Unleash The Moon (The Preternaturals Book 6) (21 page)

He found her in the closet she’d slept in the day
before. Noah shifted again and curled back up with her to wait for
the sun to go down.

***

Noah woke when Sydney did.

“
I think the
sun’s up. I can kind of feel it,” she said.

Noah shifted and stretched. “I’ll check.” He slipped
out of the closet. The sun blazed in the sky.

He popped his head back in. “I can’t believe you can
be awake now. The sun has about an hour yet before it’s safe.”

She grumbled. “I want to get on the road and go
home. It’s so stupid that I’m waking up when I can’t go
anywhere.”

“
Once we settle
some place safer, it’ll be different. We’ll make it sun-proof so
when you wake you don’t have to hide.”

“
Have you
thought about what kind of place we might live in?” she asked, from
the shadows.

“
I thought I’d
consult you on that. You know more about the area now than I
do.”

“
I was thinking
we could convert the Cary Town Luxury Apartments. My dad owned the
penthouse. It’s deserted now, but the penthouse is still set up to
be vampire-friendly, and it would give us a separate space from the
rest of the pack. Plus before it was apartments, it was an old
hotel, so it has some similarities to what the pack is used
to.”

“
Yeah, okay. I
can deal with that. How far is it from your dad’s
compound?”

“
About four
miles, I think.”

It was better than being right on top of her family.
He didn’t want to be negative about it, but Noah was sure the
vampire king wouldn’t approve of this match.

Noah returned to the cramped closet, careful not to
let sunlight spill in. It was easier in his wolf form but she
needed to feed. Her heart rate picked up at his proximity.

There wasn’t another vampire alive that Noah would
allow to feed on him. His dad would throw a fit. Noah should
probably worry about the vampire king and how he’d take it, but he
was more worried about his dad.

It had been a big enough issue when his mom had been
brought into the pack as Cole’s mate. Sure, she’d started out
human, but they’d smelled vampire blood on her. It was in her veins
even though she hadn’t been a vampire. All they could figure was
that her mother had been some vampire’s thrall and he’d perhaps fed
her his blood to heal her while she’d been pregnant with Jane.
Somehow that blood had made its way into the developing fetus.

The pack had accepted her, and even more so once
she’d become a demon and was physically stronger, but the fact
remained that wolves weren’t fans of vampires, and Jane hadn’t
needed to drink Cole’s blood.

The new pack was cool about it, but they’d just met
them and hadn’t been in a position to judge mate choices.

A thrill went down Noah’s spine as Sydney licked the
side of his neck. From another wolf it would perhaps be a sign of
affection. From a human it would be a prelude to sex. From a
vampire, it was like licking a piece of chocolate before you bit
into it.

“
Why do you
think your blood makes me so strong?” Sydney asked. There was a
tremor in her voice as she held back the urge to bite. She was
getting so strong she was nearly his match, something he never
would have thought possible when they were in the facility together
and she’d been so vulnerable.

“
Noah?”

“
Beats me. I’m
just glad it does.” All those years she’d been weak and sickly, and
his blood had held the cure to make her whole. If Cole wanted to
make a thing of that… well Noah hadn’t seen his old man in two
decades. He’d gotten used to feeling orphaned. There wasn’t much
left to lose if his family rejected him.

Noah hissed as Sydney bit him and began to feed. His
erection pressed against his pants, but they didn’t have time for
that. And he knew she didn’t want to do it in this closet she
hated. Her bite had started to create a physical response that was
perhaps more disturbing than letting a vampire use him as
dinner.

She ran her tongue over his throat to take the last
drops of blood that trailed down. “D-did I take too much?”

“
No. I’m fine,”
he said.

“
Well, you’re
quiet. And you aren’t…”

“
It’s a dirty
closet, and I need to hunt. Then we need to get on the road.” He
shifted to face her. Even in the dark he saw her features clearly,
the insecurity and fear. He planted a kiss on her cheek. “I’m just
thinking. Everything is okay.”

