Moon Rapture Book 7

by Rice, Rachel E.

  So Adrienne feeling out of her element, not knowing much about boys’ names and werewolves, allowed Lycell to name their sons. But she quietly scrolled their human names down because they were both human and werewolves, and they would need those names if they went out into the world of men. And it was a good thing they did because she had three of her sons off in college.

  It was a gift Tracker possessed since he was a pup. His sense of smell and his eyes were so sharp he could see for miles in fog or heavy snow. He could smell even if the wind changed.

  When the phone rang, he answered. Looking to his father he stretched out his hand, “It’s for you.” Lycell stood strode to him taking the phone and turning his back on Hunter and Thorn.

  “I wonder who would be calling me way out here,” he said trying to get a laugh out of someone. But no one was a bit amused. They had just swam across a lake, and it had been a while since they had committed to that tiring feat.

  Every part of their bodies had been challenged and their energy drained, not to mention every muscle in their legs and arms were sore. Only because it wasn’t something they did every day. However, they had proven they were up to the task. None lagged behind Hunter and Tracker who were skilled swimmers. It was a game for the two. They jumped into the water with Thorn and Lycell keeping up with them, but today wouldn’t determine who the better was because Hunter and Tracker both reached the bank of the lake first and at the same time.

  When Tracker handed Lycell the phone, he looked at him, “Who is it?”

  “Wilder,” Tracker said to Lycell.

  “I hope this is good news. We can use some by now. I don’t think Tracker can pick up a scent after crossing this lake.”

  Tracker hearing his father said, “Speak for yourself father. I have the scent already.”

  “It’s good news. Tell Tracker his skills are no longer needed,” Wilder said his voice hesitant and low.

  “Katie called and said where you and the others can pick her up. I’m sending Devin with a car. I averaged the time it will take you to get there. If you’re quick you may beat him. It’s not too far from where you are now.”

  “What about Haley?”

  “Is Hunter in hearing distance?” Wilder questioned. His voice lifeless and dry.

  “No, but he’s looking at me.”

  “Walk away from them. I don’t want Hunter to hear this.” Lycell did as Wilder said. “Don’t tell Hunter that Haley’s not with Katie.”

  “But I can’t...”

  “Only if he ask. Don’t volunteer any information. We can’t have him going off confronting the Lion shifter without help. But first we have to get Katie back and make sure she’s safe and then we can look for Haley.” Wilder had a ring to his voice that wasn’t convincing. Lycell knew his brother, and he knew Wilder’s tone lacked commitment to Haley’s recovery, and a promise she could be found once he decided she was worth sacrificing his pack for her.

  Lycell hit the button after Wilder gave him directions to the Hotel. When he turned around, all eyes were on Lycell. “What is it? Tell us,” Hunter questioned.

  “That was your father, he said we need to get to this hotel off Interstate 80 as soon as possible.” Lycell’s face didn’t show concern and alarm so Hunter thought somehow the girls had managed to escape. He didn’t ask any questions except to ask Tracker the directions to the hotel.

  His mind told him what he wanted to hear. Hunter had stripped and placed his clothes in a knapsack across his chest. He started running and didn’t take time to ask or wait for the others to follow, but they were as quick in their change as he was. They were close behind him as Hunter rushed into the forest at werewolf speed running at the swiftness of a race horse.

  As they neared the Tahoe National Forest on highway 80 setting away from the interstate was a hotel, and parked outside the hotel was one of the Samsa’s SUVs. Devin had made it there before Hunter.

  Hunter paused to catch his breath realizing he had to dress. He quickly placed on his jeans and zipped them and then he threw on his shirt not bothering to button it. He dashed into the lobby without shoes. Shoes wasn’t second nature to him and so he never noticed his bare- feet.

  Breathless, shirt opened, and barefoot Hunter stood at the desk and said, “There’s a SUV outside parked at the entrance, which room is he in.”

  “You can’t come in here barefoot with your shirt open and ask for a guest’s room number, sir,” the young desk clerk said.

