Forever Werewolf: Forever WerewolfMoon Kissed (Harlequin Nocturne)

by Michele Hauf

  “You’ve been vampire all your life,” Tryst said. “It’s natural to you. I’ve just learned about this new side of me.”

  “It’ll take some adjustment. And about that lost mojo? I know where you can get it back.”

  “Don’t say Lexi.”

  “Lexi!” Vail clapped his hands together. He cast Tryst a glittering eye. “It’s always the woman who can bring a man around. Trust me on that one.”

  “How do you think Lexi can save me from drinking blood?”

  “Well, I didn’t say she could do that. I think drinking blood is going to be part of your life from here on. But she can save you from yourself and all your self-doubt. Don’t give up on her, man. Sounds like you did something amazing for her, being the one to bring on her first shift.”

  “It was beyond amazing. I was so proud of her.”

  Vail slapped Tryst’s shoulder. “Trust yourself, and let her into your heart.”

  “Dude, you sound like a greeting card.”

  “Heh. Guess I’ve softened lately. Lyric is already starting to show. I can’t wait until I can feel the baby kick. I’m going to teach it to play baseball and kick a football, and to drive.”

  “Do not let your child near or in the car when you are driving. Promise me that.”

  Vail winked. “Deal.”

  “You’re starting your own family. That’s so great. I hope I can have that someday.”

  “You will have it, and I bet it’ll be with the sexy wolf with the bright blue eyes.” He clapped his hands and gave the antler chandelier another leery glance. “So I don’t think I’m going to hang around. You should have seen the welcome committee eyeing me up. Yikes. What a sorry bunch of bruisers they were.”

  “This pack is troubled, that’s for sure.”

  A ruckus out in the hallway alerted both men, and Tryst rushed to open the door. A group of wolves were dragging another down the hall who struggled fiercely and whose body was midshift.

  Liam caught Tryst’s wondering gaze. “Sven escaped the shackles.”

  Vail leaned over Tryst’s shoulder and whistled.

  “He’s shifting,” Tryst said. “You’ll never get him to the dungeon in time.”

  “I know that!” Liam and the others struggled. A few of the pack members also began to shift, but it was too late.

  Sven’s body transformed fully to werewolf. One muscled arm lashed out, taking a pack member across the face with his deadly talons. He howled, beat the wall with a paw, then took off down the hallway toward the lobby.

  “Go after him!” Liam called, as they raced after the escaped wolf.

  “Is this what life in a pack is like?” Vail whispered to Tryst.

  “I’m not even sure anymore,” he answered.

  “Just to be safe, I’m going to get the hell out of Dodge. I walked here from the village. Think I’ll walk back.”

  Tryst clamped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “That’s not a good idea. With Sven’s werewolf on the loose you don’t want to risk running into him. I think you’ve just become a guest of Wulfsiege.”

  Liam shot the vampire a look that didn’t say hello so much as welcome to the loony bin.

  “How is the principal?” Tryst asked Liam.

  “Lana told him everything, and Natalie has since concocted an antidote for the silver poisoning. So far, he’s holding steady. Steady enough to issue orders against Sven. He’s appointed me scion.”

  “Congrats, man.”

  Liam slapped palms with Tryst. “Wish the situation would have been better.”

  “You’re the best man for the job. So what’s the plan?”

  “First we catch Sven. Then, well… Were you leaving?” Liam asked.

  Tryst assumed he would no longer be welcome, and would accept the command if Liam wanted him to go. “That was my intention. Wulfsiege doesn’t need my help anymore, and I’m sure you’ve heard about what happened with Lexi when I rescued her.”

  “No, I didn’t. Something you need to tell me?”

  Tryst felt Vail’s hand on his shoulder, a reassuring force that he appreciated. He couldn’t lie to Liam. “I may have vampire tendencies. I…drank Lexi’s blood.”

  Liam nodded. “Sven’s been telling everyone about your heritage. But I had no idea…”

  “It was how I was able to fend off Sven and his goons last night. When I shift now, I become something with fangs. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t see it coming. Something happened to me when I tasted Lexi’s blood. It woke up a part of me I never dreamed could be in there.”

