Hunter Moon (Lupine Moon Series) (16 page)

“I wanted to tell you how damn sexy you look tonight, before—” His eyes flicked to Jack in the back seat. “I fully intended to stay away from you, but looking like you are—”

His voice drifted off as he looked me over again, his eyes resting on the pink lace of my bra.

Why did I have to be in love with this impossible man?
I thought to myself, or thought I did, but I guess I was a little drunker than I had thought. Cash’s eyebrow’s shot up and a slow grin grew on his face. Before he could say something that would make me take my pistol out and shoot him, I started the engine and peeled out of the parking lot.

I looked in my rear view mirror to see if he was still watching, but he was gone.

I drove back home nice and slow, not wanting to get us killed after Jack had survived Cash’s attempt on his life. It wasn’t very far from the bar to my trailer but I still took care, even though watching the man I was crazy in love with try to murder my best friend was pretty sobering.
And surprisingly sexy.

 
I pulled down my driveway and I realized that maybe I should have let Cash drive. Jack was pretty much useless, although he was starting to come around. I didn’t know how I was going to get the big man from the truck to my guest bedroom. I wasn’t exactly a small woman, but moving 200 pounds of dead weight would to be tricky.

I put the truck into park and allowed it to idle for a minute while I tried to figure out how this was going to work. I looked down at the steering wheel.
How did I get myself into these situations?
Of course the man I love would have anger management issues.
You have a few of those yourself,
said that stupid snarky voice.
Remember the shotgun?

I looked up. Sitting in front of my door was my wolf. I stared at him for a minute. Of course there was a wolf sitting on my front porch.
This is just my life right now. Wolves, dead guys, crazy men, shithead cousins; it’s how I roll.
I turned to look at Jack in the back seat when he groaned.

“Good morning sunshine! Are you back with us?” I chirped in a syrupy voice and he winced.
I guess I could be a little nicer...

He groaned again, this time with feeling, and put his hands on his head. I saw the small abrasion on the knuckles on his right hand.

“Your boy is psycho, Shells.” His voice was rough and sounded painful. “What the hell was that all about?” He grunted and sat up.

 I helped him out of the back of the truck. Jack held his head in one hand and leaned back against the GMC. I chose to ignore what he said, opting instead to put my shoulder under his arm and help him walk to my trailer. I had forgotten about my wolf.

“Shit!” he yelped as he pushed me behind him and about made us both fall down the steps. “That’s a wolf! Why is there a fricken’ wolf on your porch, Shells?” I laughed.

Maybe I was venting the stress, or maybe it was the fact my Green Beret buddy’s voice had jumped a couple octaves, but the whole situation struck me as hilarious. I had tears running down my face before I could stop laughing long enough to glance up at Jack.

He gawked at me like I’d lost my mind.
You’re in love with a glowy-eyed psycho, maybe you
are
crazy.
With that sobering thought, I pushed past Jack, opened my front door and let in Wolfie. The wolf strode in the trailer like he owned the place and Jack followed warily, his jaw slack. I pointed Jack towards the guest bedroom and walked with the wolf on my heels into mine.

I slipped my jean skirt off and noticed the wolf sitting and watching me intently. I put one hand on my bare hip, bent over and shook a finger at him. “Now, now, Wolfie. You’re supposed to be a gentleman and avert your eyes when a lady gets naked.” He just sat for a moment, staring at me, before he jumped up on my bed, circled a couple times, and lay down. He continued watching me as I changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed next to him.

“That’s one freaky ass mutt you got there, Shells.” Jack leaned against my doorframe sipping a cup of coffee. My head pounded and I felt a little nauseous.
Downing half a bottle of Jack will do that to you.
I moaned and pulled my pillow over my head, burrowing further down into the covers.

“Jack, you’ve known me for how long now?” I asked, my voice muffled by the pillow. When he replied, I could hear the smile in his voice.
Gloating bastard.

“Well, my dad married your mom’s cousin when I was six, so...twenty years?”

“And in all that time, you still don’t know me well enough to have a mug of coffee for me if you’re going to wake me up before nine in the morning?” I started off calm, but by the end I was whining. He stood there chuckling.

“I figured if I brought you coffee you’d stay in bed longer. This way you have to drag your gorgeous butt out of bed.”

I sighed at the truth of his words and the self-satisfaction in his voice and tried to sit up. That’s when I noticed Wolfie was still on my bed glaring at Jack. He started a low growl when Jack came over to give me a hand out. Jack jumped back with a hiss and withdrew his hand.

“Seriously, Shells! That is the biggest damn Malamute I’ve ever seen in my life. Isn’t it too hot here for this kind of dog?”

I ran my hand down the wolf’s back to smooth down his hackles. I don’t know how, but he’d become protective of me. I smiled and scratched his ears and he seemed to calm down. Jack shook his head and walked back into the kitchen. I gave the wolf one more good scratch and slipped out of the bed.

“Come on, Fang,” I said, more for Jack’s benefit than anything. I didn’t know if he was really buying the whole ‘wolf is a sled dog’ thing.

 ‘Fang’ didn’t seem to mind the moniker though; he stepped gracefully off my bed and padded behind me to the kitchen. Jack sat at the kitchen table eyeing me with suspicion as I pretended to make sweet, sweet love to the coffee maker.

