Desires of a Full Moon

by Jodi Vaughn

  “Fuck the orders.” Jayden murmured as he stalked right up and pulled the guy’s hand off Haley.

  “Get your fucking hands off my girl.” Jayden stepped in front of Haley, hands fisted ready to fight.

  The guy’s eyes widened as he took in Jayden’s large size. Werewolves were bigger and more muscular than normal humans. As much as he liked intimidating humans, he much preferred the feel of bone cracking under his fists.

  “Sorry, man. I didn’t know she was dating anyone.” The guy held up his hands as he backed away with the rest of his friends.

  Keep it moving, motherfuckers. Jayden growled behind clenched teeth, restraining the wolf within.

  Jayden watched the group of guys head to the safety of their cars before turning to face Haley.

  She was nowhere in sight.

  “Fuck.” He hurried up the steps into the building she’d just left and peeked into every classroom. He couldn’t find her anywhere.

  According to his notes, the only other place she ever went was her dorm. When he researched Haley and which dorm she stayed in he had been surprised to discover it was coed. Since she’d transferred in midsemester, she didn’t get a choice in dorms. He jogged over to her building, ignoring the appreciative stares and smiles from the silly college girls he’d passed.

  He entered the dormitory hall, and a sense of déjà vu washed over him. He had blown it in college. What did he expect when he partied all the time, skipped classes and chased too many girls? He’d been young and dumb and had been more concerned with getting into girls’ panties than getting a college education. He still remembered the day he was called into the dean’s office and kicked out. The worst part was going home to face Granny. The look of disappointment on her face about killed him.

  Not getting a college degree was one of his regrets in life. If he could go back and do things differently he would have studied harder, maybe gone into computer programming. He was good at the tech stuff.

  Ignoring the flirty looks from the girls he passed in the hall, he continued on until he found Haley’s room. He took a deep breath and knocked. He had probably scared her half to death when he got all aggressive with those guys. He couldn’t blame her.

  She cracked the door. She stared back at him between her locks of blonde hair shielding half her face. He nodded, impressed that she didn’t just throw open the door without knowing who was on the other side.

  “Jayden, what are you doing here?” She looked only slightly less scared than when the college guy grabbed her.

  Fucking perfect.

  “Haley, we need to talk.” Jayden lowered his voice and looked both ways down the hall. With the exception of two girls heading for their rooms, it was virtually empty.

  He glanced back at her, wondering how long she was going to keep him standing out in the hall like an idiot.

  “Barrett sent me.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “I’m here to help.”

  Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second and then she closed the door. The chain rattled before the door swung open. She stepped back, allowing him entrance.

  He hesitated. “We could go to the coffee shop and talk. We don’t have to do this here.” Being in her room was way too intimate. He didn’t want to make her anymore uncomfortable than she already was.

  Haley shook her head fervently. “No. I’d rather talk here. Come on in.”

  He stepped inside, filling the tiny room with his large frame. There were two twin beds, each with its own nightstand and desk, all university standard furniture. One side of the room was decorated with posters of rock bands and half naked men and the bed decorated with a bright pink and black comforter. The other half, Haley’s side, was neatly decorated, with a couple of abstract paintings on the wall and a solid taupe comforter with a dozen brightly colored pillows all in various shades of blue and green.

  They might be roommates, but they had totally different personalities.

  #

  Haley sat down on her bed watching Jayden glance around the room as he shoved his hands in his jean pockets. She smoothed her coverlet with her fingers, hoping he wouldn’t see the slight tremble. The incident outside had shaken her more than she wanted him to know.

  “My roommate, Dana, shouldn’t be back for a while. She still has class for the next few hours. I’m assuming, since you just blew your cover, you suspect that guy you just confronted is the one that has been sending me all those letters.” Haley wrapped her arms around her chest.

  “No, I blew my cover because he had his hands on you.” Jayden glanced away and ran his fingers through his blonde hair. It was longer than what she remembered in Louisiana, a couple inches past his shoulders. But his eyes, boy oh boy, his blue eyes were exactly the same, like the Mediterranean Sea.

  And right now those blue eyes were aimed right at her.

  “You want to tell me what’s going on?” He narrowed his gaze.

  “You know as much as I do, assuming Barrett told filled you in on everything.” She shrugged and glanced away. He was acting like this was her fault, her doing. Like she was asking for this.

  Jayden shook his head and his frown deepened. “I’m talking about how you manage to let someone else control your life.”

  Haley’s mouth dropped open. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about how the only time you leave this room is to go to class. You don’t hang out with your friends, or go to bars, or even go to any games. Hell, you don’t even eat in the cafeteria.”Haley shook her head, a spark of anger starting to burn deep within her chest. “I can’t do any of those things. How do I know he won’t be there, watching me, waiting for me?” Did he not understand anything?

  “I understand that you’re scared…”

  “Do you, Jayden? Do you know what it’s like to be disowned by your family, to have no one you can talk to? Not even your roommate? Because if you tell your roommate then you might be putting her in danger too? Do you know what it’s like to have your life turned upside down? To not be able to sleep at night, constantly worried that if he is close enough to put note on my door, then he is close enough to get into my room?” Her voice started to build with each pointed question fired at him. She stood and stepped into his personal space.

