BrightBlueMoon (12 page)

“I did not!”

Ronnie shrugged. “I’m not judging you – I might be tempted to turn to substance abuse too if I had to spend my days parading through the woods with Gus Oliver. I’m sure anyone who’s met him will see what drove you to seek an escape.”

“I can’t believe this.” Alex’s hands were still balled into fists when Jack pressed the camera back into them. “They’d be able to test my system for the toxins! I’ll be able to prove that I never ate those.” He sounded unsure as he eyed the bag Ronnie held.

“I don’t have anything against
making
you eat them,” Jack growled.

“Screw this.” Alex clutched his camera to his chest. “Screw all of you. You just handed my job over to the freaking Ghost Hunting Grannies! You sons of—”

“If you can’t keep up with a group of little old ladies, that’s your problem,” Jack said, dropping the SD card he’d taken from Alex’s camera onto the gravel. “Not ours. Now you can watch as I destroy this footage you had no right to take, and then you can leave. For good.” He raised one foot above the card, prepared to crush it against the small stones.

A familiar noise resounded from the woods, plunging Michael into the throes of memories – hundreds of them, compiled over the years, each calling to some feral, furious part inside him. As he listened to the sound of a round being loaded into the chamber of a gun, the urge to rip someone apart was nearly overwhelming.

“I can’t let you do that.” The last voice Michael wanted to hear echoed from nearby, followed by the noise of clumsy, eager footsteps through underbrush.

Gus Oliver barreled out of the woods, a .45 raised high.

He gripped it like he’d never held a gun before, but if anything, that might make him more dangerous, not less.

“Gus!” A pained female voice came from the trees, clearly Serena’s. “Don’t!”

“Yeah, don’t, man!” echoed another member of the crew. “Just put the gun down.”

“Where the hell did you get that thing?” Alex demanded, gaping at Gus.

“Shut up, all of you!” Gus panted, standing with his feet sprawled a shoulder width and a half apart. “Just shut up! Did you really think I was going to go around in the wilderness trailing bacon grease without some kind of weapon? I’m not brain dead like the rest of you. And I’m not letting Monsters 24/7 go off air. Not for anybody.” He aimed his gun at Jack. “Now hand over the SD card, you stupid hick!”

Jack glowered, unmoving. His eyes shone with anger, and something more – a sense of calculation Michael knew well. If Gus shot Jack, Jack might very well survive. If the bullet hit him in a non-fatal area, one night under the moon would heal him. But if he was hit in the head, the heart or another vital location… He would bleed out within moments, just like a human.

And die.

Jack’s foot gave the slightest twitch, and his longing to crush the card was almost a palpable thing.

Thinking of the years Jack had spent in isolation, hoping and waiting for his pack to be restored, Michael knew Jack would do anything to protect the Half Moon wolves and their secret. “Don’t,” he said, willing the young alpha to listen. “Don’t destroy it yet.” Who knew what Gus would do: the only thing any of them knew for sure about him was that he was crazy.
 

Michael wasn’t about to watch his daughter’s mate die if he could help it. The thought of Mandy being left alone with a baby like her mother had been tore at him, urging him to do
something
.

Gus was the weakest individual within at least a mile’s radius, without a doubt, but he already had a bullet in the chamber. If he fired, it might hit Jack, or any of them, really.
 

“Drop the gun.” Ronnie’s voice was low and controlled, but the suggestion of a growl was audible nonetheless. He still cradled his shotgun in his arms. “If you fire that weapon, I’ll have no choice but to shoot, and your TV show will be the least of your worries then.”

Gus was breathing so hard down the short barrel of his gun that a layer of sweat shone on his forehead. “Just give me the card! You backwoods doofuses have no idea what I’ve gone through to make Monsters 24/7 a success. Give me the card, damn it!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Michael could see Ronnie’s frown.

Someone was going to take a bullet. Michael could feel the dreadful certainty in his bones, could practically smell blood already. Call it intuition, experience or whatever, but it was coming.

