Beneath a Blood Moon - Book Two (Moon Child Series)

Chapter Four

Amelia POV

“I cannot believe I’m stuck in a car with a blood sucking leech.” I hear the mutt called Luca mumble beside me as he drives us towards my apartment. I roll my eyes and cross my arms.

“You’re not my first choice for road trip buddy either, mutt.” I spit. A growl rumbles from his chest and I reply with a hiss. The rest of the drive is in silence and I’m left to my thoughts.

My first being that I have a mutt as a mate. When his wolf had pinned me in the woods and his scent flooded me my heart had stopped. What kind of cruel joke was the Night Goddess trying to play on me? I could not have a disgusting mutt as my mate. Disgusting in that he was a wolf. Not in looks, by any means. He was infuriatingly handsome, with his rich black hair, shaved at the sides and naturally slicked back at the top. His sharp jaw as sprinkled with a five o’clock shadow, adding a rugged look that suited him with his stormy blue eyes. He was handsome, no doubt. But he was still a mutt.

My second thought was that I was leading said disgusting mate right back to my mother who was alone and defenceless. But I had to if I was going to succeed in destroying Adrienne. This alliance was the only way we could succeed. Unfortunately, that meant working with and having to put my trust in the wolves.

My thoughts are interrupted as we pull up to the front of the apartment building.

“I’ll be back in a second.” I call back as I leap out of the car and away from his intoxicating scent of pine needles and the ocean.

“Oh no, leech. I’m coming with.” I glare at him as he locks the car and follows me up to the door. I pull out my keys from my pocket and unlock the door.

“Mama?! I’m home. Don’t freak out, but I have a guest.” I slowly enter the small two-bedroom apartment to find my mum hiding behind the couch, a gun pointed at the door. A growl sounds behind me as the mutt sees the gun and I place a hand on his chest to hold him back, instantly regretting it as tingles shoot up my arm. “Chill.” I growl at him as I try and ignore the feeling I get when I touch him. “Mama put the gun away, he’s with me.” She drops the gun on the couch as if it burned her and stood wiping her hands on her pants.

“Ugh. I hate that thing.” I smile as I walk in and pull her to my arms, breathing in the familiar smell of her that calms me even as an adult.

“Sorry mama, but you know you have to for your protection.” My mother frowned at me as she headed into the kitchen to finish off her tea. She still did not approve of my job even after three years of me doing it. Being a bounty hunter helped pay the bills, and allowed me to better gain intel on Adrienne, but it also came with the disadvantage of people trying to hurt those I love to get back at me. Hence the gun I had to give my very reluctant mother. She abhorred violence, and to her guns meant violence.

“Boginya, Amelia. I will never understand your appeal to your weapons and the bang bang things.” My mums thick Russian still around even after all this time and it made me giggle. She turned back to me and gazed curiously at the man behind me, his presence burning into my back and his scent making me drool. “Privet? Who is this handsome young man?” Luca stepped forward and pulled my mother’s hand to his lips as he kissed it.

“Luca Greystone, ma’am.” My mother blushed and I rolled my eyes. I walked towards my bedroom as I listened to my mum talk about nothing with Luca. Opening up my closet, I pushed aside my clothes and stared at the many years of work I’d spent tracking Adrienne. I heard her enter before I saw her, and I began packing up all my work into a box ready to take to the Alpha of Blue Water.

“He is very handsome, no?” Mum says as she sits on my bed. I ignore her question and continue packing away my things into the box. “There is something between you two?” I spun towards her with a glare.

“There is nothing between me and that mutt, mama. He is just a means to an end. The end of Adrienne.” Mums hands smoothed out her skirt as she smiled into her lap.

“Whatever you say, moy dorogoy” I closed the box and then pulled my suitcase down from the top shelf, filling it with the thing’s I’d need while staying on the pack lands. “Very well, I shall go pack.” I sighed with relief as my mum left the room with her questioning eyes reading through me. Pine needles and ocean fill my nostrils as I place my toiletries in my suitcase.

“Did you need me to carry this down to the car?” He stands beside the box, his eyes finding mine as I turn from my suitcase to him. He is so close, his scent swarming me, filling all my senses. His deep blue eyes swarm with a myriad of emotions that had my heart racing. Who was this man, this wolf? That could send my heart racing with just his scent, just a glance from his deep blue eyes. This mutt was making me feel weak in the knees, making me want to take his head into my hands and kiss him till we were both breathless. I shake my head of these thoughts and turn back to my closet as I continue picking out what I’ll need.

“Um, yeah. Thanks.” I see him bend and grab the box from the side of my vision as I busy myself with packing. I needed to focus on the task at hand. Finding and killing Adrienne. I didn’t have time for this damn mate bond to mess with my mind like it was. I couldn’t afford to get distracted. Distractions get you killed.

I zip up my suitcase and lug it into the living area where my mum was chatting animatedly with Luca, showing him something on her phone. She was obsessed with it since I’d gotten it for her, especially when I would facetime her during my long missions away from home.

“Da, da.” She said, “Her father lost his shoe chasing her through that mud. Dobrota, it was a funny day.” I cringe as I harshly drop my suitcase on the floor, pulling their attention from the phone to me.

