TO KISS A WOLF

  BLACK MOON PACK #2

  HEATHER HILDENBRAND

  To Kiss A Wolf

  Black Moon Pack #2

  By Heather Hildenbrand

  © 2022

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, either living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the authors.

  Cover: Paradise Cover Design

  Editing by Dawn Y & Lewis Books LLC

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Bonus Content

  About the Author

  Also by Heather Hildenbrand

  CHAPTER 1

  Flames rip through my body—the pain pulsing to the beat of my erratic heart. I am not awake, but I’m certainly not asleep either. Time hangs suspended as venom burns through my torn flesh. Days, weeks, hours—I have no idea how long I lay trapped in this state. I only know that, more than once, I wish it would end even if that end means my death.

  In the absence of clear thought, my mind is awash with color.

  Bright red for the blood spilled on the steps of the pack house, not just from my own body but from Thiago’s as well. Black for the back-stabbing betrayal of someone I considered my closest—and only—friend.

  White. Kari’s gleaming teeth as she smiled at me—SMILED AT ME—as she ripped out my heart and watched it bleed at her feet.

  She played me. Captured Levi. Killed her own brother.

  Betrayal is a painful poison.

  Desperation is a green cloud. Not envy, exactly, but a twisted rage that coats my mind like fog. Tripp carried me away from Blackstone, and with our escape, he’s stolen any chance I might have had at taking Levi with us. I’m angry that he chose me over my mate.

  That’s a betrayal too.

  Eventually, I am brought back to awareness as if by a sharp slap. I wake suddenly, wincing at the blinding glow of white light that shines against my closed lids. And the pain. Vicious pangs that sing through my veins like a banshee’s song. Venom. So much venom.

  “She’s coming to,” someone says.

  Male. His voice is vaguely familiar, though I can’t place it.

  “I can’t believe you just slapped her,” says a second voice.

  Tripp. I recognize his voice immediately.

  “It worked, didn’t it?”

  My mother.

  My muscles tighten.

  Their voices, Tripp’s especially, are not a welcome sound, not after everything. Not after my failure—and theirs.

  “Just keep her still.”

  My mother again.

  “Jadick,” she adds, and the name itself is so buried in my own psyche that I don’t recognize it. Not at first.

  “Here, this should do it.” Jadick’s voice is firm, confident.

  A sharpness pricks my inner arm, and my eyes fly open, sweeping the space in calculated panic.

  I’m on my back. In a small room with bare walls. Three faces hover above mine. My mother, Tripp, and Jadick Clemons, alpha heir to the Black Moon pack. They look down at me with expressions full of concern. The sight of them here together fills my throat with bile. I don’t want this.

  I don’t want them.

  Behind them is a door.

  If I can just get there, I can find Levi, put all this right again—

  “Whoa, easy.” Jadick blocks my attempts to sit up.

  “Dude, you don’t want to put your hands on her,” Tripp warns.

  “She’ll rip her stitches if she tries to—”

  I catch Jadick in the jaw with a clumsy fist. Tripp grabs him, holding him up while he gets his bearings. My mother steps in, shoving me down again with hands that are not nearly as worried about my stitches as they are about being obeyed.

  “You stay right where you are, young lady,” she warns me before I can try anything stupid. Her eyes are hard, and her voice is full-on “lecture mode” as she waits for my compliance.

  Not likely.

  But my attempts to struggle become slow, my limbs suddenly too heavy. I search for my wolf, but she’s too far out of reach. I can’t shift. Clearly, whatever Jadick injected me with is meant to subdue me. And it’s working. Instead of wasting my energy on what I hate to admit would be a losing battle, I go still and put all of my aggression into the glare I aim at Vicki Quinn.

  “What happened to me?”

  “Kari ordered her security team to shoot you. One of the bullets found its mark.”

  Memories of gunshots swim in my mind. The gunfire echoes like a sound still buried in my eardrums. But I don’t remember whose bullet it was—laced with venom, of course—

  until they say the words. Kari. Not her team. She’s the one who shot me. Now, I pretend it doesn’t sting way down deep in my heart to know it’s true.

  “Where am I?” I ask quietly.

  “Fountain Mall,” she says.

  Right. The mall. “In Wythe,” I say, remembering what Levi told me.

  “In Green Hills, actually,” she says.

  I stare at her.

  Green Hills?

  That’s halfway across the state. Nowhere near Blackstone.

  Nowhere near Levi.

  “I thought Levi said the mall was in Wythe.” My brain is still foggy, working too slow to make sense of this. How many malls did they scout, anyway?

