Moonlight: The Big Bad Wolf (Black Swan 4) (28 page)

"It... would have made me sad."

"Well, that is what was about to happen. And it made me more than sad. The idea of never seeing you again made me feel like I couldn't breathe. It made my heart hurt."

As much as she wanted to beat him with a stick, she felt her own heart soften at that. What sort of woman wouldn't respond to such an admission?

"I didn't plan it or think it through. Completely. I just knew I couldn't face the idea of waking up tomorrow morning knowing the separation was permanent."

She searched his eyes, but didn't want to reveal that her initial rage receded further with every word he spoke. "And I get no choice in the matter?"

"Do you remember telling me how you came to your vocation?"

She nodded, frowning. "Yes. What...?"

"Did you have a choice?" She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips so prettily it caused an arousal to stir uncomfortably in the confines of his jeans. She was glaring in a way that challenged the part of him that was wolf to claim her so that she would know their joining was a fait accompli, not up for debate. "You came to embrace that life so that now you
do
choose it. You'll do the same with me."

"I won't."

"You will."

"I can't believe I thought I liked you."

His smile turned wolfish. "Luna. You
do
like me. Your body tells me so."

"That's nonsense and not at all true."

"Liar." He pointed to his nose. "Great sense of smell."

She stared blankly until she comprehended the reference. Then a blush colored her cheeks and looked so hot he didn't think he could suppress a low growl of interest.

"I don't like it here." She rubbed her arms like they were still bare. "It's cold."

He moved closer. "All the better to warm you."

"Stay away from me. Just take me back. I want to go home."

"Why?"

"Why?" She repeated it and then gaped as if she couldn't believe it would need further explanation.

"Why do you want to go back?"

"It's my home. It's my work. It's everything that feels comfortable and familiar. My sisters are my family." He nodded slowly like he understood, which only served to renew her fury. She wanted to say something that would erode his self-assuredness. "And then there was sex with Deliverance".

Luna felt the deepest wave of satisfaction wash over her as she watched the varying emotions play out on Grey's face. Something in her womanly instinct told her that a reference to intimacy with Deliverance would be a taunt that would make her captor go wild with jealousy. On some level she had also known it could be dangerous to provoke a man crazy enough to nab her from her own home in broad daylight.

Stalkson Grey felt a red hazed rage wash over him. He snarled and howled. The snarling terrified her. The howling sent her running for the door. He caught her easily and carried her back to the chair she'd left in spite of kicking, screaming, pinching, slapping, and, worst of all, hair pulling. When he dumped her in the chair, the unmistakable huff and look of warning on his face caused her to decide that she had pushed him as far as she wanted to push for the moment. She stilled and tried her best not to look as frightened as she felt.

She sat in the chair and watched, aghast, as he ripped pillows with his teeth. He picked up furniture and threw it against the wall in a way that suggested inhuman strength.

The front door flew open and revealed several faces crowded together on the porch. The man who entered without an invitation bore enough of a resemblance to Grey to be a brother. He looked around at the destruction with a wrinkled brow. Then he looked at Luna huddled with her body drawn up for protection. Last, he turned to his father with confusion all over his face.

"Dad! What are you doing? Have you completely lost your mind?"

Stalkson Grey stopped abruptly. "Maybe." He glanced at his son then went back to staring at Luna with his chest heaving and his eyes burning with anger. "But it's none of your business. Get out."

Windwalker didn't move. He jerked his head toward Luna. "Who is that?"

"This is none of your business, Win. The young lady and I are negotiating."

Win gaped.

Grey growled low in his throat in a way that made the hairs on the back of Luna's neck stand straight up. "Please don't make me tell you again."

Win backed out and closed the door. For a minute they heard voices outside and then everything was quiet.

Grey kicked one of the destroyed cushions out of the way as he stalked back to stoke the fire. He threw himself back into his chair. At least he had retained enough presence of mind to spare his favorite chair and the one on which Luna sat, looking terrified. He faced Luna, still breathing heavy. She looked around while he stared at her, afraid to meet his gaze.

When she heard his breathing even out to normal, she said, "There's another room with some stuff you didn't destroy yet." Grey took in a deep sigh and slumped further against his chair. "Why did that guy call you Dad? He's the same age as you."

The king took in a deep sigh. "He's not the same age. We look the same age because we're not human."

Luna was nonplussed. It was certainly not the reaction he'd expected. "Not human?" Her eyes wandered down his body. "Is that what the snarling was about? You know that tearing-things-up-with-your-teeth thing is not attractive. In fact it makes you look sort of crazy."

"I'm not crazy, Luna. I'm a werewolf."

She stared for a few beats before shaking her head. "No idea what that means."

"You never heard of werewolves?"

"Look, Grey, if there's something you want to say then say it. This welcome to your home hasn't really put me in the mood for games."

"I can shift between man and wolf."

"By shift, you mean you change into a wolf."

"Yes. Everybody here does."

"Everybody in your world?"

"No, everyone you will encounter near my home while you're here with me."

She noted the loophole. If he said "while you're here" then he wasn't planning to keep her forever. "And how long will that be?"

He hadn't thought far enough in advance to formulate an answer to that question. At length he said, "When you no longer want to leave, then you can go."

"Is that a riddle?"

"No. It's the truth."

"Okay, look, I said
no
games. If you're going to persist in this werewolf fantasy, which - by the way - is a weird choice, then I can only conclude you're not just a kidnapper, but a
crazed
kidnapper who's very good at fooling girls who go for innocent walks in the woods."

