Under the Moonlight

by Codi Gary

  She wanted to, though, and he wouldn’t even give her a chance.

  “I think I’m going to head home tonight,” she said.

  “I’m sorry.” He tried to reach out to her, but she backed up. “I really am. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. You can be mad at me, but I can’t let you go home alone.”

  “I won’t be. I’ll ask Jill and Dereck to come with me. I’m sure they’d enjoy a little time to get to know each other better.”

  He drew back. “Jill and Dereck?”

  Greer discreetly wiped at her eyes and sniffed. “Yeah, they’ve been giving each other the eye all night. And since I looked it up and there’s no law against interspecies mating, I figured why not give them a chance?” She met his gaze again. “Someone deserves to get lucky tonight.”

  “Greer…” He tried once more to pull her to him, but she evaded his grasp.

  “You don’t owe me anything. We met four days ago. Just because we have some amazing chemistry doesn’t mean we’re meant to be. You’ve got your mission and I’ve got my life to get back to.”

  She stepped around him and opened the door a crack before she looked at him over her shoulder. “I hope when it’s all said and done, getting your revenge keeps you warm at night.”

  Then she stepped back inside the house, but it didn’t warm the chill of her heart.

  18

  Greer sat in the back seat as Jill drove, letting Dereck sit in the front. The two of them were just a couple of chatty-Cathy’s as they got to know each other. When she’d walked back into the house and Jill had seen her face, Greer knew her best friend was about to find Xander and rip into him.

  Greer had shot her a pleading look and invited her and Dereck to stay with her. Luke had tried to tag along, but Clyde had shut that down quick.

  When they’d walked outside to the car, Xander had been nowhere to be found.

  Jill and Dereck kept trying to draw her into the conversation, but Greer ignored them. She was too furious and hurt to think about anything but what an idiot Xander was.

  He was willing to take on Pax and Dakota alone and possibly die all so that he could get his precious revenge? It was idiotic, to say the least, but she wasn’t going to berate him or try to change his mind. Whatever made her think she had the power to show him that this crazy thing between them didn’t happen often, no matter what romance novels and movies portrayed. There was such a thing as soul mates, but they were rare and could be lost easily if they weren’t recognized.

  She’d gone from scared of forever with Sam to picturing a future with a man she barely knew. She’d officially lost her damn mind.

  Well, Greer was done fighting for something between them. If he couldn’t pull his head out of his ass, then she was over it.

  Jill was pulling through the stop sign on Moonbeam when suddenly, high beams flashed through the right-side window just before something slammed into the car. She screamed in terror as the sound of crunching metal and broken glass echoed in the tiny space.

  Greer’s whole body jerked as she was thrown to the right then the left. The seat belt tightened across her chest, making it a struggle to breathe.

  When the car finally stopped moving, Greer’s head spun. She heard Dereck whispering to Jill.

  “Go. Shift. Get help.”

  “What about you?” Jill asked.

  “My legs are pinned,” he said.

  “Greer…”

  “She’ll just slow you down.”

  Jill glanced back at Greer and despite the pounding in her head, she managed to moan, “Go.”

  Jill threw open the driver’s side door without another word and the explosion of a gun echoed in the night.

  “Jill!” Greer screamed, but heard nothing. She prayed that they’d missed Jill. That she’d make it back to Xander’s and get some help.

  Someone stuck their head into the shattered window next to her. It was Pax, the man who had turned Jill. Who wanted to kill Xander.

  Fear and anger warred just below the surface as she glared into Pax’s dark eyes.

  “Well, looky, looky what I found. I’ve been waiting to get you alone, gorgeous.”

  Greer’s fight or flight mode kicked in and she punched him in the face, sending him reeling back out of the window. She saw the muzzle of a gun outside Dereck’s window, aimed at his head. As fast as she could, she reached along the side of his seat and pulled the lever that leaned it back. Dereck fell back with an “ooff” of surprise. The bullet shattered what was left of the window but missed Dereck completely.

