Free Red Rose Moon (Seasons of the Moon) by SM Reine Page A

strewn with bodies, and only a few werewolves were left standing. Seth could see Stephanie hiding behind the altar with Scott.
    There was no sign of Rylie or Gwyn.
    Yasir holstered his gun. “Seven of them,” he said, his eyes skimming the bodies. “Seven of my men turned on us.”
    “Seems like the Union’s got a pretty big loyalty problem,” Seth said.
    The commander barked a laugh and headed for the bodies. Seth moved to follow—but an arm wrapped around his throat, strong and unyielding as an iron band.
    He was jerked back against a muscular body. He thrashed hard, but couldn’t break free.
    “Cain!” Yasir shouted, spinning to face him again.
    “Drop your gun! One move, and I pop off his head,” Cain said. His deep voice thrummed in his chest and vibrated through Seth’s back. “You want this guy alive? I want Rylie.”
    Yasir was frozen with his gun half-drawn.
    “Don’t,” Seth squeezed out, his vision dimming.
    “I shot you in the head,” Yasir said, eyes narrowed. “I used silver bullets.”
    “Guess you don’t know much about natural born werewolves,” Cain said. “Rylie. Now.”
    Seth tried to shake his head, but he was confined too tightly.
    Cain’s arm tightened.
    And then a black mass shot over the hilltop and crashed into them both.
    Seth bowled over, thrown by the momentum of being struck by a wolf. It ripped him free of Cain’s grip and knocked all the breath out of his lungs. He sprawled on the snow, gasping for oxygen.
    His vision blurred, but he could just make out the huge wolf that was Abel clashing with Cain. Even as a human, Cain was powerful—more than a match for Abel. Having a hole in the side of his head didn’t even faze him.
    But then Cain made the mistake of trying to shift. His skin rippled, his knees popped, and he fell to all fours.
    A moment of vulnerability was enough. Abel pinned Cain to the ground, jaws buried in his throat, and he bit down.
    Cain cried out.
    Seth got to his feet, dizzy and unsteady. Yasir grabbed him before he could fall over. “I’ve got you,” he said.
    Together, they went to Abel’s side. He had a half-human, half-wolf Cain held down with his teeth and one massive paw. He couldn’t seem to finish shifting with Abel’s teeth in his neck.
    Seth patted Abel on the shoulder. It wasn’t enough to show his gratitude, but he had to try.
    The wolf shied away from him.
    Biting back his annoyance, Seth focused instead on Cain. “Give it up. You’re alone, and you’re not getting out of here with Rylie.”
    “Oh, I’m not alone,” he said in a rasping gurgle, almost a growl. Blood bubbled in his furry throat. “You might have won this battle against me, but you’re going to lose the war, little man. I let Eleanor out, and she’s finishing off your wife as we speak.”
    Seth stared. “ What ?”
    “If I can’t have my pure race, nobody can,” Cain hissed.
    And then the blood loss was too much. His eyes glazed over, and he passed out.
    Seth wiped the sweat off his upper lip with his sleeve. If a gunshot wound to the forehead hadn’t killed Cain, then a combination of blood loss and strangulation wouldn’t, either.
    But he couldn’t linger and keep trying to kill Cain. Not if Eleanor was after Rylie.
    Abel had already made his decision. He released Cain and tore down the hill in a black blur.
    “I’ll watch Cain,” Yasir said, pushing Seth’s shoulder. “Find Rylie. Go!”
    Rylie hugged her knees to her chest and shivered in the snow. It was quiet out on the ranch now, but she didn’t know if it was safe to emerge.
    If her side had won, wouldn’t someone come to get her?
    She was so busy arguing with herself over the idea of leaving that she almost didn’t notice when something else shifted in the burned remnants of the barn.
    Eleanor dragged herself out of the shadows of what used to be a bedroom, and staggered toward Rylie.
    Her right leg was missing below the ankle, and her spine was weirdly bowed, like it could no longer