Riley's Torment, A Moon's Glow Novel #2 (28 page)

The blond
werewolf regained his composure and glanced from me where I stood
in my stance preparing to fight and then to Lauren, who was
protecting her father with her body. Her eyes were narrowed with
determination. He was not getting near Will again.

Knowing he was
outnumbered, the man rushed toward the back window and jumped
through it. The sound of glass shattering exploded in the room.

I ran to the
window, glass crunching beneath my shoes. I thought of chasing him,
but as I watched him disappear into the woods, I changed my mind.
Who was I kidding? Just because I had stopped him from killing Will
didn’t mean I knew how to hunt or track someone. Besides, what
would I do if I found him? He was bigger and most likely had been a
werewolf for a long time. I was no match for him on my own.

“Are you okay,
Dad?” Lauren asked, her voice taking on a higher pitch. She sounded
frantic. I turned to see what was happening.

Will was in a
leather arm chair hunched over, gasping for breath leaning on his
knees. He glanced up and gaped at Lauren and then me as I
approached them.

“Are y-you
both…werewolves?” His voice was a raspy whisper, strained from
being strangled.

Lauren closed
her eyes, taking a deep breath, when she opened then, she nodded
gravely.

Will’s face
hardened, his eyes narrowing with anger and frustration. “How? Did
Joe do this?” His voice was a mere whisper but the anger in it was
evident.

Her eyes went
wide, clearly offended by his question. “What? Of course not. Why
would you think that?”

He narrowed his
eyes. “Because, apparently, you’re his mate,” he rasped softly.
“Wouldn’t he want you to be like him?” He sat up, leaning against
the cushion of the chair, as though he could no longer hold his
head up on his own.

Lauren’s eyes
went round with shock. “How could you say that? You know him.”

I suddenly felt
in the way and wondered if I was the only one that realized that
they were getting a bit off track. Someone just tried to kill Will,
and he was arguing with his daughter about her boyfriend. But it
wasn’t my place to interrupt. This was between father and
daughter.

I stepped out
into the hallway to call Joe. I didn’t want to talk to Nate after
what had happened earlier. I explained to him about the attempt on
Will’s life, and he said they would be right up.

As I waited for
reinforcements, I leaned against the door listening to the two
people inside as I stared at the wood grain in the oak.

“Stop accusing
Joe. He had nothing to do with this.” Lauren’s voice was raised,
filled with annoyance. Had they forgotten that only minutes before
a pair of hands were wrapped around Will’s throat?

The front door
swung open, startling me before I could hear Will’s response. Joe
and Nate entered the house, poised for attack. By the look on their
faces, they were ready to defend their family. Was it wrong to feel
a little smug that I had taken care of the problem myself?

Nate rushed
toward me, reaching for my hands. I pulled them behind my back and
tried to ignore the hurt that flickered in his eyes.

“What
happened?” he asked. He stood just inches away. I could feel his
breath and the heat that radiated off of him. I wanted to take a
step back, but after I pulled my hands away, I decided I had hurt
him enough.

“When Lauren
and I got here, we smelled the scent of werewolf and rushed into
the office. A guy with blond hair was choking Will. His face was
blue.”

“Damn him,”
Nate growled. His hands were clenched at his sides, and his eyes
flashed yellow. He seemed to know who the attacker was. “Did he
hurt you?”

“No, she kicked
his ass and scared him away,” Lauren answered for me.

The three of us
turned to face her; Lauren was in the doorway. I didn’t even hear
the door open.

Nate’s
expression was bemused. “What do you mean?” he asked Lauren.

“When we saw
that guy trying to kill my father, I panicked, and I couldn’t move.
But Megan didn’t even think—she just rushed the guy and kicked him
in the face. He fell back and let go of my dad. That’s when I
snapped out of it and pulled my dad away from him.”

Nate faced me.
“Where is he?”

I shifted my
feet. “When he realized he was up against two werewolves, he jumped
out the window.”

The hallway
fell silent. Nate’s face was blank as he stared at me, but I could
see in his eyes he was struggling with something. Electricity
seemed to pop at the intensity of his stare. I wasn’t the only one
who noticed.

