Moonlight

by Lisa Kessler

  I’d never felt it before, so the simplest solution was to decide it didn’t really exist. It can’t hurt you if it’s not real.

  But now I was staring at a man who had watched over me, and left me a photo and folded my clothes while I was running around the darkness as some kind of jungle cat. In fact, he could have called his buddies and probably killed me if he wanted to, but he didn’t. He helped me without asking for anything in return.

  I trembled at the thought. Hope was a terrifying emotion.

  He held his hand out to me, palm up. For a moment I only stared at his gesture, but finally I found myself placing my hand in his.

  The corner of Adam’s mouth quirked and threatened to weaken my knees. “Nothing complicated, all right? We’ll just start with breakfast.”

  He guided me to the door, and I did my best not to obsess over how good his warm hand felt at the back of my waist. Adam held the door open, overwhelming me with the delicious sweet scent of fresh donuts. My stomach growled in anticipation.

  We walked up to the glass case and I wandered to the other end, eyeing the apple fritters. Across the store, Adam opened the refrigerator case. “Thirsty?”

  “A bottle of water would be amazing.”

  A young man came out from the back and flashed me a dazzling white smile. “Can I help you?”

  I nodded, pointing at the glass. “I’ll take an apple fritter and a glazed twist.”

  He plucked my requests and met my eyes. “Anything else I can do for you?”

  Adam was suddenly right beside me, his arm wrapped around my waist, holding me close to his side. “I’d like some donuts too.”

  “Oh, sure.” Donut guy sized up Adam. “I didn’t know you were together.”

  Adam’s fingers splayed, singeing my skin right through my shirt, his voice carried a deep tone of warning. “We are.”

  “Sorry about that.” Donut guy hustled to box up the rest of the donuts and ring up our order. Adam paid and took the box and drinks in his free arm, keeping his other hand planted at the base of my spine.

  “Come again,” donut guy called from behind the counter.

  Adam answered with a glare over his shoulder. I hurried to my side of the Jeep, unsure whether I should be flattered or terrified. When Adam got in he put the water bottles and donuts on the backseat. He fired up Chaney’s engine, but before he could sink the gearshift into reverse, I caught his forearm.

  “What was that back there?”

  “Back where?”

  I rolled my eyes. “In the donut shop.”

  He shrugged and dropped the gearshift into reverse. “Just wanted that guy to back off a little.”

  I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat. His over-protective streak made my heart race. Trouble was I couldn’t decide if it was attraction…or fear.

  Chapter Four

  Adam

  I tried to downplay the surge of territorial instincts that swamped me in the donut shop, but Lana didn’t look like she was buying it. Maybe she shouldn’t. If the guy behind the counter hadn’t broken eye contact with her and dropped the innuendo in his voice, I wasn’t sure what might’ve happened.

  Until now, the wolf inside of me never took notice of the women I dated. But this went way beyond noticing. The second I saw how the asshole was ogling Lana, rational thought escaped and full-on wolf instinct kicked in. I’d always tended to fight first and think later, but this shook me. It felt different, menacing, and a little out of my control. I tamped down the frustrated growl that wanted to break free.

  “Where are we going?” Lana’s voice knocked me back to reality.

  Glancing over at her, I shrugged, trying to shake it off. “It’s a nice day. Want to eat at Lake Tahoe?”

  She shifted in her seat. Shit. I had scared her. “That’s okay. I’d rather get back to my car and get on the road before the guys in gray jumpsuits come back.”

  “You’re safer if you stay here.” My grip on Chaney’s wheel tightened as I struggled to calm the restless wolf inside of me. “Those guys after you were human. You’ve got skills you don’t even know about yet.”

  “This sounds totally insane, but how can you be so sure they weren’t…like me?”

  “Remember I caught your scent from outside?” I cut my eyes toward her for a moment, remembering the nasty kick she’d given me. “These guys reeked of Irish Spring and Zest, but nothing supernatural.” I focused back on the road. “I can keep you safe while you learn to protect yourself.”

