An Unlucky Moon

An Unlucky Moon

By Carrie Ann Ryan

An Unlucky Moon

A Dante’s Circle Novel

By: Carrie Ann Ryan

Published by Fated Desires Publishing, LLC.

© 2013 Carrie Ann Ryan

ISBN: 978-1-62322-037-2

Cover Art by Scott Carpenter

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. 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 person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. 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 this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the publisher at 
[email protected]
.

All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.

An Unlucky Moon

Humans aren’t as alone as they choose to believe. Every human possesses a trait of supernatural that lays dormant within their genetic make-up. Centuries of diluting and breeding have allowed humans to think they are alone and untouched by magic. But what happens when something changes?

He's spent the last few years in hell fighting in the demon games and doing things that would haunt even the fiercest of men's nightmares. But now Hunter Brooks is back in the human realm, ready to take on the Pack that left him behind...and take the mate he's just met.

Becca Quinn is one of the seven lightning-struck women—a human who isn't so human and only needs to find her true half to unlock all that she could be. Hunter, the dangerous, sexy wolf, has saved her life twice, and yet she knows nothing about him—only that she wants to know everything she can.

Between the Pack's council and strangers who could take everything away from them, Becca and Hunter have more to fight and everything to fight for. Hunter's dark past takes over their courtship, and just when he thinks all his lost, he’ll find that Becca’s more than he—or she—ever thought.

Warning: Contains a sexy wolf who broods with the best of them, a woman who defines the term unlucky, and a chemistry that's sure to make the wolf howl in all of us.

Warning: Contains one sexy alpha leopard who craves the most decadent of dreams, a hidden treasure contained within a spunky woman, and the ability to create a mating bond that’s the most explosive yet.

Dedication

To Marie Harte.

Thank you for being crazier than me. Maybe.

Acknowledgements

First, thank you to Lexi Blake, Marie Harte, Cari Quinn, and Jayne Rylon. You know why.

A huge thanks goes to my team of editors, assistants, and crew. Devin, Donna, Vickie, Fatin, Lillie, and Kelly—thank you for helping make
An Unlucky Moon
what it is. You guys do so much work for each release and I know I couldn’t do it without you.

Also, thank you to my Street Pack and Fan Club. You guys work so hard at getting the word out and I am so blessed for it.

Thank you, Lia, for being my BFF, writing buddy, chat addict, and…everything.

And thank you to my readers. I get to do the best job in the world because of you.

Thank you.

Dante’s Circle Characters

With an ever growing list of characters in each book, I know that it might seem like there are too many to remember. Well don’t worry; here is a list for you so you don’t forget. Not all are seen in this exact book, but here are the ones you’ve met so far. As the series progresses, the list will as well. A special thanks goes to my 
FAN CLUB
 for helping with this list.

Happy reading!

Agda
—Brownie council leader.

Agnes
—Sole female on the Angelic council.

Amara Young
—One of the seven lightning struck women. Works at an inn. Has a past that is very secretive. 

Ambrose Griffin
—Warrior angel, Shade’s mentor. Father to Laura (
deceased
) and Nathan (
deceased
), husband to Ilianya (
deceased
). Mate to Balin and Jamie, story told in
Her Warriors’ Three Wishes
.

Azel
—Black-winged angel. Striker’s third in command.

Balin Drake
—Non-soul devouring demon, son of Pyro. Mate to Jamie and Ambrose, story told in
Her Warriors’ Three Wishes
.

Becca Quinn
—One of the seven lightning struck women. Works as a bartender at Dante’s Circle. Mate to Hunter Brooks, story told in
An Unlucky Moon
.

Bryce
—Lily’s ex-fiancee.

Caine
—Angelic council leader.

Cora
—Shade’s ex-fiancé (
deceased
).

Dante Bell
—Dragon shifter. Owner of Dante’s Circle. 

Eli
—Bakery Owner.

Eliana Sawyer
—One of the seven lightning struck women. Works as a welder.

Faith Sanders
—One of the seven lightning struck women. Works as a photographer.

Fawkes
—Demon, son of Lucifer, friend of Balin. Story told in
His Choice
(Found in the Anthology
Ever After
).

Fury
—Leader of the demon council.

Glenn
—Lily’s sleazy ex-boss.

Hunter Brooks
—Wolf and Beta of the Nocturne Pack. Met Ambrose, Jamie, and Balin in hell during the demon games. Mate to Becca, story told in
An Unlucky Moon
.

Ilianya
—(
deceased
) Sister to Shade, wife to Ambrose.

Jamie Bennett
—One of the seven lightning struck women. Bookstore owner and lover of romance. Mate to Ambrose and Balin, story told in
Her Warriors’ Three Wishes
.

Kobal
—Old djinn council member, ally to Pyro.

Law
—Gray-winged angel, Striker’s second in command.

Lily Banner
—One of the seven lightning struck women. Worked as a lab chemist in solid-state NMR. OCD and quirky. Mate to Shade, story told in
Dust of My Wings
.

Lucifer
—Infamous demon from hell and Fawkes’ father.

Laura
—(
deceased
) Daughter of Ambrose.

Nadie Morgan
—One of the seven lightning struck woman. Works as a school teacher.

Nathan
—(
deceased
) Son of Amborse.

Pyro
—Demon from hell, father to Balin.

