Bite of the Moon: Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance Boxed Set (6 page)

Chapter Nine

The men tumbled to the ground, striking each other with fists. The rifle lay abandoned on the street. Kane ran out and grabbed it, figuring Tao could hold his own against pretty much anyone. He popped the trunk and dropped the weapon inside for safekeeping.

When Kane shut the trunk, he found another blur had joined the fray. This one he recognized as Leo because of the long blond hair. Within seconds, the two brothers had the shooter subdued, pinning him to the concrete. He didn’t stop struggling though, and finally, Leo just hauled off and punched him in the face, rendering the man unconscious.

Tao looked to Kane. "You okay?"

Kane nodded. "Yeah. Who the hell is this guy?" Lowering his voice, he said, "He knew I was a wolf."

"He did?" Tao asked.

Everyone looked down at the shooter. Tao and Leo cocked their heads at the same time.

"Huh." Tao nudged the shooter with his toe, but that didn’t provide any answers.

"Weird," Leo said. "Do you think…" He gave his brother a meaningful look.

Tao shook his head. "How would they know about us? Find us? Glen Vine isn’t a pack town. It’s not teeming with shifters."

"Who’s they?" Kane asked, but no one answered him as Kai arrived, driving Tao’s big, extended cab pickup.

He pulled over to the berm and parked the vehicle. Jumping out he brushed his long dark hair out of his face and said, "I see things are going according to plan. The wind told me we were favored today."

"The wind talks to you?" Kane asked.

Kai nodded. "It talks to you, too, but you don’t listen." Walking over to where the shooter lay unconscious on the ground, he bent down and studied the man. "Bad energy here," he said, waving his hand over the man’s body. "His kind definitely needs to go."

"He’s a
kind
? What kind?" Tao squatted down next to the shooter and stared at the man. He looked like any other human. There were no tattoos that might denote a gang affiliation. Nothing except a regular guy who had, for some reason, been hell bent on murder.

"A hunter," Kai said as if that explained everything.

"You really think so?" Tao asked. He came over and sniffed the air around the shooter. "He doesn’t smell like one."

"He attacks like one," Leo said. "He was obviously targeting Kane."

"What happened?" Tao asked Kane, his voice calm and steady.

Kane ran his hand through his hair, flustered. "I don’t know."

"Start at the beginning," advised Kai with an encouraging nod. He had a mess of eagle feathers and sticks in his hair, which made him look like he’d been rolling around in birds’ nests. The guy was a bit of a kook, but he made sense...sometimes.

Kane nodded. "Yeah. Okay. Charlotte ran into those two guys at Java Jump." He jerked his thumb toward his cruiser, where Dylan and Stan were slumped over and still. "They were talking about hunting wolves and had her all upset."

"Did they hurt her?" Leo’s hands clenched into fists.

"No, but something happened at Java Jump, and she lost control of her wolf and ran. Somehow, they found her and started shooting at her. They grazed her leg."

Tao’s expression grew dark. "Is Charlotte okay?" The three brothers looked at Kane, anxiety stamped on their faces.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Almost good as new." Charlotte emerged from the woods and swept a hand over her body. "Although I keep hearing guns going off everywhere. What the hell is going on out here?"

"We're trying to figure that out," Tao said. "Did you see anyone or anything?"

She shook her head. "Just Kane and the guys who shot me." She looked over to the cruiser and caught sight of the bullet-riddled safety glass. Stepping toward the car, she peered into the backseat, the color slowly draining from her face as she did so. "Oh." Her voice came out small and full of shock. She looked to Kane, who went to her and drew her away from the car.

"It's best not to look," he said. The two men would haunt him for the rest of his life. They should've been safe. He should've been able to protect them, but he'd failed. All because he was a werewolf. Damn. Was being bitten ever going to be a good thing?

"Well, shit." Her eyes wide, she met each of the men's gazes in turn. "Are you guys okay?"

"So far," Tao said. "Kane was just filling us in on what happened." He motioned for the sheriff to continue.

Kane nodded and cleared his throat. "Well, I caught up to them and put them in the cruiser to stew while I looked for Charlotte. I got her home safely, came back out here, and," he waved helplessly at his car, "this happened."

Kai pulled a bullet out of the shooter’s belt and sniffed it. "Smells like silver."

"Silver?" repeated Leo, his golden eyes going wide.

