Moon Claimed: Supernatural Battle (Werewolf Dens Book 2) Read online

  Moon Claimed

  Supernatural Battle: Werewolf Dens

  Kelly St. Clare

  Moon Claimed

  by Kelly St. Clare

  Copyright © December, 2020

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, media, and incidents are either products of the authors’ imagination, or are used fictitiously.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

  Edited by Hot Tree Editing

  Cover design by Covers by Christian

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment

  Contents

  About the Author

  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

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  WOLF ROULETTE

  While You Wait

  Books By Kelly St. Clare

  Join the Book Barracks!

  About the Author

  When Kelly is not reading or writing, she is lost in her latest reverie.

  Books have always been magical and mysterious to her. One day she decided to unravel this mystery and began writing.

  Her works include The Tainted Accords, Last Battle for Earth, Pirates of Felicity, Supernatural Battle, and The Darkest Drae.

  Kelly resides in New Zealand with her ginger-haired husband, a great group of friends, and whatever animals she can add to her horde.

  Join her newsletter tribe for sneak peeks, release news, and disjointed musings at kellystclare.com/free-gifts/

  1

  This emptier version of myself was a stranger, but we could agree on some things.

  Werewolves existed, and one well and truly fucked my life.

  My mother wasn’t my mother. My father was her brother. My cousin was my sister. And Sascha Greyson, tribe enemy number one, wanted me for his baby mama.

  Just another Sunday in the existence of Andie.

  I jerked at a soft knock.

  The office door opened, and Tiptoe Eleanor poked her head in. “Andie? Meeting with the Luthers in ten.”

  I forced my cold lips to work. “Thanks.”

  The death of a leader warranted a week off Grids for mourning. That grace period had officially drawn to a close.

  Glancing around the manor office that Herc once occupied, I stood and twitched my grey sweater dress into place. The slight tremble of my hands only spurred my anger higher. Any weakness would be seen by our enemy.

  I headed for the opposite end of the manor, and a shadowed form pushed off the wall.

  “Hey,” I said, a slight warmth permeating my chest.

  My sister smiled. Rhona was a loyal heart under barbwire. Not a cute feisty barbwire. Layers of the stuff. Her barbwire was now gone. Her defences had been stripped away. Her smile showed me how crappy she felt.

  “Head Steward.” Rhona fell into step beside me. “You’re sure about this?”

  My stomach churned. I wasn’t sure of anything, but Herc sort of prepared me for this moment without me realising. If I was a Luther, I’d be circling for the kill. They’d see a young leader who barely knew the game.

  They’d see the perfect time to strike.

  My job was to show everyone our tribe was as strong as ever.

  That we were confident.

  “Absolutely,” I said. “This is the best path to take.”

  I nodded at a few stewards who gawked at us, then glanced at her. “Are you ready to face the pack?”

  “You’re asking if I’ll lose my shit?”

  Yes.

  My sister was, to all external purposes, my twin aside from the year separating us. I grew up scraping for a dollar and she grew up… here. Life had taught me that losing my shit only worked if I had nothing to actually lose. That wasn’t the case here. The tribe needed us. “I’m asking if you’re ready to look at the Luther who murdered your father.”

  She sucked in a breath.

  “They want to see you crumble.” With Rhona, a challenge was the way to make her perform. Especially when it came to pride. How Herc could have injured that pride so badly blew my mind. Then again, I doubted he intended to take the truth to death.

  Closing my eyes, I cleared my mind. I couldn’t afford any distractions against this wolf.

  Rhona met my gaze after. “I won’t let you down. The only way to beat them is to stay together.”

  She felt a different version of the same revenge wedged in my heart. I gripped her shoulder. “Together, we’ll drive them into the ground.”

  Her lips curved. “Sounds like a good time.”

  I entered, greeting the head team members. Some I knew the names of prior to ten days ago. Most I’d met over the blur of meetings since life took this… turn.

  With the reading of Hercules Thana’s will, a wrecking ball crashed into my already scattered life. For the first time ever, I couldn’t just add the lie to Mum’s overflowing pile.

  Because I didn’t belong to her—or anyone—and everyone who could tell me why this had happened was fucking dead—or killed by the Luther bastard.

  Sascha Greyson would pay for what he did. The life he’d taken, and those lives he’d ruined. Oh, the irony that fate put me in the perfect position to do just that.

  I’d win Grids and exile werewolves from Deception Valley.

  Rhona took a seat on my right.

  I’d once attended a meeting like this. I was thankful for the accidental experience Herc mistakenly—or purposefully—gave me.

