Accepting the Moon: Prequel (Moonrising Book 1) (4 page)

“I won‘t let their kind have you, Mena. I will see you dead first, sweetheart.” Marc roared through the rain, “Take her from him!”

She tightened her grip around Jaxon and closed her eyes, then whispered, “Let‘s go.”

Jaxon had to clear a path, and he had to do it quickly or they would be at the bottom of a dog pile soon.

He spun around and kicked out with his right leg, knocking the beast closest to him into the one beside it.

Mena didn‘t make a sound, but her arms and legs constricted around his body almost vise-like. He smiled and reached to grab a silver dagger from the sheath on his calf, then held it up so she could grab it.

“Take this and put a hole in anything that gets too close.”

She hesitated a moment before she took it from him. “But they‘re dogs—”

“You don‘t believe that any more than I do,” he said dryly, and released the dagger when he was sure she had a good grip on it. There was more where that one had come from, and he retrieved a blade from his other sheath and a handgun from the shoulder holster under his jacket.

It was time to play.

Backing up wasn‘t an option.

Knowing there were at least four werewolves behind him, and that Mena was riding piggy, he swiftly moved forward, toward the leader and the whore who had sold him out to the werewolf pack.

They would be okay as long as Marc didn‘t shift, Jaxon thought, then recognized the all too familiar silver shine in the leader‘s eyes and knew that Mr. Hyde was about to make an appearance.

Swearing under his breath, Jaxon knew it was too late to change his tactics without getting the girl on his back killed, the one he‘d sworn to that he would get them through this alive.

A brief panic rushed through him when he heard one of the beasts snap its jaws behind him, but the fear was soon laid to rest when he heard Mena let out a grunt and then a sharp yelp filled the night air.

Jaxon grinned. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, sounding exasperated. “I—I think I killed it.”

Bringing his arm up quick, Jaxon squeezed the trigger on the glock twice and the wolf fell instantly to the muck. “Doubtful,” he said, and shoved the silver blade of his dagger through the top of a wolf‘s skull, then pulled it out just as swiftly.

Killing those two gave him another option and opened another path. He took it, knowing Mena‘s husband wouldn‘t let him take her, at least not alive anyway. He knew the pack leader to be a cruel and strong-minded ruler, and he didn‘t have a clue how a woman like Mena had stayed with a man like that for over a decade.

He prayed again that she wasn‘t a spy.

As he put a silver bullet in the heart of one last beast in his way, he caught sight of the leader shifting and took that as his cue to get the hell out of there. He ran.

“Oh, God! What‘s happening to Marc?”

Jaxon didn‘t answer Mena‘s question. Letting her come to the conclusion that her husband was a werewolf on her own could possibly make it easier to understand when he told her what
he
was. He hoped. If not, at least they had the wife of the local pack leader and a very important piece of information: his true identity.

That itself was worth gold.

“He‘s gaining on us!” Mena yelled. “Is he going to kill us?”

Jaxon pushed his speed to the limit, even knowing giving it all he had wouldn‘t be enough to get them away and safe; Phoenix was the only one fast enough to outrun the pack leader.

Heavy paws pounded the broken pavement and mud behind them and Jaxon could hear the labored breathing of the monster growing nearer.

It was only a matter of seconds and they would both be goners, he thought, and handed the gun over his shoulder. It wasn‘t possible for him to turn and shoot Mena‘s husband, but maybe she could—maybe she would.

“Take the gun and shoot him, Mena! I know he is your husband, but if you don‘t—I won‘t be able to keep my promise. He will kill me and take you. You don‘t have to kill him—a leg would be sufficient. Aim for the shoulder.”

She pushed his hand with the pistol in it away from her. “Are you crazy? I‘ve never fired a gun before! I couldn‘t hit the broadside of a barn!”

“You either try or I will leave without you. How much do you want to live? Because I‘m not dying for someone I just met. It‘s the only way you‘re going with me. Take the weapon, Mena.”

She took it, and Jaxon half expected to see his life flash before his eyes as a bullet went through his head, but there was nothing, nothing but the sound of those thunderous paws and heavy breathing getting closer still.

What the hell is she doing? I can‘t keep up this pace forever.

“Shoot him!”

Jaxon‘s blood froze in his veins the instant Mena screamed. The gun fired and they were knocked to the ground at the same time.

The sound of water dripping brought me out of my unconscious state, but I lay still, trying to conclude where I was and why my body felt like it had been hit by a truck. The memory of the night was a bit foggy, but I knew with all the pain I was feeling that it had not been a dream.

