I’m still celebrating the release of Hunter’s Moon, my latest werewolf romance book / vampire romance book. This is a novel in the Vampires Realm series, but you don’t have to read the other books to understand what’s happening in this one. The books in the Vampires Realm are connected by world rather than story arc. My latest offering is chapter 3 of this novel. If you want to read chapters 1 and 2, just click on the “Hunter’s Moon” tag on this post.
Hunter’s Moon
F E Heaton
Having witnessed vampires slaughtering his werewolf pack during their escape from the horror of the compound where they had been held captive, Nicolae’s hatred of the species burns deep in his veins. A century has passed since that night and the months in which he travelled to the Canadian wilderness to escape it, but the nightmarish visions and his failure as an alpha still haunt him, forcing him to live alone and keep his distance from other werewolves.
When a night hunt with the local timber wolf pack leads to a run-in with unfamiliar hunters, Nicolae tracks the scent of blood permeating the forest to an injured woman and races to save her, but has he made a terrible mistake in doing so? When she attacks him, revealing her true nature, he can’t believe his eyes or the fact that he can’t bring himself to kill her. She’s beautiful, and a vampire.
Tatyana is on a mission. Far from home and bearing a heart filled with grief, she’s intent on killing the hunters she’s tracking, but her plan didn’t include being shot with poisoned arrows. When she comes to in the presence of a glowering handsome male werewolf, she isn’t sure what to expect. His dark demeanour and cold tone warn her that he isn’t like the subservient werewolves she’s used to, and that she might not be out of danger yet, but she doesn’t let it discourage her. Working with him to discover why the hunters have come to Canada, she attempts to shatter his antiquated opinion of vampires, but the closer she gets to him, the harder it becomes to battle the forbidden hunger he stirs in her.
Will Nicolae be able to overcome the darkness in his heart and his memories, and embrace his desire for a vampire? Can Tatyana face her fear about the Law Keepers and risk her heart and her life for the sake of forbidden love? When they discover what the hunters are after, will they be able to stop them before it’s too late?
ebook price: $2.99
genre: paranormal werewolf romance
length: 65000 words
rating: sultry
released: February 2011
Book 9 in the Vampires Realm series
Available from:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Hunter’s%20Moon
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P5NQ0W/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004P5NQ0W/
Excerpt
The drive down through the forest to town was quiet. The track only led to Nicolae’s cabin and he never had any mail or deliveries, and people rarely came to visit. It was better that way. He got everything in town and in person. The last thing he needed was someone witnessing something they shouldn’t have at his cabin.
It was even more imperative to keep them away now that he had a vampire for company. When she came around, she would be unpredictable. Her thirst would drive her to kill and he didn’t intend to break his promise to the local pack. As long as he was looking after her, she wasn’t going to bite a human. He would keep her contained. When she had healed and given him what he wanted, he would drive her into Calgary and dump her there.
He pulled into a space on the main street and put the Jeep into park. There were only a handful of white-washed wooden or red brick stores lining the short strip of road, and only a few dozen more houses than that in the town. Most of the locals were here for the same reason as he was—it was quiet and beautiful. Half of the population were retirees, and the rest were farmers, hunters, and people who ran small businesses or stores. A woman with several young children passed him by. The local school had barely enough students for one class but they ran it anyway. This was a town that liked to keep to itself, and it was part of the reason he had chosen to remain here. It was peaceful and he intended to keep it that way.
Nicolae stepped down from the Jeep and closed the door. He nodded to a few people he recognised as they passed him by and then headed for the local stores. He needed a few things while he was down in town. It had nothing to do with avoiding the hospital.
The sun was barely up but the stores were already open and doing business with some of the older residents. He greeted several of them and helped reach goods on the taller shelves whenever he was called on, gaining a few youthful smiles from the female retirees. He flashed them a smile each in return. They probably thought it was wrong of them to want to flirt with a man his age. If only they knew how old he really was. He had known most of them all their life, but they thought he was the grandson of the man they had known as youths. The hardest part about living in a community was reinventing himself, especially if it required a new name or physical change. It was the price any immortal paid for blending in with humans. At least he was back to his real identity again now and had been for the past ten years.
