Moonlight (22 page)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Lana

Sasha stopped the car in a clearing off the main road. We were back at Lake Tahoe, which instantly made me think of Adam, of the way it had felt when he brought me here last time. The way he’d goaded me into jumping to the top of a boulder and showed me how to be me. Now my wrists were rubbed raw, my back was bruised from some sort of plastic bullet, and an armed woman was about to hand me over to Nero as a science experiment. I tried really hard not to feel sorry for myself, but none of this was fair.

She opened the back door and yanked me out of the car. The crisp night air felt good on my skin. Above us, the sky was a stunning masterpiece of reds and purples, completely unaware of its contrast with my current predicament.

“Turn around,” she demanded.

I faced the car and then felt her messing with the cuffs. The metal bands released me, and I gasped at the pain that shot up my arms and into my shoulders now that my hands were free. My right wrist was bleeding, my left looked bruised, but it felt so good to be free that I didn’t care.

“Thank you,” I rubbed at my aching arms.

“Nothing’s changed. I just don’t want them to pull some stunt about you being harmed and then break their end of the bargain.”

“I thought they said alive, not unharmed.”

She ground her teeth, the muscles of her jaw clenched, but didn’t answer. I couldn’t prevent a small smirk from creeping onto my face.

“Are they paying you a lot to bring me in?” The writer in me wanted to know details and keeping her talking couldn’t be a bad thing, I gathered. If I lived through this night, I had some great ideas for a book.

Sasha grabbed my elbow and walked me toward the trees. “They’re not paying me money.”

My jaw dropped a little. “You’re screwing up my life for free? Is this fun for you?”

She tightened her grip, and I made a mental note that pissing off my abductor was probably not a good idea. When we got to a shadowed area she pulled me down to the ground. I watched her crouch and take a deep breath.

Time was running out though, and at this point, my best shot at freedom was finding some way to appeal to her humanity. Sasha was tough, but I couldn’t let go of that moment in the car when I saw, for a second, a flash of what might live behind her emotional battle armor.

“You said if there were some other way, you’d take it. If money’s not what you’re after, then what is it? Maybe the Pack can help you get it.”

She kept her attention focused on the growing shadows. “No one can help me but Nero. There’s no other way.” She glanced my way as she lowered her voice to a whisper. “They promised me a cure.”

“A cure? For what—” Then it hit me. “They can reverse the jaguar bite?”

Her eyes scanned the wilderness around us. “They say they can.”

“Then what will you do?”

“Go back to my life, I hope.”

“How long have you been gone?”

She rubbed absently at the scar along her collarbone. “He bit me a year ago.” She gripped my arm tighter, and I couldn’t be sure if she was trying to convince me or herself. “They’re not going to kill you, you know. They want to keep you healthy.”

Revulsion snaked its way down my back. They wanted me healthy to see if I could create more female-born jaguars. I opened my mouth to reply, but Sasha shushed me. Without a word she grabbed my arm and started dragging me farther into the forest.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Away from Sebastian,” was her only reply.

Then I heard the lone howl of a wolf, and my heart stuttered. Sasha slid her pistol free from her shoulder holster. I didn’t care if she was trying to get a cure for her jaguar bite; if she was planning to hurt Adam or his family, then I was going to hurt her first. The realization hit me hard, but on some primal level my fear vanished and determination and love filled the void.

I loved Adam, and I wasn’t going to let this bitch hurt him.

Not a chance.

Sasha pulled me through the trees, only stopping when we reached the edge of another clearing. With the bright full moon overhead, we couldn’t hide, so she opted for taking the offensive. She shoved me in front of her, pressing the barrel of her pistol against my spine as she guided me to the center of the clearing. When we were where she wanted me, she didn’t holster her gun, instead she circled slowly, keeping it aimed and ready for anything that might approach us from the forest. Finally she lowered her gun, and I heard her exhale.

“Maybe they’ll actually get here before Sebastian screws everything up for me,” she mumbled.

