Moon's Law (New Moon Wolves 2 ~ Bite of the Moon ~ BBW Romance) (14 page)

Raising his hand, Kane leaped for the man and clocked him in the side of his head with the butt of his gun. The hunter went down with a surprised grunt and laid still.

Kane kicked away his gun and frisked the man, finding several knives and another handgun, all of which he threw into the woods. He would come back for them later. Rolling the unconscious man over, Kane took off his own belt and used it to secure the hunter’s hands behind his back.

Feeling like things were safe enough, he yelled out to his parents and Charlotte, "I’ve got him. You can stop shooting now."

One last bullet flew through the air, followed by someone saying, "Oops."

Kane shook his head and, grabbing the hunter by his feet, dragged him into his parents’ front yard. Charlotte came flying out of the house, her hair streaming behind her and her brow furrowed with worry.

"Are you okay?" She hovered close to him, as if she wanted to touch him but was afraid to do so.

He nodded, unable to miss the way her chest heaved in the skin-tight dress she wore. "Yeah. He didn’t even see me coming."

"Is he…dead?" She cast a doubtful look at the guy.

He forced his gaze to look down at the hunter. If he kept staring at Charlotte, he was going to tear that dress off her body and fill his hands with her curves. His wolf still ran high inside him, and the urge to fight was changing into a need to fuck, especially now that Charlotte was right there in front of him. "No. I knocked him out good, though."

His parents came outside and joined them, looking at the shooter with curiosity. "Who the hell is this guy?" asked Joe.

"I don’t know," Kane said. "But I’m going to find out." He dragged the man over to his car and heaved him into the back seat. Looking at Charlotte, he said, "I’m going to take him in and I’d like you to come and give your statement too."

"What about us?" asked Wanda. "Should we drive down to the station too?"

Kane shook his head. "Don’t worry about it. I’ll send a deputy down to take your statement. Since Charlotte seems to be the target, she’s the witness I need right now." To Charlotte, he said, "You ready?"

She nodded and made her way to the passenger side of his Charger. "Thanks for having us over," she said. "I’m sorry about everything."

Wanda waved a hand. "We’ll have to try again, when things are calmer."

"We barely got a chance to talk to you," said Joe. "You didn't even eat."

"Maybe we can do dinner next week," Wanda offered.

Charlotte gave Kane a wild look that said ‘Help me,’ and he stepped in, saying, "We’ll see. We’re both pretty busy." Yeah, he wanted to spend more time with Charlotte, but not at his parents’ house with her pretending to be his psycho girlfriend. If he brought her home again, he wanted it to be real, not this awkward façade they’d concocted. Preferably without the werewolf weirdness as well.

His mom crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "I’ll text you some dates and you can pick one."

Kane gave a weak smile, knowing his mom wouldn’t let it go. Whether they’d planned on it or not, Charlotte would be continuing in her role as his girlfriend. Why he'd thought their charade would be a one-and-done deal, he didn't know. His mother had the tenacity of a barnacle. She didn't let go of anything, ever, but he decided that might not be so bad. It would give him an excuse to keep seeing Charlotte, and maybe find out where these feelings he had for her went.

***

Charlotte settled into Kane’s car, limp with relief.
Well, that was the worst date ever.
Which had been the goal, but still, it had been awkward and uncomfortable to the point where she was almost grateful to the hunter. He’d broken up a bad scene.

She buried her face in her hands, recalling the way she’d tripped over the coffee table and then followed that brilliance with the need to shoot out the windows in Kane’s childhood home.

"Oh, man," she groaned into her palms.

"What? What is it?" Kane touched her shoulder lightly. "Are you okay?"

She peeked out at him from between her fingers. Damn. Why did he have to be so handsome? And perfect? And amazing? And always saving her? Shaking her head, she slumped in her seat. "Do you have any idea how bad the gossip is going to be? Everyone is going to know."

"I hadn’t thought about that." Kane muttered a swear word under his breath. "We won’t be able to hide this. We’re going to have to go public. There will be an investigation…the pack…" He trailed off.

"You’re worried about him? He's going to go away." She dropped her hands from her face and jerked her head in the direction of the hunter in the back-seat. "
I’m
the one who’s still going to be here when he’s gone, and I’ll never live this down." She gestured to her dress.

"You said you wanted to do this." Kane gave her a puzzled look.

"I’m also, apparently, not that bright." She leaned her head against the glass of the car door, taking small comfort in the cool surface.

"You were trying to help me," he said, his tone kind. "Not everyone would do that."

"Because they know better." She turned her head to glare at him.

He shook his head. "I don’t think so. I think it’s because most people are selfish. And if you’re stupid, so am I. Remember, I thought this was a good idea, too."

"We probably shouldn’t hang out," she said, frowning. "We’re just an explosion of stupid waiting to happen."

"Well, our brand of stupid caught this hunter guy. We’re not a total waste. Come on, Char. Don’t be so hard on yourself." He turned onto the road that would take them to Audrey and Tao’s place. Then, handing her his cell phone, he said, "And do me a favor. Call Tao and let him know we’re coming and why."

She nodded and quickly navigated to his contacts, which she studied for a moment, as she noted his extensive list of numbers. A sudden jealousy burned through her veins, making her wolf want to bare her teeth and rip out some throats. "Wait. What are all these girls doing in your phone?"

Despite his tan, Kane managed to flush. "Just friends."

"You have a lot of friends who are girls." She scrolled through his contact list. "Judy, Julia, Joanna, July. Wait, July? Who names their kid July?" 

He refused to make eye contact. "July is an informant, actually."

"Oh. So…
just
friends and police informants?" She scrolled on to the letter M. There were ten of them. Five Marys, a Marla, Mariah, Mara, Myra and Maia. "Huh. I didn’t even know we had this many women in Glen Vine. Are they all our age, or are some of your
friends
Mrs. Harris’ age?"