  “I know,” Hunter said breathing hard and in spurts. “Now which room is it and this time if you don’t tell me, I’ll....” His tone defiant and threatening. His eyes menacing as his brow furrowed, and his eyes turning into two dark deep blue pools.

  “He won’t do anything. Now button your shirt, son.” Lycell placed his hand on Hunter’s shoulder calming him. “Which room is it?” Lycell said looking at the clerk with a grave expression. The desk clerk blurted out the number.

  Thorn and Tracker followed Lycell and Hunter to the stairs where they rushed up the stairs, hitting each step three at a time. They opened the door on the floor the desk clerk gave, and the room set directly across from the stairs.

  Hunter banged on the door and Devin opened it. Hunter looked around. “Where is she?”

  “I’m here, Hunter?” Devin looked at Katie as she embraced Hunter. The others behind Hunter saw it too.

  Hunter pulled away, his eyes searching the room. “Where is Haley?” Katie’s mouth fell into a hard line.

  “She stayed with the Lion shifter,” Katie’s voice almost a whisper.

  Breathless and defeated, Hunter sank into a chair. He glanced up and around at everyone. He felt betrayed and devastated. Then he took control of his senses. Staring away from Katie and Devin, he calmed.

  “Haley wouldn’t do that. She and I are to be married.”

  Katie sat on the side of Hunter as the others looked on. “I tried to talk her out of it. But he persuaded her that she would be better off with him. He said that he was rich and could protect her,” Katie said her voice rising above the silence in the room.

  “I have money and she has an inheritance,” Hunter said. He didn’t address the protection part because clearly he didn’t do that well. He raked his hands through his hair twice trying to make sense of what Katie was saying.

  “Maybe she’s looking for something you didn’t have. He’s a powerful shifter from what I understand and he was able to snatch us from under your noses,” Katie said with her eyes meeting the werewolves’ eyes and locking with Lycell.

  Lycell saw the cruel and desirous nature in Katie’s eyes, and that she wanted Hunter to herself. She dropped her eyes when she noticed him returning a narrow steely glance.

  “I don’t feel well,” she said holding her stomach. “Devin take me back to the ranch. I feel sick. It has been a terrible ordeal for me. I’m finally safe.” She held Hunter’s hand tight. Devin reached for her to have her stand.

  “We need to get Katie home,” Devin said taking Katie by the hand then hoisting her into his arms.

  “Are you coming, Hunter?” she questioned. “I need to give you a message Haley made me promise to give to you.”

  “What is the message?” She looked around the room meeting Lycell’s eyes once more. She wanted both brothers and she wasn’t going to give up even if she had to sacrifice Haley. It meant nothing to her to get Haley out of the way. Haley had been the single most reason that Hunter moved away from her just when she had convinced him that he and Devin could share her.

  “Let’s go. Katie needs to be comfortable where she can tell us what happened,” Lycell said his eyes following Katie.

  They all took Lycell’s direction and headed for the SUV. Devin and Hunter sat in the back seat with Katie in the middle. Tracker and Lycell ahead of them with Thorn driving. It had been an hour of silence and they were driving up the road to the ranch. The car stopped at the door and everyone filed out of it.

  “After I rest and eat, Hunter, I need
to talk to you about Haley. I need to tell you what happened. But I’m too tired now. Please forgive me,” Katie said looking into Hunter’s trusting eyes.

  Lycell looked at the performance that Katie gave. She had in one fell swoop defeated Haley and convinced Hunter that Haley chose to be with the Lion shifter.

  Devin carried Katie into the house and up to his old room. Wilder walked from the library to meet them in the foyer. He motioned with his hand and they followed him to the family room which had a clear view of the Olympic size pool.

  Tracker looked at the pool his back to Thorn and Lycell. “Some of you need a little more time swimming. That performance you gave at the lake was disastrous. I have dogs that could swim faster than some of you.”

