Riley's Torment, A Moon's Glow Novel #2 (6 page)

The only
benefit Nate could see to belonging to the pack was to run with a
group on full moon nights. It was the instinct of the wolf. But
thankfully, he now had Joe to join him.

When Nate
pulled into the driveway to the cottage, he relaxed. Megan and
Lauren's cars were in the driveway. They must have come home early.
He could resolve the issue of the mark sooner and get it off his
chest.

"What are the
girls’ cars doing here?" Joe asked, as Nate passed Megan's red
convertible. "I though you said they were working at the shelter
today."

Nate shrugged.
"They must have come home early." He parked the car, opened the
door to get out, and froze. "Do you smell that?" he asked Joe, his
voice and body filled with tension.

Joe opened his
own door, and breathed in. His eyes widened. "Oh, no.” He barely
had the whispered words out, and Nate was already rushing past him
to the cottage.

When Joe
entered the house, Nate was emerging from the bedroom shaking with
eyes yellow and hands clenched into fists. "She took our mates!" he
growled.

Charlotte had
left him alone for over a hundred years, and now that he had
finally found happiness, she had decided to come back into his
life. He almost laughed at the irony. He wanted to kill her—no one
touched his mate. He wanted to change into a wolf, track her down,
and rip her apart for taking what was his. He felt the change
coming on, and he welcomed it. After marking her, a werewolf should
know not to touch. She was his, and he would make that redheaded
witch pay. His body shook with anger, and he could feel the tingle
as fur began to grow along his skin. He couldn't wait to rip into
her body, breaking her bones and taste her blood. She would die for
what she had done.

"Nate!"

The sound of a
soft voice registered in his mind, but the wolf couldn't understand
the word. All he wanted was to get his mate back. He felt the first
snap of bone and the lengthening of his teeth.

"Nate, get a
hold of yourself!"

Blood whooshed
through Nate’s brain, making sounds fuzzy and blurring his
vision.

Suddenly, he
was knocked to the floor, and a man with auburn hair and gray eyes
was hovering over him. He was inches from his face, and all he
could think was to snap his fangs at him. This male was keeping him
from his woman.

"Megan, think
of Megan. We can get her back." While the words meant nothing to
him, that name sounded familiar. The image of green eyes and
freckles flashed in the wolf’s mind, and the fog started to fade
away.

"Come
back, Nate, or we won't find them. I can't deal with you like this
and track them down. I need you. Megan needs you.”
Megan needs
me.
The wolf and the man
agreed with that. Nate blinked up at him, feeling his bones crack,
returning human, and the sting of his teeth reforming.

"I'm fine! Get
off of me," Nate snapped. He was himself again, but he was still
furious. Megan was missing, and all he could think about was
getting her back.

Joe jumped up,
holding his hand out to help Nate. He took it, wanting to show Joe
he was once again under control. "We have to tell Will.”

Nate sighed. He
didn't want to do that. He just wanted to put his nose to the
ground and find the girls. But he knew he owed it to his nephew to
explain what had happened. This was why he never wanted to form
attachments. Werewolves lived a long time, and some liked to
overcome their boredom by wreaking havoc on others.

"Let’s go,”
Nate said. “I hope he's home, I don't want to tell him at the
office."

Before they
headed to the main house, they both changed into more suitable
clothing. Nate didn’t think searching for his mate in his work suit
would be a good idea. He needed something more durable and easier
to move in. He threw on jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt and rushed
out, refusing to waste any more time. Joe finished changing into
his borrowed clothes at the same time.

"This is your
fault!" Will bellowed, pointing to Joe.

Nate stepped
forward. "Will, she was with my girlfriend, at my house. Joe had
nothing to do with it." He left out the fact that Lauren was there
in the first place because she was upset with Joe.

Will’s face was
red; a vein throbbed on his forehead. His anger was obvious, but
Nate could see the worry for his daughter in his eyes. Nate hated
putting his family in danger and had tried to stay away to protect
them in the past, but he had let that slide after he found Megan.
If he hadn’t been so selfish, Megan and Lauren would be safe right
now.

