Moonlit Rescue

by Leigh Erikson

  His voice became low, rough and jagged. “My influence is so powerful over you that I could get you to do anything with me, including mate with me if I wanted.”

  At the thought of making love to him, her insides flooded with need. Her mouth watered, preparing itself for his lips to meld with hers.

  Suddenly, he turned and let go of her.

  She fell to the floor. With the trance broken, her desire faded as reality cleared her mind.

  “They’ll kill you the first chance they get and I couldn’t let that happen.” He stood above her.

  “Why would you care what happens to me as long as your pack is safe?” She crouched down, needing time to process everything. Belief without facts went against her nature. He wanted to kill her and take her property, leaving her with nothing.

  “I have chosen you to be my mate.” His answer was final and laced with possession.

  Mate? He chose her to be his mate? Shouldn’t she have a say in the matter? Curling her lip over her teeth, she bit down, pausing as she tried to come up with something rational to say. “You don’t even know me.”

  “I know much more than you think.” His voice softened. “We are meant to be together.”

  Either he was trying to distract her with more nonsense or he was even crazier than she thought, but insanity or not, no one would claim her. Her lips parted. She needed answers, but didn’t know which questions to ask, and it didn’t matter. She had to get away. She focused on the door and tensed, letting her energy build. She would run no matter what it took.

  “Don’t move.” As if he sensed what she was planning, he jumped in her escape path, holding both his arms out.

  “Don’t tell me what to do.” With her first option closed, she scrambled to get up on her feet as she turned the situation over and over in her mind like a stone in a tumbler.

  He sniffed at the air, and without warning, picked her up.

  “Let me go!” She wouldn’t allow him to take her anywhere else. She pushed against him, trying to kick or hit him with no success.

  “Learn to trust me.” He went to the bathroom and deposited her into the cold, empty tub.

  She tried to stand and slipped against the sides. “Trust is earned, not taken.”

  “Stay there if you want to live.” He turned and left, slamming the door behind him.

  She forced herself up and got out of the tub. She wouldn’t trust him, she wouldn’t listen and she’d never be his mate.

  ****

  Vale pressed his back to the bathroom door. A member of his pack had come for them. The stench of one of the many nameless scouts, those bred and trained to kill and fight to the death, permeated the room long before its arrival. Their odor was stronger than any other of his kind.

  He crouched down, flexing his muscles, waiting. Kira needed to stay in the bathroom, but his instincts told him she would fight. He’d come to save her, make her his own, and, for the first time in his life, he couldn’t be second best. His savvy little scientist had no clue what she’d started when she unearthed the rock sample from below.

  He sensed his enemy outside the door, and knew it came alone. It would be too risky for more than one of them to be out in the daylight before the full moon. Vale’s strategy—act first. Once certain of his next move, he ran across the room, threw the door open, and dragged the huge form inside.

  The hood covering the scout’s head fell back, revealing his wolf-like appearance. He growled at Vale, his fangs glowing through his silvery fur, his four large paws planting themselves in the carpet. Without wasting any time, he leapt toward Vale with the full weight of his fury.

  Vale held his arms up to shield himself when sharp claws dug into his forearm. He yelled, using the searing pain to gain enough strength to punch the animal in his long snout. The creature fell against a table, crushing it to pieces.

  “Traitor.” The scout’s primitive speech betrayed his low rank in the pack. He rose, launching himself at Vale’s neck with his fangs at the ready.

  Vale jumped free of the attack, causing the animal to miss his mark and hit the far wall. “None of you will ever get near her!”

  “She is dead already.” The creature struggled to get up and stumbled.

  “No, you are!” Vale lunged for the intruder, pinning him on his back. He dug his knee into his enemy’s exposed underbelly, and wrapped his arms around his neck. The scout howled as Vale twisted its neck until it snapped, cutting off the sound.

  He dropped the beast’s body to the floor. Some rescuer he turned out to be. They were found in less than twenty-four hours. This was why he wasn’t a leader. More from his pack were on the way. For the first time, he doubted his plan. Had he put Kira directly in the path of her own death?

  ****

  Kira never acted on instinct. Her instincts couldn’t be trusted. In fact, trust couldn’t be trusted. Instinct and trust made her believe in people, jobs, life, and over the years these slipped away like a leaf floating down a river. In the end, it became easier to listen only to logic.

  She believed when her parents left for a vacation, promising presents and pictures, that they would return. Instead, she received a phone call about a fatal accident. She believed her boyfriend and her best friend were loyal to her. Instead, they had each other and she was the odd one out. She believed her work would be her sanctuary, but rather than a refuge, it was a battlefield where coworkers had done everything to take credit for what wasn’t theirs.

  Somehow her intuition was off. However, even with her mind begging her to act, for once she listened to her instinct and stayed in the bathroom, obeying her captor’s demands.

  Right when it mattered most, her instinct finally paid off. She heard the low rasp of something other than Vale growl that she was already dead followed by Vale’s threat. On weak legs, she returned to the tub and crouched in the corner, the sounds of bodies crashing together shaking the walls.