  “So, you’re like your father?” Liam asked, eyeing Vail cautiously.

  “I don’t even know. But I promise you I won’t harm any in the Alpine pack, because I will leave as soon as Sven is shackled.”

  “But I need you here,” Liam said. “With Sven running rampant we’ve got to protect the females and the principal. There’s no telling what that maniac will do. And him?”

  “Uh, this is Vaillant, my brother. He’s…vampire.”

  Vail stretched out a hand to shake, and Liam didn’t even pause to shake it. “You lay low,” Liam directed the vampire. “You don’t give us any trouble, we won’t give you trouble.”

  “Works for me.”

  “You can’t possibly want me to stay now,” Tryst said.

  “Sounds like you’ve got a lot of issues to work out, but I have to believe you’re still the same honorable man who would jump in to help a pack of which he’s not even a member.”

  “I want the best for this pack. They’ve become like family to me.”

  “Then it’s cool with me, man. You’re good stuff. Now if we really mean something to you, then help me hold this pitiful pack together, will you? We’ve got Lana guarded in her room in case the Nord should return looking for her. Where’s Lexi?”

  “I think she went to her room. Hell. Sven attacked her last night.” Tryst’s heart dropped. In the rage he was in, there was no guessing what Sven would do. He took off down the hallway. “Keep Vail in the guest room!” he called back.

  “Too late, brother.” Vail ran alongside Tryst. “I’m on your side, remember? And I figure sticking close to you is safer than being a sitting duck alone, eh?”

  “Her room is just ahead.” Tryst charged through Lexi’s open door and saw the broken window. He heard Lexi’s scream and didn’t give a second thought to what he did next.

  “Vail, tell Liam I found Sven and he’s got Lexi! I’m going after him,” he called as his body shifted to werewolf shape. He had no voice in this form, but he didn’t need it.

  His werewolf was angry, and he wouldn’t suffer Sven to live if he harmed one hair on his mate’s head.

  Chapter 20

  Sven’s werewolf clutched Lexi against his hard, sinuous body as he stalked down the steps. Her feet dragged as she struggled and tried to wiggle her arms free from his iron-band-like clasp. At the sound of another werewolf’s howl, Sven whipped around and pressed the syringe she had seen him carrying to her neck. She felt it prick her skin, but sensed he had not injected her.

  Tryst’s werewolf bounded out and leaped for Sven, soaring over the steps that marched down to the courtyard and landing on the ground before them.

  Sven’s talons dug into her stomach. He howled warningly at the werewolf who approached with a vicious howl.

  “Stay back,” she pleaded to Tryst. “There’s silver in the syringe.”

  She knew, in Tryst’s werewolf mind, he could understand her words. But would his rage allow him to control his anger? For that matter, how long could Sven grasp caution without simply ramming the needle into her throat? Sure death pricked her flesh, but the werewolf had yet to inject her. With every step Tryst’s werewolf took closer, Sven clenched her tighter. Talons pierced her side and at her hip. She noticed Tryst sniffed the air, scenting her blood. Hell, she did not need to deal with his vampire, as well.

  Or maybe the vampire was just the thing Tryst needed to defeat a werewolf who was equal in strength to h
im.

  “Please,” she whispered. “Just drop me, Sven, and Tryst won’t follow you.”

  With a snarl, Tryst revealed a row of wicked sharp teeth. He wasn’t on the same page as Lexi, and she sensed Sven knew that. Not that it would matter. Sven had reached the edge, and he wanted to take out anyone he could if he was going to fall over that edge.

  A woman screamed. At Lexi’s bedroom door, Lana had run out. That perked Sven’s ears. The needle pressed deeper.

  “No, Lana,” she managed, but her voice came out as a whisper. She didn’t dare move her head for fear of the silver.

  Sven howled, a claiming howl that cautioned her sister and stopped her from running out farther.

  Tryst used the werewolf’s distraction and pounced, landing Sven’s shoulder. The connection loosened Sven’s hold on her. Lexi stumbled free, scrambling across the packed snow to the bottom step. She looked about for the syringe loaded with deadly silver, but couldn’t see the clear plastic and silver set against the blinding white snow.