"Charlotte is
his sister,” Will scowled, lunging for Joe again.

"It was still
my house, not his." Nate reached out and laid his hand on Will's
arm. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to be looking for the
girls, but he needed to reassure his nephew. "Don't worry. Just
trust that we will get her back. I’m sorry, but we have to leave
before the scent disappears."

Will nodded,
his face strained.

Nate hated to
leave him, but they had to go. He didn't think his wolf would wait
any longer.

I awoke
slowly feeling a throbbing pain in the side of my head, and I tried
to think of where I was and why my head felt like it was being
squeezed in a vice. Opening my eyes did nothing to answer my
questions, blackness had swallowed me up. I couldn't see a
thing.

I felt a
body pressed against my back and figured it was Nate. But instead
of his pine and leather scent, all I could smell was raspberries,
oil, and gas. And we were moving. Charlotte’s face and threatening
words played in my mind.
Damn it,
she took Lauren and me and stashed us in the trunk of a
car. I couldn’t help it; I began to panic at being in such a
confined space. I opened my mouth and started to scream, pounding
my fists on the hood of the trunk. But all that did was make my
hands hurt and my throat ache. I knew that my screams were useless,
but I couldn’t help it. I had never been so terrified in my whole
life.

"Hello?" Lauren
called out, her voice laced with fear. For some reason, the sound
of her fright calmed me. I stopped screaming and reached out,
linking my fingers with hers.

"Lauren, it’s
me. Charlotte took us. We're in the trunk of her car."

She gasped, her
breath turning ragged. "Oh, my god!" She tried to sit up, and
banged her head on the trunk lid. "Ow!"

I flipped
around so I could face her, rubbing her arm with my free hand.
"It's okay. Calm down." Despite my own panic, I used a soothing
voice. "Nate and Joe will find us."

"How?" she
cried. In that one word I could hear the desperation, and dread
that she must be feeling. And she was right; our situation wasn’t a
good one. "We're in a car. Our scent doesn't go through metal."

Right, I
hadn't thought of that. Since I had met Nate, I had learned a few
things about werewolves. And there was one thing right now that I
was counting on, and that was the strong urge to protect us. When
Rowan was threatening me, Nate was very strict in keeping me
guarded and wouldn't let me out of his sight. The only reason Rowan
was able to grab me was because I asked Nate to leave me alone. He
only let me when I promised that Lauren and I would carry the gun
that held silver bullets.
What I wouldn't give for a silver bullet right
now.

Silver! Yes,
that was the answer. Werewolves were allergic to silver. And I
remembered putting on my silver necklace this morning. The gemstone
wouldn’t hurt her, but the setting would. I could just turn it
around and burn Charlotte with it when she opened the trunk.
Hopefully, she would fall back, and we could run. Right now, I
really needed something to make me believe that we’d get out of
this. I reached up to touch the pendant for two reasons, one—it
would protect me from the vicious werewolf who had taken us. And
two—it would make me feel closer to Nate, giving me hope that he
would find us. And if hope was all we had, then I would grab onto
it as if it were a life line.

Instead of the
cold smooth gemstone, my fingers touched skin. My necklace was
gone! My spirits plummeted. I thought I had figured out a way out
of this, but Charlotte was again one step ahead of us. My throat
burned with the threat of tears, but I would not give that witch
the satisfaction.

"Meg," Lauren
said softly in the darkness of the trunk. Without seeing a body
attached to the voice, she sounded hollow, and ghostly.

"Yes?" I hated
the sound of fear in her voice. I needed to be calm so that I could
pretend that we would get through this. It was the only way to hold
the surge of panic from spilling out of me.

"Am I really
Joe’s mate?"

I wanted to
respect Joe's and Will's wishes, but her voice was so full of
frustration and pleading, that I had to tell her. "Yes," I
whispered, feeling a weight lift off of my shoulders. All the lying
had been eating away at me.

She sighed with
relief. "Then why has he been pushing me away?" The sound of a
muffled horn rang outside the car, and I fought the urge to scream
again, knowing it would do no good.