"That’s not good," Tao said, his voice still calm.

"What does this mean?" Kane asked. "What do I put on my report?"

"There won’t be a report." Tao said. "This never happened."

"We don’t need humans mixed up in this," added Kai. "It’s not their business, it’s ours."

"That’s against the law," Kane said. looking at each of his fellow wolves in turn. They didn’t share his legal concerns, though. He could see it on their faces. "I need to arrest him and charge him with murder."

"That will not solve the problem," Kai said, calm in the face of Kane’s agitation. "It will only put more of us in danger."

Kane stood up and stepped away from the brothers. This wasn’t what he'd signed up for. Why was everything a lie when it came to werewolves? First, Charlotte, then his mom, and now this. When did it end?

"We’re past the law, Kane. This has nothing to do with humans," Tao said, his voice remaining slow and even.

"Then explain it to me."

"We’re his prey," Kai said.

A chill went up Kane’s spine. "What the hell does that mean?"

Tao laid a reassuring hand on the sheriff’s shoulder. "What he means is this man is a hunter, and he wants to kill us."

"What is a hunter? You keep using that word like it has a different meaning." Kane looked at the shooter, wondering what his true agenda was.

"There are hunters and
hunters.
This man is from a group of hunters who know what we are. They’ve sworn to kill us all, " said Leo.

"How did he find us? We didn’t even exist a few months ago." Kane scratched the scar that remained from the bite that had turned him. Even with his super werewolf powers, the wound had scarred, and sometimes even tingled and itched. Nick had come at him from the shadows. Looking back, it was obvious the wolf had targeted him specifically as there'd been no reason for him to attack. And damned if he hadn’t caught a break since being bitten.

Looking down at the shooter, Kane wondered if something like their current situation was why Nick had come after him. Had he known he would need someone to throw cases and hide evidence? The thought made Kane's stomach hurt.

Tao shrugged. "I don’t know. Hunters seem to have a sixth sense about us. I sometimes wonder if they have their own magic."

"This one isn’t going to be an issue, at least," Leo said, nudging the shooter with his foot.

"If I can’t arrest him or report the shooting, what will happen to him? And what do I do about these two?" Kane pointed to Dylan and Stan. "Not to mention my cruiser is all shot up."

Kai looked at the men, his lips pursed and his eyes dark. "I will deal with them. Don’t worry, Sheriff." He walked over to the cruiser, his gazed locked on both men. He pulled on the door handle and when it didn’t open, he asked, "Can you unlock the car for me?"

Kane clicked the button on his key chain that would unlock the cruiser. "And the hunter?"

Tao ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed. "We’ll have to figure out a way to keep him from bothering us again."

Kai opened the back door of the cruiser and ducked his head inside. Coming back out, he said, "Yep, they’re dead. Smells like silver in there, too."

Tao heaved a big sigh. "Well, let’s clean this mess up." He nodded to Leo, who went to Tao’s truck and pulled out a blue tarp.

"What are you doing?" Kane asked.

"Whatever we do, we keep humans out of this, and that means no dead bodies." Tao helped Leo spread out the tarp, and the two brothers quickly moved the bodies out of the cruiser and onto the blue plastic. Working together, they rolled them up tight and then carried them over to the back of Tao’s pick-up.

"People are still going to see the bullet holes," Kane protested. "And those men deserve a decent burial."

"I’ll take care of it," Kai said. Raising his arm, he punched his fist through the back passenger window. Shuffling around to the other side of the cruiser, he did the same on that side. With a nod to Kane, he said, "See? No bullet holes now."

Kane just gaped at the man, at a loss for words. Jagged cubes of safety glass covered the ground, and his cruiser looked ready for the junkyard.

"Easy, Sheriff," Tao said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Kai's right. The less humans know, the better."

"My cruiser," Kane growled. "It's ruined." He'd scrimped and saved for five years to save enough in his budget to buy the thing. It was only a year old and far too young to have so many bullet holes.

"It's fixable," Leo said, his smile encouraging. "It'll be good as new after a few days in the body shop."

Kane looked at the three brothers, his eyes wide. "And what do I tell everyone at the station? My cruiser’s trashed, and their truck is stranded? What do I say?" Kane could just see it now. Someone would find out the truth and he would lose his job. He’d never had to lie before. Now everything depended on it.

