Page 66 of The Red Moon

NIK

She’s doing better than I could have ever expected. To say I’m proud is an understatement. The last time Natalia was anywhere close to this amount of silver, staying conscious was a struggle for her, as it was for me. I’ve grown up with this curse. Have felt the effect of our kind’s poison from my earliest memories. She hasn’t. To her, it’s like waking up with a new allergy, one that has the ability to dull all your senses while your body fights some plague taking hold of your insides. But every time I give a gentle squeeze to our interlocked hands, she is quick to return the sentiment. I’m here, I think each time, and when my Natalia squeezes back, I imagine she’s silently saying the same thing. I’m here, too.

The flight is quiet for the most part, save for Alexey’s incessant need to be heard, and the plane’s engines roaring throughout the crate-filled cabin. It’s been smooth for the most part. Turbulence minimal. Minor bumps here and there. Nothing too unsettling, though. Could be extra precaution on Lev’s end. Piloting a few dozen werewolves? Yeah, I wouldn’t want to piss off my passengers either.

“Are you sure your contacts will be there when we arrive?” I ask, tilting my head to Alexey who has taken it upon himself to play rock, paper, scissors with the wolf across from him. He’s won every round so far, but when he shoots rock, the young Duval ends his winning streak with a flat palm and a satisfied grin.

“You distracted me!” Alexey hisses. “Do over.”

I place my arm across his chest, freezing him in place. “Will they be there or not?”

Alexey shakes his head in frustration and shoves my arm off of him. “Yes, yes. Surprise visit from military for a search of the airfield. Two convoys. Enough to transport all of us except this one if he keeps cheating!” He motions two fingers to his eyes then to the wolf across from him.

“And the guard?” I ask.

He readies himself for the next round, attention focused solely on his opponent. “Not to be harmed. Routine questions in sealed hangar. No threats to his family. No pulled fingernails. No waterboarding. Just a boring interrogation.”

“Good.” I probably shouldn’t be as forgiving as I am to Boris, not after breaking our agreement for a fifteen-minute head start when we fled from the pack. I can’t exactly blame him, though. My father has executed more humans on his payroll than I can count. And Boris has been on the unfortunate end of co-workers not showing up for a shift or worse, finding what was left of their bodies when checking the perimeter. He isn’t just scared of who he works for. The guard of my father’s private airfield is terrified. Government searches of the property were oftentimes unpredictable, which means Boris shouldn’t ask too many questions. At least, I hope he doesn’t for his sake. A simple distraction should be enough to get us in and out without more unnecessary bloodshed. There will be enough of that tonight.

Another squeeze of her hand. I’m here. She responds with a weak but long squeeze of her own, and the warmth starting at my chest and expanding out to each limb is strong enough to dampen the silver effects, at least for a few minutes. But I continue to hold her. This woman I fell for the second she walked into my club, now a part of my pack and a few hours away from turning for the first time. I would give anything to take away the pain she is about to go through. The sheer agony of your body splitting apart so a monster can stand in your place. I remember every full moon from the moment I could shift, and each time I thought death might’ve been a better alternative.

There’s no telling how much of my little wolf will still be there when fully transformed, but I have to hope the things I’ve done in preparation for tonight aren’t as useless as Dimitri fears. I can’t blame him for doubting me, especially when the last memories he has of his sister are the bloodcurdling screams until she eventually changed into something that was no longer Ida, both in body and in mind. If I can just make sure that a piece of Natalia—no matter how small—is in there somewhere, I’ll have one less thing to worry about when the moon becomes full.

I want to tell her it will be okay. That she will survive the night even if it means I have to kill every single wolf in my father’s pack myself. She isn’t just my mate. She is the moon that transformed me from my father’s puppet to a man I can actually look at in the mirror. Given me the strength to embrace this curse rather than run from it the way I have my whole life. I am hopelessly in love with this woman, and despite the millions of things I want to tell her, I can’t manage to express a single thing except, I’m here. And again, she squeezes back.

The nose of the plane begins to tilt, unsettling my already cramped stomach further. The Duval wolves take turns scanning each other’s faces, some appearing as uncomfortable as my organs screaming for reprieve.

“What’s happening?” Natalia says in a strained voice, doing her best to sit upright.

The sound of button clicks and levers pulling comes from the cockpit. The plane dips lower, and the engines reach a new, thunderous pitch.

“My zdes’,” Lev shouts from the pilot’s seat.

A wide grin appears on Alexey’s face, and Dimitri, who hasn’t said much this entire flight, has a noticeable amount of relief wash over his features.

“What did he say?” she asks as I squeeze her hand one last time.

I draw in a deep, silver-filled breath and pray to the gods I haven’t made a mistake in coming back. I know everything will change tonight, not just for my pack but every pack in existence. After a century of abominations staining the Vostik name, I have come to reclaim it. To bring humanity back to my bloodline. Lifting our intertwined hands to my mouth, I place a kiss just below her knuckles. “We are here.”

FORTY-TWO

NATALIE

Ten minutes. Ten short freaking minutes was all I had from the time we stepped off of that cargo plane to now being crammed inside one of the convoy trucks parked at the airfield. I know we’re against the clock right now, but I would’ve killed for an extra few seconds away from silver-induced suffocation. It doesn’t matter that I’m not in the truck with the crates, not when some of the Duval wolves seized the opportunity to don their armor for the trip to the Vostik compound. The armor isn’t even the worst part. Whatever Alexey has been drinking for the past twenty-four hours is starting to seep through his pores, adding a hint of poison to the already stuffy interior. Don’t worry, Alexey. Who needs to breathe?

It's not just the silver paining my insides, though. I figured my heart rate would drop back down to normal when we finally got off the flight. It hasn’t. If anything, it’s only doubled since the sun began descending for the mountain crests in the distance. It’s not just my heart, either. Every single organ within me stirs. Aches. Seemingly fears what is coming, and it won’t be long. Not when the sun is on the verge of punching its ticket to let the moon take over for the night. We should be there before dusk, at least, I hope I don’t transform for the first time in such a confined space. I’ve seen the damage a wolf can do, and the last thing I want is to rip my way through this truck and spend the next twelve hours wandering around Russia on all fours.

“Two minutes to target,” Alexey says, typing vigorously on the laptop at his thighs. “Deploying surveillance.” He hits a few different keystrokes and ends the sequence with the enter button, bringing up a large screen with a bird’s-eye view of the Vostik property.

“I thought they raided your compound?” Dimitri asks, leaning over for a better look.

Alexey smirks but doesn’t take his eyes off the screen. “They did, big man. They just forgot to check the roof.”

From his laptop, we can see every inch of the property. The house itself. The surrounding fence line. An outcropping of trees on the eastern edge. Even the guarded stations every few hundred feet.

“Trees will provide enough cover to get you wolves inside the perimeter,” Alexey says, pointing at the forest, and then the opposite end of the property. “Dimitri and I will launch attack here on your signal. We take out these three towers and keep reinforcements to a minimum.”

“I’m not leaving Nikolai and Ms. Nat,” Dimitri states firmly.