Harvest Moon

by Lisa Kessler

  But she wasn’t a werewolf and didn’t share the bond that my wolf already recognized. And although that kiss made it clear she might be physically attracted to me, she still didn’t trust me. Maybe she never would.

  Shit. I didn’t even want to think about my future if she walked out of it.

  At the back of the closet, I pulled a pair of sweatpants and a plain blue T-shirt off the shelf. There was no way they’d fit her, but they’d keep her warm while her things were in the dryer. I came around the corner to find her bent over, towel-drying her hair. When she straightened and flipped her damp hair down her back, a tentative smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

  “I was starting to worry you passed out again.”

  I handed her the dry clothes. “Nah, just took me a minute to get my head together.”

  “You should go lay down. I’ll be right out.” She closed the door, and I tried not to think about her naked in my bathroom. Too late.

  I piled my pillows up and got into bed. Keeping my head elevated would help with the swelling, or I hoped it would. Fighting again tonight hadn’t been my best idea. The door opened and my breath caught. Kilani stood in the threshold in my blue T-shirt and nothing else. My gaze ran over her smooth, tanned legs. The baggy shirt masked her curves, but her hardened nipples were impossible to miss. She had the wet clothes in her hands, and the sweatpants were folded on the counter behind her.

  “The pants were too big?”

  She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “They kept falling down, so I figured I’d be safer without tripping over them.” She lifted her wet things. “Can you point me in the direction of the dryer?”

  “I’ll take them for you.”

  I sat up and she frowned.

  “You’re supposed to be resting.”

  “Putting your clothes in the dryer isn’t hard labor.”

  “Still requires being upright.” She came forward and patted my bare foot. “Give your body a break, okay?”

  I groaned and settled against the pillows again. “Through the kitchen, it’s right inside the garage.”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  She walked toward the door while I took in the view and wished I’d given her a shorter T-shirt. When she disappeared from the bedroom, I stared at the ceiling, wracking my battered head for my next move. My mate was in my house, in my shirt, and yet she was still miles from being mine.

  Earlier she’d known I was going to faint. There was no other explanation for her sudden urge to get in the shower with me. She went to Brightwood. They wouldn’t have taken her without some proof of psychic abilities. But she denied it. She wanted the truth, but I couldn’t give her that, so why did I expect her to share hers with me?

  I was screwed.

  “Okay, I should have dry clothes in the morning.” She came in and grabbed a pillow before walking to the closet.

  “What are you doing?”

  She glanced over at me. “Just need an extra blanket.”

  “You can sleep here.” She didn’t come any closer. I sighed. “Do I look like I’m in any condition to ravage you?”

  That made her smile. A little. “I just don’t want to give you mixed signals. In the shower before…” She shook her head. “I’m sorry about that. I’m not looking for…more.”

  I ran my fingers back through my wet hair, ignoring the ache in my hand and arm. “What is it with you and that gigantic chip on your shoulder?”

  Her features sobered. “I prefer to think of it as protective armor from lying doctors.”

  A deep growl rumbled in my chest. “You think you want truth, but you don’t want mine. Trust me.”

  She crossed her arms, hugging the pillow. “Try me.”

  I ground my teeth together. “I don’t even know where to start.”

  She came closer to the bed, her voice warming. “How about starting with your father’s condition? Jared told me he hasn’t regained consciousness.”

  “No, he hasn’t.” My gut twisted. I struggled to cling to my professional distance as a medical doctor instead of a son. “He doesn’t respond to any stimulus that I’ve seen, although my mother claims he squeezes her hand sometimes. You and I both know that could be reflex, not a real sign of cognitive function.”

  She dropped the pillow and sat on the edge of the bed. “Have you talked to your family about his condition?”

