Forget Me Not (Phased Moonlight Series Book 2) (10 page)

              “Nodin. He said you were in trouble, and he started off in the same direction you two went. I smelled your fear and started running.” 

              “Wow. I guess I should thank him then.”

              “Give him some time to cool down first. His wolf is super sensitive,” Koda said.

              “Yeah, and anyway, it’s almost time to go to the beach!”

              Faith smiled and nodded.

              Sera saw the look in her friend’s eyes and put her arm around her shoulder. “Are you sure you wanna go out there, Faith?”

              “Yeah. I hear Hawaiian beaches are some of the most beautiful in the world.”

              “Are you really gonna be okay? I mean, I know you sort of…panic sometimes, and—”

              Faith squeezed Sera’s hand. “I’ll be fine! Now Let’s go!”

* * *

              When they arrived at the beach, Sera smiled and dug her toes into the warm sand, looking out over the shore. The waves crashed onto the sand, and the sun warmed them.

              “This is perfect,” Sera said, sighing as Koda’s arms wrapped around her.

              “Yes you are.”

              “Cheesy,” she said, then giggled, “but I love a little cheese now and then.”

              “Why does Faith not like the beach?” he asked, laying a towel down for his mate. 

              “It’s not the beach. It’s the water. When she was eleven, she almost drowned because she got caught out in the undertow.”

              “Oh. I see.”

              “Koda, c’mon, bro! It’s volleyball time.”

              Koda looked at Sera as his beta called him over to the net.

              “Go ahead. I love you.”

              He gave her a kiss that made her smile. “I love you too.”

              As Koda ran off to play, Sera lay back on the towel to enjoy the sun for a bit. She hummed to herself as she listened to the sounds around her: laughing, the waves, the pounding heartbeat of her pack, and screaming.
Wait. Screaming!?
She sat up quickly and looked behind her, watching in horror as two men grabbed Ally and Faith, covering their mouths with their large hands and dragging them into the forest.

              Without a second thought, Sera jumped up and ran after them. Her feet pounded on the ground as the sand gave way to compacted dirt. Needing to go faster, Sera phased and followed the scent of the men. They were human, so she should have been able to easily outrun them. She finally found them in a small copse of trees, holding knives to her friends’ throats. Sera froze and let out a fierce growl. When she saw rivers of tears running down her friends’ cheeks, her heart broke. 

              “Phase back to your human form, Sera Kalihan, Moon Shine Alpha and mate to Koda Stephano,” said a voice that didn’t belong to either of the smiling men.

Sera growled and phased back; when she did, to her surprise, she was fully clothed, if a scrap of cloth over her breasts and a thigh-high slitted skirt could be counted as clothed. The clothes felt like poison, assaulting her pores, and she squirmed, entirely uncomfortable. “Show yourself!” she yelled.

              The voice chuckled. “You are in no position to command me, but because I have respect for you, young Alpha, I will reveal myself.”

              A large man then materialized right in front of Sera, and she snarled as she took a step back. His eyes glowed silver, revealing his sinister ways. He smiled a sinister grin, and a deep dimple appeared in his left cheek. His black, wavy hair reached his shoulders. 

              “What is the meaning of this?” Sera demanded with a growl. 

              “I wish to speak to you,” he said, ignoring her attitude.

              “I’m here. Why did you endanger the lives of my friends?”

              “Because,” he said, chuckling, “you never would have left your mate’s side otherwise. I need you alone. I almost had you in that rotting old mansion, but the explosives went off to soon.”

              “You!?
You
set my house on fire? Why?  Who the hell are you anyway?” 

              He smiled and wagged his finger in her face condescendingly. “Tsk-tsk. Do not get lippy with me, for I am running the show now.” 

              “I just asked you a simple question.”

              “That you did, and now I shall ask one of my own,” he said as his smile disappeared. “What are you are willing to do to save your friends?” He then looked over at the man holding Faith and nodded.

The man ran the knife over Faith’s face teasingly.

She sobbed and whimpered, looking at Sera with pleading eyes. 

              “Don’t,” Sera said, more of a warning than a plea.

              “Go ahead.” 

              On command, the man ran the knife down Faith’s arm, drawing a scream from her.

Sera snarled and lunged. The man in front of her held out his hand, and a sharp pain began to form in her chest. She stood there, paralyzed. As he closed his fist, the pain intensified. The lush green grass around her turned gray and limp. Her senses dimmed, and her vision blurred. “St-stop,” she managed between gasps. “Please.”

              Immediately, the pain ceased, and her legs gave out. Before she could fall, though, the stranger reached out to catch her.

              “What are you?” she croaked out.

              Before he could answer, Koda burst through the clearing.

              “Ah, Koda,” the stranger said, still wearing his sadistic smile. “Long time, no see. How nice of you to join us.”

              “Ceolus, let her go!” Koda said, growling as he stood there with his wolves flanking him for backup. 

              “Uh-uh-uh,” Ceolus said, smiling and wagging his finger again. “One step closer, and I’ll kill the pathetic humans.”

              Koda shot his hand out to stop his wolves from moving. “Let her go,” Koda commanded. “You have no right to—”

              “No right? But, you poor, lovesick sap, I came all this way to fetch her. Why would I let her go? I gave you a heads-up, warned you that I was coming. Surely you haven’t forgotten. Come now. I left a note. You
can
read, can you not?”

