Moonlight Kin: A Wolf's Tale (9 page)

Damon and Madie walked Sarah home. After the fright, Sarah wasn’t as eager to have him come in. He bent from the waist and brought her fingertips to his lips. He pressed a chaste kiss to her knuckles and then released her.

“Sleep well,” he said.

Sarah blushed bright enough to be seen under the porch light. She scurried up the steps and into her building, holding her hand all the way.

Damon shifted and his gaze flicked to Madie. “I assure you that you are perfectly safe with me—tonight.”

Madie shivered. “After what just happened, you’ll forgive me if I don’t take your word for it.”

Despite his reassurances, she didn’t feel safe. Madie wasn’t sure if she’d ever feel safe again. They walked in silence and reached her door without further incident. She turned to Damon before entering her apartment.

Her eyes were drawn again to the slash marks across his t-shirt. She could see the ripple of muscles next to the wounds, but the bleeding appeared to have stopped. Her gaze followed the spattering of hair that led down into the waistband of his pants. She swallowed hard as she pictured his naked body once more.

Damon cleared his throat.

Madie jumped, embarrassed by her inappropriate thoughts. “That looks like a pretty nasty gash.”
The man was attacked. What do you expect?

***

“It’s fine.” Damon knew exactly what she’d been thinking. Her changing scent left no doubt. He grappled with his need to dominate, to take what she so willingly, albeit innocently, offered.

Damon forced his mind to focus on her words. Madie’s scent changed again. He was surprised to find the longing replaced with genuine concern. The realization that she cared was…
disturbing
. She was even more dangerous than he’d first suspected.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” he added coolly, speaking the truth. The wounds were almost healed, thanks to the wolf blood in his veins.

Her gaze darted everywhere but his face. “Thank you for saving my life. I-I guess I owe you one.”

Damon reached out and gently grasped Madie’s hands. Their gazes locked. He massaged her delicate knuckles with his callused thumbs. The lazy circles made her heartbeat skitter beneath his touch. Color dotted her milky cheeks and her teeth worried her lower lip.

“You blush a lot, you know that?”

She nodded. “It runs in my family. You should’ve seen my mom. She walked around the majority of her life the color of a fire hydrant.”

Damon chuckled, then took a long breath. He was finding it difficult to tear his eyes from her full mouth. The predator inside threatened to rear its ugly head again, to take, to possess. He released her hands and cleared his dry throat.

“I know of a way that you can pay me back,” he whispered.

Madie glanced at him, her suspicion clear. Her voice sounded tight, when she asked, “How?”

Damon grinned. Definitely an Alpha female.

For a second he allowed the beast to flash, answering her fire with his own. Madie took a step back, her eyes widening, before dropping her gaze. Her instinctive response satisfied him, until she looked up again.

A spark of challenge lit her cobalt eyes. He stared at her unblinking. Not trusting what his senses were telling him, Damon breathed in her scent.

Her lust struck him like a bolt from the sky, electrifying his senses, flowing through him down to his toes and back to his groin. His cock hardened painfully and Damon shuddered, tasting her unspoken need on the air.

He yanked his jacket closed to keep her from touching him again. Her scent was driving him crazy. Damon couldn’t imagine what it would be like when she was in het. Already, he longed to rub against her, lap up her innocence and drink from her very essence.

Alarmed by his thoughts, Damon took a desperate step back. He needed to get away, to put some distance between them, while he still grasped a straw of restraint. If not, he’d do something they’d both regret.

He gruffly cleared his throat. “If you’d do me the honor of letting me escort you to dinner tomorrow night, we’ll call it even,” he said, sure she’d be unable to resist the temptation. If not, he’d guilt her into saying yes.

Madie hesitated, clearly surprised by the invitation, then her chin firmed. “Sorry, but I have to work at the diner.”

“I can pick you up after you get off,” he said. “Berta’s right?”

“Yes, how did you know?” she asked.

“It’s the only one around here,” he said.

“I don’t think us going out would be a good idea,” she said.

“So you keep saying. I just don’t understand why,” he said. “Are you involved with someone?”

