Blood Moon (Noc City- Book Two) Read online

  Blood Moon

  Noc City - Book Two

  Penn Cassidy

  Copyright © 2021 by Penn Cassidy

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America, 2021.

  Editing: Meghan Leigh Daigle - Bookish Dreams Editing

  Formatting: Inked Imagination Services

  Contents

  Disclaimer

  About Blood Moon

  Book One Recap

  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

  Afterword

  Stalking Info!

  Disclaimer

  Disclaimer

  This is the second installment in the Noc City Trilogy. Be warned that this book is not for the faint of heart and touches on dark topics that can be triggering for some readers. This is a reverse harem urban fantasy in which one woman does not have to choose between love interests. This book includes graphic sexual situations, violence, MMFM themes, and thoughts of suicide and self harm.

  In other words, this book might not be suitable for your neighborhood book club.

  Unless…

  About Blood Moon

  I've been beaten…

  I've been humiliated…

  I've been shackled…

  I've peered behind the masks and uncovered a world of secrets and evil I never knew existed, and now it's time to choose my side. These men are ruthless, powerful leaders who have seen things I could only dream of. They're cunning, sinister, and too alluring for their own good. I've gone from captive to complicit in a matter of weeks, and they're each tempting the darkest parts of myself I've hidden for so long now.

  I know what needs to be done. Even if it means jumping right back into the snake pit. I'm a darkling, after all, and I'll fight tooth and claw to bring justice to my kind. All bets are off because I'm out for blood.

  Book One Recap

  Chapter 15 - August

  I smelled her before I saw her. The sharp tang of blood was mixed with the unmistakable scent of female. I got off the phone with Atlas Nocturne the second it registered.

  His frantic voice shouting from the other end of the line spurred me into action. The girl they’d held captive was gone, escaped in the dead of night as an attack on the Nocturne Coven house reduced it to rubble. We’d been anticipating such an attack, but it came sooner than we’d thought it would. Atlas and his men were frantic trying to find the missing woman after getting separated in their escape. I’d heard a lot about her over the last few days, and I wasn’t too impressed. That sniveling little bitch had gotten two of my pack pups killed. Her family was a cancer on Noc City, her father a tyrant and her mother clearly a drunken, vacant fool.

  Atlas, Faust, and Merrick, the three heads of the Nocturne Coven, were allies of a sort. I couldn’t exactly call them friends, but I’d known Atlas since the early seventeen hundreds, when we’d arrived in New York for the first time. We’d held a tenuous truce between Blood Moon and Nocturne, watching each other's backs and allying against the human factions in the early twenty-twenties before the signing of the Coexist Doctrine. Merrick Nocturne was like a brother to the coven leader, a turned vampire who’d been left for dead during the Irish rebellion, and Faust…well, he was another story. I still wasn't too sure what the deal with him was exactly, but he’d joined up with Atlas in the nineteen-twenties and never left. He was a brute of a man, cold and arrogant, but he was loyal to a fault and I could respect that.

  They were convinced that Serenity Harker could help us locate the facilities the famous Dr. Bellmy ran under the patronage of Senator Ryan Harker. She was supposed to be the key to it all, and those vampire fools let her slip through their fingers. As much as I respected Atlas, he was becoming lax. Over the years, he’d grown much too comfortable in that posh, modernized city, away from his warrior roots and vulnerable to the humans. I’d done no such thing. The Blood Moon Pack held roots deep in battle forged settlements from Europe to the United States. We’d fought countless wars with a revolving door of human dictators. Of course, back then, darklings were still a well preserved secret.

  I raced through the trees, knowing my betas were close behind a little less than a half mile back. My right-hand wolf, Gareth, loped next to me, matching my pace. I sprinted in wolf form, feeling the biting wind sifting through my black fur. The trees were dense this far out into Blood Moon territory. We were located just outside of Noc City in a section of wild forest reserved for the two wolf packs that surrounded the settlement. The Blood Moon Pack held the northern end, while the RedWood Pack held the southern end. I kept my head on a swivel when we began to reach the border between packs. RedWood’s alpha was a son of a bitch and would raise hell if one of my wolves encroached on his land.

  I could smell that nearly floral, honey-like scent of the female. Human…but also not. She smelled surprisingly pleasant. Atlas had informed me that the girl was a dhampir, but I’d never been close to one myself. Wolves didn’t associate much with the vamps or the humans, save for the young pups who headed into the cities to search out their mates. Mates would often be found among the humans, and together, they bore half-blood pups. It didn’t matter much to me, a wolf was a wolf in any form, but I’d never found my mate. Over a thousand years of searching the world, and I was positive no such creature existed.