He stocked up on herbs, fresh bandages, larger sticking plasters, and other necessities, paid for them and then found himself standing on the pavement between the parked cars and the stores. He clutched the brown paper bag under his arm and stared at the white two-storey building at the crossroad ahead of him.
He needed a reasonable excuse for being in the hospital. There was a high likelihood that someone would recognise him in the corridors and wonder why he was there. Who would be on duty at reception today? If luck were with him, it would be Lisa. She always had a smile for him. He could flirt with her until an excuse came up in the conversation.
Striding towards the small hospital building, he considered what he would do if the receptionist today was Neil. Flirting was off the agenda then. Neil liked to talk sports. Cross-country running in particular. Nicolae could probably convince him that he’d injured himself running on the mountain. The right side of his chest ached. He shifted the bag of groceries he held in that arm and frowned. He already had the perfect reason to be at the hospital. Would anyone there believe him if he said the claw marks were from a bear attack? Would the doctors insist on taking a look? If it was Lisa on reception, he might be able to convince her to keep it quiet and to let him sneak in under the pretence of getting some medicine. She would do anything for him.
He moved the groceries over to his left arm. It wouldn’t do to walk into the hospital using an arm he might have to complain about.
Nicolae stopped at the entrance and held one side of the glass double doors open for an elderly couple. They smiled at him and he watched them for a moment as they walked down the street. Disgust settled hard in his stomach, weighing it down and keeping his feet planted to the pavement.
The hospital was small, like everything else in town, with little more than a dozen beds that would all be full come the thick of winter. Some of the more fragile elderly residents would spend Christmas there, protected from the bitter cold and sharing each other’s company over the festive season. The rest of the beds would be full of those who had injured themselves working in the treacherous conditions. He was vile and cruel to be considering stealing blood from people who needed it more than the vampire in his cabin did, especially when he couldn’t offer his in return. These people had given him a home, a place where he could be free, and now he was using their trust against them.
He let go of the door, turned his back on the hospital, hung his head, and closed his eyes. If he didn’t get blood for her, she could take weeks to heal. He didn’t think that he would last that long. The way he felt around her sometimes disturbed him. Something about her made it difficult to remember that she was a vampire. He needed her gone. He didn’t want to feel anything for her. Not concern, or compassion, or anything stronger. Even a small amount of blood could speed the recovery process and get her out of his cabin sooner.
A small amount was all she would get then.
Nicolae strode into the hospital, wincing for effect when he pushed the double doors open with his right hand.
He looked up, a smile plastered on his face, and instantly set eyes on a wall of four men dressed in black at the reception desk. He would recognise their scents anywhere.
Nicolae lowered his head on instinct, so his dark hair hung forwards and brushed his forehead, and moved quietly across the busy reception towards a corner from which he could observe them unnoticed. He chose a seat beside a man reading an old magazine and settled down, placing his brown bag of groceries on his lap.
Lisa was sitting behind the curved pale wooden reception desk, her chestnut hair tightly twirled in a bun and a look of exasperation on her pretty face. Her blue eyes were cold even as she smiled.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t see that anyone was brought in last night.â€
“Check again,†the leader said and leaned on the counter above her. Lisa looked down at her computer. Nicolae stared at the leader.
He looked close to forty, with cropped fair hair that was receding on top. The stern set of his expression hadn’t changed since last night. A muscle in his jaw ticked as he waited. The remaining three hunters were all younger than their leader. The one who had shot at him was in his thirties, dark haired and slimmer than the rest. The other two had light brown hair and looked similar, although there was at least five years age difference between them. Brothers?
The leader tapped on the counter.
“No one was brought in last night.†Lisa looked up at them.
They were after the vampire. Nicolae kept still, watching them, studying how they moved and putting their faces to memory. They weren’t armed today. Even the knives were gone from their belts. No one would have batted an eye at someone armed with a hunting knife in this town. In fact, the locals in the hospital seemed to be staring because there were four men in fatigues who looked like hunters but were lacking the appropriate arsenal.