"Tell them you took the men into custody, which is true, right? And you also went into the woods to see if they’d really hit a wolf, which is also true," Tao said.

Kane nodded, relaxing a fraction.

"When you came out, someone shot at you, took the men and ran. That’s all you know." Tao laid a hand on Kane’s shoulder. "That’s all you need to say."

"Let the humans run in circles trying to figure it out. It’ll keep them busy and not seeing anything important," said Kai.

"They’ll be found, eventually, but not here. Out of town somewhere. We’ll figure something out so they can get back to their families. This is just a stop-gap while we deal with the hunter." Tao looked at the men’s truck and frowned. "I don’t want to leave that here. Kai, go see if the keys are in the ignition."

Kai ambled toward the truck and gave a thumbs-up. "The keys are there."

"Good," Tao said. "We don’t have to dig through dead men's pockets for them." He nodded to Kai. "Okay, here’s the plan. Kai, you take the truck out, far away somewhere and ditch it. Wolf it back home."

"Got it," Kai said.

"Leo and I will take the hunter and stash the bodies somewhere until it’s safe for them to be found," Tao said.

Kane just blinked. He was a cop. Police procedure was everything, and this whole thing was now so far off the books it was in outer space. "Well, if we don’t want any more witnesses, I suggest we get moving. We can’t leave people lying in the road without raising questions." Kane looked down each end of the road. So far, it was empty, which was a small blessing, but one he knew they couldn’t count on. "And someone probably heard the shots and called them in. I might not be the only cop here for long."

"Yeah," Charlotte said with a nod of agreement. "That’s why I came out. I heard all the gunfire. I can’t be the only one."

"Well, then, let's not waste time," Leo said. He bent down and grabbed the hunter by the armpits, hauling him up to his knees so he could drag him over to Tao's truck.

Kai sidled up to Kane and, leaning in, the eccentric brother said, "You should really learn to listen to the wind."

"Why? What did it say about me?" Kane asked, humoring him.

"Fate is stirring inside your soul." Kai whirled a finger in the air.

"Did it say anything about the shooter?"

Kai nodded. "It sang to me this morning that there was a shadow over us."

"And from that you knew this hunter guy was looking for us?" Kane frowned.

"Not until I saw him," Kai said, seeming unaware of how little help the wind had been.

"I don’t get it," Kane said.

Kai patted the sheriff on the shoulder. "You’re not supposed to. Just listen to me. I’ll keep you out of trouble."

Chapter Ten

As it turned out, Kai couldn't keep any of them out of trouble, no matter how many promises he made. A shout from Tao caused them to both turn. Kane’s stomach clenched at what he saw. The shooter had woken up and caught everyone unaware. He battled both Tao and Leo, his fists moving so fast they were a blur. It was way faster than any human should be able to move, and recalling what Tao had said, Kane realized the shooter may not be a shifter, but he was more than human.

Pulling his gun, Kane yelled out, "Freeze or I’ll shoot!" To Charlotte, he said, "Get behind the cruiser."

She shook her head and stayed where she was. "I’m a wolf, too, remember? Super strong and everything. I don’t need to hide."

"She’s right," Kai said.

Meanwhile, the shooter had ducked behind Tao, slamming his fists into the big man’s kidneys. Leo came up behind the shooter and did his best to knock the man out with another punch to the head, but he seemed to sense the hit coming and twisted away just before it connected with his temple. Everyone was so intertwined and moving so fast that Kane didn't dare pull the trigger. All he could do was watch and hope for an opening.

The shooter then came back with an upper cut that Leo tried to dodge, but he was too late and the shooter's fist slammed into his chin. His head snapped back, his blond hair swinging with the force of the hit. Leo staggered back a few steps and then fell, unable to hold his ground.

The shooter returned his attention to Tao, who had spun around to face him. They grappled and, for a long moment, were evenly matched, but Tao’s strength began to prevail. With a roar, the big alpha grabbed the shooter’s shirt and lifted him up until his feet were dangling in the air.

That turned out to be a mistake because it just allowed the shooter to kick at Tao’s stomach and chest. His feet slammed into Tao's gut, forcing the air from the big alpha's lungs. With a grunt, Tao dropped the man, pouncing on top of him and doing his best to bang the shooter’s head against the pavement. The sound of groans and expletives filled the air as they grappled with each other. Kane kept his gun at the ready, looking for a clear shot, but not finding one.

