Red Rose Moon (Seasons of the Moon) (9 page)
Read Red Rose Moon (Seasons of the Moon) Online
Authors: SM Reine
“No!” Rylie screamed.
Her cries mingled with Eleanor’s. It shook dust from the crumbling rafters of the barn.
Seth’s mother collapsed in an instant, as if she was nothing more than a bag of bones. But the life—and the anger—remained in her face. Her one good eye stared up at the rafters.
“Monsters,” Eleanor whispered.
Then she was gone.
F
OURTEEN
The Reception
As soon as Rylie was
sure that Eleanor’s remains were done twitching, she ran to Gwyneth. “Oh my God,” Rylie breathed, grabbing her aunt by the shoulders to look at her. “Are you okay?”
Gwyn chuckled. “I’m fine, babe.”
“But the skull—”
Gwyn patted her back. “I was brought back by a charm, not black magic. I knew I’d survive breaking the skull.”
“Did you? Really?”
“Well… no.” She winked. “But I had a pretty good feeling.”
A laugh burst out of Rylie’s chest—one that was more relief than actual happiness. She threw her arms around Gwyn and squeezed her tightly. But not
too
tight.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered against her aunt’s shoulder.
“Well, I’m not totally unscathed.” Gwyn drew back and turned to show Rylie a wound on her back—a circle of human teeth over her ribcage. “A couple members of the pack sided with Cain, and they fight nasty. Good thing I’m already dead, or the next three months sure wouldn’t be fun.”
Rylie clapped her hands over her mouth. “Oh no.”
“It’s all right. Just a flesh wound.”
“But you can’t heal that!”
Gwyn shrugged. “You’re okay, and the baby’s okay. That’s all that matters.”
She looped her arm around Rylie’s shoulders and steered her out of the barn.
A black wolf came rushing down the hill and stopped just in front of Rylie. Abel butted his broad nose into her side. His hot breath snuffled over her hands and neck.
“I’m fine,” Rylie said, pushing his head down. He laved his tongue over her face, and she giggled. “Seriously, I’m
fine
.”
Abel touched his nose to her belly, as if to make sure that was also okay, and her smile faded a fraction.
“Yes,” Gwyn said. “That’s fine, too.”
Rylie stroked her hand over his massive head and released the transformation. Abel shifted back quickly. He stood naked and steaming in the snow. “Eleanor?” he asked.
Gwyn jerked her head toward the barn. “Dead. For good this time, I think.”
“Rylie!”
Seth was just a few yards behind his brother. Gwyn released her, and Rylie pushed past Abel to run to him as best she could in all of her skirts.
He caught her up in a hug, and Rylie buried her face in his neck.
She might not have gotten married, but she had survived—and so had the baby. Seth and Gwyn were safe, Abel was home, and Eleanor was dead.
She couldn’t ask for anything more.
Yasir loaded Cain’s unconscious form
into the back of a van with the surviving Union traitors. There weren’t many left—Levi had gone wild with fury, and it was only because of Bekah’s intervention that any survivors were left at all.
“What will you do with Cain if he can’t die?” Seth asked Yasir, keeping an eye on the twin werewolves still wrestling with each other at the bottom of the hill. It looked like Bekah was starting to wear Levi down.
Yasir slammed the door shut and locked it. “The Union has a special prison. And now that we have control of Cain, the traitors shouldn’t be a problem—I hope. I’m going to take him straight to HQ until I can get him to give me the names of all of his followers.”
“You don’t think this is over?” Seth asked.
The commander shook his head. “Not even close.”
He climbed into the van and drove away. Seth watched them go, and he felt a little bit less safe than he had before speaking to Yasir.
Abel sat down at a chair next to the toppled table of presents. He pulled a box into his lap and opened it.
“China set,” he said. “Nice.”
“Those aren’t for you,” Seth said.
His brother ignored him. He dropped the china, grabbed another bag, and ripped out the tissue paper. “Who the hell gave you a fishbowl?”
Seth rolled his eyes and decided not to remark on it.
The rest of the surviving pack members were helping clean the bodies and tear down the decorations, which had been thoroughly destroyed in the fight. But all Abel seemed to want to do was be annoying.
“Did you get my message?” Seth asked. “I left you a voicemail.”
“Naw. I lost my phone somewhere between getting kidnapped and fork torture. Why? What did you say?”
Seth swallowed hard. “Nothing. Never mind.”
“Are they gone?” Rylie asked, emerging from the house. She had changed from her dress into a pair of jeans, but her hair and makeup was still perfect. She looked incredible.
He caught her hand and pulled her against his chest.
“They’re gone,” Seth said firmly. “You’re safe.”
She sighed and leaned against him. “That wasn’t what I expected to happen when I said we should get married.”
He rubbed his hands over her shoulders. “Well, we still have the license. All we need is a ceremony.”
Abel stood up.
“No,” he said.
Seth lifted his eyebrows. “No?”
“No,” Abel repeated, pushing his way in between them. “You can’t get married.”
“Abel…” Rylie said warningly.
Seth reached out to take her hand. “It’s okay, Rylie. Abel knows that you’ve made your choice. He’s not going to do anything stupid… right, Abel?”
His brother’s golden eyes glimmered. “That’s the thing. She
did
make her choice, and she can’t marry you. Rylie is pregnant with my baby.”
T
HIS ISN’T THE END OF THE STORY!
I had originally planned on just four episodes of this serial, but as you can probably tell, I have a lot more story to tell! Who’s the father of Rylie’s baby? What’s going to happen to Gwyn? Is anyone going to end up getting married?
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A
UTHOR’S
N
OTE
Thanks for reading. I hope you’re having fun with my werewolves! I’m a full-time writer these days, so I really appreciate all your help spreading the word about my books. If you want to get involved, go ahead and…
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~Sara (SM Reine)
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