“No!” He practically choked when Gus swung his gun toward Kimberly.

Gus’ eyes gleamed. “Hand over the card or the woman gets it. I mean it.”

Jack moved slowly, bending to pick up the SD card. “Fine. Have it your way.” There was a note in his voice that didn’t bode well for Gus, though Gus seemed oblivious, practically fevered as he sweated, trying and failing to hold the gun steady.

So many nights spent gallivanting through the wilderness in search of monsters that didn’t really exist must have really done a number on him, mentally. Either that or he’d always been a crackpot.
 

“Get the card, Alex!” Gus snapped, never removing a hand from the gun.

Even in his current form, Michael could see more clearly than a regular human. So it was no surprise that he detected the two shadowy forms moving in the tree line behind Gus while Kimberly seemed oblivious. Steeling himself, he knew what he’d have to do.

Noah and Daniel had circled around, through the woods, and were directly behind Gus now. As they advanced, paws completely silent, the moonlight caught their eyes, making their pupils shine like polished topaz against the night. Taking that as his cue, Michael leapt, throwing himself at Kimberly.

He heard the breath rush out of her lungs as he collided with her, heard her cry of pain as they hit the ground. But he wasn’t sorry. In fact, as the sound of the .45 being discharged splintered the quiet night and rang in his ears, he felt a surge of gratitude, a sense of desperate victory. Holding her tight against his body, he kept her sheltered from Gus, just in case. No bullets would hit her unless they went through him first.

CHAPTER 8

Feral snarls came from nearby, quickly followed by Gus’ cry of alarm. A meaty
thunk
informed Michael that Gus had hit the ground, and he turned his head to look, continuing to hold Kimberly tight.

Daniel and Noah, still in their wolf forms, had Gus pinned against the earth. The .45 lay uselessly in the gravel several feet away.

Ronnie hurried forward, his boots pounding the pavement, and threw himself at Gus, planting a knee in the other man’s back. Handcuffs flashed silver in the moonlight as he secured Gus’ wrists, and Noah and Daniel vanished as quickly as they’d appeared, dashing into the woods without a sound.

Serena ran out screaming, and though they didn’t shriek, the two men who made up the rest of the Monsters 24/7 crew weren’t far behind.

Gus cussed up a storm despite the blood dribbling down his chin. “Wolves!” he spat, jerking his head around, eyes wide as he looked for the two that had knocked him to the ground. “Damn it, the wolves!”

“There were no wolves,” Ronnie said as he jerked Gus to his feet. “You’re mistaken. And you’re under arrest.”

Serena shook, her arms wrapped tightly around her body. “I had no idea he had a gun. I swear! He’s crazy. We—”

“Calm down.” Ronnie breathed a sigh. “I’m calling in back-up to help deal with this. Nobody go anywhere.”

A not-so-subtle crunching sound came from nearby as Jack finally destroyed the SD card Gus had been willing to kill for.

Gus howled and moaned, panting as he forced out a few more obscenities, but his attempts to escape Ronnie’s iron grip were futile.

“Where’d you get those mushrooms, anyway?” Jack asked, picking up the pieces of the broken card.

“Took ‘em from some campers this morning,” Ronnie said, unflinching as Gus called him every name in the book. “They were looking for wild mushrooms to cook in their breakfast omelets.”

Jack laughed, and Michael’s speeding heart began to slow just a little as some of the tension went out of the air. Finally, he rose, lifting Kimberly, who still rested close against his chest. “Sorry about the bumps and bruises,” he said, brushing gravel from her cheek. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. And it’s all right. I…” She breathed a shaky sigh. “What a crazy night.”

Michael glanced up at the bright blue moon that hung overhead, shedding light on the aftermath of Gus’ assault. “Must be the full moon.”

She laughed breathlessly. “And to think that when I came out here, I thought I’d be absorbing the peace and solitude. At this point, I’m afraid it’s going to seem awfully quiet when I get back to the city.”