Madie shook her head. “No.” Not unless Gaston had his way.

“Then come out with me. It’s just dinner,” Damon said, looking like temptation incarnate.

Madie had waited years to meet someone that was truly interested in her as a person, not as a freak. Someone who saw beyond the frumpy clothes, who had a passion for art, who couldn’t be bought or manipulated by her father. Someone who could make her heart flutter with just a look—the kind of look Damon was giving her right now.

Madie stared into his haunting eyes. Hadn’t they been a different color earlier? A trick of light perhaps? Without thinking, she took a step forward, longing to bask in their ethereal glow.

Damon’s pupils dilated.

Awareness prickled her skin. Her long stagnant body came to life in an instant. The throbbing in her head ceased, quickly replaced by a raging fire within.

He bent down until their lips were but a whisper apart. The warmth from his labored breath fanned out across her face, soothing, beckoning. He smelled of spice, blood, and red wine. Madie took in the curve of his sensual mouth. He wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. And all she could think about was what it would be like to taste him.

She took another exaggerated breath, and her sweater rasped across her tender breasts.

Damon’s gaze held her, all but daring her to act. Madie tried to smooth her cardigan by tugging at the ends. He stilled her hands.

“Go out with me,” he murmured, so close she could feel the heat radiating from his body.

Breathless, Madie waited.

Please let him kiss me,
the only mantra going through her head
.

“Say yes.”

Madie was ready to agree to anything, as long as he kissed her. “Okay.” She closed her eyes, but the embrace never came.

“I’ll see you at closing,” he said.

She looked at him.

Damon had the courtesy not to gloat.

Chapter Nine

Madie locked all three deadbolts, before peeking out the peephole. Damon stood outside her door, staring directly at her, his gaze unwavering. She drew back in surprise, then peeked out once more. Damon flashed a devilish smile and winked at her, then strode away into the darkness, down the deserted street.

It wasn’t possible. There is no way he’d seen her through the peephole. Yet, he’d known she was there. The heat of lust faded, as she replayed the events of the evening.

Madie turned away from the peephole, leaning her back against door for support. She refused to let her imagination ruin an otherwise perfect moment. She closed her eyes and pictured Damon’s face. How close he stood, and how bad she’d wanted him to kiss her.

A howl shattered the night.

Madie’s eyes flew open and her heart lodged in her throat. She jumped away from the door and bolted up the stairs to the security of her bedroom. Madie shut the door and locked it, then pressed her body against the wood.

The cry came again. This time closer.

Her legs shook as she forced herself to walk to the window. Madie frantically searched the darkness for the source of that eerie howl. At the same time, she prayed she wouldn’t find it. Shadows faded in and out as clouds crossed over the half moon. Something flickered. The slight movement caught her attention. It happened again.

There.

Lurking in the darkness.

Watching.

Waiting.

Madie’s heart tripped as the shadows shifted and began to take form.

“No.” She closed her eyes and opened them again. “It’s just a bad dream. Wake up.”

Madie froze like a deer in a hunter’s sight as glowing red eyes stared at her from behind Johnson’s bookstore up the street.

The creature took a step forward, stopping under a pool of pale yellow light. The white wolf sat down under the streetlamp, its gaze focused on her window—on her. An unnatural intelligence glowed in its eyes as it studied her as closely as she studied it.

Madie stood at the window, an abnormal stillness taking over her body. The massive animal growled and then threw its head back, releasing another blood-curdling cry. Her heart dropped to her knees.

Turning away from the chilling sight, Madie numbly reached behind her for the plastic handle on her blinds and slapped them shut. Her legs buckled and she slid down the wall, hugging her knees to her chest.

That thing was stalking her. She knew it with all certainty. But why?

Gaston’s booming voice echoed in her head, ‘Girl, werewolves exist, as sure as I’m standing here.’

There had to be a logical explanation.

A sardonic laugh escaped her. She was beginning to buy into her father’s hysteria.

She couldn’t allow that to happen. Not when she was so close to obtaining her dream. Covering her face with her hands, Madie succumbed to tears.

