Shadows of the Moon

Thanks everyone who has given input on my work so far. Some of you really came down hard on me for not having a editor. I take that as a sign you care, if you didn't like the story you wouldn't want it to improve. So now I got myself one. Actually I got two for good measure.

Thanks Mandarabe and LiterKnight for the work you did. You were thorough, kind and patient. Much appreciated!

Thanks to those who have taken an interest in this story. It warms my heart when you rate it and leave comments. Please keep it up. <3

In this chapter things heat up a bit between Nat and Liam. Enjoy.

**

It was a good thing she was lying face down on the mattress when the sound of knuckles against wood sounded in the room. Liam was half way through a shift before he managed to force it back. What he didn't manage to control was the deeply frustrated growl rolling through his chest. How dare someone interrupt him? He was going to rip them to pieces if they didn't make themselves scarce real quick.

"Liam? Are you in there?" A soft female voice with a heavy Russian accent.

Fuck. The one person who didn't deserve his anger. Sitting back on his haunches he put a hand on the small of Natalie's naked back and felt the soft skin beneath his fingers. His lovely woman. The wolf in him howled in anger but recognizing his alpha he grudgingly submitted. Nadja was the only one of the leaders in this pack either of them would listen to. Nadja was the only one they respected.

"Liam. If you are, I need to speak with you. It's urgent."

He looked at the door with a mixture of hurt and anger. His brother's mate was a damn good woman and a good ruler. There was no way he could take out his anger on her but all he wanted was to stay with Natalie.

Natalie squirmed under his hand and twisted to the side so she could look up at him. "Who is that?" She whispered giving him a curious look.

"My brother's wife." Sighing deeply he looked down at her with longing. "I need to see what she wants." Leaning in over her, he gave her one last passionate kiss. Suddenly he was gone and when she opened her eyes he had rolled off the bed and was heading towards the door.

Liam closed the door behind him as he stepped out into the corridor and Nadja took a step back to give him room. The woman was a head shorter than him but one of the most capable people he had ever met. With her big brown soulful eyes and her dark brown hair made into a long braid that usually hung down her shoulder she was also one of the most adorable people. It was hard not to like her.

There was a moment of awkwardness between them and he knew it was obvious what had been going on behind the door from the way he smelled and the erection straining in his pants. He could feel her disapproval as she frowned slightly at him. Wolves were not shy, nor were they modest so he was not sure why she would object to his relationship with Natalie.

"Come Liam." Hooking her arm in his she discreetly guided him away from the room. They walked in companionable silence for a few moments until they reached the rooftop garden where she perched on the balcony railing and Liam took a seat on one of the benches. This place made his skin crawl and his stomach turn, it was the scene of some the most horrible memories of his life. He was quite sure the bench he was sitting on was the same one behind which he had watched over his sister when she was unconscious all those years ago.

"You know I'm very happy you're back don't you?" She started and gave him a warm smile. "It breaks my heart every time you walk away from us. The pack thinks so highly of you."

There wasn't anything Liam could say to that. No question that needed answering and no action that needed justification. They had been through this before and he knew she would beg him to stay. She would ask him to settle his aggression against her mate, his brother, and live with them in peace.

Liam winced at that.

Her asking him for those things just proved how little they understood him. How little they knew of what had been going on in this house since the fall of their father. Aarik had been away in Russia courting Nadja for ten years and despite many attempts to reach him he had not answered his siblings' desperate pleas for help.

"Having said that..." She puffed out her cheeks and had the decency to look a little guilty before she continued. "...That girl has gone through so much in the last few days Liam. She is in emotional distress and I fear you might be taking advantage of that. Is it possible you sympathize with her since she has lost her family too and that's why you're interested in her?"

Liam was gobsmacked. An anger rose within him like a torrent of fire. How dare they belittle what he felt!? How dare they lecture him on the decency of his relationship like he was a child!? His hands balled into fists and a deep angry growl reverberated through his chest.