  Tracker tried to lighten the mood of the room. Damon managed to give out a closed smile because he wasn’t with them, and didn’t see the length of the lake.

  Sitting on the leather sofa, Wilder and Hunter sat near each other. Hunter looking lost. His eyes didn’t blink he just stared at his father. Lycell and his three sons sat across from them. Drayton joined them a few minutes later.

  “Well, we got one of them back,” Wilder said his voice rising and falling. “She’s the one that’s important to our pack.” Hunter’s eyes whipped around to Wilder.

  “She’s important to me,” Hunter shouted raising his voice to Wilder. “Would you have been so indifferent if it were mother?” Everyone knew the answer to that question.

  The room heavy with silence except for Hunter’s hard breathing. He stood facing his father, his back to the pool. His back to the glass doors leading to the outside. Rain began falling. The sky darkened and Hunter’s riveting blue eyes deepened.

  “We can’t defeat a Lion shifter, Hunter.” Wilder said. His voice taking control of the situation as Hunter stood looking down at him.

  “Father did,” Lycell reminded Wilder.

  “He shot him with an arrow... and a gun. We can’t do that to our kind just because he takes a human who wants to be with him.” The young werewolves looked at Wilder. It was the first time they heard about the gun. They thought it was only a bow and arrow.

  “She doesn’t want to be with him. Something had to happen for Haley to agree to this,” Hunter said looking around for someone to side with him.

  “We need to hear what Katie has to say before we put our pack in jeopardy,” Wilder said. “We don’t know where Haley is. He could have her in Europe by now. Then what are you going to do? Search around for her your whole life and find out that she has his cubs and then you can’t have her anyway. If he does impregnate her you can’t take her cubs. And if you’re foolish enough to take her cubs and her, then he will hunt us down, one by one, and destroy us,” Wilder said his eyes focused on Hunter.

  “Is that what you want? There are too few matured werewolves in our pack. And too few werewolf shifters to fight his pride. His females will fight us too especially since two of their cubs are dead.” Wilder’s voice a deep heavy whisper.

  “What would you have me do? Abandon her to him. I love her.”

  “You will love many women in your life. Didn’t you love Katie?”

  “Did you love many women before you met my mother?” He knew the answer to the question before he asked it. His father had made love to many women, but loved only Adrienne.

  “I love only Adrienne. I thought I loved many women, but it wasn’t love it was raw lust. When I met your mother, I knew. A werewolf knows. It is something that they can’t define. It is something that transcends lust and sex,” Wilder said expressing Lycell and Drayton’s feelings as well about Adrienne.

  “That is what I feel for Haley, and that is how I came to know I wanted her for my mate and that there could be no other in my life.”

  Wilder sat back and inhaled, and with a long breath he exhaled. “We will do everything we can to get her back, my son. Don’t expect miracles. All I can say is prepare yourself for the worse.”

  “And what might that be?” Hunter said looking his father’s way hoping he could handle the answer. He didn’t want to hear words about giving up. He could never give up. He wasn’t made like that. He knew how to persist though the worse odds and find his way home only to find another disappointment—his brother Devin had mated with Katie.

  “That she may have gone of her own free will,” Wilder said measuring his words.

  Nevertheless, Hunter knew if it wasn’t possible, Haley would never give in to Brian Anderson the Lion shifter. She had said to him just a few days ago that she would never leave him, and she would never love anyone but him, and that was enough for Hunter not to give up on her.

  When Devin entered the room all eyes turned in his direction. “Katie is well and the pups are OK. At least that’s what Robert thinks. After all he’s the doctor.” Devin tried to smile. He walked over to Hunter flashing a closed nervous smile. “Katie wants to talk to you.” Hunter didn’t say a word, he turned and left the room.

  Chapter 14

  When Hunter opened door to the room without knocking, Katie stood looking in the mirror, passing her hand over her large protruding stomach. “I must look terrible. It won’t be long, Hunter,” she said fishing for a compliment.

  “No, you’re as beautiful as ever. Being pregnant agrees with you.”

