Cold Moon Redemption: Sakana Series, #3.5

By Amanda LeMay

SPOILER ALERT ~ Cold Moon Redemption is a Sakana Series companion novella, of sorts, and NOT a stand-alone. If you haven't read the series you'll find Cold Moon Redemption is full of spoilers from Seff's point of view, plus additional scenes not included in the previous books. Through the first three books, Seff Weylan has always been there in the background. Now, it's his turn.

 

Yeah, I've done some stupid stuff.

My biggest mistake got me exiled, banished from my pack.

A dark stain I'll live with the rest of my long, long life.

 

I was there in the beginning. I tracked the rogues. Warned my pack.

I should've caught their scent from miles away.

I'm a wolf. I can do that.

It's a gift. And a curse.

 

I saved a life. Actually, two lives.

My transgressions, forgiven.

My exile ended.

Then, the rogues attacked.

I should've smelled them coming. I could've saved so many more lives.

But I failed.

 

Deep in my soul, I know forgiveness isn't the only thing I need.

Though it's freely given, I haven't earned it.

Do I seek redemption? You betcha.

I'll do whatever it takes.

I'm not worthy. At least, not yet.

But I'm working on it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amanda LeMay
• Release date: Jan 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201268756

Amanda LeMay

Indie author Amanda LeMay grew up on a small farm in Southern California reading every sci-fi book her dad passed on to her and watching every classic horror movie her mom shared with her. Her love for paranormal romance was an easy leap. Amanda published her first paranormal romance – full of dark sexy wolf-shifters called KISS OF THE WINTER MOON - in February 2018. Her wolf-shifters share a rare and special bond with their mates: the sakana bond, a rare and ancient bond that links their minds, bodies, and souls. Amanda still lives in Southern California with her own Alpha-male husband and two grumpy cats and dreams of living on the beach in Texas. When she isn't writing, or thinking about writing, (or plotting, or characters, or dialogue, or world building), she's probably working on any number of crafts, sewing, gardening, or lost in another authors' wonderful dream world. She plots most of her novels while walking, or driving, or while on long Texas beach vacations sitting outside listening to the waves. She loves reading paranormal romance, fantasy romance, sci-fi romance, contemporary romance...well, just romance in general. Visit Amanda’s website at www.amandalemay.com. Make friends with her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/amanda.lemay.18041 And follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/AmandaLeMaybks.

Book preview

COLD MOON REDEMPTION

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are

either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously,

and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or business

establishments, organizations or locales is completely coincidental.

Copyright © 2021 by Amanda LeMay

Cover art design by Fiona Jayde

Sakana icon design by Tarl Lambson

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act

of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or

retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without

permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you

would like permission to use material from the book (other than for

review purposes), please contact Amanda LeMay at

[e-mail]

Cold Moon Redemption / Amanda LeMay

First Edition: December 2021

ASIN: B09P4F7HC5

ISBN: 9798201268756

To everyone

who wondered

if I would ever finish

writing this novella,

(including me).

You betcha!

CHAPTER ONE

July ~ Bexar County, Texas

The truck’s bright , white LED headlamps illuminated the back-country road we’d been bouncing along for the last twenty minutes.

And, damn, we’d gone too far.

Pull over, I said, shaking my head.

Dain drove his truck over to the side of the dusty road. Did you lose his scent? Jessy asked as she handed me a jar of freshly ground coffee beans.

I took a big sniff to clean out the scents hammering my nose—wild scrub bushes gone dry in the summer heat, along with the stench of human litter—crushed beer cans, cheap whiskey bottles, and burnt cigarette butts.

Not completely. I twisted the cap onto the jar and handed it back to Jessy. I think we passed it.

We were way off the main highway in Bexar County, a little north of San Antonio. Nothing for miles but dirt and trees and scrub. It was a hell of a place to dump a body.

Dear ancient gods, let me find Blaze alive.

I’d made a promise. Alive...or not...whichever way I found my aunt Neeta’s sakana, the male was coming home with us.

I closed my eyes and inhaled one long, deep breath after another.

Focus. Find that male.

Prove I’m worthy.