  Behind her the werewolves growled, and wicked, taloned paws smacked hard muscle and fur. Both were matched in strength in this form, and for every hit that Sven made to Tryst’s body, Tryst returned with equal force and cruelty. He slammed Sven to the ground. The ice carried them down a slope, and they crashed against a tree trunk. A nest of birds fluttered out from the pine canopy.

  Tryst swung his talons across Sven’s chest, tearing open flesh and fur. It was hardly a killing blow. Lexi sensed he would not deliver a fatal blow, but wished he would. And then she did not. Her lover was an honorable man, who lived by and for his word. Murder was not part of Trystan Hawkes’s arsenal, even should his life depend on it.

  She shouted to Lana to go back inside and find Liam to bring out the chains. Lana nodded, and scrambled away.

  Tryst yipped. His neck had opened up and blood spilled over his chest. With one great howl, he charged Sven, pushing the mighty Nordic beast to ground. Slapping a paw across his face, Tryst then jumped back and stalked before the fallen werewolf, waiting for his opponent to rise.

  But he did not. Sven’s body began to shudder, his limbs flailing and his heavy head pushing back into the bloody snow. Lexi didn’t know what was wrong. The werewolf’s pale-furred skin started to bubble. His arms jerked forward, pulling him into a sitting position, and she saw the syringe at the back of his neck. He’d landed on his own death. When Tryst had shoved him to the ground, the force of Sven’s body meeting the syringe must have depressed the plunger.

  The werewolf’s howl twisted into an unnatural scream as his fingers began to split apart.

  Lexi turned away as the first bits of the wolf flew across the snow.

  * * *

  Tryst shifted to were form. He stood, bloody hand held in front of him, his body curled forward, with his spine arched out, as if trying to get away from the blood scent yet at the same time compelled toward it.

  Naked and bloodied, he knew none of the blood was actually his. He had pieces of Sven all over him. And his fingers were coated as his talons had shifted, leaving his skin red.

  He smelled the life. It wasn’t the same as Lexi’s blood. Not appealing, yet not entirely disgusting, either.

  “You don’t need that vile man’s blood. It will only taint you,” Lexi said. “Come to me, Tryst.”

  He looked over the werewolf’s remains. Had he done that? How?

  When he met Lexi’s gaze, it was as though the world fell away and only they remained. Hearts beating for one another, they spoke without words. He loved her, but he was confused by this new revelation in his very makeup. And she loved him. No matter what.

  How could that be? After what he’d just done? He’d—had he killed a man?

  “He fell on the syringe,” Lexi offered. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Hell.” Tryst fell to his knees in the bloody snow. He felt Lexi’s touch at the back of his neck and it was so gentle he closed his eyes and tilted his body to lean against hers.

  “It’s over,” she said. “Let’s go back inside.”

  Naked, slashed and bleeding from battle, Tryst nodded. He stood and she wrapped her arms about him and he fell into her embrace, taking what she wanted to give. Peace, comfort. A promise that, no matter what challenges faced them both, she was in it for the long ride.

  As was he.

  They trudged back into Lexi’s room, where Vail waited with a long coat for Tryst.

  “Some things I really shouldn’t see,” the vampire said as he spread the coat across Tryst’s shoulders and stood back to let Lexi button it down just far enough to cover the important bits. “But you did take out that bastard with skill. Good going, bro.”

  “Murder is never good, Vail.” Agitated, Tryst paced back and forth before the broken window. “I hate that I was forced to such an action.”

  Vail stopped him with a hand to his chest. The brothers faced each other down. “It wasn’t murder. I saw the whole thing. He fell on the syringe he had intended to use on Lexi. You did a good thing, brother. And nothing but. She’s alive only because of you.”

  Tryst nodded, accepting but knowing he could never forgive himself for being the catalyst that had ended another man’s life. He’d never done so before. He must never do so again.

  He pulled Lexi to him and she snuggled against his wounded body. “How is your father?”

  “He’s still very weak, but the doctor said he’s improving. Natalie made an antidote to the silver.”

