Red Moon Secrets (Deadly Beauties #3) Read online

  Yelps and roars escape the blurry scenery, and Sierra charges in to join them. Chaz swoops in to scoop up the naked girl who has passed out. They vanish from sight as he takes her away.

  Amy's sire came to claim her, forcing her into submission. But how did he find her? And why now? Of all the times, why now?

  Gage materializes beside me, and wraps his arms around me, threatening to haul me away, but I shock the hell out of him with a blast of power before he can vaporize us.

  "Alyssa," he growls, chastising me only after he sees I haven't lost it.

  Where's my crazy powerful, badass bitch self when I need her?

  I'm not sitting back this time. I'm not letting everyone else fight while I sit on the sidelines. I'm strong enough to help, damn it.

  Kane and the others are tossed back, and Sierra lets out a yelp of pain as the beast chomps on her much smaller side, drawing blood and terror.

  "Sierra!" Deke yells, only to be met by almost the same fate.

  Zee dives on Deke, knocking him to the ground before the monster can reach him, and Kane throws a blast of power that knocks the beast off his feet. Gage does the same, and the two of them continue to hit him over and over, but it does no good. He's too strong.

  He charges Kane, but as he does, that darkness within me stirs, inviting in the crazy, the powerful, and the badass. Finally.

  My scream goes out like an eerie, powerful echo, honing in on the lycan, and drawing the beast's attention. He stumbles to a halt, seeming to roar out in pain as blood creeps free from his eyes and ears. He staggers, as if he's drunk, and groans deep from his throat, until he collapses to the ground, unconscious before he even hits the earth.

  My high leaves as quickly as it came, and I look around at all the faces questioning what the hell just happened. I look down at my hands, confused about what power I just used. All I did was scream. Why did I scream?

  "A banshee's scream? How can she—"

  "Just drop it, Deke," Kane growls, walking over to the slumbering lycan still collapsed on the ground.

  I jerk my head away when Kane reaches down to grab the beast's head, wrapping his hands in a motion that foretells what's to come.

  I hear the crack, and I gag, trying my best not to lose everything in my stomach. Bones crunch more, and I do lose it, dropping to my knees as I heave.

  A chill washes over me, and I jerk my head up to see shadows materializing all around us, making me gasp and scramble backwards.

  "Step away, night stalker," one man says, shattering the stealthy approach.

  Kane does as he's told, and he starts toward me.

  "I didn't say move!" the man barks, finally becoming visible.

  "Don't say a word," Gage whispers to me as he comes to stand directly behind me. "Don't even breathe loudly."

  What the hell is going on?

  Several vehicles with bright lights come to join us, and I look around, growing all the more confused. Glowing orange eyes, glowing blue eyes, and several other entities join us. Then I see the marks. The tattoos that creep out at different places. They're all council members.

  Why are they here?

  "He attacked us," Kane says, not showing them an ounce of fear.

  I start to go to him, but Gage grabs my arm, making me stay put as the members of the various councils go to view the dead body of the beastly lycan.

  "I'm sure he did, but that's not why we're here. It has come to our attention that you've knowingly been harboring a fugitive lycan who never registered herself. The spawn of this one, no doubt.

  No. No. No.

  Kane's jaw tenses, and Chaz materializes with Amy in tow, making me almost crunch my teeth in two.

  "I've got her right here," Chaz says, carrying her sheet-wrapped body toward them.

  "You betraying bas—"

  Gage clamps his hand over my mouth, holding me steady and muffling the rest of my words. I struggle, but it's in vain. I almost wish there was a red moon out right now.

  "How many of them knew?" A woman in white asks as she materializes to join us.

  I've seen her before. She's on the light council.

  "As far as I can tell, just the coven was aware—the three night stalkers and the other lycan. Alyssa Coldwell was unaware. Gage is Somage. He would have reported it himself if he had known."

  Gage presses his hand harder against my mouth as I beg to tell the truth. Kane tenses, but he doesn't waver or cower.

