Accepting the Moon: Prequel

by K. S. Haigwood

  “Jesus,” I whispered as I covered my pounding heart with my hand.

  There had been so many of them—at least a dozen or more.

  The police! The police would know what to do, I thought, and then reached for my cell phone. It wasn‘t in the console, where I always kept it while driving. I quickly turned on the interior lighting and checked the floorboards to see if the device had fallen during my driving escapade.

  My eyes closed and I groaned when I realized I had placed it on the nightstand beside the bed before packing some of my things, and in my haste to get out and away from Marc…

  I covered my face with my hands and cried. My cell was still at home.

  The sound of a horn blaring brought me out of my stupor, and my heart shot up in my throat as I looked up to see the headlights of a semi heading right for me. The Audi was still in drive, so I shoved the accelerator to the floorboard and raced to get out of the road before I was flattened by the big truck.

  The nauseating feeling was back full-force as I rolled to a stop in a motel parking lot.

  Struggling through the overwhelming dizziness that fogged my brain, I eventually came to the conclusion that it was not safe for me to be behind the wheel, at least not until I calmed down—and the storm blew over. I realized I had only two options as I stared up at the flashing vacancy sign: use the office phone to call my brother to come get me or rent a room in the place and attempt to start over in the morning.

  If I knew Marc at all, he wouldn‘t let this go; as a respected lawyer of the community, his reputation was too important to him to let the fact that he was an adulterer go public. He would look for me, and he wouldn‘t find me here.

  I looked at the rundown dump of a motel and winced. Sometimes the worst things in life were a blessing in disguise.

  I drew in a deep breath and turned my Audi in the direction of the motel‘s office.

  I had to rent a room.

  Chapter 4

  Jaxon

  Jaxon paid cash for the room and took the key from the uninterested-looking attendant, then turned on his heel and walked toward the only exit in the room.

  Seeing a bright red umbrella through the glass door stopped him before he even reached it. He watched in amusement as the human female fought with the object against the battering winds of the ever-growing storm. He had half a mind to leave the girl he had brought with him and seduce this one.

  She was feisty, and pretty—just his type, actually—but if she couldn‘t win against a piece of light metal and a few strips of nylon, then she wouldn‘t have a chance against him. He liked them with a little fight in them.

  He pondered his thought, and then chuckled lightly when the winds flipped the umbrella inside out and the female struggled to hang on to the damn thing.

  A big gust of wind blew the door inward, and in with the breeze came a mouth-watering fragrance he wanted to taste on his tongue as soon as inhumanly possible.

  Yes, Jaxon thought, this female would be leaving with him tonight, and they wouldn‘t be staying in this dump.

  Without turning back to the guy behind the counter, Jaxon dropped the brass key in the dropbox and walked toward the woman.

  “Here, let me help you, ma‘am,” he said, using his most charming accent as he took the umbrella from her and closed it up tight. “The storm is getting worse, but I actually think the umbrella is conspiring against you—” His eyes grew wide as she turned her full gaze on him. Her eyes were a stunning shade of pale green, but they weren‘t what had his attention.

  She grabbed the umbrella out of his hand and threw it in the trash beside him. “It isn‘t the only thing that is conspiring against me tonight. Thank you for taming the stubborn brolly for me, but it was actually the least of my problems. I think I could have managed to handle that one.”

  The girl went to move past him, but Jaxon stepped in the way, stopping her from walking out of his life, at least for the moment.

  “Are you all right? Have you been in an accident?” His hand came up and his fingers caressed the delicate skin under her chin as he tugged her face up to get a better look at the swollen and heavily bruised area over her cheekbone. “Your eye—”

  She huffed and backed away, intentionally turning her head so he couldn‘t see the injury. “Yes, I‘ve been in an accident for twelve years. Now, if you would be so kind as to move out of my way, I need to rent a room in this fine establishment for the night, so I can at least get myself dry.”

