Come Out Swinging (Reach for the Moon Book 2), Sam Hall [leveled readers .TXT] 📗

arm’s length now, dark eyes burning into dark eyes. There was something there that I hadn’t seen before. A kind of mutual understanding that came from spending years growing up together. “There’s something else going on here.”

“There is,” I confirmed. All eyes went to me. “I saw this giant…wolf. He had eyes like the moon. It seemed like he…he took Mason away. I lost my shit and yelled at him—”

“We know,” Lorcan said, brows creasing. “We heard you.”

“He just stared at me, saw all my misery, and just…” I shrugged. “Somehow, I managed to change things. He transformed into her.”

“Who?” Micah asked, but those grey eyes were so similar to hers. I had a feeling he knew.

“Mother Moon. She appeared, and for a second, I just felt this love. Then she told me nixes were rising and that I needed to claim all of you.”

“I think I’ve found religion,” Declan drawled, smiling when he caught my eye. I needed that—that simple expression of joy. It created an answering one in me, filling that darkness I almost felt I’d brought with me. “I, for one, would like to start the religious rites as soon as possible.”

Snickers went up around the room which seemed to settle things somewhat.

“We need to make some contacts, find out more from people who aren’t consumed by all this misogynistic bullshit,” I replied, shaking my head. “I said we’d leave town when I put my father’s killer in the ground. Well, it’s Marshall and Nance. I’m breaking their hold on Lupindorf and on my family. They’re gonna pay for what they did.”

“Through sex?” Declan asked. “God, I love being with a nix.”

“Better than the fucking drills and other bullshit Mason always put us through,” Micah said. His eyes slid to me. “Training in bed sounds like a perfect way to end the day.”

“Yeah well, we’re gonna need to start that shit up again,” Mason replied. He just smiled at the sound of their groans. “You’ve been asked in the past to do your best to keep the Spehrs safe. Now,” he looked across at me, “you get to keep your mate safe. Nance will get wind of this, and she will have an answer. When she comes, we want to be ready.”

“But there’ll still be sexy times, won’t there?” Declan asked in a faux plaintive tone.

I walked across the room, shoved him back down flat on the bed, and straddled him, his grin reappearing twice as bright, his hands going to my hips, pulling me down and wriggling me against his groin.

“We need to formalise what’s between us before we deal with Nance.” I moved my hips deliberately in a slow grind, something that made his smile falter and his eyes roll back. “I’ll be taking your knot deep.” I’d started by teasing him, but as I felt a hard clench inside me at the idea, it felt like I was torturing myself. “So, yeah,” my voice was lower, huskier now, “sexy time is gonna happen.”

He rolled up, wrapped his arms around me, and slammed his mouth down on mine for a couple of hurried, hard kisses.

“Bring it on, I say,” he said as he pulled away, those whiskey eyes all hazy now.

“But not right this very moment,” Zack said. “Let’s sit down and sort out a battle plan.”

So Declan groaned as I shifted off him, the lot of us moving towards a small living area in the room, but before I got far, Lorcan grabbed me, hauling me back against his chest.

“Hey,” I said, feeling the tension in his hands, his body.

“Don’t,” he replied. “Just…stay here for a second.” Moments ticked by as the guys settled themselves, starting to throw some ideas on the table. “That… In the fight, you were a fucking avenging goddess, but at the hospital? I felt it, what you were going through, what the wolf was.” He shook his head violently. “Never do that again. Promise me. Not for me, not for any of us. I can’t fucking stand the thought of you facing that down again.”

“But I can’t stand losing you.” I turned in his arms, looking into his bright shining eyes, touching the harsh planes of his face. “No one or nothing is taking you from me. Nothing.”

He tried to tell himself he didn’t like my answer, I could see that, but he did. A little smile came and went, but the fire in his eyes didn’t. He reached over, brushed a kiss across my temple, and then directed me towards the others.

Sitting down in the circle of them, I could feel it now. What I’d before seen as maybe lust or attraction, I could now feel running through me like a current of electricity. It was a sense of them, Zack and Lorcan more pronounced due to our finalised bond, but I could also feel Dec, Micah, and Mason. With them, there was something…hungry about it, plucking at my consciousness, trying to pull me closer. It was a pull, I realised, like I had for them. I took a deep breath, scanning the lot of them, and for a minute, just cherished having them all here in the same room.

“We’re not going back until we’re well armed, both physically as well as with intel,” Zack said.

“I agree.” My pack looked at me, their expressions somewhat surprised. “What?”

“I thought I would have to fight you a lot harder on this,” he replied.

“No.” I shook my head. “Seeing Mason in the hospital bed and Bridge in the clutches of those bastards…” For a moment I just re-experienced that, with all the subsequent pain and anguish that came with it. “I actually think we should head back to the city.”

“What?” This came from multiple sources.

“Just for a bit. Bridget doesn’t want to go back to Lupindorf, and I don’t blame her. I want her safe, away from…” I looked down at my hands. “Away from those fucking bastards. While we’re there, we can make contact. Maybe with some other nixes, maybe