  “I know how to protect myself just fine, thanks.” She hesitated, and I hoped she was going to give me this one. She took a deep breath and shook her head. “I can’t stay here.”

  I gave it one more try. “I’m not suggesting forever, but maybe a couple days?”

  Her eyes drifted over my way, and she raised a brow. “What about the Pack? Will you be able to keep me a secret from them?”

  I didn’t want to think about my Pack right now. “We’ll figure it out.”

  We zipped past a Lake Tahoe sign, and she tried to tame her hair, holding it behind her head. “How far is the lake from here?”

  “About an hour away now.”

  Her teeth caught her full lower lip, and I forced my eyes back onto the highway as blood rushed below my belt.

  She freed her hair and touched her pocket, probably checking for her pepper spray. Great.

  Finally she nodded. “All right, but just for the afternoon.”

  Everything about Lana distracted me. Her scent, her smile, her lips. I felt like an addict. She didn’t seem to have any idea how sexy she was, which made her even more attractive. She didn’t have to try to get my attention. She just had it.

  In spite of her race being an enemy of the Pack, the wolf inside of me staked his claim anyway, leaving me scrambling for a solution to this impossible problem. I was screwed. She couldn’t stay in Reno, and I couldn’t tell her why I wanted her to stay without sounding like a stalker. I’d had no idea how strong the instincts of the wolf inside me could be. It went beyond physical want, a need to have her nearby, to know she was safe.

  I had to figure out how to protect her from the men after her and from my own Pack. She was right. It was probably safer for her to leave town. But I couldn’t let her go. It’d be great if I could figure out how to live in the moment and enjoy today because I may not see her again tomorrow, but I flat-out couldn’t.

  A sarcastic chuckle slipped out of my mouth. I sold that same line of bullshit to women I dated many times. I never realized what a heap of crap it was until I tried to pitch it to myself. I was an asshole.

  And apparently fate had a sick sense of humor.

  “What’s so funny?”

  I glanced over at Lana. “Nothing.” She didn’t look convinced. I decided to change the subject.

  “So what do you do for a living?”

  “I’m a freelance writer.”

  Not what I expected. “What do you write?”

  “Anything really. My last article was for Women’s Day about going on day hikes with your children. You know, fresh air and exercise make for good bonding time with your kids. That kind of thing.”

  “Do you have kids?”

  “No!” She laughed and shook her head. “But I go hiking, and I’m a good writer. I can research, and thanks to pen names, no one needs to know I’m not a mom. Magazines pay pretty well for articles, and I can get paid electronically. No need for a local bank. Which works well since I’ve been…moving around a lot lately.”

  I pulled off the freeway and stopped at the light. “Do you write books, too?”

  “Not right now.” She ran her fingers back through her hair, pulling it away from her face. “I have to crank out plenty of articles to make enough money to live, so there isn’t any spare time right now for fiction that doesn’t pay. What about you?”

  “I’m a horse trainer.” I could feel her eyes on me and glanced over before taking the road toward the lake. “What?”

  “Reall
y?”

  “You sound surprised.”

  “You don’t wear a cowboy hat or boots.”

  I laughed. “The horses don’t actually give a shit about cowboy hats and boots, so neither do I. A comfortable pair of jeans and tennis shoes work fine for me. I save the Stetsons and boots for the horse shows.”

  “So you really get paid for riding horses?”

  “Yeah. I have a ranch a few miles outside of Reno. Do you ride?”

  “I always wanted to when I was little, but I moved around a lot.” She stared straight ahead again. “Not many ponies around.”

  “We’ll have to go for a ride sometime.”

  I left the offer on the table, although we’d probably never ride together. If anyone in the Pack found out a jaguar lived within our territory they would hunt it down. Lana would be in danger on the ranch.

  She was already in enough danger. I put her there by asking her to stay.

  But I couldn’t let her go.

  Fuck.

  I pulled into a parking spot on the north shore. Fewer campers over there. After shutting off the engine I turned to her. “Welcome to Lake Tahoe.”