  Confused, Jaxon raised an eyebrow and glanced around the outside of the motel, wondering if she was half blind or full-blown senile—neither would stop him from getting what he wanted from her—then he glanced back to what she was wearing: nothing on her person would have cost less than two-hundred dollars. Yes, he concluded, those were most definitely diamonds in her ears—real ones. Something wasn‘t adding up.

  He leaned in close to her and whispered, “Are you on medication?”

  The girl‘s eyes popped wide in what appeared to be shock or disbelief at the words he had spoken to her. “Are you insane—”

  Jaxon shook his head. “Not that I‘m aware of but, with all due respect, lady, I wasn‘t the one—” sniff-sniff “We need to go,” he said in a rushed voice as he grabbed the car keys from her hand and pointed the keyless entry device toward the row of vehicles. The lights flashing on the Audi didn‘t surprise him; it was the nicest vehicle on the lot. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the storm.

  Chapter 5

  Mena

  “What?” I shouted, and tried to pull my hand free of the maniac, but I may as well have been trying to pull a stubborn jackass out of quicksand with how well I was achieving the task. “Let me go!” I demanded, and swatted him with my purse.

  He didn‘t even flinch.

  “I‘m not going with you,” I said, and even sounded convincing to my own ears, but obviously not to his, because he opened the passenger door of my Audi then turned and effortlessly picked me up in his arms, like one would a child.

  I screamed for help but the plea sounded small up against all the rain and thundering. I was going to die, I thought. He was going to kidnap me and rape me and cut me up into little pieces and kill me. Dead!

  I was too scared to cry; either that or I was in shock. And even through all the kicking and slapping I was doing to my abductor to try and get away, what I had done to piss Karma off so badly was in the forefront of my mind. I mean, C‘mon! What the hell had I done? Nobody deserved this much bad luck!

  Suddenly I realized my attacker had gone still and I was the only one fighting. Well, I had been the only one fighting all along, but now it seemed the barbarian had stopped resisting.

  Was he going to let me go?

  A low growl cut through the sharp winds and my head jerked around at the sound.

  The animals I had seen crossing the road in front of my vehicle had surrounded the car… and us.

  “Oh, shit! Put me in the car! Hurry! Put me in the car, now!”

  “Be quiet,” the guy growled out through a tight jaw.

  “Don‘t tell me to be quiet!” My arm flew out and I pointed in a random direction. It would pretty much do the trick; we were completely confined. “Those wolves are about to eat us!” I exclaimed as if he was slow and couldn‘t comprehend that simple, yet obvious fact.

  None of the beasts moved. They only glared at us with their teeth bared, waiting for their prey to run.

  “Please, just be still. I swear I will do everything in my power to get us out of this situation alive.”

  I laughed then. “You! You‘re going to get us out of this alive? Ha! Not hardly. What power do you have besides the strength of a caveman? I‘m surprised you didn‘t drag me to the car by my hair!”

  A wolf snarled and inched closer. The others followed suit.

  “Oh, God,” I said, and then was slung around to his back.

  “Sorry. I‘m gonna need my hands for this. Hang on to me.”

  Was he serio
usly going to fight them?

  He crouched, and I squeaked as I hid my face in his neck.

  Please don‘t let this be real. I‘m not ready to die. It has to be a dream. That‘s it. It‘s just a big ole‘ nasty nightmare, and any minute I‘m going to wake up beside my husband who didn‘t cheat on me… Any second now…

  I pinched my arm. “Ow.”

  The guy shifted and I knew he had turned his head. “Why did you do that? No, never mind. I don‘t want to know. Just tighten up your grip and start praying. We need a miracle.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him to let me down so I could get in my car and lock myself inside, but a set of headlights pulled off the main road and crept toward us.

  I allowed the breath I was holding to release. My prayers had been answered. I was safe!

  I moved to climb down off the guy‘s back, but his hands shot to my thighs and stilled me in my place.

  Damn, he was strong.

  “Why—”

  “Shh!”

