Desires of a Full Moon (24 page)

Haley’s phone rang. Everyone looked at Ava. She looked at the caller ID. “It’s from a Dana.”

“Give it to me.” Jayden answered the call.

“Dana.”

“Jayden, why are you answering Haley’s phone?” Dana’s voice sounded shaky.

“Because she’s not here. Is she with you, Dana?” Jayden knew he sounded sharp, but he didn’t’ really care. He needed to find Haley.

Dana inhaled loudly. “No. That’s why I was calling. I really need to talk to her. Mark told me something today that is very upsetting and I …” She broke off into pitiful sobs.

“What? What is it? Dana, this is serious. I really need to know.” Jayden was aware that every eye in the room was on him.

“Mark broke up with me.”

Jayden fought the urge to roll his eyes. Haley was missing and this girl was upset over a breakup. “Sorry to hear that.”

“I know! He said the reason he was breaking up with me was because there was someone else.” Dana started up the water works.

“Dana…”

“He said he’s in love with Haley.”

Jayden froze and every sound went mute. It was like someone had turned off the volume.

“What?”

“He said he’s in love with Haley. Did she ever say anything to you? I don’t understand how this could happen.”

Jayden walked over to the coffee table and snatched up the photo of the Codis hit.

“Dana. What’s the name of your boyfriend?”

“You mean ex!”

“The name, what’s his name?”

“Mark Boulland.”

Jayden let the phone slip out of his hand. Someone must have caught it before it hit the floor because he was vaguely aware of Ava speaking to Dana.

All he Jayden could see was the name at the bottom of that white piece of paper.

Mark Boulland.

#

“Shit. He was hiding in plain sight. The whole fucking time. He was a student at the same university as Haley, yet I didn’t see him.” Jayden loaded every weapon he had into the RV. The plan was to shift in to wolf form and sniff out Haley’s scent while the RV followed. They would then weapon up once they were in human form again.

“Sociopaths usually are pretty fucking genius. We miss them all the time. Don’t beat yourself up about it.” Damon slapped him on the back as he walked through the RV checking out any updates from satellite images as to where Haley might be.

Ava boarded. “Okay, here’s what I got. Dana said Mark has a cabin near the lake. She’s only been out there one time and it’s pretty isolated. Here’s the address. She handed it to Braxton who punched it into the RV’s Navigation. An address popped up.

“I also told her if Mark calls her to be sure to let me know.” Ava slid her cell phone back in her pocket.

“I’m repositioning all our satellites within a hundred-mile radius. “ Barrett punched in some kind of code on the keyboard of the computer and automatically aerial pictures popped up on the screen.

“We have satellites?” Braxton murmured to Damon.

“Apparently.” Damon nodded in appreciation.

“Just give me the coordinates.” Jayden clenched his fists as rage filtered into every cell of his body.

“Hang on.” Barrett shifted through some pictures as Damon cross-checked the addresses.

“Come on.” Jayden narrowed his eyes, trying to force the damn computer to hurry the hell up.

“I said wait. If you bust up in the wrong fucking house you are only going to waste time getting to Haley.” Barrett cut his eyes at him.

Jayden gritted his teeth.

Barrett was right. He knew it. But all that mattered to Jayden right now was getting Haley back safe and sound.

#

Haley shifted in the front seat of the beat-up Ford truck. She hadn’t noticed the smell when she first got in, but she was no longer able to ignore the stench.

“I didn’t know you had a truck, Mark. I’ve only ever seen you drive your Prius.” She swallowed and tried breathing through her mouth. Maybe he’d hit a skunk.

Mark’s cheek twitched as he stared straight ahead. He continued on the street and then turned onto the highway.

“Hey, you missed your turn for the florist.” Haley turned in her seat as the lights of the city disappeared behind them.

He shook his head. “Change in plans.”

Dread, like skeleton fingers, scraped down Haley’s spine. She turned and faced him. “Okay. Well, I still need to go back and tell Jayden where I’m going. You can take this exit up ahead.”This time when Mark looked at her, his eyes were empty and hollow. “No. I’m not taking you to Jayden. You are mine. You always were.”

Haley’s stomach bottomed as terror careened through her system. She reached for the door handle and pulled.

