Taming the Moon

by Sherrill Quinn

  “I’m at the airport.”

  “In New York?”

  “No, here in Tucson.”

  That made her eyes go wide. She sent a startled glance at Sully.

  “What?” he mouthed.

  She held up one finger in a gesture for him to wait.

  “Just arrived,” Eddy went on. “I’m getting ready to head out to the ranch.”

  “What ranch?” Olivia switched the phone to her other ear and grabbed a pen lying by a small notepad on the table near the landline phone. She wrote HE’S HERE in big block letters and showed it to Sully.

  Sully picked it up and showed the others.

  “I don’t know. Some place that Calvin and Peter found.” Eddy gave a few more directions to whoever was with him, once again ignoring her.

  Just then, Taite pushed open the slider and came back into the house. Sully put his finger to his lips to forestall her saying anything. She nodded and quietly pulled the door closed, then went over to Ryder’s side and sat on the arm of his padded chair.

  Eddy’s voice came back on the line. “Okay, Livvie. As soon as I get settled in, I’ll phone you and you can come join us.”

  “And…Zoe?” Olivia held her breath. God, it would be just like him to do something to Zoe anyway, as a lesson for Olivia.

  He sighed. “Now, you don’t think I’d have left her in New York, do you?” His tone suggested he thought her lacking in intelligence. Something she was used to. “She’s with me, of course. And she’s fine—sleeping on Walter’s shoulder right now.”

  Walter, one of Eddy’s lieutenants—a big, beefy man with an absurd loyalty to their pack leader. Whatever his life had been like before, he seemed to look on Eddy as some sort of savior. There’d be no help there.

  “Is it just you and Walter, then?” She pressed her lips together as she awaited his answer.

  “No, Aaron’s with me, too.” He sounded preoccupied.

  Aaron, Walter, Peter, and Calvin—four other werewolves with him. She glanced around at her soon-to-beex-friends. Four of them against five. It was doable. More than doable, if Calvin was on her side. But if he was on her side, why did he try to kill Sully?

  “God, the weather here is perfect. It was fucking forty degrees and raining when we left the city.” Eddy paused and took a deep breath.

  He must have just walked outside the airport. “It’s very nice,” Olivia agreed, though her mind was still on the fact that he’d also brought Aaron along. Aaron was newer to the pack than even she was, but moving very fast through the ranks.

  A werewolf that could go with either side, depending on which side looked to be winning.

  “Anyway,” Eddy continued, “I’m going to have a small chat with Calvin as soon as I…Ah, speak of the devil.” He huffed a sigh. “Let me get settled, Livvie, then we’ll catch up and you can tell me again and in more detail exactly why you failed me, not once but twice.”

  “But…can I talk to Zoe, please?” She chewed her bottom lip.

  “She’s sleeping, I told you.” His voice went hard. “Have I ever lied to you?”

  As far as she knew, he’d always been brutally honest. Though he’d at times withheld the truth, he’d never lied to her. “No.”

  “Then believe me when I tell you she’s sleeping. You know how traveling exhausts her. I don’t want to wake her up. You can talk to her in another couple hours.” He told Calvin to take his luggage and asked how long it would take to get to the ranch. After he received a reply, he said to Olivia, “It will take us about an hour to get where we’re going. I’ll call you once I’m settled in.”

  “Eddy. Eddy!” She snapped her phone shut with a scowl. “He hung up.”

  “What did he say?” Sully stood close, not touching, but his expression held such care and concern that she had to fight to keep from moving into his arms. It wasn’t the time for comfort. She needed the grief, the anger to help her get through the coming hours.

  To prepare herself to kill Eddy.

  And to say good-bye to the man, she admitted to herself, she had fallen in love with and would love until the day she died.

  Chapter 17

  Sully couldn’t stand the tortured look on Olivia’s face.

  He reached out and hauled her into his arms.

  She stayed there a moment, resting her forehead against his shoulder. “Why did you have to be so nice?” she whispered and then fought her way clear of him. “Don’t!” She waved him off when he attempted to hug her again. “I can’t…Don’t be nice to me. I can’t take it. Not now.”

