by Kele Moon
“I don’t screw on the full moon.” An edge of darkness came into Jazz’s voice when he admitted, “Wolf’s too close to the surface. I won’t get distracted.”
Desmon understood, because his wolf was every bit as loyal as Jazz’s. The only thing the full moon did was make him more despondent for his mate. If anything, being on alpha duty for the full moon was a welcome distraction. The alternative would be sitting home, horny and lonely without a mate to fuck, while stuck wholly in the mindset of the wolf, who wasn’t willing to go looking for a substitute.
It really was unfair Desmon was going to miss spending their first full moon together with Amber, even if she didn’t fully appreciate the significance of it.
Not that anything about the life of an alpha wolf was fair.
“Give ’em dog whistles,” Miles suggested, and then took a drink of his coffee. “In case one of them loses her phone like last time.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Jazz agreed through the phone. “I’ll put out check-in whistles every few hours since they can’t howl in town. You can run with the harness and your cell in case I need help rounding them up, since the females are our first priority to protect.”
Desmon growled.
“Just the unmated ones,” Jazz clarified. “If they want to run in town, the girls can wear the whistles like necklaces, since they’ll likely stay in human form.”
Miles laughed. “He’s growling about the harness. My father would’ve cut off his own tail before he wore a harness. I’ve never understood what the big fucking deal is. We’ve been settled in California for over a hundred years. The ancient ways are long gone.”
“The ways aren’t dead. We’re both standing here, which means they’re still very much alive,” Desmon growled at him. “Which is why you’re going to teach a scenting class to the teenage pups Monday and Friday afternoons starting this week.”
“So, I’m teaching a scenting class, but you can’t wear a harness to help your pack?” Miles arched an eyebrow at Desmon. “Times change, Des. Humans are closer. We have to adapt, even if that means wearing a harness. Now they’re just tools, like the laptops and the phones. It’s not a human leash. That symbolism is dead.”
Jazz snorted in amusement. “Well, lucky for me, long-displaced Irish wolves have no ancient symbols. I have zero issues with wearing a harness if it helps me keep the horny, unmated wolves herded, and I like the idea of both of us having phones. Miles, do you have two harnesses so we can both wear one?”
“I have more than that,” Miles assured him. “If Desmon can get over his shit.”
“I’ll wear it to carry my phone, so my mate can call me during the running,” Desmon clarified with another growl, knowing he was going to have to stop at his office before the running to grab the phone he always tried so desperately to get rid of. “And that is the only reason I’m doing it.”
“Okay, buddy.” Jazz snorted with amusement. “As long as we know the reason.”
11
“He’s probably off fucking some Goodwin bitch at the border right this minute.”
Amber stopped washing the dishes and stared at Katie, who was sitting at the kitchen counter, looking at her phone morosely. She had been waiting for a text from Merl, assuming he’d get desperate for the full moon, but thankfully, it’d been nothing but radio silence.
“You know he’s,” Amber paused, looking for the gentlest way possible to describe Merl, since she was trying her hardest to stay on good terms with her sister, “the worst of his kind.”
Katie was quiet for a moment, before she whispered, “You say that, but you should’ve seen the Goodwin guys I waited on at the skin bar. Werewolves are more primal than humans, but they protect what’s theirs. I was always safer with Merl. You just don’t get it.”
Amber did have a budding relationship with her own werewolf going, and had to point out, “I think that’s total bullshit, Katie. Desmon doesn’t treat me the way Merl treated you. It’s not about Merl being a werewolf, it’s about him being an asshole. Just because that’s how your father treated our mother, doesn’t mean that’s how it should be.”
“Great advice.” Katie rolled her eyes. “Too bad we don’t all have alphas banging down our doors begging to love and protect us until their dying breath. You don’t even appreciate it. That’s the worst part of the whole thing.”