"Aren’t you going to help?" he asked Kai, thinking one more brother might tip the fight in their favor.

Kai shook his head. "It’s pointless."

"We should do something," Charlotte said. She stepped forward, only to have Kai draw her back.

"She’s right. We can’t let him get away," Kane said, not liking that once again he was stuck in an out-of-control situation. He was torn between ditching his gun and jumping into the fray, and staying where he was. Weapons were an upper hand in most fights. Even if a shot hadn’t presented itself just yet, it would eventually. He’d broken up enough fights and busted enough gang members to know that.

"Save your energy." Kai put an arm out, pushing Kane back as well. "He’s going to get away."

"What?"

Kai shrugged. "It’s not his time."

"Did the wind tell you that, too?" Kane squinted, trying to follow the action.

Kai didn’t answer because Tao and Leo began shouting and yowling. The sound was sudden and full of pain. Something bad had happened. Kane started forward and then stopped short as he realized why the two brothers were screaming.

The shooter had stabbed them with knives. He’d nailed them right above their knee-caps with inhuman precision, causing both men to drop to the ground.

Kai darted past Kane then, heading for the shooter, a growl springing from his lips. There was a split second where Kane had a shot, and then Kai was in the way, launching himself on the shooter.

"Damn it," Kane muttered to himself. Kai was shifter strong, but not as strong as his brothers and nowhere near a match for the shooter. Kane tucked his gun into its holster and rushed over to help however he could.

Tao and Leo had already removed the blades from their knees and cast them aside. Even though they couldn’t stand, they did their best to have Kai’s back. Kane jumped into the mix, swinging his fists with a speed that surprised him. It was the first fight he’d been in since turning into a werewolf, and he found himself miscalculating speed versus target. His blows only hit air until he corrected for his new super speed.

Realizing he was out-numbered, the shooter began edging back, one step at a time. He threw Kai to the ground and moved away. Tao and Leo kept after him, dragging their bad legs behind them. Just then, Kane was the only one who could keep up. He managed to land a punch in the shooter’s stomach and a glancing blow to his face, but the full force of his strength couldn’t keep up with the shooter’s retreat. Every time his fist connected, the shooter was already on his way out.

"You’re under arrest," Kane said.

The shooter shook his head. "This isn’t about human law, wolf."

Kane pulled his gun and steadied it over his other arm, wanting to be sure his shot would find its target. "Stop now or I’ll shoot." He never wanted to hurt anyone, but this asshole was begging for it. Plus, the paperwork would be easier than the testimony.

"Then do it," roared the shooter. He charged Kane, and before the sheriff could react, he was too close. The man grabbed Kane’s shirt and then rammed him with a head-butt that left him reeling. He staggered back and fell, clutching his head as he went down. Kane had never experienced such brute force, not even when he’d had to tackle a guy strung out on PCP back in his rookie days.

This was the kind of strength that could kill without a weapon, and it carried a fury that Kane couldn’t fathom. When his vision cleared, Kane staggered to his feet, intent on finding the shooter and finishing this, but he was gone, as if he’d never been there.

"Where the hell did he go?" Kane asked as he turned in a slow circle. "And how did one guy take all four of us on and win?" He went to shake his head, but stopped when his brain started sloshing around in his skull like an overfilled Slurpee cup.

Kai slowly pulled himself to his feet. "Hunters are stronger than I realized."

"Faster, too," Leo said, groaning as he put weight on his injured leg for the first time.

"You think?" Tao growled more than spoke as he examined his knee. "He got his knife right under my patella. I couldn’t even bend my leg."

"Yeah, these were calculated strikes, not just to injure, but to incapacitate." Leo picked up one of the knives in question and examined it. "Smells like silver, too."

"What’s the deal with silver? Is it like the myths?" Kane asked. "Does it kill us?"

"No, silver won’t kill us. It’s a hunter tradition," Leo said. "At least I think that's how it works. Or maybe silver just doesn’t hurt us since we’re wolf born. We've never tested it. It's not like we do experiments on ourselves or anything to find out exactly how different we are from other shifters."

"Well, he got away. What’s the plan now?" Kane headed for his cruiser, wanting something to lean on. The head-butt had been a bell ringer, leaving him unsteady. Although, being a werewolf kept it from being worse than it could be. If he’d been human, he’d probably be in a coma.