“
Does this
bother you? That I have to feed from you like
this?”

“
No. It doesn’t
bother me.” He wasn’t about to mention that it might bother his dad
or the pack back home. Or how they were going to deal with the fall
out from the joke fate had decided to play by putting them
together. “I need to hunt.”

Noah didn’t want to leave her. He wanted to reassure
her that they’d be fine, but he wasn’t feeling it because the
closer they got to getting back on the road to go home, the more
his anxiety mounted. He couldn’t tell Sydney because he didn’t want
her to worry, and he couldn’t share with the pack because they
needed to see him as their strong unstoppable leader. They might
forgive the outburst about his imprisonment, but they wouldn’t be
able to deal with the instability of him showing erratic weakness
every other day.

He hunted alone again and kept away from the others.
He told himself it was to think, but he was brooding. He felt
himself mentally going back to the cell, that space where he was
alone and it was just him and his thoughts and his dreams.

Milo approached and tried to run with him, but Noah
growled and snapped until he ran off. He’d be lucky if the pack was
even still at the farmhouse when he returned with his behavior.

But when he got back, they were ready to go with
their bikes lined up. The sun had set half an hour before, and
Sydney was with them. She was the social lubricant that made this
work. They felt comfortable and chatty with her. As the alpha’s
mate there was less pressure on her. She needed to be strong—and
she was—but she didn’t have to be as strong as Noah did. Or as
distant.

He regretted telling them the truth about his
history. Maybe he’d imagined it, but he felt sure they judged him,
thought him inferior, questioned following him altogether. Maybe
they followed for Sydney, and Noah was just the sideshow.

When she saw him, she excused herself and strode
over. She looked like Shira. Maybe it was that she wore Shira’s
clothes, but she moved like her—with confidence and power. And
right now Noah felt again like the visiting wolf with no home and
no roots—like it was her pack, not his. Maybe it should be.

The urge came over him to shift
again. He wanted to challenge her for the pack. Noah shook the
thoughts from his head. He must be mad. Challenge her for the pack?
What the hell? They were BOTH the alphas. Of course it was her
pack. Of course she moved like an alpha. She
was
an alpha. If he couldn’t
keep up with that, it was his own failing. He couldn’t take it out
on her. He wasn’t going to hurt his mate.

When she reached him, he shrugged out of her embrace
and avoided her kiss. Her features betrayed hurt at his rebuff.

“
Noah? Is
everything okay? Are we okay?”

Why couldn’t he reassure her? He’d run off earlier
leaving her wondering what the hell was wrong with him, and now he
was pulling away. But the thoughts he’d just had. In his head he’d
shifted and ripped her apart to lead a pack of wolves he didn’t
even know that well. She was his fucking mate. Every part of his
DNA had known she was his from the time they were babies. Even if
he hadn’t known what that feeling meant, even if he’d just known he
was meant to protect her and be her friend. And now? What was
happening to him?

What if he hurt her? What if he lost control and did
something crazy because he couldn’t shut this shit off?

“
Noah?”

He growled. “It’s fine, Sydney. Let’s go. You know
the way back home. We’ll follow you.” He smelled her tears but
couldn’t bring himself to comfort her.

“
Did… did I do
something to upset you?”

“
Let’s just get
settled. We have bigger things to worry about right now. If the
magic users go to Cary Town our families could be in danger. They
may be planning something or on their way now. We don’t have
time.”

She went back to her bike, deflated. The mood of the
pack shifted in a wave as she passed them, as if they’d become
emotionally entwined with her. Noah felt their resentment. Because
he’d made her cry. Fuck them. It was better to make her cry than to
make her bleed, and until he could trust himself not to want to
hurt her for stupid things—scratch that—not to want to hurt her
ever, they’d have to deal with her general unhappiness.

