Sweet Moon Dreams

by Rose Marie Wolf

  Anna sighed and patted Rose on the shoulder as she passed by her on her way to the door. “It’s a shame. Things like that should never happen…”

  Anna left the room without saying much else. She was shortly followed by Glen and Aidan, who had packed up most of the guns and toted them out of the room.

  Glen paused where Jason sat and handed him over one of the shiny black Berettas.

  “It’s fully loaded,” he said, and handed over an extra clip. He flashed a grin when Jason gave him a puzzled look.

  “I figured you needed something. Better to have it and not need it, than to not have it and need it,” he explained.

  “Thanks, man.” Jason placed the gun on the table before him.

  “Hey, don’t mention it. I just hope you use it to kick some ass if the need calls for it. ” Glen shrugged and helped Aidan with the rest of the heavy weapons.

  “Night, Rose, Gavin.” He nodded at them as he began to exit. Aidan propped the door open with one foot. Rose looked up at them.

  “Goodnight, Glen.” She gave him a small smile. He disappeared out the door.

  Soon, it was just Rose, Jason and Gavin who remained. The older man leaned back in his seat and folded his hands on the table. He shook his head a bit and looked very grim. His gaze was fixed on the table.

  Rose looked over at Jason. For some reason, though she wanted to leave and find the warmth of a nice bed, she lingered here. There was something that felt tense in the air. She didn’t want to leave it without knowing just why she felt that way.

  Jason stood and pulled out the chair for her. She opened her mouth to say something, to ask him a question, but Gavin had already broken the silence.

  “Jason Barnett…” His tone held a bit of wonder. He smiled as he leaned forward, examining Jason.

  Jason didn’t like it, and he showed his displeasure by giving Gavin a glare. Rose didn’t even get a chance to reprimand him for the look.

  “That’s my name.” he said callously.

  Gavin didn’t seem to give notice to the tone and continued. “I know. I don’t seem to recall ever having come across any files with your name in the PRDI’s system.”

  “No, I suppose you wouldn’t. I’m not listed in the PRDI’s system at all.”

  “Love…” Rose tried to step in. She knew this was about to steer into dangerous waters, and she didn’t want that to happen. Gavin interrupted her.

  “I see. Why is that?” Gavin smiled at him. The next words he spoke demonstrated his dislike for Gavin, this place and the Paranormal Research and Development Institute.

  “Like I told Rose before, I don’t like any place keeping tabs on our kind. It’s like painting a big red bull’s eye right in the middle of one’s forehead. And that is precisely the reason why I hate the PRDI. I didn’t even want to come here, and if it hadn’t been for Rose…” Jason trailed off. He stood just behind her chair, and his hands gripped it very tightly.

  “Love, please,” Rose tried again.

  “Oh, painting a bull’s eye? That’s how you see it?” Gavin laughed. Both men chose to ignore her pleas.

  “Jason, I’m afraid you don’t understand just what the PRDI is about. We are here to help others like us. We help to understand. We, in no way, act with hostility toward those we help. It would contradict our purpose. If you would allow us, we would gladly like to help you. Half-bloods are considered werewolves by PRDI standards.”

  His glare increased as he stared at Gavin “How did you know that?” he asked.

  Gavin chuckled softly and tapped the end of his nose. “Full-bloods can sniff out half-bloods. It’s something we are capable of. Sadly, though, half-bloods can’t smell other half-bloods. Something to do with a weak strand of the wolf gene.” There was a tone in Gavin’s voice Jason couldn’t quite place. Was it sarcasm?

  He let out a scoff.

  “Listen, I don’t fucking want a history lesson and I don’t fucking care if you know what I am. I’m just as much a werewolf as you or Rose or Glen. And thank you for the invitation, but I would rather not have that bull’s eye we talked about earlier being painted brightly on my forehead.”

  Jason paused a moment, then got back on track with what he wanted to point out. “Perhaps most of your members nowadays don’t act with hostility, but what about outsiders? What about in the older days? The PRDI doesn’t exactly have great security measures if someone were to break in. And what if all along it had been an inside job?”

