Omega Moon Rising

By Lyla Luray

Cara's life changed forever after discovering she's an Omega werewolf -- the lowest and most submissive member of her pack. Refusing to let the moon dictate her desires, Cara strikes a deal with Ramsay, the grim and lonely Alpha: she'll share his bed in exchange for his protection from the pack.

But Cara begins to crave Ramsay's dominating embrace. And Jared, her childhood friend -- and newfound love -- will not stand for their arrangement. The struggle for Cara's heart rages alongside the fight for dominance in the pack...and all the while, the next omega moon approaches!

This 44,000-word paranormal erotic romance novel is a sequel to my short story OMEGA MOON.

EXCERPT:

He leans me back a bit, his strong arms holding me up, and parts his lips to press a hot wet kiss just above the neckline of my tank top. Looking down, I can see the dark waves of his hair falling over his forehead. My knees come up to frame his torso, and the contrast between the smooth skin of my thighs and his rough plaid shirt and jeans makes us look decadent, almost dirty.

Ramsay splays one hand on my ribcage, the tips of his fingers brushing the bottom curve of my breast. "Still in control?" he breathes against my chest. "Stop me any time."

"Maybe you're the one in danger of losing control," I say softly. "Maybe you need to lose control."

Ramsay growls in response. "Careful, little one. This is about you, not me."

The sound of that growl makes my heart pound, followed by an answering throb between my legs. It gives me something to focus on besides the thin thread of my own control: can I make Ramsay lose his? Can I win against him?

I stroke his hair. "I think it's about both of us. You don't want me to belong to anyone else but you. But you don't own me, Ramsay."

He growls again, yanking me harder against him--although not ungently. It's the same mix of raw power and surprising tenderness which I felt from him during the ritual. It's the same mix that makes my mother call him a good alpha, even as he can brutally put down any rebellion from Jared. Ramsay is all of these things in one.

"I'm not trying to own you," he says, skimming his lips over the peak of my breast. My control slips just a bit, and I arch my back. "Just helping you understand who you are."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lyla Luray
• Release date: Apr 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781498931823

Lyla Luray

Lyla Luray loves sex, love, words about sex, and words about love. She primarily writes erotica and erotic romance, but often likes to mix it up. During cold winter months, Lyla snuggles up with her husband in their home on the US East Coast. Alternatively, she'll take a holiday at a tropical beach. She's not picky. Lyla also loves hearing from readers! Please say hello at lyla.luray[at]gmail.com or http://lylaluray.com

Book preview

Chapter One

At sunset, on the day after my coming of age ritual, I wake up alone in the forest. I'm in the clearing where the ritual took place, next to a pile of ashes and black charred wood which constitute the remnants of the bonfire.

The low sun slants toward me through the evergreen trees, and as I turn my face to it I know without a doubt that my life has changed forever—that I have changed forever. I know it in the ache of my joints, the soreness of my muscles, the warm sated feel of my womb. And I know it even deeper than that, because something has altered in my very soul.

Beyond the strangeness of being out in the middle of a forest, it simply feels strange to be alone. I was a virgin before last night, and never would have expected to find another person next to me in the morning. But now, as I gather up the ruins of my white dress and stumble to my feet, I realize that this solitude feels fundamentally wrong. I feel a restless stirring in my blood, a yearning for company and companionship. It's not quite as bad as the hot itch I felt leading up to my coming of age, but it's a low level nagging sensation, as if I know I've forgotten something, but can't quite place what it is.

I do know the reason for it, though. Now that I'm of age, I'm a full-grown werewolf. And a werewolf needs her pack.

I begin making my way through the trees, trying to remember the path I took last night, the path which my childhood love Jared led me down before joining me for the ritual.

But thinking of Jared hurts like poking at a bruise, so I just concentrate on my feet, moving one in front of the other, over and over again. At one point, my tired legs give out and I stumble against a tree. The bark scratches my arm, dragging a sob of pain from my throat.

Keep moving, Cara, I grit out. My voice sounds harsh and raw in the stillness of the woods. Come on, girl. That's the only way you'll get your ass home.