  The rage I thought I’d exhausted in the boxing ring came roaring back as I propped myself up. “No, I haven’t told them that he’s most likely brain dead.” I turned, letting my legs settle off the side of the bed, my back to her, protecting me from her compassionate dark eyes. The last thing I wanted was her pity. “I’m way too personally involved to make this decision. He’s breathing on his own, so we’d have to withdraw the IVs. He’d get dehydrated and eventually…”

  I glared at the ceiling. I couldn’t even say the words out loud.

  The mattress shifted behind me and her gentle hands caressed the tops of my weary shoulders. “You’ve been carrying an awful lot of worry on these shoulders all alone. Your brother said you can’t take him to a hospital. He wouldn’t tell me why.”

  There was the million-dollar secret. It went against everything the Pack had ever taught me, but she wouldn’t believe me anyway, so what the hell, at least she’d stop asking about it. She already thought I was a liar, so what did it matter?

  Nothing mattered anymore.

  “My father is a werewolf. We can’t risk his DNA, and tissues, being discovered at a hospital.”

  She stopped rubbing my shoulders. I listened, waiting to hear her footsteps racing toward the front door.

  “Your father is a what?”

  I turned enough to see her face. “We shift into wolves during the full moon, Kilani.”

  She sat back on her heels. “If this is supposed to be a joke, it’s not funny.”

  “Yeah, it’s far from funny.” A humorless chuckle escaped my lips, and I reached over to lift her chin until her gaze met mine. “I wish I was joking.” Her dark almond eyes searched my face. I waited and finally whispered, “I’m the Pack doctor. I’m their only hope for healing and I can’t take them to the hospital for proper care.”

  Shaking her head, her attention shifted to her bare ankle, her fingers sliding over the turtle tattoo. “I want to see your father.”

  I blinked. Of the million responses to “I’m a werewolf,” asking to see my father hadn’t even made the top 100 on my list. “What?”

  She scooted up to sit beside me on the bed. “Take me to him tomorrow. I might be able to help.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but without an EEG and a CAT scan, there’s no way to assess the damage. He’s breathing on his own, but there’s no way to know if he’ll ever…” I got up, unable to sit still and finish that sentence. In a desperate attempt to change the subject, I wheeled around toward her. “What does seeing my father have to do with my family being werewolves? Or are you trying to forget I admitted that?”

  “Oh, I haven’t forgotten.” She got up, fierce as she glared up at me. “Are you judging me because I didn’t run screaming out of the room? Or maybe I should’ve laughed in your face. Would that be more acceptable to you?”

  “What is your problem?” Usually I was much better at reading women. “You said you wanted honesty. I just gave you a heaping helping of truth and now you’re pissed at me?”

  “Forgive me for not reacting properly.” The fire in her eyes dimmed. Slightly. “Look, I have no idea if you’re nuts, teasing me, or if by some crazy chance maybe werewolves are real. I went to a boarding school where the only admission requirement was psychic abilities, so I’m willing to believe there might be other things in the world I don’t know about.”

  She took my hand, her touch soothing the agitation brewing in my gut. “Telling me your secret isn’t what set me off, it was your tone. Rage swells inside of you like a cancer. You’ve been carrying this burden for your brother and your mother, and it’s killing you
whether you acknowledge it or not. What will happen when taking punches and landing them doesn’t relieve the stress anymore?”

  I did not want to talk about this. I went back to the bed and sat down, staring at my hands. “Fine. Tomorrow morning you call in sick to the hospital, and I’ll take you to my dad.”

  “I’m on the third shift tomorrow. I can see your dad and still make it to the hospital in time.”

  I snapped my head up so fast, a wave of dizziness blurred my vision. “It’s not safe for you there.”

  “I’m not helpless. I’ll be careful. I have pepper spray. And…” She came to sit beside me. “It’ll be tough for them to sneak up on me.”

  “How so?”

  She shrugged. “I get hunches.”

  I smelled the lie between us. Catching her chin, I lifted her gaze to mine. “I admitted to you that I’m a werewolf and you still can’t tell me you’re psychic?”

