Moonlight (3 page)

Chapter Three

Lana

The sun crested over the rocky hilltop when I opened my eyes. Where was I? I sat up waiting for my foggy consciousness to clear. Then I realized I was naked, and it all came back to me.

The new moon.

Adam.

I pulled my knees up and wrapped my arms around them, shielding myself while I looked around. Instead of seeing Adam lurking in the shadows, I saw my clothes from the night before, neatly folded on top of a nearby boulder. Adam must’ve followed me and left my clothes when I settled in for the night. There was no other explanation. I caught myself hoping for a half second that what Adam had told me about shifting into a jaguar might be true. But I hoped this didn’t mean he’d seen me naked. Maybe he saw me start to change and left the clothes before I was shifted.

Nothing I could do about it either way at this point.

After one last survey of the terrain, satisfied that I didn’t have an audience, I got up and dusted myself off. A shower would feel great, but it would have to wait.

When I reached for my clothes, I found a cell phone on top. It wasn’t mine. Strange.

I yanked my clothes on quickly and grabbed the phone, doing my best to ignore the new rips in my shirt and the torn leg of my jeans.

A red light flashed for a new text message. Curious, I opened it.

Lana, I took this for you last night.

I scrolled down and dropped the phone. The photo stared up at me as I took a step away. A black jaguar with dark eyes and lethal, sharp teeth glared out from the phone. Its ears were laid back as it snarled, but the dark chocolate-brown eyes were what had my heart pounding. I’d seen them in the mirror all my life. My eyes.

“No, no, no. It can’t be… Not real…” I knew I wasn’t schizophrenic like the doctors at Bellevue insisted. No one experienced a split personality only one night a month. I knew—I’d researched it just in case.

But a jaguar? I couldn’t believe I was schizophrenic, but I could consider believing I was some sort of shape-shifter? Worrying my lower lip, I glanced around for the men in white coats again.

The tune of
Werewolves of London
broke the silence, interrupting my mental breakdown. The cell phone lit up on the ground. Before I realized what I was doing, I bent down and picked it up.

“H-Hello?”

“Lana? It’s Adam.”

“Where are you?” I turned around looking for any signs of life nearby.

“I’m coming back out there to get you. Stay where I left your clothes.”

“Where am I?”

“You’re a couple miles away from the city. Sit tight, I’m not far.”

I closed the phone and stared at it. If the picture of the angry jaguar hadn’t stunned me, I might’ve peeked through his contacts or something. I mean how often would a freelance writer get her hands on a werewolf’s cell phone? But I wasn’t in the mood for snooping.

Curiosity killed the cat.

Oh, please, tell me I didn’t just think that.

I rolled my eyes at myself and slipped the cell phone into my pocket. If I was a couple of miles from the outskirts of the city, then Adam must’ve kept his word to keep the jaguar away from downtown Reno where the Pack was supposedly patrolling.

I climbed up onto the rock, looking over the terrain. It sure felt like I was awake, but this had to be a dream. Unable to help myself, I yanked the phone back out and took a closer look at the photo, narrowing my eyes to see every detail.

“You didn’t like having your picture taken.”

I gasped and almost dropped Adam’s phone again. “I don’t like being surprised either.”

He smiled, instantly reminding me how difficult it was to stay annoyed with him for more than two minutes.

“So what
do
you like?”

My heart fluttered a little at the innuendo, but I did my best to hide it. “I like pancakes, eggs over easy, and dry wheat toast.”

He raised a brow. “I take it you’re hungry.”

“Starving.”

He nodded and walked over with my cell phone in his hand. “I thought you might want this back. I figured since you didn’t have my number, you could call your phone and find me.”

“Thanks.” We traded phones. “That picture was… Well, it was unreal.”

“I thought since you don’t have a family to teach you, you might have to see for yourself in order to believe.”

We walked through the sagebrush and oak trees in silence. I still didn’t know why he was helping me. After spending years in therapists’ offices, I was well aware of my yearning to belong and feel connected with people. At the same time, it felt like a weakness. I needed to protect myself. No one else would.

I couldn’t take the quiet any longer. “Thank you for leaving me my clothes and helping me find my way back.”

“No problem.”

