Evans, Gabrielle - From This Moment [The Moonlight Breed 7] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic Ma by Gabrielle Evans (best desktop ebook reader txt) 📕

“It’s kind  of fucked up the things people do in the name of love.”

Cian couldn’t have agreed more with  Blaise’s statement. There  was very little he wouldn’t do for Zavion, but subjecting innocents to  torture and enslavement was definitely a line he wasn’t willing to

cross.

“We’ve guessed for a while now that the slave trades started long  before Cole’s dad began trying to find a cure for  a vampire’s allergy  to the sun.” Running a hand through his short dark hair, Blaise huffed  and shook his head. “There are new victims coming in all the time,  and it’s just too big for something that simplistic.”

“This lab we’re looking for furthers the suspicion that Cyrus  Redway and my father were attempting something much larger,” Cole  agreed. “We just don’t know what it is. The records we found only go  back a couple of years, but I think we can safely assume this has been  happening for decades, maybe even before Cyrus met my father.”

“So, where are they now?” Oscar asked as he chewed at his  thumbnail nervously.

“Cyrus is dead,” Blaise answered. “He attempted to attack my  mates during a Council meeting. It couldn’t be avoided.” He didn’t  sound the least bit apologetic about the demise of the vampire, and  Cian couldn’t say that he blamed him.

“My father,” Cole added with a sigh. “Well, let’s just say that he  won’t be hurting anyone again. He also won’t be spilling any of his  secrets anytime soon, either. The last time I saw him, he was just  staring ahead blankly and babbling incoherent nonsense.”

From This Moment                       47

“Why is that?” Flouncing into the room with his wet curls  plastered to his forehead, Zavion  wore a bright smile and not much  else.

The T-shirt he’d donned  was actually Cian’s, and while it swallowed him, it stopped just below mid-thigh, showing off his long, slender legs.  His bare feet padded almost silently across the tiles as he crossed the kitchen and settled into Cian’s lap with a chaste kiss to his cheek.

“So,” he said, turning his attention back to Cole. “What happened

to your dad?”

“Talon happened.”

Cian hadn’t been there for the showdown between the former

alpha and the leopard shifter, so he was just as confused as his mate.  “Maybe you’ll want to elaborate so the rest of us can follow.”

Cole shrugged. “My dad made some rather rude  comments about  Jackson that Talon took a little too personally. So he shifted and damn  near ripped the man’s face off. Jackson talked him down, but  it was  too late.”

“Why was it too late?” Zavion’s  head tilted to the side, and his  nose wrinkled. “If Talon didn’t hurt him, what happened to him?”

Exchanging a  glance  with Blaise, Cole then turned to look at Cian  and finally back to Zavion. “How much do you know about being a  Moonlighter?”

“Well,  I know we have white pelts, and people are  a little weirded  out about that. I guess it’s kind of a bad thing?” The lilt to his voice  made the last part sound like a question, and his head tilted to the  other side. “Xander and the others tried to explain it, and we’re  supposed to make people crazy when we shift. I don’t know. It was all  kind of confusing.”

Cian had grown up hearing the legends, and he’d been just as  guilty of prejudice against the breed until he’d met his brother’ s mate,  Boston. They weren’t the devils people had made them out to be over  the centuries. He knew that now. While he didn’t fear his white-furred

48                        Gabrielle Evans

brethren, there was still a healthy dose of respect there and for good

reason.

“Moonlighters have been feared and hunted for as long as anyone  can remember,” Blaise explained in a calm, quiet voice. “There is  only one born to a clan, coven, pack, or whatever per generation,  except in cases of multiples.”

“Like me and Zuriel.”

“Or Logan and Talon,” Cian added as he skimmed his fingers  over the silky smooth skin on his lover’s thighs in a calming manner.  “I’d guess there are even triplets out there somewhere.”

“For whatever reason,” Blaise continued, “your magic is  supercharged. Popular belief is that this magic is so powerful, in fact,  that it will drive anyone to insanity within minutes if they are unlucky  enough to be close by when a Moonlighter shifts.”

“Other Moonlighters are considered to be the exception,” Cole  said, picking up where his mate had left off. “There was an incident a  few years ago that made Blaise think that mates of Moonlighters were  immune as well.”

“The more time I spent with  Xander’s pack  in Georgia, the more I  saw. Things weren’t really adding up.” Easing Willow out of his lap,  Blaise rose from his seat and began pacing, something he always did  when he was gearing up for a lecture.

Cian just sighed and settled back in his chair. He’d seen it  a dozen  times and knew there was nothing to he could do to stop the alpha  until Blaise was finished with what he wanted to say. He continued  tracing circles on Zavion’s thighs, moving a little higher  with each  pass. The guy didn’t really seem to need comforting, but Cian didn’t  really need  an  excuse to touch his mate, either. He just couldn’t keep  his hands off  him.

When he smoothed his palm up the inside of Zavion’s thigh under the hem of the oversized T-shirt, he almost swallowed his tongue

when his knuckles brushed against the man’s naked cock. His heart

From This Moment                       49

beat a little faster, his breathing became just a bit shallower, and his

dick twitched inside his sweats with interest.

Scooting his chair closer to the table under the premise of readjusting in his seat, he made sure Zavion’s lower half was hidden under the tabletop before he reached between his lover’s legs again to fondle his soft, smooth sac. It didn’t really matter. Everyone in the room could smell the lust pouring off of them, but as long as Zavion wasn’t uncomfortable with them knowing, Cian didn’t care.

Zuriel gave a visual shudder, shook his head, and quickly left the room. Not that Cian could blame him. He had