  There was a moment of silence. Gavin appeared to be thinking heavily on something, as if he were taking Jason’s words to heart. Rose felt her nervousness of the situation deepen. She wanted to just get up and leave, but both men seemed too involved in their conversation now to back out now.

  Jason’s eyes blazed, nearing the deadly golden they so often took when he was upset. Rose held her breath. She lifted a hand to brush hair from her face and found that she was trembling.

  Gavin finally spoke, after the awkward silence. He had finally found the words he wished to say.

  “Due to some…recent events, the PRDI has started implementing security measurements, perimeter cameras and the like on every safe house still in use, and at the main building—”

  Jason was more than just a little caught off guard. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘recent events’?”

  It had struck Rose strange as well. She looked at Gavin and blinked a few times. Gavin heaved a great sigh.

  “It’s something we’ve been keeping quiet over the past year. Only the founders and heads of departments know of it. We didn’t want cause for concern to aggravate panic in everyone…”

  “Whoa, wait…what the hell’s been going on? What haven’t you been telling anyone?” Jason demanded. His eyes had now gone fully golden. He was glaring and he had lifted his voice a few decibels.

  Rose closed her eyes. She didn’t like where this was going, and it would be of no use for her to interrupt them yet again. They didn’t want to be interrupted.

  Gavin glared back, though his eyes were without the harsh golden stare of Jason. “If you will please let me finish…”

  “By all means,” Jason said between clenched teeth. He removed his hands from the back of the chair, and crossed his arms over his chest. An eyebrow lifted as he waited for Gavin’s answer.

  His response came in a quiet and frank manner.

  “A little more than a year ago, the PRDI began to have members on file disappear. Many were gone without trace, others were found dead…murdered.” He lifted one hand to stop Jason from interrupting. He wanted to finish what he was saying.

  “This trend had gone on before, in the past, but it was very scattered. Occasionally, a werewolf family would be targeted and the parents would end up dead. It’s this reason why many of those werewolves in adulthood now have grown up without parents. Murder was not always the case. Sometimes, there were accidents. Sometimes, people died of natural causes. We called it ‘The Bad Generation’.”

  “Do you have a point to this?” Jason interrupted. His nostrils flared as he fought to contain his anger.

  Gavin looked angrily at Jason, but did not say anything about being interrupted. He went on.

  “The thing is…these attacks started becoming more frequent. Two or three werewolves were found dead each month, and none by natural causes. Some had been made to look like accidents, but it was not the case. They had been killed, pure and simple. They were being targeted.”

  A soft gasp exited from Rose’s lips. She stared at Gavin in disbelief. Jason did likewise, but his disbelief was quickly overcome by his rage.

  “This was happening more than a year ago? And you weren’t doing shit about it?”

  Gavin closed his eyes to avoid Jason’s burning gaze.

  “Yes, we knew, but we saw no cause to alarm others. We were afraid it would set out a panic. We were afraid it would get out to the media, and, if you haven’t realized yet, the PRDI is undergoing a serious shortage of funds as of late. They want to close
us down—”

  “And they fucking should!” Jason exploded. He took several steps forward, so he was near Gavin’s chair. The man slid his seat back to compensate for the loss of distance between them. He stared at Jason with matching yellow eyes. He allowed Jason to continue.

  “You could’ve been warning people! You could’ve been telling them! You could’ve saved lives…but keeping your organization in business is more important than the people you try to help, apparently.”

  Tears streaked down Rose’s cheeks. She was frightened. She stood up as well. Her trembling hand rested on the back of her chair. She kept her distance from the angry men.

  “Please, Jason…” She spoke in a small timid voice. Jason did not hear her.

  “Jason, we were trying to help people without getting involved. We don’t jump into conflicts. We are here to resolve them.”

  “You seem to be doing a damn good job of it.” Jason answered sarcastically as he advanced a few more steps.

