An American Werewolf in Hoboken (22 page)

A weight lifted off her shoulders—a huge anchor, dragging her to the lowest depths, suddenly gone. “I’ve been so miserable without him.”

Viv snorted, smoothing her hair from her face. “That was evident from the stink all over you.”

“If he were a man, a fully
human
man, by now I’d have been picking out china and asking people to check off chicken or beef for the wedding reception, so what does that say about me?”

“It says you’ve watched a lot of TV, J. Read some books, bought into the myth. It says you didn’t understand. Now you do.”

“But what if I can’t…adjust? Or acclimate, or whatever it is you do when your boyfriend is a werewolf?”

Her friend’s smile was sympathetic. “You stay miserable without him? Or you accept who he is
with
him. Sort of like, I bet he’d accept you if you had an eyeball in the middle of your head and three arms.”

For the first time in days, she laughed, and it was good. So good.

“It’s just a quirk in his DNA, honey. Yes, it’s a lifestyle, one that takes some getting used to, if Jerry’s just the tip of the iceberg. But Max still has a heart, a brain, a soul. If there was someone who loved me the way I think he loves you, I’d take him with horns and two penises.”

Well, when she put that way. The burn of tears stung JC’s eyes again. She’d turned Max away, and it ached. “He said I’m his life mate. At first I just thought he was deranged when he said he was sent by some prophecy, but now you’ve made me question everything.”

Viv’s eyes flashed, going wide. “Oh, shit! Wait… He’s an Adams, right? A werewolf Adams.”

JC nodded slowly, the urgency in her friend’s voice scaring her. “Yes.”

“Oh, sweet baby J! Okay, so are you sure you’re nuts about him? Because this is very important.”

She was surer than sure. She was so sure, the thought of finally expressing it without fear she was in love with a man who was certifiable overwhelmed her. “I’m absolutely sure.”

“Then I have something to check on, but while I do, you put some clothes on and pack a bag. Don’t ask questions—just move. We’re road trippin!” Viv jumped up, grabbing her phone from her purse while JC did as she was told.

* * *

Max shoved the food on his plate around, ignoring the steady rise of the full moon and the obvious hysteria around him.

Derrick jumped up from the kitchen table where they all sat, plates still full, unable to eat. “This is some bullshit. I’m going to find JC. Don’t say a word, Max! I don’t care if you don’t want her to feel pressured. I don’t want you
dead
!”

He slammed his fist on the table, making the dishes bounce with a clatter. “Sit down, Derrick!”

Derrick snarled at him. “Oh, the hell you say! I’m not sitting. I’m going to Hoboken and getting your girl. If you try to stop me, I’ll kick your ass from here to Pennsylvania. It’s unfair
not
to tell her, Max. She has the right to make the final decision. You’re taking that right away just by remaining silent. How the hell will she feel if she finds out you’re dead and you didn’t give her the chance to save your sorry ass?”

Max rose from his chair, grabbing Derrick by his shirt with one hand. “I will not mate with a woman by force, Derrick!” he roared, throwing him into his chair. “Now sit down and shut up!”

Faith was up and putting a hand on Max’s and Derrick’s shoulders. “Please, please, boys. Not tonight. Not tonight of all nights. These could be our last moments together. I won’t have them spent arguing. Derrick, if this is what Max wants, we have to respect his last…” She didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she began to cry.

And it was eating Max up.

Avery and Nat cried, too, silently, still rooted to their seats.

He couldn’t take the crying right now. He had to prepare himself—prepare his family. Make sure that all his ducks were in a row for Derrick to take over.

Max took a deep breath, regretting his anger. “I’m sorry. Listen, I just need an hour or so to make sure I have everything set for Derrick. I know you don’t want to hear that. I know this hurts, but I need to know you’ll all be taken care of when I’m…”
Not here. Gone. Dead. Petrified. Whatever.

He dropped a kiss on his mother’s cheek and went straight for the back door. He had to get away, wrap his head around this.

The text he’d sent to JC was the only way he had of reassuring her they weren’t some bunch of bloodthirsty monsters. He’d hoped against hope she’d text him back, but when he checked his phone, there was nothing.

