Hidden Moon (Hot Moon Rising #4) (14 page)

she’d woken up, she hadn’t remembered anything except the grove fire. How had her

neck gotten cut?

Mom had served her breakfast on a tray and told her everything, including Alan’s

involvement. As her strength returned, so did her own memories—the angry words, the

knife flying through the air.

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Oh, Alan. Why? Couldn’t you have stopped yourself?

Her concern had less to do with her injury than fear of what the pack would do to

him. He’d kept telling her he was dangerous and couldn’t be trusted, but she’d always

refused to believe it.

Her mother had told her Curtis and several others were on a witch hunt. Thank

goodness Derek had a level head.

“They’re here,” Mom said, poking her head in her bedroom door.

“I want to see Alan alone,” Shelley replied.

“Are you sure that’s wise, honey?”

“I insist.”

A few minutes later, the door opened and Alan drifted in as gently as a wisp of smoke.

His shoulders and head were so hunched he looked half his normal size. She could

hardly believe he was the same person as the enraged man who’d thrown the knife.

Tears flowed down her cheeks. Last night during the mating bond, they’d had it all.

Love. A beautiful future. Her dreams were gone now. They’d leaked out on the diner

floor with her blood.

“Come closer, Alan,” she said, extending her arm. “Look at me.”

He stepped to the side of the bed and sat on the edge of it. When he finally looked at

her, his cheeks were stained with tears, too.

“God, Shelley. I’m so sorry.” He lifted her hand, kissed it, and pressed it to his cheek.

His tears, warm as blood, flowed across her skin.

“Don’t cry. It was an accident,” she said, clearing her throat to steady her voice. “And

I’m feeling stronger. I’m going to live.”

“I’m so thankful.” He laid her hand gently on the quilt. “Derek wants you to decide

my fate. Don’t hold back.”

“Curtis caused the incident,” she said. “I can’t punish you. I love you.”

“Don’t love me.” He turned his head as his shoulders shook with a silent sob.

“Whatever you do, don’t love me. I don’t deserve it.”

“I can’t help it. You’re my mate, and I believe the good in you.” She caressed his wet

cheek. “I’m not giving up on you, damn it!”

“You’d change your mind if the beast in me actually killed somebody. But I’m not

going to stay and let that happen. I was a fool to even try.”

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She threaded her fingers through his. “Listen to me, Alan. Lying here has given me a

lot of time to think.”

“Yeah?” His chocolate-brown eyes, wary and dark with pain, looked at her.

“First, it drove me crazy to lie still.” She plucked at her nightgown. “I realized I work

too hard.”

“You do.” He stroked her thumb. “You’re always taking care of everybody else. It’s

your turn to be taken care of.”

She gazed out the window. “I guess I never forgave myself for what happened on

prom night.”

He squeezed her fingers. “What happened then was my fault, not yours.”

“The second thing I realized is love can heal you, Alan,” she said, gazing at him again.

“I doubt it.” He shook his head so hard, the ends of his bandana flapped.

“I came up with a theory.”

His full lips curved into a tender smile, but his eyes were wary. She refused to let his

skepticism dampen the excitement beating in her chest.

“Get Derek up here. I want him to hear this, too.”

When he left to get the Alpha, she gripped the quilt. They had to believe her. She

wasn’t about to let go of her true mate, and the fire last night proved the pack needed

him more than ever.

The men entered. Derek sat on a Windsor chair in the corner while Alan resumed his

seat on her bed.

“You would never intentionally harm me or your father, would you?” she asked her

man. “Even if you lost complete control.”

He shrugged. “I’d like to think not, but who knows? When I lose control, I lose it.”

“You can’t hurt us because we’re part of your pack. I’m your mate, and Don is your

father.”

“The pack hates me.”

“When I say pack, I don’t mean Moonlight. You’ve never been part of it, or the old

one, because they’ve always rejected you.”

Derek looked down but didn’t argue with her.

“What can I do for you?” Alan smoothed her quilt. “Do you need anything?

Magazines? Tea?”