  The sunlight sparkled on the deep blue surface of the lake as we walked along the water’s edge. A small, orange fishing boat floated out in the center of the water. A patient fisherman sat at the bow, toying with the line of his fishing pole, and all around us the breeze moaned through the pine trees.

  I reached for her hand and led her along a trail toward a granite boulder. Every time we touched the mate bond pulled at me, like I walked into a spider web and might never get free.

  “Lana?” I pointed up at the eight-foot-high boulder in front of us. “Can you jump up there?”

  “Jump?” She stared at the top. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Not at all.”

  She checked the rock again like it might have shrunk, then crossed her arms. “No one can possibly jump that high.”

  I leaned in and kissed her cheek. Her eyes grew wide and she blushed. I couldn’t resist the grin tugging at my lips. “Watch me.”

  Rolling my head to loosen up, I took a few steps back and gave the area a quick look-over. Other than the fisherman out on the lake, there didn’t appear to be anyone else around. I sprinted toward the rock and leapt into the air. Nothing felt better than pushing my body and feeling the power brewing inside. I landed at the top of the boulder and smiled down, daring her to follow.

  “Unbelievable. How did you do that?”

  “You can do it too.” I straightened and glanced at the lake. “You just don’t know it yet.”

  She shook her head. “No way.”

  “Last night you turned into a big, bad-ass jaguar. You can make a little eight-foot jump onto a rock.” Something drew my attention back toward the water again. There was a disturbance in the air—I could feel it but couldn’t pinpoint what it was. I looked back at Lana. “I told you I’d prove you have enhanced abilities.” I opened my hands, ready to catch her. “Let’s do this.”

  She walked a few paces back, bitching and moaning the whole way about how impossible it was and something about suing me if she broke her leg. Finally she ran, and the moment she let go, her natural abilities took over. Her strides were fluid. Her feet pounded the ground, legs pushing hard until she jumped.

  Lana landed in a crouched position right beside me. Gazing down at her footprints, I caught the pungent scent of adrenaline wafting off her.

  “That was amazing.”

  I nodded. “Just the beginning.”

  “I was always a tree climber, and I kicked ass in my college self-defense classes. I could flip guys twice my size, but I just thought I was stronger than I looked. I never tried jumping…” She looked over at the water. “I can’t believe this.”

  I caught her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Give it time.”

  We sat on top of the boulder, and I worked on helping her recognize scents with her eyes closed, relying on her atrophied shifter senses. Seeing the joy on her face and knowing I had something to do with it… It didn’t suck.

  A breeze brushed over us, and I closed my eyes, breathing in all the scents the air offered.

  “Can you tell who is out on the boat?”

  She took a deep breath. “I know it’s a man, and he’s probably older.”

  Fast learner. “And how do you know that?”

  “He’s wearing a thick layer of Old Spice aftershave. I don’t know anyone under fifty who splashes that on.”

  “Nice.” I nodded. “You’ve probably been doing this your whole life without realizing you had heightened abilities. Like a person who doesn’t realize they’re losing their twenty-twenty vision.” She glanced my way, and I added, “You know, you can’t tell your senses are any different because you’ve always lived with them. Until someone points out your abilities, you don’t realize they’re there.”

  She rolled her eyes and nudged my shoulder. “You’re just trying to make me believe I turned into a giant cat last night.”

  “Well, there is that.” Her eyes hypnotized me, and I had to touch her. Taste her. My fingers ran along her cheek and into her hair. Her breath warmed my lips as the wind shifted.

  I jerked back, instantly alert.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispered. Then she smelled it too.

  Blood.

  Forcing myself away from Lana, I leaned over the edge of the boulder. I didn’t see anyone below, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone there. Eyesight wasn’t my strongest asset. Being a werewolf, I relied on my heightened senses of hearing and smell more than my sight.

  A moan drifted up on the breeze and I froze.

  I looked back at Lana and whispered, “Wait here.”

  “No.” She got to her feet. “I’m going with you.”

