Moonlight's Peril (Moonlight Series Book 1) (11 page)

Fifteen

Bianca had never been inside the mayor’s house before. The place was lavish. She struggled against the rough hands of the thugs who grabbed her on the street. They hadn’t given her the choice to come. Her heart leaped with a flash of panic because no one knew she was here. She wouldn’t go down without a fight. A sturdy nail file from her purse, hidden in her hand, remained her only weapon. She’d palmed the pathetic protection as one of the men snatched her purse as she messaged Kloe.

Pushed through a marble corridor, Bianca took in Kane's lavish home. Pictures of the mayor, his wife, and their sons hung on the wall. If she didn’t know what they were, she’d think they were just a wealthy but all-American family.

The men walked Bianca past Tobias’s startled assistant as the woman pressed a button and picked up the phone.

“She’s here sir,” the lady whispered into the intercom. “Go right in,” she said louder in the direction of the taller kidnaper.

Bianca stumbled into the mayor’s office as the shorter of her kidnappers gave her a shove.

“Hello, Mayor Wolfe. Abduction is a very harsh way to tell me that you’ve agreed to the new budget for the community center. I thought we’d do that at the city council meeting,” Bianca said. She hoped he didn’t know she knew what he was.

“I’m still uncertain about several aspects of your budget. You and I both know that isn’t why you’re here.”

She shook off the hands of her kidnappers. “Well Mayor, I live to serve.”

He chuckled. “You live. Consider your life very carefully, Bianca, if you wish to serve our community another day.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Never. Only a suggestion. You have a good heart. The day it stops will be a sad day for Wild Rose Valley.”

“I’m not going to be thrilled about my death either. Let’s hope it’s a long way off.”

“I can help you do better than hope. We can cut the crap. When a human is brought into our—confidence, I make it my business to decide,” Kane said.

“Decide?”

“If they live or die.”

The breath caught in her throat.

“I can assure you I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she lied.

“You and I are both too busy to play games. Law Foster gave you his protection and made you his mate.”

“Mate? What?”

Kane chuckled. “You didn’t understand, but you accepted his protection, right?”

“He saved my life. Why would I refuse him? I think I know who has my daughter. His name is Tobias. Can you help me save her? We’ve known each other a long time. I don’t care if this town is full of werewolves, vampires, ghosts, or televangelists. I just want my daughter back. You’re people—pack, have nothing to fear from me.”

Kane was quiet a long time. He steepled his fingers and sat back. His hard hazel eyes narrowed as he rested his lips, thoughtfully, against the point of his fingers. His black hair was starting to go gray at the temples. Kane, still fit and healthy for someone his age and aristocratic features gave him an air of undeserved dignity. His handsomeness didn’t disguise his ruthlessness.

“I can’t involve myself about your daughter. She was always a sweet little girl, and I pray she is well. If I suspect you’re not honest with me, I will kill you. You’re a civic-minded woman. We have to keep this secret to protect our town. You want our fine city to continue to flourish, don’t you, Bianca?”  Kane paused and leaned forward.

She realized he was waiting for her response. “Of course. I grew up just outside of town, on Rose Hill, and I’ve called this place home since my parents died.”

Kane smiled, but it was a creeptasitcally dark smile. “I’ve always liked you, Bianca. When you see your mate tell him, he owes me.”

“Um, about this mate thing, he’s just my friend—maybe.”

Kane grinned. “Tell Foster he also has my sympathies.”

Bianca glared. She wisely kept her smart-mouth reply to herself. She could see Kane’s smile widen as they faced off in a silent battle of wills.
He’s waiting for me to make a mistake, and give him an excuse to have me killed.
Her annoyance seemed to please him. After a moment, Kane relaxed back into his plush chair.

“I need you to give me a DNA sample,” Kane said.

“Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Kane waved his hand in the air dismissing the question.

“It does to me.” Bianca waited for him to rescind, but he didn’t. “Whatever,” Bianca grumbled.

“Tonya will take care of my request.”

Kane went back to studying his papers. The two thugs hustled Bianca out of the office. Kane’s Tonya sagged with relief and exhaled as Bianca walked out.
Maybe she thought I’d be leaving in a body bag. Clean up is probably one of her responsibilities.
Tonya hurried over with a long-handled cotton swab.

“Open your mouth, please,” Tonya, ordered in an authoritative albeit awkward tone.

Bianca rolled her eyes but obeyed. There was no point fighting Kane’s wishes.

The quick rub on the inside of her cheek didn’t hurt. Bianca was just glad to be alive, but she had questions for Law.