Amber turned off the faucet. “I know you felt safer being with Merl, like you needed his protection, but we’re going to be okay without him. I’m glad he’s staying away and maybe one day—”
“One day, what? I’ll find a nice human and settle down and have a boring life,” Katie barked back at her. “What if I don’t want that? You expect me to go from hot were sex, to regular old human sex? Don’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about, Amber, because we all know you do.”
Amber looked over her shoulder at Bea reading on the couch. She wasn’t going to debate this subject in front of their youngest sister, and she wasn’t even sure she was qualified. The only human she had slept with was her ex-husband, and he was pretty fucking pitiful. And the only wolf she’d slept with was Desmon, who just happened to be amazing in bed.
Not really a fair comparison between humans and werewolves.
“Maybe you’ll find a nice wolf instead?” Amber lowered her voice pointedly when she turned back to Katie. “I know there are good ones in Desmon’s pack. I haven’t met them all, but it seems like Merl’s the exception, not the rule in Nightwind. Look at Jason and Brandi. He worships her, and she’s human.”
Katie was quiet for a moment, before she muttered, “Maybe.”
“It’s true,” Bea called from the chair in the living room, still holding a book, but clearly eavesdropping instead of reading. “None of the others are like Merl. Most of ’em are really nice. They like humans, especially the ones my age. I might even consider dating one, if they weren’t all super shy around me.”
Amber’s eyes widened in concerned.
“They’re not shy,” Katie whispered to Amber. “Don’t freak out. Desmon makes them stay away from her.”
“I heard that,” Bea barked, and turned around to look at them from the living room. “Is that true?”
“Teenage weres can’t control their hormones like grown ones can,” Katie said impatiently. “They have to stay away, or its dangerous for them, too—Desmon’s really strict with them about it. He makes damn sure none of his wolves are hurting women, especially humans. It’s part of pack law. He was always after Merl over me. Bet he’s glad we broke up. Probably sick of the headache.”
“He’s not the only one,” Amber couldn’t help but admit. “If you prefer wolves, you could find a better one, Katie.”
“I know,” Katie admitted, and raised her eyebrows. “It is the full moon, maybe I’ll head over to the Quick Mart and see if one wanders over from the woods and finds me. All the single males run at the border now.”
“I heard.” Amber gave Katie a look of disbelief while her sister went back to staring at her phone, like she was waiting for it to light up with a bootie call from Merl. “Looking for fresh meat already? Or hoping to spot Merl while he’s feeling frisky? Either way, you know it’s a bad idea right now. You should take some time for yourself first.”
“Then I need ice cream,” Katie huffed in defeat. “Lots of it.”
Amber went to the freezer, opening it hopefully, but found only game meat and frozen meals. She heard the jangle of keys and turned to see Katie already digging in her purse like an addict hungry for one more good ride—only she wasn’t after drugs and booze like their stepfather had been.
Katie admitted Merl gave her his blood on a regular basis, and Amber could see how that could certainly become addictive.
She went to her purse hanging off the chair Katie was sitting in and shouldered it. “I’ll go.”
“It’s raining,” Katie warned her. “And you’re not used to driving in the mountains anymore.”
“
I’ll deal with it.” Amber did not understand Katie’s obsession with that asshole, but she did know she was going to do her best to stop Merl from hurting her sister, even if that meant going out in the rain for ice cream. “What flavor am I getting?”
“There’s no bad flavor of ice cream,” Katie said with a wan smile.
“Bea, any suggestions?”
“I like it all,” Bea agreed with Katie. “Any ice cream is a treat.”
Amber realized her sisters weren’t used to indulgences, even simple ones like ice cream, and decided a trip in the rain was worth it. She didn’t even bother with an umbrella, even though it was coming down hard.
By the time she got behind the wheel of her Benz, Amber was dripping wet. She sat there for a moment, staring at the house she grew up in while the storm beat against the car.
