First Moon (New Moon Wolves) BBW Werewolf Romance (21 page)

Flashing a smile full of easy charm, Nick said, “Easy there, big alpha. I came to talk, not fight.”

“The time for talking is over,” growled Sam, his voice so deep it rumbled in his
chest like an earthquake. The second tensed, ready to spring on Dan’s signal, his hands balled into fists.

“Fighting me will get you nowhere,” Nick said. “But talking might solve all our problems.”

Dan narrowed his eyes and gestured with the gun. “So talk then.”

Nick gave a curt nod, his blond hair whipping in the strong breeze that came off the lake. “I’m not going to attack the Deerton Pack. I’m making my home here.” He squeezed Audrey against him, not noticing the look of disgust on her face. “Let’s face it, us wolf-born wolves never fit in at Deerton. Now I have a pack to call my own and,” he inclined his head toward Tao, “my brothers are welcome to join me.”

“He’s lying,” Audrey said. “He told me he’s going to...” Whatever she was going to say next was cut off as Nick slapped her. Audrey’s head snapped back and her hazel eyes became unfocused.

“I told you to be quiet,” Nick growled.

Tao lunged for Nick intent on prying Audrey away from him, but his brother danced away with a snarl. “This is between me and my mate. Stay out of my business.”

“She’s not your mate,” Tao said, stopping short of saying ‘she’s mine.’

“Says who?” The giant blond challenged.

“Me,” shrieked Audrey as she shoved a shoulder into Nick in an effort to break his grip.

“Okay, enough bullshit,” Dan said, raising his gun. He pulled the trigger and the gun fired with a roar.

Time slowed as everyone sought cover. Nick ducked, dragging Audrey with him while Tao stepped to the side just in case he was in the way of the bullet. Dan and Sam stood still, watching to see if they’d hit their target. When Nick appeared unhurt, Dan fired again and then again, but either his aim was bad or Nick was too fast for a bullet because none of them ever touched him.

While Dan reloaded his gun, Nick scrambled to his feet and pulled Audrey in front of him. “If you want to kill me, you’ll have to go through her.”

“My pleasure. I’m all for efficiency.” Dan said brightly. He aimed the gun and squeezed.

Tao caught the way Nick’s eyes widened in surprise. He wasn’t the only one shocked by Dan’s willingness to murder. His brother had miscalculated, thinking the pack would care about an innocent human.

Audrey screamed and Nick slammed them both to the ground as the bullet whined
overhead.

“Stop it,” Tao shouted, waving his arms. “This is insane. We are not having a shootout, okay? Can we please just talk for a minute?”

No one listened to him so he did something he never thought he would do: Attack his alpha. Tao tackled the burly man, easily dropping him to the ground. Dan lost his grip on the gun as he fell and it skittered across the wood decking of the lookout.

In the background, he heard Nick say, “You stupid bitch” followed by the sound of Audrey being hit.

She screamed and then sputtered, “Fuck you.”

Sam fired a gun at Nick, something Tao caught out of the corner of his eye. When the bullet didn’t strike home, the Second ran to get closer to his targets.

Tao moved to go help Audrey, but stopped short as Dan wrapped his hands around his neck and began squeezing off his air supply. With a few deft movements, the alpha flipped Tao onto his back, taking the top position. Tao aimed for Dan’s eyes, requiring him to choose between choking Tao or keeping his eyeballs in their sockets. Predictably, the alpha opted to protect his eyes and the second Tao could breathe again, he jabbed Dan right in the throat. He followed up with a punch to the solar plexus. The alpha stopped breathing and made an awful gurgling sound as he rolled off Tao, giving up the fight for the moment.

Tao sprang to his feet and dashed over to where Nick was beating Audrey. She cowered under a tree, her back to the trunk, body turned to the side as he rained blow after blow on her. Sam lay on the ground, unconscious with a purple bruise blossoming on his temple.

Focusing on his brother, he said, “Leave her alone.” Not waiting for a response, he jumped on Nick, giving his brother a punching bag that could take the hits. They rolled to the ground, fighting for the top position, their fists landing crushing blow after blow.