"Your father
doesn't want you to be with a werewolf after what happened to me.
He thinks it’s too dangerous, and I guess he was right." I laughed
darkly at the situation. Just last night, I had thought Will was
wrong to keep them apart. "Joe is his friend, so he's been trying
to respect his wishes, but it’s been hard for him."

"My father told
him to stay away from me?" Her voice rose, ringing with anger. "He
had no right. This is my life!" She pounded the side of the trunk
with a thud.

"I know. I even
told him that you felt the same as Joe, but he wouldn't listen to
me. He said that I wasn't a parent and that he was doing what was
necessary to protect you."

Umph. The car
jolted upward—we must have hit a pothole. Pain shot through my head
as it bumped against the hood.

"Ugh." Lauren's
voice was a soft moan as she bumped the side of the trunk. "Where
do you think she's taking us?"

"I don't
know."

"What do you
think she wants with us?"

Charlotte’s words drifted through my thoughts.
He rejected me, and
I don't take rejection well.
It was true—she bit Nate and Joe, and they both had left
her. Could she be doing this to get even?

"I think it's
because she feels rejected by Nate and Joe.”

"Do you think
she'll kill us?" The fear was back in her voice, stronger than
before.

"I don't think
so. She'd have to know that they'd hunt her down and kill her for
doing that." My voice wasn't as strong as I'd hoped it would be,
because honestly, how could you predict a sadistic two hundred year
old werewolf?

"Are you-" she
began.

"Shhh! Listen,"
I whispered.

Charlotte was
talking. "You didn’t tell me they were both mated. Now, I won't be
back for the full moon." She paused with no audible response. I
guessed she was on the phone. "I know, I said I'd be back today,
but there’s been a change of plans."

Her voice was
muffled, and I might have missed a word or two. "You can handle
them." Another pause. "Are you totally useless? If they get out of
line, use your teeth. It's not that hard. I have to take care of
something. I'll call you if I need you." Lauren nudged me as
Charlotte paused again.

"Just handle
it!!" Charlotte yelled, and then the radio came on. She must have
hung up.

"Teeth?" Lauren
whispered. "Did she make more werewolves?"

I shuddered at
the thought of Charlotte creating more monsters like her. "Sounds
like it."

The car slowed
and turned a corner. "What were you going to say?" I asked,
remembering that I had cut her off.

Her elbow
grazed my side as she shifted position. "Are you mad at Nate?"

"For what?" I
asked, dumfounded. Why would I be mad at him? It wasn't his fault
that Charlotte felt the need to get revenge after a hundred
years.

"For marking
you."

I had forgotten
about that, which was understandable since I was knocked out and in
the trunk of a car. "I'm not sure. Right now, I would give anything
to see him."

I paused,
remembering how I reacted to the other odd wolfy things he had
done. The idea that he marked me like a rancher branded a cow was a
little disturbing. But now with this situation, I hoped it would
make the wolf inside of him find me faster. And if that happened, I
wouldn't say a word to him about it. I had told him to be honest
with me, and although I hated finding out from Charlotte, I
understood that with Lauren’s appearance, he couldn’t explain.

The car slowed,
tires crunching on gravel as Charlotte pulled onto the side of the
road. When her door creaked open, I tensed, waiting for her to open
the trunk, but she didn't. A loud thud sounded above us, and I
heard some muffled sounds as she moved around the vehicle. The door
closed with a bang, and we began to move once more.

I relaxed, and
thought about what we had been talking about earlier. "I'm sorry I
didn't tell you about Joe," I said softly, feeling guilty for
keeping it from Lauren for so long.

I felt her lean
up on her elbow. "I don't blame you, Megan. I went through the same
thing with Nate. And I hated keeping it from you too. But like
this, it wasn't my news to tell. Besides, I had my suspicions. I’ve
been friends with a werewolf for three years. I recognised the
signs."

Her words
shocked me. “You knew?”

“Not knew, but
I wondered. I was going to ask if you knew anything, but if it was
true, you must have had a god reason to keep it from me.”