“What the hell,” Chrissie shouted.
From nowhere, she pulled out a gun. No one used weapons with bullets in them on the moon as everyone had sense enough to know, you don’t want to shoot a hole in the dome and damage the compression. However, in this structure, they were inside steel and concrete. Chrissie held the newer weapons that, from what he had heard, had rolled off production not two weeks earlier. What would his employer say to that obvious theft? Still, the laser was a joke for the werewolf, painful, but it wouldn’t slow them down.
His intended lover aimed at the nearest wolf. “Get out of here, guys. They look crazy and hungry.”
“Not without you, Chrissie,” one of the men called. He pulled a knife from his jacket and ran at the second wolf.
Idiot. Michael dropped back deeper into the shadows of another corridor and removed his clothes amid the shadows. Fighting in his human form wouldn’t work. When he was naked, he transformed, ignoring the popping of his bones, the aching in the contracting and releasing of every muscle. Hair sprouted at all points, and his teeth sharpened. The scents of the three werewolves, the men, and especially Chrissie filled his nostrils. The hunt was on. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he dug his claws into the floor beneath him. While he ran toward the fight, he caught the howls of pain from the man who had first run to a wolf with only a knife to defend himself. For a moment, the smell of blood distracted him, and he had a sudden urge to attack the man as well. But then Chrissie shouted and let off several laser rounds from her gun.
Michael swung in her direction in time to see the first wolf leap from the ground straight at her. Without a second thought, Michael went on the attack. He caught the other wolf in the side before it could pounce on Chrissie and sent it skidding over the slippery floor. Michael positioned himself between Chrissie and the wolf. The beast struggled to its feet while shaking its head. Infuriated that Michael had blocked its attack, it came at him instead, but Michael was ready. He ducked his head and shouldered the wolf hard until it hit the floor. Then, pinning it down, he bit into the thick fur at the neck.
“Oh, wow, I think that one is trying to protect me,” Chrissie shouted somewhere behind him. “Fuck!”
Michael picked up the sound of more shots just before pain ripped through his back. Damn, if she knew that he was on her side, why the hell was she shooting at him? But then he realized it wasn’t Chrissie but one of the other wolves. Two against one.
The second wolf sent Michael flying much like he had done the first, and then they were both on him. A swipe across his muzzle filled his mouth with blood. Michael shook more from his brow, which had begun to drip into his eyes. He rolled away from another bite, but the wolves were coming at him nonstop. They were too crazed. He’d never beat both at this point with their ragged minds reducing to nil any restraint they might have had. And if the third wolf finished with the human and turned to Michael, he was done for—and so was Chrissie. He had no choice but to fight harder and win.
Chapter Four
Tears filled Chrissie’s eyes as she saw how the two wolves tore at the other one, but she swiped them away. This was no time to cry like a weak woman. No matter how many times she had fired at them, they did nothing more than flinch and kept attacking. When her gun jammed from overheating, she tossed it away and tore up her pants leg to get at her knife above her left ankle. The one above the right followed, and she went at the wolves.
Before she could get to them, her protector bumped her away with what looked like a gentle thump but instead knocked her on her ass. One of her knives skittered away, and when she went after it, the third wolf looked up from the mess he had made of Joey. Her partner lay unmoving. Chrissie screamed and went at the wolf, but a growl from behind stopped her. She swung around. The beasts had changed positions. She couldn’t tell which wolf had been helping her. They all looked crazy and huge, bigger than she thought wolves would be.
Then it hit her, all late in the game. These were no regular wolves. These were werewolves. She’d heard like everyone else on Somana Two that a few were suspected of being here. That meant big trouble. The moon and werewolves. Her mind refused to do the math. Damn, this might be the end of her dream before it had even begun.
A snarl behind her made her spin around just in time for the wolf that had finished with Joey to launch onto her chest. Chrissie crashed to the floor, the breath leaving her in a whoosh. Her head smacked the linoleum, and try as she might, she couldn’t get her vision to clear. Darkness closed in around the edges of her sight, but she was a fighter, a survivor. Tightening her fists to force herself to hold onto consciousness, she realized she hadn’t dropped her other knife. One lay clenched in her palm.
With the wolf on her chest, Chrissie didn’t think twice about the consequences. She brought the knife up under the wolf and felt it plunge into his chest. He howled and so did Chrissie at what she’d done, at the gore, and the exhaustion. When the creature stilled on top of her, she used the last of her strength to push it off and lay there trying to catch her breath. Another snarl began nearby. She was done for now because she had no more energy to fight.
* * * *
Chrissie opened her eyes to almost total darkness. The only light came from a bulb several feet away that flickered off and on. She tried to move, but every muscle in her body ached. With a moan, she flipped over onto her stomach. The scent of blood filled her nostrils, and for a moment, she thought it was hers. With hands shaking with exhaustion, she searched over her body for evidence of a gash, but found none. And then the memory of what had happened came flooding back. The wolves. They had been attacked. Joey was dead, but what of the others? She struggled to sit up. Bodies lay around her, those who had been with her for years.