He had come into town on several occasions with his black rifle and no one had cared. Some of the men had even stopped to talk to him about the model.
“Any other hunters that live in this area, on the mountain perhaps?†The youngest man stepped forwards and gave her a wide smile. The other three men backed off a step as though giving him room to work his magic on Lisa.
Nicolae smiled. As if she would go for such a weak male.
Her gaze slid to him and then back to the young hunter. It seemed someone had noticed his entrance.
“There’s only a few people who live on the mountains around here, and they only come into town every few months. They keep to themselves,†she said with a widening smile. She was talking about him now. “I doubt they would have been out hunting last night. I could call the police. They might be able to help you find your missing person.â€
She lifted the phone receiver to her ear.
The leader reached over the counter, took it from her and set it back down on the cradle. “It won’t be a problem. We’ll find her. Thank you for your help.â€
He signalled to the group and they led the way out of the hospital. Nicolae stood, walking into the middle of the room, and watched them get into a large black four-wheel drive. They reversed out of the parking space and took off towards the road out of town, in the opposite direction to his cabin.
“What was that all about?†Nicolae turned with a smile and walked over to Lisa. He placed the bag of groceries down on the counter and leaned against it at an angle on his right elbow. His shoulder ached, reminding him that it was supposed to be his excuse. He would have to think of another now. Something trivial that wouldn’t prompt Lisa to call in the doctors.
She smiled up at him, her blue eyes bright, no trace of coldness in them now. “They came in asking about a woman. Said that they’d been separated on the mountain last night.â€
Separated? More like evaded.
Nicolae leaned in close and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Can you help me out?â€
Lisa mirrored his move, bending forwards and giving him a view right down her tight white uniform dress. “Name it.â€
He rubbed his jaw on the right side and pouted. “I think I’m getting an infection. Can I borrow some antibiotics? It’s aching like crazy and you know I hate dentists.â€
Lisa smiled, blushed, and touched his hand where it rested over his cheek. “I’ll play doctor with you, Nic.â€
He grinned. “I much prefer the nurse’s uniform on you.â€
Her blush deepened, turning her cheeks rosy. She stroked her fingers down his hand. “Sometimes I think it’s that accent of yours that makes everything you say sound so damn sexy. Where are you from again?â€
“Here… via Romania,†he husked and held her gaze. Her pupils dilated and she wet her lips. He was a bastard for flirting with her to get his own way, but he needed that blood and she’d had her eye on him since she’d turned twenty-one a few years back.
Lisa sighed, propped her chin up on her hand, and continued to smile. She swept her finger across his lips. “You could be a vampire with that accent.â€
Nicolae laughed, took hold of her hand and pressed a chaste kiss to the back of it. “You read too many novels. I’m not a vampire.â€
A pregnant woman came up to the counter, her hand resting over her swollen abdomen. Nicolae looked down at it, sensing beyond the loose layers of warm clothing to the rapid heartbeat within her womb. A boy. There was strength in the beat of his heart and his signature on Nicolae’s senses. The mother’s gaze shifted to him and Nicolae raised his eyes to meet hers. A touch of colour swept over her cheeks when he smiled.
“He’ll grow up strong.†The words left his lips before he could consider the consequences.
A quizzical look crossed the woman’s face and then she smiled and fondly stroked her belly. “He already kicks and fights like a bear.â€
Nicolae held his smile, relieved that she hadn’t asked how he knew the child within her was a boy. He glanced down at her stomach again and frowned. Life. Small and precious. Impossible for his kind to achieve. His fingers curled into fists. All his kind and the vampires could do was steal life and replace it with a never-ending existence.
No. His lot in immortality was not as cruel as that the vampires’ bore. An image of the female vampire flickered into his mind and his focus moved to the distant cabin and where she lay in his bed. At least his heart still beat, his blood still raced, and he could still function as a human if he chose such a life for himself. She had no pulse, no life in her veins, and had no choice but to seek blood as sustenance, and hide from the warmth-giving sun for fear of it destroying her. She was condemned by the light, and destined for Hell on death.
