Free Lunar Mates 1: Under Cover of the Moon by Under the Cover of the Moon (Cobblestone)

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Lunar Mates 1: Under Cover of the Moon
by Loribelle Hunt
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Romance/Erotica
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    Cobblestone Press
www.cobblestone-press.com
    Copyright ©2006 by Loribelle Hunt
    First published in 2006

     
    NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.
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    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
    Under the Cover of the Moon: Lunar Mates Book 1
    Copyright© 2006 Loribelle Hunt
    ISBN: 1-60088-018-5
    Cover Artist: Sable Grey
    Editor: Melanie Noto
    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
    Cobblestone Press, LLC
    www.cobblestone-press.com
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    Prologue
    The community hall was filled to capacity. Several men stopped and quietly wished Darius luck, but more visited the other man standing on the opposite side of the small courtyard. The Council of Chiefs stood back in an insolated circle and took it all in.
    Darius tried to look at the situation from their point of view. The Council was here to appoint a new Alpha to the pack, because Brant had died without warning and without naming a successor. They wouldn't just look for a strong leader; they'd choose someone well respected by the majority of the adult males. Brant had ruled the clan with an iron fist and Darius was considered the most like Brant, who'd excelled at pitting him against Jackson. He'd maneuvered them both like a chess master, weakening the only two males strong enough to challenge his rule.
    Darius doubted he was the upcoming choice. The clan had chaffed under Brant's leadership, and looked for something new, a little freedom. He couldn't blame them—he wanted more freedom himself.
    He gritted his teeth. Never mind that he was cast in the same mold. He was Brant's Enforcer, and that made him unpopular except for a few loyal childhood friends who saw beyond his official function. One of those old friends was his opponent, Jackson, and another made his way through the bottleneck at the courtyard's entrance and came to stand beside him. He released a sigh of relief. Of course, Eric would stand at his side.
    Eric nodded. “Evening."
    He snorted in response. Yeah, best to leave the good off that.
    “Jackson's got quite a crowd over there,” Eric added dryly.
    “Noticed that."
    “Talkative tonight, huh?” Eric grinned.
    Darius bit back a laugh. A few weeks earlier Eric had claimed his mate, and he had been irrepressibly cheerful ever since. If he weren't so happy for his old friend, he'd be tempted to strangle him.
    “That's good. I can talk for both of us,” he changed the subject. “Trey's back. Have you seen him?"
    “No.” And it worried him. He counted on Trey's unspoken support during the Naming, but so far Trey had avoided Darius since his return two days ago.
    “Not to worry. He's avoiding us all. I think that's a good sign, actually. Maybe he's finally going to retire from the Hunters."
    Darius raised an eyebrow.
    Eric shrugged. “Why avoid any of us if he wasn't? He wouldn't have any say in this. If he leaves the Hunters, he'll have to choose. We all know someone's getting banished tonight,” he ended seriously. And they all knew those odds were in his favor.
    Eric nodded towards the entrance. “There he is now."
    They turned to watch as the sea of people parted to let Trey