  "And the incubus?" she asks, glancing over to Dice who is concreted to his spot.

  "Unaware. He's as new to the group as the rest. The coven kept this very secretive for obvious reasons."

  "Very well. You did good. Now, get them out of here while we take care of this."

  Chaz walks toward me. That's very dangerous to do right now.

  My power starts stirring. I can't let them take Kane. I won't.

  Just as they walk toward him, my eyes catch the blurring of everything around me, and the arms around my waist grip tighter as we barrel through the different planes. When we materialize in a field, I release a shot of power, but Gage dodges it, shaking his head.

  Chaz appears with Dice, and I lash out, throwing orb after orb, inviting the dark high to come in. But it never does. The one time I want it, it leaves me abandoned.

  Chaz manages to successfully avoid each of my frenzied attacks, and Gage finally throws up a force field, halting anything else I throw from even coming close to reaching them.

  "Calm the fuck down!" Chaz blares, as if he has a right.

  "Calm down? Seriously? Calm down?" I ask incredulously. "You just sent my boyfriend to the fucking council on a silver platter. They'll kill him, you stupid son of a bitch!"

  I try to crack through Gage's force field, but it holds steady. I need my darkness. Where the hell is it?

  "I had no choice," Chaz says, sounding exasperated. "If I hadn't turned him over, they would have known you all knew. Then they would have arrested you. They've already got the damn dark angel. It wouldn't have posed them a problem to take you if they managed to take him. Do you know what would happen if they saw your true fey origins? They'd fucking kill you. That's what they'd do. Then they'd go after your mother and Drackus. We're talking about a full scale war before it's over, Alyssa. Do you understand that? They wouldn't have believed me if I had told them no one from his coven knew about Amy. We'd all be in jail and there would be no one to break them out."

  Dray? Shit. They've got Dray, too.

  I take several deep breaths as I let his words resonate. "So you're going to help me?"

  He rolls his eyes as if I'm stupid.

  "Of course I'm going to help you."

  Gage drops the force field when he feels me slowly calming down, but when he least suspects it, I knock him and Chaz both on their asses with a powerful shot. They fall to the ground with a thud, and Dice cackles. I cut him a glare, and he smothers his laughter with his hand.

  "We need to get out of here. Pine Shore would be better than staying here," Gage grumbles while climbing to his feet. "We need a fool-proof plan. Nothing rash."

  I sigh out heavily while walking toward him. "How did they know? How did that lycan find us?"

  Gage shrugs. "Is that what you want to focus on, or do you want to get to Pine Shore so we can form a plan? Because we can only do one thing at a time."

  I'm almost tempted to strike him again, but instead, I pull him to me, ignoring the small spark between us. "Get us out of here."

  Chapter 14

  Answers

  Soft lips are on mine, greedy hands are scouring my body, and my eyes dart open to see no one is there. My heart beats heavily in my chest, trying to assess what just happened. It feels like tiny spiders are crawling over me, while the sudden abandonment of the phantom touch leaves me bereft.

  Freaky.

  I head out of the room at Gage's house to join the three men who are planning a rescue without me.

  "Too dangerous," Gage says, dismissing whatever plan
lies on the table.

  "That's what you've said about everything I've thrown out there," Chaz mumbles, crunching up a paper and tossing it to an overflowing pile of other failed plans.

  "If we do anything that risky, we'll all end up behind bars. Then who will save us?" Gage says, sounding haughty and not at all urgent like he needs to.

  "Drackus," I say, adding to the conversation and drawing their attention. "And Mom."

  Gage rolls his eyes. "Drackus can't save us from the council's prison, Alyssa. It's not like Castine's dungeon. We have to be smart about this."

  "I'm sure you're real concerned," I hiss, sarcasm oozing out of me.

  He turns his back on me, and sips his coffee as though it's just another morning.

  "You're leaking again," Dice says, frowning while pointing his finger at me.

  "What?"

  "Succubus. You're leaking it again. It's making me all… annoyed. I really need to work with you on capping it off when it's not in use."

