Beneath a Blood Moon (49 page)

“No bleeding?” he demanded, sniffing again as though distrusting his sense of smell.

I shook my head.

Relief eased the scent of his anxiety. He settled back on his heels to stare at me with a faint smile. I had to admit he was good looking, in a sun-bathed, beach boy sort of way—a way I didn’t like all that much.

Maybe other women liked his sort of surfer perfection, but he’d never hold a candle to my Sanders.

“The idea of waiting for a witch was to make sure there were no problems with the puppy,” Richard scolded. Picking up the things he had dropped beside the car, he set a McDonald’s bag on my lap. “At least having hands will make eating those easier. Eat them all; you need it. Had I known you were going to just go and change back to human, I would have gotten more.”

I worked an arm out from under the blanket so I could peek into the bag. There were at least ten burgers inside, and I sighed in resignation. Grabbing one, I set it on my lap, unwrapped it without bothering to free my other arm, and nibbled on it.

It tasted terrible. I almost wished I were still a wolf so I could express my disgust better.

Richard chuckled and started the car. “Best I could do, sorry.” Pressing a button on the steering wheel, he said, “Call Desmond.”

“What is it, Richard?” my Alpha answered.

“When your daughter realizes I’ve been alone in a car with a naked woman who belongs on the cover of a magazine, she’s going to murder me. I hope this makes you happy.”

“She changed?” Desmond replied.

“I was in Walmart picking up a few things to take to the lodge. Came back to a dark-haired, green-eyed woman instead of a wolf.”

“Sara?” The hope in Desmond’s voice hurt.

The thought of speaking made my dry throat hurt, so I grunted and took another bite of my burger.

“She’s not very impressed with my offerings,” Richard admitted, his deep voice purring in his throat and chest. “She’s been human for maybe a few minutes. Give her some time to remember English, Desmond. Before you ask, she seems fine. No bleeding.”

“Good. Don’t you even think of crashing that Porsche, Richard. I will hunt you down and beat you.”

Richard snorted. “I’ll try to avoid it.”

“You corrupted my daughter with your love of those death traps. Don’t you even think of infecting Sara.”

“I did no such thing. Your daughter was trying to steal my Porsche and everything else I own from the day I met her. Don’t you go blaming that on me, Desmond.”

“How far out are you?” Desmond demanded.

“An hour and a half, maybe a bit longer depending on the roads. At least we haven’t had a lot of snow yet this year. I’m taking it slow to give her a chance for the edge to wear off. I wanted to ask you if you think I should call Nicolina so Sanders can hear Sara’s voice.”

“Probably not wise. If his howling is any indication, he’ll lose it if he hears her voice and can’t get to her. I’ll call Nicolina and warn her to be ready to let the beast out of his cage so he doesn’t poison himself to death when he scents her. Considering they crossed the entirety of the United States without him turning on her, he won’t now. I’ll beat you there by a notable margin, so I’ll have some time to work with him.”

Richard sighed. “I’m going to get flattened, aren’t I?”

“A rival male near his mate? I’d say so. Don’t worry, Richard. If you’re really nice to me, I’ll protect you.”

“Thanks, Desmond. Really appreciated.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

I choked down three of the burgers before I couldn’t stomach the thought of another. Between the grease, the wretched taste of overcooked meat, and the excessive use of ketchup, I fought to keep the pitiable excuse for food where it belonged.

Richard wouldn’t appreciate me throwing up in his mate’s car.

“Eat,” he growled at me.

“You eat it. It’s disgusting,” I replied, my voice hoarse and growly.

Glancing at the clock, Richard made a satisfied noise. “Thirty minutes to get something out of you in English. That’s not bad at all. You really should eat. You can’t have eaten much while wearing that muzzle.”

I bristled at the implication Sanders had neglected me, and for a long moment, all I could do was growl. “I ate.”

“How?” Richard countered, snorting. “I took off the muzzle, remember. There was no way you could hunt or eat while wearing it.”

“Sanders.”

“What about him?”