Nadja quickly put her hands up in a disarming gesture. "Please Liam. We're not taking a stab at you. Can you honestly say that that girl's decisions right now are in no way influenced by her state of mind? Hmm? You are a good guy. You have always been the good guy and don't think I don't see it. I'm just asking you to be the good guy once more. Give her space until her life is in order and if you're still attracted to her then at least it will be on even ground."

Their eyes locked, hers were pleading and his was seething with anger. "Why is it at all your business who I spend my time with?"

"Don't take this the wrong way but... There is a concern that you might be doing this just to spite your brother. She is the only connection we have to her father and it's vital that we find him. It hasn't been lost on us that you very conveniently began courting her when you found out her importance."

"This has nothing to do with her father or my brother." He rose from his seat and paced agitatedly. His wolf clawed at his mind to show them just how much their words offended him.

She slid off her perch and came to stand before him taking his face between her hands. "I believe you Liam. I know you're so much more than your brother gives you credit for and I will never understand why you provoke him so. But right now Natalie is important to the pack. If you were to break her heart she might want to leave, or not cooperate with us. I really can't stress this enough; it is important that she stays with us."

"Why? She clearly knows nothing about her father or this project he worked on."

"You're right. She does not. But we find it hard to believe that the good doctor wouldn't check up on his daughters. He must have suspected they would go after her."

"What's the project about?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you Liam. Your brother isn't quite sure what side you are on at the moment. This Natalie thing has him quite... let's say, annoyed."

"Fucking asshole."

She shook her head in sadness. "Come. Let's get to breakfast before they close the dining hall. I trust you to do the right thing." Again she hooked her arm in his and led him down the hall towards the elevator.

**

When the door closed behind Liam she rolled over on her back and glared daggers at the door. Would they never be left alone long enough to get it on? Now she was just hopelessly horny and unsatisfied. Burying her face in her pillow she let out a frustrated cry, somewhere between a scream and moan.

Just a few moments later there was another knock at the door; a more tentative one. Now it was Natalie's turn to roll off the bed, grab some clothes and open the door. In the corridor stood a somber looking Eileen and she gave Natalie an uncertain smile. "Hey. Just wanted to check with you if you wanted breakfast again."

Natalie poked her head out the door and looked left and right - no sign of her shining knight. "Yeah sure. Since my previous engagement seem to have abandoned me, why not."

"Yay!" Eileen perked up in a somewhat exaggerated gesture. "We must hurry though. They close in just a few."

Grabbing Natalie's hand the woman dragged her away from the room. Natalie had hardly enough time to pull the door closed behind her. Walking in silence down the hall and down the stairs she noticed a very significant change in her companion. She seemed more serious than the day before but from the little glances and the shy smirks Natalie could tell something was going on. The woman had a horrible poker face.

"What's up with you?" She asked as they reached the second flight of stairs. "You look like a kid on Christmas who has been given the best present ever but not allowed to open it."

"I know. I know. But the boss told me I couldn't, so I won't."

"Couldn't what?"

Eileen zipped her mouth with her hand and gave her an apologetic look.

"You know. The more I hear about this boss and his secrets the more I dislike him. He seems so full of it."

"Nooo! Don't say that." Eileen whispered urgently, looking around to see if anyone heard them. "He's a really good boss. The best we've had in ages."

"I'll take your word for it."

**

"Kaleigh!" Liam howled as he chased after his father through the forest. He could hear his angry bestial growl echoing across the valley and it made him cry in terror. His sister had lured their tormentor out of the house because tonight he had seemed worse than before. They had sensed the blood lust emanating from him as he stalked the halls in his hybrid form, calling for them, and decided that something had to be done.

Liam had watched from a window as his sister bolted from the house and into the trees but their father had been close on her heels. With chilling clarity his fifteen year old brain had realized that his sister would not make it. She would be caught in the monster's clutches and he would never see her again.

