Hunter Moon (Lupine Moon Series) (13 page)

But there I was, practically begging him for it.
No one
had ever made me feel that way. Pure, irrational lust consumed me and I just wanted to feel every wonderful inch of him against every inch of me. And I knew somehow, even as it terrified me, I wouldn’t feel complete ever again unless I did.

Cash just met my hungry gaze with one of his own. He leaned forward, his face inches from mine, and I saw that his eyes were going green again.

“I’m sure you had plenty of men wanting to have sex with you, Shells, but you wouldn’t have wanted them,” He said, his voice low and rough. “You’re mine.” I trembled. His words had echoed my own thoughts, and the sheer possessiveness of his last statement gave me a tingle of fear.

I am in way over my head on this one.

“Umm…so, I’m really sorry to have to ask this but,
what the heck did you just say?
”

I couldn’t hide the slight tremor in my voice. His eyes were glowing again and his gaze was so intense, I felt like the hippos from
Fantasia
were doing their dance in my stomach. I had sat up and scooted on the other side of the bed to put some distance between me and Mr. Growly.

His eyes widened a bit before he squeezed them shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Well, shit,” he muttered.

 I folded my arms around my knees and waited for him to elaborate. I was disappointed. He exhaled and stood, straightening his pants. He stared at me for a minute, seeing me and seeing through me at the same time.

As he started to turn toward the door, I hopped up and socked him in the arm as hard as I could. I smiled to myself as he grunted.
I might stop hitting him someday, but today is not that day.

“So you’re just going to leave.” I said, more as a statement than a question. “You drop a nuclear bomb of crazy on me and you’re just going to walk out?” He stood there looking pole-axed before he turned, practically jogging for my front door.

“I have work to do. I’m sorry Shelby.”

“You can’t do this. You just can’t leave, not now.” I didn’t like being vulnerable. I was raised to be tough and self-sufficient. This man had come in and turned me into a needy, hot mess. It shouldn’t have to be like that.

“I...I’ve got to go.” He glanced at me and I stiffened. There it was again in his expression.
Pity.

In an instant he flipped that internal switch of mine and I was an inferno of rage. I jogged after him snatching up my 12 gauge that was leaning against the door and pumped it with one hand. I trailed behind him out the door and aimed it just to the right of him. I fired. He yelped and spun with the most hilarious look of incredulity on his face.
Oddly enough, I’m not laughing.

“What the hell are you doing, Shells?” he yelped.

I put every ounce of malevolence I had into my glare, keeping the gun raised and pointed it at his chest. He stared wide eyed at the end of the barrel and gulped. I could see his beautiful Adam’s Apple bobbing up and down as he tried to swallow.

“If you
ever
set foot on my property again, I will not hesitate before pulling the trigger. Now get the hell off my land.” I said in a calm, steady voice. The only thing that showed how amazingly angry I was were the tears streaming down my face.

Cash backed away slowly, hands raised. All kinds of emotions were warring in his face but he hadn’t moved fast enough for my taste. I pumped another shell into the chamber. He leapt for his truck door and peeled out of my driveway.

I’d always had a temper, but I couldn’t remember ever threatening to kill anyone. A beating, of course, but never murder. But the way he tore down all my walls, poked at all my insecurities, and then took off? I was not having that.

I sat down on my porch steps. I couldn’t catch my breath. My lungs opened and closed, but it seemed like there wasn’t any oxygen. Panting, my vision started to go black, so I laid the shotgun down beside me and put my head between my knees.

“So he’s called you how many times this week?”

Jess was on the phone. She had been so great to me, letting me stay with her a couple nights while I fought to put myself back together. She even kicked Tyler out of their bed and slept with me when I started having nightmares.
I’ve got to remember to buy that man a Bass Pro gift card,
I thought to myself.

I still couldn’t believe I was so upset. It seemed ridiculous to me, I’m sure to Jesse as well, since I had only known the man a week. I kept trying to ponder how he’d messed with my head so badly. Jesse seemed to think I just needed to get laid, but the fact that I’d admitted not wanting to have sex with any man but Cash tripped her up her logic a tiny bit.

 I finally sucked it up and went back to my routine. I had seen neither hide nor hair of Cash. I guess he took my threat pretty seriously. Now I wondered if I’d actually make good on it, or just hit him in the face and then kiss it to make it all better.
Just listen to yourself
, I thought fiercely,
You sound pathetic!

“He hasn’t called at all,” I said bleakly.

She muttered some things on the other line which didn’t bear repeating. “What a bastard! Do you want me to make Ty kick his ass? I’m sure we could round up a couple of the Albert’s to help, too.” I smiled. I was sure Matt, his brothers and cousins would leap at a chance to defend my honor,
and gain my favors
.

