Moonlight (7 page)

“No. We have to convert our mates.”

“Convert as in…”

“We have to bite them. They go through a change and become werewolves like us. Then we can have a family.”

“You’re kidding.” I shook my head. “So if you like someone you turn them into a werewolf?”

“It’s not like that, Lana.”

“Have you ever bitten anyone?”

“No.” He got up and walked toward the window. “Never mind. I’m guessing that females are rare for jaguars too, especially if he said that.”

I stared at his back and the set of his broad shoulders. And realized I felt relieved that he’d never converted anyone. My eyes drifted a little lower to his trim waist and the way his jeans fit him just right. If I wasn’t careful I’d be fantasizing about mating with him myself in no time.

Rolling my eyes, I walked over to the bed and flopped backward on the mattress, staring at the ceiling. “I guess we need to lay low and figure out who the Organization is that sent him first.”

“For the past few months, jaguar shifters have wandered through Reno. Hired killers. But we’ve never interrogated any of them. When we caught them, we eradicated the threat, but usually once they realized this is our territory they moved on. If this guy works for the Organization, maybe the others did too.”

“But this guy could’ve killed me tonight and he didn’t. Murdering me wasn’t his mission.”

“What?” Adam spun around and came to the bedside so quickly I barely saw him move.

“What are you talking about he could have killed you? You told me he bumped into you at the library and that he told you he needed to take you back. What else happened?”

“He followed me.” I could feel the waves of aggression pouring off of Adam, so I did my best to think before I spoke. “After I ate dinner, I went outside. He waited for me. I never heard him coming. He’s fast and very strong. We were in a dark alley before I could scream.”

“Did he hurt you?”

The million-dollar question. He did pull my hair, squeezed my neck, and dropped me on the ground, but only after I sprayed him with pepper spray and kicked him in the groin trying to break free. Now that I thought about it, he didn’t instigate anything painful.

I rubbed at the base of my neck. “He threatened me, and I’m sure he could’ve hurt me, but he didn’t.”

“He won’t be able to touch anyone when I’m finished with him.” His eyes flashed with violence as he turned back toward the window.

I sighed. “Look, Adam, I know you want to get even for Gabe, but it won’t change anything. It won’t bring Gabe back. We need to find out who sent him and why, or they’ll just send others and possibly kill more.”

Adam glanced back over his shoulder, his green eyes were cold and hard. Adam was once again the hunter I met last night in the café. The wolf.

“I can’t lay low and wait, Lana. You don’t get it.” He raked his fingers back through his hair. “I can’t leave you alone knowing he’s out there, and I can’t bring you back with me either. Until I get this guy, I don’t know how I can protect you and hide you from the Pack at the same time.”

“Since when did you become my babysitter?” There went the filter between my mouth and brain again. I raised my chin a little, trying to put on a more courageous face than I felt. “I can take care of myself.”

He lowered his voice. “You saw what he did to Gabe.”

“I did. He attacked him while he was a jaguar. He won’t be able to do it again for a few weeks.” When did I suddenly become an expert on jaguars?

“He doesn’t need to shift into a jaguar to hurt you.” He knelt down, his eyes level with mine. “I’ve fought his kind before. He’s a dangerous killer.”

“So are you.” My words hit him square in the chest. His shoulders dropped a little, and regret shot through me. I sat up and shook my head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean you were like him.”

“Yes, you did. And you’re right.” He straightened and headed for the door. “I’m going to get this guy. Keep your door locked and your phone nearby.” He slipped the second key out of the room key sleeve and into his pocket. “I’ve got a key, so no one should knock on the door. Don’t open it, no matter who they say they are.”

I swallowed the urge to ask him not to go. Instead I only nodded. “I’ll run some internet searches and give you a call if I find out anything about this organization of his.” My breath caught. “I forgot to tell you something…”

Adam looked at me expectantly.

“He had the same lion tattoo with an ‘N’ in the center on his wrist that the team leader in the café had.” That was it. “Nero. They both must be working for Nero.” It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about my sweatshirt, but I let the moment pass.

Adam let loose a deep sigh. “It sounds that way… Okay, I’m going to run a sweep around the hotel to be sure he’s not around.” He opened the door and turned back. I could feel the weight of his stare and tipped my head back to meet his eyes. “Please stay here. I know you don’t understand—I’m not sure I do either, but I can’t let anything happen to you.”

Before I could even open my mouth to respond, he turned and walked out the door.

Chapter Eight

Adam

The tighter my chest got, the faster I forced my legs to move until I was jogging down the hallway. Screw the elevator; I had enough pent-up rage and frustration to take the ten flights of stairs.