  The brakes squeaked a bit as the black, late model Cadillac came to a complete stop in front of us.

  The wolves had merely moved out of the way, instead of running off. They appeared to be waiting for something. I didn‘t have to wait long to find out what that something was.

  The driver got out, popped a black umbrella open, then walked around to the opposite side of the car and opened the rear door.

  The lights were shining in my eyes, and the wolves didn‘t seem to be a death threat at the moment, so I brought one of my hands up to shield the glare. I needed to see who was here to save us. I wanted to yell for help again, but I had a strange feeling that wouldn‘t be the best thing to do; I didn‘t want to get the attention of the wolves again; they appeared to be enamored with whomever was about to step out of the car without a care in the world that there were several hungry carnivores just waiting to rip his or her throat out. The wolves hadn‘t even acknowledged the driver getting out.

  Were they pets? Surely not.

  The guy holding me drew in a sharp breath and then swore as a figure emerged from the car. I still couldn‘t see any of the person‘s features, only that he was clearly a male, and tall.

  “Let her go. It‘s me you want. Hurting the girl is against the laws by which we are bound. We at least hold that in common.”

  Laws by which we are bound?

  “The woman won‘t be harmed,” the man spoke from under the umbrella.

  I gasped in horror. He‘d found me!

  “Marc,” I whispered.

  “Would you like to release my wife or would you rather my pack take her from you?”

  Chapter 6

  Jaxon

  Wife?

  “Please tell me he‘s joking,” Jaxon whispered over his shoulder, but he received no reply. “Were you sent to spy on me? To hunt me?” he said louder.

  Still no answer.

  “Say something or I will throw you in the mud! I‘m sure that suit you‘re wearing cost enough to feed ten starving kids for a month.”

  “I—I—”

  “Come to me, Mena. We have much to discuss, you and me,” Marc said.

  The girl Jaxon had brought from the bar issued from the shadows and walked to stand beside the pack leader, hooking her arm casually through his as if she was a prize he had won.

  Jaxon felt Mena tense. So, Blondie had been the one to sick the dogs on him, and it appeared there was a bit of tension floating through the air between her and Mena, too.

  “I don‘t want to go with him,” Mena said in a rushed whisper by Jaxon‘s ear. “Yes, I am his wife, but he cheated on me and we fought and I left him. That is why I am here. It‘s why my eye is nearly swollen shut. I don‘t know you, but for some reason I trust you more than I do a man I have lived with for over twelve years. You swore you would get us out of here alive. I‘m counting on you to be true to your word.”

  The wolves inched closer, their growls low and menacing. It wasn‘t his first encounter with the mutts, but it was the first time he would be protecting something besides his own hide.

  Jaxon turned his head and looked into honest, pale green eyes.

  He told himself he would be able to tell if she was lying, but the truth was that it really didn‘t matter to him if she was or not; he wanted to get out of this fight alive and take her with him.

  Phoenix would likely remove his nuts for bringing the wife of the werewolf pack leader to their lair, but he would deal with that problem when and if it arose. Hell, who was he kidding? There would be no if; it was definitely a when.

  “Let me be clear. If you‘re lying, I will kill you myself.”

  “Don‘t go with him, Mena. You don‘t know what he is. He is a danger to you, and he is my enemy.”

  Jaxon never took his eyes from her as the wolves slowly closed in on them. “I need your answer now.”

  “I won‘t let their kind have you, Mena. I will see you dead first, sweetheart.” Marc roared through the rain, “Take her from him!”

  She tightened her grip around Jaxon and closed her eyes, then whispered, “Let‘s go.”

  Jaxon had to clear a path, and he had to do it quickly or they would be at the bottom of a dog pile soon.

  He spun around and kicked out with his right leg, knocking the beast closest to him into the one beside it.

  Mena didn‘t make a sound, but her arms and legs constricted around his body almost vise-like. He smiled and reached to grab a silver dagger from the sheath on his calf, then held it up so she could grab it.

  “Take this and put a hole in anything that gets too close.”