None of the wolves was there. They got what they wanted. Chrissie choked back a sob, and then she saw him, the man lying close behind her, a barrier between her and the corridor leading into another area, as if he protected her. What jarred her most was that he lay naked with a pile of clothing lying near him like he’d been about to dress just before he collapsed.
Chrissie didn’t recognize him with his head turned away from her, his wild hair covering the side of his face. She inched nearer. “Please don’t be dead. Hey, are you okay?” she called to him.
His chest rose and fell, and then he coughed and groaned. She pressed a hand to her mouth. The gash on his side and across his neck looked serious. She would need to get him to a doctor fast, or he would die. Ignoring the pain, she forced herself up to her knees and crawled over to him. She tried to get the shirt that lay next to him onto him, but she found it difficult to get his limbs to bend in the right direction. She frowned. The man was huge, his muscled arms cut to perfection and his chest expansive.
“Well, at least I can cover his, um . . .” She averted her eyes from looking lower. It had been too long since she had had a man, and this was not the time to lust over an injured guy’s cock. Besides, those wolves might come back at any time, and she wanted to be nowhere around when they did.
First, she piled his clothing on top of him and then used strips of cloth from the others to rig a harness to drag the injured man back to her transport. Making slow progress, she put one foot in front of the other and concentrated on getting there. The howl from somewhere in the darkness stopped her dead. With a dry swallow, she glanced back.
“Shit.” A narrow trail of blood led from the attack area to the man she pulled. “We’re not going to make it.”
The second howl was closer. Her heart thundered in her chest. The thought of leaving the man ran through her head, but she had never left a comrade behind, and she wouldn’t start now. She didn’t know this man, but he had come from somewhere to defend her.
She got a firmer grip on the harness and dug her booted feet into the floor. With the last of her reserves, she shifted into a run. Just maybe the wolves would be preoccupied with finishing off the bodies back there. She hated that happening to her colleagues, but it was too late f
or any of them.
“What are you doing?”
Chrissie stopped and looked down. Familiar smoky grey eyes looked up at her. “You!” She dropped the harness, making him hit his head on the floor. He winced. “Sorry,” she muttered. “What are you doing here?”
He held onto his side with one hand and sat up using the other for support. “I could ask you the same thing. In fact, I did ask what you’re doing right now.”
“Trying to save your sorry ass.” She put her hands on her hips. “I don’t know where you came from, but now that you’re awake, you can take care of yourself. If you keep up, you can ride in my transport. If not, well, I’m sorry.”
She turned to leave, but he popped up to his feet faster than a man in his position should have been able to do. He took hold of her arm. “Hold on. You won’t make it without me by your side.”
“The hell I won’t.” She tried to shake him off, without success.
While she tried to ignore the feelings that were coursing through her from his hand on her arm and the obvious erection he sported at this inopportune time, he looked back the way they came and sniffed the air. She blinked. Who was this guy, other than a nut with no shame?
He bent to slip into his clothing, in obvious pain. “They do not want to leave anyone alive to tell that they are here.”
She frowned. “Who doesn’t?”
“The werewolves.”
Her mouth went dry. “You can’t be serious. Not on the moon. They’re not allowed. The theory is that if a werewolf were to come here, they’d go crazy and kill—”
“Exactly.”
Chrissie shivered. She had dismissed her earlier theory that they were werewolves, not wanting to believe it, but with Michael confirming her suspicions, she had to accept the truth.
“They’re picking up my scent and holding back because of me, but I don’t know how long that will work. We need to go to your transport together, or trust me you will not make it there alive. Period.”
She didn’t move. “I killed one of them, stabbed him in the chest, but he wasn’t back there at the attack site.”
“He’s not dead. You wounded him, yes, but he’s not dead.”
Chrissie’s heart did a wild tattoo in her chest. Were they indestructible? “Anyway, why would they hold back because of you? Who are you?”
“You break my heart, beautiful. Tell me you haven’t forgotten my name. It’s Michael Hunter, remember?”
“I remember your name, but you know what I’m asking. Don’t play games. Why would those beasts hold back because of you?”
He didn’t answer right away, and she began to think back to the fight, remembering the wolf that fought against the others. Her eyes widened, and she backed away from him, searching for her weapon. Too late, she recalled that she had left it behind. “You’re one of them. You’re a werewolf. B-But why aren’t you crazed?” She gasped and touched her lips. “I let you kiss me.”
His eyes darkened, which made her even more terrified than she was learning he was one of the wild creatures that had killed her friends and was hunting her now. She wondered if he was just slowing her down to make sure the others got to her. Of course, that didn’t make sense being that he had risked his life to keep them from tearing her apart. Chancing a glance below his face, she stared in shock at his neck and chest, visible because he hadn’t buttoned his shirt. The gaping wounds that had looked nearly fatal earlier were smaller. The blood flow had stopped, and the fact that he wasn’t passed out, having lost so much blood, had her questioning for the second time whether he was immortal.
“You’re with them,” she shouted and turned to run.
Michael caught her around the waist and dragged her back against him. She shivered at the contact despite herself and fought down a desire to reach back to stroke his cock. She must be out of her mind to think something like that right now.