Chasing after them down the stairs he jumped several steps at the time to reach the ground floor faster. Out the door and without a moment's hesitation he set out after them. Now he was stumbling through the vegetation searching in desperation for any sign of them. Since he hadn't mastered his shift yet transforming was tough at the best of times. Now in this petrified state of mind his wolf just cowered within him and whined.

"Kaleigh!" He howled again, snagging his foot on the roots of a great pine and fell face first into the dirt. Stunned he just stayed there, straining to fill his lungs and quell his panic. "Ka... leigh..." He sobbed quietly.

A loud female whine of pain sounded to his left and what could only be his father's loud growling. He pushed himself up again and stumbled towards the sound. More whimpering and a tortured howl of pain cut short by the roar of a great beast.

His heart was pounding painfully in his chest, his hands were covered in scratches and dirt and his clothes snagged in the underbrush, but none of that mattered. He could not lose Kaleigh! She was the strong one. She was their shield; their protector. He wouldn't know what to do without her.

The trees thinned out and opened up into a clearing. A small brook snaked across it and it was above this his father straddled, one foot on each bank. In his left hand he held the small form of the wolf that was his sister. He was pushing her muzzle below the water and roaring down at her in anger.

The change took Liam completely by surprise as his wolf surged forward in his mind and before he knew it he was struggling out of his clothes and sprinting towards his father's back on all fours. Liam wasn't a large wolf at the age of fifteen. He was agile and quick, but he did not yet have the body of a full grown male. Launching himself square onto his father's back he buried his teeth in the shoulder holding his sister under water and raked with his claws with all his power. His father howled in pain, grabbed the scruff of his neck and yanked him off. Now Liam was the one dangling from his father's powerful arm growling and twisting, trying to get free.

"She hasss corrrupteeed youuuu..." The words came out slow and morphed by the hybrid form and it rose in pitch to end in a grieving howl. The beast raised his arm to throw Liam across the glade and sailing through the air he knew it was the end. They would not make it through the night. The last thing passing through his mind before he hit the tree was a deep worry for who would take care of the twins. Who would watch over Lynn and Logan now when Kaleigh and himself were no more?

**

Walking into the great dining hall in the wake of his alpha's mate, he met his brother's angry glare from the dais and felt a twinge of glee. He hadn't set out to anger him this time but it pleased him to no end that it happened. The man had come waltzing back from Russia with a beautiful woman on his arm and happy as a sunny summer's day in the middle of the greatest tragedy that had ever befallen their family.

Liam had buried three siblings and his father in the span of two years, and that before his seventeenth birthday. He had taken control of the pack when no one was around and the members so broken down that no one dared get up. The only good coming from his father's last years on this earth had been the fact that he hoarded money. Their trading and companies had done well and he had spent none of the excess on anything. The wealth was incredible and Liam had lifted the pack from its cowering broken down state to a proud community with it. Or at least he had started it. When his brother came home he had handed the alpha position over without objection.

And he still didn't object to it in a way. Their feud was more personal. He could not deny that Aarik did well by the pack, his woman was a sterling woman and the pack seemed to do well. Liam knew he was broken in more ways than one and didn't consider himself suitable to be an alpha.

Knowing all this didn't help. There was hurt and anger within him that refused to go away. It was impossible for him to submit until some things had been rectified. His brother's actions at the time of his return from Russia had infected wounds that would not heal and the man seemed completely oblivious to it. Liam took joy from every headache he gave his brother, no matter how petty it might seem.

With a smug smile he passed through the room in the wake of Nadja. As they passed a row of tables he saw Natalie sitting at the end of it and every word of sense his brother's mate had spoken flew out the window. There was no way in hell he was giving her up. In his mind his wolf stirred with lust and possessiveness. Fuck his brother. He didn't care one bit what he thought.

When they were about to pass her chair he stopped and gave a mental command to the young man that was seated next to her to move. The man yelped and cowered away from him. Silently the man slipped out of his chair without a word, taking his food with him. Pleased, Liam took the chair, slipped an arm around the very surprised Natalie and gave her a wink.