  The three of them exchange a look.

  “Levi didn’t know about this one,” Tripp says finally.

  His voice is tight. I can’t tell who his ire is aimed at, though.

  I close my eyes slowly, absorbing it all, then open them again. Jadick has recovered and is standing beside my mother, watching me warily. He rubs gingerly at his jaw, and I take that as a sign of victory.

  Tripp stays well out of reach near my feet.

  Smart.

  I focus on my mom again. “How long have I been out?”

  Small lines pinch around her mouth. She’s pissed.

  Join the club.

  “Two days.”

  Two days.

  I want to scream.

  Levi could be dead by now.

  Instead of arguing with her, I look at Tripp. “I can’t believe you.”

  “Me? What the hell did I do?”

  “You left him there.”

  His eyes soften. He stares down at me sadly. “I made a choice, Mac. You can’t fault me for that.”

  I avert my gaze before any of them can see the tears welling.

  “You chose wrong.”

  Awkward silence hangs until Tripp clears his throat. “I’ll be outside.”

  His voice is sad, but I can’t bring myself to comfort him. Instead, I listen to his footsteps shuffle out.

  “Mac.”

  My mother’s voice is softer now—almost compassionate.

  I blink back angry tears and look over at her.

  “What?” I snap.

  “You have to go slow.”

  “Not the first time I’ve been poisoned this month,” I remind her.

  A tracker with claws coated in venom got ahold of me not long ago. I’d only just recovered when I was shot by my best friend. Former best friend. The girl I showed up to save is the one we all need saving from.

  I swallow hard at the realization.

  “This is worse than last time,” my mother says. “If Tripp hadn’t brought you back when he did, you would have died.”

  Her words are pointed—meant to make me care about the risks of pushing too hard—but I don’t. The only thing I feel bad about is surviving.

  “It would have been no less than I deserve.”

  Her eyes widen. She glances at Jadick.

  “Let’s give her some space,” he says, “to rest.”

  My mother sighs but gives in. I can’t help but wonder how Jadick has managed to give Vicki Quinn an order—and have her follow it.

  “I brought you some things. They’re on the counter when you feel up to moving around.” I glance over and see the bag in question. It’s a “go bag” my mom always kept in her Jeep. One for each of us. Just in case Crigger finally turned on us and decided we were more valuable dead than alive. Or at least, that’s what I always assumed they
’d be for. My mother never qualified it, she just liked to say “just in case” like the rest of the sentence didn’t need explaining. I guess today is that “in case.”

  The bag holds mostly clothes. A few toiletries. No food because we’d always have our wolves for hunting. No fire either. Not when the cold is a non-issue for beasts like us. The only other survival item the bag contains is a pre-paid cell phone. Not that I have anyone left to call.

  When I look back at her, my mother hesitates, at a loss for once. It makes me wonder if she’s thinking the same thing about the sad state of my life. Of both our lives. “For now… get some sleep, Mac.” She pats my arm and then walks out without waiting for my response.

  Jadick follows her into the hall but leaves the door cracked. From here, I can see them huddled together, their whispers not nearly low enough.

  “You really think she’s going to be all right,” my mother says, her words more of a question. For the first time since I can remember, I hear real worry leak into her voice.

  “Physically, yes.” Jadick’s words come slowly as if he’s chosen them carefully.

  “What does that mean?”

  “She’s been betrayed by the one person she trusted most in the world. She’s going to need more than a shot of anti-venom and a few stitches to heal from that. She has to want to heal.”

  “Then make her want to,” she snaps.

  He’s quiet for a moment then says, “You realize what you’re asking.”

  “You did it once before,” she says.

  “Precisely. You want to owe me again? Knowing what payment I’ll expect this time?”

  My mother hesitates. “Is there nothing else you want?”

  “You know there isn’t.”

  My heart pounds as my instincts scream for her to end this conversation. The words they’re exchanging sound more like a negotiation than a request to help nurse me back to health.

  Finally, she sighs. “Mac’s life matters more,” she says quietly. “Do what you have to do.”

  I miss what they say next as sleep pulls me under, willing or not.

  When I open my eyes again, Jadick is lounging in a chair with his hands folded lazily across his abdomen. He smiles at me—a slithery kind of smile that turns my stomach. Until I remember how I got here and who’s missing from this moment. Then, it’s the kind of smile that makes me want to punch something. Jadick should not be here instead of Levi. And he shouldn’t be smiling about it either.

  “You look better,” he says.