“He shredded our prey,” I replied, careful to keep my tone as neutral as possible.

He’d only come close to shredding me once after I’d been caught; I had approached him too soon after one of his kills. It had taken me several days to recover from the gashes he had inflicted on me, though the wounds hadn’t hampered my ability to keep up with him as we had continued west.

“He actually fed you?” Surprise altered Richard’s scent. “Maybe he’s not as far gone as I thought. He put up a hell of a fight when we found him, though.”

“He was hunting,” I growled.

Richard sucked in a breath. “For you. That explains a lot. He knew he had to get back to you with food or you and the puppy would starve. No wonder he’s been so much trouble. All I knew when I came down to help was that he was running wild and the last time anyone had seen Sanders, he had a bitch with him who had been muzzled and collared. When I saw him alone, I assumed something had happened which left him alone—not an unreasonable assumption, all things considered. Wild wolves aren’t exactly known for sanity.”

“What do you mean?”

Sighing, Richard shook his head. “Right, you’re new. I forgot. You got lucky. Maybe it’s because you’re an Omega, but normally, wild wolves turn on everyone—their mates included. They’re dangerous, volatile, and lethal. I assumed he was wild because Sanders tore into me like the fiend he is before we managed to subdue him.”

“Twice,” I whispered.

“Twice?”

“He got violent with me twice,” I admitted. “He stole my deer and batted me away with his paw. The second time, I got too close to him after a kill, and he bit me a few times.”

“That’s just normal Alpha behavior when running as a wolf, Sara. Nicolina’s taken a few whacks from me on bad days. Unfortunately for me, she hits a lot harder than I do,” Richard muttered. “If he had turned on you, you’d be dead.”

“Oh.”

We spent the rest of the drive in silence, and I was nodding off when Richard parked in front of a large house high up in the mountains. I blinked blearily.

Desmond’s car was parked beside a silver SUV, which was also a Mercedes. Richard got out, closed his door, and circled the Porsche. I yawned.

“I’ll carry you,” Richard said, reaching over me to unbuckle my seatbelt. “Maybe if I’m holding you, Sanders won’t flatten me. You can also stay nice and warm this way.”

We were halfway up to the house when the front door opened and Desmond appeared. “Sara.” He breathed my name, hopping down the steps to stand in the snow, ignoring his lack of shoes. “Amber’s ready to release him from the cage. You’ve already brawled with him once today, Richard. I’ll take her. He’s not stupid enough to test me.”

For a moment, Richard hesitated, and then he sighed and handed me over to Desmond. “She didn’t eat a lot.”

“She shares your love of salmon,” Desmond grumbled, holding me close to him. Dropping a kiss on my brow, he relaxed and sighed. “Your devil mate blocked you out of
my
pack bonds. I’m torn between wanting to kill him and being ridiculously proud of him for pulling it off.”

“Hi,” I mumbled.

“Hello. Had yourself a bit of an adventure, did you? You just can’t stay out of trouble, no matter what I do. What happened?” Desmond demanded, carrying me into the house.

“Driver shot Sanders with a dart,” I growled.

“The
driver
? We found his body along with one other, but I didn’t think he was involved.” Desmond’s scent turned bitter from his anger. “How did you get away?”

“Choked him. Shot the other one with the dart thing,” I replied, resting my cheek against Desmond’s chest, fighting back a yawn. “Swam.”

“You swam.”

“You should probably get her to Sanders before your daughter really does zap him,” Richard said, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“Relax, Richard. He’s as calm as can be expected under the circumstances. I know what I’m doing.”

The door in the hallway looked like it should have led to a closet instead of a stairwell. I heard my mate’s growls long before we reached the basement. Richard went down first, taking the steps two at a time.

“Richard!” I heard pleasure in the voice I recognized as Nicolina’s. “Where’s the wolf?”

“I have her,” Desmond replied, far more careful with his footing than Richard. “She decided to change in the car while Richard was shopping.”

“Shopping?” Nicolina demanded.

“Clothes. Sanders will probably want them once we convince him to get out of his fur coat. If Sara had been nice enough to let me know she was going to change before I went in, I would have gotten her some, too.”

