Midnight Moonlight (16 page)

Jasper pulled up to the campsite soon after dawn.

She got out of her chair and ran to meet him. “I have him tied up.”

Jasper was getting fast food bags out of his car. He’d brought them more breakfast sandwiches, apparently. “Who?”

“The man with the gun. Leroy. I told you about him.”

Jasper furrowed his brow, shoved the bags into Calla’s arms, and hurried over to the campsite.

She went after him, bringing the food.

Jasper was staring at the man, shaking his head. “What happened to him?”

Calla set down the fast food bags on one of the chairs. “Ryder did it.”

“Ryder?” Jasper turned to look at her. “Did he shift? Did he turn into a wolf?”

“No.” She shook her head. “He just did it in his regular form.”

“Man.” Jasper let out breath in a low whistle. “He did a number on this guy. What happened?”

“Well, Leroy grabbed me. He put the gun against my face.” She touched her cheek.

Jasper looked her over. “Is that what happened to your pants?”

She blushed. “No, I just didn’t have anything else to tie him up with.” She wasn’t about to tell him that Ryder had ripped them taking them off her.

Jasper examined the knots. “You did a good job. He’s in there tight. He won’t be able to get away. Which is good, because I won’t be able to do anything about him until later tonight.”

“What?” said Calla. “You can’t leave me here with that man tied to the chair.”

“I don’t have any other options, do I?” said Jasper.

“You could load Ryder and me up in that car and get us out of here,” she said. “Obviously, whatever your little experiment is that you’re doing here, it isn’t working.”

“On the contrary,” said Jasper. “It seems to be working great. Ryder’s protecting you.”

“He still thinks he’s a wolf.” She rubbed her face. She wasn’t even going to bother telling Jasper that Ryder had been talking again last night. Ryder wasn’t talking anymore. It didn’t make any difference.

“I don’t know about that,” said Jasper. “He’s connected to you somehow, and it’s not a wolf connection. You’re doing something with him. You’re making progress.”

She was beyond frustrated. “I can’t believe you’re leaving us here.”

“Eat your breakfast.” Jasper knelt down in front of Leroy. He slapped the man on both cheeks. “Hey, wake up!” he said in a rough voice.

Alarmed, Calla backed away. “What are you doing?”

“I said to eat your breakfast, didn’t I?” he threw over his shoulder. He turned back to Leroy and slapped his face again.

This time Leroy’s eyes fluttered open.

“Hey there,” said Jasper.

Leroy tried to move and realized he was tied to the chair.

Jasper got to his feet. “You thirsty?”

Leroy looked from Jasper to Calla. He didn’t say anything.

Jasper went and got a take-out cup with a straw from inside one of the fast food bags. He brought that back to Leroy and waved it in front of his face. “I’ll give you a drink if you answer a few questions, okay?”

“You’re his brother,” said Leroy. “The brother who sided with his father. Against the cause.”

Jasper narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Calla was confused too.

Leroy drew himself up, straining against his bonds. “You’re a coward, that’s what he said.”

“Who said?”

“Ryder.” Leroy smiled.

Jasper looked at Ryder, who was sleeping on the other side of the campsite, still covered in blood from beating Leroy up.

“Hey, what’s up with him, anyway?” said Leroy. “It’s like he lost his mind.”

Jasper glanced at Leroy, and then went over to Ryder. He nudged his brother awake. Ryder seemed happy to see him, rubbing his head against his brother’s knees.

Jasper pushed him away, annoyed. “For God’s sake, Ryder, you’re not a fucking wolf.” He surveyed him. “You’re a mess.” He pointed at Calla. “You. There’s got to be melted ice in the cooler. Can you use some napkins to clean him up?”

Calla’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t clean up…
blood
.

Jasper rolled his eyes. “You know what, I’ll do it myself.” He pointed at Leroy. “Watch him, okay?”

Calla chewed on her lip, keeping a wary eye on Leroy, who was leering at her bare legs.

“He’s lost it, hasn’t he?” Leroy said. “What happened to him?”

Jasper finished cleaning the blood off of Ryder and stalked back over to Leroy. “My brother is none of your business.”

“Your brother is the reason I’m here,” said Leroy. “I’ve come to collect. We made a deal with him, years ago, and it’s time to pay up.”

“What?” Jasper had a worried look on his face.

“He pledged himself to the cause in return for a loan,” said Leroy. “We helped him get away from his father and that carnival. Now, it’s time to give back. We need him. For the cause.”

“What cause?”

“Enoch Borden’s cause,” said Leroy.

Jasper’s mouth twitched.

“You know who that is, don’t you?” Leroy’s laughter was jeering.

Jasper looked back at his brother, who was sniffing at the fast food bags. “What the hell, little brother? What have you gotten yourself into?”

“I’m the least of your problems,” said Leroy. “Enoch will have his due. Ryder either pays it back with service or with money. Doesn’t look like he’s much for service anymore.”

Jasper ran a hand through his hair. “What would Enoch use this money for? He still on a crusade to try to get rid of all the bitten werewolves?”

“Enoch’s business is his own.”

“Right.” Jasper kicked the ground, sending loose rocks skittering. “Motherfucker.”

“He got stuck in wolf form, didn’t he?” said Leroy. “Got stuck and forgot how to be human.”

Jasper didn’t answer.

“But how did he get back in human form without his human mind?”

“He got wounded,” Jasper muttered. “He nearly died. You’re right, there’s nothing left of him. He’s… gone.”

“I heard him yell for me the other night, though,” said Leroy. “He was talking then.”

Jasper looked at Calla sharply.

She lifted her chin. See, she hadn’t been lying after all.

“Why was he talking last night?”

“He doesn’t talk,” said Jasper flatly. “How much money are we talking here?”