I push myself off the tree and continue walking. I'm glad it's still early autumn, warm enough for me to be wandering around outside in my skimpy dress.

As I move through the dimming forest, my memory gives me flashes of the night before, haphazardly revisiting my formal initiation into the pack. I was surrounded by them—all of the adult werewolves I've known my whole life. They used my body in ways I could never have imagined in my innocence, giving me hardly a moment's rest from their roaming hands, their questing mouths, their urgent bodies. Their faces flash through my mind now, wolfish visages and growling voices demanding my desire.

But truly, what the pack had done in using my body was allow me to use theirs, to seek the sexual pleasure I needed to end the ritual's ordeal and become a full-fledged member of the pack.

But are you really a full member? a tiny voice whispers in my head. Since it turns out you're an omega wolf—the lowest of the low!

I stumble again, but this time I manage to catch myself before I slam into another tree, throwing my hand up to brace my weight against the bark. The sap leaves sticky traces on my palm.

We have an omega, Ramsay had declared to the pack last night. Ramsay, our alpha, our leader. The top of the pack's hierarchy, and therefore the only one who could finally give me the release my body craved.

I remember the rest of it in a blinding rush of heated images and sensations: Ramsay staring down at me, his big hands all over me, the incredible fulfillment of riding his cock while he held me up in his strong arms.

And those arms encircling me after the pack departed. His deep voice calling me little one.

Ramsay was with you when you fell asleep, that tiny voice whispers. His knotted cock kept you bound together for hours. So where is he now? Did he leave you all alone?

I hadn't even thought to look for him when I woke. But I know it must be true: he'd left me. He'd left me in the clearing next to the ashy remains of the ritual bonfire, completely and utterly alone.

Just like Jared had left me in the middle of the ritual last night.

Again, my mind shies away from that. But a new feeling sparks to life inside me: a fierce, gritty determination that gets me moving again, pushing me onward to confront whatever's going to happen to me next.

The forest opens out onto my family property, right on the edge of town. For a moment I just stand at the border between the two, looking at the house where I grew up, washed in the last rays of daylight. It isn't much to look at—none of the pack's houses are—just a one-story, two-bedroom structure with peeling paint and a roof missing some shingles.

How long has Jared been promising to fix all that? the whispering voice asks. Guess he's been busy ever since he became a full pack member.

The house is showing its age, but it's always been enough for me and Momma, and when my family took Jared in after his parents passed, it had been enough for him too, even though he'd slept on the fold-out sofa bed for years.

But though our house has never been a palace, it did once have status. Back when my Daddy was alive, it was the house of the alpha, and therefore the most important house of the pack.

And now what status does it have? House of the omega, the wolf who submits to all the others—who can't even help but submit. The wolf who can't control her own transformations, who has to get fucked by the alpha because she goes into heat at the full moon. Just like a real animal.

Last night before I left for the ritual, Momma had told me to make Daddy proud. She and everyone else had expected that my lineage and my auspicious birth—beneath the light of a full moon—meant I would be a high-ranking member of the pack once I came of age. Instead, I have to face her with the news that I'm an omega.

I square my sore shoulders and stand up as straight as my tired body will allow. No matter who you are now, your Daddy was still the alpha once. His blood still runs through your veins. Momma's, too. So you can face her with your head held high.

I step forward.

-oOo-

I don't realize that I'm actually half-dreading the possibility of Jared being in the house until I walk in and see Ramsay sitting on the couch with my mother.

I stop in the doorway and just stare at him. Can he hear my heart pounding? Can he smell the remnants of his seed inside me? His knot had kept any it from trickling out. Has the start of a child now taken root in my womb?

God. I'm only eighteen. If I'm carrying Ramsay's child...

He gazes back at me calmly, his eyes a pale icy blue. Last night they had glowed amber, reflecting the firelight and the state of transformation he was in—arrested somewhere between man and wolf, the controlled limbo which every adult member of our pack masters. Except for me. Because of my omega nature I will never be able to maintain that state on my own.