A howl cut through the night, making her gun fly back up to the ready position. With both her hands on her revolver I could have tried to run, but as much as I wanted to believe I was more valuable to her alive, I didn’t want to prove that theory. Besides, she could always shoot out a knee.

My leg ached just thinking about it. I’d stay put. For now.

Chapter Forty

Adam

When we found Sasha’s car near Lake Tahoe it was empty, but the backseat was ripe with Lana’s scent. I glared at the darkening sky, the giant silver moon rising, calling to the animal inside of me. My incisors lengthened, and when my hackles rose, I could feel each hair bristling underneath my shirt. I’d never fought my instinct to change before. My skin hurt, my bones ached, and my pulse pounded in my head. I ground my teeth and kept Lana’s face in my mind. I had to resist the shift until I knew she was safe. She needed me, and it was programmed inside of me to protect her.

The reality that I needed her just as much as she needed me didn’t escape my notice. The primal instinct to hunt down and kill the person threatening my family made rational thought practically impossible.

“I’ve got to find her,” I grunted, following the scent of Lana’s blood toward the trees.

Sebastian stepped back as I pushed past him. “You are already changing, wolf. I will find them. You should go to your Pack.”

I glared over my shoulder and noticed my muscles straining against the fabric of my shirt. “Not until I know she’s safe.”

He shrugged, but kept his distance. It was for the best. His scent was teasing the predator inside. Lana was a jaguar too, but the wolf recognized her as family. It recognized Sebastian as a bastard and potential threat.

We traveled silently through the underbrush and the shadows as Lana’s scent grew stronger in my nostrils. We were getting close. When a howl broke the silence of the night, followed by many more, my head spun in the direction of the call from my brothers, my Pack. My throat burned as I bit back my answering call. When I didn’t reply, another howl echoed. I recognized my father’s plea, my Alpha’s instruction, and primal animal instinct won out over rational human thought. The tenuous hold I had on my change was lost.

I fell to the ground, gagging as my bones popped and mutated, changing my shape from a man into a large black wolf. My shirt tore and the buttons burst from my jeans. When I could finally stand, I was on four legs, my jeans sliding free of my haunches. Panting, I swiveled my head, searching for Sebastian. His scent was still fresh, but I couldn’t see him.

Tilting my head back, I cried out to the moon and to my brothers, my Pack, my family. The answering call told me the Pack was here at the lake, including Aren. In wolf form, my human mind and memories resided along with the wolf’s primal thought processes, so even the wolf seemed to understand my twin was injured. And they were coming to find me. But this night I knew I wasn’t hunting for food or territory like they were. My mate was in danger.

I galloped through the brush, trying to place the pads of my feet on solid ground to keep from making any noise. It was easier to catch the jaguar’s scent in my animal form. There were three now. My ears twitched as the wolf realized that one of the jaguar scents was my mate. With a swish of my tail, I picked up speed until the trees thinned, opening up to a clearing. The moon was full above us, casting light on the three shifters. My eyes locked on Lana. I panted softly, pulling her scent into my lungs. The smell of blood was weak; her wounds couldn’t be serious.

The wolf recognized the other female as an enemy, her name gone from my tongue as the wolf took over completely. My ears flattened, my tail lowered as I maneuvered in closer, every muscle on alert. She had a gun, and my wolf recognized danger. It was also pointed at the male of the trio. I tried to concentrate on what he was saying, but half of me remained focused on Lana. The wolf wanted to remove the threat to his mate, but I kept him back, kept him tempered. Barely.

My ears pricked up when the rest of my Pack arrived, forming an invisible perimeter around me and the jaguars.

Chapter Forty-One

Lana

“Get out of here, Sebastian,” Sasha hissed. “This is none of your business anymore.”

He started to raise his hands. “You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man.”

“You would,” she replied, her weapon still aimed directly at him.

He shrugged, lowering his hands slowly. “Perhaps, but you have more moral character than I do. Nero has not beaten that out of you yet.”

I saw her finger brush along the trigger, and my chest tightened.

She tossed her head, sending her dark hair back over her shoulders. “Don’t be so sure.”