  As we ran, the trees blurring on all sides, I scented someone else on the wind, and a low growl slipped from my snarling mouth. At the same time, Gareth let a snarl rip, and I glanced to the side, meeting his bright blue wolf eyes. I smelled the RedWood wolves close to the female, their scents mixing, and I could already smell the excitement emanating from them from here. Raising my head, I howled as loud as I could up towards the starry sky, and a split second later, I was met with a chorus of responding cries from my betas. It was a warning. They needed to be ready for a fight if the RedWood wolves were here to start some shit.

  To the eye of a human, we'd be nothing more than a blur. As we broke through a small clearing through the tall trees, I could clearly make out a slender woman lying limply on the forest floor. She wore little to no clothes, save for a tiny black tank top and jeans that were ripped clean open, her pale skin soaked in clotting blood. Her long, snowy white hair was a twisted mess around her face and equally matted with crimson. As we neared, I could see no visible wounds on her body, but she would most likely have healed by now, given she was half-immortal.

  Before we reached her, several large wolves leapt from the surrounding foliage, hackles raised and maws dripping with saliva. Their eyes were locked on both myself and Gareth, who slunk to my side, making sure he’d be ready to leap in front of his alpha if need be. I appreciated his protection, but I didn’t need it. I’d been handling myself for a thousand years and hadn’t fallen yet. By their scents, I could tell I wasn’t dealing with the top brass. These were grunts, probably out on a hunt until they stumbled upon this helpless female. One of the deep brown wolves on my right kept glancing at her prone form, as if he planned to drag her off the
moment we were distracted.

  I knew their tricks and knew that as clever as they thought they were, I was a strategist and could see every one of their moves a mile away. The wolf at the front of the line lunged, going for my throat. I moved in a blur before he had a chance to snarl. My jaw clamped down into his fur, and I could feel the bones breaking as my mouth filled with hot, coppery blood. The wolf whined and went limp, prompting me to drop him to the dirt, dead in an instant.

  The other wolves whined and halted their attack, glancing at one another, and I knew they were making a decision, wondering if it was worth their time to directly challenge the Alpha of Blood Moon. It would be foolish on their part. I’d been killing since the day I learned how to shift, and my name was legendary for a reason. Before the remaining wolves could come to a decision, my betas crashed through the trees and into the clearing. There were ten of them at my back now. If I could smile in wolf form, I would have. Instead, I stared the wolves down as they seemed to shrink back into themselves, obviously realizing they’d lost.

  My wolves snarled and growled, forming a tight line next to me, a solid wall of death, and I could scent the new fear tinging the crisp forest air. One by one, the RedWood wolves started to retreat, taking off into the trees. One wolf remained and stared me down too long for a wolf with such a low ranking. I could scent that he wasn’t a beta or anywhere even close to important in the hierarchy. He was scum. He had greyish fur with small patches where chunks had been ripped out in previous scraps. He was missing his right eye, and the other had a deep gash through it. An ugly son of a bitch, and scrawny too. His claws were grown out to the point that they were breaking off in jagged points. Fucking mutt. After a too long minute, the wolf huffed and turned away, racing off into the trees. Though he was gone in seconds, I had a feeling we’d be seeing more of him very soon.

  With the wolves gone, my men and I shifted back into our human forms with ease, naked as they day we were born. Nudity wasn’t a big deal among wolves, as we spent half of our time as animals. As I got closer to the pale woman, I could make out her features a little easier. She couldn't have been any older than maybe twenty-five at the most. Her face, though covered in blood and patches of drying mud, was undeniably beautiful. She had a delicate bone structure and light freckles scattered across her nose. Her pale skin looked soft and supple, but what really made me pause were her fingernails. Underneath, each nail was coated in thick, congealing blood, and not her own. Whatever had happened to her hadn't happened without a fight on her part.

  Gareth spoke first. “Orders, Alpha?” He came up beside me, also studying the woman with a frown between his light blond brows.

  I glanced behind me and said, “Cody and Ash, lift her and let’s get her to Christophe. Once we know she’s not dying, we'll figure out what to do with her. I’ll put in the call to Atlas when we return.” My two largest wolves immediately bent and lifted her into their arms.

  In less than a heartbeat after they’d lifted her up, something weird filled my stomach—a feeling of unease that I had to swallow back and ignore. I must have made some noise of discomfort, because Gareth gave me a strange look. I shook my head, waving him off.

  Together, we ran back through the Blood Moon territory, feeling more at ease the closer we got to our home. I was puzzled about the woman. These woods were thick, and she had to have been hauling ass to get this far out as fast as she did, especially if she encountered RedWood wolves on a hunt. I was honestly surprised she was still alive. I knew Atlas’ property backed up against the border of Noc City and that there were multiple ways both in and out utilized for decades, unbeknownst to the humans.