I hit the next stairwell, picking up speed. That jaguar bastard was with Lana. He’d touched her. He could’ve hurt her.
Fuck
. Taking the stairs wasn’t scratching the surface of the storm brewing inside of me. My trouble with the Pack was only part of the mess. While I felt this overwhelming need to be near her, Lana wasn’t a werewolf. She wasn’t bonded to me, and she had no clue what was happening inside of me.

What if Lana didn’t ever love me back? I almost laughed. What the hell did I know about love?

I used to consider myself a prize. Any woman was lucky to have me. But Lana wasn’t
any
woman. She knew what I was. I’d never shared my true nature with anyone outside the Pack. It was easy to open up to her. For the first time, I could see a partner in my life.

None of my generation had found their mate yet, but we’d never heard stories of any women rejecting their mates. Of course, their mates had been human women. Lana was a wildcard. What would happen if your mate didn’t feel the same way? Maybe that was why we bit our mates to convert them before they could conceive children.

Until now, I’d always considered it convenient birth control.

I shook my head. What was I thinking? None of this mattered. She was right on target about me being a killer. I’d killed at least four jaguars that had threatened my Pack. We were a close-knit group, a family, and no one came into our territory to cause trouble. No one.

Until Lana.

Now there was more trouble than I could handle, and no one I could turn to. For all I knew, Lana would be gone in the morning. I’d told her to stay in her room, but in the short time I’d known her, I’d learned that she lived by her own rules and bristled when I tried to give her advice, even if it was sound.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I felt my mood lift a little in spite of myself. Maybe Lana was calling to ask me to come back up.

I put it to my ear without glancing at the screen. “Yeah?”

“Adam?”

It wasn’t Lana. “Yeah, Aren, what’s up?”

“It’s late and you’re not back at the ranch yet. I wanted to be sure you hadn’t run into trouble tracking the jaguar.”

There was so much I wanted to tell my brother, but instead I said, “I haven’t found a trail yet, so no trouble. You can go home. I’ll be back by morning.”

“Don’t forget the Greene’s are bringing their broodmare over in the morning for her date with Bruce.”

Crap. I’d forgotten all about it. “Yeah, I remember,” I lied. “I’ll be sure I’m home before nine a.m.”

“You might need to sleep at some point, too, right?”

I rolled my eyes. When did my brother become my mother? “I will.”

Aren hesitated, and my shoulders tensed up. “You’re sure you’re all right?”

“I am.” I nodded even though I knew he couldn’t see me. “Still shaken up about Gabe, but I’ll be okay. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“You better. Bye, bro.”

Aren hung up, and I slid my phone back in my pocket. I jerked open the lobby door and headed for the parking lot, feeling even worse about myself, if that were possible. All the upheaval with Gabe and Lana had me way off-balance. I couldn’t allow myself to forget my responsibilities to the horses, my clients, or my Pack.

But Lana was in danger, and I couldn’t ignore her either. My instinct was to be sure she was safe, but I also knew I was putting her in danger by loving her.
Fuck
. How could I love her already? But there it was. Despite what my head said about barely knowing her, my heart recognized her in an instant.

Maybe I should ask her on a date.

Oh, that’s perfect. A killer is stalking her, and I’m hiding the truth from my family and my Pack. Sounds like a perfect time for dating.

In an effort to silence my inner argument, I forced myself to focus on something tangible: finding the jaguar that killed Gabe and threatened Lana. Jumping behind the wheel, I fired up Chaney’s engine. Lana said she’d been at the library when she first saw her stalker, so I’d start there. If I could catch the man’s scent, it’d be easier to track him if he came close again.

Once I got to the brick building, I pulled over and got out. Near the glass doors of the main entrance, Lana’s scent lingered and heat shot through my veins. She was definitely under my skin. Way under. I rolled my shoulders back a little, trying to loosen up as I paced around the entryway.

When I caught the scent of the male jaguar I stopped in my tracks. Instead of heat, bitter jealousy triggered my pulse to race. This bastard touched Lana. He was a jaguar like her. The same as her. Would she find him more attractive?

Holy shit. What was that? I was not a jealous and insecure guy. This sucked.

I knelt down. Closer to the ground I could get a stronger scent and log the sensation so I could track it later. It was the same scent I found around Gabe at the lake. I was sure of it.

Clenching my fists, I straightened up and followed the trail back toward the heart of downtown.

“I’m coming for you, bastard,” I growled as I slipped into the shadows.

Chapter Nine

Lana

I fought the urge to cry after Adam left. He’d been nothing but kind to me, and all I’d given in return was… Well, I was a pain in the ass. But it wasn’t like I’d ever asked for his help. In fact, I wasn’t sure why he cared at all. I guess he wasn’t either though.