"It was not a kidnapping. It was a romantic abduction."

He got up and left the room. She heard some faint rustling followed by soft clicking on the hardwood floor. When a large black wolf with yellow gold eyes peeked around the side of her chair, she shrieked and jerked back. The wolf quickly moved in front of her and put his head in her lap while gazing at her with soft, imploring eyes.

The adrenaline sent pinpricks of unpleasant tingling through her nervous system, but the tension in her muscles relaxed. It was clear the wolf didn't intend to harm her.

"Stalkson Grey?" She said it quietly, wanting to get Grey's attention without alarming the beast. The wolf bumped her leg with his nose.

"Stalkson Grey?" she repeated just a little louder and, again, the wolf bumped her leg with his nose.

Her eyes grew big as she began to consider the possibility of the impossible.

"Is that you, Grey?" she whispered. He bumped her with his nose.

She would have liked to simply faint and give herself a ten minute break from consciousness, but, unfortunately, she remained wide awake and clear headed. So far as she could tell.

She looked into his eyes, not knowing that wolves usually don't like that. Even Grey thought it was odd that he didn't feel an adverse reaction.

"Werewolf."

He picked his big head up and looked at her intently with ears standing straight up like he understood exactly what was being said.

Then, as if she hadn't already had more than her quota of excitement for the day, he smoothly shifted in the form of a man. A beautiful man who also happened to be beautifully naked. His penis was exactly at face level with where Luna sat in the chair. She tried to drag her eyes upward to his face, but they had an agenda of their own and intended to stay put until they'd had their fill of admiring the utter perfection of his male equipment. His skin was evenly tanned, as if he'd actually been out in the sun without clothes. It was also smooth and hairless except for a dusting of light brown on his arms and legs and a slightly darker trail leading downward from his navel.

As she became vaguely aware that he was speaking, she finally managed to look up.

"So you're challenging me to satisfy you sexually as well as Deliverance did."

Shock registered on her face and she quickly began shaking her head. "No! That's NOT what I'm doing."

"That's what it sounded like to me. You'll have to tell me what to do, but one thing is certain. Whatever he does, I can do."

It took a minute for her brain to make sense of what was happening. She was aware of the fact that possessing a mind that adapts to new circumstances quickly was a survival trait, but she didn't think anyone could adapt to so much so fast. In the space of an hour she'd been kidnapped and taken to another dimension with no means of escape. She'd watched her captor demolish his own living quarters. She'd not only learned that there were supernatural creatures called werewolves, but that she'd been abducted by one. And now the werewolf, who was hung like a masterpiece, wanted to know how he could please her sexually.

Her assessment only concluded that the scenario was as improbable as a fantasy and comical in a way that it shouldn't be. She snorted with disbelief then laughed from deep in her throat. Luna didn't intend for her laugh to conjure images of wild nights, but that's the way it affected Grey. So much so that the sound of it made his balls pull tight.

It also made him angry. "Why are you laughing?"

She shook her head. "Honestly. This is all so bizarre I just don't know what else to do."

He knelt in front of her. Her eyes immediately flicked to his mouth, which was generous and lush for a man old enough to have a grown son.

"You know the fact that you're not wearing clothes is, um, intimidating."

He seemed irritated by that. "Werewolves are comfortable with our bodies, Luna. We sort of have to be. I'm naked because I was just in my wolf form. Not because I'm trying to intimidate you."

"Are you married?"

"What?" The woman made his head spin. "No. I was..., uh, mated. She died twenty-three years ago."

She cocked her head. "You look like you're no older than thirty. At most. How old are you?"

"Older than you."

"Well, that cleared that up."

"Are you hungry?"

"No."

"Then let's go to bed."

"Bed?"

"Bed. A comfortable place to sleep or engage in other horizontally oriented pastimes. A piece of furniture, usually with a mattress and pillows."

"I know what a bed is. I don't want to go to sleep. I don't want to go to bed. I want to go home."

Grey stood up slowly. When her eyes locked on his manhood again, he smiled a wolfish smile. "Come to bed. Give me a chance to change your mind."

"No. I don't trust you." She was thinking that had to be the dumbest thing she'd ever said. Of course she didn't trust him. He was her kidnapper.

"Understandable. But you can distrust me just as easily sleeping in a bed as in chairs."

"I don't know that that's true. How many beds do you have?"

"One."

"Then I'm not going."

"Alright. I won't insist. We'll sit by the fire awhile longer." He stoked the fire and put another cup of mulled wine on the hearth to warm, giving Luna a long and leisurely view of his backside that was as taut and muscled as a wild animal. The way his hair fell around his shoulders made him seem all the more untamed.

He was the exact opposite of everything she'd known since she was a little girl. The Cult of Vervain maintained strict order and control. The Grand Mother often said that chaos in one's environment would create chaotic thought. The man... The werewolf wasn't concerned with law or rules or propriety. He did what he wanted. Fundamentally he was anarchy personified.

Clearly that appealed to Luna's body, based on the way it responded to him, but it seemed it also appealed to her spirit. Until the werewolf had shown up in the forest on the edge of the park, she had never considered doing anything outside the routine expected of the Vergins. Of course she had broken any one of a dozen rules just by repeatedly meeting and spending time with Stalkson Grey. She supposed that meant she deserved the punishment that she was now receiving.
Or the reward.