  “Can you get out now?” she said.

  He didn’t answer her, just lunged across the seat to the driver’s side. Greer saw the gun raise once more and she lunged forward, shoving the door open and into the shooter. She heard the clatter of the gun hitting the road, and a wave of triumph washed over her. Dereck had made it out the other side and had vanished into the dark.

  Something tangled in her hair, yanking her neck at a painful angle. She looked up into Pax’s angry face, and noted his nose was gushing blood.

  “That was a mistake,” Pax snarled, spittle splattering across her face.

  Greer reached back, digging her nails into the skin of her assailant’s wrist. With a howl, he shoved her head forward into the head rest in front of her. It was soft, so it didn’t hurt as much as dazed her, but it gave Pax time to let her go so he could open the door. As he dragged her out and held her in front of him, she stared at the woman dressed all in black, pointing a gun at her chest.

  “You made me miss the mutt, meat bag,” she snarled.

  Greer’s chin notched up. “Good.”

  The woman, who had to be Dakota, raised the gun as though she was going to hit her with it, but Pax pulled Greer behind him.

  “Get in the car, Dakota, and drive. People will come investigating soon and I want to get our bait far away.”

  Dakota lowered the gun. She shot Greer a malicious glance before getting into the driver’s side of a four by four truck.

  Pax started to drag her toward the truck, but Greer struggled against his grasp. “Did you just call me bait? Bait for who?”

  Pax scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder so fast she had no time to react. The upside-down position made her nauseous.

  “For dear Xander. I’ve seen the way he is with you. It’s rather sweet, actually.”

  “You’re wrong,” she said, weakly. “Xander doesn’t care about me. He just feels obligated to protect me.”

  He opened the back door and set her on the seat with ease. “Well, let’s hope you’re wrong, because I hate to be disappointed.”

  Greer scooted across the seat to the other door. She tried to open it, but it didn’t open. Dakota turned, shoving the end of the gun into her cheek.

  “Child proof locks. You aren’t going anywhere, bitch.”

  Greer sneered at her. “From what Xander tells me, you’re the bitch.”

  Dakota moved too fast for her to react. Pain exploded over the left side of her face and she fell back against the seat. Dazed already, her vision was now completely blurred. She felt the trickle of something run down her throbbing cheek.

  Pax clucked his tongue. “Dakota. If you can’t control yourself, I’m going to have to punish you.”

  “Did you hear what she called me?” Dakota shrieked.

  Pax climbed into the back of the truck next to Greer. His hand brushed her bruised cheek almost tenderly and she shivered with revulsion.

  “Have no fear, darling. She will regret her cheek. Very soon.”

  19

  Xander was sitting in the living room with Clyde, having a glass of whisky. Anger and frustration radiated through him and he was tempted to smash the glass of amber liquid against the wall. He’d blundered the entire conversation with Greer, but what was worse, he’d let her leave. Hadn’t even tried to step out of the shadows and stop her.

  He was a fool.

  But he hadn’t been wrong. She couldn’t understand his
reasoning or motivations. He should have handled it better, though.

  Luke and Clint were upstairs playing their uncle’s X-Box, which gave the grown-ups a chance to hash out a few things. Clyde still hadn’t accepted that Xander needed to see this through on his own.

  “Greer seems like a sweet woman. What exactly did you do to make her so mad?”

  Xander clenched his jaw. “She wanted me to let you and the boys back me up.”

  “Ah, and what did you say?”

  “I told her no. That she couldn’t understand because she wasn’t a shifter.”

  Clyde whistled low. “Boy, you are all kinds of stupid.”

  Xander shot him a withering glare. “Don’t start with me.”

  “Hell yeah I’m going to start with you. Why would you push a woman like that away? She’s beautiful, seems intelligent. She knows what you are and hasn’t run screaming for the hills. Those are all fantastic qualities in a human, if I do say so myself.”