The past five days had been sheer hell without her. Leaving Hoboken without JC had killed him. But he couldn’t stay—she would’ve only felt as if he were breathing down her neck. So he’d come back home and waited for a miracle.

But after the way she’d run away from him, he knew it was pointless. He threw open the door to his house, inhaling the scent of fresh wood. Built with the idea he’d someday fill it with werecubs of his own, the house would be left to Derrick in the hope that in his stead, his brother would have better luck with his life mate than Max had.

This goddamn curse had really done him in. There was nothing about the curse that allowed your life mate time to adjust to the fact that your new mate wasn’t human. Which was utter bullshit.

What woman who didn’t know the mating score was willing to mate with a man after only knowing him a few short weeks?

Fuck the universe and fuck the elders for this curse they’d cast upon his family because his grandparents had defied them in the name of compassion.

Thinking of his grandparents made him think of his father. He missed Brock Adams, lived every day as if he were still going to show up at any minute. Kept the pack whole so Brock could take over upon his return.

Running a hand through his hair, he sat down at his computer to compose an email to JC before he went to spend his last moments with his family.

So she’d know he’d really fallen in love with her, and nothing—not her fear, not her obvious distaste for what he was—would change that.

Chapter Nineteen

Viv whipped around a corner, turning the steering wheel of her old Granada so sharply, JC almost lost the wine she’d consumed.

Her head was swirling with activity. Dizzy with the words Viv had shared, mating and babies and aging slowly and super speed and…

Die.
The word wouldn’t stop running around in her head.

As if this couldn’t get any crazier than knowing werewolves existed, than finding out her friend was a feline, there was
this
.

The curse. This crazy, mind-boggling curse Viv had explained to her on the ride to Cedar Glen. She almost heard the ominous music playing in her head just thinking about how monstrous it was. Who would do such a horrific thing? Why hadn’t Max told her that his family was cursed, and he’d die if they didn’t mate by the full moon?

She didn’t have to ask.

Because he wouldn’t force her to do something out of fear or under pressure. Because Max wasn’t the kind of man who’d want her under duress. Because it would mate them forever, and there’d be no turning back.

Because Max was adorably, chivalrously Max.

Oh God. What had she done by leaving him?

Her stomach tightened into a hard knot, making it hard to breathe as she gripped her seat belt, her eyes glancing at the clock. Midnight. They had to make it before midnight.

“Are you sure he’ll die if we don’t mate?”

Viv swung around at a fork in the road, kicking up dust and gravel as she took off again, her eyes straining for any sign of Cedar Glen. “Yes, J.
He will die
. Now keep trying to call him, text him…something. We have to get to him
before
midnight.”

Her fingers trembled when she held up her phone. “I can’t get a friggin’ signal out here. And I’m pretty good at directions—so why can’t I find this damn town? I was just here!” Her panic began to rise like cream, light and frothy.

She would
not
let Max die.
Please, whoever’s in charge, just let me get there in time.

Viv reached over and patted her hand. “Don’t panic yet. Just stay focused. We’ll get there if it’s the last thing we do.”

“There!” JC yelled, remembering the old railroad-style fencing. “Turn there!”

Viv cut a hard right, the squeal of her tires echoing sharply in a darkness broken only by the dashboard lights and a full moon. “You know, when we find your man, I’m going to give him hell for not having some streetlights installed up here in Deliverance. It’s so damn dark I can’t see and road signs, and I’m a cat, for Jesus’ sake!”

A shadowy figure came out of nowhere, loping into JC’s peripheral vision and smashing against the passenger window before she had time to scream a warning to Viv.

The impact was so jolting, whatever hit them broke the window, shattering the glass and pelting them with stinging fragments.

She heard Viv scream as the car began to roll down what felt like an embankment, the scenery tilting and turning as trees and brush flew by. They landed with a hard whump, the tires taking most of the impact as they bounced upon returning upright and the chasse’s metal screeched its howling protest.

Viv’s head snapped back before she fell forward and cracked her cheek on the steering wheel.

JC scrambled to unhook her seat belt, droplets of blood coming from her forehead, leaving a crimson pattern on her jeans. “Viv!” she yelled, yanking the belt off and twisting around to reach for her friend’s face.

“Go!” she yelled at her. “I’m fine—you have to go now, J!”

