Christmas Moon (9 page)

He lashed out, a heavy fist raining down
against her back but years of training and practice still left her
memory sharp. Some things just never left a person. Bree slammed
her foot down against the side of his knee as she twisted the wrist
with his gun. Another shot fired and then he staggered and his grip
loosened.

Yes
. Bree poured her magick through
her muscles, giving herself that extra ounce of strength as she
twisted her grip and pried the gun free. He slammed into her from
behind, knocking the breath right out of her lungs. Bree staggered
and spun, but he was gone. A blur of silver fur fading into the
brush.

Immediately, Bree turned back to Rylie but
both she and Hunter were gone. Nothing but the blood splattered
snow and footprints left behind.
Shit
. The rogue had run
straight for them. Her heart pounding so hard in her chest Bree
could barely breathe, she bolted after them, praying it wouldn’t be
too late.

Please don’t have let me have gotten them
killed.

Chapter Eleven

Hunter cradled Rylie in his arms as he headed
down the hill. He flinched at the sound of a gun going off, not a
hundred yards behind him. His whole body jerked as he fought the
urge to turn around, the wolf in him snarling under the surface,
wanting
out
. Bree was theirs to protect, just like the woman
in his arms. She might not agree, but he’d be damned if he could
leave someone behind to face down a madman—whether she thought she
could or not.

And yet, against the screaming wolf inside
him, Hunter kept hurrying down the trail.
She’s done this
before,
he told himself. As a Hound she had to have faced off
with more than her share of armed shifters. She knew what she was
doing.

It didn’t make heading down the mountainside
any easier. Especially not when the second gunshot rang out.
Please don’t let her be hurt.

He wouldn’t forgive himself for leaving her
there if she got herself killed. If
he
got her killed by
leaving. Hunter picked up his pace; cradling Rylie’s head to his
chest, he damn near ran down the snow-slick trail. His footsteps
were light, swift, and the snow kicked up behind him in plumes as
he slid into one step and then the next. Only sheer will kept him
upright and moving.

Rylie stirred in his arms, a soft moan
sounding from her and Hunter held her tighter. “Don’t,” he ground
out, panic making his voice rougher than he’d intended. “You’re
safe now.”

It was a lie, they weren’t safe yet, but it
was better than the truth.

“Hunter?” Her voice was gravelly, hoarse, and
his name sounded half broken on her tongue.

“I got you,” he murmured, slipping down
another embankment.

Her fingers curled in his jacket. “Thank
God.”

The sigh of relief in her words made his
heart clench. She should have never been taken. She should have
been safe all along. And if Bree didn’t make that bastard pay for
taking a member of his pack, Hunter would.

Another stride and his foot caught over a
rock under the snow and he staggered. Hunter managed to catch
himself, holding Rylie tight in his arms, but glanced up at the
slope just as a wolf barreled into his side. Rylie went spinning
out across the hillside as teeth snared in his coat, ripping
through the fabric. Hunter let out a growl. He slammed a fist into
the wolf’s side and the animal let him go, rolling across the
ground.

Hunter lunged for the sleek gray animal, but
the wolf snapped at his hands and tore off into the woods.
Instinctually, Hunter felt his wolf rise under his skin, desperate
to break free, to give chase. To hunt down the rogue like the prey
he was.

But Rylie’s soft cry behind him stopped him
in his tracks.

Hunter glanced back up the trail.
Bree
.

“Shit Bree, be okay,” he said to the wind
swirling around him as he moved toward Rylie sprawled out in the
snow bank. He scooped the woman up. Her eyes had drifted closed
once more, but her breathing was still steady. He wanted nothing
more than to head back up the trail and find Bree. Just to make
sure she was okay.

His jaw tightened and he took a step back the
way he’d come. Then, just beyond a tree he saw the flash of her
coat, bright yellow against the crystal white snow. His heart
slammed in his chest and his breath froze, baited, as he waited.
She slid down a small hill on the trail, snow skimming her boots as
she ran, only to jerk to a halt as she saw him.

Relief flashed across her face and Hunter had
no doubt he had the same expression on his.

Thank God.