“Aww…you’re gonna make me cry!” I joked, though it wasn’t far from the truth.

I had been so wrecked emotionally it seemed like I’d been on the verge of tears all week. Grandpa would have been appalled. I sat on my porch, looking out at my driveway.
He’s not coming
, sang a snide voice in my head. I scratched Reg absently and repositioned the phone on my shoulder.

“I’m serious, Shells. I’ll make those boys hold Cash down and I’ll punch him in the junk myself! What an absolute bastard, walking out on you that way. It makes me want to curb stomp the asshole.”
Aww, Jesse
, I smiled.
She must have watched American History X recently.
I didn’t know why, but my little, sweet friend was into those violent movies. It was endearing. I put on my boots and stood.

I sighed. “Jess, as much as I love your threats of violence, I’ve got to go check on the cows. I’ll talk to you later.”

She just laughed hung up. I put my .45 in my leg holster and walked with Reggie to the barn. The man who had tried to kill me still hadn’t been found, so I was never more than a few feet from a firearm. I patted the Glock unconsciously and walked Roanie out of the barn.

I vaulted into my saddle kicked him into a trot. We jogged that way until we hit a meadow where I booted Roanie into a lope. He surged forward and crow hopped a bit, so I let him have his head. I relaxed into the rhythm of his long strides and finally felt a little happier than I had all week. The wind tugged strands of hair out of my braid and they whipped around my face as he ran. I inhaled the brisk autumn air, and felt clean.

When we reached the end of the meadow, I let Roanie walk and take a breather. His sides were heaving, but he tossed his head and pranced.
He needed this too,
I smiled to myself. We walked until we found the cattle. They were all congregated by one of the several natural springs-turned water trough on the property.

My grandpa had the water tested once and the man had said we could bottle that water it was so pure. He piped in the spring so it flowed into a ten foot wide concrete tank. The water in the tank could get pretty manky with all the algae and grass cow-backwash, but the stuff that came out of the pipe was clean, cold and delicious.

I let Roanie shoulder a few cows aside so he could get a drink. He plunged his nose in and started slurping wetly. I laughed and patted him, massaging the thick muscles on his neck. I glanced away when I saw Reggie take off into the trees.
What is he up to ?
I un-holstered my pistol, resting it on my lap.

Reggie walked back up to me with my wolf by his side. I practically giggled with glee. For some reason, he hadn’t been around lately and I’d been worried someone else had shot or captured him. He stopped and crouched looking like he was going to bolt. I put away my pistol and jumped off the horse, jogging over to him. The wolf relaxed and sat down on his haunches letting his tongue loll out of his mouth.

I laughed and threw my arms around his big shoulders, sighing and burying my face in the fur of his neck. I breathed in the calming foresty, smoky scent. When he started to shift in discomfort I released him. Somewhere along the way I’d seemed to forget he might be a wild animal. I sat down in front of him and scratched his ears.

“Where have you been?” I asked. “I could’ve used your company this past week.”

He licked up the entire side of my face. “Eww…okay, I guess you missed me too!” I said wincing. I sat there loving on him for a few minutes before standing.

“Well, you want to come with? We’re going to go for a nice long ride.” He stood and followed me back to where I’d left Roanie standing. The horse was trained well; he knew to stay put if I dropped his reins. I vaulted back on, we rode for several hours before doubling back to the same trough to get a drink of water.

The cows had long since gone, leaving for another area they favored in the late afternoon with plenty of oaks for shade. Both Reggie and the wolf were on their hind legs lapping and slurping up the cool water.

I got off and held my Nalgene water bottle underneath the dribbling pipe. While I waited for it to fill, I looked around and noticed boot prints in the mud. My whole body tingled with alarm. I set the bottle down and whipped my pistol out and scanned the trees around us. I saw the wolf tense as I un-holstered the Glock, but he followed me over to the prints and started sniffing.

“So, what, you’re like a bloodhound now?” I asked sarcastically as I inspected the prints.

 Even though I was close to the same size as the boot prints I knew they weren’t mine. Most riding boots were smooth-soled. You didn’t want much grip because it could cause your foot to get caught in the stirrup if you got dumped. The last place you wanted to be was dragging on the ground close to the back feet of a two thousand pound animal.

The prints I saw looked like tennis shoes.
It looks like I
am
a tracker,
I thought dryly to myself. Since I hadn’t seen the prints when I stopped by earlier I reasoned that whoever made them must have come by after I had left. I had a dirty feeling it was my murderous friend, and I shuddered to think that he could have come so close or had been watching me.

“Damn it,” I whispered to myself. “He’s still here!” I got back on Roanie and started back home. That’s when I noticed that my wolf was gone.
Well, crap.
I always felt better when he was around. I hurried home and the first thing I did after putting the horse away I called the sheriff.