Trying to save you. And I didn’t know what was in the damned book! I thought it was just worth a lot of money.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me this?”
I laughed wildly. “Just tell you? My father told me stories about you. That you killed someone when you were only seventeen because they betrayed you. And then I heard you talking to Seth and saying you’d kill someone else for lying. Frankly, you sounded like a lunatic to me.”
A scowl slashed across his face. “Those are out of context.”
“I don’t know what context makes killing someone okay.”
“I was protecting my pack.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Frankly, I didn’t want to hear any more about his pack. “When’s my trial? I want to get the hell out of here.”
“Soon. In the meantime, I have a lot to think about.” He turned to walk away, and I moved toward the door, unable to help myself.
I stopped right in front of the bars, staring at his back.
Quicker than lightning, he turned and gripped me by the shirt, pulling me toward the door. For the briefest moment, he looked like he might kiss me. Desperate desire rushed through me, and I gasped.
He shook his head, clearly disappointed. “I can’t believe you’re my mate.”
“You’re joking, right?”
He gave a bitter laugh. “Stop with the games. Of course, you knew.”
“I—”
He turned and walked away before I could get the words out.
Heart pounding, I watched him go.
His mate.
Not only was I locked up, but I had a mate. I had to admit that I’d started to suspect it was possible, but hearing it was another thing all together.
How the hell had this become my life? And how was I going to fix it?
* * *
~~~
That’s it for Midnight Moon! Book two, Hunter’s Moon, will be here in February. Click here to check it out.
THANK YOU FOR READING!
* * *
I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Reviews are so helpful to authors. I really appreciate all reviews, both positive and negative. If you want to leave one, you can do so at Amazon or GoodReads.
Acknowledgments
Thank you, Ben, for everything. There would be no books without you.
Thank you to Jena O’Connor and Lexi George for your excellent editing. The book is immensely better because of you! Thank you to Susie and Aisha for your eagle eye at finding errors.
Thank you to Orina Kafe for the beautiful cover art.
About Linsey
Before becoming a writer, Linsey Hall was a nautical archaeologist who studied shipwrecks from Hawaii and the Yukon to the UK and the Mediterranean. She credits fantasy and historical romances with her love of history and her career as an archaeologist. After a decade of tromping around the globe in search of old bits of stuff that people left lying about, she settled down and started penning her own romance novels. Her Dragon’s Gift series draws upon her love of history and the paranormal elements that she can't help but include.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All reference to events, persons, and locale are used fictitiously, except where documented in historical record. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright 2022 by Linsey Hall
Published by Bonnie Doon Press LLC
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form, except in instances of quotation used in critical articles or book review. Where such permission is sufficient, the author grants the right to strip any DRM which may be applied to this work.
ISBN 978-1-64882-017-5
Linsey@LinseyHall.com
www.LinseyHall.com
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Linsey Hall, Midnight Moon (Rebel Wolf Book 1)