“Lauren, let’s
go tend to your father.” Joe led her away without waiting for a
reply.

I was sorry to
see them go since the stare only intensified. I couldn’t help but
quake under his gaze.

When I thought
the silence would go on forever, Nate took a step forward, closing
the gap between us. This time I did retreat from him until I hit
the wall. There was nowhere else to go. Again, he stalked toward
me. He placed his hands above my head, enclosing me with his arms.
The air sizzled with emotion, and his gaze was intense, all traces
of the wolf gone.

“Did you really
take out James on your own?” he whispered, his voice rough.

He had taken
away my ability to speak. We hadn’t been this close in weeks, and
my body was betraying my mind. It screamed to fill the small gap
and wrap my arms around him. But my mind wouldn’t let me. All I
could do was nod in answer.

“How did you do
it?”

I swallowed
loudly, since my throat had suddenly gone dry. “I...I ran at him,
twisting into a back kick...I kicked him in the head. There’s more
power in that move.” He moved closer, his breath caressing my face
and his scent whirling around me. I blinked, forgetting what I was
about to say. “Um…he lost his balance, and ran off.”

Nate
smiled, his dimples popping out to mock me. He knew how he was
affecting me. He leaned in until his lips touched mine. “I’m so
proud of you,” he whispered against my lips. And then he kissed me.
His actions had turned my mind to mush, and I couldn’t push him
away like I wanted. Or did I want to? The kiss ended abruptly, and
when he pulled back, he looked at me with a hooded gaze. Then he
was gone. I could hear him in the office with the others, but I
couldn’t move to follow him. Along with my brain, my limbs had
turned to mush.

“How could you
let this happen?” Will rasped and then coughed at the strain he was
putting on his throat. He was staring at Joe, but his eyes flicked
to Nate. He was angry at both of them.

I stepped
into the office unnoticed and took a seat on a bench in front of
the window. Will was still sitting in the big arm chair while
Lauren was perched at the end of the sofa next to him. Joe had
taken the spot beside his girlfriend, and Nate was standing up
facing Will.

“You need to
calm down, Will, and rest your voice. We have to talk about what
happened to you.” Of course, it was Nate speaking calmly. My
emotions were going haywire because of him, and my body was still
tingling with sensations. Nate, on the other hand, appeared totally
unaffected as he spoke to his nephew.

“Calm down? My
daughter’s a werewolf, and no one will tell me how that happened.”
His voice was once again a whisper. Any voice that had returned was
gone after his continuing attempts at speaking.

“Charlotte
turned me when she kidnapped us.” Lauren’s voice was low, nervous
to give him all the details.

Will’s head
snapped to me. “She turned you too?” he asked, his face
unreadable.

“Can we discuss
this later?” Nate spoke before I could answer, which was good,
because I didn’t know what to say.

Lines formed on
Will’s forehead. “Fine, I’ll let it go for now. But damn it, I want
answers!” He was trying to yell again and then winced with pain. By
the angry glares he was throwing around, he wasn’t finished with
the conversation. It was understandable since everyone in the room
had lied to him for weeks.

“Was it James?”
Nate asked Will.

Will sighed,
rubbing his face with his hand. A look of guilt and sadness crossed
his features. He nodded, trying not to speak.

“Why did he do
it?” Nate asked gently.

“He said he
wanted to take back what was owed to him,” Will whispered softly,
but we all heard him.

“What does that
mean?” Lauren asked.

“Money,” Nate
mumbled. “Your father is the head of the family right now. If he’s
killed, someone can take over.”

“Who?” I asked,
shocking myself. I hadn’t intended to speak at all, just
listen.

Nate turned to
me. His face held a serious expression, but his eyes twinkled. He
was thinking about our time in the hall. My breath caught, and I
knew he heard it.

“In the old
will, it was James,” Nate said.

“Who’s James?”
I asked.

Nate sighed
heavily. “He is my nephew and Will’s cousin.”

“He’s the guy I
was telling you about,” Lauren explained.