He ignored the accusation in their eyes and cranked
his bike. Then they all followed Sydney home.

Chapter Twelve

Sydney barely knew the way back, and yet something
inside her directed her there like an internal GPS. There wasn’t
space in her brain to navigate; everything was Noah. It was a
mistake to claim him. It was a mistake to let him mark her. So
they’d been friends when they were kids. So what? He was wrong
about them. If they were meant to be together, whatever was
happening between them now wouldn’t be happening.

Did he resent her strength? Did he find her feeding
on him disgusting? Had he found his real mate in their new pack and
now regretted the link with her? Maybe he was just now beginning to
understand how impossible a mixed relationship could be. It wasn’t
just working around sleep schedules and diets. It was… everything.
She belonged with another vampire. He belonged with a wolf. Nature
was as it was for a reason.

Tears blurred her vision, and she was grateful for
the helmet and wind and the privacy. None of the other wolves would
see or smell her tears. She needed this space to think. She blinked
the tears away.

She couldn’t even imagine what her father would say.
She’d been so foolish thinking if she claimed Noah it would make a
difference. It wouldn’t make a difference. He’d kill her mate and
then ground her for the next three centuries. Then she’d be back to
living in a teenage holding pattern. Would her strength stay
without Noah’s blood or would she go back to the way she’d been
before?

All she’d been to Noah was nostalgia. It was
embarrassing. Of course he’d latch onto her given the circumstances
he’d lived in for years. Of course he’d confuse his feelings and
think she was his mate. He hadn’t lived like a normal wolf. He
didn’t even know how to be a wolf. And now he clearly regretted
everything. The wall that had gone up around him the last time
she’d fed… and that distance…

Before they’d left, she’d seen something in his
eyes, like he wanted to kill her. A mate’s first instinct was
supposed to be to protect, not whatever it was she’d seen before
he’d brushed her off.

They rode straight through the night, pushing the
limits of speed the bikes were capable of. Sydney was sure they
could move much faster without the bikes, but they couldn’t bring
anything that way. Everyone had been asked to leave most of their
belongings behind. It was unreasonable to ask them to give up
literally everything they owned.

Even though Sydney only stopped twice to refuel, it
was a surprise when they reached Cary Town. The sun would be up
soon, and although she could sense it coming, she didn’t feel
tired.

The Cary Town Luxury Apartments were a far cry from
luxury now. The building looked condemned. Sydney pulled into the
parking lot and got off the bike. The other wolves followed suit.
She’d forgotten they were there for most of the trip. She’d been
too busy wrapped up in her pity party, but now she was alert. She
didn’t sense any extra magic that would indicate the magic users
from the city had beat them here, but they’d need to be on high
alert until the sun went down again and they could get magic
protections put on the place.

Sydney took a deep breath and took the helmet off.
Any idiot would be able to tell she’d been crying. Crying made her
puffy, and even vampire healing didn’t seem to erase the evidence
any faster than on a human. The universe seemed determined to
display her misery to the world.

“
It’s not much,
but we’ll fix it up. Your dad can get us set up with electricity
and water and computer tech stuff, right, Noah?”

“
Yeah,” he said,
noncommittally.

He was almost back to the way he’d been when she’d
first seen him in the cell next to hers, before she’d known he was
Noah. He seemed just as dangerous and unreadable now as he had
then.

“
Room keys are
going to be behind the front desk. They have the old-fashioned
keys. They never switched to key cards before the place was
deserted, so getting into rooms shouldn’t be a problem. Noah and I
will be in the penthouse.”

The wolves followed her into the lobby. If she
imagined really hard she could remember what the place had been
like when she was a small child. Everything had been deep cherry
paneled and gleaming and golden and sparkling with a large crystal
chandelier in the center of the lobby. The walls were lined with
mirrors from about halfway up the wall to the high ceilings. The
floor had been such shiny tile you could see your reflection in it
as you walked.