If Kane knew where her daughter was all this time and let her worry, she was not voting for him again. If Bianca weren’t terrified, she’d have screamed every curse word she knew in his face. Bottling her aggression, she forced herself to focus on getting out of Wolfe’s domain in one piece.
I’m going to tell Law off if he’s still alive.
The idea of him dead twisted her up, and the quick burst of sorrow caught her off guard.
Maybe Law did something to me?
Mate? Oh God.

****

Kane sighed.
I’m glad I don’t have to kill Ms. Archer.
He’d always liked her. She had a good sense of humor, for a woman. She reminded him of a 1950’s pin up. All ass and bust with a slim waist. He opened a drawer and took out an old photo. He lost himself in memories of the blonde human who’d stolen a piece of his soul. Bianca was beautiful because she looked like her mother. Joslyn. That woman had twisted him up so badly. If the girl was anything like her mother that uptight, son-of-a-bitch Foster was in trouble. The pairing would be amusing.

His spies told him the missing teenage daughter survived a bite. The father hadn’t. He wondered how Bianca had stayed off the records. Joslyn wasn’t the carrier. So who was Bianca’s real father? Or maybe Chessa belonged to one of the wolves. Bianca didn’t seem like the one-night kind, but when it came to sex humans didn’t have the same commitment to fidelity as most wolves. Most. Kane glared at the photo before tossing the delicate piece of his history back into the drawer with careless aggression. His pain ran deep. He slammed the drawer so hard his desk rattled. When the test came back, he’d find out if Bianca carried the blood too. If his suspicion was right, the woman wasn’t going to like the direction her new family tree veered, and he was going to have the perfect weapon to keep Foster and Tobias under control.

His phone rang.

“Mayor Wolfe,” Kane answered.

“Kane, this is Law Foster.” There was a pause.
Speak of the devil. Today is turning out to be quite interesting.
Foster cleared his throat.
“There’s been a territorial violation. Tobias left a dead wolf on my doorstep, and she’s not a bitten.”

His amusement fled. Kane growled. “Tobias?”

“Yeah, it’s his stink all over my front gate. When my father died, you said it was between us, when he killed Lucas O’Neil you said it was sloppy, but since it was on the sacred night, you chalked it up to wolves being wolves. He’s killed a born now.”

“Tobias has his war, and you have my support,” Kane assured. “Oh, and I drew up the human paperwork for you and Ms. Archer, or should I start calling her Mrs. Foster? Bring your mate and we’ll put the signatures down. No appointment needed. Your human is one of my favorites.”

“I’d stick with Ms. Archer,” Law said in a gruff tone. Kane detected embarrassment, and he grinned.

“Trouble in paradise? She’s a spunky one.”

Law cleared his throat. “Let’s focus. Tobias killed a female. She was in heat. Is anyone missing? The girl was in her twenties. Pretty. Brunette.”

Kane’s heartbeat accelerated. Garrett was out looking for his oldest daughter. Laurie had gone running with her friends instead of the family. “Brunette? Blue eyes, short, maybe 5 feet two?”

“Her eyes were closed; Tobias saw to that. Yes, she’s short and brunette. I noticed a birthmark on her thigh. It’s shaped like a little bird. She was pack raped.”

Kane let a go of a short, grief-filled shudder of emotion. The murdered girl called him Unk. Her father, Monte, was Kane’s beta. They’d been best friends since childhood. “Her name is Laurie. I know the girl. We’ll be there for the body, immediately.”

“Tell her people—tell them I regret I couldn’t save her.”

“I’m her people. She was family. Regret isn’t enough Mr. Foster. Together, we will make him pay. As for your human, she lives because I give you her life. I can take that life from you, do you understand?”

“Then you’ll be fighting two wars.”

Kane gave a mirthless bark of laughter. “For now, we are allies, Foster.” Kane hung up the phone. For a long time, he looked at a framed picture on his desk. His family and Monte’s were all at the lake house. His oldest son Kieran adored the pretty she-wolf. Laurie babysat the boys often.
There will be tears today, but tomorrow I’ll have blood in exchange for every drop of sorrow the family—the town sheds for Laurie.

****

Randall heard Kloe’s phone chirp. She was busy in the other room, so he glanced at the screen. Sometimes Kloe’s office texted appointments to her, and he didn’t want her to miss anything important. He saw Bianca’s name and the word HELP. His heart raced. He unlocked the phone and deleted the message forever.

“I’m going out,” he called to his wife.

“’Kay, pick up milk.”

Snatching his car keys off the hook, he drove to Bianca’s house. The doors were locked, but her car was in the driveway. He knocked, loudly. No answer. There was no saving Chessa, but he didn’t want Kloe to lose Bianca too. Randal left. There was only one person he thought could help.

