Moon Craving
"Lucy Monroe captures the very heart of the genre."
—Debbie Macomber
Moon Awakening
"Simply awesome . . . Stunningly sexy and emotionally riveting . . . Easily one of the best paranormals I've ever read!"—
Joyfully Reviewed
"An exciting tale,
Moon Awakening
is a book I highly recommend, and I can't wait for the next story."
—
Romance Reviews Today
"A sensual, humorous story with intriguing and entrancing characters . . . Outstanding . . .I'm looking forward to future stories."
—
Fresh Fiction
PRAISE FOR LUCY MONROE AND HER NOVELS
"[A] wicked and wonderful temptation . . .
Tempt Me
is . . . for any reader hungry for passion and adventure. Give yourself a treat and read this book. Lucy Monroe will capture your heart."
—
New York Times
bestselling author Susan Wiggs
"If you enjoy Linda Howard, Diana Palmer, and Elizabeth Lowell, then I think you'd really love Lucy's work."
—
New York Times
bestselling author Lori Foster
"Monroe brings a fresh voice to historical romance."
—
USA Today
bestselling author Stef Ann Holm
"A light read with many classic touches . . . Highly enjoyable."—
Romantic Times
"Extremely romantic."—
Fresh Fiction
"Lucy Monroe is an awesome talent." —
The Best Reviews
"A fresh new voice in romance." —Debbie Macomber
"Fast-paced and sensual." —
Booklist
"Romance as only Lucy Monroe does it . . . Joy, passion, and heartfelt emotions." —
The Road to Romance
"A perfect 10! First-rate characterization, clever dialogue, sustained sexual tension, and a couple of jaw-dropping surprises."
—
Romance Reviews Today
"An intense, compelling read from page one to the very end. With her powerful voice and vision, Lucy packs emotion into every scene . . . [A] sizzling story with tangible sexual tension."
—Bestselling author Jane Porter
"Lucy has written a wonderful full-blooded hero and a beautiful, warm heroine." —Maggie Cox
"A charming tale . . . The delightful characters jump off the page!"
—Theresa Scott
Berkley Sensation titles by Lucy Monroe
TOUCH ME
TEMPT ME
TAKE ME
MOON AWAKENING
MOON CRAVING
MOON CRAVING
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
MOON CRAVING
A Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley Sensation mass-market edition / February 2010
Copyright (c) 2010 by Lucy Monroe.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
eISBN : 978-1-101-17166-0
BERKLEY(r) SENSATION
Berkley Sensation Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY (r) SENSATION and the "B" design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
http://us.penguingroup.com
For all of the readers who asked and e-mailed about this book. Your enthusiasm for this world and desire to read the next story blessed me so much. Hearing from you helped me to keep working on it even when so many other things were vying for my attention. And I thank you! I sincerely hope Talorc and Abigail's story is worth the wait. It was a very special story for me to write and one that I hope connects with all your hearts!
Hugs and blessings,
Lucy
Millennia ago God created a race of people so fierce even their women were feared in battle. These people were warlike in every way, refusing to submit to the rule of any but their own . . . no matter how large the forces sent to subdue them. Their enemies said they fought like animals. Their vanquished foes said nothing, for they were dead.
They were considered a primitive and barbaric people because they marred their skin with tattoos of blue ink. The designs were usually simple. A single beast was depicted in unadorned outline, though some clan members had more markings, which rivaled the Celts for artistic intricacy. These were the leaders of the clan and their enemies were never able to discover the meanings of any of the blue-tinted tattoos.
Some surmised they were symbols of their warlike nature, and in that they would be partially right. For the beasts represented a part of themselves these fierce and independent people kept secret at the pain of death. It was a secret they had kept for the centuries of their existence while most migrated across the European landscape to settle in the inhospitable north of Scotland.
Their Roman enemies called them Picts, a name accepted by the other peoples of their land and lands south . . . they called themselves the Chrechte.
Their animal-like affinity for fighting and conquest came from a part of their nature their fully human counterparts did not enjoy. For these fierce people were shape-changers and the bluish tattoos on their skin were markings given as a right of passage. When their first change took place, they were marked with the kind of animal they could change into. Some had control of that change. Some did not. And while the majority were wolves, there were large hunting cats and birds of prey as well.
None of the shape-shifters reproduced as quickly or prolifically as their fully human brothers and sisters. Although they were a fearsome race and their cunning was enhanced by an understanding of nature most humans do not possess, they were not foolhardy and were not ruled by their animal natures.
One warrior could kill a hundred of his foe, but should she or he die before having offspring, the death would lead to an inevitable shrinking of the clan. Some Pictish clans and those recognized by other names in other parts of the world had already died out rather than submit to the inferior but multitudinous humans around them.
Most of the shape-changers of the Scots Highlands were too smart to face the end of their race rather than blend with others. They saw the way of the future. In the ninth century AD, Keneth MacAlpin ascended to the Scottish throne. Of Chrechte descent through his mother, MacAlpin was the result of "mixed" marriage, and, his human nature had dominated. He was not capable of "the change," but that did not stop him from laying claim to the Pictish throne (as it was called then). In order to guarantee his kingship, he betrayed his Chrechte brethren at a dinner, killing all of the remaining royals of their people—and forever entrenched a distrust of humans by their Chrechte counterparts.
Despite this distrust, the Chrechte realized that they could die out fighting an ever increasing and encroaching race of humanity, or they could join the Celtic clans.
They joined.
As far as the rest of the world knew—though much existed to attest to their former existence—what had been considered the Pictish people were no more.
Because it was not in their nature to be ruled by any but their own, within two generations, the Celtic clans that had assimilated the Chrechte were ruled by shape-changing clan chiefs, though most of the fully human among them did not know it—only a sparse few were trusted with the secrets of their kinsmen. Those who knew were aware that to betray the code of silence meant certain and immediate death.
That code of silence was rarely broken.
We, the most distant dwellers upon the earth, the last of the free, have been shielded . . . by our remoteness and by the obscurity which has shrouded our name . . .
Beyond us lies no nation, nothing but waves and rocks.
—KING CALGACUS OF THE PICTS, THIRD CENTURY AD
"Is it war then?" the grizzled old Scot, Osgard, asked his laird.
Barr, second-in-command to their powerful leader, frowned. "On our own king?"
The temptation to say yes was great. Talorc, Laird of the Sinclair clan and alpha to his Chrechte pack, had to clamp his jaw tight to keep the word from coming out. It would serve David right. Talorc had no doubt that if he ordered them to, his clan would go to war against the king still disputed as ruler over all Scotland by many Highlanders.
In the Highlands, at least, first loyalty still went to the clan leader, not the king.