I got up to grab a glass that sat beside the empty ice bucket and headed for the bathroom. Tap water wasn’t my favorite, but after Adam’s warning, I wasn’t about to venture out in search of bottled water. In my head, I felt like I was some sort of fresh baked pie, leaving my scent trailing out behind me everywhere I went.

Unsettling to say the least.

Gulping down the chlorinated water, I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked normal. No one would ever guess I was some sort of black jaguar when the moon went dark in the sky. Grabbing a washcloth from the rack, I soaked it in warm water and washed my face. It felt good. Normal. My life suddenly felt so out of control and impossible.

But it was real. I had seen the picture of a snarling jungle cat on Adam’s cell phone. Earlier today I had jumped over eight feet and landed without a sound on top of a boulder. They hadn’t taught me that in gymnastics class. I couldn’t just claim it was impossible anymore and have it be the truth.

Opening my laptop, I started searching for clues and jotting down notes. I didn’t have much to go on, especially since I’d already done as much searching on Nero as I could back when I first saw the doctor’s transfer request, but I needed to do something. Keep busy. First I started looking up animal attacks, then narrowing it down to attacks by large cats. After pages and pages of mountain lion attacks, I finally found something that stood out. A news article out of a small-town paper in Southern California interviewed a survivor of an attack.

An attack he swore came from a black jaguar.

A few more searches later, I had an email address for the man. His name was Chuck Seefut, and he lived in Temecula, a few miles north of San Diego County. Jaguars were rare in the wild, and non-existent in the U.S., and judging by all the stories I could find, no one believed it was really a jaguar. Doctors stated that his perception of the creature was distorted due to his brutal attack.

The Yucatan jungles were the home of the last remaining jaguars in the wild, and the chances of one traveling all the way Northwest to California were minuscule. It must have been a mountain lion that bit off chunks of his abdomen. Chuck had had the foresight to play dead when the attack began, which probably saved his life. The cat tired of him and disappeared into the night. Chuck dialed 911 on his cell phone before he lost consciousness. He was lucky to be alive.

I quickly sent him an email, requesting an interview about his attack. I mentioned I was a freelance writer and that I thought I could sell his story to some outdoor magazines and give him a percentage of the money. I hoped I’d hear from him in the morning.

Morning. I glanced over at the clock. It was almost four a.m. Closing my laptop, I set it aside and fell back onto the bed. Maybe everything would look brighter when the sun came up.

Chapter Ten

Adam

Dawn began to light up the sky when I finally gave up the search. I decided to go check on Lana before heading back to the barn. I’d never be able to sleep unless I was sure she was safe, and I only had a few hours before Bruce’s “date.” I quietly slid the card into the lock and opened the door to her room. The desk lamp was still on, and Lana lay sprawled out on the king-size bed sound asleep. In spite of myself, I smiled. I couldn’t help it. She looked so peaceful.

My mate.

Those were two words I never thought I’d be saying. In fact, as women came and went from my life, I always thought of myself as happy. The elders’ stories about mating for life were a bunch of legends to try and scare the younger wolves into settling down.

But the moment I stared into Lana’s eyes, I was lost. And the moment I touched her skin something inside of me recognized her.

It didn’t make any sense. Maybe my instincts were off. Human women who could be converted into wolves, those were our mates. This was a woman born a shifter. A jaguar shifter. I’d never even heard of any shifters born female, and certainly there was no record of a wolf mating to one. And yet here she was.

In the end, if I wanted to be with her, I’d have to leave the Pack behind. They killed jaguars. They didn’t welcome them into our Pack. They’d never accept Lana. And what if they found her now? They’d think she killed Gabe. It wouldn’t matter that she was a woman or that I recognized her as my mate. She was a jaguar.

I passed my fingers through my hair as exhaustion settled onto my shoulders with a vengeance. Seeing her sleeping, breathing in her scent. This was where I belonged. I set the deadbolt latch on the door and took off my jacket. Draping it over the back of the desk chair, I clicked off the light and walked over to the bed. I should go home. I had appointments to keep at the barn in a few hours. But instead I lay down beside her.

Lana moaned softly and rolled over, snuggling against my chest, and the anger and jealousy that had poisoned me earlier lifted, clearing away the shadows. I slid my arm around her, holding her close as I bent to kiss her hair. Even after the rough day we had, she still smelled like sunshine.

And she fit in my arms like she was made for me to hold her.

My wolf had staked its claim on this beautiful, intelligent woman, and somehow I had to figure out how make it work.