Gypsy Moon (All The Pretty Monsters #4)
Kristy Cunning
PROLOGUE
Then…
VANCE
“If Idun catches you doing this again, she may very well cut it off this time,” I tell Damien through the door, as a woman makes a lot of noise on the other side.
“Damn that devil bitch to hell. I’m done,” he answers back, while a possible second girl cries out like she’s just gotten what she came for.
He laughs and groans, and I roll my eyes, staring out at the rising sun that creates a blush across the horizon.
Damien bounds out of the door in the next instant, pulling his shirt on as he goes. His trousers are barely hanging on his hips.
“You gave it all up for her, and now that you’re damned for all eternity…do you really think she’s just going to let you go?” I ask him idly, tired of hearing this old song-and-dance routine from him. “Isn’t that what you said when you called me a fool for thinking she’d ever let me go.”
“You finally stayed gone. If you can, I can.”
“You’re a sexual deviant who can’t even have an orgasm without killing someone, unless that someone can’t die.” The women in the room giggle as though proving he left them alive, hence the reason he’s insanely agitated.
“I’m getting a handle on it. My necklace is almost enough. Once I work in some chains, I’ll be able to feed without killing, even if I do have to give up my love for the most pleasure a man can experience,” he bites out, his anger barely restrained.
“You keep going back, since Idun’s the only woman you can fully enjoy. I can’t trust that you’ll stay gone, when you crave that flesh so much,” I argue on a tired breath.
“I said I’m done, Vance,” he growls, shoving at my chest as he glares at me. “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t even stand to be in the same room with her. I’m feeding just enough to be able to put her under, and then we’ll all go our separate ways.”
“We can’t go our separate ways. The Heads of their homes have to—”
“As much as possible,” he interrupts, waving off my argument.
My eyes dart around our quiet, wooded surroundings just outside the old cabin, before I meet his gaze again. “Arion will have to stand down. If the vampires are blocking Idun, we don’t stand a chance. His nests are too large, and Idun’s den is massive.”
“Because she’s been culling ours while secretly growing hers. I know this. I’m still in. I can convince Arion to stand down if anyone can,” he says very seriously.
“He has to feel like he was a part of this vote and just lost,” I say quietly, looking around again.
“If we involve him in a vote, he’ll think all he’s done is still okay,” he argues. “She shot an arrow through my bloody heart and left me to watch, as her savages shredded my flock. I barely escaped with my own life because she refused to let me feed. Arion watched the entirety of the brutal situation and didn’t lift a hand. No vote. This is not reconcilable.”
“He doesn’t even think for himself, Damien. He’s Idun’s monster. But we need him to stand down.”
He cracks his neck to the side. “That’s a last resort,” he says to me before turning to leave.
“It’s actually our only hope,” I call to his back.
He tenses before he disappears into the woods.
CHAPTER 1
Now…
VIOLET
Chains rattle as Shera finally wakes, groaning before she curses and looks around the small, stone cell we’re in. A narrow set of bars at the front is the only decoration in the depressing room.
“Fuck,” Shera hisses as the chains rattle more. “Where the hell are we?” she adds, her eyes cutting to mine, as something akin to fear flashes in her gaze.
“I’m not really sure, but I think it’s literally underground,” I say, gesturing behind me to where dirt has cracked part of the stone cell and a small weed is growing there.
“Who the hell was that damn wolf? She smelled omega, and I only half-ass fought her because I didn’t expect her to be capable of that,” she says like she wants me to know she’s still a badass and that getting her ass handed to her by an omega wolf was one big misunderstanding.
“She’s pureblood, but I think that means something different to them than it does to everyone else,” I say quietly. “What do pureblood vampires do differently than turned ones?”
“Purebloods are naturally stronger—physically,” she says, really annoying my information gathering skills that I’m using for my own personal conundrum.
Unless my heartrate dips into the danger zone, I can be resilient, but not stronger. Dropping my heartrate to be stronger could…end with me losing myself to my panicky monster, at current.
I’m not calm enough to risk it, and meditation isn’t going to cut it right now.
“They also have severe allergies to sunlight,” Shera continues quietly.
“Based on that formula, these wolves should have severe allergies to silver, right?” I ask as I pat my one-shot knife that stays with me like a small security blanket. “They didn’t check me for weapons.”