“I won’t hurt you. I promise.” His breathing labored, he panted in her ear. Chrissie realized while his wounds weren’t as bad, they were not closed. He must be in intense pain. “Don’t fight me, because I can’t expend energy on you and keep them off our backs. We need to move.”
“But . . .”
“Save your questions for when we’re zipping over the moon’s surface,” he commanded.
Chrissie decided not to argue. She wanted out of this place bad, and no matter what the man said who had hired her, she would never return. Her next several jobs would have to be lesser-paying ones until she made up for this one. Then again, she had to live through the next few minutes. Michael took her hand in his large one, and together they ran.
Michael’s long legs ate up the yards like they were nothing, and twice he had to haul Chrissie to her feet when she tumbled because of the pace. With no moments to spare, they rounded the final bend to spot her transporter with the air-lock compartment leading out of the facility. Not until they were settled inside the vehicle did Chrissie, with one eye on the control panel and one on the area around the ship, wonder how Michael had gotten here.
Once outside the facility, she brought the transport about and locked in the coordinates for Somana Two. “Shouldn’t you have a vehicle of your own? How did you get here?”
He sat back in his seat with his eyes closed, seeming to trust that she knew what she was doing. One of her men had piloted them to the site, but she had enough experience driving not to end up in a crater.
“Transport, same as you,” he said. “Mine was on the other side of the structure, to keep from alerting you that I was there.”
She gasped. “So someone sent you after us. Who?”
He still didn’t budge. “Not important.”
“It’s important to me, damn it. If someone is on to me and my people . . .” Sadness filled her heart. “On to me, I need to know about it.”
This time, he opened his eyes and stared into hers, which made her shift with discomfort in her seat. The man unsettled her, and not just because he was half-animal either, she hated to admit. His knowing gaze seemed to say he knew every thought that rattled through her confused mind. “I suggest you seek more honest work.”
“Go to hell. My work is none of your business.”
His hand snaked out to her from nowhere and wrapped around her wrist. Chrissie’s heart thumped hard in her chest. He ran a thumb over her cheek and caught her under the chin. Chrissie tried again to get away, but he wouldn’t let go. He drew her closer until his mouth was inches from hers.
“T-The transport,” she whispered.
“The course is locked in.”
She swallowed, struggling to get a grip on her emotions, her desires. Even if he was a beast and she was admittedly a bit afraid of him, her body went haywire with one touch from him. It was beginning to piss her off.
“Don’t,” she demanded.
He grinned. “Or what?”
She tried to turn her head, but he lowered his mouth and kissed her. Somehow he caught her tongue and sucked at the tip before drawing back. A shudder rocked her. She closed her eyes, dragging in a breath. “I don’t do your kind.”
Those words, it appeared, were a bucket of cold water to his desires. He released her and sat back in his chair, facing forward. She searched his expression for anger or any signs that he would attack, but his face remained blank. “I’ll give you a warning. Someone very powerful doesn’t appreciate what you’ve been up to back there. That person is also the unforgiving sort. If you’re not careful, you will end up like your friends.”
She slammed a fist on the panel beside her. “How dare you speak about them like they didn’t matter! It was your kind who did it, and I’m still not convinced you don’t know them or weren’t in with them. Maybe you brought them there to kill us, but you saved me because, for some insane reason, you want to sleep with me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he bit out. “I don’t know every werewolf just like you don’t know every human.” He looked her up and down. “And trust me, there are sexier women
I can have.”
“Asshole!” She raised a hand to smack him, but he caught her wrist and yanked her to him. Her breasts crushed against his unyielding chest, and it knocked the wind out of her. With her in a tight hold she couldn’t escape from, he ran a hand down to her thigh, forced her legs apart, and cupped her pussy. One squeeze had her panting and fighting back a moan.
“Let’s get something straight. You want me inside you so badly it hurts.” He pushed one finger in the right spot, and if her pants and panties weren’t blocking the way, he’d have slipped up inside her. She was soaking wet. He was right, although she wasn’t going to admit it. She wanted him badly.
Chapter Five
Michael kept his eyes on Somana Two as they neared the station. He had taken a huge risk touching Chrissie the way he had. The beast wanted to rip her clothes off and take what it had already claimed as its own, and all he had been doing was trying to make a point. She might call him a half-animal and cringe at the thought of him touching her, which pissed him off, but she couldn’t deny the attraction between them.
“It’s late,” he muttered when they stepped out of the transport in the old salvage docks. “I’ll see you home.”
She rolled her eyes. “What is this, the twenty-first century? I can see myself home, thanks. Besides, I grew up in this area. I’d be safer than you, northsider. Well, aside from that other thing, you being a werewolf.”
Michael thought he saw a slight grin on her face before it disappeared under the determination she seemed in the habit of displaying. He wanted to take her into his arms and let her know she didn’t have to fight so hard anymore. He was there to protect her. That would get him a knee in the nuts, or an attempt at such, he was sure. He chuckled.
Werewolf on Somana Two: Michael Page 3