  Drawing from memory, I said, “The objective is to show the Luthers we’re a unified and strong front. We are operating as usual. We have taken the change of leadership in our stride.”

  The head team hadn’t given me trouble—something I could thank ingrained tribe tradition for, as well as myself. Well before Herc’s murder, I threw myself into learning everything about Grids. That didn’t go unnoticed by anyone, and it had earned me an unofficial probation period when I inherited head stewardship.

  “Would you like me to put the call through?” Roderick asked.

  I thrummed my fingers on the table. “I think not.”

  Herc always put the call through—was the bigger person. He’d waited for the Luthers to pick up the phone at their leisure.

  Roderick’s lips twitched. “Very well.”

  The call was scheduled for 10:00 a.m.

  10:01. A phone symbol appeared on the large blue screen before us.

  My heart leaped into my throat. I’d asked Rhona if she was ready.

  Was I?

  Sascha and I hadn’t faced each other since the will reading. What would he do? He could reveal everything ab
out the breeding meets and our mating, which would see me firmly booted from this job. My only security was that he wanted to be my sperm donor.

  Jesus, Dr Phil would have a field day with this shit.

  Hardening my expression, I listened to the phone ring for the fifth time.

  Seven.

  Nine.

  “Answer,” I said calmly.

  Roderick did the honours, and the fucker himself appeared on the screen.

  His gaze found me.

  I took in his scraggly shoulder-length brown hair and liquid-honey eyes. The asshole stood front and middle of his team, and I broke our staredown to look at Leroy, Hairy, Mandy, Grim, and Lisa. Alpha, beta, delta, gamma, and omega.

  “Luther,” I said.

  Mandy’s eyes narrowed.

  I had no fucks to give her. She’d have to pre-order one.

  “Miss Thana.” The smooth syrup of his voice trickled in warm, slow drips down my back.

  Yeah, the meets we’d completed so far did a few things to me. Each time, I felt more. The capture meet had ramped things up again.

  I fisted my hands beneath the table. Focus. Sascha was far more experienced at swordplay. I couldn’t dance with this monster. Best get to the point. “We’ve made our choice for the next grid.”

  We lost Sandstone by a few points but won the grid back as reparation for Herc’s murder, so the choice for Wednesday’s battle was all ours.

  My choice was an unusual one.

  The werewolf considered me.

  What did he see? Hair that should have been washed three days ago, dark circles under my emerald eyes, and a gaunt expression because I was too heartsick and stressed to eat?

  “What’s the decision of the head steward?” Gravel entered his voice.

  My ire swelled for Greyson’s—my nickname for his wolf—presence in the meeting. Sascha and Greyson were one and the same, but Greyson led the capture meet. He’d been in charge when Herc ran to save me. He was the murderer.

  Yes, I blamed Sascha.

  I blamed Greyson more.

  A smile graced my lips. “We’ll see your pack in Water.”

  Nothing betrayed his surprise. I mean, the Luthers currently held three grids—Water, Clay, and Timber—so my choice wasn’t groundbreaking, but traditionally, we were weakest in Water closely followed by Clay. Therefore, the tribe usually chose Timber first.

  I’d played the game in two grids so far—three if you counted my unlucky experience with the fake laser tag in the forest.

  Water was our biggest weakness. I had to know it better.

  “Very well,” Sascha replied. “The game will fall outside of the new moon this month. Three days after.”

  The wolves’ power had everything to do with the sun. At the new moon, when sunlight wasn’t reflected off the moon, the Luthers became most volatile. “The game will obviously go ahead.”

  “Obviously.” The gravel in his voice strengthened. I couldn’t glean a thing from his expression, but his eyes didn’t shift from mine. If he had a straw in his mouth, I’d say he was drinking me in.

  “Unless there’s another obvious point you’d like to make, Luther, there are other places I’d like to be.”

  Leroy’s eyes narrowed, but Hairy nudged him like a good little beta.

  “Until Wednesday, Miss Booker.” Honey eyes bore into me.

  My chest tightened. Never again. I’d never let myself fall for those eyes again. “I go by Miss Thana.”

  I nodded at Roderick, and the screen blanked, cutting off Sascha’s reply.

  Twisting, I eyed Rhona’s murderous grip on the armrests. “You alright?”

  “I killed him ten times in my mind.”

  “Therapeutic.”

  Her mouth crooked in a smile. “It will tide me over until I can do the real thing.”

  My stomach twisted, and I ignored the magic voodoo telling me Sascha’s death should be avoided at all costs, even with my own life.

  “Now to win a grid we’ve never won,” my sister murmured.

  I stood. “Win? No. Learn? Yes.”