Click.

She froze. The unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked clenched her muscles to the point of pain.

“Don’t do that, sweet Haley. I’d hate to kill you before we’ve had our time together.”

#

“Hurry.” Jayden stood over Braxton’s shoulder as he maneuvered the Behemoth on steroids down the back roads that led to the cabin. The Behemoth’s big tires made light work of the uneven terrain.

“I’m going as fast as I can. The road’s getting narrower,” Braxton gritted out.

“I’m out.” Jayden ran for the back door only to be caught by Barrett’s massive hand. He glared at Barrett. “You’re not stopping me.”

“I didn’t plan on it. According to the satellite images we are only a mile from the cabin.” Barrett narrowed his eyes on Jayden. “I have no idea what we’ll be walking into so we need to exercise caution.”

“I want to take the lead.” Jayden’s heart thudded in his chest like a tiger trying to claw its way out of a cage.

Barrett cocked his head and nodded once. The RV pulled to a hard stop.

“We’re officially out of road.” Braxton put the Behemoth in park and came into the back with the rest of the werewolves.

“I want everyone weaponed up.”

“But I can get there faster if I shift.” Jayden shook his head determined to do whatever it took to get to Haley.

“If you shift there’s no way to carry your guns.”

“I got an idea.” Damon walked over to a black duffel bag and pulled out what looked like a harness.

“Ava had it made for me. It’s a gun holster. Once Jayden shifts, I’ll strap it on him with his weapon. Once he gets to the cabin he can shift back into human form and use it.” Damon shrugged.

“And he’ll be buck ass naked.” Braxton frowned.

Jayden opened the door of the RV and hurried out, pulling off his clothes as he went. “Let’s do it then.” He closed his eyes and called to his inner wolf. His muscles stretched and his ligaments lengthened and shifted while hair covered his entire body

Jayden opened his eyes and growled. He walked up to Damon.

“All right, Jayden. Remember, once you shift back into human, this is not going to fit so it will fall off. Make sure you shift before you engage the stalker.” Damon snapped the harness/holster around his wolf body and stuck in a .45 Sig Sauer.

“The coordinates are a half mile through the woods.” Barrett put his hand on Jayden’s neck to make sure he was listening.

“We’ll be right behind you armed. So you need to wait until we get there. Just assess the situation and text it back to me.” Barrett grabbed Jayden’s cell phone out of his jeans lying on the ground and tucked it securely into the gun holster.

“We clear, Jayden? You don’t make a move until I say.” Barrett glared down at him.

Jayden nodded once.

He would feel Barrett’s wrath later when his Pack Master discovered he lied.

#

Haley slowly walked toward the cabin door. She knew the second he got her inside he was going to rape her.

And then God knows what.

She needed to buy time. Surely Jayden would be looking for her by now.

“Move it.” The metal of the gun stabbed her in the back while Mark growled. “Don’t make me shoot you and drag you inside.”

She gasped.

He laughed softly, the sound raking across her skin like death.

“There are lots of places for me to shoot you Haley and still be able to enjoy you.”

He reached around her and turned the knob and pushed her through it.

Her foot caught on the rug and she stumbled to the floor. He cut the light on, flooding the cramped space with light.

The cabin was one big room and rustic. The kitchen was located behind her while to her left was a living room with a nasty-looking couch and a fireplace along the wall. Steps along one wall indicated a second level.

He followed her eyes to the second level loft and looked back at her. “Yes, the bedroom’s up there. We’ll be spending a lot of time there.”

“Why are you doing this? What about Dana? You were supposed to be engaged.” Haley got to her feet and stood, not taking her eyes off Mark.

“Because of what happened in October.” He cocked his head.

“How do you know about that?” Holy shit was he one of the kidnappers? Cold fear flooded her veins.

His face grew grim. “I knew about the kidnapping. In fact my brother told me they were planning to take you and wanted me in on it.” He shook his head. “But I said no. And then Jayden comes along. That motherfucker killed my brother. Broke his neck.” Mark’s eyes shifted to yellow as he snarled.Haley felt the blood drain from her face. It all hit her at once. Mark’s scent, his familiar face. She had only caught a glimpse of her potential rapist before Jayden came in and killed him. It had been dark and she’d been so scared that she hadn’t really paid attention.