  And there was yet another layer to her, peeled away. She could be strong but not if she was shown gentleness.

  God, he would kill Miles for what he’d done to this beautiful, vibrant woman.

  “Eddy’s here. In Tucson. He was just leaving the airport when he hung up.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “He said he’d call when he got settled.” She drew in a deep breath and held it, then exhaled slowly. Eyes closed, she tipped her head to one side, then the other, working out the kinks in a neck he knew was tight with strain. “He has Zoe with him.”

  “Good. That’s good,” Sully said. “That was what we’d hoped he’d do. We’ll make sure to get her to safety before anything else happens.”

  “Aye.” Declan’s voice was quiet. “Did Miles say where he was gettin’ settled?”

  With eyes still closed, she shook her head. “He didn’t say. He mentioned a ranch.” When she opened her eyes, tears shone in their depths. “Apparently he sent two of his goons here a day ago or so to”—she made quote marks in the air—“check up on me.” She dropped her hands and looked at Sully. “One of them is the one who hit you. They’ve rented or…taken a ranch somewhere here in town. Or at least one nearby. Eddy said it would take an hour from the airport to get there.”

  “What do you mean, they’ve ‘taken’ a ranch?” Pelicia asked.

  Olivia’s lips tightened. “If they found a place that suited their needs and it was occupied, they would have made sure it became unoccupied.”

  “You mean”—Pelicia’s eyes widened—“they just killed whoever lived there?”

  “If that’s what it took.” Olivia lifted her shoulders. Her gaze hard, she gritted out, “How many times and in how many different ways do I have to say this? Eddy is an amoral, unconscionable monster.” Before anyone could respond, she sighed. “I’m sorry, Pel. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  “It’s all right. I understand.” Pelicia gave Olivia a sympathetic look.

  “How many are with him?” Ryder stretched his legs out in front of him, looking unconcerned that his cousin was back in his life, wanting to kill him and his family and friends.

  “From what I can tell, four. Peter and Walter are loyal and will fight to the death to protect him. Aaron is fairly new. He’s only been with our pack about a year and a half. But he’s ambitious.” Olivia spread out her hands. “If he sees the fight isn’t in Eddy’s favor, he might cut and run.”

  “Might.” Sully shifted on his feet. “But you’re not sure.”

  She shook her head. “He could go either way, but initially he’ll be on Eddy’s side, I guarantee it.”

  “And the fourth?” Declan slipped his arm around Pelicia and settled back against the sofa.

  “Calvin. He’s the one I told you about—the one whose family Eddy murdered. He has a new wife and a baby on the way. I don’t know that he’d jeopardize that.” She frowned. “But, again, if he sees the battle’s not going Eddy’s way, he might help us.”

  “There’s another ‘might.’” Declan shook his head. “I’m thinkin’ we need to be prepared for no outside help. It’s just us, as we’d planned. Five of them against the four of us.” He grinned. “I like those odds.”

  Olivia nodded. She looked around at everyone in the room, and Sully noticed a slight tremor in her lower lip. “I haven’t said this yet, and I should have. Thank you.” Her eyes shone with tears she was too stubborn to let fall. “You don�
��t even know me, yet you’re risking your lives…”

  Ryder straightened from his slouched position, though he didn’t leave his wife’s side. “This was my fight long before it was yours, Olivia.” He glanced at Taite. “And now that I have more to protect than just myself, I’m willing to take it all the way, do what has to be done to keep my family safe.”

  “Aye.” Declan tugged Pelicia a little closer. “We all have somethin’ at stake here, lass. You’re not alone.”

  Olivia’s throat moved with her hard swallow. Sully knew she’d always considered herself as alone, and perhaps she had been. Zoe was too young to be much support, and the less the little girl knew about what really went on the better. He hated for any child to lose their innocence too early, but especially Olivia’s child.

  “Miles made it my fight when he sent one of his wolves after Declan and the bastard got me instead.” Sully cracked his knuckles. “I’ve been looking for a bit of payback.”

  Something flickered in Olivia’s eyes, there and gone so fast he couldn’t tell exactly what it was. But it wasn’t the first time she’d gone funny when he’d said something about his own turning experience. Perhaps it brought back bad memories of when Miles had first bitten her.