  "Bigger problems than dripping sex right now, Dice," I chastise, trying not to throttle him.

  "It's distracting," Chaz says, his eyes moving from me to Gage and then to me again. "Succubus. That's odd. You don't leak anything else. Why leak succubus?"

  "Maybe it's because she's close to changing," Gage says idly, moving away from the bar as though he's bored, and then he comes to stand dangerously close to me. My heartbeat quickens as an old ache tries to return.

  Hell no. Not happening. Never again. Never.

  He smirks as he sees my inner battle that makes not one damn bit of sense. I love Kane. Why am I feeling tempted? Kane's life is in danger, and I'm struggling to take a step back from Gage.

  "Something wrong, Alyssa?" he asks with a knowing grin I want to slap off his face.

  Something has been wrong for a while. I thought it was better. Why is it back?

  He leans down, letting his breath trail across my face, and then he smiles wickedly before walking around me, leaving me breathless.

  "Alyssa?" Chaz says, breaking into my thoughts.

  "Yeah," I say, clearing my throat. "We need a plan."

  His eyebrows cock up, as if he's amused or confused. I'm not sure which.

  "I realize that. That's sort of what we've been doing all morning. You okay? You don't look so good."

  "I'm fine," I lie, hating myself for the feelings I shouldn't have. Kane. I have to find Kane.

  Nothing. Every plan we have falls apart because of some miniscule detail Gage points out. I've done well to keep my distance from the dark user since this morning.

  Chaz has been reading numerous books he swiped from the council's library. Aunt Hilly has been of no use. She has nothing helpful to offer despite her knowledge of the inner workings of the council's prison.

  Chaz has been digging deep to come up with a plan, but he's remained silent for a while now, engrossed in whatever book he has on his lap. Dice is pointless—as usual. All he keeps doing is griping about my leaking succubus issue.

  "You just focus on your aura, treat the leak like a leak in your aura," he says, for the millionth time.

  "Dice," I groan, exhausted. "I can't even cap off my aura. I'm sorry. Deal with it already."

  He curses me under his breath, and Gage's smooth chuckle comes out in small spurts. I look away when I feel my heat rising. I almost feel like I'm involuntarily betraying Kane just by having these unbidden feelings.

  "I found something you dropped," Gage says while getting too close. Then he holds up Thad's necklace that had fallen off. I almost smile, but it's weighted by the guilt I feel for all these hormonal urges. I feel like a fucking animal in heat right now. Not cool.

  "Here," he says, putting it on me and fixing the broken chain by using his magic.

  His breath brushes my neck as he presses into my back, and I move away quickly, needing distance. He smiles as he moves back to lean against the wall, keeping his eyes concentrated on me.

  I excuse myself when I keep looking at Gage, feeling my unwanted desire trying to bubble free. It's really starting to piss me off.

  I shut and lock the door to my room, but I realize immediately I should have cast a spell if I wanted to keep the dark user out, considering he's already materializing in front of me.

  "Running from me?" he asks, taking a step toward me and making me take a step back, a pattern that repeats itself as he continues. "You feel it like I do. We're meant for each other, Alyssa. You've been denying it, but you feel it."

  When I run out of room to back up, his lips come down on mine. Tears slip out when I can't control myself, feeling my body react without my permission. The cool steel of his lip ring brings back so many memories just like this. The heat of the bar in his tongue forces out an involuntary moan as everything on my body heats up.

  I try to fight him, try to fight myself, but I have no control. More tears slip out as his kiss grows hungrier, and he pulls me closer, letting me feel his desire in firm form.

  "I've missed you," he whispers into my mouth as my fingers tangle in his hair to tug him closer.

  I want to scream, yell, hit him with a burst of power, but all I do is return the carnal kiss that almost becomes bruising. His hands ride over my body, feeling the forgotten places through the fabric, and sending shots of heat to my core.

  Seconds before I'm about to make a mistake I'll never forgive myself for, the door pops open, and Gage pulls back.

  "What?" he growls, not bothering to turn around to see who it is.