Staring into the now empty back-seat, his stomach sank and then clenched into a hard knot. Two men had died. For no reason other than he was a werewolf.

It's all my fault.

He felt a tremble shake its way through him. Anger quaked inside him and his blood felt hot as lava. Nick had done this. The damn wolf had bitten him and changed him forever. It was Nick's fault.

And yet those men had died on
his
watch.

I will not let that happen again.
He gritted his teeth, full of determination.
I won't let being a werewolf ruin everything in my life.

"You go back to the station and do whatever paperwork you need to do. We’ll handle the rest," Tao said, the alpha's deep voice intruded on Kane's thoughts and brought him back to the task at hand. "I want to set up patrols looking for this guy ASAP. Find him before he comes back for us."

"I’ll take Andrew and go through the woods here," offered Leo. "I’ll have him meet me here and we'll track this guy's scent." He pulled out his phone and quickly typed out a text.

"Come to my house after you’re done at work, Sheriff. We’ll gather the pack and pow-wow the next step," Tao said. When Kane didn’t respond right away, he asked, "You okay?"

His head injury somewhat improved, Kane nodded. "Yeah. Are you sure this is the right way to deal with it? You don’t want me to put out an APB and bring this guy in?"

"That puts him in the human system and you saw him fight. He’s more like us than anything else." Tao said with an abrupt shake of his head. "The last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves and for other packs to find out about us. I know you weren’t there the day my pack alpha tried to kill us, but believe me when I say the other packs will come at us if they find out we exist. Werewolves are supposed to be born, not bitten. Our pack breaks a lot of rules. Somehow we stood out to this hunter. He knew what we were when no one else did. We’ll deal with him quietly and keep humans out of it so they not only stay safe, but don’t cause anyone to look at us twice."

"It’s the moon’s law," Kai said. "Pack protects pack, no matter what."

"It’s really for everyone’s protection," Leo added. "Humans and ours."

"Wolves don’t mess around," Kane said, rubbing his head which throbbed like there were rows of tiny little hammers trying to bang their way free. For once, he couldn't wait for his super fast werewolf healing to kick in. It was the one good thing so far about the whole humans-turned-wolves fiasco.

"No, we don’t. We kill anything that threatens us. That has always been our way." Tao’s expression became even more serious.

"Sounds violent," Kane said. "Are you saying you’re going to kill this guy? Is that what wolves do? Murder people?"

Tao shook his head. "We aren't killers. We don’t bother humans, and they don’t know about us. Other shifters stay away from packs they don’t know well because they know we won’t hesitate to defend ourselves. The problems come from hunters or..." He trailed off.

"Your brother," Kane finished for him.

Tao gave a curt nod. "Or Nick and shifters like him. We aren’t perfect. There have been other shifters who preyed on humans, but we dealt with them."

"You didn't answer my question, though," Kane pressed. "Are you planning to kill this hunter guy?"

Tao fell silent for a moment, his mouth a grim line. "I don't want to kill anyone, but it's not about what you or I want. It's about what keeps the pack safe."

"How often does murder keep a pack safe?" Kane asked, unable to keep his voice from going sour. He knew it wasn't Tao's fault, but that didn't take away the fact they were discussing murder as if it were an everyday thing.             

Tao shrugged, his expression guarded. "Maybe twice in my lifetime."

"And the hunters? How often do they pop up?" Charlotte asked, looking just as repulsed by the whole thing as Kane felt.

"That’s harder to say. I’ve heard rumors, but haven’t seen one before. If I add up all the rumors, I come up with five total." Tao flashed his hand to emphasize the count.

"So how do you know this was a hunter?" Charlotte nodded in the direction the man had disappeared.

"The silver bullets and knives." Kai twirled one of the small daggers used to attack his brothers in his hand. "That’s their hallmark."

"And now what do we do?" Charlotte crossed her arms, hugging her body.

"We get him before he gets us." Tao headed toward his truck, Leo following right behind him. Kai went for the human’s truck. "Go make your report and then meet at my house. We’ll have food, and after we eat, we’ll compare notes and figure out our strategy. Then, we'll make this hunter the hunted." With that, the brothers drove off, leaving just Kane and Charlotte to deal with the aftermath that remained.