“I thought—” The words died in his throat as
he looked at her, the gun in her hand, her face flushed with a
fight. But there wasn’t a mark on her. “The gun shots.”

God he sounded like a bloody fool. Babbling
on without making a damn bit of sense.

Her lips curved into a smile as she reached
him. “He took off straight towards you. I thought the same.”

Her gaze darted to the tear in his coat and
then to Rylie. “She okay?”

Hunter jerked his head in a nod. “Took a
tumble, but I’d say she’s had worse. Heartbeat’s still steady.”

Bree glanced out at the forest around them
and Hunter stiffened as an icy wind slid past his skin, colder than
the air out side. It prickled, raw energy, and he knew it was the
Hound in her letting loose her magick. “He’s gone. At least, he’s
out of my range. Let’s get her to a hospital and call in the real
Hounds.”

Hunter let her turn him back down the slope
and towards the parking lot at the base of the trail, but he
couldn’t help the snort that sounded from him. The real Hounds?
Bullshit. They hadn’t done a damn thing to help him here. Oh sure,
they’d put on a front. Acted like they’d cared. But Bree had been
the one to pull out all the stops. She’d been the one to truly help
him.

She might have quit Shifter Town Enforcement,
but she was more of a Hound than the entire pack in White Pine as
far as he was concerned.

And she was sure as hell the only Hound he
would ever rely on.

***

Bree sat in a waiting room chair in the
hospital, her head leaned back against the wall as she stared up at
the ceiling. She’d passed the weapon over to Shifter Town
Enforcement when they’d arrived, as well as a detailed accounting
of what had happened.

The woman in charge had sneered at her the
entire time, lectured her on how next time she was supposed to call
in those still on active duty, and had doled out more than her
share of threats. Bree closed her eyes against the growl that built
in her chest at the memory. It vibrated in her throat, threatening
to break loose. Hunter had gone to them for help
first
. It
wasn’t her fault that they hadn’t done a damned thing and he’d come
to her.

“Bree?” His voice came like velvet out of the
dark and she opened her eyes to see Hunter standing over her, one
eyebrow arched as he watched her. “You look ready to bare
fangs.”

He gave a slight half-smile. He’d been there
when the Hounds had grilled her. She’d felt him trembling at her
back as he restrained himself from jumping into the fray. Only her
hand on his chest had forced him to hold his tongue, but the
glittering anger in his eyes had been enough to cut the meeting
short.

“I’m fine. How’s your wolf?”

“She’ll be okay. A few of the pack are in
there with her now. She’s awake and talking, which is a good thing.
She lost some blood, but nothing major. They’ll stay with her.”

He didn’t have to add that it wasn’t just for
company. She hadn’t known him long, but she knew him well enough to
know Hunter wasn’t the kind of man that left anyone in his pack out
to dry. He’d made damn sure Rylie was safe and that this didn’t
happen again.

He held out the keys to his truck. “How about
we get you home?”

“Sounds good to me.” She rose and followed
him out of the hospital. Her body ached from the hike up Wolf’s
Peak, the fight, and the race down. Damn, but she’d gotten soft in
her time off.

Softer than she’d really meant to. The fear
and helplessness that had rolled through her when the rogue had
turned after Hunter and his wolf had slammed that home. Never did
she want to feel like she
couldn’t
be enough to save the
day.

Never again.

“White Pine has a gym, right?”

Hunter glanced over his shoulder, heat
smoldering in his eyes. “Sweetheart, I don’t think you need
one.”

There was a teasing note in his voice that
drew a soft laugh from her. “The aches in my body say
otherwise.”

Something purely masculine flashed across his
face and it warmed her, making things low inside her tingle with
awareness. There was something there between them, more than just
working together, and Bree was tempted to explore it. Tempted to
see just where things could go with Hunter.

And maybe she would, soon enough.

Bree followed him out to his truck, reveling
in the cold touch of the wind against her skin as she tilted back
her head. It had been a long day, but the woman they’d saved had
been worth it. Heck, it reminded her of why she’d loved her job.
She’d been damned good at it too.