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She grabbed his arm. “Listen to me. This is important.”

“The only thing I can do is go back north where this shit doesn’t get triggered.” He

jumped off the bed and paced.

“What I’m trying to say....” Still weak, she paused to catch her breath. “Is if Moonlight

pack fully embraced you, you’d be no danger to it.”

“I’m not going to risk staying around long enough to find out.”

“You have to,” she insisted. “If not for me, for the pack.”

He shook his head. With downcast eyes, he kissed her forehead. The brush of his

bandana on her skin reminded her of the other times they’d kissed. She’d rather slit her

throat back open than lose him.

“Take care, Shelley,” he murmured. “I’ll always love you, wherever I am.”

After a last squeeze of her hand, he walked toward the door. If he walked through it,

she’d never see him again. She had to try her experiment. If it succeeded, he might stay,

but if it failed, Derek might do worse to him than exile him from the pack. She might

even endanger herself again.

The hardest risk of all was losing his love. Watching it turn to hate. But, she had to do

it for him and the pack. She believed so strongly in love, she decided to try.

“Coward,” she said in the snarliest voice she could muster. “Go ahead and walk out.”

He turned his head, his eyes filled with hurt. His mouth opened, as if he were going to

say something.

She bit down on a knuckle. “I always liked Curtis better, anyway. He has a bigger

dick.”

Rage, pain, and confusion flashed through his eyes. Instead of opening the door, he

flung it open. Good. Her ploy was working. Her limbs trembled beneath the quilt

because hurting him felt worse than the knife slicing into her neck.

Derek stood. “Shelley, I don’t think it’s a good idea to taunt him.”

“What’s the matter, Scabs?” she asked, ignoring her Alpha. “Getting hot under the

collar? Why don’t you finish me off, you miserable freak?”

“Why are you…acting…like Curtis?” he bit out. “I thought you loved me.”

His shoulders heaved, and he gripped the doorframe, looking as if he were about to

shred the boards to splinters with his bare hands. Fear gnawed her spine. What if her

theory was wrong? What if he lost control and lunged at her? Derek would surely kill

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him on the spot. No, she’d gone this far. She had to see it through.

Now, for the final thrust.

“Don’t tell me you believed when me I said I really wanted you in high school.” She

even tossed her hair, reliving the arrogant beauty queen she’d once been. “I played a

joke on you on prom night, and I’ve been playing you ever since you got here.”

She gripped the quilt until her knuckles turned white. Alan roared, letting out a

primal howl so pain ridden it stood the hairs on her neck on end. Her breath froze in her

lungs as she watched him. Even Derek’s eyes looked twice their normal size. If her mate

was going to attack her, he’d do it now. He froze, too, breathing hard as fangs popped

through his lips.

The door banged behind him as he ran from the room. Shaking, Shelley closed her

eyes and let out the breath she’d been holding. He’d passed the test.

Derek raced to the window after the front door slammed, shaking the house. “You

might have asked my permission before trying something so dangerous.”

“The point is he didn’t hurt me. The pack must fully accept him. Then we’ll never

have to fear him.” She held out her hands to him. “Aren’t I always right?”

He nodded. “Yes, but if you’re wrong about this, he could hurt someone else.”

“Then I take full responsibility,” she said. “Talk to the others, especially Curtis. If I

can’t live with my mate, I’m not sure I want to live at all.”

“Don’t say that.” Derek stepped closer and squeezed her foot through the quilt.

“You’re one of our most valuable members.”

“I mean it,” she shot back. “And after last night’s fire, the Starwood pack is an even

bigger threat than I first thought. We need his fighting skills.”

Derek slipped his hands into his pockets. “We have plenty of strong men.”

“Ones that will fight to the death without thinking?”

Realizing she had to convince him more than Alan, Shelley ripped off her bandage

and smeared her finger through the healing wound. “What is this?”

He winced. “Blood.”

“Blood comes from violence, enemy against enemy,” she blurted out. “It also stands

for kinship. One pack, one blood.”