I could feel him looking at me, but I resisted the urge to turn and face him. His eyes were too intense, his body too perfect, and I wasn’t sure I was strong enough at the moment to push away my only potential friend.

“Let’s grab some food and see if we can figure out who sent those goons after you.”

I kicked at the dirt to avoid his gaze. “I’ll figure it out. I’ve got a month now before the next new moon. At least I understand why they’re following me now. I can take it from here.”

“You think they’re after you because you’re a shifter?” He frowned. “What kind of tests did they run? Did they see you shift?”

“No, but I had a CAT scan.” His expression morphed from disbelief to concern. “The doctors told me they found a mutation in one of the lobes of my brain that could be a sign of schizophrenia. They tried to put me on a psychiatric hold whether I wanted it or not. I told them to take a flying leap and escaped before I got tossed in a rubber room.”

“Damn.” He shook his head. “That’s why no one in the Pack goes to a hospital. We can’t risk becoming their guinea pigs.”

“It gets creepier. I took a peek at my chart.” Goose bumps rose on my arms. “At the bottom under all the medical jargon, it recommended I be transferred to someplace called Nero.” I met his eyes. “It was signed by a doctor I’d never met.”

Adam took my hand, and in spite of the goose bumps, his touch sent a jolt of awareness through my body. “A hospital isn’t going to send armed mercenaries to chase you from Los Angeles into another state. You’re not a criminal.”

“Maybe not Bellevue, but what about the place where they planned on transferring me? I’ve never even heard of Nero.”

The leader’s lion tattoo popped into my head, but I kept the information to myself. Adam had been good to me so far, but I wasn’t ready to trust him with that info yet. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the gunman’s tattoo matched the emblem on the sweatshirt I had been wrapped in when my parents abandoned me in Texas.

I shook my head. “It sounds paranoid when I say it out loud, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen those guys following me before.”

“Why not hide out here for a while then?”

“And wait for your Pack to hunt me down instead?” I raised a brow. “It’s better for everyone if I go. The sooner the better.”

A muscle in his cheek jumped. “At least let me buy you breakfast and drive you back to your car.”

I laced my fingers together, struggling for an objection. “I still don’t understand why you care.” I lifted my gaze to meet his. “Last night you were on a mission to kill me.”

“To take out a murdering jaguar assassin. I quickly realized that’s not who you are.”

“Maybe not, but it still doesn’t explain why you’re helping me. Your ‘enemy.’”

He pulled his hair back from his forehead, his biceps straining the sleeves of t-shirt. “Is it so wrong that I was raised not to leave a woman stranded and hungry?”

“No.” I broke eye contact, staring at the dirt. Maybe he was just being polite. What did I know about how his family had raised him. I’d never had one. Instead, I’d spent my life trying to appear like everyone else, hiding who I really was, afraid someone might discover the truth that no one wanted me. “But I think I have every right to question your intentions after you told me you were hunting me last night.”

“Fine.” Adam huffed out a breath. “My intention is to feed you and maybe get to know you better.”

Part of me ached to cave in and spend more time with him. I wanted to know him better too. I wanted to believe he thought I was worth spending time with. But self-preservation kicked in. What if he got to know me and realized I wasn’t worth the trouble?

“I think it’s better if I just go back to my car and get out of town.”

“All right then.” He clenched his jaw and started walking again. I did my best to keep up, but his legs were longer. He never looked to see if I was behind him.

When we got back to a paved street, he led me to an old, blue Jeep. It was actually in amazing shape for an older model. The chrome wheels sparkled in the morning sun, and the royal blue paint was buffed and shined like new. He offered me a hand to get in, and I climbed up into the passenger side without a word.

Adam walked around the front. I tried to keep from staring at his torso, but it was difficult. He was wearing a white T-shirt, washed a few too many times. It hugged his chest like a second skin. The Jeep didn’t have a top or doors, nothing to slow him from climbing in the driver’s side beside me. He never took his eyes off of me, and the intensity in his stare stole my breath away.

“Lana…” His voice was low. The growl was back, but it wasn’t menacing now. It was hungry. And my body responded, hot and edgy. “I know this doesn’t make sense to you, but I think I can help. I want to help you.”