Leroy smiled. “With interest, we’re talking ten thousand.”

Jasper let out a disbelieving laugh. “There’s no way. He doesn’t have that money. I don’t have it either.”

“We’d take your service instead,” said Leroy. “One night of work, and the slate would be wiped clean.”

“And what would I have to do? Kill children?”

“We’re not monsters.”

“The hell you’re not.” Jasper rubbed his forehead. Then he turned and started for his car. “I’ll be back tonight. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Calla ran after him. “You can’t leave.”

He kept walking. “I’ll try to figure something out, okay?”

“No, you can’t leave me here. I can’t be here, not with that man, not with Ryder. I don’t even understand what’s going on.”

Jasper turned around and put a finger in her face. “Get Ryder to talk, you understand? If he was talking before, you get him to talk again.”

“I don’t know why he talks. It starts and stops. It has nothing to do with me.”

“It must have something to do with you. He couldn’t do it before you got here.”

She was fighting tears. “Please. Please don’t make me stay here.”

“I’m sorry, lady, but this is the best I can do. I saw you had his gun. You hang onto that, okay? You’ll be all right.”

“No, I won’t. I
won’t
.”

Jasper swung into the car and sat down. “Oh, I’ve got these.” He reached into the backseat and came up with a pair of overalls. “They’ll be big, but it’s better than running around with no pants.”

Calla took them, sputtering. “Do
not
leave me here.”

“I’ve got to go.”

“We need to do something about that man. He’s clearly dangerous.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Well, maybe the police.”

“The police? Get real, lady, he’s a werewolf.”

“Fine, then the SF.”

“The SF can’t be trusted. If they found me, they’d take me and my brother away and strip away all our pack bonds. They break up families. They ruin lives.”

“They save people. They deal with werewolves who are out of control.”

“You don’t understand anything.” Jasper slammed the door shut and sped away, leaving her in his literal dust.

She threw the overalls to the ground and screamed.

Behind her, she could hear Leroy laughing.

* * *

The overalls were far too big, but she managed to roll the legs up far enough that she could walk in them. Then she was hungry, so she dug out breakfast and ate it before it got cold. She felt that vaguely hysterical feeling that sometimes happened when she hadn’t had enough sleep, but this situation was so much worse than anything she’d ever been in.

“I need to take a leak,” said Leroy.

“Too bad,” she said.

“Come on,” said Leroy. “The least you could do is unzip me and take out my dick.”

“I wouldn’t touch you if you paid me.” She turned her back to him and continued to eat her sandwich. It
was
cold, and it was disgusting because all the grease had congealed. If she hadn’t been so hungry, she wouldn’t have finished it. But as far as she could tell, this was all the food she was going to get for today. Jasper hadn’t brought anything else for the cooler—or if he had, he’d been too distracted by Leroy to remember it.

“So, what are you doing out here, button?” asked Leroy. “I can smell that you’re no wolf. From the way that Ryder attacked me, I would have said that you’re his woman. But a man like that can’t have a woman, can he?”

She was going to ignore him. She wasn’t going to respond to a single thing he said.

“You’re not exactly a tiny thing, button, but there’s something about you. Maybe when I take Ryder and his brother to Enoch, I’ll take you along. We have things that a woman like you could be useful for.”

She didn’t know what he was talking about, and she didn’t think she wanted to know. Leroy might not be the red-eyed monster from her imagination, but he
was
awful. She could feel it radiating off of him. She wanted nothing to do with this man, and the fact that she was stuck here with him was appalling.

“On second thought, maybe I’d keep you for myself. Maybe I wouldn’t want to share you.”

Well, that was a bit clearer. She wished that it wasn’t clear. She felt a shiver travel through her thinking about that man touching her.

“Maybe at least for a while,” said Leroy. “I could have a good bit of fun with you before you were used up. You look like the kind of woman who could handle a lot of… fun.”

She shoved the rest of the sandwich into her mouth, chewed it, and swallowed. She wasn’t going to sit here and listen to any more of this. Leroy was only saying these things to upset her, and hell if it wasn’t working. She got up from her chair and looked around the campsite. It wasn’t as if there was anywhere else to go. She stalked off in the direction she was facing. Any direction was better than sitting here.

But Leroy’s voice followed her. “Oh come on, button, I know you’d like that. Or maybe I’ve got it wrong. Maybe you really are sweet on Ryder. After all, I did see you come out of that tent half-dressed last night.”

She shut her eyes. She wanted to plug her ears so that she couldn’t hear him anymore, but that seemed very juvenile. Instead she clenched her hands into fists.

“So maybe while I’m breaking you in, I’ll just keep Ryder around to watch. You think Ryder would like that?” Leroy laughed.

What was she going to do? She could run off into the forest. The last time she tried to leave the campsite, Ryder had come with her. And after what Ryder had done last night, she didn’t want to be alone with him. Furthermore, running away from Leroy wasn’t the answer. Right now, he was tied up and hopefully he would stay that way, but she wouldn’t be sure that he was still tied up if she ran off. Besides, there was nowhere to go. She had proved that to herself. She and Ryder had walked and walked and walked. There was nothing out there.

“That poor bastard can’t understand a word I’m saying, can he?” Leroy was still laughing. “Hey there, Ryder, you big dumb lug.”

Calla had to turn around at that. She could see that Ryder was on all fours staring down with Leroy from the opposite side of the fire pit. He looked leery, distrustful, but not angry, the way he would’ve been if he’d understood Leroy’s words. At least, she thought that was how a human Ryder might have reacted. She didn’t really know. Certainly, there been that whole tangle between them in the tent last night. But that didn’t mean that he actually cared about her. He
had
beaten up her attacker. He
did
seem loyal to her. But it was all so confusing. What part of Ryder was human? What part of him was a wolf? She didn’t know.