“Just lie still,” a girl said softly. “I‘m not trying to hurt you, but this may sting a little.”

A scream involuntarily erupted from my throat when the girl touched my leg, as it felt like she was branding me with a hot iron. I shot upright and jerked my leg away from the young brunette.

Looking down, my eyes focused for the first time on an ugly gash down the outside of my right thigh. I knew how it had happened, but my mind refused to believe it.

I shook my head in disbelief as my hands shot up to hold back a sob.

Through my tear-filled vision, I saw the girl put a wet cloth in a bowl of pinkish water. My blood. That‘s all she had touched me with: a wet cloth, not a branding iron.

“My name is Lea.” She didn‘t say anything else, just waited for me to let that small introduction soak in.

“Mena,” I said with a quivering voice.

A smile stretched across her pretty face, but she didn‘t reach for the cloth. It was clear she was giving me the time I needed to trust her.

Relaxing a little, I scooted toward her and straightened my leg out, giving her silent permission to clean the wound.

“I‘m sorry—”

She shook her head. “The fault is mine. I should have at least put some numbing spray on that bite before trying to clean it. I wasn‘t thinking. Jaxon will be furious—”

“Wait—what did you say?”

“There‘s a numbing medicine I can put on it, so it won‘t hurt you as I clean it. You may feel a little discomfort, but it should at least be bearable—”

“No, you said it is a bite,” I snapped, and then shrank back, ashamed of my outburst at the sweet girl.

She only sat on the stool and looked at me with kind but sorrowful eyes.

I swallowed hard. “What bit me?” I whispered, my eyes stinging with fresh, hot tears and dreading what she would say.

She averted eye contact with me and stood quickly. “I‘m going to go get that numbing spray and some ibuprofen. It‘ll help with the pain—”

“Tell me, please.” I pleaded with words and my eyes when I grabbed her hand and she was forced to look at me again.

She sighed. “I‘ll send Jaxon in to talk with you when he‘s through speaking with Phoenix. I‘m not sure how much I‘m allowed to tell you. The wait shouldn‘t be long. I‘ll be back soon to help you get cleaned up and dress your wounds.” Her gaze fell before she turned toward the door to leave. “You will heal quickly, so we need to get the dirt out.”

She left me in the room alone.

Sitting there waiting to find out what had happened to me was driving me out of my mind.

Jaxon.

Was that the guy who had saved me? Had he survived? Had the horrible thing Marc turned into let him live? Or had he killed my husband?

I was surprised to realize that it wouldn‘t have bothered me in the least if someone had answered the last question with a yes.

One thing was certain: I couldn‘t sit in this room and wait any longer.

Wincing as a sharp pain shot up my leg, I placed my foot on the cement floor and limped toward the door.

There was no sound coming from the other side as I put my ear to the door to listen, so I took in a shaky breath and tried the knob. It turned freely in my hand and I opened the door to find a dark hallway.

The walls were made of gray stone and the air was cool. It seemed like I was underground, as I saw no sign of natural light to state otherwise. There hadn‘t been any windows in the room they had put me in, so the guess was an uneducated one still.

Raised voices came from my right and my head shot around to see a faint glow at the end of the hall.

After taking a few steps in the direction of the heated argument, I discovered a door was ajar and that was where the voices had issued from.

“Why can‘t you see what an asset she is to us?” a male voice said, and after peeking through the gap between the door and the jamb, I realized it belonged to the guy who had gotten me away from Marc. He had lived and followed through on his promise.

I felt a sense of relief rush over me. Then another male spoke.

“She is a danger to us if she lives, Jaxon, and you know it—”

“Not if you turn her before her first change tonight. The moon will be at its fullest this night and we will have missed our chance to make her hybrid—”

My hand shot up to stifle a gasp and both males‘ heads turned swiftly to look toward the door. My feet shuffled back and I bumped into the wall behind me, and then I turned and ran. I had to get out of there. I still didn‘t know what had happened to me, but what the two men were plotting didn‘t sound like anything I would be interested in: death or turning me into one of those beasts I had seen Marc turn into.

This isn‘t real!
I tried to force my mind to accept it, but my pounding heart beating against my ribcage and my bare feet slapping the cold concrete with each step I ran suggested otherwise.
This isn‘t real!
This isn‘t real! This isn‘t real!

Jaxon was suddenly in front of me and I slammed into his hard body. He wrapped me in his arms and I struggled to break free of his hold, but he was so strong.

I screamed, “This isn‘t real!”