  “Stop it!” Rose shouted. Jason stopped where he was, and both men looked at her.

  “Please, both of you, stop fighting. It’s not worth it. Mistakes were made…things happen…”

  Jason took a deep breath, but he would not be calmed.

  “Rose, I’ve been telling you all along. The PRDI is not a safe place to be associated with. Anyone can have access to their files. Anyone could be sneaking in. Anyone can be behind this.”

  Then Gavin did something surprising. He agreed with him

  “He’s right, Rose.” His eyes had changed back from yellow to their normal green. “I’m sorry we—I mean, I—kept this from you …”

  “Kept what from me?” Rose sniffed back her tears. She was just as confused as Jason was at the moment. He stood his ground, and both waited for Gavin to go on.

  “With all the things that had been going on, we didn’t take it seriously…” Gavin received an angry snort from Jason at this comment, but he ignored him and continued. “But a few months ago…someone did break into the PRDI’s main building.”

  “I fucking knew it!” He stared at Gavin, coldly.

  “What happened?” she said in barely a whisper.

  “Whoever it was…they took several files, all targeted on werewolves.” Gavin paused, and lifted his eyes to stare into her eyes. “Yours was among them.”

  Rose felt like she did when Marcus had kicked her. She had lost the ability to breath. She gasped and felt suddenly weak in the knees. She was glad she had a hold of the table, so that she had support if she collapsed.

  Jason was silent for a moment. His eyes had never left Gavin.

  “What…did…you…say?” He spoke the words slowly, through clenched teeth. His jaw was tightened.

  Gavin had no need to repeat himself because Jason had heard perfectly well.

  “You knew this,” he growled, “and you didn’t think to warn us? To warn Rose?”

  Gavin stood up from his seat, but he did so slowly enough that he made no sudden movements to spark Jason to lunge at him. He appeared calm, but his hands shook as he ran them down the front of his neat suit.

  “At the moment, we had no idea it was a serious problem. The PRDI made mistakes and we learn from them.”

  “But not the right lessons.” Jason closed the distance between them, and now stood face to face with Gavin. The older man stared at him with very little fear in his eyes.

  Rose wanted to bolt for the door. She didn’t want to see what she was sure was about to happen here. More tears spilled from her.

  “What happened is done and over with. You are here now, and safe… I would be thankful for that if I were you…” Gavin said calmly.

  “When morning comes, we are out of here,” Jason said. His voice was low now. And it was dark, like Rose had heard earlier. It was even scarier now that Jason had the opportunity to use it to the fullest extent. “We are leaving as soon as possible. It was a mistake for me to bring us here.”

  “So be it…” Gavin replied. “Would you be so kind as to get out of my face now?”

  “Gladly. I’m sick of looking at you, and sick of this fucking place.”

  With that, Jason turned and grabbed the loaded gun and extra clip from the table. As he did so, his golden eyes fell upon the crying Rose. There was no compassion in his eyes, no resemblance of the man she had fallen in love with. He was something dark and something dangerous now, and if he wasn’t stopped…

  Rose shuddered to think what he would do.

  But he exited the room with flair. The wooden door behind him slammed hard enough so that the paintings and wall fixtures jarred with the force. His footfalls echoed as he stomped down the hall.

  Rose turned her teary eyes onto Gavin. His eyes were now apologetic.

  “I’m sorry that you had to endure that, Rose. If it’s any consolation, it was mostly my fault. I egged him on.”

  But she had no answer to give him. Instead, she nodded once and exited through the door. She barely saw where she was going through blurred eyes. The hall was empty. Jason had already disappeared.

  And Rose prayed he was not about to do what she feared. She raced down the hall, in vain hopes of finding him before it was too late…

  Chapter Nineteen

  The room had recently been renovated and it smelled of sawdust. No outside light penetrated through the thick curtains hanging over the huge windows. The sun had already set outside anyway, and the only light that could’ve even begun to seep into the room would be the yellow street lamp outside.