  Xander grimaced. He knew Greer was a catch, but he wasn’t going to go back on everything he had been working for the last five years because she didn’t want him getting hurt. He wasn’t reckless. He knew what he was doing.

  Although he might be an idiot where women were concerned. At least Clyde was right about that.

  “I’ll go over there tomorrow when she cools down and try to make things right.”

  Clyde chuckled. “You better try hard, because that woman had the same look in her eyes my wife gets when she’d ready to dig in about something.”

  Xander grinned. “Really? Your wife gets mad at you?”

  “Shut it, boy!”

  Xander was still smiling when something big and hard hit the sliding glass door off the kitchen.

  “What in the hell?” Clyde shouted.

  Xander jumped up and flipped on the light to the back porch. He fumbled with the lock and when he finally got it open, he found a tawny cougar with aquamarine eyes glaring at him accusingly.

  “Jill, what happened?”

  “Someone hit us with their car and then shot at us. Greer was taken,” Dereck called from the dark. As he stepped into the light, Xander could tell he was hurt by the way he hobbled forward.

  And then his words sank in, right down to the pit of his stomach.

  Taken.

  “Pax?” Clyde asked.

  “And Dakota. Bitch tried to shoot me. If Greer hadn’t gotten my seat back as fast as she did, I would be missing half my brain. She saved my life.”

  “You just left her there?” Xander took a menacing step toward Dereck, but found his thigh chomped down of by Jill. She hissed at him, obviously telling him that it wasn’t Derick’s fault.

  “My legs were fucked; there was nothing I could do except die and they would have taken her anyway. They put her in the truck alive. Plus, I was afraid that Jill would shift and not be able to shift back soon enough to give you what you needed.”

  Jill swung her tail at Derick, but Xander was rapidly losing patience. Pulling his shirt over his head, he tossed it behind him, anguish ripping his guts up. He had to save her before they hurt her. He had to tell her he was sorry.

  He stripped down and leaped from the porch, shifting in midair. As he raced through the woods, he heard the distinct sound of multiple paws and panting breath behind him. He tipped his nose to the air as he saw the flashing lights of a police cruiser and ambulance up ahead. He stopped in the line of trees to listen to what they were saying.

  “There’s nobody here. Looks like a smash and grab,” a young officer said.

  His older partner shook his head before squatting down. “I’ve never seen that in thirty years in this town. What the hell is going on here?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe gang related?”

  The older officer stood up with a laugh. “What the hell would gangs want to move all the way up here for?”

  “Maybe it is shifters.”

  “God help us.”

  Xander backed up and turned to Dereck, Clyde, and Jill. Luke, and Clint came out of the trees behind. Their coats all ran black to cinnamon, so they blended better in the dark than Xander did. Jill was inexperienced, and Clint was just a pup. Xander wanted to tell them both to go back to the house, but he figured it was no use.

  Dereck whined and took several steps toward the road leading away from Moonlight Ridge.

  Maybe that was why he’d never caught their scent in town. They were staying on the outskirts.

  He nodded and they followed behind Dereck as the pack of shifters raced through the trees.

  Please, let her be alright.

  20

  Greer was pretty sure if anyone was going to kill her, it was going to be Dakota. For some reason, Greer seemed to rub her the wrong way. Pax had sent her on an errand as if to keep his wolf from murdering the hostage.

  The two of them had been shacked up in a cabin about five miles off the main road. They hadn’t bothered to cover her eyes, so she knew the way. Which meant they planned on killing her no matter what.

  He’d tied her hands and feet with rope and tossed her onto the couch in the living room when they’d arrived. Besides that, he hadn’t touched her, just continued to pace, looking out the window every few minutes.

  “Your girlfriend seems really uptight,” Greer said, breaking the silence.

  “Maybe she just doesn’t appreciate your sense of humor the way I do.”

  He hadn’t turned around when he’d said it, so cavalier, almost bored and she decided to push his buttons.

  “You do huh? I would think a guy like you wouldn’t like a woman who spoke her mind and called you on your bullshit.”