I shut that last thought out. Regardless of whether I found Blaze, my uncle Gunner was not gonna let me come home until he was good and ready. I’d fucked up. Bad. The two people out here with me were the two I’d hurt the most. Why they’d volunteered for this duty, I didn’t know, but I was damn glad they were the ones with me. Dain Louvel had given me a pass, but Jessy, his sakana—she’d let me know how pissed she’d been the second I’d shown my face in Comfort again. I didn’t blame her. Throwing out a challenge at Dain right after he’d suffered a punishment doled out by the males of our pack was the most despicable, dishonorable thing I could’ve done in my entire life. And man, he’d kicked my ass and broken a few of my bones in the process.

I’d deserved it.

Seven months later, Jessy held on to that anger like the challenge had happened just a few days ago.

I still felt bad about causing her so much grief.

Three years ago, Dain’s natural scent had intensified and taken on a floral undertone. I’d known then. He’d met the one female he’d shared an unbreakable bond of love and trust with—his sakana—Jessy. Why it had taken three years for those two to mate, I didn’t know. Last December was the first time I’d seen them together. Even though I’d known they were bonded and had caught the odor of aggression that had come off of Dain, something about Jessy’s scent had touched a dark part of my wolf's heart. She seemed to stir up those wild, hidden parts of me that had wanted to claim her as mine. I still didn’t have a clue why. Being around Jessy now, even in such close proximity, no longer stirred those possessive feelings.

Jessy bumped my arm. Seff?

Yeah, we passed it. Turn around. I saw a road go off to the right a ways back.

Dain nodded, turned the truck around, and drove back the way we came. A couple of miles along, we came to the road I’d seen before. Blaze’s scent wafted right into the cab.

Turn here. I pointed, the smell of blood hitting my nose. Dried blood. Not fresh. And something else. Something tangy, acrid. Unhealthy.

A few hundred yards down the road, a little silver four-door sat cockeyed off the side. Dain stopped the truck about twenty yards away. He took Jessy’s hand and kissed it.

Jess, stay in the truck.

Dain—

No.

I can handle it.

I don’t want you to have to handle it. You’ve seen enough death, sweetheart.

Jessy gave in with a nod. Dain grabbed a crowbar from behind his seat, and we sprinted. When we reached the car, Dain went left. I went right. After a quick interior search, we found nothing. We met up at the rear of the car and stood staring down at the trunk, getting ourselves ready for what we might find. Is it him?

I looked over at Dain. Yeah.

Is he dead?

Death had a specific odor and I wasn’t smelling it. Still, the only way to be sure was to open the trunk. I shrugged and nodded toward the crowbar. Let’s do this.

A strangled moan came from inside the trunk.

I jumped back a step. Holy shit! He’s alive! Get it open!

Dain shoved the crowbar in and with one push, the latch broke. The trunk popped open.

A male I’d never seen before, but recognized by the scent-trace he’d left in the hotel over in San Antonio, lay naked, tied, and gagged. His big Breeder’s body filled every inch of the little space. Dried blood covered his flesh, leaving clues to the many wounds he must have suffered. Being a Breeder, his body had healed up from whatever the hell Rule and his rogue bastard sons had done to him. That acrid stink covering his back and oozing from his pores? That was a deeper emotional injury I wasn’t sure he would recover from so quickly.

Those fucking animals, Jessy whispered at my side.

Dain stared at his sakana with a full-on WTF? expression. It softened the second he saw tears trailing down Jessy’s cheeks. She set down the gallon of water she’d carried from the truck and the three of us got to work slicing off the ropes and pulling away the gag.

Even though the sun had set hours ago, the day had been sizzling hot. The inside of that trunk still felt like an oven. After Blaze guzzled about half a gallon of water, Jessy and Dain ran back to the truck and grabbed two more gallons to rinse the blood, sweat, and other stuff off his body. Lucky for us, the rogues had thrown Blaze’s clothes in with him before breaking off the emergency release and locking him inside.

Through all the drinking and rinsing off, Blaze hadn’t said a word. He had given a few nods when asked a question, but otherwise kept silent. This male didn’t know us, but from what I smelled, he didn’t fear us either. He pulled on his pants then dried his face and hair with his shirt before wadding it up in a tight ball. The dude was as tall as Dain with the classic Breeder build. The muscles covering his upper body looked carved from stone. It would take a hell of a lot of males to take him down.

I scrubbed a