Blood Moon

by Desiree Holt

“They could be killing her or something worse while we make plans.” Rand swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth. Surely fate wouldn’t be so cruel as to snatch Hannah away from him just when they’d connected with each other. “Let’s get back to my house and get organized.”

  He led the way, ushering everyone into the kitchen. Rand paced while Derek started the coffee and Jesse pulled out his cell phone. He wanted to close his hands around someone’s neck, but there wasn’t anyone appropriate available, and, at the moment, it wouldn’t do him any good, anyway. How the hell were they going to find her? And could they do it in time?

  Jesse snapped his cell shut. “I gave Charlie the info on the car, and he’s going to see what he can do with it. He’ll also pull a list of the people in the area we might think of targeting. He’s sending a tech out to cast the footprints and tire tracks. I’m going up on the hill to make sure no one messes with the prints up there.”

  Derek handed Rand a cup of coffee. “Here. Drink this and settle down. You won’t be any good to Hannah if you go off half-cocked.”

  “I know. Except—”

  “Except you want to protect your mate. Fine. We’ll do that.

  “When I get her back, I’m going to paddle her ass for leaving the house, even if it was only to go next door.”

  “Sounds like that might be fun.” Derek patted his friend on the shoulder. “Just trying to lighten the atmosphere. We’ll find her. Let me round up the others so they’ll all be here when Charlie calls with the information.”

  ***

  Riesa brewed herself another cup of herbal tea and sat with it at her kitchen table. She’d tried going back to sleep after the terrible visions, but the woman’s fear had permeated her body so thoroughly she could find no peace. Then, close to dawn, another one hit her.

  This time, she saw a wolf standing by a palmetto bush. His expression was at once mournful and full of rage. His lips were partially pulled back in a snarl, but she could swear there were tears in his eyes. He paced back and forth by the palmetto, turning frequently as if he could see her. As if he was sending her a message.

  A blue light suffused the palmetto bush, pulsing and spearing its rays in the atmosphere. The wolf looked at it then back to her, an almost pleading expression on his face. But what was he asking? What did he want her to do?

  Houses wavered behind him, more like cottages, but suddenly a huge home shimmered in through the haze. Set on a hill, its aura was shrouded in black.

  She rubbed her temples with her fingertips and then took a long sip of the tea. When the cup was empty, she brewed a fresh one and pulled a notebook from the kitchen drawer. Long ago, when she was still a child, her grandmother had given this to her, smoothing her hand over the soft-green cover.

  “When you are troubled, child,” the old woman had said, “you will find your answers here.”

  Riesa had used the book many times to interpret her dreams. The problem was, using the old methods to analyze them gave her a headache almost unbearable in its pain. Still, it had led her to answers when others needed her. Maybe now she could help this woman whose fear still infused her.

  Sipping her tea, she flipped through the pages of the notebook until she found the one she wanted. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and followed the instructions written there. A vision shimmered behind her closed eyelids, shadowy forms morphing into distinct shapes. A mournful howl filled the air, and white-hot pain stabbed at her head.

  Riesa gritted her teeth until the vision took definite shape then opened her eyes and clutched her head. She gasped for breath, her forehead beading with sweat. It took her several minutes to get her rapid heartbeat under control, and when she did, she felt weak and shaken. When she could manage it, she went to the cupboard and took out a bottle of aspirin, popping two in her mouth and washing them down with the rest of her tea.

  She had to leave at once, the moment she felt together enough to drive. The vision had at last given her a general location, fortunately not far from her, and a name. She could pinpoint the exact address by doing a quick search on the Internet. If she left right away, she could be there in an hour.

  She just hoped whoever answered the door when she rang the bell didn’t think she was completely crazy. She’d had that battle too many times. But however they reacted, she had to find a way to save this woman.

  ***

  Derek leaned back in the kitchen chair and threw down the pencil he’d been writing with. Beside him, he could feel Rand vibrating with a high level of anger. Sitting on him while they waited for information had been a monumental job. The man was half out of his mind with worry.

  Across from him, Jesse Farrell and his partner, Charlie Aquino, reviewed their own notes. The two sheriff’s deputies had arrived more than an hour ago, bringing a file folder with computer printouts and a forensic team who made casts of the tired treads and the footprints and took them back to their lab.

  “Okay.” Jesse looked around the table at everyone. “We have damn little to go on, but Charlie ran the partial plate for this county and the two bordering it. We’ve got more than three hundred vehicles to check.”

  “Jesus.” Rand forked his fingers through his hair. “That will take us forever. Hannah could be…god knows what by the time we find the right place to look.”

  “Not necessarily,” Charlie put in. “We can be damn sure it’s not a kidnapping for ransom. Whoever saw Hannah shift has other, darker things in mind.” He tapped a sheet of paper in front of him. “This is a list of everyone in the three counties who’s powerful enough to pull this off. Kidnap Hannah and make her disappear.”

  Rand pushed himself away from the table and stood up. “That’s still going to take time we may not have. I want to do something now.”

  Derek looked at his friend. “What would you suggest we do? We can’t just go running around without some idea of where we’re running to.”

  “I know, I know.” He continued to pace.