  Her eyes widened before she yanked away from my touch. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The hell you don’t.” I clenched my swollen fingers into battered fists. The pain helped to rein in the anger. Before my life spiraled out of control, I used to be a pretty patient guy. Until now, I hadn’t noticed just how short my fuse had become.

  Having my dominant wolf awake and alert that our mate was close by didn’t help. “You went to Brightwood Academy. Tonight you knew I was going to pass out. I don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to put the pieces together.”

  I waited for her to answer, wanted her to take the bait, to feed the fire.

  She got up and walked over to pick up the pillow from the floor. “See you in the morning.”

  In spite of the aches and pains, I beat her to the door. “Wait.” Her eyes narrowed and I added, “Please.”

  She sighed. “I’m not going to talk about this, so we might as well get some sleep.”

  I pulled my damp hair back from my forehead. “You know, when you’re not pushing me away, we make a good team. You helped me save my father and kept me safe from more head trauma in the bathroom earlier. I trusted you with a secret. Why can’t you trust me?”

  She brought her hand to rest over her heart. “Because something in here is broken.”

  “And I’m not?” I shook my head. “Look at me.” Taking her hand, I pressed it to my chest. “Maybe we can fix each other.”

  “No.”

  “No?” I frowned as she pulled away from me.

  “Everyone who mattered walked out of my life except my grandmother, and then I walked out of hers. That’s how it is with me. You’ve got your family, your brother. You’ll get through this, and you’ll find some beautiful werewolf woman and live happily ever after. I’m on a different path.”

  “First off, there are no werewolf women.” I could explain details later. For now, I just wanted to keep her in the room. “Second, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a fighter. I don’t walk away when the road gets rough.”

  “Well, I do.”

  She reached for the door handle and I caught her wrist, yanking her close. “Enough bullshit, Kilani. I tell you I’m a werewolf and you don’t freak out. I mention being psychic and you can’t get out of here fast enough.”

  Her gaze lowered to where I held her and back up to my face. I let her go.

  “My psychic abilities got me involved with Brightwood, and one day I got a vision that scared me. I pretended my powers faded. They lost interest. I graduated and put myself through nursing school. I’d rather not have it get out that I still get flashes of the future. Now we’ve both shared a secret. Happy now?”

  My pulse pounded. My mate was not only exotic and beautiful, she was intelligent and wise. Hiding her powers probably saved her from a Nero lab or, worse yet, the jaguar-shifter breeding program Sasha had warned us about.

  Too bad she didn’t seem to be admiring me likewise. With her hip jutted to the side and her jaw set in a stern frown, it was clear she’d finished with our conversation.

  “Is that why you want me to take you to my dad?”

  She shrugged. “Sometimes when I touch people, it can jar a vision loose. My gift isn’t an exact science, and the things I see are usually only a couple minutes into the future. Pretty useless if you want to keep something from happening or change it, but for a nurse, it comes in handy. If I can sit with him, I might be able to get something to give you answers.”

  Answers. I’d pay anything for a few of those. Staring into her eyes, there was so much I wanted to say, to tell her, but stringing sentences together seemed impossible.

  “Thank you.” Without meaning to, I caressed her cheek. She didn’t pull away, but she didn’t rise up and kiss me, either. I swallowed the emotion choking my throat and whispered, “I haven’t had anyone to talk to about this. I… Shit, I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I probably should’ve quit at thank you.”

  Chapter Ten

  KILANI

  Seeing the pain in his eyes, hearing it in his voice, almost undid me. The honesty and rawness in his tone had me clinging by a thread, but I reminded myself he just told me he was a werewolf. That werewolves exist.

  But if I believed my ancestors could communicate to Grandma Nani through a turtle, how could I dismiss werewolves without at least considering the possibility?

  This wasn’t helping me keep my resolve.

  I stepped back, distancing myself from his distracting touch. “I’ll set the timer on my cell phone to wake me up to check on you and your head trauma, but for now, can I go get some sleep?”

  He nodded but didn’t move away from the door. “You can have the bed. I’ve got a futon in my office. I can stay in there.”