  “Do you know what it’s like to finally tell someone, which happened to be Barrett who isn’t exactly Mr. Warm and Fuzzy, about some psycho who won’t stop messing with your mind?” Haley gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth. She’d said way too much. Her knees buckled as she sunk down on her bed.

  “You are absolutely right. I don’t know.” Jayden eased down on Dana’s bed across from her. He probably thought she was bat shit crazy.

  She didn’t blame him. Lately she’d felt crazy.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Jayden scowled as he gazed down on the floor.

  “You didn’t scare me.” She’d never been frightened of Jayden.

  He looked up at her. “Why did you go back to your dorm? Why didn’t you just go on to your other classes?”

  Haley shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I was shocked to see you. When Barrett said he was sending someone to watch me I thought it would be someone I didn’t know.”

  “So you didn’t think I was the stalker?” Jayden cut his gaze at her.

  Haley snorted. “Ah, no. It was perfectly clear when I saw you at your grandmother’s house you couldn’t get away from me fast enough. Stalkers tend to want to be near their victims.”

  Jayden stared at her for so long that she had to look away. She stood and walked over to her desk and snatched up her phone. “Look, nothing has happened since I got back. Maybe I was making a big deal out of nothing. I can call Barrett and tell him that I don’t need anyone.”

  He stood and grabbed her phone out of her hand. “Don’t call him. It’s only been a few days.” He set her phone down on the desk. “What time do you usually get the notes?”

  “I usually find them on my door when I get back from cla
ss.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why?”

  “So you’ve never had one delivered when you were here in the room?”

  She shook her head. “No, never. Why are you looking at me like that? What’s wrong?”

  #

  Jayden tensed, his senses going wild. The back of his neck crawled and he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. He tried the window making sure it was locked. He looked out. The shrubbery was so dense it would make it impossible for someone to even get near the window.

  “What’s wrong? What is it?” Haley came up beside him, her gaze darting nervously out the window and then back at him. He could smell her fear filling the tiny room.

  He pressed his finger to her lips, alerting her to be quiet. She silently nodded. He eased to the door and carefully unhooked the chain. Gripping the knob, he flung open the door.

  A white envelope that had been wedged into the door, fluttered to the floor. He glanced down the hall. The hallway was empty except for a lone guy wearing a bathrobe and flip flops on making his way down the hall.

  “Stay in this room!” Jayden called out over his shoulder before he ran down the hallway. He tackled the half-naked guy to the linoleum floor. The guy landed with a thunk.

  “Hey man! What the fuck!”

  “Did you put that note on Haley Guthrie’s door?” Jayden pulled the guy up from the floor and slammed him against the wall. Pinning him to the wall with his hand to his sternum, Jayden glared at the guy, watching for any hint of a lie.

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about, dude.” The guy’s eyes widened in fear as he struggled to get away.

  “Did you see anyone else in the hall?” He leaned in and lowered his voice.

  “No! I just got out of the shower, man. I swear!” The guy flailed in the air, trying to get his feet to touch the ground.

  Jayden knew from the male’s scent that the guy was telling the truth. Whoever had left that envelope must have hauled ass before anyone could see him.

  Jayden took a step back and let the guy slide down the wall. He landed on his feet but his robe gaped open. He must have scared the guy pretty good because he definitely had some major shrinkage going on down there.

  Jayden shook his head and walked back to Haley’s door. Scooping up the letter with the corner of his T-shirt, he knocked on the door. “Haley open up. It’s me.”

  The door swung open and he was met with her wide-eyed gaze. Jayden ushered her back inside the safety of the room.

  “Do you have a plastic bag?”

  She nodded and went over to a trunk at the foot of her bed. She rummaged through the contents before handing him a clear plastic sandwich bag.

  Jayden retrieved the knife from his boot and slit the top of the envelope. He knew he should have left the damn thing alone until Barrett could check it for prints. But he needed to know what it said. He had to.

  Haley stepped closer, trying to look around him. Her firm breasts pressed into his back, and sent his blood humming. He closed his eyes and struggled to breathe.

  “I need to look at it first okay?” Jayden hoped she would back up. Anger and arousal bombarded him like he was in a fucking war zone. He was mad as hell that he hadn’t heard the stalker leave the note. He was frustrated that he had managed to blow his cover. And he was confused and so fucking hard at being near Haley it made him sick to his stomach.

  When she stepped away, he drew an easy breath.

  Touching only the edges of the folded notebook paper, he opened it

  ‘You shouldn’t have let that man into your room. You should have told him that you belong to me. In life and death, Haley.’

  A growl slipped past his lips as possessive lust filled every cell of his body.

  “What is it? What does it say?” Haley grabbed his arm and made him face her.

  “Get your stuff. You’re not staying here.”

  #

  Haley sat in the front seat of Jayden’s black Mustang, watching as he stuffed all her meager belongings into the trunk of the car. Whatever was in that letter had put Jayden on edge.

  “It must be something bad. Something really, really bad.”