Even with all the work they’d done to it, something about the simple wooden dwelling seemed sinister. She couldn’t blame herself for leaving after the hell she went through growing up, but the guilt still burned in her stomach.
Suddenly depressed and uncomfortable, Amber found herself missing Desmon. Being in his arms made her feel so safe and protected, like everything could actually be alright.
Is it love?
Maybe this is what it felt like, that warm, steady pull toward the other person that always made her feel safer and happier with him than without him. Or maybe she was nuts to trust it.
Maybe love doesn’t exist.
She started the car and pulled out of the driveway, still pondering it. The road was already under water in the lower sections. Even if the state had repaved it during the time she’d been gone, they were still in a rural section of the mountains. If it kept raining like this, the flooding would start. Just what they needed.
Driving slowly, focused on the road like she was, the thump against her car made Amber gasp.
She slammed on her breaks, making the car fishtail. Her heart started pumping hard and fast against her chest as she put the car in park and threw open the driver’s side door.
“Please don’t be a kid,” she prayed, squinting through the sparkle of rain in her headlights on the pitch-black road. At first, she didn’t see anything, then she spotted something large, black and hairy in the ditch to the right of the car—and a new fear was born. “Oh shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!”
She nearly slipped on the wet road, feeling it squish in her gold flip-flops as she reached past the open car door for her phone.
“Please don’t let it be a werewolf.” She grabbed her mace too, because what if God heard her prayers and she was dealing with a real injured wolf or some other dangerous animal? “Oh God, don’t make me tell Des I killed someone from his pack. I do not need that this week.”
She had to walk slow; her flip-flops were designed for a cute factor and had zero tractions. Literally the worse pair of shoes she could be wearing right now, and she was cursing her stupidity as she shined the light on her phone toward the body in the ditch.
“Hey!” She squinted, seeing the wagging of a tail. “Are you okay?”
His tail kept wagging. At least Amber assumed it was a he, but it was hard for her to tell in the dark when it was a wolf she was looking at. She raised her mace, worried again that it might be a real one instead of a werewolf.
But the tail thing was kinda creepy.
The wolf lifted his head, showing off teeth in a way that could have looked like he was smiling—which might have been cute, except a cold chill of terror spread down her spine and numbed her fingers.
Screw the wolf. She turned to leave—and another gasp of terror caught in her throat.
All she registered was a man coming at her, and Amber sprayed her mace automatically in a wild, sweeping arc, but the growl that echoed in those few seconds would haunt her forever.
She made a move to run, but before she could get far, the flip-flops betrayed her completely and she stumbled. A heartbeat later, a body slammed into hers, and Amber’s vision went black from the agony when her forehead smacked hard on the pavement.
Dazed, stunned by the pain, Amber fought against the urge to throw up when she was forced onto her back. She blinked past the rain, feeling the warm blood from her forehead running into her eyes. She saw the shadows of a wolf change into a man, and then the fuzzy outlines of two faces haloed in the headlights.
“I think you killed her.”
Amber was dying. She had to be. Her head felt cracked in two. She tried to roll over and get away, but someone fisted her hair before she could move, jerking so painfully she screamed.
“She’s not dead.” He tugged her head back harder, and she fought to break his hold, struggling and grunting. “Look at the fight in this one!”
“Hey, I thought Leroy said we weren’t supposed to hurt her too badly,” the other werewolf warned. “You know how fucking easy it is to kill ’em. We’re always dealing with one of your damn human hunting accidents.”
“Nah, watch, I got this new trick. Grab the rags and bungie cords from my bag.”
Amber gasped when he wrapped a hand around her throat, kicking when her air was suddenly gone. The blood, rain and darkness made it almost impossible to make out much, but she saw the whites of the werewolf’s eyes as he laughed sadistically while cutting off her air supply. She fought harder, clawing at his hands, trying to kick him in the balls, but he was so strong it was like fighting a statue.
Katie was right, Merl wasn’t the worst—not even close.