Terror coursed through her veins and panic seized her gut as she tried to focus on the passenger-side door. Gripping the handle, she prayed it would open when she gave it a yank.

Nothing.
Shit, shit, shit!

“J, gooo nowww!” Viv howled over the wind as it began to pick up.

“The hell! I’m not leaving you here. Just hold tight.” JC used the arm of her sweater to clear the passenger window of shattered glass, ignored the shards poking her from the frame and climbed out. She caught her foot on the edge and hit the ground with a bone-cracking thud.

She rolled to her side, grunting her pain, pulling her knees to her chest, spitting leaves and grass from her mouth. As her eyes cleared, JC found herself staring up at the very thing that had sent her running back home.

Jerry.

She fought a gasp of surprise.
Calm. Stay calm. He won’t hurt you. Max told you Jerry would never hurt you.
It was hard to keep her teeth from chattering at his size alone as he loomed over her, his wide girth blocking out the moon.

But as he stared down at her, his face covered in tufts of straggly fur blowing wildly in the wind, his hands half-paws, half-fingers, JC’s fear ebbed away.

Jerry held out his hand and waited, his red eyes beseeching.

JC grabbed onto it, ignoring the strange mesh of claws and fingers, and let him drag her upward. She wobbled, but Jerry wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her. He walked her to a tree, holding up a hand to indicate she should wait.

In a mere blink of her eye, the shriek of metal tearing punctuated the howl of the wind as he ripped the door off Viv’s car and threw it out of the way.

“Wait!” JC called to him. “Don’t move her, Jerry. In case she’s hurt.” Regaining her balance, she stumbled clumsily toward Jerry, her ankle throbbing. She made it to the hood of the car, feeling her way around until she saw Viv’s outline.

“J, swear it on my damn cat’s lives, I’m fine. You need to go find Max!”

JC shook her head, worried by the bruises on Viv’s face and the gash of crimson along her cheek. Cupping Viv’s jaw, she ran her fingers over her face. “Not gonna happen ever. What if you have internal injuries? No way. We’ve got to call 911.”

Jerry put a hand on JC’s arm, moving her out of the way with a gentle shove. “I can help her,” he said, his voice surprisingly deep and calm. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I was just running—running so it wouldn’t hurt so much. But I won’t hurt you or your friend, JC. That’s a promise.”

JC went from worried about Viv to worried about Jerry. “So
what
wouldn’t hurt so much, Jerry? Are you injured?”

He looked away, over her shoulder and toward the field they’d landed in. “I can’t tell you. Max would be angry. He said I couldn’t tell you.”

Viv’s head bobbed and she winced, squeezing her temples. “You’re Jerry?”

His eyes darted to JC’s face, as though he were asking permission to acknowledge Viv.

This
Jerry, this gentle giant, wasn’t nearly as frightening as he’d appeared upon their first encounter. The hair springing from his face didn’t look as awkward as it did endearing, and his hands were kind, almost tender.

She squeezed his arm and smiled, squinting her eyes when a sharp pain stabbed her between the eyes. “Yes, this is Jerry. Jerry, meet Viv. She’s my best friend.”

Viv flapped JC’s hands from her face and pointed toward the road. “Jerry? A pleasure. Now get my girl here to Max, pronto. Forget about me. I’m fine. In about ten minutes it’ll look like this never happened. It’s another magical property we have as shifters. We self-heal. So hurry up, Jerry, howl to send a signal, do whatever you have to do to let Max know JC’s here. Hurry!”

Jerry backed away from them, and for a moment, JC feared as Max had, that he’d run, but instead he reared his head back and howled—so painfully loud and so shrill, she had to cover her ears.

In the clearing just above the embankment, hundreds of glowing eyes appeared, making her shrink back against Jerry. He put his hands on her shoulders and nudged her. “It’s okay. That’s the pack. They’ll help get you to Max.”

Her heart pounded hard in her chest as she took another glance at Viv, torn.

“Go, J! Jerry will stay with me, right?”

“I’ll stay. Right here. Swear it. Hurry. You don’t have much time.”

Time. Oh God, what time was it? The moon was high, buttery and round, and it had never looked as frightening as it did now that Max’s life hung in the balance.