Lori Handeland - Blue Moon

"I love you," he repeated and before I could force the words back where they belonged—a secret in my heart until it was safe to set them free—they popped out of my foolish mouth.

"I love you, too."

Will disentangled himself from me and jumped to his feet. Startled, I just lay on the floor, naked and alone. This wasn’t going at all as I’d imagined it might once I loved a man and he loved me back.

Leaning down, Will scooped me into his arms and lifted. Then he strode toward the bedroom.

"Hey! What the hell?"

"I’m taking you to bed, Jessie. I want you again."

That was mighty obvious from the steady poke I was getting in my backside.

"What, are you a machine?" I asked.

He laughed. "I just want to enthrall you sexually while I have the chance."

"I think you have."

He carried me as if I weighed no more than a child, and I knew that wasn’t true. I was not now nor have I ever been a small girl. I probably weighed as much as he did, or near enough.

That he could sling me around like a sack of potatoes should have annoyed me. Instead, I found myself enchanted by his great big muscles and aroused by his Neanderthal tactics. Yep, I definitely had it bad.

For a man who could be a werewolf.

I figured the sex would be better in the bed, but it wasn’t. The sex was spectacular wherever we had it—in a bed, at the pond, on the floor.

His fingers lazily played with my hair, then drifted across my spine. I lay facedown, arm hanging limply off the bed, legs all tangled with his. When I turned my head, he was so close his nose brushed mine.

"Jessie?"

We were still nose to nose, breath mingling, hips touching.

"Will?"

He smiled. "You hardly ever call me that."

"Really?"

"I think you called me Cadotte until about an hour ago."

"It seems bad form to call a guy who’s making you scream by his last name."

His smile faded; uncertainty flickered in his eyes.

"Hey, what’s the matter?" I reached for him, but he was already moving away.

"You aren’t with me for the sex, are you?"

I sat up. "Are you that insecure?"

"Yes."

My eyebrows shot up. He’d never seemed insecure to me. He was beautiful, built, brilliant. What did he have to be insecure about? I asked him.

"Do you know how many women have slept with me because of my face? Because I’m good in bed?"

"Do I want to know?"

His lips twitched, relieving some of the tension. "Probably not."

"Then let’s leave them in the past where they belong. Don’t we have enough to worry about right now?"

His gaze met mine. The uncertainty was gone, replaced by a wariness that made the hair on my forearms prickle. We had a helluva lot more to worry about tonight than old lovers.

He nodded and opened his arms. "Come here."

"Again?"

"Got a problem with that?"

I pretended to think. "Not really."

I slid across the bed and kissed him. I didn’t want to stop; I didn’t want to think. There’d be time enough for that later. Maybe. Right now I only wanted to be with him, to feel the things only Will could make me feel.

But as he moved inside of me, my treacherous mind went clickety-clack . The blue moon threatened. Tonight was the night when everything changed—or maybe everyone.

What if Will was not only the love of my life but the monster I’d been searching for? What if he’d killed people? What if he’d eaten them? What if he was a power-hungry nutcase bent on ruling the world? What if… ?

My body betrayed me, shutting down my mind, making me come apart in his arms. Love was wearing me out—and the sex wasn’t bad, either. I could no longer keep my eyes open.

As I fell asleep with his cheek nuzzling my hair, the answer to my questions came to me with brilliant clarity. Whatever he was, I loved him. If he was cursed, I’d try to cure him. There must be a way. I only had to find it.

I awoke to the twilight and an empty bed. I wasn’t worried; not at first. I actually believed he loved me.

But as I wandered through my empty apartment and realized Will was gone and the moon was rising, uncertainty set in. I reached for the totem I’d been wearing around my neck for weeks, but it wasn’t there.

My heart gave one painful, panicked thud before I remembered I’d taken it off as I always did when I went to bed. If I’d actually been wearing the thing, it would have strangled me during our energetic bedroom activities. Not to mention I’d have had to explain to Will that I’d had the thing all along.

I went back into my room, crossed to the dresser, reached for the totem. My fingers came up empty.

I dropped to my knees, crawled around the floor patting the carpet. Tore the room apart in a frenzy. But nothing changed what I knew in my gut.

Will was gone, and so was the stone.

I would have liked a shower, but I didn’t have the luxury. Instead, I threw on my uniform, retrieved my weapons, and was on my way out the door when the doorbell rang. Expecting Mandenauer, I could only stare stupidly at Clyde,

"Where you goin‘ in such a hurry?"

"Um. Uh."

I should tell Clyde everything, but I was in a bit of a rush. Besides, he hated Will already. He’d be thrilled to shoot him with silver and say "whoops" later.

"Mandenauer," I blurted. "T said I’d come over early."

"I was just there, and I woke him up. Definitely a ‘don’t go away mad; just go away’ moment. Heartbreak Ridge was on last night. Not exactly Clint’s words, but near ‘nough. Mandenauer was going back to sleep. Since you’ve got hours yet before your shift, why don’t we have a little chat?"

I glanced through my living room toward the window. I might have hours before my shift, but sundown was soon.

It was then I saw my panties lying on the carpet in the middle of the room.

Clyde sniffed, once, twice, and I turned to find him so close I leaped back.

"What the hell?" I demanded, embarrassed, nervous, betrayed, and cranky.

"I can smell him on you."

I didn’t know what to say to that. Luckily I didn’t have to say anything, since Clyde kept talking.

"Jesus, Jessie, I’d have thought you of all people would be able to resist a pretty face. Have you no pride?"

Apparently not.

"Clyde, I’ve got to go."

"Where?"

"None of your business."

"When you’re wearing that uniform, everything you do is my business."

I had a flash of what I’d been doing a few times in this uniform. Definitely not Clyde’s business. But I wasn’t going to tell him that. My cheeks heated in spite of myself.

"I need to see Mandenauer," I repeated. "I’ll just have to wake him up."

"Where’s Cadotte?"

"Not here."

I stepped into the hallway and Clyde had no choice but to move back; then I closed the door firmly behind me.

"I want to talk to him."

"Join the club." I started down the hall.

"He sneak out on you?"

I turned. "Why are you so damned interested in Cadotte all of a sudden?"

"I want to talk to him about the attempted murder of Edward Mandenauer."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Have you?"

"What possible reason could Will have to shoot Man-denauer? He barely knows the man."

"Mandenauer and I had quite a chat when I stopped into the clinic earlier. I hear he was shot with a crossbow."

"And?"

"Cadotte has a crossbow."

"So does every old man between here and Minoqua. That doesn’t make him guilty." I turned and headed down the hall. "He’s got no motive."

Trust Clyde to fuck that up.

"Wouldn’t a werewolf want to kill the wolf hunter?"

I froze. "A what?"

"Come off it, Jessie. Mandenauer told me everything."