It was the last thought Amber had before she felt the fight suddenly go out of her body. Her hands just stopped working without her permission. The rain glittering in the headlights faded away like stardust, and then…nothing.
It felt like a thousand years before Amber started to wake up. She struggled to move, but someone jerked her hair so hard, she tried to scream but couldn’t.
The nightmare came back in a sickening rush.
Amber’s entire body tensed with panic when she found herself choking. At first, she thought the hand was still around her throat, but she realized it was worse than that. A cloth of some kind was forcing her mouth open so wide her cheeks bulged and her jaw hurt. Her hands were tied behind her back, and when she tried to kick, she discovered her legs were tied, too.
“Told ya she’d come back around.” The one holding her hair pulled harder, turning her head, letting Amber spy the light from the trunk hood above her. “See, she likes it.”
She was trapped in her own trunk, trying to get away from the disgusting coppery taste, but she couldn’t. There was nowhere to go, and fighting was hurting her worse. She realized the werewolf was holding his bleeding wrist to the rag shoved in her mouth, soaking it with his blood, giving her so much she was drowning in it.
By some small miracle, the hold on her hair loosened, and he let her go, but she still couldn’t move much. Her shoulders were already hurting from the way her arms were tied. In the beam of light from the trunk, she blinked to see a huge, blurry figure step back and look down at her.
A younger-looking werewolf came up next to the one who’d been holding her, studying Amber with a frown. “Rich, you better pull that rag out of her mouth soon. I don’t think Leroy’s gonna like that, and my ma said not to get caught up with your bullshit.”
“Fuck your ma. If we pull the rag out, she’ll be screaming all the way back.” Rich reached forward and grabbed something behind Amber’s head. “Help me finish tying her so she’s not kicking in the trunk, and we’ll stop for a burger on the way back.”
Amber was still choking, trying not to swallow any more blood, when the two of them grabbed her once more. She struggled, not caring if they killed her when she was mute and half blind in the dark. It was worse than death. The younger werewolf held her down while Rich started wrapping a bungy cord around her head, trapping the blood-soaked rag in her mouth.
“Breathe in through your nose, whore, and you won’t die.”
He hooked the bungie cord together at the back of her he
ad, and then started working on her, binding them together with a second cord, effectively hogtying her with horrifying efficiency.
“Wait and see, she’ll be healed up and dripping wet by the time we get her to pack land.” He laughed as he said it. “The last one I caught in Reno, man, I thought I fucking killed her before I threw her in the trunk, but a little blood for the ride back and she started begging the second we pulled the gag out of her mouth. Best human hunting trick ever. A cheetah in Freeport taught it to me.”
Rich slammed the hood, plunging Amber into darkness. For several seconds she had to lie there and fight to breathe through her nose. Then the car started, and she got even more terrified, as if that was possible.
No one would be able to find her.
There were going to take her God knows where and do God knows what with her. This was it. She was going to die in the worst way possible, and she hadn’t done a thing with her life. Not one thing.
Amber tried to roll over, attempting to get on her stomach so she wouldn’t have to swallow any more, but the way he had her arms and hands bound together behind her back made it impossible. It was a cruel, agonizing position to leave her in, but that was probably the point. She could barely move.
Sick bastards.
She found herself praying they were some of Desmon’s wolves, that he would somehow how find out and show up before something worse happened, but she suspected they weren’t, and he was out in the woods somewhere chasing after his own pack.
What if she ran out of time?
What would happen when the bloodlust grabbed her without Desmon to help her?
Every part of her hurt, and there was no way to get away from the blood, it was everywhere, in her mouth, her nose, running down the sides of her cheeks.
She started working on the zip-ties holding her wrists together instead, frantically trying to somehow loosen them. Maybe she could punch out one of the taillights and get someone’s attention. But the werewolf tied her viciously tight, so much it was cutting off her circulation. She couldn’t even feel her feet.