  I found myself glancing towards the girl in the arms of my packmates. Her long silvery white hair practically glowed in the moonlight, and her skin was nearly pearlescent. I’d seen her image on television a handful of times, as most had. She was a celebrity in the realest sense, but I’d never given her a second thought. The Angel of Noc City, they called her. Precious and delicate… Well, we’d put that to the test here very soon. That she’d been discovered to be half-immortal was jarring. Senator Harker was indeed keeping more secrets than we’d originally thought.

  In the distance, our village came into view. Small cabins were scattered around in a circle, which surrounded the pack house in the center. The massive house was where myself and my family lived and where the pack held important meetings and events. Gareth lived there too, as he was mateless still. A couple of my wolves had gone ahead, calling for Christophe, the pack doctor. He lived not too far from the pack house with his wife and daughter. When we entered, shifting to our human forms, Christophe was already preparing the sofa with a crisp white sheet and had a medical table set up. Seemed a bit overkill, given the fact that as far as I’d scented, she had no open wounds of any kind.

  Cody and Ash carried her in and placed her down on the sofa, letting her fall limp, an arm draping downwards and her fingers grazing the hardwood floor. I didn’t know why, but it made my teeth grind. Waving off the strange sensation, I found myself staring at her limp form as one of my wolves handed me my cell. I dialed up Atlas, and he answered on the first ring.

  “We found your runaway. Get to the Blood Moon pack house, asap.” Then I hung up without waiting for his response. I knew he, Merrick, and Faust would be here shortly.

  Christophe, sensing that she was stable after feeling for her pulse and for a fever, produced a large syringe from his medical bag. She was as limp as a dead body, and even from here, I could tell her pulse was weak. Whatever she’d gone through had been rough. Still, it was hard to have any sympathy for the daughter of one of the most despicable humans on the planet.

  He approached her with the ease of a confident and practiced physician, and slowly injected a clear substance into her upper arm. I could smell the pungent odor from where I stood—liquid adrenaline. In seconds, the girl sprang from her position on the couch, white hair flying around her head. Every wolf in the room was crouched and ready to defend their alpha.

  She was up and moving faster than any human woman would be able to move, crouched in a protective stance on the floor, facing me and my guards. As I looked Serenity Harker directly in her eyes, it was as if time, the world, and the universe ceased to exist. My blood ran boiling, and my teeth elongated from my gums. Claws replaced my fingernails as I partially shifted. It took tremendous restraint to refrain from letting my wolf free as I scented the air. More of that honey and floral scent hit me like a wrecking ball, making my cock harden instantly. I felt the need to fuck, to ruin, and to take.

  She wouldn’t look away. Couldn’t. I couldn’t either. The world grew dark on all sides, and the only light seemed to be emanating from her white blonde hair that cascaded down towards her hips. In my peripheral, I watched Gareth reach for her before she had the chance to utter a single snarl. He went for her neck, hand wrapping around her throat as he pushed her violently against the wall.

  I moved before I realized what I was doing, going so fast, I was a blur. Soon, I had Gareth ripped away from Serenity and tossed across the room like he was nothing more than a sack of rocks. The wall cracked where he hit, and he instantly transformed into his wolf, shaking off the crumbling plaster and snarling. A growl ripped from my lips as the other wolves took giant steps backwards, eyes flitting between Gareth, the girl, and then me. I was breathing heavily, mind running a mile a minute, and I didn’t know what to focus on.

  Anger rolled through me as my brain kept flashing back to Gareth’s hands on her pearly skin, squeezing around her windpipe. He was a loyal cousin and right-hand wolf, and yet I had the instant urge to rip that hand clean off. “What are you doing, Alpha?!” Christophe shouted, standing in the corner of the room, still clutching the syringe in his grip.

  I snarled at him, and even coming from my still human mouth, it was menacing, enough that the doctor averted his eyes in submission. I instantly knew what was happening, but my mind was fighting tooth and nail to reject it. I fou
ght hard to suppress the primal need coursing through my veins, the need to dominate, to claim. My eyes connected with the girl’s again, those crimson and chocolate depths, so deep and dark and full of pain, sucking me in. I raged against anyone who dared put it there. Blood still coated that angelic face, but the fierceness that blazed from those eyes was enough to nearly bring me to my knees.

  Instead, I prowled forward, squaring my shoulders and flexing my half shifted claws. Her eyes held mine the whole time. I was vaguely aware of the change in the air, the scent of vampires as three men entered the room. In the back of my mind, I knew Atlas, Merrick, and Faust had joined us in the pack house, but none of that mattered right now as I came nose to nose with Serenity Harker. I felt one word bubbling in my chest, ready to spill out like a snap of thunder.

  I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I couldn’t fight it. I refused to fight it. After over one thousand years of waiting and hoping, I let myself utter the word, “Mate.”

  There was an old saying that made me want to gag. Someone somewhere said that everyone had two wolves inside of them. Well personally, I’d like to have zero. From the way he was watching me though, I wasn’t sure if he cared too much about what I wanted.