Desmond halted near the bottom of the staircase. “I’d get out of his way, because once I come into sight, he’s going to lose it.”

“Ready when you are,” another woman announced.

When Desmond reached the bottom of the staircase, metal clattered against metal, and my mate crashed into us. Desmond hit the wall hard before sliding to the floor. The air rushed out of my lungs from the force of my mate’s head ramming into my chest. He ran his nose up to my throat and gave a brisk rub. He pawed at me, whining.

“Dad!” Nicolina squeaked.

“Okay, that hurt a bit more than I was expecting,” Desmond groaned beneath me. “Damn it, Sanders, you’re heavy.”

“Notice how he wisely excluded Sara from his comment,” Wendy said, coming into the doorway to crouch beside Sanders, resting one hand on his shoulder. My mate licked my throat, placing his paw on my shoulder to keep me in place. “You have no idea how relieved I am to see you, Sara.”

“Sanders, stop that,” I complained, freeing my arm to shove his muzzle away. I managed to budge him a few inches before he decided to disregard my attempts to hold him at bay.

His cold nose against my neck drew a squeal out of me, as did the scrape of his teeth.

“Well, excited is far better than snarling,” Nicolina stated, approaching cautiously. The young woman reminded me a lot of Wendy, with the exception of her eyes and the way she carried herself, which reminded me of Desmond. “So, you’re Sara?”

I nodded and fended my mate off with my elbow. My mate whined, prancing in place. Before I could defend myself, he dragged his tongue from my chin to my scalp. “Sanders, stop that,” I begged.

“He’s a totally different wolf,” Nicolina commented, crouching down. She balled her hand into a fist, sighed, and like her mother had, she reached out and gave my mate a companionable pat on his shoulder. “Are you okay, Father?”

“I’ll manage. Sara, I’m going to force him to change, so try to keep calm. If he fights me, it might be a lengthy and bloody process.”

I tensed. “Now?”

“Do you think you can move him?”

I eyed my mate, who once again placed his paw on my shoulder. While he didn’t rest much of his weight on me, I had the feeling he wouldn’t let me up. “Good point.”

“He’s not going to be with the program for a while, so don’t be surprised if he growls and yips at you.”

“It only took her thirty minutes to start using English,” Richard reported. “I was impressed.”

“Tried to poison me with bad burgers,” I grumbled.

“You only ate three,” Richard replied, wrinkling his nose. “You need to eat.”

Shaking his head, Desmond squirmed beneath me until he could sit straighter. “If you can squeeze by me, Nicolina, do you think you can cook something so Sanders doesn’t try to eat us once he’s finished transforming?”

“Do I look like a chef to you? Am I wearing a little white apron and a funny-looking hat? How about a hair net? Am I wearing one of those?” Nicolina placed her hands on her hips.

A smile was all it took to transform Richard from a good-looking man into a gorgeous one. He knelt at Nicolina’s side, kissing her cheek. “You cook. I’ll make cookies.”

“Cookies,” she murmured, her eyes widening.

“And you wonder how he charmed our daughter,” Wendy said, grinning. “It was obviously his wise use of his baking skills.”

“Can we not talk about this?” Nicolina demanded.

“Cookies,” Richard cooed in her ear.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll make dinner. If you’re lucky, I won’t poison you,” the woman snarled, and muttering curses, she crawled over my mate’s back. Sanders turned an ear back, and when she was almost over him, he whipped his head around and nipped her ass.

She squeaked, lost her balance, and fell. Desmond caught her with an arm, choking on his laughter. “You okay, baby?”

“I’m going to skin him,” Nicolina hissed through clenched teeth.

“That’s what you get for crawling over him,” Richard chided, pulling the same stunt his mate had moments before, scrambling over Sanders to reach the staircase.

I pinched him as hard as I could. Like Nicolina, he fell, adding to the pile of the bodies littering the foot of the staircase. I turned my attention to my mate, burying my face against his warm fur and breathing in his scent.