Resisting the Moon: A Royal Shifters Novel (17 page)

I wanted to jump up and get dressed, but I had to see more. “Dammit, Amelie, who are you with?” She got out of the car and rushed over to the wolves, bending down to look at them. When she looked up, I got a good look at the man she was with. “It’s Jaret. He must’ve saved her in the middle of the night. We have to get over there.” Excitement bubbled in my chest. Amelie was back.

Opening my eyes, I dropped the stone on the bed. Sebastian was already dressed in a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, and I couldn’t help but smile. He was so unbelievably sexy. I’d never seen him in a pair of jeans, only slacks and nice shirts.

He held out his arms and grinned. “I do own jeans, love. I just choose not to wear them. Although, by the way your eyes just flashed, I will have to reconsider.”

“Definitely. I’d tell you to fuck me right now, but we don’t have time. I’m dying to see Amelie.” Rushing out of bed, I threw on some clothes and followed Sebastian downstairs. By now, Amelie probably already knew I was in town. She’d be able to smell my scent around her house. “I need to call Finn,” I said as we headed out the front door. “He’s supposed to show up today with whoever’s left from our old pack.”

We were only a couple of miles away from her house, and I felt like I couldn’t get there fast enough. We got in the car and Sebastian went as fast as he could. My legs shook and I couldn’t sit still as I dialed Finn’s number. He picked up on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Finn, I have some good news.”

“What, you miss me?” Sebastian growled low in his chest, but thankfully, the rage was gone. I didn’t have to worry about him ripping Finn’s head off.

“Very funny,” I said, shaking my head. “Where ya at?”

“A couple of hours away. Is everything okay?”

“I think so. Amelie’s back in town with Jaret and we’re headed that way. I have no clue what’s going on. Can you meet us out there?” I asked.

“You got it. We’ll be there soon.”

We hung up and I blew out an impatient sigh. “I just want to know what happened,” I said, glancing over at Sebastian. “Do you think she’ll want to come back to Wyoming with us?”

He shrugged. “Depends on her mate,
if
they’re actually mated that is. It’s not just her decision.” I just hoped she’d want to come with me. My aunt and uncle were gone. She needed to be with her family.

My phone rang. “Hey, Blake.”

“You sound a lot happier this morning.” He laughed.

Sebastian winked and grabbed my hand. “Maybe a little,” I said. “Things are looking up out here. I should be coming back soon. What’s up?”

“I looked up the information on apartment rentals at that establishment. Of course, I wasn’t able to find a renter named Jaret Bleddyn, but there was another Jaret. Do you think maybe you got his last name wrong?”

I could still see his name in Amelie’s journal. “It was definitely Bleddyn.”

We started down Amelie’s gravel driveway and her house slowly came into view. There was a black SUV there but no sign of Amelie or Jaret. Sebastian parked the car and we got out.

Blake sighed and I could hear him typing away on his computer. “Well, the other Jaret I found isn’t from around the North Carolina area.”

“Who is he?” I asked, walking toward the house.

“His name is Jaret Connery. It looks like he’s a native of California, but moved to North Carolina this past year. Does he sound like the right guy?” The second I heard his name, I froze. How the hell could that be possible? The wheels in my mind turned, and with everything Finn had told me, it all started to come together.

“Tyla?” Blake called.

“I’m here. Sorry about that. Thank you for looking into this for me. I think I have everything I need.”

“Anytime. Just call me if you need anything else.”

As soon as we hung up, Sebastian grabbed my arm. “We have to get out of here,” he demanded, voice low. That was when we saw them, glowing eyes staring back at us from the woods.

“I think it’s too late.”

The door to Amelie’s house slammed open and she ran to me as I stepped out of the car, arms wide open. “Tyla, oh my God, I have so much to tell you!” She barreled into me and I breathed her in—she was mated.
Fuck
. I had to get her away from there as fast as possible. She breathed me in and gasped. “You’re mated too? This is amazing.”

I squeezed her against me, my voice a rushed whisper in her ear. “There’s no time to explain. I need you to get in the car and come with us now.” She tried to pull away, but I was prepared to drag her if need be.

“Tyla, what are you talking about? Let me go.”

Dragging her it is then.
“You’re coming with me,” I growled. We turned around and I froze. Sebastian stood in front of us, ready to fight as a guy we didn’t recognize stared back at us with an evil leer on his face.

“You’re not going anywhere,” the guy said.

Sebastian’s voice grew dark and hard. “Wanna bet?”

Amelie gasped. “What’s going on? Who are you?”

More wolves filed out of the woods and surrounded us, most in wolf form, but some were still human. Those men flanked us.
“We can’t fight them all and live,”
I said to Sebastian.

“No, but I don’t think they plan on keeping us alive anyway. If Finn were here, we’d have a fighting chance.”
Finn was still a couple of hours away. We were screwed.