“Nic? You spacing out?†Lisa’s soft voice swept the image of the vampire away and he looked at her, battling the strange feeling of compassion that had come over him again. “That tooth must be killing you. Don’t take too much or the docs will notice. You owe me.â€
Nicolae recovered, winked and grabbed his groceries. He casually walked away, towards the pale corridors that led down to the small operating rooms, shaking off the feelings his thoughts had evoked. He looked back when he reached the door to the blood bank. His senses reached out, mapping everything and everyone. No one was coming. He slipped inside, shut the door, and turned around.
Rows of dark red plastic bags filled the shelves in the cold pale blue room. His gaze scanned them, reading the different blood groups. He wasn’t sure what type she liked.
Nicolae couldn’t believe he had thought that.
He didn’t care what she liked. She would get what she was given. He stormed forwards, snatched two bags at random, and stuffed them into the grocery bag. The labels on the packets read ‘O Rh D Positive’. He hoped that was common enough that the hospital wouldn’t notice it was gone.
A brief pause at the door to make sure that he was still alone and then he was striding along the corridor towards the reception. He winked at Lisa again as he passed and headed straight for his black Jeep. The sun was up now, shining brightly down on the world but doing little to warm it. Clouds beyond the distant white-capped mountains warned that snow was on its way. Nicolae chucked the groceries onto the passenger seat of the Jeep, shut the driver’s side door, and started the engine.
He was alert throughout the drive back to his cabin, his mind going over everything he knew about the hunters and putting it to memory. They had headed towards the outskirts but he doubted it was the last he had seen of them. They were intent on finding their prey. Would they check all the cabins on the mountains, cold calling in the hope that someone had found her and not reported it to the police? Would the hunters have even tried the police station? The leader had left quickly after Lisa had mentioned calling them. They wanted to avoid the local law, which led Nicolae to suspect that either they had criminal records or were wanted men themselves.
Would they come knocking on his door?
He hoped they wouldn’t.
Was there a way he could throw them off her scent altogether?
The sun was bright today and the clouds lingering beyond the mountain range wouldn’t reach them until the afternoon, if at all, but the woods on this side of the valley were dense. It would have been easy for her to find shelter somewhere in the pines or in the rocky peak where there were caves. The hunters weren’t going to give up their search until they found evidence of her demise at the hands of the sun or the poison. Vampires disintegrated on death. If he took her clothes and the crossbow bolts, and laid them out in the glade, would that throw them off her scent?
He doubted it.
Did the hunters know how long it would take for the poison to kill her? It was a strong poison, and they knew that they had badly injured her with the darts. But they were still looking for her. His fingers tightened around the leather steering wheel and he frowned at the track ahead. All he could do was keep her hidden and hope that the hunters would give up their search and leave the area. If they were still here tomorrow, he would strip her and toss her clothes in one of the caves on the mountain. It would be believable that she had hidden and died there.
The cabin came into view ahead, standing in a clearing he had cut in the forest decades ago. The logs were dark now, ancient, causing the small single storey house to blend into the trees surrounding it. He had always been happy to see his home in the past, but not right now. Saving the vampire had complicated everything.
Nicolae parked the Jeep, grabbed the grocery bag and approached the cabin. He cautiously opened the door and peered around it. She was still asleep. He closed the door behind him, went into the kitchen and put the blood into the refrigerator, and then came back and stoked the fire. He glanced at her. She was lying in the same position that he’d left her. The black medicine had bled through the bandages around her stomach and across her left shoulder, forming dark patches on both. His gaze lingered on her bra-clad breasts. He wasn’t sure how he would react to the sight of her naked if he had to strip her. He didn’t even want to consider it, or the hushed voice at the back of his mind that whispered he would enjoy it. He forced his eyes up to her face. Blood still stained her lips. He laid his hand on the bite mark near his throat. It still stained him too. She had bitten him, scratched him, and he still couldn’t bring himself to hate her as she deserved. What was wrong with him?