***

Damon saw Madie turn away from the window a second before the blinds closed, terror clearly etched on her face. His incisors lengthened as anger tore through him. He slipped behind his SUV and quickly undressed.

Claws replaced fingernails as sable fur covered every inch of his skin. Damon crept behind the pale menace, who lingered beneath Madie’s window like a harbinger of death. How dare Luc interfere again! He’d obviously not learned his lesson.

When he was in range, Damon’s muscles bunched and he leaped, blindsiding his Beta. Snarling, he rolled Luc beneath his massive paws. It took all Damon’s control not to rip Luc’s throat out with his razor sharp teeth.

He clamped his jaws onto Luc’s soft belly and drew blood. Luc snarled. Damon released his abdomen and lunged for his throat. He squeezed, his teeth ripping the tender flesh.

Luc gurgled, then whimpered.

The sound of distress drew Damon out of his killing frenzy long enough to release the youth.

I warned you to stay away. You disobeyed a direct order.

Their eyes met and held.

This is your final warning, Luc. Damon slammed the words into his Beta’s head. Next time you won’t live to walk away.

Luc glared at Damon. I am here to protect the pack.

That’s no excuse for defying your Alpha. Damon growled.

Luc lowered his eyes, then raised his head to expose more of his throat and belly.

Satisfied by his submission, Damon stepped back, allowing Luc to rise. Blood covered the pup everywhere, but his tail, turning his pale blond fur to black.

I won’t let you destroy the pack, Luc said.

Trust me, I have not forgotten my orders.
Damon coughed violently, dispelling bits of Luc’s flesh and fur from his mouth. He had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time they butted heads over this woman.

Still in his wolf form, Damon returned to Madie’s building. He could still smell her intoxicating scent permeating the area. Even in his Other form, he wanted her. Driven by instinct, he lifted his leg and relieved himself on the side of the brick wall that faced the alley.

No one could touch her now, except him.

His territory marked, Damon bounded into the darkness, his paws falling silent on the cobblestones. He would worry about the repercussions of what he’d just done later.                    

Damon arrived home within the hour. He’d spent the time in his wolf’s form racing through the woods, leaping over downed trees and chasing night creatures. He felt carefree, almost child-like as a wolf. No worries, no troubles, only the world in shades of gray.

He entered the house through the back door, as naked as the day he was born, and headed to the living room. He’d return tomorrow morning for his SUV and clothes. They’d be safe for the night. If an emergency came up, he could always take his sedan.

His fingers itched to phone Madie, but he couldn’t, since he hadn’t actually
asked
for her number. As skittish as she was, she’d cancel on him tomorrow night if she grew anymore suspicious. Despite Luc’s interference, Damon was pleased with how the evening went.

He walked to the crystal decanter on the end table and poured himself a glass of Scotch, enjoying the darkness surrounding him. Damon retrieved the file on Madie from his dining room table. He’d only skimmed it the first time. Now he wanted to read it again. Since he’d spoken to her, Damon was more convinced than ever that he’d missed something vital.

He sat down on the arm of the couch and thumbed through the file, stopping when he reached the section on Hunter history. It was thin. Much thinner than it should be after all these years. Damon read it anyhow.

Nothing stood out.

He was about to throw the folder onto the coffee table, when a handwritten note scribbled in the margins caught his eye. The writing was so tiny that he had to flip on the lights to read it.
Valois family members only become the Hunter after an initiation.
The exact details remained sketchy, having been well guarded throughout the centuries. Had Madie been initiated? If not, when did this initiation take place?

Damon read the page again. If an initiation was required, maybe there was a way to stop it without having to kill anyone other than the person who’d killed his brother, Jacque. He flipped the page over and continued to read.

The word ‘purity’ leapt out. Did that mean what he thought it meant? Damon’s mind reeled. No way
that
had anything to do with it. But Damon couldn’t let the tantalizing thought go.

If one’s becoming the Hunter was contingent to one’s purity during the initiation then...that certainly explained a lot about Madie’s awkwardness.