Dark Moon Read online

  I spun. The four adult wolves went berserk, throwing themselves at the steel fence, growling and snarling. The two pups slunk back and forth at the edge of the tree line. Whining periodically, they waited and they watched, but they didn’t come any closer.

  “You said they weren’t rabid.”

  Nic’s arm was still around me, my right side pressed to his left. I moved away. I couldn’t be close to him and think straight.

  “They weren’t. They aren’t.”

  “That looks like rabid to me.” He frowned at the spittle dripping from their muzzles and the rolling whites of their eyes.

  I’d tested these wolves inside out. There was nothing wrong with them. Present psychotic outbreak aside.

  They were scared but not of Nic. They were angry but not at me. Instead, they continued to hit the fence, slaver, snarl, and stare at the compound as if it held something they’d enjoy tearing into bloody pieces.

  Contrary to popular belief, wolves aren’t vicious—unless starved or rabid. My wolves were neither. I’d bet my life on it. Which meant...

  I took one step in the direction of the compound, and the building blew sky high.

  Chapter 4

  The force of the explosion sent us both to the ground. Through some acrobatic maneuver, Nic managed to cover my body with his.

  Debris rained everywhere. My ears rang. I thought I’d gone deaf until I realized the wolves were howling right next to my head.

  Nic eased off me. “What was that?”

  I sat up, staring at the flaming compound. “My guess is a really big bomb.”

  “Bomb?” He leaped to his feet. “What makes you think a bomb?”

  “You’re the hotshot FBI agent. What does that look like to you?”

  “Gas explosion?”

  “If we had any gas out here. Electricity fired this place. And last time I checked, electricity doesn’t cause fiery, explosive death.”

  He peered at his suddenly dirty shoes for several ticks of the clock, then offered me a hand. “You’re right.”

  Since touching him was a stupid idea and kissing him had been an even worse one, I got up on my own. When I touched people, bad things happened.

  I contemplated the heat and the flames. Really bad things.

  The building was little more than a flaming crater. The guard was dead. I wasn’t sure about the werewolves in the basement.

  Burning the bodies after they’d been shot with silver left ashes, but would a firebomb kill a werewolf? I didn’t have a clue.

  A chill came over me that had nothing to do with the wind. What if Billy were alive?

  I swayed and almost fell. What if he were alive and free?

  Nic, who’d been creeping closer to the blaze, hurried to my side and clutched my elbow. “Are you dizzy?”

  I closed my eyes on another cheery thought. Not only did I have to worry about Billy, but my notes, my serum, the antidote were gone.

  “Elise, you’d better sit down again.”

  I shook Nic off, took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then took another. “My work,” I managed. “Everything was inside.”

  He glanced at the compound, then at me. “You must have it backed up off-site.”

  True. However, I didn’t know where that somewhere was. Only Edward did, and he was in Wisconsin.

  “You don’t?” Nic’s voice was incredulous.

  “Yes, of course. But there were things in there I’m going to need.” I contemplated the lopsided, three-quarter moon.

  Soon.

  Nic patted his pocket, and a bewildered expression crossed his face, followed almost immediately by a dawning understanding. “Left my cell in the car.”

  Dazed, I followed him around the crackling building to the front parking lot. He stopped walking, and I ran into his back.

  “Uh-oh.”

  Leaning to the side, I saw the problem. The cars were on fire, too.

  “That makes sense,” Nic said, almost to himself. “This kind of damage, usually a car bomb.”

  I guess he should know.

  “How many vehicles were supposed to be in this lot?” he asked.

  I counted the piles of fiery metal. “One less than we’ve got.”

  His lips tightened. “Doesn’t really tell us all that much, but I can get someone here who can. Got a phone?”

  “In my office.”

  “Swell.” He scrubbed his fingers through his hair, leaving a few strands standing on end.