  Derek eyed him as he turned to Jesse and Charlie. Just as he reached for the list of names, the doorbell rang.

  “I’ll get it.” Rand started toward the front of the house.

  “No.” Derek put a restraining hand on his arm. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “But it might be about Hannah”

  “All the more reason for someone with a level head to see who it is.”

  But as soon as he opened the door, all rational thought fled and every bit of blood left his head and flowed straight to his groin. The woman standing on his porch made his cock harden and his pulse pound. Rich golden curls flowed thickly to her shoulders, framing a porcelain face with violet eyes, unexpectedly black lashes, and a mouth shaped like a perfect bow. A blouse of some soft fabric draped easily over breasts that were lush and full and jeans clung to generous curves like a second skin.

  For a long moment, he couldn’t breathe. All he wanted to do was strip off her clothes, drag her to the floor, and fuck her senseless. But what shocked him more was the strong pull of electricity between them.

  Mate!

  No, that couldn’t be possible. Could it? His acute ability to scent things told him she wasn’t a shifter. Did that mean the gods had sent him a human to mate with? Maybe that was why he had never felt the pull toward Hannah, much as he’d wanted to. This was what he’d subconsciously been waiting for.

  “Hello?”

  Her voice shook him out of his trance. It was low and melodious, the kind of voice that reached inside him all the way down to his balls. But, right now, he realized, it was also tense with what he could only identify as fear. Fear? Of what? Who was she, and why was she at his door? And just why was she here?

  “I’m sorry. Can I help you with something?”

  “I actually think I can help you.” She gestured toward the interior. “Are you Derek Sawyer?”

  Derek nodded. “And you are?”

  “My name is Riesa Marlowe. I know this will sound crazy to you, but I have some information to give y
ou that’s very important.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “May I come in?”

  “We’re a little busy right now.” But can you come back later? Shit, Sawyer, get your act together. You have serious business to take care of.

  “Yes.” She wet her lips again, the tiny tip of her pink tongue rubbing over the satin flesh. “I may be able to help you.”

  “Miss Marlowe, maybe it would be better if you just told me why you’re here? We’re in a…difficult situation at the moment.”

  “I know. That’s what I want to talk to you about.”

  Rand, who’d been standing in the kitchen doorway, was in front of her immediately, his hands gripping her arms with such brutal intensity, she cried out.

  “Do you know what happened to Hannah?” he demanded. “Do you know the people who took her? If you know where she is, you’d better tell me right now.”

  Derek put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Rand, you’re frightening her. Let’s hear what she has to say. It may not have anything to do with Hannah.”

  He could see Rand controlling himself with great effort as he stepped away from their visitor. Derek knew he should demand to know why she was really there. Where she’d come from. What she wanted. But if somehow she knew anything about Hannah….

  He moved aside, and she stepped into the house.

  “May I have a drink of water, please?”

  “Of course. Why don’t you come into the kitchen where everyone else is?”

  “Everyone else?” Panic flashed in her eyes.

  Derek put his hand under her elbow. “Come on. I’ll get you some water. Then you’d better tell us what brought you to my house.”

  But Riesa stopped when she saw Jesse and Charlie in the doorway. “I’m interrupting something.”

  “Not at all.” Derek guided her into the kitchen and introduced the others. They all stared at him as he pulled out a chair at the table for Riesa, ran a glass of water for her from the tap, and set it in front of her. He waited as patiently as he could until she finished drinking. “Now, Miss Marlowe. I think you need to tell me why you’re here.”

  Jesse moved closer, his eyes scanning her face. “I think I know the answer to that. I’ve read about her in the paper.” He studied her face. “You’re the psychic who’s worked with the Tampa Police Department before.”

  “Psychic?” Rand was in her face immediately. “You see things?”

  Riesa’s face turned pale, and her hands holding the half-empty glass trembled.

  “Rand, let’s give her a chance to talk,” Derek said. “She’s walked into a houseful of strangers, so whatever she has to say has to be pretty important.”

  Rand took one step backward, but his presence still loomed over the scene.

  Derek sat down next to Riesa and took one of her small hands in his, trying to reassure her. He caught his breath as a shock of electricity ran through him again. Riesa’s eyes widened, an indication she felt it, too. He waited for her to pull away, but instead she curled her fingers into his palm. When she looked at him, he saw the same banked fired in her eyes he was sure was reflected in his own.

  Holy shit!

  Here they were in the middle of a major crisis and all he could seem to think of was fucking his brains out with this woman and making her his. He gritted his teeth and tried to focus.

  “Okay, Miss Marlowe….”

  “Call me Riesa, please.”

  “Riesa. What did you come here to tell us?”

  She struggled at first to communicate her dreams, watching everyone in the room with a wary look on her face. Derek could imagine how many people had treated her not just skeptically but rudely, banishing her information as crackpot or even worse. But shifters believed in things paranormal. After all, they were hardly part of the so-called normal world.

  As simply as possible, she told them about her dreams then about the process she used to interpret them. They listened intently, no one interrupting her until she finished her explanation.

  Rand was the first to speak. “Hannah Raines was kidnapped from behind her home this morning, right next door. This better not be some kind of hoax you’re pulling to try and get money from us.”