He sucked in a breath, feeling the impact that had assailed him when they’d hit the ground all over again. His ribs ached, just over his heart, and not because of the tumble they’d taken. “About you leaving…”

* * * * *

Michael took a deep breath, drawing the combined scents of strawberries, cream and sex deep into his lungs. He could smell Kimberly’s desire as clearly as he could feel her skin against his, softer than the sheets. “God, it feels good,” he said as he flexed his hips, sliding into her an inch at a time, forcing himself to take it slow and savor the sensation of her flesh wrapping around his, tight and warm.

She arched against the bed, against him, breathing a sigh as she turned her head, dragging her lips across his jaw, teasing. Her hair slid against the pillow, a mass of waves that looked red, gold and silver-tinged in the moonlight that spilled through the bedroom window. The night and cabin were theirs now – the Half Moon wolves, Ronnie and his fellow rangers were finally gone, along with the film crew. It had taken long enough – soon, the sun would rise.

“I know,” Kimberly breathed, wrapping her arms around his neck and cradling him there just like her thighs cradled his hips.

He was balls-deep inside her now, and every fiber of his being urged him to go harder, farther. The potent fear the night had brought – fear of losing her, again – had faded, but the memory burned bright in his mind, making him ache with the desire to make her his, to be a mate to her in every way … especially this one.

He rocked into her and her inner muscles drew tight, embracing the hard shaft of his cock and sending a bolt of expectation down his spine, straight to his groin. It spread there, between his hip bones, and left him feeling charged with electric pleasure. It would be so easy to come, to spill himself deep inside her.

But he wouldn’t. Not until the sun shed the first few rays of morning light over the mountains, setting their namesake fog on fire, anyway. This was their last night together in the Smokies and he wouldn’t willingly end it.

She moaned and her breasts brushed his chest, their peaks pink and taut. Sliding one hand over her chest, he let the warm softness of one curve fill his palm, the nipple pricking hard and tempting against his fingers. Splaying them, he let it peek through and lowered his head, dragging his tongue over the tip.

Gasping, she arched higher.

At the sight of her bowed beneath him, his dick throbbed inside her, and he thrust faster, relishing each staccato breath she breathed. His head spun and his senses reeled, and still it wasn’t enough. Even after he came, it wouldn’t be. Not unless he knew he’d have her this way again. And again. For the rest of their lives.

He didn’t just want to keep her safe. He wanted to keep her happy. And yeah, he wanted to keep her bare and moaning beneath him whenever possible, while he was at it. Judging by the way her skin was flushing and her pussy was pulsing around his cock, those two things were one in the same.

“Kimberly,” he said, raising his head from her chest and meeting her eyes.

Her gaze was hazy, but she looked up, lips parted. “Yeah?”

“Did you mean what you said a few hours ago in the driveway? When I asked about you leaving?” He couldn’t resist moving, but he went slowly, driving himself in and halfway out of her.

“Mmm.”
 
She blinked. “Yes. Of course.” Her expression darkened. “Why? Don’t you—”

“You know I do.” He pressed his mouth to hers, sealing away her moment of doubt. How could she think he wouldn’t want it too?

Searing pressure surrounded his shaft and her hips began to buck as she writhed beneath him, digging her nails into his back. Darkness crowded his peripheral sight as he succumbed to tunnel vision, able to see only her, and his breathing took on a ragged edge even though he wasn’t winded. Human or not,
she
was his home – not a place, not the scent of pine or oak, or the shade of an ash tree. This was all he’d ever wanted, and he’d fought tooth and claw to have it.

He wasn’t letting go.

* * * * *

“Bye, mom. I’m going to miss you.” Mandy wrapped her mother in a hug, warming Kimberly against the autumn chill, a briskness that wasn’t dispelled by the sunshine.

“I’ll miss you too,” Kimberly said, eyeing Mandy, Jack and the little cabin they called home. Jack had already started construction on an addition that would serve as a nursery. “I’ll be back soon, when the baby arrives.” She couldn’t help but smile at the thought. “I know you’ve got a pack to help when the time comes, but I want to lend a hand too.”