  If he hadn’t been six-three and about two-twenty, he would have looked like a little boy with cowlicks. As it was, I found myself charmed far beyond what was good for me.

  “This makes no sense,” he continued. “Why would anyone want to blow up a medical research facility?”

  Since we were a lot more than that, there were quite a few people, and nonpeople, too, who would love to blow J-S headquarters to hell and gone. Not just the building, either, but me, Edward, and any other agents they could take out in the process.

  We didn’t need the FBI here. Lord knows what else they might uncover when they started sifting through the rubble. If I could get to a phone ahead of Nic, Edward would take care of the cover-up.

  A cool wind sifted through the trees, bringing with it the scent of winter. We’d been lucky so far; it was November and we’d only had a dusting of snow. I glanced to the west where dark clouds billowed on the horizon. That was about to change.

  Something cracked and fell inside the smoldering crater, the sound echoing through the forest. A wolf yipped, beyond the fence, not one of mine, and I started to get nervous about being in the open without a gun.

  “Where’s the nearest town?” Nic asked.

  “Sixty miles, give or take.”

  His stare was blank. He couldn’t get his mind around the concept. “Where do you live?”

  I pointed to the flames.

  “You live and work here?”

  “There isn’t anywhere else.”

  Besides, I worked all the time. Why bother to rent elsewhere, even if it was safe to do so?

  Sure, sometimes I left the compound, even the state, on special orders from Edward. But once those orders were completed, I hurried back and disappeared once more behind the locked doors.

  “What about groceries, clothes ... ?” He spread his big hands wide. “Stuff and junk?”

  “Supplies arrive twice a month.”

  He opened his mouth, then shut it again, and his eyes narrowed. “There’s more to this place than medical research, isn’t there?”

  I didn’t answer. In the end, I didn’t have to.

  A shadow scooted behind a tree at the edge of the parking lot. I turned that way, wishing I’d brought my gun. Nic had one, but without silver bullets it wouldn’t do much good against most of the things that were after me. Still ...

  I reached for Nic’s arm, planning to ask for his weapon, or at least tell him to pull it out, and the shadow shimmered, almost taking form, before blending into the half-darkness once again. Curious, I let my hand drop and took a step toward the trees.

  A sound came from the woods, one I’d heard only a few times before. However, when dealing with gunshots, once is more than enough. I yanked Nic with me to the ground.

  The bullet whistled through the air where our heads had been, then thunked into something solid on the other side of the parking lot.

  Nic had a Glock in his hand, and I hadn’t even seen him move. Impressive.

  “Where did that come from?” he asked.

  “There.”

  I pointed to the tree where I could have sworn I saw the shape of a human being—except in my world, they might not be human anymore.

  If Billy was alive, he wouldn’t bother with a gun. He had so many better weapons in his arsenal. Besides, Billy was the kind of guy who liked to get his hands, as well as his fangs, dirty.

  Nic made a move to get up, and I pulled him down. “I don’t think so.”

  “I’m not going to be a sitting duck. I�
�ve got a gun, too.”

  Which wouldn’t do him a bit of good when shooting at a werewolf.

  The conundrum made me hesitate long enough for Nic to slip out of my reach. Instead of running into the woods, he stared at me with narrowed eyes. “Who did you piss off, Elise?”

  “Me? Who says they weren’t trying to kill you?”

  His eyes widened. Guess he hadn’t thought of that.

  Nic lifted the leg of his slacks and handed me a .38 from the ankle holster. “I’ll be right back.”

  He headed into the forest. When no shots were fired, I concluded that whoever had been there was gone.

  I inched across the parking lot, avoiding the burning piles of metal that had once been cars. Gauging the trajectory from the tree where I’d seen the shadowy figure, to the area where we’d been standing, then beyond, I was able to find the bullet embedded in a smoldering signpost. The spent ammo looked like any other. However, my fingers burned the instant I brought them close to the bullet. The reaction could have been from the continuing heat of the fire, except it wasn’t. The bullet was silver.