  "Somage just called your cell. They need you to meet them in Edgebrook. Now," Chaz says angrily.

  Gage turns around, and I almost taste his irritation. "Who told you to answer my phone?"

  "I got sick of hearing it ring. Sue me. The point is, they need you. It's probably about all this shit we're already dealing with. I handled my end. You handle yours."

  Gage lets a string of curses fly freely from his mouth, and then he turns back to me and jerks me to him to deliver a crushing kiss that fills me with even more shameful desire.

  "I'll be back. We'll continue this," he murmurs against my lips, seeming reluctant to let me go. "If it wasn't for the fear of this having something to do with you, I'd stay. I just want you to know that. I'm done with the Somage. From now on, you're my one and only focus. I love you."

  I don't respond. I can't. Right now, in this moment, I hate him almost as much as I hate myself. Chaz seems bored more than shocked. That's insulting. Then again, I'm in love with Kane but kissing someone I just want to forget.

  "If anything happens to her while I'm gone, I'll make sure it's painful for you," Gage warns.

  "Just deal with this shit," Chaz says dismissively, waving Gage off.

  Gage vanishes from the room, and I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding. Chaz vaporizes from the room, leaving specks of his glistening trail behind. I slump to the ground, wishing I could claw out my heart right now.

  How could I do that? Again?

  Chaz materializes in the room, and he grabs my bag from the floor before tossing it to me, seeming rushed.

  "Use your magic. You have ten seconds to pack."

  I start to open my mouth, but he interrupts me before I can speak. "Eight seconds."

  Instead of trying to figure out what the hell is going on, I use my magic to seal up everything I can, and then I pull the bag over my shoulder. Chaz pushes me out the door, baffling me all the more.

  "What's going—"

  "I'll explain on the way."

  Dice is messing with the coffee maker, slapping the side of it, as we walk by. He never even looks up.

  "We'll be back. Alyssa needs some air."

  "Whatever," the incubus grumbles, cursing the inanimate object in front of him.

  As soon as we reach the outside, Chaz steers me toward Kane's old home, which is right next door. With a flick of his wrist, the garage door opens, and a car starts.

  "Get in and buckle up."

  I do as he says, though I'm
actually starting to freak out a little.

  "Chaz, what the hell is going on?"

  He doesn't speak as he throws the car in reverse, and then makes a hard turn to barrel straight ahead. We bypass the lake homes at warp speed on our way to town.

  "You curious as to why you're completely in love with Kane, yet when you're alone with Gage, you want him too much to deny it?"

  My tears teeter but don't fall. There's an explanation?

  "What's happening to me? Is this because of what I am?"

  He takes another hard turn that jars my body, but he gets us back on the road, heading out of town.

  "Ever heard of the Aphrodite spell?"

  "Yeah. It's a love spell. A complicated love spell most can't successfully cast."

  He nods slowly. "Do you know what happens when you use that spell on someone who is in love with someone else?"

  I think hard about it. Love spells always seemed juvenile to me, so I never really studied up on them.

  "No."

  He takes another sharp turn, and then we level out on the interstate, heading far away from Pine Shore.

  "If you cast the Aphrodite spell on someone who's already in love, the spell can't work properly. Instead, it heightens the feeling of lust, which is an emotion that can easily be confused for love when thrown out in strong doses. Not to mention, you almost lose control over your body and desires. You wouldn't notice it at all unless you had a reason to need to deny that person but couldn't. Have you by chance ever been with Gage even though you really didn't want to?"

  My mind flashes back to the night I caught Gage cheating on me. I couldn't refuse him. I wanted him even though I didn't want him, almost as if I had no control over my actions. I wipe my tears away. I knew something was wrong then, but I never sought the answers because of the far worse chain of events that were in play at the time.

  "Yes," I almost whisper. "Are you sure it's a spell?"

  His jaw tenses as he stares straight ahead. "I'm positive it's a spell. Your succubus is giving it away. It makes so much sense now. What does a succubus feed off of?"