“With those kind of moves, Shells, I’m shocked you don’t have a man.” I spun and glared at him. He flashed me a cocky grin and took a sip of
my
coffee.

“I thought I had a man, for your information. But apparently I was too much woman for him and he couldn’t handle.”

Jack chokeed on his coffee. I smiled, found myself a clean mug and poured myself some French roast. Fang head butted my leg, demanding attention. I absently started petting him and sat next to Jack.

“And I thought you two were getting along so well last night.” Jack’s wry expression was hilarious, so I barked out a laugh. He punched me in the arm. “Ow! Didn’t you get your punches out of your system last night, slugger?” He pinched me instead.

“Yeah, that was a fun time. I think a couple of my teeth are loose. I’ll send the dentist’s bill to
The Incredible Hulk
. What’s the deal with that guy anyway?”

“So, what, the guy has to be a super hero to get the drop on you, Mr. Green Beret? Is that it?” My voice dripped in sarcasm and I elbowed him in the ribs. He glared.
So sensitive.

“Nice deflection. Seriously, what’s going on with you and that warden? He seemed pretty protective of you.”

 I squirmed a bit in my chair. Just thinking about Cash was getting me hot. He was so gorgeous the night before, despite him trying to kill Jack. The fact he was so jealous and protective made me squeal a little in my head.
It means he likes me, doesn’t it?
Fang put his head in my lap, so I kept scratching his ears.

“Well, I’ve actually only known him for a couple weeks. I
thought
we had some chemistry. I mean, he’s so hot, it hurts me a little. I thought he liked me too. He kept coming by here like he wanted to see me, but now that I think about it, it was probably just about the dead guy. Long story short, I wanted to get busy with him and he practically ran out of the trailer screaming like his hair was on fire.”

Jack looked at me with such a deadpan expression, I glanced down to see if one of the ladies had slipped out of my cami.

“Dead guy? What dead guy?”

I waived my hand dismissively. “I found a dead pot grower while I was out checking fence. Oh, and I shot the other pot grower who probably shot the dead guy. And he tried to set the ranch on fire. Oh yeah and there’s probably pot growing on my property somewhere. Plus, my cousin’s are contesting grandpa’s will and trying to take the ranch away from me. So, yeah, busy month.”

Jack’s eyes had gotten wider and wider until he was staring at me, mouth open and eyebrows disappearing up his forehead. “Holy shit, Shelby.”

I shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, even though lately I’d felt like breaking out in tears.

“It’s okay. I’ve got guns. I’ve taken care of myself pretty well so far. I’m not going to lie though, I do feel better with you here.” Fang got up and walked to the door. He looked at me so pointedly, I figured he wanted to go outside. “Smart boy!” I said as I opened the door and watched him run into the trees. I shrugged, walked inside and poured myself another mug of coffee.

“Where is Malamonster off to?” asked Jack as I sat back down next to him. “And where’s Reggie? He’s still around, isn’t he?” I laughed at Jack’s perversion of Malamute.

“I prefer ‘mutemoth’, and yes, Reggie is still around, although I’m surprised he didn’t come in last night. He’s normally pretty lazy and sticks close to the house.”

I frowned and got up to go outside. Usually if he got locked out at night he slept on the porch, but I hadn’t seen him when I let Fang out. I walked a circuit around the trailer and didn’t see any sign of him.

“Hey, Jack? I’m gonna go to the barn and see if Reggie’s in there,” I yelled through the door.

I was beginning to worry. Reg wasn’t as young as he used to be and he wouldn’t be able to fight off a couple coyotes. I practically ran in my bunny slippers to the barn, and when I got inside, I sighed in relief. There he was, lying on his side in the hay.

“There you are, you bad boy. You scared me!” He didn’t get up when I stooped to pet him, so I fed the animals and let him sleep a little longer. When I was finished, I started to leave, but turned around when he didn’t follow.

“Come on Reggie, let’s go. I’ll make you an egg.”

When he didn’t get up at the offer of an egg, which he was crazy about, I worried. I knelt down and put my hand on his side. He was still breathing, but barely, and he wasn’t opening his eyes. There was also a puddle of vomit on the side of him that I hadn’t seen.
No, not Reggie! I can’t lose Reggie right now.

“Jack!” I screamed as loud as I could. “Get your truck keys! NOW!”

As gently as I could, I put my arms underneath Reggie and tried to lift him. “Ooof…remind me to put you on a diet if you come out of this okay?”

I carried him out of the barn and Jack met me halfway taking over Reggie. We made it to his truck and carefully laid the dog down in the back seat.

“I’m going to run in and get some shoes, then we’ve got to take him to Bart.”

I sprinted into the house just as my phone rang. I ignored it. Instead I ran into my room and pulled on a pair of tennis shoes and jogged back out of the house. I hopped into the passenger seat of Jack’s Sierra and he took off.

“What’s wrong with Reggie, Shells?”

 Jack glanced over at me with a concerned look as he sped down the driveway. I glared at the dash for a minute, trying to keep myself from crying.
This is stupid, I’ve had dogs die before.
I shook my head at myself.
No, it’s not the same. Grandpa gave me Reggie.

“I think that evil bastard poisoned my dog,” I whispered.