Sebastian’s face softened, and for a moment I thought I could see behind the veil of arrogance he wore like a second skin. He stared at her and then shook his head slowly. “Do not let them win, Sasha.”

He looked at me next and his cool demeanor returned. “If you hand her over to Nero, they still will not give you what they have promised.”

“Then I’ll kill her.”

Sebastian raised a brow. “If you kill an unarmed woman, then Nero still wins this battle, Sasha. Instead of having a research subject, they will have broken your spirit.”

I watched her gun start to lower and my blood pressure followed suit. Another howl cut through the night, and all three of us turned to look in the direction from which Sebastian had come. A wolf stepped forward, his dangerous gaze meeting mine.

“Will he recognize you when he’s a wolf?” Sasha asked.

“I don’t know.” My mind was racing from hearing Sasha say she was going to kill me. I couldn’t even be sure this wolf
was
Adam. I tried to remember when he’d first told me about his own shifting. He had been surprised that I didn’t have any memories of being a jaguar when I woke up in the morning, so did that mean he could remember being a wolf? Would the wolf remember being human?

I swallowed as I watched the wolf, large and black as pitch. God, he was so much bigger than a regular wolf. Massive even. Fear lit through me like wildfire, but I didn’t move from where I stood. When his eyes flicked toward me again, I knew. His eyes were a bright green, even in the glow of the moon. And then I caught the glint of silver—the silver bullet still dangled from his thick furry neck.

This massive wolf was Adam.

Part of me wished I could run to him and run my fingers through his fur. I wanted to see this other part of the man I’d come to count on, to love. But I couldn’t reach him. I wasn’t even sure if he’d let me touch him.

I didn’t know how to communicate with him in this form, but I didn’t want him to run at Sasha and get shot. I had to do something. Slowly I looked over at the gun, then I met his eyes again. He tipped his snout down and then peered back up at me as if he understood what I was trying to tell him. I was grateful when he didn’t move.

Sasha kept her eyes on the wolf. “Time for you to go, Sebastian.”

“I can’t let you give Lana to Nero, Sasha.”

“You can’t stop me either.”

Without a warning, without a noise, Sebastian knocked Sasha to the ground. Adam started to lunge forward and I shook my head. He flattened his ears and shifted his weight back and forth on his front feet, but thankfully didn’t approach.

Sasha and Sebastian grappled on the ground and after a moment, he broke free with Sasha’s gun in hand and a pair of red scratches on his face. She had also broken the split on his lip wide open. Sasha was quick to get back on her feet, her hair mussed up but otherwise not looking like he’d hit her.

Her eyes narrowed. “Give me the goddamned gun, Sebastian. Haven’t you fucked up my life enough?”

He tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants. “It is not my intention to ruin your plans or your life, Sasha.” His voice softened. “It never was.”

“Ha!” She shook her head. “You could’ve fooled me. I’ve lost everything, you bastard! All of it. Gone. All because of you.”

The bushes rustled, and my heart jumped in my throat. I couldn’t see the other wolves, but I knew they were there. The Pack was together, and I was a jaguar.

An unarmed jaguar. One Adam’s family wouldn’t recognize as an ally.

I took a step back from Sebastian and Sasha, toward Adam. Before I could get much closer, we were bathed in headlights. Sasha was on me again before I even noticed she’d moved.

She tugged my arm up behind my back until I had to walk on my tiptoes, shoving me toward the headlights. A silhouette stepped in front of the lights.

“Is this our subject?”

I frowned. “I don’t belong to you.”

Sasha rewarded me with jerking my arm up even higher behind my back. My eyes brimmed with tears.

“Yes, this is her,” she answered. “Now give me what I want.”

I don’t think the tranquilizer dart that shot toward her was what she had in mind. Sasha crumpled to the ground, and the pain in my arm ceased. I backed away from the lights and Sasha’s body when Adam bolted from the trees, apparently unable to keep the wolf in check any longer. He stood in front of me, growling and baring his teeth at the men in what I could now see was a black van.