You... I start, then find my throat clenched tight. I swallow, taking a moment to reach for that that fierce new determination I'd felt in the forest. You just left me there!

Cara, Momma says. Show respect, now.

"But I was alone—"

Ramsay stands. In that one simple movement he displays so much power and economy of muscle that I'm struck momentarily breathless.

That is the proper completion of your coming of age, Ramsay says. The adult pack member should always be able to find her way home.

I cross my arms. Guess I should count my blessings I woke up when there was still enough daylight left. No thanks to you.

Cara! Momma snaps.

Ramsay's gaze rakes over me, wintry cool. You don't seem any worse for it.

There is no sign now of the man who wrapped his arms around me beside the dying bonfire, called me little one and tried to reassure me about my worries. Now there is only the strong, commanding alpha, looking at me like I'm a spoiled kid not even worth reasoning with.

I wonder if he's waiting for me to apologize for my tone. Instead, I glance away from him toward Momma. I guess you've heard?

She gives me a nod that doesn't betray her thoughts one way or the other. I heard. Marybeth stopped by and let me know.

For a moment I'm assaulted with the memory of Marybeth kneeling between my thighs, bending her wolfish face to my cunt. She's been my mother's best friend since they were small, someone I always thought of as an aunt. But now I know the sensation of her rough tongue lapping my sex with long, eager strokes.

I feel my face flush. How would Marybeth have even explained any of that to Momma? Her daughter getting fucked and used by the entire pack, then begging them all for more?

I hope she broke the news gently, I say, my voice bitter. Wish I could report I'd gotten it gently myself.

I also wish I didn't have an audience for this. I didn't want Jared here, and I certainly don't care for Ramsay being here—especially not if he's going to act like the cold, distant alpha while my whole world's turned upside down. I wish it were just me and Momma right now. She isn't exactly the warmest mother around, but we're all the family we have left. And she's a far sight better than Ramsay.

I turn back to him. So is there a reason you're here? Because I need a shower and food, real bad, and I'm not too up for conversation.

I ignore Momma clicking her tongue.

I came to make sure you arrived home safe, Ramsay says. I won't keep you.

It occurs to me that Ramsay hardly ever comes to our house. He was here the awful night Daddy died, along with the other pack members who'd survived the battle. They broke the news to us. Ramsay might have come by a couple times after that, to check on us as a courtesy. But he didn't need to, and he didn't need us. Once the mantle of alpha had settled squarely on his shoulders, there was no reason for us to have any dealings together.

Now it's all changed. Now, apparently, I'll be needing Ramsay—once a month at the very least.

Why don't you see Ramsay out, Momma says.

What for? The door's right there.

Her hand clamps around my elbow and propels me forward. Go on, Cara.

So back outside I go, this time with Ramsay at my side.

We stop in the yard. Ramsay's jeep is parked in the driveway—in my exhausted daze I hadn't even noticed it. The sun's now set, and dusk is sitting purple in the air. Since our town sits at the base of a mountain range, it'll get full dark soon.

Not twenty-four hours ago I was out here with Jared, on the way to the ritual. I was still a virgin.

We need to exchange some words, Ramsay says, his pale eyes fixed on mine.

My earlier defiance is draining out of me. All right.

First I need to know—are you feeling the need to transform still? We've still got two more nights of full moon.

I shake my head. No. Whatever we did last night, I think it worked on me.

Feeling hurt at all?

I almost think he's talking about my actual feelings. But when he glances down my body, I realize he means am I hurt from the ritual. He wants to know if the pack hurt me.

I shake my head. I...I don't think so. I'm sore all over, but...

Even a normal coming of age can be hard on a female, Ramsay says. When their partner's in that state, things can get...a little out of control.

I know we're both thinking of Jared. Tall, strong Jared—I'd grown up with him, wrestled with my feelings for him, tempted mutual ruin with him. And even though he'd been drawing away from Momma and me ever since his own coming of age, I suppose until last night I'd always assumed he would be there for me whenever I truly needed him.

Somehow, it seems easier for me to picture his face with Ramsay here. Ramsay had personally selected Jared to be my ritual partner, the