  She had let her dorm ambassador know she was moving out and left a note for Dana as well.

  She shot Jayden a look as he slid into the driver’s seat with a sexy ease. His blond hair brushed his shoulders as he reached to turn the key in the ignition. He looked sexy without even trying.

  “So I guess I’m dropping out of college?” Perfect. Her life was now officially over. She had no family and now no way to support herself.

  “Nope. You’re still going to classes. You’re just not going to live in the dorm anymore.”

  “Dana’s going to be mad that I didn’t explain in person.” Haley looked out her window and bit her lip. Dana was her first and only friend that she made when she transferred to Arkansas. She was lucky that Dana happened to be wolf like her.

  “No, she won’t. I added that you left because we have been secretly dating and decided to move in together, since I moved to Fayetteville.” He pulled his car onto the street. The muscle car roared down the street as he increased the speed.

  Haley jerked her head towards him. “You did what?”

  “Stop looking at me like that. Girls date older guys all the time. How old are you anyway?”

  When she didn’t say anything, he shook his head. “Okay fine, I’ll go first. I’m thirty.”

  “Really? I didn’t think you were that old.” He looked like a college student himself.

  “Stop avoiding the question. How old are you, Haley?” He shot her a glare.

  “Twenty-four. I would have already graduated from college if I didn’t change my major two years ago.”

  Jayden nodded thoughtfully.

  “My parents got married when my mom was only sixteen and my dad was thirty.” Werewolves looked at age differently than humans. Once you found your mate, you were with them forever, regardless of age.

  Jayden gawked. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope.” She patted him on the back and gave him a forced smile. “That should make you feel better. At least I’m a legal consenting adult.”

  He continued to stare at her like she’d grown two heads. His car veered off the street and his tire grazed the side of the road. She screamed.

  “Sorry, sorry. “ He righted the car and kept his attention straight ahead.

  He made a turn on to a quaint street and slowed down. When he pulled into the driveway of a cottage-style home, she cut her gaze at him.

  “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?” Jayden looked from the house back to her.

  “You really did move to Fayetteville.” Why would he have done that? Why wouldn’t he have just rented a hotel room?

  A slight smile tugged at his lips. “Nah. It’s Barrett’s house. He stays here when the Razorbacks are playing in town. That dude is a serious football addict.” He cut the engine and got out.

  “Well, it’s the South. It’s kind of expected,” she muttered.

  Jayden opened her car door just as she reached for the handle. She blushed as she walked around to the trunk of the car. It had been a long time since a guy opened a door for her.

  It took them one trip to bring her stuff into the house. After piling it all into one of the bedrooms, she took the opportunity to look around.

  The house was small, probably no more than twelve hundred square feet. It was an older home, but it looked like everything had been remodeled and updated. New windows had been put in, the walls had been painted modern colors, and the heart of pine floors had been refinished. She wandered into the kitchen. It too had been remodeled. The cabinets were new and white, the countertops dark granite, and the appliances had been updated to stainless steel.

  “This is totally not what I expected Barrett’s house to be.” Haley cut her eyes at Jayden.

  “I know, right. Doesn’t look very manly.” Jayden snorted.

  �
��Maybe he had someone decorate it.” She couldn’t imagine the lethal Pack Master picking out wall paint colors and throw pillows.

  “Ah, that would be a definite no. I heard his decorator…passed away.”

  “Oh, well maybe his girlfriend did it.” Haley cocked her head and faced Jayden. “Does Barrett have a girlfriend?”

  Jayden wrinkled his nose. “Ah, that would be a definite no. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him out with a woman.”

  “Well, maybe he’s gay.”

  “Absolutely not!”

  Haley crossed her arms. “How can you be so sure?”

  Jayden stared at her for a second. “Because his screen saver has a half-naked model on it.” Jayden leaned closer and smiled. “She wasn’t wearing any clothes, just a pair of wings.”

  Haley’s breath caught in her throat at his nearness. Jayden’s scent of ocean and wind seemed to curl around her like smoke. She couldn’t help herself as she leaned slightly in to him.

  She’d always been attracted to him, even on that first night when he’d come to rescue her, but when he didn’t try to find her afterwards, she’d quickly gotten the message that he wasn’t interested.

  She sucked in a breath as she met his intense gaze. If he didn’t want to be near her, why was he looking at her like he wanted to eat her alive?

  A smirk froze on his full lips, his pupils dilated. He cocked his head to the side, letting his gaze drift down to her lips. Her heart thumped against her chest as she saw something dangerously close to lust emerge behind his blue eyes.

  She held her breath waiting for him to kiss her.

  He straightened and cleared his throat, as his expression hardened. “I need to go see what’s in the kitchen for dinner.”

  Without so much as a glance, he walked away, leaving her alone with her conflicted feelings.

  #

  “What the fuck is wrong with me?” Jayden snarled out as he white-knuckled the kitchen sink and looked out the window into fenced backyard. He had almost made the biggest mistake of his career as a Guardian by giving into his instincts and kissing Haley Guthrie. He knew it wouldn’t have stopped there. He wanted more than just a kiss.