“He was your brother?”

“Yes.” Mark glared at her. “My twin.”

“But, how did you … I mean, I would have recognized your….”

“My scent?” He chucked darkly. “I camouflaged my scent on the rare occasions I was around you.”

“But wouldn’t Dana have recognized your scent?” Red werewolves had a very distinctive odor.

“You’d be surprised how much a desperate female will overlook.” Mark arched his eyebrow. “Besides I made sure to spend a lot of time in the cadaver room. The formaldehyde scent covers just about every kind of smell you can think of.”

Haley swallowed the lump in her throat. “But, Mark, you were going to be a doctor. And doctors help people. Not hurt them. You still have time. Just let me go.”

Mark gave her a look of amusement. “That’s sweet. You have this all figured out in that pretty little head of yours.”

His amusement faded. “It’s not that easy. It never is. It didn’t start out this way, you know. I started following you after you left LSU. It seemed to fill the void left from my brother. I really did love you, Haley.”

“Did.” She swallowed.

“It changed when Jayden entered the picture. If you had just kept quiet I would have been able to court you, to make you feel what I feel about you. I knew you were untouched, still a virgin.” His gaze hardened. “But you had to go and tell Barrett. And he assigned my brother’s murderer to guard you.” Mark looked up, the muscle in his cheek twitching. “Do you know how much that hurt seeing you with him? With the one who killed my brother?”

“Mark, please…” Haley backed up a step, her mind going a million miles a minute. She didn’t have any more time. She was going to have get herself out of this mess.

“If you had just waited, but no, you listened to his lies and let him touch you.” His hand clenched around the gun and his free hand hit his upper thigh in a rhythmic motion.

“You shouldn’t have been such a whore, Haley. Maybe then I could have loved you again. And now you don’t give me a choice. After I fuck you I’m going to send you back to Jayden in pieces.”

Jayden shifted back into human form the second the cabin came into view. He grabbed the gun out of the holster and dialed Barrett as he ran toward the house.

“I’m here.” He hung up. He had broken protocol by disobeying Barrett’s orders to wait. He’d deal with the fall out of that later.

If there was a later.

The scent of red wolf stung his nose as he passed the piece-of-shit truck.

He heard Haley’s voice and held his breath as he leapt onto the porch and shoved his way through the door. Wood splintered and groaned as he went straight through the fucker.

Mark turned, clearly startled before leveling the gun at Jayden.

Jayden rushed him, tumbling them both to the floor. Jayden’s gun skidded across the floor. Haley screamed and then a gunshot rang out. He tightened his grip around Mark’s hand and shoved the gun across the room.

He glanced up to make sure the bullet hadn’t hit Haley. She stared back at him with terror in her eyes, her face as white as a sheet.

“Haley, are you okay? Are you hit?” He wanted to go to her, but he couldn’t let go of Mark

“Jayden,” she whispered. She pointed at him.

He glanced down into Mark’s face thinking he’d killed the other brother as well. Instead of a death mask, Mark was smirking.

Jayden frowned.

“How’s this feel?” Mark punched Jayden right in the gut. Pain rippled through him, white-hot and fiery. Jayden looked down at the blood across his abdomen.

He’d been shot.

Jayden held back his groan. He tightened his grip on Mark.

“Haley, get out of here. Now!” Jayden screamed. He had to make sure she was safe.

Mark grinned and dug his finger inside the gunshot wound. Jayden grabbed his arm, but his hand was slick with blood and he slipped out of his hold. Mark arched and tossed Jayden off him and stood.

Jayden grabbed his side and stood, keeping himself between Mark and Haley.

Mark laughed. “This is perfect. You get to watch me fuck her before I kill her. What do you think about that, asshole?”

A feral growl erupted throughout the cabin shaking the windows.

Jayden thought at first it was Barrett coming in from behind him, but a sudden dizzying flash of petite gray fur had him rethinking.

#

Anger pulsed through Haley the moment Mark shot Jayden.

She was tired of being afraid, tired of not living, tired of not taking chances.

No more.

She shifted into wolf and took back her power.

And then she lunged. She used all her weight to shove Mark back. His head hit the floor with a sickening thud.