Shade Griffin
—Warrior angel, ex-fiance to Cora, brother to Illianya, mate to Lily Banner, story told in
Dust of My Wings
.

Striker
—Angelic council member, leader of the rebels.

Temperance
—New Djinn council leader.

Thad
—Co-worker of Lily’s. Had a crush on him.

Timmy
—10 year old brownie.

Chapter One

The fiery depths of hell were a cool afterthought compared to the torment of what lay before him. Hunter Brooks ducked the punch aimed at his head and rolled to the ground, coming up on his feet a few yards away. He never let his gaze leave his opponent, even as he moved his arm to stop a kick to the neck. 

The low roll of thunder in the distance set his wolf on edge, but he tamped it down. The rain would come eventually, and Hunter wanted to make sure he was done with this before then. The circle was already a mud pit, the wet sludge clinging to his torn jeans—he didn’t want to deal with more of that.

His wolf brushed along the inside of his skin, an animalistic presence that wanted revenge, blood, and death.

The man within him wanted the same thing.

The other wolf came at him at his fastest speed, but Hunter was faster. His hands shifted to claws, and he slashed out, catching the other wolf along the shoulder. His opponent screamed as blood seeped from the deep wound, but Hunter didn’t care. He squeezed his fingers together, cutting the other man deeper.

His opponent met his gaze, the anger all but lashing out at him.

Hunter had seen the depravity of a winged demon bent on quenching its thirst and lust on decaying corpses within the depths of the gladiator games.

This wolf had nothing on that.

His opponent slashed his claws down Hunter’s side, but Hunter moved too fast for the other wolf to break the skin.

He’d spent enough time playing around with this wolf, allowing him to
think
he actually had a chance. Hunter lifted a lip and showed fang, growling deep within his chest. The air around him seemed to freeze, and time stood still.

Hunter cocked his head to the side as fear seeped into the other wolf’s eyes. Finally, the other wolf knew its life relied on Hunter’s mercy.

The others called Hunter an animal.

They called him depraved.

Soulless.

Yes, this wolf had something to fear, but death would not be among them.

Not today.

Hunter kicked out then twisted, causing the other wolf to fall to his knees in pain. He gripped the bastard by the neck and squeezed. 

“Forfeit,” Hunter growled, his voice scraping against his throat from lack of use.

The other wolf’s eyes rolled back, and then he slammed his hand to the ground twice.

The murmurs and howls around them forced Hunter to look at the crowd. He and the other wolf stood in the center of the Nocturne Pack circle, blood and mud covering their bodies and worn jeans. Other members of his Pack growled around them. Some had looks of relief on their faces. Others held a bit of fear…or anger.

The latter would have to be dealt with soon.

“Matthew calls forfeit,” Liam Murray, council member and one-time friend, called out. “It is up to Hunter whether to call death, but the circle has chosen. Hunter is our Beta.”

“As it should have been in the first place,” Josiah, their Alpha, spat. “I have spoken and the circle has agreed. My choice reigns.”

“For now,” Dorian Masterson whispered, though Hunter wasn’t sure if anyone else had heard the bastard.

Hunter had keener senses than most wolves due to his bloodline and destiny. His stint in the gladiator games of hell had only honed them stronger. He’d been back only a month, and he still didn’t feel as though he fit in his skin. Everything had changed in his absence.

The council had grown with more power. His Alpha had grown weaker without Hunter there to protect him. Josiah’s last protector had perished

Samuel…Samuel, Hunter’s brother, had died protecting the Alpha when the council had tried to take over.

None of it made sense to Hunter. He’d fought for his life countless times and killed so many demons and other supernaturals that he wasn’t sure the blood would ever leave his hands, yet when he’d returned to the human realm, he’d faced another battle.

His own Pack.

Hunter rolled his shoulders then stalked toward his Alpha, who stood surrounded by the five council members. That alone pissed him off to no end. The council should have no place near the Alpha. There were only advisors on good days and whispers on bad ones.

Yet they stood there and had demanded a fight to the death to secure the position of Beta.

A position that Samuel had held.

A position Hunter had held before he’d been taken by the demons and forced to serve.

He knelt in front of his alpha, glaring at the others as he did so.

“My Alpha,” Hunter grumbled then turned his head to the side to bare his neck. Others gasped around him, but he ignored them. They
should
have been the ones to bare their necks, but they’d become lax in their duties and rituals.

They’d thought the Pack was a democracy.

They would soon be proven wrong.

Josiah put his hand on Hunter’s shoulder and nodded. “You’re a fine Beta, Hunter. You will make me proud. You
make
me proud.”

Something warm started to fill him, piercing through the ice at his Alpha’s words, then dissipated. His wolf howled within him and hardened against the intrusion. No, it wouldn’t do any good to warm at his Alpha’s words.

Hunter wasn’t a warm man. He was a killer—his Alpha’s killer. He’d been raised to be that wolf, and he’d fulfilled that promise in hell. Now he was back within the confines of his Pack and ready to kill again.

Or at least that’s what he told himself.

“Hunter, good fight,” Alec Brennan, another of Hunter’s one-time friends and council member, said as he slapped his shoulder. “You almost killed that Lloyd wolf.” A vicious gleam entered Alec’s eyes, and Hunter grunted.

“Let the wolf live in his memory of defeat,” Hunter growled. “I’m not in the mood to kill a useless slug who isn’t worthy of the title Beta.”