  She turns and smiles at him, “I’m eager to be pregnant with your pups.” Hunter slants his head to the side looking at Katie as she raises her blouse and rubs her bare stomach.

  “I didn’t come to discuss that now. I want to know what happened. What is it you need to tell me?” He stands still looking at her. Both hands tucked into his jeans.

  Katie is aroused by the sight of him. Her arousal becomes more intense the more she’s pregnant and the more she’s near him. It’s something about him that makes her breathless in his presence. Passion is hammering through her as she remembers her first time with Hunter. With a werewolf and his large manhood pushing through her tender opening and pulsating in her when they first made love.

  She can’t understand her fascination because he looks like Devin but she’s not attracted to Devin the way she is with Hunter. Since he came home he exudes raw magmatism and sexuality. He has an air of confidence that she doesn’t see in Devin and she can’t wait to lay in his bed and in his arms. Hunter’s desire for Haley and his coldness to Katie makes her more intent on making him hers once more.

  Katie wants Hunter to throw her on the bed and take her from behind. She desires the animalistic sex that she knows he has performed with the werefemales in the wilds of Alaska and the nurse he had gone to because he couldn’t be with her. The thought of it is turning her on.

  Katie walks to Hunter and slides her tongue across his lips and brace her body next to his. He looks down at her breasts. They are large and full and he feels attraction to her only because he is a werewolf, and he has an insatiable desire for sex. But her affections had come at the wrong time. He no longer wants anything from her, but to tell him what happened to Haley.

  She’s too late and the feeling is gone. It disappeared the night she wed his brother.

  He had wanted her to show this type of affection to him for so long, and now that he has what he dreamed of, he doesn’t want it anymore. He thought she was what he wanted most of all in life. But now was too late. Her body didn’t appeal to him and it wasn’t because she was pregnant, it was because he had mated with Haley and was devoted to her.

  Pulling himself away from her embrace he said, “Tell me what happened.”

  “Do you want all the details? she questioned, a bit annoyed at his rejection. She thought it was because she was pregnant. She didn’t want to think it could be any other reason because she had been certain of his attraction to her.

  Hunter gazed at her and sat at the edge of the bed. “Tell me only the part where Haley said that she would go with the Lion shifter willingly.”

  Katie paused to sit near Hunter trying to gauge his temperament. “He said he wanted her for his own and
she would want for nothing. Not love, money, or protection. She seemed to be receptive when he said he would love her forever and she would have his devotion.” Katie glanced at Hunter. His eyes sad. His eyes lowers as he looks at his hands.

  “You know how that is when someone doesn’t get the love they crave,” Katie said turning to Hunter placing her hands over his hoping to ignite warmth from the coldness she feels from him.

  Hunter’s eyes locked with Katie and he said, “I know exactly how that is.” Katie wasn’t looking for that response from him. He turned away as if he was remembering something different. Katie touched his leg close to his groin. He glanced up.

  “He is a very handsome man. More like a father figure. Maybe she’s looking for that since she lost her own father. I know how she feels. That’s why I can relate to her. But Robert was my father figure.”

  Katie watched at Hunter. She saw his eyes darting back and forth. She knew what he was thinking, and she thought she had convinced him with her little lie hidden beneath the truth.

  “Forget her, Hunter. I can make you happy. I can give you what you need.” Her hand cupped his cock. He didn’t pull away. They looked at each other. Tremors of need burned through Hunter.

  Katie dropped to her knees in front of Hunter. Placing both hands on his hard thighs. Not to beg him to forgive her for not waiting for him, but instead, her hand moved up his thighs stroking them as she reached for his zipper. She pressed down on his hard length growing harder and longer the more she massaged it. His head falls back and she unzips his pants and reaches for his cock. Her hand is warm and Hunter closes his eyes. She releases his length and it springs free. Her lips and tongue touches it and he realizes what is happening to him. It’s not Haley. This is not what he wants. It’s his brother’s wife.