Guilt shouldn’t have stopped her, it hadn’t
had to. Her old pack would have still accepted her, though a new
one somewhere else not so much. The ride home was mostly quiet. She
watched as they passed house after house lit for Christmas. The
whole town radiated with Christmas spirit, with hope. Happiness.
She bit her lip.

Arianna would have loved all the glowing
reindeer, the Santa countdowns, the lighted presents. Her heart
gave a painful twist, but this time it wasn’t for what she’d lost.
It was for what she wanted to honor. Ari was gone, but her spirit
still lingered—and she didn’t deserve to be kept locked in Bree’s
heart with nothing but unending solitude wrapped around them
both.

What good was keeping alive her daughter’s
memory if she kept it boxed away, afraid to feel joy again, afraid
to feel anything at all again?

“You’re quiet,” Hunter murmured as he turned
his truck up her drive. Her house looked so...empty.

Barren.

“Thinking.” Her hand touched the door handle
and she paused. This was the house of a woman who’d wanted to
disappear, who’d had nothing left to live for.

It was about time she put that woman to
rest.

Bree lifted her chin a notch in determination
and glanced to Hunter. “Know of a good place to get a Christmas
tree?”

Hell, two days until Christmas, she knew it
was a long shot. She probably wouldn’t even have luck finding an
over-priced artificial at the local grocery store in this small
town, but she hoped otherwise. She wanted this suddenly more than
she’d wanted anything in a long time.

Hunter looked between her house and her. She
could see the wheels in his mind turning behind those dark eyes of
his and Bree felt her breath catch, waiting. “A real one?” he asked
in the quiet of the cab.

Hope snared in her chest, beating wildly, and
Bree fisted her hand against the truck door. Her head tilted in the
slightest nod. “Yes.”

Ari had loved the smell. So had Bree for that
matter. She’d give anything to have that fresh pine scent in her
house again, the thick branches lit with multi-colored lights,
garland wrapped around the heavy green, and ornaments weighing it
down.

A grin flashed across Hunter’s face. “That I
can help you with. Give me an hour.”

She opened her lips to protest. He didn’t
have to go through the trouble, he just had to point her in the
right direction but Hunter held up a hand. “Just nod and agree to
meet me right here in an hour.”

Bree bit her lip to hold back her smile.
“Okay then. I’ll meet you right here.”

Then slid out of the truck, the cold winter
wind wrapping around her. She pressed her fingers to her mouth as
she watched Hunter back down her drive and angle the truck towards
his house. One hour and she could find herself a tree.

It gave her an hour to see what Christmas
decorations she’d packed with her in the move. An hour to start
living again. Hope swelled in her chest, and there, wrapping around
her heart, she could almost feel Arianna smiling inside her—her
spirit once again aglow with the season.

“Sorry sweetheart,” she murmured as she
headed for the front door. “Your momma can be a bit slow.”

Chapter Twelve

Hunter found himself grinning as he finished
packing up the truck, his gaze scanning to the woods beyond his
house. A Christmas tree. He didn’t know where the sudden desire had
come from, but the moment she’d voiced it, he’d seen the flash of
longing spear through her eyes. Hope, shining and bright, had
flared just for a moment before she squashed it down.

In White Pine, a tree was something a person
could find with relative ease—all one needed was a good chain saw
and a way to haul it home. Both of which Hunter had. Striding out
to his shed, he flicked on the dim light and looked around. He had
a spare tree stand in here somewhere. It wasn’t the prettiest
looking thing and he hoped like hell she had a tree skirt to hide
it, but if it kept the tree upright it was doing its job.

Shoving aside a few ratty cardboard boxes,
Hunter peered at the shelves. He had more junk in this place than
he knew what to do with. He flipped open a few of the boxes labeled
‘Xmas’ in black marker. Strands of outdoor lights, an old light-up
wreath he wasn’t even sure worked anymore, a few wicker reindeer in
another. He toed that box toward the door.

If she wanted a tree, maybe she’d want
more.

The woman who’d come to White Pine to
disappear seemed to be fading into the background, the part of
herself she’d wanted to hide slowly coming back to the surface.
He’d been interested before, curious. He’d wanted a chance to get
to know her.