  “That’s the best thing for the pack.” He kissed her head. “I think I need to lie down. I took some deep talons to my back.”

  His world wobbled and went black.

  * * *

  Tryst woke to the vision of, not a gorgeous woman leaning over him, but Vail’s black-lined eyes staring at him. The vampire wore some kind of black ointment around his eyes, saying it helped him to see faeries. Made him look like a rocker.

  His brother winked and smacked Tryst’s cheek. “You fainted, bro. Thought only girls did that. But then we saw the wounds on your back and I figure I’ll give you that one.”

  Tryst winced and wriggled his shoulders. “I’ll heal.”

  “I know you will. Your little wolf chick doctored you up and you’re already looking fifty percent better. She’s with her dad right now. Told me to stay and keep an eye on you. I can’t seem to get away from this place.”

  “Wulfsiege kinda sucks you in, like it or not. You hungry?”

  Vail shot him a castigating glare.

  “Right. Sorry.” Tryst sat up and winced at his aching…everything. “Thank the gods for the womenfolk, they know how to take care of us.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “So you said Lyric is pregnant? What are you hoping for? Boy or girl?”

  “Healthy in mind and spirit.” Vail plopped onto the easy chair by the bed and put up his boots on the end of the bed near Tryst’s bare feet.

  Tryst wore a towel around his hips and was bandaged along his arm. “Did she get me onto the bed like this?”

  “No, I had to help, and let me tell you, you owe me one for that. Like I said, some things a brother should not have to see. I can’t imagine the shit you have to go through to insure you shift near available clothing.”

  “Heh. You’re just jealous.”

  “Oh, yeah? If you need me to whip it out and compare—”

  Tryst held up a hand. “Spare me. I’ll take your word for it. Hell, I’m hungry.”

  “Lexi said something about bringing you sustenance. She’s all about making you happy.”

  “I’m surprised she can even be around me after what happened.”

  “Watching a werewolf explode would turn anyone’s gut.”

  “It’s not that. Well hell, that was horrible. I have never seen the like before, and don’t ever want to see it again, but we still haven’t talked about my new—”

  “Condition?”

  “Yeah. I love her, Vail, but I don’t want to take away her options.
She’s a gorgeous werewolf princess. She could have any man—any full-blooded wolf—as a mate. She shouldn’t be stuck with something like me.”

  Vail screwed up his lips then exhaled. “You’re not that different from Rhys. Every time you put yourself down you also put down your father. And I don’t think you’re the kind of guy to do something like that.”

  “I would never. I love my father. Hell, I just need time to take it all in. My life has changed.”

  “Ch’yeah, no kidding. So now that the big bad wolf is dead, you think it’s okay for me to slip out of here?”

  “You hate hanging around me that much?”

  “No, chatting with my bro has been great. When it hasn’t been harrowing. And when I haven’t had to watch you get beaten or tortured. Or gotten to see the wolf explode. But I told Lyric it was a quick trip, and do you know how crabby women get during the first trimester? And she craves weird things like reptilian blood. Green Snake is a total mess around her lately. She gives him the eye. I’ve seen her do it.”

  “That snake creeps me out, but I’d hate to see it sacrificed. Bring her some flowers and have sex with her all night. That should distract her.”

  “I already do that. I’ve got to up my game.”

  “Diamonds?”

  “She does like sparkly things. Like me,” he said with a flick of his beringed fingers.

  The door opened and Lexi entered with a serving tray. “Oh, I’m sorry. I would have knocked, but I thought you’d be out still.”

  “And I think that’s my cue to leave. You’re going to be fine, bro.” Vail clasped hands with Tryst. “Only because she’s looking after you.” He kissed Lexi on both cheeks and bade the two of them au revoir. “See you back in Paris soon!”

  “Thanks, Vail. Say hi to Mom for me, will you?”

  “I’m seeing her tomorrow. She wants Lyric to come over so she can paint her portrait. Nice meeting you, Lexi.”

  “You, too,” she said, and closed the door behind Vail. “So you’re going home?” she asked, setting the tray over his lap as he settled back against the pillows. He didn’t miss the tightness in her voice.