  But Jason was thankful for the darkness. In the darkness, he could be alone. In the darkness, he could expand his anger. In the darkness, he was safe.

  He remembered faintly a time when he was a child. The darkness had always been a comfort for him. His foster families had never truly wanted him, and kind words were never said to him. His solace had been found in the darkest hiding places in the house. A closet was a favorite choice.

  Jason was too old now for such childish things, but seated alone in the darkness, with the lights off and the curtains closed, he was comforted. His eyes always adjusted so easily to the darkness, and he could make out the shapes simply. However, he closed his eyes and allowed even more of the darkness to enclose around him. He breathed it in.

  His anger pulsed within. It was a deep-seated rage, rarely brought out and it was a dangerous part of him. He fought to control it…

  He was having much difficulty doing so.

  There was a small part of Jason that longed for this release. A part of him craved the tearing feeling his muscles would take on, the new and animalistic power that would race through him. He wanted the strength his wolfen side allowed him to borrow, even if for a brief time.

  He wanted so much to let the caged wolf free.

  But a rage shift was a dangerous and powerful shift. It was one hardly controlled because it was fueled by anger, by hate, and without thought. Sometimes, it was the human’s anger that caused it, but this time he knew it wasn’t the human. The wolf felt threatened.

  Silently, Jason tried to quell the angered wolf within by taking deep breaths, but soon, his breaths became harder and more labored. A pain had begun to form in his ribcage, and he wrapped his arms tightly around himself as he groaned.

  It was beginning.

  “No…” Jason choked out, as if the verbal command could stop it.

  It hurt him a lot. It was an unnatural pain, and unaccustomed to his body. Jason, for a moment, cursed the fact that it hurt. It had always caused him pain, and from what Rose had told him, that was normal for a half-blood.

  It took longer, and nearly paralyzed him. He cursed it. Jason’s concentration became totally and completely consumed in trying to stop the shift.

  He could not let it happen here and now. There were too many people around, and Jason knew that once it happened, he would not be able to control what he would do, or who he would hurt.

  And Rose could very likely be one of his targets.

  Wit
h the image of his mate in his mind, he continued to fight the desire to let the wolf take over him completely. Rose seemed to be the only thing quelling this monstrous change. He saw her smiling face, her brown hair falling across her moonlit shoulder. He could almost smell her warm scent as he tried to calm down.

  Jason remained where he was, crouched in one corner of the room, the farthest from the door he could get. He lowered his head. Loose strands of his hair fell into his eyes, and while he could not see a reflection of himself anywhere in the room, he was certain his eyes were golden, a sure sign of the change about to occur.

  He had never have imagined the PRDI could be so careless. He had known they kept records of all werewolves, and to him, it was a bad idea. But he hadn’t realized that attacks had occurred and nothing had been done.

  Nothing at all.

  And Rose’s file had been stolen. They hadn’t had the slightest inkling of a warning. No heads up of any kind…

  The hunters were following them all because of something the PRDI had failed to do.

  This is what had triggered so much anger within him. To think, the PRDI, the one place Rose felt safe and protected, was the cause of all their misery. It was contradictory. It was ironic.

  It was irritating.

  Jason hated the PRDI even more now, and he hated himself for bringing Rose here. He would stay true to his word. They would leave once the sun was up, and he would take his chances out there. The PRDI had “helped” them enough.

  His thoughts of the PRDI added more fuel to the fire, and Jason found it more difficult with each passing minute to hang on to any resemblance of humanity. His control was quickly waning. The wolf was taking over.

  Footsteps sounded outside the door and Jason, still hindered by the human form, leapt to his feet at the sound. He was quickly on guard and stared at the door. A very faint line shone at the crack beneath the door, and his wolfen gaze fixated on it for a long while.

  A shadow moved to pass, but stood there and blocked the light from filtering in. A low growl issued from his human throat. He stood in an attack stance, ready to spring at whoever it may be.