Lisa Kessler - Moonlight

The wolf recognized the other female as an enemy, her name gone from my tongue as the wolf took over completely. My ears flattened, my tail lowered as I maneuvered in closer, every muscle on alert. She had a gun, and my wolf recognized danger. It was also pointed at the male of the trio. I tried to concentrate on what he was saying, but half of me remained focused on Lana. The wolf wanted to remove the threat to his mate, but I kept him back, kept him tempered. Barely.

My ears pricked up when the rest of my Pack arrived, forming an invisible perimeter around me and the jaguars.

“Get out of here, Sebastian,” Sasha hissed. “This is none of your business anymore.”

He started to raise his hands. “You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man.”

“You would,” she replied, her weapon still aimed directly at him.

He shrugged, lowering his hands slowly. “Perhaps, but you have more moral character than I do. Nero has not beaten that out of you yet.”

I saw her finger brush along the trigger, and my chest tightened.

She tossed her head, sending her dark hair back over her shoulders. “Don’t be so sure.”

Sebastian’s face softened, and for a moment I thought I could see behind the veil of arrogance he wore like a second skin. He stared at her and then shook his head slowly. “Do not let them win, Sasha.”

He looked at me next and his cool demeanor returned. “If you hand her over to Nero, they still will not give you what they have promised.”

“Then I’ll kill her.”

Sebastian raised a brow. “If you kill an unarmed woman, then Nero still wins this battle, Sasha. Instead of having a research subject, they will have broken your spirit.”

I watched her gun start to lower and my blood pressure followed suit. Another howl cut through the night, and all three of us turned to look in the direction from which Sebastian had come. A wolf stepped forward, his dangerous gaze meeting mine.

“Will he recognize you when he’s a wolf?” Sasha asked.

“I don’t know.” My mind was racing from hearing Sasha say she was going to kill me. I couldn’t even be sure this wolf was Adam. I tried to remember when he’d first told me about his own shifting. He had been surprised that I didn’t have any memories of being a jaguar when I woke up in the morning, so did that mean he could remember being a wolf? Would the wolf remember being human?

I swallowed as I watched the wolf, large and black as pitch. God, he was so much bigger than a regular wolf. Massive even. Fear lit through me like wildfire, but I didn’t move from where I stood. When his eyes flicked toward me again, I knew. His eyes were a bright green, even in the glow of the moon. And then I caught the glint of silver—the silver bullet still dangled from his thick furry neck.

This massive wolf was Adam.

Part of me wished I could run to him and run my fingers through his fur. I wanted to see this other part of the man I’d come to count on, to love. But I couldn’t reach him. I wasn’t even sure if he’d let me touch him.

I didn’t know how to communicate with him in this form, but I didn’t want him to run at Sasha and get shot. I had to do something. Slowly I looked over at the gun, then I met his eyes again. He tipped his snout down and then peered back up at me as if he understood what I was trying to tell him. I was grateful when he didn’t move.

Sasha kept her eyes on the wolf. “Time for you to go, Sebastian.”

“I can’t let you give Lana to Nero, Sasha.”

“You can’t stop me either.”

Without a warning, without a noise, Sebastian knocked Sasha to the ground. Adam started to lunge forward and I shook my head. He flattened his ears and shifted his weight back and forth on his front feet, but thankfully didn’t approach.

Sasha and Sebastian grappled on the ground and after a moment, he broke free with Sasha’s gun in hand and a pair of red scratches on his face. She had also broken the split on his lip wide open. Sasha was quick to get back on her feet, her hair mussed up but otherwise not looking like he’d hit her.

Her eyes narrowed. “Give me the goddamned gun, Sebastian. Haven’t you fucked up my life enough?”

He tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants. “It is not my intention to ruin your plans or your life, Sasha.” His voice softened. “It never was.”

“Ha!” She shook her head. “You could’ve fooled me. I’ve lost everything, you bastard! All of it. Gone. All because of you.”

The bushes rustled, and my heart jumped in my throat. I couldn’t see the other wolves, but I knew they were there. The Pack was together, and I was a jaguar.

An unarmed jaguar. One Adam’s family wouldn’t recognize as an ally.

I took a step back from Sebastian and Sasha, toward Adam. Before I could get much closer, we were bathed in headlights. Sasha was on me again before I even noticed she’d moved.

She tugged my arm up behind my back until I had to walk on my tiptoes, shoving me toward the headlights. A silhouette stepped in front of the lights.

“Is this our subject?”

I frowned. “I don’t belong to you.”

Sasha rewarded me with jerking my arm up even higher behind my back. My eyes brimmed with tears.

“Yes, this is her,” she answered. “Now give me what I want.”

I don’t think the tranquilizer dart that shot toward her was what she had in mind. Sasha crumpled to the ground, and the pain in my arm ceased. I backed away from the lights and Sasha’s body when Adam bolted from the trees, apparently unable to keep the wolf in check any longer. He stood in front of me, growling and baring his teeth at the men in what I could now see was a black van.

I heard the slide of a rifle being cocked and instantly the other wolves appeared from the tree line, springing into action. The headlights shut off then, followed by screams and growls. I reached down to touch the back of Adam’s neck. I couldn’t help but wonder if the Pack would come after me when they finished with the men in the van.

Gunfire broke through the chaos, and a pained yelp came from the same direction. Howls ensued, and I saw a wolf dragging a large body back toward the trees. One of the men from Nero fired his gun up into the sky.

“Enough!” he yelled. “Take out the Alpha.” Then he pointed directly at Adam.

Guns and rifles cocked. Without hesitation, I vaulted over Adam, landing directly in front of him. “No!” I shouted. “Don’t shoot. I’ll go with you. Just no more killing.”

The other wolves backed up, circling around Adam, growling and baring their teeth. Would they kill me before the Nero guys got me? Other than Aren, and a brief peek at Luke, I’d never seen any of them before, and I definitely didn’t know what they looked like as wolves. Plus, they knew nothing about me except that my scent made me a jaguar. I was the enemy. How could they know I was trying to protect Adam?

Adam moved through their protective line and stood between the rest of the Pack and me. The wolves shifted, looking at each other then back up at me. A few bared their teeth, but none of the large animals moved toward me. My fingers slid into Adam’s fur, letting him know I recognized him.

A very light, tan-colored wolf stepped forward. He had bright orange, almost hazel eyes. His hackles were raised up on his back, and he nudged at Adam, but the black wolf didn’t move. I could feel the rumble of Adam’s growl. The other wolf snapped at him, but backed away just the same. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but as other wolves stepped forward to challenge him, Adam resisted their attempts to reach me. They didn’t seem to like it, but it was obvious they respected him.