"It's not like that," he said, his ears turning red.

"I know I'm a big girl, and you said you want more, but what you have in your phone is way more than I could ever do for you." She shook her head.

"I said it's not like that."

"Then what is it like, Kane?" She crossed her arms and looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"Just call Tao, please." He sounded a little desperate, and his face was almost maroon now. Good. He should be embarrassed. He was a wolf, not a tomcat. Her wolf growled deep inside her, angry and possessive.

"Sure, just have to get past all these
friends
of yours."  She made her way to the letter T and finally hit Tao’s number. Not so much to put Kane out of his misery, but to keep her wolf in check. She was all riled up, and Charlotte didn’t want to shift in the front seat.

Because she wasn’t jealous.

No way.

She was single for the foreseeable future. Her heart was locked up and the key lost. The last thing she needed was a player like Kane, and no matter what he’d said earlier, she was pretty sure someone as curvy as her wasn’t his type. At that thought, she tugged on the hem of her dress, trying to make it cover more of her generous thighs. You could turn a man into a werewolf, but you couldn't stop him from being a dog, right?

"Hello?" Tao’s deep voice filled her ear.

"Tao, it’s me Charlotte. I’m here with Kane, and we’ve got the hunter."

"Where are you?" His voice vibrated with authority and concern.

"We’re on our way to your house."

"Good. I’ll call my brothers."

The phone went silent in her ear as Tao hung up. Charlotte handed the phone back to Kane.

"What did he say?"

"Not much. He’s waiting for us. That’s about it." She glanced back to their prisoner, who was still dead to the world. "What’s going to happen to him?"

Kane shrugged. "I don’t know, but all that gossip you’re worried about is going to be a problem. There’s no way my mom won’t tell people about meeting the girlfriend who started a shootout in her living room."

Charlotte sighed. "Yeah, thanks for reminding me."

"The bigger problem, the one you’re not seeing, Char, is we can’t hide this guy. There’s no sweeping him under the rug. If word gets out, the police will wonder why I didn’t call in a forensics team and bring him to jail." He grimaced. "We have to do this one by the book."

"So why take him to Tao at all?" She liked the idea of dumping the hunter in jail. It sounded simple and neat.

"Because we have to protect ourselves. I trust Tao more than I trust humans right now." The car lurched as he floored the accelerator. "We can’t let anyone find out what we are. Worse, this guy might know more people like him and call them in as back-up."

"I didn't even think of that." Charlotte hugged herself. "Can you imagine more of him? It would be a nightmare."

"Tell me about it," Kane said, his mouth a grim line.

"But we can’t hide him either, and he knows we’re wolves." Charlotte’s stomach sank as she realized jail wasn’t a solution. "What a mess."

"We sure do seem to have our tails in a pinch here. Let's hope Tao has a way out."

Chapter Eighteen

Tao was waiting for them on the porch of the ranch house he and Audrey called home. When they turned into the driveway, he jogged over to Kane’s car and looked in the back seat. "So we got him," he said as Kane stepped out of the driver’s seat.

"Yep," Kane said.

"Everyone okay?" Tao glanced at Charlotte, who nodded.

"We're fine. No injuries."

"What happened?"

"He went for Charlotte, and I intervened." Kane hesitated for a second, not liking the next part. "We exchanged shots. My parents had to help."

"So they know about him." Tao rubbed his chin, his expression thoughtful.

"But not why he was shooting."

"Well, that’s a small mercy, I guess. Come on. Let’s move him to the garage. I want to add some duct tape to that belt you’re using. I don’t trust him to
not
find a way out of that." Tao opened the Charger door and pulled the man out by the ankles.

"Watch his head," Charlotte said, her voice high pitched.

Kane frowned at her. "Why? He doesn’t care about ours."

"If he dies, it’s just a bigger mess, right?" she asked.

"Let’s try to keep him alive. Murder isn’t the plan here." Tao nodded toward the garage door. "Will one of you open that for me?"

Kane lifted the garage door and Tao lugged the hunter into the garage. He set the unconscious man down on the slab concrete floor and, grabbing a roll of duct tape hanging on the wall, began winding it around his ankles. Ripping it off, he then wrapped several loops around the hunter’s wrists. "That should keep him." He put the duct tape back.

"Now what?" asked Kane.

"We go inside and figure out the next step, because I have no idea." Tao waved them forward. "At least I ordered pizza. Five different kinds. Something for every wolf."

"I take it Audrey’s not home," Charlotte said.

"Nope, and I got the meat lover’s special, too." He gestured to both of them. "For my guests, naturally."

Charlotte laughed. "You’re a terrible vegetarian."

Tao frowned at her. "I am more vegetarian than any other werewolf on the planet."

"Except for Audrey," Kane said.

"Except for Audrey," Tao echoed, bowing his head in agreement. "But she’s perfect, and I’m…well, I’m me."

They traipsed into the house and settled at the oak dining set in the eat-in kitchen. Charlotte flipped open one of the pizza boxes, her stomach growling, while Kane peeked at another one.

"Do you mind if we have some?" she asked, not wanting to be rude.

"Help yourself," Tao said. "My brothers should be here any minute."

"What about the rest of the pack?" Kane asked. The second he finished talking, he shoved a piece of Hawaiian pizza in his mouth. Charlotte did the same with a slice of what looked to be double cheese and double pepperoni. She hadn't been able to eat at Kane's house and the stress of dealing with the hunter had left her starving.

Tao paused in the process of picking up a slice. "We’re keeping this small for now."

"Why?" Charlotte covered her mouth with her hand.

"Because we don’t do things the way humans do. I’m not sure how comfortable people will be with the decisions we make today."