Taken by Moonlight (3 page)

She was
opening her lips to demand that he escort her back to her sister when the
sounds of laughter and shrieks filled her ears.

“What is
that?” She didn’t know that she’d asked the question out loud until Eli
replied.

“Family.
Friends. Stay here, please. And don’t remove the blindfold.”

“No, don’t
leave, Eli,” she said urgently. “Eli? Eli?”

Her hand
lifted to the blindfold and she would have tugged it off but for the large hand
that suddenly stopped her. The hairs of the back of her neck rose at the
contact. This was not Eli.

“Stand up.”

His voice
was gruff as he helped her to her feet. Conall had returned from the run before
the rest of the pack to find Eli talking to the woman as if he’d known her all
his life. Not only that, but the blindfold had been on her lap. He’d remained
hidden in the shadows of the cave, waiting for his nephew to scent him on the
air, and knowing he would have to put the pup through intensive training to
hone his skills as both hunter and fighter. Maybe he was just distracted among
pretty females. Eli
was
of that age. Conall vowed to find him some
pretty
pack
females. Not pretty, brown-skinned human females with
trusting golden eyes and vulnerable expressions.

“Wait,
please. Who are you?”

Conall
contemplated answering falsely, before he remembered Eli had told her his name
already. “Conall.”

She nodded,
a little shiver racing across her body. “Will you take me back to my sister?”

“Yes.”

“I’d like
to remove my blindfold to see you.”

“No.”

“Why not? I
can’t walk with it on.”

She
released a shriek as he lifted her, her arms scrambling to grasp at his
shoulders. The human held him tightly, like he was an anchor, and burrowed
close.

“You don’t
have to carry me.” He was already moving. “I can walk.”

“This is
faster. Just hold on to me.”

A cool
breeze touched Vivienne as he moved, and her lids grew heavy. Before long, she
felt the world slipping away, her heartbeat easily matching the solid thump
under her ear as her breathing evened. When next she awoke, Vivienne was
perched against the bark of a tree and she could hear her sister’s frantic
voice.

She tugged
the blindfold from her eyes and blinked to readjust her gaze.

“Why didn’t
you go with her?” Cassie was screaming at one of her friends. “You should have
told me. God, she’s been gone for two hours! She’s probably lost somewhere or
God forbid—no, I am
not
going to think of that. I would know if
something bad happened to Viv. Come on, we need more flashlights and why can’t
I ever get a damn signal when I really need it?”

Pushing to
her feet, Vivienne lightly dusted the dirt and leaves from her sweat pants. How
had she gotten here? She remembered the man named Conall picking her up and
then she was sitting on the ground, propped against a tree.

Rubbing her
hand over her face, and thinking that the night had been strange, to put it
lightly, she walked toward her sister’s gradually rising voice.

“Oh yes!
Please…harder. Ahh!
Conall
, yes!”

Samia was
on all fours and Conall was behind her, hips plunging forward as he remembered
honey-colored eyes, soft, plump lips, and a lithe frame. She wasn’t his type at
all. She was human, for Luna’s sake, but he’d wanted her. He’d wanted to strip
her bare and take her on the forest floor, under the moonlight. Especially when
she’d fallen asleep in his arms, and had snuggled close as he sped through the
trees toward the campsite. As he watched her sleep, he’d thought of all the
things he could do to the body hidden under those clothes. He’d been so
affected at the images that after making sure she was safe with her sister and
friends, Conall returned to the campsite ready for a night of debauched sex that
would soothe his beast.

Vivienne.
That was what she’d been called by
her sister after she stepped onto the campsite. As Conall stared at them, he
saw the similarities—twins—but he also easily caught the little differences
that made him ache for Vivienne and left him unaffected staring at her twin.
Her face was slightly fuller, although still thin and small, delicate, and
although obviously frightened about her trek through the forest, she’d spent
most of the time comforting her sister. She’d even interjected humor into the
situation, causing her sister and their friends to laugh. And she had a
beautiful smile, beautiful lips, beautiful throat….

He felt
Samia ripple around him, screams and growls escaping her, but he continued on,
pumping furiously as he felt himself grow larger. Samia moved beneath him,
groaned and pushed back, trying to take all of him into her body. One hand
gripped her hip as the other moved to her shoulder, holding her firm. There
were things he intended to do only with his mate, and pinning was one of them.
Samia knew that. It was the way of their people, a joining too intimate to be
done with just anyone, but she seemed to forget the more he took her. He
continued to move against her, careful not to press too viciously, lest he be
pinned. His release was fast and quick, and as he came, an image of the human
female pushed to the forefront of his mind.

Conall
moved away from Samia and lay on his back, placing a hand behind his head as he
stared up at the dark stone ceiling of the cave. She immediately crawled next
to him, wrapping her arms and legs about his body as she pressed her head into
his shoulder.

Without
acknowledging her, Conall closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. He
thought of the human and the effect that she’d had on him, quickly forgetting
that Samia slept beside him.

The next
day found Vivienne true to her word as she trekked down the mountainous state
park to where she’d parked her silver Toyota Hybrid. Today was her birthday,
and she was going home to take a long shower, sleep for a few hours, and go out
with her best friends, Max and Drew. She hadn’t gotten any real sleep last
night, especially with the eventful night she’d had, and to top it off, Cassie
had drilled her about her whereabouts, and had launched into a monologue of how
much she’d miss Vivienne if anything were to happen to her. Vivienne loved her
sister, and listened to Cassie as they cuddled together at the age of
twenty-three, just as they’d done when they were younger. She’d been really tired,
but every time her eyes closed, Cassie would nudge her or pinch her lightly,
anything to keep her awake until Cassie grew tired and they both finally had a
few hours of rest.