              “Wh-what’s he talking about?” Sera said, her voice hoarse as she lay limp in the man’s arms. He was holding her protectively against him, much like Koda often did, and she felt bile rise in her throat.

              “You didn’t tell her? Oh, this is rich!” Ceolus said, letting out a deep chuckle. 

              “Bonding ceremony surprise my ass!” Sera said, looking at Koda in disbelief. “You lied to me!”

              “I thought I was protecting you!”

              Sera tried to answer him, but her voice wouldn’t work, for the pain rose in her chest again. She screamed as it pulsed through her. She writhed in Ceolus’s arms as the agony spread through her like white-hot metal poured into her veins. Blood seeped from her nose and ears, and she could taste the saltiness as it coated her tongue.

              “Stop! Ceolus, please have mercy. Please let her go!” 

              “Mercy?” He laughed again and shook his head as if there was not a more ridiculous notion in the world. “Dear Koda, I intend to do so much more than that, but I am quickly tiring of this audience. I am sure I will see you again.” He then closed his eyes.

Koda snarled as black smoke began to form on the ground. It encircled Ceolus and Sera, covering them from head to toe, until all Koda could see was Ceolus’s glowing eyes. He lunged at the black mass, but he only caught smoke. Just like that, his mate was gone.

* * *

              Sera’s head throbbed as she slowly regained consciousness. She moaned and attempted to rub her sore neck, but her movement was limited by metal shackles slapped around her wrists. She jerked herself upward, snarling. Any skin that came into contact with the metal burned, drawing more growls from her. “Wolfsbane,” she said, recognizing the horrible sensation from long ago.

              She tried to contact Koda through their bond, but her advances were stopped, and a sharp pain split her mind. She had to grit her teeth to keep from crying out. Her eyes panned the dark room, but she found herself struggling to make out any objects. She called for her wolf, but she was silent, lying dormant.

              “Finally awake?” a deep, menacing voice said from inside the darkness.

              “Who are you? Show yourself,” she demanded, hating how weak she felt and sounded.

              The voice chuckled at her. “You are in no position to demand anything from me, fallen Alpha.”

              “Does it really look like I have fallen?” she said through gritted teeth.

              “Perhaps not this moment, but the night is young. Would you like a drink?”

              Sera growled as a match was lit, followed by a torch, casting an orange haze over the room. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the lighting, and she saw a man holding an extinguished match and a silver chalice.

              He was large, and his head was shaved close to his scalp. Scars marred the darkened skin of his head, but his eyes were what captured her attention. His left one was the color of a gray and stormy sky, but his right eye was completely white, with no pupil or iris; it was like looking into a bucket of white paint. Sera could tell by the way he stood, with his left side more in front, that he was blind in his right eye. She glared at him, but that only caused his smile to widen. 

              “Like it?” he said, displaying his eye. “Your mate gave this to me.”

              “Then his judgment must have been spot on,” she said.

              He snorted and moved closer to her. “You are even more beautiful than the master foretold.”

              “The master? You mean the maniac who brought me here?”

              In the blink of an eye, the wolf was before her and smacked her across her cheek. She grunted as her head jerked to the side from the force of the unexpected blow, straining her already sore neck.

              “Never speak of the master in such a manner,” he spat.

              Sera smiled as his sputum dripped off her. “How cute! He needs you to defend him, like the little bitch he is.”

              She stared him down as he punched her in the stomach. She groaned as her breath was stolen from her lungs.

              “Enough!” another voice boomed, causing them both to jump.

              Sera looked up and saw the man who had taken her, Ceolus. Her rage built up deep within her, and she bared her flat human teeth at him, yet another reminder that her wolf wasn’t responding to anything she did. Panic rose in her chest, and she felt her body trembling.

Ceolus and his minion both laughed at her. “Is your wolf not cooperating, my dear?” he teased.

              “What did you do to her?”

              “I put her to sleep for a while. I can’t have you communicating with Koda, silly girl.”

              Her uncle’s face flashed into her mind, and she snarled. “You gave my uncle that potion the first time I couldn’t communicate with my wolf.”

              Ceolus smiled at her and nodded. “Clever girl. Yes, it was me. He was supposed to keep you under control, but you easily outmatched the stupid fool. No matter. While he was no match for you or Koda, I most certainly am.”

              “He’ll come for me, and when he finds me, he will take great pleasure in tearing you apart.”

              The man puckered his lips in a mocking pout. He moved forward and grabbed her face in his hand, then roughly squeezed her cheeks. “Oh, sweet little Snow, he may find you, but it will be too late. By the time he comes to rescue you, you will already be bound to me. Your stomach will be swollen with my child. I will be the one you lie beside at night. I will give you undeniable pleasure with a simple—”

              Sera silenced any further words by spitting in his face.

His nails lengthened into claws against her skin, and she cried out when he punctured her skin. “Foolish wench! You will learn to obey your alpha.”

              “You are not my alpha, and I will never be yours.”

              He moved closer to her and licked a bead of blood as it trickled down her cheek. He closed his eyes and let out a moan, savoring her taste.

Sera fought the urge to gag as she looked up at him.

              “Oh, Sera, how wrong you are. One day, you will beg for me, cry my name out in passionate moans, but first, we must break you. Fortunately, I know just how to do so.” He released her cheeks and nodded to the other man in the room.

The man bowed to Ceolus before giving Sera a sinister smile and leaving the room.

Ceolus waved his hand, and a large, plush, throne-like chair appeared. He winked at her and sat down as someone screamed her name.

              “Sera!”