“Tyla, what’s going on?” Amelie cried. She turned around and I heard her breathe a sigh of relief. Heavy footsteps fell on the gravel driveway behind us and I closed my eyes, knowing very well who it was going to be. “Jaret!”

She pulled away and I lost my grip. That was when I saw him. Amelie was in his arms, but he smirked at me over her shoulder. When his gaze turned to Sebastian, everything changed. The smirk faded and his eyes flashed.

“This must be my lucking fucking day,” Jaret spat, voice full of venom.

Now that I saw him in person, there was no way I could deny who he was. He looked exactly like his father, Vincent Connery, the man who’d slaughtered my pack just to get to me. They had the same dark hair and evil hazel eyes.

I glanced up at Sebastian.
“Why is he looking at you like that?”
The Connery’s were after
my
old pack, not him. Sebastian had nothing to do with Finn’s people.

Sebastian closed his eyes for a second and I caught a glimpse of his memories. A girl appeared, her golden red hair shining in the sun as they played in a meadow. They were just kids, but his brothers were there as well. She wasn’t a wolf, but something different. Then his visions shifted to a time many years later, in a clearing in the middle of the woods. It was a battle I had fought in.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Sighing, he met my gaze.
“I didn’t know.”

“Who was the girl?”
She was beautiful and I could tell he cared about her.

“She was a friend. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

Amelie stepped back from her mate, grabbing our attention. “Jaret, who are all these wolves?”

He didn’t even acknowledge her, choosing instead to step around her. The look of hurt on her face infuriated me. If he so much as hurt her, I was going to kill him. Amelie turned to me for answers, but I was in shock. Sebastian’s memories had changed everything.

Jaret stalked forward, his glare split between the both of us. Sebastian’s power surged through his body and shot out toward Jaret, making him stop before he could get too close. “I’ve been searching for you for years and here you are,” he sneered. “Who would’ve thought you’d be mated to the one bitch who started it all. Now all I need to figure out is if I want you to watch her die or vice versa. Decisions, decisions.”

Sebastian growled, making the wolves around us grow restless. They were poised to attack. “It’s going to be real hard to make that decision when I’m ripping your head off.”

Amelie sucked in a breath, her eyes wide. “Will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?”

Down the way, I heard a car treading down the gravel driveway. It was too soon to be Finn. Dread settled in the pit of my stomach. A van with no windows in the back approached the house.

Jaret chuckled and waved his hand at the driver. “There will be plenty of time to explain, my darling. I’m sure your cousin will be more than happy to fill you in. Right now, it’s time to go for a ride.”

The wolves closed in around us while one of the guys opened up the back door to the van. Amelie started to go to him, but one of the wolves jumped in the way and snapped at her. “Jaret!”

“Get in the van, Amelie, or Adrian here will take a bite out of her.” He pointed at me and I snarled. No one was going to touch me.

With tears in her eyes, she glanced back at me before getting in the van. I nodded to let her know everything would be okay. We were outnumbered; we had no choice but to play his game for the time being.

“You’re next,” Jaret said, glaring at me and Sebastian. The wolves moved in closer, baring their teeth. There were only ten of them, but it was still too many for me and Sebastian to handle on our own. I was stronger mated, but even having a royal’s strength had its limits.

“If you so much as hurt Amelie, I’ll rip out your balls and watch you choke on them before tearing you apart,” I hissed. Jaret burst out laughing and Sebastian grabbed my arm.

“Don’t provoke him,”
he warned.
“Get in the van and I’ll follow you in. I’ll handle that fucking cocksucker.”
Huffing, I started toward the van with him close on my heels.

“Wait,” Jaret called.

We turned and watched as he approached, several wolves in tow. My stomach clenched as I watched him leer at me, his gaze raking down my body. Sebastian’s body trembled in rage, but I grabbed his hand, hoping it’d calm him down. It didn’t work.

Jaret nodded at the other car and waved for me to follow him. “I change my mind. I want you with me. Let’s go.”

Sebastian’s eyes flashed. “Fuck that. She doesn’t go anywhere without me.”

Jaret laughed. “Well, I say she does. It’d be a shame to rip her apart right now. The two of us have so much to catch up on.”

“If you fight, they’ll hurt you, Sebastian. Whatever Jaret throws out, I can handle it. I need you with Amelie. She needs to know what’s going on.”

He squeezed my hand and I looked up into his troubled gaze.
“It kills me to know you’ll be alone with that bastard. The thought of him touching you . . .”

“I’ll be fine, I promise. You know I’m strong.”

“The joys of bonding. Let me guess, you’re talking about how much you love each other?” Jaret taunted.

“Like you would know anything about that,” I snapped, glaring at him over my shoulder. I turned back around and several of Jaret’s men stormed toward us. “
You need to go. Tell Amelie everything
.” They were about to grab for him, but he jerked out of their hold.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he warned, backing up to the van. They stepped away and he got in, keeping his gaze on mine until they slammed the door. The van pulled away and my heart sank with the fear of never seeing him again.