  She hesitated a moment before she took it from him. “But they‘re dogs—”

  “You don‘t believe that any more than I do,” he said dryly, and released the dagger when he was sure she had a good grip on it. There was more where that one had come from, and he retrieved a blade from his other sheath and a handgun from the shoulder holster under his jacket.

  It was time to play.

  Backing up wasn‘t an option.

  Knowing there were at least four werewolves behind him, and that Mena was riding piggy, he swiftly moved forward, toward the leader and the whore who had sold him out to the werewolf pack.

  They would be okay as long as Marc didn‘t shift, Jaxon thought, then recognized the all too familiar silver shine in the leader‘s eyes and knew that Mr. Hyde was about to make an appearance.

  Swearing under his breath, Jaxon knew it was too late to change his tactics without getting the girl on his back killed, the one he‘d sworn to that he would get them through this alive.

  A brief panic rushed through him when he heard one of the beasts snap its jaws behind him, but the fear was soon laid to rest when he heard Mena let out a grunt and then a sharp yelp filled the night air.

  Jaxon grinned. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said, sounding exasperated. “I—I think I killed it.”

  Bringing his arm up quick, Jaxon squeezed the trigger on the glock twice and the wolf fell instantly to the muck. “Doubtful,” he said, and shoved the silver blade of his dagger through the top of a wolf‘s skull, then pulled it out just as swiftly.

  Killing those two gave him another option and opened another path. He took it, knowing Mena‘s husband wouldn‘t let him take her, at least not alive anyway. He knew the pack leader to be a cruel and strong-minded ruler, and he didn‘t have a clue how a woman like Mena had stayed with a man like that for over a decade.

  He prayed again that she wasn‘t a spy.

  As he put a silver bullet in the heart of one last beast in his way, he caught sight of the leader shifting and took that as his cue to get the hell out of there. He ran.

  “Oh, God! What‘s happening to Marc?”

  Jaxon didn‘t answer Mena‘s question. Letting her come to the conclusion that her husband was a werewolf on her own could possibly make it easier to understand when he told her what he was. He hoped. If not, at least they had the wife of the local pack leader
and a very important piece of information: his true identity.

  That itself was worth gold.

  “He‘s gaining on us!” Mena yelled. “Is he going to kill us?”

  Jaxon pushed his speed to the limit, even knowing giving it all he had wouldn‘t be enough to get them away and safe; Phoenix was the only one fast enough to outrun the pack leader.

  Heavy paws pounded the broken pavement and mud behind them and Jaxon could hear the labored breathing of the monster growing nearer.

  It was only a matter of seconds and they would both be goners, he thought, and handed the gun over his shoulder. It wasn‘t possible for him to turn and shoot Mena‘s husband, but maybe she could—maybe she would.

  “Take the gun and shoot him, Mena! I know he is your husband, but if you don‘t—I won‘t be able to keep my promise. He will kill me and take you. You don‘t have to kill him—a leg would be sufficient. Aim for the shoulder.”

  She pushed his hand with the pistol in it away from her. “Are you crazy? I‘ve never fired a gun before! I couldn‘t hit the broadside of a barn!”

  “You either try or I will leave without you. How much do you want to live? Because I‘m not dying for someone I just met. It‘s the only way you‘re going with me. Take the weapon, Mena.”

  She took it, and Jaxon half expected to see his life flash before his eyes as a bullet went through his head, but there was nothing, nothing but the sound of those thunderous paws and heavy breathing getting closer still.

  What the hell is she doing? I can‘t keep up this pace forever.

  “Shoot him!”

  Jaxon‘s blood froze in his veins the instant Mena screamed. The gun fired and they were knocked to the ground at the same time.

  Chapter 7

  Mena

  The sound of water dripping brought me out of my unconscious state, but I lay still, trying to conclude where I was and why my body felt like it had been hit by a truck. The memory of the night was a bit foggy, but I knew with all the pain I was feeling that it had not been a dream.