The hall had fallen dead silent and Nadja was standing no more than a few feet away, her eyes wandering from her mate to Liam with pleading eyes. She had expected Liam to act better than this. His obvious disregard for her and her mate's wishes was worrying and she knew it would lead to serious repercussions. But the dining hall was no place for battle. Especially not with a human present.

Aarik's voice boomed loudly in Liam's mind and he couldn't help but cringe just a little.

"This is the last time you disobey me brother! You will meet me at the circle tonight and unless you can defend your actions you will be expelled from this pack!"

"Aarik."

Liam said with icy coldness. A loud mental growl was the only answer he got.

"Fuck off."

Liam had no doubt his brother would have challenged him then and there if it hadn't been for Natalie. The whole pack knew it. The tension in the room was so thick that even she picked up on it. Leaning closer to him she whispered quietly. "What's going on?" Her eyes scanned the quiet people with curiosity.

"Nothing. I think my brother was about to say something but he seem to have lost whatever it was. Just ignore him." He squeezed the arm around her comfortingly.

Slowly, very slowly conversations picked up again. The room was still thick with a nervous tension and it had everyone squirming in their seats. Nadja continued on to sit by her mate and he could see by their facial expressions that a heated debate was taking place mentally.

Whatever they were discussing he didn't care. If he only had until nightfall in this house then he would make the most of it. Pulling Natalie closer he buried his nose in her hair and took a deep breath. This was heaven.

**

Having the whole room fall silent just like that was freaky to say the least. It had Natalie's skin crawling and she looked around she found that people nervously avoided her eyes. Looking up at the dais, hard cold eyes were staring at her and Liam with barely contained anger. Well, mostly they were staring at Liam but it still felt like she was the source of his ire. It was painfully obvious that the "boss" didn't approve.

She could understand if posh people like that did not approve of a stripper but she couldn't explain the reaction of the room. These people acted like their "boss" wasn't just the owner of the house or a wealthy eccentric that let them stay here for whatever reason. They were not people who should be able to afford a country club membership, and even if they did it was weird that they lived here.

They acted on his every whim and now they were acting on his mood as well. Like he had a hold on them that went way beyond money. It was truly unnerving, like they were a cult and he was their leader.

Maybe that was it. She had gotten herself caught up in one of those crazy cults. They had money; that was not unheard of. Or maybe it was a secret society of some sort. They had power and influence.

So where did Liam fit in in all this? He didn't seem to get along very well with his brother. Maybe he had tried to leave this cult before? The more she thought about it the more sense it made. And the more unnerved she became. She had been told that leaving a cult was extremely hard. They would cut you off from family and friends, isolate you... Was that what was happening? She hadn't been allowed to tell her mother where she was. Maybe they had staged her sister's murder just so she would comply and stay here? But why her? Why some random stripper from halfway across the country just so she would join them? What could they possibly want from her?

Her father. The recorded conversation between him and the other man replayed through her head. Maybe he had been involved in this cult too and now they were trying to get to him. Feeling suddenly very alone and exposed she was grateful when Liam pulled her closer to nuzzle her hair. Catching a glimpse of Eileen's wide-eyed expression of awe from across the table she smiled. There was something special about Liam, they all knew it but he had chosen her. It felt good. Everything with him felt good. Even the crazy cult stuff didn't seem as bad when he was there.

Still she was not comfortable staying in the dining hall with people staring and whispering. Finishing the last of her meal she turned to Liam. "I don't know about you but I could really do with some sunshine. Show me around?"

Pushing back his chair he rose and pulled her with him. With an arm draped over her shoulders he aimed them towards the exit, seemingly unbothered by his brother's angry glare or the whispers that followed them out.

They walked around the huge but beautiful building. Red brick walls with milky white pillars and décor, high windows, well kept-bushes and fine gravely paths going around it all. Everything was stunning. Walking around the east wing she found the lake before them. Liam was holding her hand and in the same companionable silence that she had experienced the other day while walking the streets they headed towards it.