  “Huh.” I drew back my hand. “Guess they were after me.”

  Chapter 5

  No one knew I was a werewolf. My true nature was definitely not in my personnel file. So I couldn’t explain how my secret had been sold, but right now I had other things to worry about.

  Especially when another gunshot sounded. The wolves howled again, their mournful serenade causing my skin to tingle.

  I wanted to shout Nic’s name. Instead, I tightened my fingers around his weapon and moved toward the trees. I’d gone only a few steps when I heard someone coming. From the sound of the voice muttering a litany of curses, that someone was Nic.

  “I take it you missed,” I said in lieu of a greeting.

  “I could have sworn I didn’t. He fell—”

  My ears perked at the pronoun. “He?”

  “Hard to tell. He, or she, got up, then they were just gone.” He snapped his fingers. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  Mine was probably better. If Nic had shot someone, and they’d gotten up and disappeared at the speed of the wind, my bet was werewolf. But if that was the case, why bother to run? Why use a gun in the first place when fangs and claws would soon be available? I didn’t want to stick around long enough to find out.

  “Can’t believe I didn’t hit him,” Nic murmured.

  “It happens.”

  I considered returning Nic’s gun, then decided something was better than nothing even if I had no silver bullets, and shoved the weapon into the pocket of my skirt.

  “Not to me.”

  I didn’t comment. Regardless of who had fired the shot, of who, or what, Nic had chased, he would be ill-equipped to catch them. He could be the best FBI agent in the business, but when faced with a traitorous Jager-Sucher, a rogue agent, a werewolf, or something else, he’d be chasing shadows until they decided he was a nuisance. Then he’d just be dead.

  What was I going to do with him?

  “We need to get to a phone.” Nic holstered his gun.

  “Good luck.”

  “There has to be one somewhere.”

  “Yeah. Sixty miles from here in the next town.” I glanced at the thick trees, the steadily darkening sky, then I thought of the shadows, the silver, of Billy, and I shivered. “We should start walking.”

  Really, really fast.

  “Walking?” Nic frowned as if he’d never done such a thing before.

  “You have a better idea?” I spread my hands, indicating the parking lot where every car was on fire.

  “Sooner or later someone will turn up. Won’t they?”

  “Sure. In two weeks, when we’re due for supplies.”

  “No one else comes to this facility? No one will call and wonder why you aren’t answering?”

  Edward would. Then he’d hop the next flight west to discover what had happened. I didn’t want him to. Whoever had done this knew far too much about us. Hence the silver bullet. If they knew that, they knew Edward would show eventually, which might be just what they’d been after all along.

  I needed to get in touch with my boss without being overheard. Failing that, I needed to get to him without being followed. Either one was going to be tricky.

  “I’m on my own,” I said.

  “There’s not a single person in the vicinity? No groundskeeper? No friendly neighborhood hermits? What about those Montana militants we’re always investigating?”

  “Sorry. The isolation was a big selling point.” However, his comment did make me remember that we weren’t completely without wheels.

  “There’s an outbuilding past the wolf enclosure. We keep an ATV there.”

  “How far can we go on that?”

  “Farther and faster than we can on foot.”

  I wanted to put as much distance as I could between myself, the compound, any undead monsters, and that silver-bullet-shooting gun before dark. Even though I sensed the shooter was gone, I wasn’t going to bet my life, or Nic’s, on that feeling.

  “You have any idea who might want to shoot you?” Nic followed me through the woods.

  “The list is endless.”

  I kept my voice dry. The better to seem sarcastic, even though I wasn’t.

  “Elise, this is serious.”

  “I got that when the building blew up.”

  How was I going to keep him from asking questions all the way to a telephone? How would I keep him, and me, alive until we got there? I didn’t have a clue.

  I’d reach town a lot easier on my own, but I couldn’t leave Nic behind. He had no idea what we were facing.