  Luck wouldn’t help me destroy Sascha Greyson. And I didn’t want to win with luck. No.

  When the Luther pack went down, it would be because I controlled the puppet strings.

  2

  I stared at my buzzing phone.

  Unknown number.

  We need to talk

  I strongly disagreed.

  Sascha had shown his true colours, and I could only feel stupid for believing some of his act. I never had a problem with the wolves before, not really. Part of me even felt for their situation at one stage.

  Now.

  If I’d sometimes winced at Herc’s blatant disgust toward the Luthers, that Andie had learned her lesson.

  Another message arrived.

  His last words. They’re pack secrets.

  He shouldn’t have known them.

  Red fury blinded me, and I dropped my gaze to where my hands strangled the phone.

  Herc’s last words. Which fucking ones?

  I’d rather lose a grid than see this happen to her.

  I’ve seen this before.

  I won’t fail again.

  You can be fixed.

  Your death won’t kill her.

  I deleted Sascha’s messages and blocked the number without replying. His information gave me nothing about what I truly wanted to know.

  Why did Mum steal me from Herc? If I knew that, maybe I could feel warm again. Maybe…

  I’d understand how she could have hurt me so badly.

  Only one port of call came to mind. Scrolling through my contacts, I turned the speaker on.

  “Baby girl, what can I do you for?”

  With Wade, the sexual innuendo was always intended. “Hey, do you know the Freys?”

  “Sure do. Gotta say, they’re not the biggest fans of your family. They causing trouble?”

  I didn’t get bad vibes during my short conversation with Margaret, but good to know. “They’re my—” Fathers… “Well, my, uh, Mother was with a Frey when she left the valley. I’d like to ask them questions.”

  “I’ll set it up. How soon?”

  “As soon as they can.” The faster I put this plaguing curiosity to rest, the better I’d sleep, and the more energy I could dedicate to Grids.

  My phone buzzed. “Someone else is calling. I’ll catch ya later.”

  Hanging up, I checked the name. “Roy. Good news, I hope.”

  I needed rid of Mum’s debt yesterday.

  In two months, I’d accumulated nearly four thousand dollars in interest. The debt was getting beyond what the house sale could cover. Another month would screw me.

  “Good news,” he said. “There’s an offer. Young family. One child and another on the way. Looking for a house with a bit of a yard.”

  If they bought the house, they could be flying pigs for all I cared.

  “Offer is three ninety-nine.”

  My heart sank. “That’s less than I expected.”

  “Remember that’s the initial offer,” Roy rushed to say.

  I needed 416,000 to cover conveyance fees, the commission Roy would take, and the new interest. “I can go down by four thousand. That’s it.”

  A brief pause. “They have some wiggle room, but probably not that much.”

  I got paid an allowance for leading the Ni Tiaki. The money pulled from the trust that contained Deception Valley land and this manor. The allowance was better than my saxophone gig at The Dens, and I no longer had any living costs. I could pay off a thousand dollars in the next month. If I sold short of the debt amount, I’d still have a fight against interest, but it would only be calculated on a few thousand as opposed to hundreds.

  I could win that fight.

  I leaned back in the office chair. “If they’re willing to pay a higher deposit and can authorise release of that deposit to me immediately, I can meet them at 412,000.”

  “I’ll take that back to them.” His grim t
one told me what the answer would be.

  Dammit. “If they’re willing to meet me there, I’ll throw the house furnishings in too.”

  Storage was a cost I didn’t need, and I just wanted everything to do with Queen’s Way gone. The new owners would be doing me a favour.

  Surprise coloured his voice. “Could you send a list of the contents?”

  Could I squeeze that between three hours of meetings, study, overseeing Sandstone, Iron, and the council of this valley, managing disputes between stewards, and the endless documents requiring my attention?

  Herc had once asked Rhona and me how we’d juggle such a load. I’d given a beautiful answer. A textbook answer.

  What an idiot.

  This had to take priority. I was drowning in problems. “Give me until the end of the day and you’ll have it.”

  Rhona entered without knocking as I slid my phone away.

  “Done with study?” she asked.

  It was midday so I had to be. And I’d done approximately none. The situation grated sorely at my straight-A pride, but I couldn’t do much about that. Only a pass was realistic. “All done. Are you alright?”

  She blew out a breath, taking the seat opposite mine. “I’ve thought more about the last two weeks. There were signs I should have picked up on.”

  I tensed. Sascha killed your father because of me. “Like what?”

  Rhona licked her lips. “I think Dad tried to tell me the truth a few times—about you. He was acting weird, you know?”

  I refrained from wiping the beading perspiration from my brow. Working undercover in The Dens had taught me subtlety at least.