He nodded but didn’t speak.

“Alan would be Moonlight’s most loyal pack member, but only if you accept him.

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Against any enemy outside the pack, he’d be a killing machine. The best weapon you’ve

got.”

Before he could answer her, his cell phone rang. After he answered it, anguish swept

across his features. “Who is this?”

She crossed her fingers.
Please don’t let Alan be injured or in deeper trouble.

“Is Alan all right?” she asked after he pocketed the phone.

“That was an anonymous caller. He said if we don’t evacuate our homes and

businesses, they’ll be destroyed.”

“Oh, no. Starwood, again. What should we do?”

“You and your mother need to stay in the house.” He bit his lip and loped from the

room.

Her heart and Alan’s fate—as well as the pack’s—were in his hands now. She had done

everything she could.

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By the time Alan arrived at his father’s place, he’d sweat so much his clothes felt

painted on. It was a wonder he’d arrived in one piece. His eyes had been so blurry and

wet he’d barely seen the road. His hands weren’t too steady on the wheel, either.

Yeah, hell, he’d cried like an effing baby. Because he’d believed in Shelley’s love and

couldn’t stand to be the pack’s prize fool once again. He was old enough to know better.

He closed the front door behind him and staggered against it. The beast coiled at the

base of his spine and filled his lungs with silent howls. He held his trembling hands,

palms up, and stared at them. His beast had popped out so often down here, he was

almost used to it.

His body ached to do something—usually, to tear someone’s head off. When he’d

thrown the knife in the diner, he’d wanted to slit Curtis’s throat open. Not Shelley’s.

How could she have acted so cruel to him? Had she really made a fool of him all along?

Every time she’d gazed at him with tender passion, had she been laughing at him inside?

His fingers convulsed. Did he want to tear her apart? No, he couldn’t picture it, even

if he tried. If Curtis had been the one lying in bed, tossing insults at him, he would have

jumped on him and tried to strangle him.

Not Shelley. He hadn’t even touched her. She was his mate. He couldn’t hurt his

father, either. No matter how out of control the beast made him, it seemed to be

programmed not to harm the ones he loved.

Maybe her theory was right, after all. He tugged off his sweaty bandana and let out a

shaky breath followed by a laugh. Her theory. Yeah…. She’d tested him. The love she’d

shown him over the past few days couldn’t be faked, but a tiny part of him wasn’t sure.

How could someone so beautiful and giving want an ugly, violent freak like him?

He stared at the bandana, which he only wore here in Florida. Even though he knew

he’d never harm her intentionally, being caught in the crossfire of his rage had almost

killed her. He couldn’t take that chance again.

The aroma of country ham drew him to the kitchen. Although he wasn’t hungry, the

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wolf in him craved meat to replace the energy he’d spent. Rita stood in front of the stove,

and his father sat at the table.

Rita turned. “Good morning, Alan. I’ll fix you a plate.”

“Thanks,” he replied, taking a seat at the table.

“How’s Shelley?” Dad asked.

“Recovering,” Alan said.

“Don’t blame yourself.” To his surprise, his father’s frail hand covered his. “Curtis is a

first-class ass.”

Alan grabbed a piece of ham from the plate Rita gave him and swallowed after a

couple of bites. “Move north with me.”

Dad dropped his fork. “Why the hell would I want to do that?”

“This place is bad for me.” He glared at the charred orange grove out the window. “I

want Shelley to come, too. We can even open another restaurant if you want.”

“I’m dying. I don’t have the energy to open a lemonade stand, let alone another

restaurant.”

Alan rubbed his forehead. “I thought you wanted me to change my career to the

restaurant business.”

“Unless you plan to run Moonlight Diner, I don’t give a rat’s ass what you do.” He

released a wheezy sigh. “This is my home now. I want to die here.”

Alan stared at his plate and nodded. Shelley would probably feel the same way.

Maybe they would change their minds and follow him after he left. A chill made him

shudder, jiggling the silverware at his plate.

For the first time, the thought of being alone scared him worse than the beast.