  In a softer voice, he added, “Now it’s even more personal.”

  Olivia shot a startled look his way. She cleared her throat. “Yes, well. Still, I appreciate it. For the first time in three years I actually feel some hope that I can get Zoe out of this Twilight Zone episode my life’s turned into.”

  “We’re glad to help.” Taite shifted her weight from where she perched on the thickly padded arm of Ryder’s chair. “Is he asking for proof of Sully’s death?”

  Olivia shook her head. “He apparently took Calvin’s word for it.”

  “So we don’t need to run an obit or get the authorities involved in any way?”

  “No.”

  Which, in Sully’s mind at least, was in its own way a relief. The more convoluted the plan was, the more likely something would go wrong. The fact that Miles thought Sully was dead—and that he didn’t know Olivia had enlisted the help of Sully and his friends—meant he would be taken completely by surprise. Since Calvin hadn’t disclosed that Olivia had been with Sully at the time of the hit-and-run, either he hadn’t seen her or for his own reasons he’d kept it to himself.

  Either way, it meant that Eddy was clueless. Which was fine by Sully. It was about time they got a break.

  Olivia tried to bat down the jitters that set her stomach tumbling. Things seemed to be falling into place quite nicely—and that made her nervous. Calvin had left out one tiny detail in the hit-and-run story he told Eddy—that she had been with Sully at the time—and that made her even more anxious.

  Why hadn’t he told Eddy? He had to have seen her dragging Sully away from the road. Or he would have seen her with Sully before she’d started down that little rabbit trail.

  “You know, they had to have seen me.” She looked at the others and tried to stay calm when her insides were jumping. “Why didn’t he tell Eddy I was with Sully?”

  Sully and Declan exchanged a glance. “Well, I know if the bastard had killed my family,” Sully said, his deep voice flinty, “I’d be doing everything I could to undermine him. If Calvin saw us together and didn’t say anything, maybe he reckons you’ve switched sides.”

  “I don’t know.” She sighed.

  What was Calvin’s game? Would he be on her side, or Eddy’s? Would he try to blackmail her later, when this was all over?

  She’d like to think he still had enough integrity—that Eddy hadn’t crushed it out of him completely—that he would stand and fight on the side of right. But he had a new family to think about, and after losing four children to Eddy’s depravity, she couldn’t imagine him risking yet another child.

  “I guess we’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?” She gave a halfhearted smile at a murmur of sympathy from Pelicia.

  Olivia wouldn’t be surprised if she walked into her meeting with Eddy and he told her he knew Sully wasn’t dead. At the moment Eddy seemed to be clueless, and that was rare. He was usually so tapped into everything that happened with his pack she’d often wondered if he had some psychic ability.

  She’d come to accept that he didn’t. He just had a lot of loyal minions out there.

  And, if luck was on her side, some not-so-loyal ones.

  She leaned against the wall and watched the other people in the room. It was so obvious that Ryder and Taite, and Declan and Pelicia loved each other.

  Her gaze centered on Sully. What she’d give to have that same relationship with him. But she didn’t dare hope that he’d forgive her for what she’d done to him, because when that forgiveness wasn’t forthcoming she’d be heartbroken.

  Better to have low expectations and not be crushed when they weren’t fulfilled than to wish for the stars and always have them be out of reach. She’d learned that lesson first when she lost her husband after only being married two years, and then again with Eddy making promise after promise only to break them and, along with those broken promises, trying to break her.

  “Regardless,” Sully said, the roughness of his voice interrupting her thoughts, “she’s not going to a meeting with Miles alone.”

  Olivia frowned. “It’s not like any of you can walk in there with me, Sully. I have to go in alone.”

  As Sully opened his mouth to respond, Pelicia cut him off. “She’s right. Until we know Zoe is safe, we can’t risk having you all go rushing in there like a…well, like a pack of wolves,” she finished a little lamely.

  “An’ it started out so well,” Declan murmured with a grin.

  “I know.” Pelicia sighed. “I’m just not as clever with words as you lot.”