  Again he surprised me by putting me first, reminding me that my past relationships had set the bar low. Limbo champion low. “You look like you’ve been through a meat grinder. I can’t let you sleep on a futon.”

  The corner of his mouth curved into a lopsided smile. My idiotic heart fluttered. “I might need a nurse close by.”

  I rolled my eyes, fighting to keep from smiling. “We’re a little old for playing doctor.”

  “Who said anything about playing?”

  For a guy who probably had a concussion and cracked ribs, he moved like the wind, his lips fusing to mine, his fingers tangling in my hair. My shock ignited into hunger, and unlike our earlier kiss, this time I embraced it.

  Why not? Life had no guarantees at the moment. My best friend was dead, and I could be next. Here was this handsome, intelligent doctor who wanted me.

  So he had a few demons and claimed he’s a werewolf. For tonight, we could comfort each other. I didn’t have to let him anywhere near my heart.

  Jason backed me toward the bed, our tongues sliding together in a sensual dance. He tasted fresh and wild. I ran my hands up his chest, enjoying the rumble of his pleasure in the kiss. His hand slid under the oversize shirt I wore, his touch heating up my entire body until my nipples were taut, aching for his attention.

  And then my phone rang.

  “Voicemail,” he growled against my lips.

  Tempting. It rang again and I broke the kiss, struggling to catch my breath. “Sebastian gave me that phone. He could have news or a warning.”

  Jason groaned but released me. My legs wobbled as I hustled to the bathroom where I’d left it charging. Sebastian’s name flashed on the screen. “Hello?”

  “I only have a minute. My brother is in Reno now, taking lead on this mission to silence you. Did you find Adam?”

  “Yes, but he won’t help me unless he talks to you first. He thinks I could be bait or a trick or something.”

  “Wolves.” He paused long enough for me to wonder if the call had dropped. “At least tell me you are not alone.”

  “I’m not. Jason let me stay at his place.”

  “The doctor?” He groaned. “That’s who they sent to protect you?”

  Jason stalked across the room and took my cell phone; apparently he heard our conversati
on just fine.

  “Listen, asshole, I’m more than capable of keeping Kilani safe.” He held the phone away from his ear so I could hear, too.

  “Enough with the ego, Wolf. My brother is there with a trained mercenary team searching for her. You may be able to treat her wounds, but she needs more than a doctor to elude them.”

  I snatched my phone back from Jason. Their little pissing contest wasn’t helping me. “Aside from your brother being in town, is there anything else I need to know?”

  “I’m being watched so I can’t leave yet. I will get to Reno as soon as I can, but I must not appear to be rushing. This is his mission, not mine.”

  “And in English that means?”

  He hissed. I could almost hear his eyes rolling. “I will try to be there by tomorrow night to meet with Adam. I will make contact when I can. Until then, stay alert.”

  The line went dead. I turned to find Jason across the room, his back to me with his arm up on the window frame. His head rested against it as he stared into the darkness.

  I took a couple steps toward the bed. “Now I understand what a sitting duck feels like.”

  He didn’t move. “I’m sorry about earlier. I should’ve had my full attention on watching for threats. Usually I have better self-control. But you…you make it tough for me to think straight.”

  With the mood decimated, I got into the bed. No sense splitting up now; we’d be safer together. “Just for the record, I was the one who offered to sleep out on the futon.”

  He finally moved, pushing off the window frame and approaching the bed. “This thing between us is more than just a physical attraction for me. Around you something inside…” He tapped his chest and seemed like he might say more. With a sigh, he shook his head and sat on the opposite side of the mattress. “Never mind. I’m sure this seems insane. It sounds crazy to me too, and I’m living it.”

  “Crazier than telling me you’re a werewolf?”

  “Let’s cross one bridge at a time.” He glanced over at me with a chuckle, but his features were anything but happy. “In the morning, I’ll take you to see my dad. My mom and my brother will probably be there, too. Then you can decide if we’re all nuts.”