I heard the slide of a rifle being cocked and instantly the other wolves appeared from the tree line, springing into action. The headlights shut off then, followed by screams and growls. I reached down to touch the back of Adam’s neck. I couldn’t help but wonder if the Pack would come after me when they finished with the men in the van.

Gunfire broke through the chaos, and a pained yelp came from the same direction. Howls ensued, and I saw a wolf dragging a large body back toward the trees. One of the men from Nero fired his gun up into the sky.

“Enough!” he yelled. “Take out the Alpha.” Then he pointed directly at Adam.

Guns and rifles cocked. Without hesitation, I vaulted over Adam, landing directly in front of him. “No!” I shouted. “Don’t shoot. I’ll go with you. Just no more killing.”

The other wolves backed up, circling around Adam, growling and baring their teeth. Would they kill me before the Nero guys got me? Other than Aren, and a brief peek at Luke, I’d never seen any of them before, and I definitely didn’t know what they looked like as wolves. Plus, they knew nothing about me except that my scent made me a jaguar. I was the enemy. How could they know I was trying to protect Adam?

Adam moved through their protective line and stood between the rest of the Pack and me. The wolves shifted, looking at each other then back up at me. A few bared their teeth, but none of the large animals moved toward me. My fingers slid into Adam’s fur, letting him know I recognized him.

A very light, tan-colored wolf stepped forward. He had bright orange, almost hazel eyes. His hackles were raised up on his back, and he nudged at Adam, but the black wolf didn’t move. I could feel the rumble of Adam’s growl. The other wolf snapped at him, but backed away just the same. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but as other wolves stepped forward to challenge him, Adam resisted their attempts to reach me. They didn’t seem to like it, but it was obvious they respected him.

But Adam told me his father was the Alpha. Not him. Not yet.

A lone howl broke the tension, and all of the wolves turned. This was my chance to give myself up to Nero. No one had to die because of me.

I bent down close to Adam’s head and whispered, “I don’t know if you can understand what I’m saying, but I love you, Adam. I love you.”

And then I turned to go.

Adam snapped at the leg of my pants. I tugged but I couldn’t break free. I stared into the blinding lights of the Nero van and held my hands up.

“Give me a minute,” I called out. I couldn’t see them, but I didn’t hear anyone moving, and no bullets were fired.

When I looked back to try to get Adam to let me go, a huge silver wolf stepped forward. The other wolves parted to let him through. As he got closer I could see his intelligent emerald eyes sparkling in the moonlight, and I knew.

This was Adam’s father.

His upper lip rose up to reveal long, sharp canines, but he didn’t growl. Adam immediately let go of my pant leg, but he didn’t move from in front of me. The Alpha pushed against him and finally snarled, but Adam stood his ground. Circling me, the silver wolf sniffed the air toward the lights of the van, and then started along the back of my leg.

I tried to hold still partly out of fear. This was a wolf, regardless of what he might have been an hour ago, and I stood still for his inspection because he wore the mantle of Alpha. Although I wasn’t a werewolf, on an instinctive level, I recognized his station and respected him for it. But deep down, I really wanted him to accept me. Besides not wanting the Pack to turn on me, I also knew this was Adam’s father. Adam’s family.

I bit back tears. Adam had just admitted his affection for a jaguar, the enemy, in front of his entire family. I wasn’t a secret anymore.

Sadly, it didn’t solve anything. The other wolves made it obvious they wanted Adam away from me. Would he be willing to disobey his father, his Alpha, in front of the Pack? It would humiliate both men. I couldn’t do this. This was Adam’s family, not mine. I didn’t have a family. I had to go.

I spun on my heel to walk to the Nero van, only to come face-to-face with the silver wolf. He barred his teeth and growled again. Before I realized what was happening, the rest of the wolves charged the van, and then the bullets started flying.

“No!” I screamed.

Adam lunged up against my back, knocking me to the ground while gunfire echoed around us. He barked in my face, and I got the distinct feeling he was telling me to stay put. With bullets flying, I was fine with lying low. Adam loped off, and my heart raced. He should be lying low too.

