Moonlight Origins E-Book

Rae Stonehouse

• Herausgeber: Live For Excellence Productions (LFEP)
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: The Ethan Reeves Werewolf Detective Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 119

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

In this latest paranormal thriller, Detective Ethan Reeves must navigate a world turned upside down after a fateful encounter leaves him changed into a werewolf. As he struggles to control his newfound abilities, he finds himself caught between the worlds of human law and supernatural chaos.

A rash of mysterious crimes hit the streets of Daybridge, with signs pointing to something more sinister lurking beneath the surface. Ethan must embrace his dual nature as both detective and werewolf to uncover the truth behind the mounting bodies and a shadowy conspiracy threatening to shatter the delicate balance between realms.

Aided by a colorful cast of supernatural allies and his stalwart human partner, Ethan begins to discover his larger destiny as protector of both worlds. Cop by day and wolf by night, he's the only one who can untangle these cases and stop the ancient grudges spilling onto city streets.

But Ethan's greatest challenge lies ahead, against new breeds of scientifically enhanced foes and their enigmatic leader with designs to change all of supernatural society. To crack these cases and unleash his inner wolf, Ethan will have to not just walk the line between his two lives but learn to bridge them into a new identity all his own in this roller coaster mix of crime, horror, and action with a supernatural twist that will keep you turning pages until the end.

Leseprobe

MOONLIGHT ORIGINS

THE MAKING OF A WEREWOLF DETECTIVE

THE ETHAN REEVES WEREWOLF DETECTIVE SERIES

BOOK FOUR

RAE STONEHOUSE

LIVE FOR EXCELLENCE PRODUCTIONS

CONTENTS

Prologue: Night of the First Change

1. The Change

2. First Blood

3. Past Shadows

4. Pack Politics

5. The Gathering Dark

6. Historical Echoes

7. The Old Cases

8. Territory

9. Department Scrutiny

10. The Art of Hidden Truth – Ethan’s Template

11. The Gathering Storm

12. Systematic Erosion

13. Perfect Storm

14. Red River Rising

15. Shadows and Synthetics

16. Full Moon Rising

17. Between Moons

18. The Warehouse District Murders

19. Echoes in Blood

20. Blood Rituals and Breaking Points

21. Convergence

22. The Ghost Markets

23. The Unresolved Echo

24. The Pack Killer

25. Changing Partners

Epilogue: Between Worlds

About the Author

PROLOGUE: NIGHT OF THE FIRST CHANGE

The full moon hung like a spotlight in the October sky as Detective Ethan Reeves chased the suspect down Harper Street. His lungs burned, but something else burned deeper - an unfamiliar fire in his blood that had been building all day. Sweat drenched his shirt despite the fall chill.

“Police! Stop!” His voice came out as more growl than command, startling even him.

The suspect darted into Oakwood Cemetery, weaving between weathered headstones. Ethan followed, but his vision kept blurring, shifting between crystal clarity and strange colors he’d never seen before. The world seemed to pulse with new smells - wet earth, rotting leaves, old stone, and something metallic that made his stomach turn.

His bones ached as if they were trying to reshape themselves. This wasn’t normal exhaustion. This was something else, something that traced back to that bizarre attack three weeks ago. The doctors had found no infection and said the wounds healed unusually fast. Too fast.

The suspect scaled the cemetery’s back wall. Ethan moved to follow, but a shaft of moonlight hit him directly. The burning erupted into white-hot agony. He dropped to his knees, watching in horror as his fingers began to elongate.

His jaw cracked and extended, teeth sharpening into points as fur erupted across his skin. The pain was excruciating, but worse was the hunger - a primal, ravening thing clawing its way up from deep inside. His senses exploded with information: the rapid heartbeat of a rabbit hiding in the bushes fifty yards away, the lingering scent of cigarette smoke from a groundskeeper’s break hours ago, the whisper of cars on the highway two miles distant.

Through the haze of transformation, he saw movement at the top of the cemetery wall. The suspect - no, not suspect, he realized as his enhanced vision cut through the darkness. Hunter. The figure perched there watching him, lips curled in a predatory smile that revealed gleaming fangs.

“Welcome to the pack, Detective Reeves,” the hunter said, voice carrying easily to Ethan’s newly sensitive ears. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Then the hunter was gone, leaving Ethan alone with the moon, the night, and the terrifying knowledge that everything he thought he knew about his city’s dark underbelly was just the surface of a much deeper, more dangerous reality.

His police radio crackled with his partner’s voice, searching for him. But he couldn’t answer anymore. Not like this. Never again as just a normal detective.

The change took him completely then, and Detective Ethan Reeves vanished into the shadows of Oakwood Cemetery, replaced by something that howled at the moon and ran on four legs instead of two.