  “I am a man of eclectic tastes. I like to change things up a bit from time to time.” He finally turned, his smile terrifying. He was like a bald eagle. Beautiful until it gripped you in its talons and ripped your guts out.

  “And how does Dakota feel about you changing it up?”

  “She does what she’s told. Dakota likes to keep me happy.”

  Greer laughed. “That poor girl. She is completely delusional where you’re concerned, or she would have dumped your ass years ago.”

  For a moment, his expression darkened and she was sure she’d struck a nerve. Then, it was gone and that eerie smile was back. He took a few steps her way, pinching her chin as he lifted her gaze to meet his. When she tried to resist, his grip became bruising.

  “If you disrespect me again, I will turn you over the couch and beat you until you scream with pain.”

  Greer scoffed, knowing she was poking the bull and didn’t give a shit. “I’ve seen Hostel Part One and Two. There is nothing you could do that I haven’t seen or imagined.”

  She had no idea why she was baiting him except she hated being helpless and it pissed her off that he thought he could control her.

  “You like horror movies, hmmm. Monster movies?”

  Greer glared at him. “Actually, I don’t, but Jill… you remember her? The one you bit? She does. She has a comparison for every situation. Like if she were here right now, she might say something like, “You may be tied up and being held hostage by a psychopath, but it could be worse. You could be in a cage at the bottom of the ocean, you’re running out of air and surrounded by sharks.”

  He seemed amused by this. “And you think that would be worse?”

  “At this point? Yeah.”

  Pax released her chin and squatted next to her. “Don’t you know what I did to your friend? Your boyfriend?”

  “I read about it.”

  “Yes, but what I did to them? They don’t report the atrocities I inflicted on them in the local paper.”

  Greer resisted the urge to close her eyes. She didn’t want to hear the details, but she wasn’t going to beg this man for anything. “All I know is that Jill and Dereck got away, which means that they got help. So, you can do whatever you want to me. You’ll be dead soon anyway.”

  He traced his finger across her cheek like before. “I thought you said Xa
nder wouldn’t care enough to save you.”

  “Maybe not, but wanting you dead? That’s at the top of his wish list.”

  Pax stood up with a dark chuckle. “Yes, if I could go back, I never would have taken the job.”

  “Job?”

  He’d stood in front of the window once more, looking out. “I was paid to break in and kill the Thorson family before their mating ceremony. It was supposed to look like a robbery gone wrong. Simple. Only we were missing one key family member.”

  “Xander,” Greer whispered.

  “Ding ding.” He faced her again, leaning against the window sill. “And when I tried to get his mother to tell me where he was, she was very stubborn. I did horrible things to her but she just wouldn’t break. I regretted having to kill her because a woman like that?” The smile that spread across his face was nothing short of sinister. “She would have been fun to spend more time with.”

  “As it was, my employer wasn’t concerned with the youngest Thorson, and that loose end has been the bane of my existence for five years.”

  Greer tried to roll to a more comfortable position, but none of it worked. “Why are you keeping me alive? You could just kill me and Xander would still come.”

  He tapped a long finger to his lips, a gleeful light in his dark eyes. “Because before I rip out his heart, I want him to watch me make you my mate.”

  Greer stilled. “No.”

  “Oh, yes.”

  She jerked against her bonds in panic. “You can’t make someone your mate.”

  “Not in the strictest sense. But I can bite you while I fuck you. Make you just like me while poor Xander can’t do anything but wait for death. Seeing his woman give herself to me? It will be worse than what I did to his family.”

  Bile rose up the back of her throat. “Give myself to you? Ha. Fat chance!”

  “Trust me, before long, you’ll be begging to be mine.”

  Greer pulled her hands apart, trying to get her wrists loose. “You’re a thundering lunatic. Your pet wolf might have Stockholm Syndrome, but I see you for what you really are. You’re a rapist and a murderer. Even if you bite me, I’ll never be yours.”