Gypsy Moon (All The Pretty Monsters, #4)

by Kristy Cunning

“Tell me plan B before you pull these chains off me. The second these chains are gone, I become a threat in their eyes. If this fails, this is my life we’re talking about. They’ll kill me.” Her eyes hold mine, her breaths moving a little quicker. I shrug a shoulder. “Plan B is to find you somewhere to hide until help comes.”

Shera has three, maybe four days left before she attempts to drain Violet. It’s likely Violet may rip my favorite beta to shreds.”

“Violet can’t die,” Vance says calmly, studying his blade as he begins to sharpen it, “which is the only reason you haven’t all been stabbed. I’m going to need you to shut the hell up so I can concentrate on breaking the loop if you want it done faster.”

Arion’s eyes meet mine. “This girl attracts more attention and trouble than should be possible.” His lips tug up in a sadistic grin. “She better be damn glad I know she can’t die.”

“It’s as though she’s deliberately the opposite of Idun,” I say under my breath. “Probably the reason for our damning obsession with her,” Damien adds on a dry note. “Every time we give her a moment to herself, she gets herself into a mess.” “So it’s settled. She’s moving in with me, and you all can come see her when you want to,” Arion says like he’s declaring it the new law.

“I’m struggling to see how that’s the next thing out of your mouth. Did I miss another conversation you only had in your head?” I ask him.

I always forget how much more the vampire’s curse hurts until I hear that scream. I’ve seen Arion brutally tortured and never scream like that.

You’re not rolling downhill, Violet; you’re tangled in their web. You’re already theirs. Arion is a package deal.”

“They think they can put and keep them all underground, and we’re stripped down to our knickers so you can throw some string around. A bunch of people are going to have to die, and I’ll likely be among them, because I smell Arion.”

“Wolves make wolves! It’s natural. We are the new future. We will rise like we were always meant to!” “Oh good grief. One of those,” Shera

“Damien’s the curse of flesh. Arion’s the curse of blood.” “So glad you’re a genius. Now I feel even more confident in everything you say or do,” Shera whispers like I’m the biggest idiot she’s ever met and she can’t believe she has to die beside me. In her underwear. Because I made a pointless plan…and then made a new plan on the fly when Arion’s screams started. “To break the curse, I can do like I did with Damien, only with blood instead of sex,” I whisper in explanation, as Abby rattles on with her sadistic, motivational speaking. Shera’s eyes widen when she catches my meaning finally, and she immediately shakes her head.

The strings come to life, flying out of my bra and swinging me through the crowd like a wanna-be, poor man’s spider-girl in Ghost Buster underwear. Wrecking Ball pops into my head, and I can almost imagine Anna singing it to me in this moment.

“Abby,” Arion’s voice chimes like he’s playing hide-and-seek with her, while doing some creepy taunting. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” he goes on, his tone not at all threatening but completely eerie. I’m glad I’m not Abby right now. He claims he likes me and still left me to bleed alone in the corner, so I actually almost pity her for what he may do to her.

The tension ratchets up. I’m not even sure why I’m scared. It’s as if I’m watching a movie and feel sorry for them for bringing this on themselves. All that remains down here are furry wolves and…me.

A shadow comes from somewhere overhead, and I dart my gaze in that direction, just as Vance Van Helsing lands in the middle of scattering wolves, seemingly coming out of nowhere. He slowly stands to his full, intimidating height, as he smirks like a man who has come to have some fun.

“If you can make it by me and him, then you have to make it by Arion,” Vance tells the crowd, using his unimpressed tone that’s layered with thick condescension. “If one of you can make it by three alphas, you’re free to go,” he adds with a humorless smile, as his gaze flicks up from his sleeves, just as he finishes rolling them up. “Starting now.”

“It’s as though you don’t quite understand that we don’t really fucking die, but all of you do,” Vance goes on in a very Monday-morning-teacher sort of way.

Vance remains calm and casual, as though he’s mildly irked they think they’re worthy of his presence.

There aren’t hundreds of wolves standing like I thought. There are five. The rest are dead bodies, mostly severed, and lying on the ground, half turned back to flesh form.

Arion is sitting right beside me, legs crossed at his ankles like he’s been here all along with his hand on my leg, even though I can’t feel his touch.

Arion takes a small blade from the ground and walks happily toward the scared wolf…who got exactly what she wanted. All four of them. In one place. She probably regrets being so ambitious.

“Abby is the perfect time when she’s informing you she’s by herself and abducting you,” he argues.

“The lie sounds much more mature than the real reason,” I assure him, but he just stares expectantly, apparently not letting me out of here with my dignity. “You’re sort of the high-school-quarterback type, and those types just have secretive, unimportant flings with the death-obsessed, horrible-dancing, young-and-naïve damsels-in-distress, who get themselves in more trouble than they’re worth. Trouble finds me no matter what, it seems. The cults want me outside the town, and the monsters want me inside the town.”

“I’m not sure what a high-school-quarterback comparison means exactly,” he finally tells me, lips pursing. He’s cute when he’s confused. It’s hard to find a guy who looks as good as Vance cute very often.

“When sex is involved, it feels like I’m the only person in the world you want to see, and it feels like you want to be with me. But when sex is over, so is the way you look at me.”

“I’m reminding myself of the hellish time you’ve had in the past forty-eight hours, at current,” he tells me like it’s a casual confession. “I’m going to need you to stop looking at me like that before I make an impulsive, likely insensitive decision to stop showing restraint.”