Oh right,
Nate’s nephew who had also been turned by Charlotte. I nodded in
understanding, willing myself to keep quiet. I lifted my leg up on
the cushioned bench, and jiggled my foot, suddenly feeling
restless.

“I knew it was
James that was looking into that file,” Nate said, shaking a
clenched fist in front of him.

“Maybe he’s
working with Emma?” Will suggested, earning a growl from Nate. I
couldn’t see his eyes, but I knew they were yellow.

“I told you not
to speak of her,” Nate’s voice was a snarl, making me wonder who
Emma was and why he didn’t want to talk about her. I could tell
Lauren was just as curious. She opened her mouth as if to ask a
question, but Joe laid a hand on her knee, shaking his head to
silence her. There was definitely something going on here, and I
was determined to find out what it was.

“Are all the
wills in that file?” Joe asked, glancing from Nate to Will.

They both
nodded, but Will spoke softly. “Nate has the hard copies in his
safe, but we have another problem.”

Nate’s head
swung to face his nephew. “What now?”

Will pursed his
lips. “Lionel called just before James appeared. The files were
accessed, and all the recent wills were deleted. All that’s left is
the one naming him next in line after me.”

“So, if all the
other copies are destroyed, that one will be valid?” Joe asked.

Will winced.
“Yes, and in that will, my father was in control with me as his
successor. James was next in line. With me gone, he can take
control of half the company.”

“But that can’t
happen right, because we have the original wills?” Lauren asked as
she fiddled with the pendant on her necklace.

“Right,” Will
answered, the lines on his forehead forming a permanent etch on his
skin.

“Are you sure?”
I blurted and then scolded myself for doing so. I was supposed to
stay silent. I wanted to listen, not talk.

Everyone in the
room turned to me. “What do you mean?” Nate asked, fidgeting with a
throw pillow.

“Well, have you
looked at them lately? I can’t see why James would try to kill Will
if he didn’t have access to them. What good would that do, if you
have the originals?” I paused, and tilted my head in thought. “You
were gone from the cottage for days searching for us, and Charlotte
was there alone after she knocked Lauren and me out.”

All at once all
the eyes staring at me bugged out with alarm. Nate and Joe jumped
up and raced to the front door. It slammed shut behind them.

If what I said
was true, then the only thing between James and millions of dollars
of Riley money—was Will. The atmosphere in the room was filled with
tension as we waited.

They weren’t
gone for long. And when they returned, we knew the answer before
they spoke. Their faces told us what we needed to know. There was
defeat and terror in their eyes, and it was directed at Will. As
long as James had the original copies, Will was no longer safe.

Although I
didn’t really know who James was, I could guess the situation.
Lauren had told me a while ago about the consequences of not taking
the secret of Nate well within the family. While we had to worry
about Will, Nate’s half of the estate was safe in any version of
the will. Even if he was killed, the money would go to Riley House.
The other half didn’t have that loop hole, thus leaving the current
head of the company vulnerable.

“They’re all
gone. And there was no damage to the safe, so they didn’t force
their way in. Someone must have found out the combination.”

“Do you think
it was Charlotte?” I asked.

Nate shrugged,
looking frustrated. “I don’t know when it happened, but it makes
sense that it was when you were kidnapped. We were so distraught to
find you two gone, we didn’t even notice if Charlotte’s scent went
to the safe.” He shrugged. “And now the scent is gone.”

“What do we
do?” Lauren asked, her voice quaking with fear.

He turned to
her and sighed. “We guard Will at all times and send Nathan and
Carolyn away, along with all the cleaning staff. I will not put
them at risk.”

Will gave him a
sharp nod. “I’ll call her and make it happen. I don’t want them
caught in the middle either. Nathan still doesn’t know about
werewolves, and I don’t want him finding out this way.”

Lauren and I
sat down watching the three men take action. Will called Carolyn,
Nate called Nathan, Lauren’s brother who was at his friend’s house,
and Joe called the office telling Lionel—whoever that was, what had
happened. He also asked him to get Richard to take over. Will would
be working from home for the time being.