  “Well, you’ve zinged me more than a few times, sweetheart.” Declan pressed a kiss to her temple. “Don’t sell yourself short.” He looked at Olivia. “An’ just how are we to know that it’s time to come in?”

  She grimaced. “I hadn’t quite worked that part out yet. As long as the place isn’t soundproofed, you should be able to hear the conversation. I could use some sort of code word or something.”

  “This isn’t a bloody spy movie,” Sully muttered. When she looked at him with eyebrows raised at his tone, he had the grace to look chagrined. “Sorry. But sitting here doing nothing drives me ’round the bloody bend.”

  “I hear you on that one.” Declan stood and stretched, then glanced at his wristwatch. “It’s been nearly forty-five minutes since you talked to Miles. He’ll be callin’ soon.”

  “Speaking of calling…” Sully pulled his phone off the holder on his belt. “Give me your mobile number, love, so I can put it in my contacts.”

  Olivia did as he asked, feeling sad that all too soon he’d probably wipe that number out of his contact list.

  The waiting became unbearable. She stood and began to pace, arms folded across her breasts.

  Declan gave a low growl. “Come on, come on.” He frowned. “Miles had best be callin’ soon, or I may have to give him an extra kick up the arse for the inconvenience.”

  Olivia couldn’t help but smile at the complete…Britishness of it all.

  “What?” Taite idly swung one foot back and forth.

  “Nothing. It’s just…everyone here is so British. I’m not used to it.”

  “Bite your tongue, lass.” Declan propped his hands on his hips. “Not everyone here is a Brit.”

  She pressed her lips together for a moment. “You’re right,” she agreed. She looked back at Taite and deliberately ignored that Declan had called attention to his own Irish heritage. “You’re an American, too.” When she glanced at Declan, she caught the roll of his eyes as he shook his head.

  Taite only grinned.

  “Back to the matter at hand,” Pelicia said softly. “What happens once Olivia has Zoe?” She glanced at Olivia with concern shadowing her blue eyes. “From the way you’ve described this Eddy, I doubt very much
he’s going to let the two of you out of his sight.”

  “I’ll try to at least get on the other side of the room from him.” Olivia gripped her fingers tightly together. God, this had to work. It had to. “That will give me a few seconds, anyway, before he can reach us.”

  “What about the others? If one of them is close to you, would he try to attack you when we barge in, or will they all try to protect the pack leader?” Sully moved closer to her. His eyes reflected his readiness for the upcoming battle.

  She considered that. “I really don’t know. It depends on who it is, I guess. They’ll take their lead from Eddy.” She shook her head. “If you can keep him talking…” She huffed a sigh. “He loves the sound of his own voice.”

  “I remember that about him.” Ryder grimaced. “Could that boy talk.”

  “And if he decides not to talk?” Sully asked.

  Olivia clicked her tongue in thought. “Aaron might see the attack as a way to remove the pack leader and take his place. Calvin might see it as a way to finally get revenge on Eddy. The other two”—she paused, biting her lower lip—“will do whatever he tells them to. So if he wants to use Zoe as leverage, he’ll tell them to grab her.” She drew in a breath and stared at them, feeling the aggression of the wolf burn in her eyes. “I will kill anyone who tries to take her from me or die trying, I promise you that.”

  Her cell phone rang just then, and she nearly dropped it trying to tug it out of her pocket. She flipped it open and brought it to her ear. “Hello.”

  Everyone in the room fell completely silent and sat forward, listening intently.

  “All right, we’re here.” Eddy sounded a little bored, which was never a good sign. “God, this place is…rustic. I don’t know how people live like this.”

  Olivia bit her tongue to keep from demanding directions. He was toying with her, trying to make her do or say something for which he could punish her.

  That punishment would be to withhold Zoe.

  “Some people like rustic, I guess,” she murmured, shooting a frustrated glance at Sully. He immediately went over and stood next to her. She reached down and took his hand, gripping his fingers as Eddy rattled on about the horrible service he’d received on the airplane, the long drive from the airport, and the run-down condition of the ranch his people had found. Finally, he said, “Although I am disappointed that you weren’t the one who killed Sullivan, I do have a way for you to redeem yourself. We’ll talk about it when you get here.”