“Run, Audrey,” Tao yelled between hits. Then Nick clocked him a good one in the head and the world faded to black.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Audrey sniffed back tears and snot as she struggled to breathe. Nick had slammed a fist into her stomach so hard he’d knocked the wind out of her. Seeing Tao crumpled on the ground like a broken doll hit her heart harder than any of Nick’s punches. Worse, she was alone with two werewolves, none of whom seemed too interested in her continued health.

Not only did they have supernatural strength, but they were armed and she wasn’t. Although, thankfully, they seemed to be awful shots for some reason. Maybe wolves weren’t accustomed to using weapons other than their own brute strength.

Brute strength that was all focused on her at the moment. Nick was already coming for her, his lips curled in a feral snarl, his eyes glittering with malice. The pack alpha wasn’t far behind. He pointed his gun at Nick’s back and pulled the trigger, but somehow Nick knew he’d been targeted and ducked down so fast, he was a blur of superhuman movement. The bullet zoomed through the air and hit a tree with an audible thunk.

“Bullets won’t help you, alpha,” Nick said.

“I’m not trying to help myself, boy. I’m trying to kill you.”
Dan fired the gun again, and, this time, the bullet struck home, landing in Nick’s thigh.

Nick yowled, and his features twisted with rage, he launched himself into the air with one powerful flex of his legs. Despite his injury, he flew up to an impressive height and then over to where Dan stood, bracing himself for impact.

Dan remained remarkably calm, even firing one more shot before Nick crashed into him. The two men rolled over and over, arms and legs flailing as they fought. Everything was such a blur that Audrey couldn’t tell who was winning or losing, but she did know that no one was looking her way.

Taking advantage of that fact, she ran over to where Tao lay. His face was disturbingly slack with unconsciousness, but he was breathing. He would live.

“Tao? Wake up!” Audrey shook him by the shoulders. She needed him, needed his protection.

Tao didn’t move so she slapped his cheeks. That earned her a groan and a furrow of his eyebrows so she did it again. And again. All while pleading for him to wake up.

Finally his dark eyes flickered open and registered her presence. “Audrey?” He bolted upright and shoved her away, back toward the parking lot. “I told you to run. Get out of here.”

She shook her head. “I can’t run from this, Tao. They’ll follow me wherever I go, you know that.” He’d told her to run, but she had nowhere to hide. The wolves would just track her down. No, the time for running was past. She had to face what was happening head on and hope for the best.

Tao’s mouth flattened in a grim line, but he didn’t argue with her.

“We have to fight. We have to end this.”

He nodded again.

“I don’t think we can save your brother,” she said as gently as she could, hoping Tao could accept the truth. The sedative idea hadn’t been bad, but it didn’t fix the problem. Nick was still psychotic and he couldn’t be trusted. Plus, after the way he’d used her like a punching bag, Audrey realized she was disposable in his eyes. He had no concern for her well-being. If she wanted to live, if she wanted a future, she had to make it happen. She just prayed it wouldn’t come at the cost of Tao’s love or their lives.

Sudden gun fire made them both cringe. Looking to where the sound came from, they saw Nick now had Dan’s gun and had just tagged the alpha in the arm. Dan howled, his face going red with fury and threw his entire body weight into Nick, causing him to stagger back. Blood mixed with sweat dripped down both men’s faces as they pushed and shoved against each other, one trying to land a punch, the other trying to set up a shot with the gun.

“They’re going to kill each other,” Tao said.

“Good,” Audrey said with a decisive nod. “Then we don’t have to fight them.”

Tao looked stricken and she shook her head, thinking it had to really suck when the bad guy was someone you loved. The other guy, the blond one whose name she didn’t know, stirred
and moaned. Acting in the name of self-preservation, she went over to where he lay, snatched up his gun and clobbered him in the temple with the butt. His eyes dropped shut and he went still.

Good. One less problem to worry about.

