Night Fall on Dark Mountain Read Online Free PDF

weary beyond words. His relief at Pia’s presence only momentarily lifted the shadows crowding in to suffocate him.
    “We have to assume Zachary Powell was behind the plan,” Navarro said, his expression stony.
    Lily wept softly, sitting on a sofa with Pia’s arm draped over her shoulder. “Christ, did you see Darcy?”
    Pia shook her head. “Quentin wrapped her body in a sheet and took her to their quarters.” She drew a shaky breath. “He won’t let anyone inside.”
    Joe yanked on Max’s chain, his expression cold and set, his eyes dry now and deadly.
    Max wondered if Joe even remembered that once they’d been tight. Close as brothers. Before Joe had been turned into a bloodsucking demon. And before he’d learned Max was a born werewolf. His born enemy.
    “Is it really necessary to keep him chained?” Pia asked, glaring at Joe. “He didn’t have a damn thing to do with this.”
    “Says who?” Joe’s voice was low and filled with scorn. He swept the room with a glance. “He joined a little gathering outside the compound. Told us so. If he’d been on our side, he would have taken out a few. Do you see a scratch on him?”
    Pia’s lips tightened, and Max wondered if the others’ condemnation was shaking her loyalty.
    “He and his kind killed my child.” Joe’s lips curled back in a snarl. “They fucking ripped open Darcy’s belly to get it.”
    Max’s gut roiled at hearing how Darcy had died. No wonder Joe was ready to skin him alive. “Pia, maybe you shouldn’t be here.”
    Her face blanched, and her eyes filled. “Not Max. He didn’t do it.”
    She shook her head in denial, but another’s voice spoke for her.
    “No, he didn’t do it.”
    Max jerked his head up at Navarro’s quietly spoken words.
    “But he has an idea who might be involved.”
    Navarro stared so intently Max felt the vampire burrowing inside his thoughts. The hairs on the back of his neck lifted, and Max tried to close his mind. The vamp was a goddamn psychic. He could almost feel him sifting through his thoughts, searching for the clues that would betray Max’s blood oath to his own kin. He tried not to think of his brother and the pine thickets of his home. Tried to return the unblinking stare without giving away secrets that would endanger his whole clan.
    “You’ve seen something,” Dylan said softly.
    “I see confusion and grief,” Navarro replied, “and enough anger that Joe had better not take his eyes off his friend for a second. I also see family.” Navarro canted his head, his eerie stare unwavering. “A golden wolf.”
    Max bared his teeth and growled.
    “You wonder whether your clan is involved.”
    Max swung his gaze to Pia, anything to give the vamp another image and throw him off his current path.
    Pia’s heart-shaped face wore a pinched expression. Her brown eyes were enormous, but her gaze held his, her heart in her eyes.
    Max’s chest grew tight. He hated having her see him like this. Chained like a rabid dog. Never had their differences been so sharply drawn into focus. She stood firmly in the vampire camp. He wore a damn collar.
    At least, she was safe. The panic he’d felt when he wasn’t sure whose blood scented the air had eased. She’d have others around to console her. Other than Pia, not a soul would regret his death. His own family thought him a traitor for loving a vamp and working alongside others. They reviled him for failing to bring them the breeder, Lily. Or at the very least, to kill her before she bore Joe’s children.
    “As unsettling as their breach of our security,” Dylan said, clearing his throat, “is the fact they took Dr. Deats and his associates. Why would werewolves need geneticists?”
    “They are in league with Zachary Powell,” Navarro murmured.
    Max shook his head vehemently. “Never! They wouldn’t conspire with a vampire.” Navarro has to be wrong!
    “But they have,” Navarro said, his gaze dropping to the woman who stirred against his lap. His