He hated to go to Kane for anything, but he didn’t want to see Bianca die. Tonya was sitting at her desk looking more nervous than usual.

“I want to see him.”

“He’s busy, but there is an opening in his schedule at two-thirty, he could see you then.”

Randall listened, hard. He heard a woman’s voice. “Is that Bianca Archer in there?”

“I’m not at liberty to talk to you about the mayor’s appointments. I will call you when he can see you, or you can come back at two-thirty.”

“I’m not leaving here until I’m sure Bianca is okay.”

“Defiance will make the mayor doubt your loyalty. He’ll only have one option if you can’t be trusted,” Tonya said.

Randall wasn’t ready for that. He backed off. “If I don’t hear from her I’ll be back.”
Damn it! I’m sorry Bianca. I’ve lived my whole life terrified of a bite with a family debt hang over my head from birth. That’s why I had the vasectomy at eighteen and told Kloe I’m infertile.

Sixteen

Things calmed down past suppertime. Law ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Thinking of Bianca helped him deal with the sorrow he’d seen. Kane’s wolves were big and mean as hell, but they’d cried. Most of the strong wolves from town had come to investigate the young woman, Laurie’s, death. Looking in her mother’s eyes hurt like hell.

“So, are you going to town?” Nik asked.

Law nodded, frowning. “I hate to leave when everyone is processing what’s happening, but I need to tell her about Chessa.”

“Yeah, you do. She needs to know. I’ve got your back. There won’t be any trouble.” Nik patted Law on the shoulder. “So are you going to ask her?”

Law shrugged. “It’s Kort who worries me, not your ability to lead. Ask her what?”

“Who the real father of her kid is. Gotta be a wolf, you know, right?”

Law avoided thinking about that question. He didn’t know if he could handle it if Bianca were in love with another wolf. “I’m not sure what I’m going to ask her. As for our pack, we haven’t been this divided in years. It’s time to find our way back to unity or we’ll never win this war.”

“Kane is behind us.”

“And we’re in front of him. Kane’s no fool. He’s not going to stick his neck out, or lose pack members if he can use us to do the dying.”

Nik paled.

****

Bianca leaned against the kitchen counter paging through a tabloid, eating grapes, and drinking a diet coke. She was too full of nervous energy to sit down. Kloe still hadn’t called or texted. She needed her BFF, but she was anxious about involving her friend in this insanity. If Kloe did call, Bianca wasn’t sure how much she even wanted to say. Bianca knew the help message had gone through, or at least, her phone showed it had. After her encounter with Kane, she’d forced herself to make a quick stop at the store. She’d spent the day cleaning to stay busy.

“Where the hell is Law?” She grumbled.

“You need to do something about the lock on that back door.”

Bianca shrieked and spun around. Law stood behind her. Heat rushed into her cheeks.

“Thank God you’re okay. Any word about Chessa?” Bianca asked.

He frowned. “Sit down.”

A shiver ran from Bianca’s neck to her toes. She stumbled over to a kitchen chair and sat.
Oh God no, please don’t tell me she’s gone. Not my baby.
She closed her eyes, but not quick enough to stop her tears. Kneeling down, he took her hands in his. Her eyes stayed closed as he wiped the tears off her face.

“Shh, don’t cry, honey. She’s not dead, but the news isn’t good.”

“She’s alive? You saw her?” At this point, Bianca didn’t care how bad it was. Nothing was as bad as dead. She still couldn’t look at him, and almost didn’t process his use of the endearment. He could call her Fred right now for all she cared; she just wanted to know about Ches.

“Bianca, who is Chessa’s father, her real father,” Law asked. He sounded accusatory.

Bianca’s eyes and mouth popped open. “What?” She scowled at Law. “Lucas. You know that. What happened to my daughter?” Angry, she pushed him back. He managed not to fall over. She stood up, wrapping her arms around her middle, pacing.

“I don’t care who the father is. I just have to know.” Now Law stood too.

“Tell me where Ches is, or get the fuck out of my house. What kind of head game is this?”

“I don’t play games. Chessa is alive, but she was bitten.”

Bianca’s heart hurt from panic. “I don’t understand? Is she okay?”

Law frowned. “A bitten human dies. If there’s wolf blood in their genes, they change.”

“Dies? How do we save her? Why are we wasting time talking we have to get her to a hospital?” Bianca was running towards the door. Law grabbed her arm.

“She lived.” Law’s intense gaze made her heart pound. “But she’s different now.”

“Where is she? You’re scaring me.”