  There was a low, horrifying howl followed by nothing but the blabbing television that continued to play, and the swooshing of her blood cells through the veins in her ears.

  At last, her mind won over her instinct, and she left her hiding spot.

  She held the doorknob and waited. Unless every monster out there had magically disappeared, she would open the door to find either her self-proclaimed savior or a killer waiting for her.

  Vale stood with blood dripping down his arm hunched over a large wolf-like creature. The animal lay lifeless with its head cocked oddly to one side and tongue hanging out of its mouth. Instinct and intellect reminded her how Vale had told her to believe him.

  “Vale!” She screamed his name and ran toward safety, toward Vale. She collided with him and clenched her teeth at how easy it was to go to him.

  “It’s all right.” He rubbed her back.

  She leaned into him, almost embracing him. It had been a lifetime since she truly touched someone, but she caught herself and stepped back. This wasn’t right.

  “I’m here. Nothing will harm you.” He pulled her close again.

  “You’re hurt.” Three long gashes trailed down his forearm, deep enough for the blood to pool in them. She needed to focus, but his hard body against hers and his warm, large arms holding her, made her want to sink into him rather than plan her next strategy.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

  “Please, we need to take care of that.”

  “You need to see something first.” He turned her toward the dead animal splayed on the floor.

  Worry had taken over her life. Any answers she received only created more questions. “Vale, what is that?”

  “It’s a scout from my pack sent to find us,” he said as if he were telling her the weather. “I want you to watch this.”

  Though the door and windows were closed, a slight wind blew throughout the room and Vale turned her. She kept her hold on him and watched as the carcass dried out and transformed into a pile of dust. The air stilled, leaving only the clothing intact. “Oh,
my God.” She spun back to Vale, giving in for one moment and hiding her face against his chest. Her mind witnessed everything, the animal, the danger, the story. They were all too real.

  “I should have planned better. We must leave.”

  “I can’t just leave with you.” None of this made any sense. The world was out of order. This had to be trap, or was it? Everything he said seemed true, but nothing was ever how it appeared. She needed time to think.

  “You must.”

  Silver sparkled on the table at the far end of the small room. “Take the element back to your pack then we can stop this. They won’t want to kill me if I don’t have anything.”

  “They will still want you, and I want you alive.”

  She needed to try another way. “Let me see your arm.” His injury bought her time.

  “I’ll be fine,” he repeated.

  She examined the long, crooked cuts. “This needs stitches.” Stitches would mean a hospital, a public place and protection beyond one lone, half-wolf.

  “I promise I’ll be fine.” He held her at arms length.

  “We need to stop the bleeding.” She grazed his arm with her fingertips and the wounds began to heal. First, the blood stopped and dried up and then the skin on either side of the gash fused together. She held her breath as the skin smoothed out and blended into the rest of his skin as if nothing had happened. “Unbelievable.” No schooling, nothing, could have prepared her for anything like this.

  “You have a healing touch.” He hid a small chuckle with a cough.

  “That’s impossible.” Visions of the hospital dashed away. She pressed her hand to her forehead, formulating her next move. “I suppose we have to be thankful you’re all right.”

  “I would have thought you would want me dead.”

  “That’s not true.” After all, the silver man had risked his life for hers. She didn’t want him harmed. All she wanted was her freedom. She took a moment to study him. His features could have been carved from stone

  “It’s a little true.”

  She went to shake her head, but stopped at the way he simply stared at her. She licked her lips. “I don’t want you dead.”

  “That’s good to know.” He kept his eyes on hers and then blinked. “You need to change. I brought some of your clothes with me.”

  “Oh.” She glanced down at her filmy nightgown meant for a warm summer night, and back up to Vale.

  Vale looked her over, inspecting her like a prized jewel, his gaze stopping at her breasts.

  She pulled the nightgown away from her body, feeling undressed by the wicked twinkle in his eye. Still, that distinctive tingle when a man noticed her landed in her belly, and she swallowed to get rid of it. “You can’t take me.”

  He bent down close to her face. “Trust me.”

  For one second she swore he was going to kiss her, and she stiffened. She didn’t think she was still under his spell, but she didn’t stop him.

  “Now you must change.” He straightened up.

  She didn’t move, only stood there, mesmerized by his grandeur and silver skin.

  “Kira! Go change, more will be here soon. We have to hide until the full moon.” He waved his hand in front of her face. “Kira!”

  His yell cut through her mind like sharp silver shears. “The moon?”

  “It’s when I transform.” He strode across the room and thrust her clothes into her arms.

  “Right, transform.” She brushed her hair away from her face. Werewolves changed forms...of course they did.

  He motioned her away. “We have to go.”

  Void of any other options, she hurried back to the bathroom to change.

  ****

  Outside, the telltale, midnight blue sky showed Kira only a few hours remained before sunrise. A light breeze cleared her chest of the musty motel room air, and she wished it could just as easily clear her mind.

  Vale held her arm and pulled her close as he guided her through the motel parking lot to a late model sedan. No matter what she had seen tonight, or how he made her feel, she needed to escape.