Looking at the gun, she wondered,
Now what?
Sure, she talked a big game, but put the gun in her hand and she wasn’t so brave. Lifting her arm, she aimed toward where Nick and Dan were still locked in a deadly embrace. It was awkward to be using her non-dominant hand, but her aim felt right.

It would be so easy to pull the trigger. So simple to fill their backs with bullets, but she couldn’t do it. With a sigh, she lowered her arm. It didn’t feel right. The moment gave her some insight into Tao’s reluctance to kill his brother.

Well, great, so her conscience was going to render her defenseless. Awesome.

Audrey made her way back to Tao who still sat on the ground. Tucking the gun into her waistband, she squatted down beside him. “What are we going to do?”

“End this,” came a low, bass drum voice behind her.

Audrey jumped to her feet, hand going to her gun. The man who’d spoken strode toward them, hands loose at his sides as if he had nothing to fear. His tawny yellow hair ringed his face like a lion’s mane, and as he drew near, Audrey noted his eyes were a mix of green and gold. Behind him came another man, tall and lean with dark hair and features that matched Tao’s. Both were tall as Tao, but the dark haired one was slender as a sapling and the leonine man was built like an ancient oak, wide and strong.

“Kai, Leo.” Tao’s eyes were wide with shock. “What are you doing here?”

The lean man shrugged. “The land called us.”

Audrey raised her eyebrows. What did that mean?

“We caught wind of what was going on up here and thought you could use a hand,” Leo said, offering a more rational response to Tao’s question.

“Are these your brothers?” she asked Tao.

He nodded and pointed to the slender dark haired man. “This is Kai and this,” he indicated the tawny haired man, “is Leo.”

Audrey started to say ‘pleased to meet you’ but a shout cut her short. She looked toward the sound to see that Nick and Dan had noticed the other men’s arrival. They paused for a second and glared at everyone, their hands still locked around each other’s throats. Then Nick took advantage of the distraction to head butt Dan and they were back at it again, fast and furious; hell bent on destroying each other.

Good
, Audrey thought as she watched Dan bite Nick’s shoulder. The alpha tore off a chunk of flesh and spit it out while Nick howled in pain.
I hope they kill each other.

“What the hell is going on here?” Leo asked. He took in Nick and Dan and then looked over to Audrey.

Tao ran a hand through his hair, his eyes desperate. “Nick is crazy.”

“Owen,” Kai started, but Tao cut him off.

“Multiply Owen by a factor of a million,” Tao said darkly. “He’s making his own pack and Dan wants to unmake it as fast as possible.” He waved toward Audrey. “Dan wants to kill everyone Nick has bit and off Nick too.”

Both of the newcomers frowned at that.

Kai reached out and took Tao’s hands in his. “The energy has changed, brother. The world cannot hold Nick. He is too strong for this plane.”

Audrey frowned. Did that mumbo jumbo mean what she thought it did?

Tao didn’t look so sure himself. “I know, but he’s our blood.”

“Blood is nothing against the force of the wolf gods,” Kai said calmly. He seemed detached from the violence around him or the idea that his own brother might not be long for this world.

Leo clapped a large hand on Tao’s shoulder. “I don’t see things like Kai does, but I know he’s always right. We came to stand with you, Tao. To face this together.”

Tao swallowed hard and his eyes gleamed with unshed tears. He didn’t speak, merely gave a curt nod. Audrey wanted to rush over and hug him, to soothe the pain he felt, but she held back, uncertain of her welcome in such an emotionally charged moment. This was a family situation and she was an interloper thrust into their business by their brother.

The brothers moved as one toward the outlook, their plan of action unspoken but apparent in the way they strode over to where Dan and Nick still battled for dominance. Audrey trailed behind wanting to stay out of the way, yet still be close enough not to miss anything. Something big was going to happen; she could feel the weight of it in the air around them.

“Hey,” barked Leo at the two men. “Stop it.”

He and Tao stepped onto the outlook and grabbed each of the men by their shoulders, pulling them apart. Both men strained to break free, but Leo and Tao had the advantage. Tao took Nick while Leo grabbed Dan. They pinned the men’s elbows behind their backs.