“There is no treatment for a bite. Not in all of history. I had an ancestress who thought she’d found one, but she didn’t. You need to think. If Lucas is her father and the bite didn’t change him, then how is she alive? If he’d showed any sign of the bite changing him Tobias’ pack wouldn’t have killed him.”

Bianca’s legs gave out. She plopped down in the middle of the floor. Her breathing shallow, she fought hyperventilation. Law sat down beside her.

“What is it? Bianca, who gave Chessa her wolf?”

“The bastard that bit her. And maybe—me, my genes or something,” she the last word came out as a breathy whisper. She gazed into Laws beautiful eyes. “My father changed a lot after my mom died. The night she let go and gave into the cancer was the same night my dad just stopped being my dad. He came out of her room and gave me the meanest look I’d ever seen. I thought it was the grief, but…” She rubbed her temples and looked away from Law. “He killed himself six months later. Oh God, what if he wasn’t my dad?” Tears welled in her eyes.

Law wrapped her in his arms, and she sobbed into his shoulder. Then she gasped and pulled back. “Ches, where is she.”

“Tobias has her. I couldn’t get to her, but she’s okay.”

A strange joy/sorrow mingled inside of her as a confusing bubbled of demands. The sensation made her feel like she was losing her mind as the butterflies twirled in her stomach. “How do I save her?”

“Very carefully. She’s alive, but she’s not the same girl who left with Lucas. You have to understand she’s a bitten now.”

“I don’t care. She’s my daughter. She could turn into a monster, and I’d still love her.”

“This isn’t about her turning into something. She’s different on the inside even when she looks the same on the outside; I’ve seen more than one bitten who couldn’t handle the change. I wouldn’t wish it on someone who didn’t want it.”

“Is she hurting? I’m going to kill whatever bastard bit my baby!”

“Calm down, woman.” Law put his hands on her shoulders. “Just get yourself together. Storming off into the woods to avenge your girl isn’t going to help her. You want to keep her alive, right?”

“Of course, I do,” Bianca snapped. “I’m not going to get her hurt. I’m just mad.”

“Believe me, I understand. Tobias’ pack isn’t like mine or Kane’s. He celebrates brutality. We have to get her out, but we have to be smart about it.”

“The mayor took a DNA swab from me. Do you think he knows who my dad is?”

“He did what? Did he hurt you?”

“No, not really, just scared me a little when his cronies grabbed me.”

“I’m going to kill that bastard.”

Bianca grabbed Law’s arm to keep him from leaving. “He obviously suspected something. I believe he knew Chessa was alive. The DNA test proves that. I might not know much about this whole werewolf hierarchy business, but he’s the top isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Then going crazy over his bad behavior isn’t the smartest thing to do, is it?”

Law sighed. He shook his head and shrugged. “I’m sorry he threatened you.”

“Me too,” she agreed. “He also told me something that freaked me out.”

Law grunted and narrowed his eyes. “Like what?”

“Like you put a hex on me, and now I’m your mate.”

“He called it a hex?”

“Well no, but I do. What the hell, Law?”

Law rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t
want
you to say anything. I want to know what’s going on.”

“It’s nothing that we can’t fix later. Just roll with it if you want me to be able to help you save Chessa. My protection extends to her too, and it’s the only thing I can think of to get her out of there with minimal bloodshed. I also don’t want you staying here alone, or Chessa when we get her back. Get what you need. You’re coming home with me.”

Home with me
. “What about the community center?”

“This doesn’t have to be forever, but for now, I want you close.”

Close.
Why are his words making me giddy? I’m too damn old to feel giddy over a man. Especially this man.

“How long? What should I pack?”

“Anything you can’t live without. Bring what the girl will want for comfort when we rescue her.”

“I don’t know about this. I have bills to pay and responsibilities.”

“You’ve put a lot on hold. Life can wait a little longer. Don’t worry about your bills. I’ve taken care of what I can.”

“What? You, paid—my bills?” she asked in a stilted, distrustful tone. “When?” Her eyes narrowed.

“I did,” Law said. “This afternoon I was dealing with something. I sent my mother into town and asked her to take care of things for you. Let’s get going. We can fight about it later.”

She didn’t know what to say. The feeling of someone looking out for her was strange.
Should I kiss him or punch him?

“Thank you, but I have a bit of money from my church. I’ll pay you back.”

“Don’t. Let’s not talk about this now. I want to get back to the compound, and you’re coming with me. I’m not leaving you here for Kane to play with.”

She didn’t like the idea of being the mayor’s plaything. Bianca rushed up the stairs and into Chessa’s room. She looked at Chessa’s stuff trying to wrap her mind around the fact her child was different, but she’d see her again.
What did a teenage werewolf want?