  She stopped suddenly and held her ground. Letting him take her would mean surrendering her control. Despite the dangers she’d seen, and what he’d told her, she had to believe that his pack only wanted the rock, and if she surrendered it, she would be safe. She would not go with him, anywhere.

  “Kira, we have to leave.” He gave her a light tug.

  “Where are we going? Why can’t you just give them the element?” She straightened up, holding herself steady to mask her trembling.

  “Because you know about us. You are a threat with or without it and you’re mine. I will keep you safe. They won’t stop hunting until they find us.” He opened the car door. “I am taking you where I should have gone in the first place.” He opened the car door.

  “You know, if we have these monsters chasing after us, maybe we should go to the police.” She pushed his hand away, liberating her arm.

  “The police can’t help, trust me.”

  “You should have given me a heads up. There are things I need. I have a life here.” Maybe reasoning would work, although, with the urgency burning in his eyes, she doubted it.

  “We will buy you anything you need or want once we’re safe.” He reached for her. “I took all I could.”

  “No.” She stepped back, vying for more time. “My rock collection.” As the words left her mouth, she wanted them back. She wasn’t asking for family mementos, only her lifetime of stones and fragments. “I need my collection.”

  “We’ll start anew.” He captured her hand and pressed something warm and hard into her palm. “Start with this.”

  She curled her fingers around the solid rock, allowing the jagged corners to dig into her skin. He’d given it back. Vale had returned her treasure.

  His gaze caught hers. “I promise you’ll have everything. I’ll always provide for you.”

  He made everything too easy. She needed to escape, and spied her opportunity in the form of the motel office. If reasoning wouldn’t work, maybe the fact that he wanted her would. “I didn’t think there were any men out there who wanted to provide for women anymore.” She slipped her rock into her pocket and placed her palm on the center of his chest.

  “I’m not just a man.” He glanced down at her hand.

  “I can see that.” She peeked at him through her eyelashes, hating the way her stomach fluttered with his heart beating under her touch. Although different, he was handsome, or maybe she’d find any man who displayed such chivalry attractive. She raised her voice, mimicking a damsel in distress. “You went to so much trouble to keep me safe.”

  “Always.” He swallowed.

  Using Vale for leverage, she stood on her tiptoes. “You deserve something.” She went to join their lips, figuring she would catch him off guard enough to push him away.

  Before she kissed him, or pretended to, Vale turned his face, took her by the waist and shoved her into the car.

  “Excuse me?” She thrust her hand out to stop him from closing it. He was the one who claimed he wanted a mate. He should be panting for more.

  “Never touch me unless you mean it,” he growled through gritted teeth.

  “Vale!” This time she reached for him, not sure what she was reaching for.

  “If you run, I will catch you, and you won’t like the consequences.” He pushed her hand inside and slammed the door.

  With no doubt he would make good on his threat, she watched him shake his head as he stomped around the car and got in, forcing the key in the ignition. He thrust the transmission into gear, and her body hit the back of the seat as he sped away, leaving her struggling to get her seatbelt on.

  An hour later, neither had spoken a word. With plenty of time to process her situation, her mind couldn’t focus. She squeezed the bridge of her nose hoping to prevent a headache.

  The heat in her cheeks refused to dissipate as her mind replayed the stupid tactic and embarrassing display
she had performed for Vale after he had risked his life to save her. She loathed women like the one she’d tried to emulate. She pressed her forehead against the window, knowing she shouldn’t have lowered herself to that level.

  He didn’t glance in her direction during the entire drive. The steering wheel was his outlet, and he clutched the plastic as if he were trying to choke it and leave it for dead. They headed along a winding two-lane road up into the mountains, and, after miles upon miles, he jerked the car to a stop.

  “We’re here.” With no additional fanfare, he exited the car.

  The morning sun peeked through the mountain ridge, highlighting a little stone and log cabin hidden between regal pine trees.

  He opened her door for her. “Come.”

  She stepped out, planting her feet in the gravel driveway and giving the area a quick scan, trying to assess her options. Vale cut off her line of thinking when he picked her up. “What are you doing? Put me down.”

  “I’m exhausted and spent from protecting you, I need to rest. I don’t have enough energy to chase you around.” He slung her over his shoulder and trudged to the cabin.

  He may be able to steal her away, take her off to nowhere, but there was no way she would allow him to force her to do anything else. She shut her eyes, centering herself as they entered. Suddenly, he dropped her.

  “No!” She flinched, expecting to hit a hard surface, but instead, she bounced on a cushion.

  “Be quiet.” His tone was flat, tired and lacking emotion.

  She opened her eyes to find she was on a small four-poster bed, complete with a quilt, fluffy pillows and a crocheted afghan.

  The bed dipped when Vale got in next to her and took her into his arms.

  “Vale.” She balled her fist, preparing herself to fight. She would not be his mate.

  “Go to sleep, and no, I don’t need a good night kiss.”

  “We can’t sleep like this,” she whispered and pushed on his arm, noticing his soft skin, a complete contrast to his appearance.

  “I have given up everything to save you, and while we sleep you will be in my arms where I can ensure you will stay alive. Now, be quiet.” With a slight shake of his head, he exhaled and closed his eyes.