  Figuring the wolf enclosure, at least, should be free of a gun-wielding killer, I skirted the fence line. When one of my wolves slammed into the chain link, I let out a small shriek and slammed into Nic.

  He tried to steady me, but I pulled away. The alpha male—Jose—stood on the other side of the barricade. He was frightened, and that wasn’t like him.

  “I need to set them free.”

  “Are you nuts?”

  Nic snagged my elbow, but I tugged myself loose and headed for the gate. “I can’t leave them locked up with no one to take care of them.”

  “Wolves can take care of themselves.”

  Maybe. But they’d do better outside than in.

  “Stay back.”

  I punched in the code that would open the door. A minute later I watched as all six melted into the trees.

  Heavy clouds obscured the three-quarter moon. Even though that should make it a lot harder to shoot me, the encroaching shadows made me nervous. The moon might be hidden, but it was still there, and so were the monsters.

  Nic kept pace as I made my way double-time down the path. “Any idea who might have planted that bomb?” he asked.

  The cardinal rule of Law Enforcement 101 must be to ask the same question a thousand different ways.

  “No visitors but you.”

  And Nic had been outside for hours while I was in the basement. Had he been reading a book, or instructing an accomplice where to deliver a bomb?

  Then again, why would he blow up J-S headquarters when he didn’t even know what we were doing there? Unless he understood more than he was saying. Unless he was more than he appeared.

  Like me.

  I stopped and so did Nic. He tilted his head. “I swear I didn’t torch the place.”

  “So swears every mad bomber.”

  His lips twitched, but when he spoke his voice held steady. “If I blew up the compound, then who shot at us?”

  “Your co-conspirator?”

  “Paranoid much?”

  “Every damn day.”

  Nic moved closer, and his breath brushed my hair. “You never used to be so tense.”

  “I never used to be a lot of things.”

  His hand cupped my elbow, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  His thumb slid across a long,
black mark that shone starkly against the winter-white material of my favorite suit. Crap now, along with everything else I owned. With Nic touching me, even through the fabric, I couldn’t work up the energy to care.

  “When we finally have sex,” he whispered, “it’ll be on silk sheets, in a real bed, where I can show you what I’ve been fantasizing about for seven years.”

  The air smelled of heat, fire, of him. My body went tight and wet. If he touched me, I just might forget that we had places to go, monsters to avoid.

  “We aren’t going to have sex.” I removed my arm from his grasp. “Ever.”

  “Right.” He made a disgusted sound—but whether that was for me or himself, I had no idea—and turned his back. “You keep on believing that.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say, what to do. One minute Nic seemed to hate me. The next, what I saw in his eyes was far from hate, though the expression wasn’t love. I’d seen love in his eyes before.

  The only man I’d ever wanted was Nic Franklin. Now he was here, and I couldn’t have him. If I did, I risked so much more than myself.

  Without another word, I tromped down the trail. The scent of blood reached me long before I found the source.

  A flayed rabbit lay in the middle of the path. My gaze wandered over the trees, but I saw no one, heard nothing.

  Did they think the blood would make me foolish? If so, they had no idea whom they were dealing with, no clue what I had done so that something like this was little more than a prank—although I doubted the bunny had found it funny. Perhaps whoever was after us didn’t know as much as they thought.

  Nic bent to study the blood and the fur.

  “Never mind. Let’s just get out of here.”

  “What’s this?”

  He plucked something from the ground, then offered his hand, palm up, in my direction. I leaned closer and my breath caught.

  A tiny wolf—a talisman, a totem, a charm. I’d seen one before, been studying it, too, trying to figure out how and why the thing was magic.

  But the icon should have blown up along with the building. Even if it had been thrown this far into the woods, that particular talisman had been fashioned from black stone. This one was white plastic, with sparkling blue eyes. The thing would have been tacky, if it wasn’t so creepy. Even without the bloody kill nearby.