The hunt was on, but he wasn’t sure anymore who was the hunter and who was the prey.

* * *

COPYRIGHT

© 2025 Rae Stonehouse. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Published by Live For Excellence Productions

ISBN:

Ebook: 978-1-998591-43-5

Paperback: 978-1-998591-44-2

Audiobook: 978-1-998591-45-9

CHAPTERONE

THE CHANGE

Detective Ethan Reeves crouched beside the body in Daybridge’s industrial district, the acrid smell of rust and river water mixing with something darker - something his enhanced senses now recognized as supernatural violence. Three parallel gashes carved across the victim’s torso told a story his old self would have dismissed as impossible. His hands trembled as he documented the scene, each camera flash threatening to trigger the transformation building under his skin.

The midnight air hummed with unseen energies, every shadow concealing potential threats his newfound instincts screamed to confront. The moon, three-quarters full, pulled at his bones like an invisible tide. Even the gentle October breeze carried information his human mind struggled to process - territorial markers, supernatural signatures, the lingering traces of violence beyond mortal understanding.

“You should have come to us sooner,” a voice spoke softly behind him. Dana Walker emerged from the darkness with fluid grace, her movements betraying inhuman precision. Her official title - “Supernatural Community Liaison” - appeared on city paperwork, but Ethan now knew it masked a much older role. She was a bridge between worlds, maintaining ancient balances while navigating modern bureaucracy.

Ethan straightened, fighting another wave of pre-transformation pain. “Didn’t exactly know who to trust,” he managed, his voice rough with suppressed change. “Hard to find werewolves in the phone book.”

Dana’s expression softened with centuries of accumulated wisdom. “You’re not the first detective to walk this path. During the Great Depression, Detective James Morrison faced the same challenge. He was turned during the Harbor District riots - officially labeled as labor disputes, but actually a supernatural territorial war.”

She moved closer, her presence somehow steadying the chaos in his shifting body. “Morrison helped establish the first formal agreement between Daybridge law enforcement and our world. The Morrison Accords of 1934 created structure where there was only shadow, gave rules to ancient powers that had operated unchecked.”

Ethan’s world tilted as another transformation wave hit. Dana caught his arm, her supernatural strength keeping him upright. The crime scene lights blurred and sharpened rhythmically as his vision fluctuated between human and wolf.

“The Accords weren’t just about law enforcement,” Dana continued, her voice anchoring him to reality. “After the Blood Wars of 1897, when the Crimson Court tried to claim Daybridge as vampire territory, Morrison’s pack established a new balance. Every supernatural faction gained representation, but werewolves became the city’s protectors - guardians of both human law and supernatural order.”

Memories from three weeks ago crashed through Ethan’s mind: following a lead to the abandoned warehouse. The door creaking open. Movement too fast to track. Pain. A voice filled with dark amusement: “Welcome to the pack, detective. Time to learn what really happens in your city.”

“That attack wasn’t sanctioned,” Dana said grimly. “There’s a rogue element breaking our oldest laws. Forced turning is forbidden under the Accords. But now that you’re one of us, you need to understand what you’ve joined.”

She gestured to the victim’s wounds. “These marks are deliberate - a message in a supernatural language. Similar marks appeared during the Territorial Disputes of 1923, when Sarah Blackwood united vampires, werewolves, and fae against a common threat. Now history’s repeating itself, but with modern complications.”

The moon climbed higher, its pull becoming irresistible. Ethan’s bones began to creak with impending change. Dana checked her watch with practiced calm.

“There’s a safe house in the old manufacturing district. I’ll tell you about the Blackwood Coalition while you change - how Sarah united traditional enemies against a threat to both the supernatural and human worlds. It might help you understand why someone wanted a detective in their pack badly enough to break our most sacred laws.”

Pain lanced through Ethan’s body, but understanding bloomed alongside it. This wasn’t just about becoming a werewolf - he was joining a centuries-old legacy of supernatural peacekeepers, inheriting a history that ran beneath Daybridge’s surface like hidden ley lines.

As his bones began their terrible reformation, Dana’s voice continued steady and clear, weaving together threads of personal transformation and ancient history. He was becoming part of something larger than himself, a guardian tradition that had shaped Daybridge for generations. The night belonged to both detective and wolf, and somehow, he would learn to be both.

His last human thought, before the change took him completely, was a quiet revelation: He wasn’t just solving crimes anymore - he was protecting the delicate balance between worlds, joining a line of guardians stretching back through Daybridge’s hidden history. The question was whether he could master both roles before whatever force had turned him unleashed its full plan on the city.