Nicolae went to her and touched her forehead. She didn’t stir. Her skin was cooler beneath his fingers. He tentatively brushed them across her brow, clearing the wavy lengths of her fair hair away from her face. She was pretty when she wasn’t trying to bite his head off. His blood had dried in the cracks of her lips. Before he could think about what he was doing, he ran the tips of his fingers over them. They tingled at the feel of her soft skin and he fought the rising warmth inside his chest and the fascination she caused and snatched his hand back.
Without looking back at her, he stalked across the room, took his black rifle down off the wall and went out into the woods.
It wasn’t difficult to pick up the trail of the deer. He focused on the combined scent of the herd, using it to purge the vampire’s softer scent from his mind, and followed it down through the trees towards the valley bottom. His head cleared as he tracked them, thoughts of the vampire drifting away, and he found some peace again. The deer would be grazing at the forest fringe now, far down in the valley. It would take him a while to walk there but he didn’t care. He slowed down, meandering through the trees, enjoying the cold and silence. The longer he was away from the cabin, the better.
It felt good to get back to basics and breathe the crisp fresh mountain air. Animals scurried through the undergrowth around him. Birds sung in the trees, calling to each other. The sound of distant cars carried on the chill breeze. He paused to soak everything up and then glanced at the sky through the bare branches above him. The sun was moving overhead. He must have been wandering in the woods for almost two hours now. He couldn’t delay any longer. It was dangerous to leave her alone. He wasn’t sure when she would come around.
Nicolae started down towards the valley again, his focus shifting back to the deer, and tracked them. He slowed his pace when he reached the edge of the forest and then crouched behind a tree.
Several deer were grazing at the start of the valley near the woods around two hundred metres upwind from him. Their heads bobbed up and down, ears twitching at the slightest sound. Nicolae shouldered his rifle and used the sight to scan over each animal. An old buck looked straight at him. Adrenaline and the desire to change rushed through him, sending his heart thundering. He suppressed it and put his finger on the trigger instead. He wasn’t here to hunt. Not like that.
His breathing levelled.
He squeezed the trigger and the shot echoed around the mountains. The deer disappeared from view in the sight. The herd ran. Their panic sent another burst of adrenaline through his veins and his body coiled in response, flooded with a primal desire to chase them. The smell of blood filled his nostrils next and he fought to keep his composure, battling his nature. His bones shifted and fur swept across his shoulders beneath his black shirt. His teeth extended. He kept still, breathing slowly, waiting for his instincts to lose their grip on him.
His blood settled and his wolf side receded.
Nicolae lowered the gun and stood. The deer lay on the grass in the sun. No heartbeat. A clean kill. It had lived a good life. A long life. He slung the strap of his rifle over his shoulder and walked out into the valley, skirting along the tree line to the dead buck. The rest of the deer had scattered into the forest on the other side of the narrow strip of green land. He picked up the carcass and hauled it onto his left shoulder. The wound on his throat burned under the weight of the animal. Nicolae gritted his teeth and started back up the hill towards the cabin.
He moved swiftly now, quickly covering the distance, and was almost there when he heard a vehicle in the distance.
The sound wasn’t coming from the road.
Nicolae doubled his pace, keeping a firm hold on the deer over his shoulder. His heart pounded when he could see over the crest of the hill and onto the plateau where his cabin stood. A familiar large black vehicle dwarfed his smaller Jeep. His senses placed the hunters a short distance away, near to his home.
In his territory.
A low growl rolled up from his throat.
Nicolae rounded the corner from the rear of his cabin and the hunters stopped in their tracks and moved towards him instead.
“A fine kill,†the leader congratulated and Nicolae cast a glance over him before continuing towards the cabin.
He dumped the dead deer down on the porch but kept his rifle over his shoulder. No movement or sound came from inside the small building at his back. Either the vampire was still unconscious, or she knew the hunters were outside and was sensible enough to recognise that she was in danger.