Raising my head as little as possible, I tried to see what was happening, grateful for my excellent night vision. The wolves were everywhere. I heard men screaming, more gunshots, and then I noticed another black wolf, almost identical to Adam, over at the tree line. He was limping and dragging something large with him.

Then I realized what his package was.

Sasha.

Before I could decide if I should stop him or just let him have her, something occurred to me. Where was Sebastian? He’d shown up before all hell broke loose. Before Sasha got knocked out with a tranquilizer dart. I didn’t see him anywhere.

I turned back toward the van and saw a familiar face. Cyrus.

He raised his gun at Adam and adrenaline shot through my veins. “No!” I jumped to my feet revealing my position. “Leave him alone! I’ll go with you.”

The second his eyes flicked toward me Adam attacked. Gunfire deafened my ears, and a giant silver wolf knocked me to the ground. I struggled, not certain if I was being attacked or protected.

Adam. Please let him be all right.

I rolled out from under the large wolf and rocked up on my knees. Relief swamped my entire body when the black wolf with a bullet hanging from his neck stood over a body growling. Cyrus didn’t struggle. In fact, he laid deathly still.

“Retreat!” A male voice shouted.

Doors slammed and an engine started up. None of the men tried to rescue their fallen leader. The red taillights of the van grew smaller as it drove away. No license plate. Nothing.

A high-pitched whine broke the spell. At the sound, Adam left Cyrus’s mangled body and galloped over to the silver wolf who had knocked me down. He nudged at the silver wolf with his snout and huffing at the Alpha. He wasn’t getting up. I knelt beside the wolf and quickly found blood spreading across his fur.

“Oh God, he’s been shot,” I whispered as the wolves circled around me.

Adam whined again, pushing at the silver wolf’s nose. I ran my hands down his side, grateful when I felt his flanks moving. He was still breathing. I needed to stop the bleeding, fast.

The entire area reeked of blood. I’d never seen anything like it. While I searched for something to use as a compress, my stomach retched, and a dry cough escaped my lips. I forced myself to keep moving until I found one of the Nero agents motionless on the ground, his throat ripped wide open. For a second the horror of it short-circuited my brain. I wasn’t sure where to start with this body.

I looked back at Adam with the silver wolf, his father. The image brought me back, forced me through the fear. I didn’t want Adam to lose his family. Staring back down at the body, I decided not to try to pull his shirt off. I wasn’t sure how well his head was still fastened to his body, I thought all too easily. Instead, I ran to his feet, ripping off his shoes so I could get to his socks.

I hurried back to Adam’s father, fell to my knees, and pressed a sock against the wound, hard enough to enter the bullet hole. The silver wolf whimpered, and I stroked his head gently, hoping it might calm him.

“I’m sorry it hurts. I’m trying to stop the bleeding. Just rest now.”

But instead of resting the wolf started to pant. Hard. His muscles tensed and trembled under my fingertips.

“What’s happening?” I looked over my shoulder, but the big black wolf with the silver bullet around his neck was gone. “Adam?” I called out. “Where are you?”

The hollow sound of joints snapping and popping drew my attention back to the injured wolf. His large body convulsed, and I suddenly realized what was happening.

“You’re shifting.” My eyes welled with tears. “No.” I shook my head. “No, you can’t waste the energy.”

I had no idea if he could understand me. But he was mutating back into a man whether I wanted him to or not. Maybe that’s what happened when they were injured or…dying.

As his fur vanished, leaving smooth tanned skin behind, I saw the exit wound of the bullet through his back. The hole was larger than I’d expected and glistened with fresh blood. I folded the other sock and bent over him to press it against the exit wound. The change was nearly finished, and the man moaned, wincing as I applied pressure.

“We need to get you to a hospital.” My heart was racing. There was too much blood.

“Jason, go change. Now.” The sound of Adam’s voice startled me.

I spun around to find him standing right behind me. He was naked in the moonlight, his jaw set, his eyes determined. One of the tan wolves with orange eyes—Jason, I assumed—raced off into the trees.