CHAPTERTWO

FIRST BLOOD

Rain pelted the Daybridge city streets as Ethan stared at the crime scene photos spread across his desk. The lab results revealed a disturbing cocktail of compounds: artificially engineered lycanthrone-B, modified adrenal stimulants, and “lunar mimetic proteins.” His heightened senses picked up Masters’ cologne from three desks away, and beneath it all, a familiar metallic scent that made his wolf stir restlessly.

Four bodies in two weeks. All “animal attacks” during the new moon, when werewolves were weakest. The latest lab results showed the same profile - synthetic growth hormone XJ-247, methylated silver compounds, and the mysterious Compound L-13.

Dana Walker materialized beside him. “Blackwood documented these same compounds in 1923. They were trying to create synthetic werewolves - beings who could transform without the moon’s influence. The Westbrook Laboratory incident in ‘89 followed the same pattern. Twenty-seven test subjects died when their bodies rejected the synthetic compounds.”

Before Ethan could respond, a new scent hit him - powerful, dominant, mixed with expensive cologne and old money. Stephano Kane strode into the precinct, six-foot-three with silver-streaked dark hair, and eyes that held decades of predatory intelligence. The alpha of the city’s most powerful werewolf pack moved with the casual grace of someone who never questioned their authority.

“Detective Reeves,” Kane’s voice carried smoothly across the bullpen. “Might I have a moment of your time? Regarding the recent... incidents.”

Masters raised an eyebrow. “You know Kane?”

“We’ve never met,” Ethan said carefully, even as his wolf recognized its superior. “But his family’s name comes up in a lot of cases.” Too many cases, he thought, remembering the files where Kane Industries appeared peripherally, always just beyond the reach of proper investigation.

Kane’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.” Shall we use Interview Room Three? More... private.”

The Alpha’s presence made Ethan’s wolf want to bare its throat.

“What they found in Westbrook’s ruins was worse,” Kane said, his voice carrying across the bullpen. “Partial successes. Humans trapped between forms. Just like Blackwood’s case - she got too close to the truth before disappearing. They found her badge in the river, along with notes about ‘Project CHIMERA.’

In Interview Room Three, Kane’s dominance filled the space. “You’ve been busy, pup. Investigating your own kind while refusing my summons.”

“I’m not one of yours,” Ethan growled, fighting the instinct to submit. “I’m a cop first.” But even as he said it, something deep inside him yearned for a pack, for belonging, for the guidance of an experienced Alpha who could teach him to control his new nature.

Kane moved with incredible speed, slamming Ethan against the wall. “You’re what I say you are. These territories have rules. Hierarchies. The lone-wolf act stops now.”

“Five dead,” Kane corrected, stepping back and straightening his Italian suit. “They found another one an hour ago. The Rogue is challenging my authority, using these kills to destabilize my territory. And you, my unwitting new beta, are caught in the middle.”

“I’m not your beta.”

“No?” Kane’s smile was all fangs now.” Then why can you feel the pull to obey me? Why does your wolf whimper for the pack?” He leaned closer, voice dropping to a whisper.” And how long do you think you can solve these murders without access to the supernatural underground? Face it, Detective. You need me.”

The door opened, and Masters’ voice cut through the tension.” Reeves, we’ve got another body. Downtown.”

Kane stepped back, his presence suddenly all business-like charm. “Think about what I said, Detective. The full moon’s in twenty-seven days. How many more will die before you accept what you are?”

Ethan pushed past him, following Masters out. His hands were shaking again, but not from the lingering effects of transformation. Kane was right - he needed information only the pack could provide. But joining them meant acknowledging he was no longer just a detective. No longer fully human.

The latest victim lay behind the Golden Crown Casino. The body was still fresh, steam rising from the wounds into the cold night air. Three parallel slash marks across the throat - signature of a werewolf kill. But something was different this time.

The forensics showed the same synthetic profile, plus something new - compounds hybridizing werewolf and vampire DNA. The victim bore Kane’s pack symbol, still fresh on their wrist.

Ethan crouched beside the body, his nostrils flaring at the scent of artificial hormones. He caught a scent that made his wolf bristle with recognition. This victim was one of them - a werewolf. The Rogue wasn’t just killing humans anymore. Someone was perfecting a formula that had claimed lives for generations, drawing closer to creating synthetic supernatural beings that could transcend the natural order.

The rain washed away evidence, but not responsibility. His phone buzzed - a text from an unknown number: “The pack runs at midnight. Your territory, your responsibility. Time to choose sides, Detective.”

Ethan stared at the message, his thumb hovering over the delete button. The wolf in him howled for pack, for belonging, for the chance to run with others of his kind. The cop in him remembered every suspicious case involving Kane’s people, every witness who suddenly became uncooperative, every trail that went cold when it led toward werewolf territory.