Nicolae turned to face them, stepped down off the porch, and wiped his bloodied left hand on his dark blue jeans.
“Can I help you?†he bit out and the men looked at each other.
The leader smiled at him.
Nicolae narrowed his gaze and straightened to his full height. His fingers flexed around the strap of his rifle.
“We were just in the area and wanted to look around. Good hunting last night.â€
Nicolae shrugged his broad shoulders. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t hunt at night. I don’t have the vision for it.†He jerked his head towards the deer. “As you can see, I prefer to hunt in daylight, when it’s safer. There are a lot of wolves on the mountains and most of them don’t take too kindly to hunters in their territory.â€
The group nodded in agreement. Their smiles were just a little bit too polite to be real. He held the leader’s gaze. In broad daylight, Nicolae could see that he had been mistaken last night. None of the hunters matched his build. The leader was shorter than him by around two inches and packed less muscle, and didn’t have the advantage of preternatural strength.
“This may seem unusual… but… have you seen a woman?†The one who had almost shot him stepped forwards.
“Plenty in town today, but none you can buy if you’re talking about that sort of thing.†Nicolae closed his fingers over the rifle strap and eyed each of them in turn, assessing the possible outcomes of a fight. They seemed calm enough on the surface, but the youngest hunter’s heartbeat was off the scale and the one he suspected was the man’s brother had returned to the truck and was looking in the back of it.
“It’s not like that,†the leader said, his smile fixed in place. He slung an arm around the youngest hunter’s shoulders and brought him forward. “We were separated from his girlfriend in the woods and he’s worried that she might have hurt herself.â€
Nicolae pursed his lips, scratched his jaw, and then shrugged. “Maybe she went down the other side of the valley. There’s a town there too. Bigger than the one nearest here. She might have made it to the road and caught a lift.â€
The leader eyed him closely.
Nicolae remained calm, muscles tight beneath his black shirt, ready to act if it came to it. He could shoot at least two of them before the fourth man could draw a weapon from the truck, and could change into a wolf in seconds and savage the rest before they could attack. The clothes would hinder him but he’d torn the shirt off his back plenty of times in the past. It would add barely two seconds to his transformation. He casually held the leader’s gaze. Until they made a move, he would feign innocence. He was used to playing a role. He’d done it his whole life since moving to Canada. It was the only way to get some peace and ensure his safety.
“If you don’t mind, I have business to take care of, but I hope you find that woman.†Nicolae turned towards the dead deer on the porch and froze, his blood screaming. His left hand went to his rifle. He slowly faced the leader again. “Was she armed?â€
The leader nodded.
“Crossbows too?†Nicolae said.
The three men frowned at him. Nicolae nodded towards the fourth man standing at the back of the black truck. He had armed himself and had the crossbow casually trained on Nicolae while acting as though he was just checking it over.
“I’m surprised you could catch anything with one of those. It’s a cruel way to kill something.†Nicolae swiftly shouldered his black rifle and aimed it at the leader, staring down the line of the barrel at the spot between his eyes. “I prefer a quick kill. If you get what I mean?â€
The leader nodded. Nicolae’s heart slammed against his chest. He hated hunters almost as much as he despised vampires. He didn’t lower the rifle, not even when the men took the hint and piled into the truck. It reversed, turned and headed down the track towards town. When he could no longer sense or hear the vehicle, he relaxed and slung the rifle over his shoulder. He grabbed the hind leg of the deer, dragged it around the back of the cabin and left it on the patchy grass in the clearing. The sun had passed its zenith. The days were growing shorter. The wolves would come in a few hours, with the start of sundown.
Nicolae rubbed his eyes and sighed. No more excuses. No more reasons to avoid the cabin. He took the long route in, going back around the front, and opened the door.
The vampire stared at him through wide dark brown eyes.
“I can smell blood.â€
Available from:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Hunter’s%20Moon
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P5NQ0W/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004P5NQ0W/
Stay tuned for a fourth and final excerpt from Hunter’s Moon…
