Read Darkmoon (#5) (The Cain Chronicles) for Free Online Page A

said, knowing that Cain would hear the lie in his racing heart. Having a werewolf as his head of security was terrifying, but who better to protect him from the supernatural threat than one of their own?
    Cain leaned forward, braced his elbows on his knees, and fixed Tate with a cold stare. “Who are you protecting?”
    “Nobody.”
    “Fine.” Cain grabbed a platter off the kitchen counter and brought it to Tate’s side. There was a tattooing gun, blue latex gloves, and a needle on the steel tray. “Take off your jacket. We’ll finish your tattoo before we get moving again.”
    Tate shucked his coat and rolled up his sleeve, baring the black outline of a bleeding apple.

F IVE
    Letting off Steam
    Midnight had come and gone, but Rylie couldn’t sleep. The moon was itching at her, getting under her skin, tugging at her breast. It wasn’t quite the full moon again. That was still two days away. But it had been a long time since she had turned into a wolf, and it felt like the moon was becoming impatient.
    It didn’t help that Seth took up more of the bed than usual. He was sleeping with a pillow hugged to his chest and his feet hanging off the end, and there wasn’t enough space to get comfortable. The air in the room was too hot, too close. She was suffocating.
    She slipped out of bed without bothering him and went to the window. Outside, the waxing moon was growing, just like Rylie.
    Her gaze fell to the hills, and she realized with dull shock that someone was looking back from the burned ruins of the barn. She couldn’t make out any details in the night, but she knew it was Abel. Nobody else could make her feel hot and cold all at once with a single glance.
    He was waiting for her.
    She bit her bottom lip and glanced at Seth. He rolled onto his back, and one of his arms flopped into the space that she had vacated. His brow creased, like his sleeping mind registered that something was wrong, but it didn’t bother him enough to make him wake up.
    Rylie put on a pair of oversized cowboy boots and sneaked into the hallway. The entire pack was sleeping in the house again, and there was barely enough empty floor for her to walk. Peter, Daven, and Anilizia were lined up in the hallway, head to feet, leaving only a few inches of carpet exposed. The floorboards creaked softly when she stepped past them, and one mumbled in his sleep.
    There were more werewolves in the living room. Bekah was on the couch, while Crystal and Pyper occupied the space in front of the TV. A glance into the kitchen showed that Trevin and Kiara were spooning on an air mattress in front of the cabinets. Rylie felt a twinge of jealousy at the sight of it. Not at the fact that they had hooked up—she was happy for them. But she was definitely jealous over how peacefully they slept.
    And because their relationship was so uncomplicated.
    Rylie stepped over Pyper’s legs, opened the front door, and slipped outside.
    Her boots crunched on the thin layer of snow, which had melted during the day and refrozen into a sheet of ice. Even with the grace of a werewolf, her heavy stomach unbalanced her, and she had to be careful to keep from slipping.
    Abel paced outside the barn wearing a snug black tank top and jeans. It showed off his shoulder rig and dual handguns, which Bekah said he had been carrying constantly since his escape from Cain. He looked meaner than usual. Harder. Like he wasn’t going to let anyone catch him off his guard again.
    The fact that he didn’t smile when he saw Rylie made her hurt a little inside.
    As if they had come to some kind of silent agreement, Abel sauntered into the burned barn, and she followed him. It wasn’t any warmer in there, but at least nobody would be able to see them.
    “I haven’t seen you in a long time,” Rylie said. “Weeks.”
    “I’ve been around to help Scott and Stephanie get ready for their spell, but I gotta lay low to avoid Levi. I’m trying not to punch his face in.” Abel grinned, like the