She’d ended
up waking when her sister moved, then stretched and left the tent. It was
frigid, colder in the morning than it had been last night. As soon as Vivienne
was standing and thinking coherently, she wasted no time. She rinsed her mouth
with some bottled water, hugged her sister while they exchanged birthday
wishes, and after some minutes of talking to her sister and her friends, she
had them lead her to the trail that would take her down the mountain, to indoor
plumbing and electricity!

Thoughts
like those were swarming her head as she navigated her way down some of the
steeper parts of the mountain, and it was because of thoughts like those—in
particular, she was debating a shower versus a hot bath—that she didn’t see a
raised root. Pitching forward, she grazed her knee against the rocky terrain.

“Shit—fu—ouch!”
she muttered as she pushed off of the knee and sat down. This was why she had
to get out of here. Pulling her sweats up, she reached into her bag and removed
a stack of traveling tissues. Grabbing about half of them, she applied pressure
to her bleeding flesh and looked around. Except for her, the trail was
deserted. She almost smiled at that. Maybe her sister and the men she’d run
into had been the only ones camping last night. It was impossibly cold up
there.

After
nursing the graze as best she could, she removed the bloody tissue, wrapped it
in a ball, and put in back into her bag. Cassie might be the eco-friendly one
but she wasn’t about to add to environmental pollution, either. She pressed the
rest of the tissues against the gash, and used a spare shoelace to create a
temporary bandage.

Vivienne
was surprised she was handling the situation so well. She guessed her happiness
at leaving the park had overridden any irritation she’d felt through her stay
there. Standing, she tested the leg. It was sore and throbbed like a bastard,
but she could walk. She continued down the trail, and within the hour, she was
sitting in her car as she made her way back to the city.

Conall’s
morning run had taken him back to the site where he’d left the human female.
He’d watched as the others led her to the trail that would take her down the
mountain, had seen her fall and hurt her knee. He’d felt a swell of respect as
he watched her nurse the wound without throwing a hysterical tantrum. In fact,
she lost her smile only when she released her string of curses directly as she
fell, but it returned almost immediately. He followed her, lurking behind
trees, as she finally descended and made her way over to a silver sedan. She
looked back to the mountain, and with a grin and what appeared to be a salute,
no doubt good riddance, jumped into her car and drove away.

Even in
wolfen form, Conall found himself smiling.

There was
nothing quite like staring at oneself on the evening of one’s birthday,
especially when the oneself in question thought she looked quite good. The
midnight black, curly mass that was her hair had been blown straight before
being flat-ironed into flowing, Pantene-Pro-V perfection. It now touched right
below her shoulder blades, and seemed to brush invitingly over the tops of her
breasts. A red V-neck tunic shirt exposed a teasing expanse of smooth brown
skin before hugging over slender curves. The sleeves of the shirt caught at her
elbow so that while tantalizing, it was still conservative. Her long legs
sported fitted dark blue jeans, before giving way to a pair of ankle-length,
red suede boots with thin, tall heels.

Drew had
helped her accessorize, and gold was the accessory of choice. A flat golden
bracelet that she’d received from her mother, artistically designed in the
shape of a snake with a soft ruby atop its head, adorned her right wrist. Two
thin, golden earrings hung from her ears. She’d gone light with her makeup, as
usual. A hint of blush, sunset-colored eye shadow, and shiny red gloss.

Vivienne
placed her hand on her waist and turned to the side. The jeans certainly
flattered her bottom. She almost chuckled at that. Her mother would have said
something like that. Evelyn had always said, in her slightly accented voice,
that her girls were “beautiful, but could use a few more curves.” Especially
Cassie, who was almost rail thin because she was now a strict vegan.

“Jeez, Viv,
stop showing off already.”

She turned
to face Drew who sat at the edge of her bed, nursing a mock scowl. Her lips
kept slanting upward in a smile before she tried to regain control and flatten
them.

Vivienne
chuckled. Drew Tierney was one of her closest friends. Since freshman year of
college, when Vivienne had sat next to the smart but introverted girl in
Contemporary Art, the two had been inseparable. They’d only grown closer as the
years passed and now Drew was one of her roommates. The other was Max.

“If I’m
staring, it’s only because I don’t recognize myself.” She turned to look back
into the mirror, and pouted her lips. “You should be a makeup artist on the
side. I know people who would pay for this.” Most of them, she worked with.
Paralegals, legal assistants, even some lawyers. Gosh, some of those lawyers
really
,
really needed a night out. Maybe a few days of sleep.

Drew
chuckled and in the mirror, Vivienne saw her shake her head, causing the
micro-braids she wore to fan out about her face. She rolled her dark eyes. “The
only reason you’re so surprised about the transformation is because you don’t
put any effort into doing it on a daily basis. You’re like me, content to be
natural…unless it’s your birthday.”

Her friend
winked and Vivienne grinned.

Drew was
right. She wasn’t big on dressing up, or making herself up for that matter.
One, it took too much time and effort, and two, her job as a legal assistant
didn’t exactly require she be a fashionista. Granted, she had to make her
appearance decent, but slacks and a dress top were all that was needed on a
good day. It wasn’t as if she were one of the attorneys and after completing a
year as Arnold Hastings’ slave, for lack of more appropriate word, she highly
doubted that she ever would be. If not for the fact that she’d told him this
Saturday was her birthday months ago, she doubted she would have had the entire
day off. Corporate attorneys were vicious and Arnold was among the very best.