He was so close that I could feel the heat radiating from his body. His scent surrounded me, clean and masculine, and my pulse jumped. “Nothing about any of this makes sense.”

“Look, I don’t know all the answers either, but I can at least show you a few perks of being a shifter.” The corner of his mouth crept up into a crooked smile that made my heart clench in my chest.

“That’s tempting.”

“What if I throw in a bag of donuts, too?”

Unexpected laughter bubbled out of me. “How can I resist?” I sobered, clearing my throat and struggling to regain rational thought. “But you’ve got to take me back to my car afterward, okay? I need to get moving.”

“Deal.” Adam grinned and rocked back into his seat, turning the key in the ignition. The V-8 roared to life. He revved the engine a couple of times while he gripped the knob on the gearshift. His chiseled forearm muscles contracted, and I forced myself to look away when everything inside of me was attracted to him.

The wind whipped my shoulder-length hair into a wild frenzy, and an unexpected smile curved my lips. I threw my head back and put my arms out, embracing the feeling of pure freedom that the crisp morning wind offered. Adam glanced over at me with a grin that gave me chills. His eyes were green, but right now they almost glowed, and where my skin was fair, his was tanned enough that his eyes and his teeth looked even brighter, dangerous.

Closing my eyes, I welcomed the warm gusts of wind that tugged at my shirt and tangled my hair around my face. The sun felt like a cozy blanket, and I wanted to snuggle in it forever.

My eyes popped open when Adam turned off the engine.
Oh, God, did I fall asleep
?

“I get tired after I change too.” He pulled the key out of the ignition.

“Sorry about that. I was enjoying the ride.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “You’re the first woman to ever take a ride in Chaney and enjoy it.”

“Cheney?” I laughed and tried not to think about all the other women who sat in this seat before me. “You named your Jeep after Dick Cheney?”

“No.” Adam grimaced. “Chaney, as in Lon Chaney.”

“The Wolf Man?”

He nodded with a grin. “That’s the one.”

“Let me get this straight. You wear a silver bullet around your neck, your ring tone is
Werewolves of London
, and your Jeep is named Chaney after the first Wolf Man…” My voice trailed off as I stared over at Adam. He was still in the driver’s seat staring right at me with a sexy smile that derailed my train of thought.

“No one believes in werewolves, and I’ve never had a problem with what I am. In fact, I’m proud of what I can do.” He got out of the driver’s seat and ran his hand along the curve of the steering wheel. “As long as we only exist in fiction, why live in fear, right?”

A million reasons to hide popped in my mind. Being committed to a mental ward, or maybe studied like a lab rat, or hunted, or who knew what.

Adam tipped his head toward the donut shop. “I’ve heard this place is great.”

“You’ve never been here before?” I unfastened my seatbelt.

“I can’t take you to any of my usual restaurants. If any of my Pack saw us together they’d catch your scent in a heartbeat.”

The Pack. I’d almost forgotten about them.

“Ahh…they wouldn’t like seeing you with a…” I hesitated. I couldn’t say it. “A girl like me?”

Adam met my eyes and lowered his voice. “The only jaguars we’ve ever run into were bloodthirsty killers. My Pack would smell the cat in you and assume you were the same.”

“So they’re racists.” Being the token foster kid all through school, I was used to being judged before anyone bothered to get to know me. Not fitting in was a constant for me, why not add being a flippin’ jaguar to the mix? Okay, it was possible I had a chip on my shoulder, but the thought that I would be judged and possibly killed because I smelled different pissed me off more than it frightened me.

He blinked and frowned. “No, they’re not… I’m just trying to protect you.”

“They don’t even know me, but you think they’d kill me on sight because of the way I smell? That’s beyond racist, it’s insane.”

“They might not kill you, but they’d definitely want you to get out of town.”

He was clearly backpedaling now. I shrugged and got out of the Jeep. “I’m planning on leaving town anyway.”

He came around and met me at the front of the Jeep, his gaze demanding my full attention. “Leaving isn’t going to keep you safe, but I could.”

The way he said the words, the look in his eyes, stopped me in my tracks. My pulse thrummed and part of me wondered if he could possibly be as attracted to me as I was to him. I blinked. No one should be allowed to have eyes that mesmerizing. “What do you want from me?”