  “Hold on, Rand.” Derek deliberately pitched his voice low and even. “Jesse says she’s worked with police before. Let him check her out before jumping to any conclusions.”

  “If she knows where Hannah is and isn’t telling us, she’ll be sorry she showed up here.” Rand clenched and unclenched his fists. “Jesse, you better get on this right away because I have a feeling we’re going to run out of time real quick.”

  Chapter Four

  Hannah concentrated on breathing slowly, trying not to panic, as the car sped along the roads. The sack they’d put her in was made of cloth, not plastic, so she at least didn’t have to worry about suffocating. Having spent much of her life hiding in dark places, the black, narrow confines of the trunk didn’t frighten her as much as they might someone else. But whatever they’d injected her with had worn off, leaving her nauseated, and the rocking motion of the car wasn’t helping any. She forced herself to breathe through her nose, knowing if she gave in to the urge to vomit, she could choke herself and die in this car.

  It was important not to let fear overtake her, but it was a battle she was rapidly losing. Whatever these men wanted with her, it wasn’t good. She’d heard many tales of people who captured shifters and tried to crossbreed them, not only with humans but also with other animals to produce new strains.

  The thought of being someone’s lab rat terrified her. If that’s what this was about, she’d need to keep all her wits about her to get out of this. Silently, she prayed Rand would manage to find her.

  Rand!

  Oh god, they’d just found each other, promising to mate as wolves. She’d waited so long for him to notice her, to want her, to realize they were meant to be together. She couldn’t lose that now.

  The car turned and then tilted as if they were climbing. The change in angle sent her rolling against the lid, the metal cutting through the cloth into her skin. She shifted as best she could, bracing her feet to push her away from the trunk lid, until the car leveled out and at last came to a stop.

  Doors slammed, she heard the voices of the two men then the trunk was opened and hands pulled her roughly out. She almost stumbled, her legs numb from being bent at an angle for so long, but the men propped her upright while the sack was jerked over her head.

  Hannah blinked at the sudden brightness of the sunlight, trying to see where she was. A wave of dizziness swept over her, vestiges of the drug still in her system. Two sets of steps led up through meticulous landscaping to the largest house she’d ever seen. The men grabbed her by her arms and half-dragged, half-carried her up the stairs to a massive wooden door that stood open. A tall, heavyset man stood in front of it, obviously waiting.

  “Don’t manhandle the property,” he told the two men. “Damaged goods don’t help me very much.”

  The hands gripping her eased slightly.

  Goods? Property?

  Hannah looked up at the man looming over her. Power radiated from him, but not in a good way. His dark, hooded eyes were soulless. Evil! The word seared her brain even as she tried to battle the fear rising up inside her.

  “Well, Miss Raines.” His voice sounded like gravel on concrete. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you. Come in, come in.”

  As if she had a choice!

  Prodded by the two men, she entered the house and found herself in an enormous two-story foyer. With a small show of defiance, she yanked her arms from the fingers gripping them and forced herself to stand straight, hoping she didn’t pass out.

  “Why am I here?” she demanded. “What do you want with me?”

  “Ah, spirit.” His smile was grotesque. “Good. So much the better.”

  “Who are you, anyway?”

  He shrugged. “It won’t hurt to introduce myself. You’ll never be able to tell any
one, and you should certainly know the man who holds your destiny in his hands. My name is Rogan Mueller.”

  Ohmigod!

  Mueller’s name was legendary among shifters. He and his horrendous experiments in an effort to create a breed of super shifters were the stuff of nightmares. Even as a child, before her original pack was decimated, she’d heard terrible stories about him. Somehow, with the passage of time, she’d forgotten he’d moved to Florida. She was sure the others had, also. No one knew where in the state he’d established himself, but because his name hadn’t come up in quite a while, they’d all foolishly assumed he was far from them. Maybe not even interested in what was left of their pack. Having established themselves in the cottages Alexa had found for them, they’d all thought they could breathe freely at last.

  Then she’d stupidly shifted where someone could see her, obviously one of Mueller’s men who, unlucky, fate had placed in the area. Hannah trembled inside, but she was determined not to let it show. “Well, Rogan Mueller, I demand you release me and let me go home. You can’t just kidnap me and think you’ll get away with it.”

  “Oh, but I just did.” The ugly smile widened, creasing the fleshy skin of his face. “I have plans for you, Hannah, plans I’ve waited a long time to move forward with you. And you will be the star of them.” He looked at the two men behind her. “Please show our…guest…to the room I’ve prepared.”

  The fear grew inside her until it was bigger than she was. Bile rose in her throat, sickening her. This man was insane and was about to make her an unwilling participant in his craziness.

  “Let me go,” she cried again. “People will come looking for me.”

  “Only if they know where to look.” He waved his hand. “Take her to the room. And shut her up.”

  The room. Those words held an ominous ring to them that made Hannah even sicker. She refused to walk, so the men dragged her along the hall to an elevator. She was still screaming when the elevator doors closed and one of them men pricked her arm as he’d done when they took her. In seconds, everything faded, and she slumped against the hands holding her.