  I shot her a back-off glare. “I don’t have time to fight with you.” My eyes narrowed, trying to find any movement below. “Stay here.”

  I didn’t wait for an answer. Leaping from the boulder, I managed a pseudo-silent landing. The scent of blood grew much stronger closer to the ground. My gut clenched in response. I prayed it wouldn’t grumble and reveal my location. Blood always made the wolf inside of me restless, with or without a full moon.

  After making my way through the bright yellow mustard plants and sagebrush, I finally found what I searched for.

  I rushed to Gabe’s side. Or what was left of it. Shit. What the hell happened to him? His entire right side was sliced up. I could see the white bone of his ribs in a couple of places, and his shirt was drenched in blood. My chest constricted. I needed to get him out of here. He couldn’t die. Not Gabe.

  He’d been my Pack mate and my friend my entire life. What was he even doing out here? The Pack was supposed to be patrolling the city last night.

  “Dammit,” I groaned, searching the area for his attacker.

  “Adam?” His voice sounded raspy and…wet. “That you?”

  “Yeah, I’m here, Gabe.”

  He lifted a shaky hand to clasp my forearm in the traditional greeting of the Pack. “Jaguar. Edge of town. Tell the Pack.” He coughed and blood trickled out the corner of his mouth. A cold chill shot down my spine. A jaguar did this. While I’d been tracking Lana I thought I caught the scent of another jaguar. And I didn’t warn them. I should have made the fucking call.

  This was my fault.

  I didn’t have time to think about it right now while Gabe bled out. I pushed the thoughts from my mind and did my best to focus on my friend. “You can tell them yourself. We’ve gotta get you out of here. Jason will sew you up.”

  He started to smile, then grimaced. His teeth were stained crimson. The scent of blood teased and disgusted me at the same time. Too much blood.

  “Give me your shirt,” a voice said from behind me. I looked up to find Lana holding out her hand. I never heard her coming. I should have. “Come on, Adam, we’ve got to stop the bleeding.”

  She knelt down beside me. Just having her close by
made it easier to breathe and think clearly.

  “We need your shirt,” she prodded again. “I did ride-alongs with EMTs for a couple of articles a few months back.”

  I yanked it over my head and handed it to Lana. She wadded the fabric into a compress and pressed it against Gabe’s side, making him groan in pain.

  Until he caught her scent.

  Gabe’s eyes popped open wide, and he pointed at her with his other hand. “She’s a—”

  “It’s okay, Gabe.” I tried to calm him, but he shook his head, struggling. “Gabe, this is Lana. She’s trying to help you.”

  He caught her wrist, trying to pull her hand free, and shifted to turn away but the movement made him cry out in pain.

  I reached for his shoulder. “You need to stay still.” His arms collapsed, and he turned his head, coughing up blood and clots of tissue. “Gabe, no!”

  A final breath gurgled out of his mouth, and his eyes closed. I shook my head, praying he’d breathe again, but he didn’t make a sound.

  Gabe was gone.

  “Oh my God.” Lana shook my shoulder. “Call nine-one-one. Adam, he needs an ambulance.”

  I shook my head.

  “What?” She stared at me like I was nuts. She might be right. One of my closest friends just died because of a Jaguar attack. An attack that could have been avoided if I had followed through and done my part to keep the Pack safe. There had to be a second jaguar. A jaguar I should have been tracking. Fuck.

  Instead of eliminating the danger to my Pack, I’d been tailing Lana, and while one of my best friends bled out, I’d been leaning in for a kiss. My chest tightened.

  She yanked her cell phone from her pocket and flipped it open.

  “I said, no!”

  Her eyes narrowed. “He’s dying, Adam. We’ve got to call for help.”

  “He’s already gone.” I closed my eyes, composing myself before looking over at her. “If we call nine-one-one they’ll want to perform an autopsy. They’ll find out he’s not entirely human. We can’t risk having our race exposed like that, remember?”

  I watched her mulling it over. Tears filled her eyes, and she nodded slowly. She took a deep breath and pocketed her cell phone. “So, what do we do with…”