“Mama. Stop boring him with your stories, we have to get going.” My mum just stuck her tongue out to me and bent to grab her suitcase, stopping when Luca insisted that he carry it. With a kind smile mum followed Luca through the open door and to the car, me soon following afterwards. Before placing her suitcase in the boot, Luca ran to the passenger side and opened the door for my mum with a kind smile. I roll my eyes and head to the boot to shove my suitcase in there. I turn from the boot to hop in the car and I’m stopped by a hard chest in my face. Goddess, this man was everywhere. With a little shove, I push him away from me and make my way to the back door of the car and hop in. Suitcases in the boot, he hops in the driver’s seat and the car roars to life. The drive back to the pack lands is filled with just the radio on low, and the low rumble of the engine. When we finally pull into the parking garage, I leap from the car to escape the suffocating scent of him. My mum’s eyes are wide with wonder as I lead her with the suitcases, one in each hand, towards the front door.

“Dobrota.” She exclaimed quietly. “It is like a castle.” I smile at her wonder and leave her to gaze in awe at the pack house. As I walk in Mia is walking through a door to the right, my uncle Viktor not far behind her, lost in conversation. Her eyes fall on me and she smiles kindly.

“Oh good, you’re back. Perfect timing.” Uncle Viktor walks to me and grabs one of the suitcases.

“Viktor?” Uncle Viktor’s head whipped around to the front door; his eyes full of unshed tears as they land on my mum.

“Katya?” the suitcase drops from his hand as his vampire speed brings him before my mum, his arms pulling her in for a tight hug. She returns it, her cheeks stained with tears. They pull apart slightly and my mum places her hands-on Viktor’s cheeks.

“The years have been kind to you, old friend.” Viktor chuckled as he leaned into her palms, his face full of so much love for her.

“That’s because I have not aged, dorogoy.” I turned away from the tender moment with a cough and looked at Mia for guidance. She grabbed the discarded suitcase and led me to the stairs that led up to the higher floors. The second floor held all the guest rooms and I was led towards the closest ones. Mia placed my mum’s suitcase in one of the rooms and then led me into the one next to it where I placed the suitcase on the bed and began unpacking. I smiled as she sat next to it and leant back on her hands.

“So, Viktor and your mum, huh?” She spoke as if we were old friends, just catching up, and personally I didn’t mind. Something about Mia had me not caring about the fact that she was a wolf, unlike her brother who seemed to just irk me into hating him. I cringe as I place my shirts in a chest of drawers inside the closet.

“Uncle Viktor isn’t really my uncle. He is an old family friend of my fathers. Back in the old days he and my father both were turned when they were slain on the battlefield and stuck together from then on.”

“And your mum? She’s human, isn’t she?” I paused in front of my suitcase, glancing at her from the side of my eye.

“Yes, she is. About thirty years ago, my uncle was helping an Alpha track down some men who had stolen his mate. My mum, unknowingly, was working as the maid of those men that had taken the Alpha’s Luna. He saw her and felt his heart leap. Or so he says.” I say with a soft chuckle. “The operation was a sensitive one, and he had to handle it with care. If the men knew they were close they would kill the Luna.” I place my toiletries in the bathroom as I continue to talk, remembering the story of how my parents met. “My uncle was so enamoured with my mum, and her him. He made a mistake, he revealed himself too soon and the men killed the Luna and were about to kill my uncle and my mother when my father burst in and saved the day.” Mia is leaning forward, her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands as I recall the tale of my parents that I’d been told often as a child. My mother did not hide that she had loved Viktor first, she was not ashamed of it. “When their eyes found each other, they knew they were blood-bound. My uncle stepped aside for my father, knowing he could not compete with the bond of blood. After that, my uncle decided it would be best if he went off on his own. He would come back for visits, and I would miss him when he would leave, but he never stopped loving her. And now I see she never stopped loving him either.” I sat beside Mia as I continue the story and smiled sadly.

“When my dad died, he couldn’t bear to go to the funeral, leaving only a letter for my mother. What the letter said, I don’t know. But they have not seen each other in many years. I’m glad they can reunite. My father would want them to be happy.” I knew in my heart that this was true. If my uncle had not been able to step back and let my mother and father be together, my father had always said that he would have stepped aside. Blood-bond or no. Viktor was a brother to him, someone who fought by his side for centuries, who had been with him through all the moments in his life, and his undead life. Their friendship was an inspiration.

“Wow.” Mia’s eyes were wide with wonder. “that’s so romantic.” A soft chuckle from the doorway has us both turning to see who it is, and the sound sends electricity coursing up my spine.

“Trust you to find that romantic, princess.” Luca said, the last word sarcastic. Mia just glared and stuck out her tongue.

“Just because you wouldn’t know romance if it bit you on the bum, Loo loo.” Luca cringed at the obvious nickname and growled.

“Alpha wants to see us, let’s go.” He turns from the room and leaves us to follow. I smile at Mia and as we stand, she links her arm with mine. I can see us becoming really great friends. Her brother however, I could either learn to tolerate, or end up killing. Either way, we were going to regrettably be spending a lot of time together, so might as well get it over with.