  I stretch my limbs then immediately regret it when the pain sparks to life. Hissing through my teeth, I say, “I feel like death.”

  His smile slips. Worry crowds his eyes, crinkling the corners as he leans forward. “The anti-venom should have worked by now.”

  I don’t know how to answer that. Discussing my medical condition is an unwanted prospect considering I don’t trust this man as far as I can throw him. Besides, a quick check-in with my wolf reveals she’s still MIA. And I refuse to admit how weak that makes me feel.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask instead.

  “I’ve been worried about you.”

  “And Levi?” I ask. “Are you worried about him?”

  “Of course.”

  Liar.

  “What are you doing to get him back?”

  “Mac,” he says, and in that word, I hear the truth: nothing. He’s done nothing.

  “He gave himself up for these people,” I snap. “For you. And you’re just going to abandon him?”

  “There’s a lot to consider,” he says, but I don’t want to hear his bullshit.

  I sit up, blinking past the black spots that dot my vision. The room spins, but I ignore that too and glare at the pretty boy alpha heir. “Tell me what you’re considering.”

  His smile is almost indulgent. “I don’t think it’s the right time to discuss battle strategy—”

  “It’s a rescue mission, not a war,” I snap.

  “He’s the leader of a rebellion, Mac. An uprising. That’s why Kari wants him. Regardless of how I feel about my sister—” I try to hide the fact that even the mention of her hurts me. “—the reality is, he’s a traitor to her and will be treated as such. To even attempt to rescue him will likely ignite a full-scale war. I have to keep that in mind. I have to think of the lives here counting on me.”

  So, he’s taken command then.

  I figured as much.

  “Levi’s counting on you. You’re supposed to be his friend.” I nearly scream the words.

  He frowns, silent in the face of my outburst.

  Outside the door, footsteps approach.

  The door opens.

  My mother peers inside.

  The sight of her reminds me of the cryptic conversation I overheard, and immediately my defenses go up.

  “You’re awake.” Her relief is clear, but it gives way quickly to suspicion when she sees my expression. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain? I can get another dose of—”

  “I don’t want more medicine,” I snap. “I want to know what you’re doing to rescue Levi.”

  “Mac.” My mom eases into the room. Her expression is gentle, but that’s the problem. I brace myself for the sugar-coated refusal she’s obviously about to give me. “Levi gave himself up willingly.”

  “We thought we were dealing with Thiago,” I say. “I didn’t know—”

  I didn’t know Kari was the villain instead of the victim.

  The unsaid words burn my throat.

  “Regardless, you two didn’t have clearance to do what you did. You disobeyed direct orders, and you did it when we were as yet unprepared to launch any kind of rescue mission. We’re doing all we can, but these things take time. Planning. We can’t just walk up to the alpha house and ask for his release.”

  “Of course you can’t. I’m not an idiot, Mother.”

  My tone is sharp enough to quiet her.

  I look at Jadick. “Kari’s not cruel without motive, at least. She wants something from Levi. Right now, it’s you. The Jades. This place. And she’ll torture him until she gets it out of him. He’s not safe there with her.”

  “I agree,” he says, which in itself shocks me into momentary silence. “Unfortunately, your mother is right about not being ready to launch a rescue mission,” he adds.

  “Forget it, I’ll go my damned self.” I start to get up, but the room sways. I clutch at the edge of the mattress. Jadick and my mother exchange a look.

  “Tripp told us Kari ordered you not to return,” my mother says.

  Fuck.

  She’s right.

  I hate when she’s right.

  “You’ll only get him hurt if you show up there,” Jadick says. His words are not a warning—they are salt in my wounds.

  “We can’t just sit around with our thumbs up our ass,” I snap.

  Jadick and my mother share a look that feels ominous.

  “What the hell are you two plotting?” I ask.

  “Mac, I know you’re upset,” my mom begins, but Jadick interrupts.

  “Don’t sugarcoat it, Vicki. She’s a big girl.” His expression is harder now. Not angry, but whatever gentle approach he’d used before is gone. At least he can see it won’t work to coddle me. “Levi wouldn’t want to risk the Jades for his own safety. I know because he told me so. Long before you ever showed up and created this mess.”

  “Me?” His words hit their mark. Guilt pings in my chest.

  I created this mess.

  “Levi’s in Kari’s custody because you decided to answer her call,” Jadick says. “It was a trap, Mac. And you walked right into it, dragging Levi alongside you. I am glad you were brought home safe, but I won’t risk everything Levi has worked for in order to satisfy your hormones. He knew the risks when he decided to go with you that night.”