As usual, his hands are on me in the next instant, pulling me to him, and I exhale a tired breath. “Was that the knee-me-in-the-bollocks sound you just made?” he asks next to my ear, lips already dragging down my throat. “After you threw yourself before the very worst part of me and gave me your neck? You’re the most frustratingly confusing woman I’ve ever known. I believe this is the truest meaning of mixed signals.”

“I thought the only thing holding you back was your fear. Clearly the fear is absent if you’re willing to turn yourself over to the very darkest part of me. It’s amazing you’re in one piece, so clearly you played submissive very well, Violet. It’s because you were ready for me to save you and overcame your fear of me. Now we can be together.” When I say nothing and simply stare at him like he’s forever losing his mind more and more when we speak, he frowns like he’s genuinely perplexed.

“That’s sort of the problem. I feel like the conduit for your feelings for them because you have heterosexual body parts with a homosexual mentality. I’m not sure I’m okay with simply being a conduit,”

I don’t think I’m explaining this very well, since they’re all muffling laughter down the hall. Even Vance makes a choked sound of amusement. Or they’re just really immature about these things… That’s definitely possible. Arion scrubs a hand over his face, as someone struggles to cover a surprise laugh with a cough.

“I’ll drive you home,” Damien says with a slow grin. “I’m not talking to you, and if you’re a smart man, you’ll figure out why,” I state firmly. “Only when you figure it out will we discuss it.” “I’ll take you—” “I don’t want to talk to you right now, because I need to get my cool back,” I tell Emit, whose eyes immediately flick away, as his jaw tics.

Unsure how to be right now, since this feels sort of awkward, I think I curtsy. Pretty sure that’s why his eyebrows bounce up. Life would be easier if I knew how to be cool.

“I’m weird. I’d apologize, but I’m really too tired,” I say as I turn around, barely glimpsing his spreading smile, as I quickly walk away and roll my eyes at my own damn self. I’ll blame it on the exhaustion and blood loss.

“Are you implying that she’s drawn to our more killing natures?” Arion asks with far too much intrigue and hope in his eyes. “She just gave you the ‘let’s be friends’ brush-off, so I’d say it’s highly unlikely that’s the case,” Damien dutifully points out.

“The poor girl has gone through hell as far as her sheltered, much more innocent mind is concerned. Subtlety takes longer, but in the end, it never fails, so long as my fuck-ups stay minor,” the smug son of a bitch says with a smirk. “At least with you lot to contend with,” he adds in a dry drawl, his lips curving up at one side,

“Go be whiny and she’ll like you just fine again. I’m not likely to find out what her problem is with me, unless at least one of you takes mercy and finds out what I’m doing wrong,” Arion gripes. Even I engage at last, joining Damien and Vance in giving Arion a unanimous, eerily similar, perfected look. Arion’s eyes dart from each of our faces as he slowly points a finger at us, like he’s counting or some shit. “That’s the face you all give me when you think I’m being deliberately obtuse about something,” he says warily. He’s only wary and not arrogant when he’s unsure of himself.

“She hates me, and all of you seem to know why, but you want me to figure it out on my own. Stop fucking pulling my dick and tell me where I’ve bloody gone wrong. I was doing so well in the beginning,” Arion says like he’s genuinely perplexed when I look away. “In your head, I’m sure you were doing excellent,” Damien retorts dryly.

For a second, I forget she has every right to hate me, because all I want to do is throw her over my fucking shoulder like the animal I am and steal her away.

“Don’t,” she says like she knows I’m following her, even though I’m damn quiet about it. Hard to do at my size.

“You think I’m mad at you because wolves attacked me?” she surmises, rolling her eyes like she’s as frustrated with me as she was with Damien. Now I feel as bloody confused as Damien.

When she feels strong emotion, others are forced to feel it, and right now, I feel as stupid as Vance always tells me I am.

One day. I had her one fucking day and fucked it up, realized I fucked up, and then thought it was okay that I fucked up, since she didn’t throw anything at my head or scream at me.

The surge of envy is unexpected, and I bite back an unbidden growl. The hell is wrong with me? Why are my claws extending? Why is my wolf trying to surface?

“It’d be easier to bring up the things that cross severe boundaries if all of you wouldn’t exhaust the reasoning for your actions,”

“It means you all spend hours, days, even centuries arguing your own individual points, or explaining your way of thinking, but none of you ever simply come up with a sincere apology. You sure as hell never listen to anyone else’s needs. Tonight, I don’t feel like hearing all the reasons and no apology.”

“So…you gave the beta vampire an invitation,” Tiara drawls. She says it in a way that makes me feel as though she’s leading me into a trap. Another text. Another expensive item. Oh, so I’m being punished for inviting Shera in, and those wicked omegas are going to hit me in the pocket since they can’t fight any other way.

“But for now, you can start with bedding Arion. If Idun rises before Arion’s bond to her is truly broken, he’ll be on her side and the new war will take precedent over the curse breaking,”

“Our mother always said only whores wear red.” “Your mother also killed you so she didn’t have to be a mother, so I think she’s the worst person to take advice from,” I reasonably point out.

“Forgive me, Violet, but sometimes I think you zig just because I’ve started expecting your zag, and you want me to chase you down a new path. I know you enjoy being chased, but sometimes it feels like you do it for fun,” he says, giving me a pointed look.

“I’m Idun’s replacement to Arion, and I’m not okay with that. She’s coming back, and I don’t want to have to fight for someone who only wants me because I’m this fairytale solution for the four of you. Aside from that, Arion is too complicated for me to decide how I feel about him.” He’s the one to bristle this time.