Page 5 of Moonlighting with the Werewolf

CHAPTER FOUR

“Who was on watch?”I growled at the men and women who made up my first line. My voice echoed through the chamber where we met to discuss pack business.

The fact that they all looked at each other didn’t inspire a lot of confidence. We hadn’t had a threat in long enough that I’d considered relaxing security measures, chalking it up to my paranoia that I never pulled the trigger.

Then I’d been shot in the fucking back. It’d taken every ounce of my strength to dig my claws into the dirt and drag my swiss cheese carcass to the clinic. If the spitfire vet hadn’t been there...

Well, I wouldn’t be here anymore, either. Dr. Ryan would’ve found a dead wolf at the back door tomorrow morning, and that would be that. The thought of those bullets hitting any of the Bridgewater Pack members, especially the younger wolves who wouldn’t have survived the shooting, cranked my rage from a low simmer to a frenzied boil.

Scenes from my past punched their way through, images of carnage and blood. Memories of hiding and holding my breath as others gasped their last.

Since burning the entire forest to the ground to enact vengeance fell into the cutting off my nose to spite my face territory, I’d had to keep a lid on the violent retribution I’d craved for the past two decades.

As the lack of answers grew longer, I turned up the heat on my alpha stare. “Someone better start talking, and I. Mean.Now.”

Elias skidded into the room, and I rescanned the gathered shifters, annoyed at myself for failing to notice his absence. A hint of gangliness remained, but he was a long way from the scrawny fourteen-year-old I found in the forest seven years ago. “I was on watch, sir.”

The rest of the troops’ shoulders sagged with relief. Meanwhile, tension crept across the line of mine, tugging at the fresh wound there. The circle of life didn’t include a section where kindness did anyone any favors. It was kill or be killed. Predator or prey, and survival of the most ruthless. As hard as I tried to shove away any mushy emotions that could weaken me as well as my pack, I had a soft spot for the kid. Finding a malnourished boy who’d been beaten within an inch of his life did that to a person.

Showing leniency endangered my position, and I was meant to lead. It was in my blood, the very marrow of my bones, and thanks to my past, I’d become an unabashed control freak. Never would I ever feel so helpless again.

Yeah, yeah, I know. The burden of being top dog, and heavy is the head that wears the crown. Ninety percent of the time I loved being the boss. But that other ten was a bitch. “Care to explain why I only found out about the enemies in our territoryafterbeing shot full of silver bullets?”

I strode toward the kid, clinging to my steel facade as his eyes flew wide. “What if they’d hit one of the pups? Or the elderly?Anyone but me? The reason I assign watch shifts is to ensure that sort of thing never fucking happens.”

Elias’s lower lip quivered, but he lifted his jaw, similar to the way Dr. Ryan had done earlier, although his had a hell of a lot more respect to it. “I take full responsibility. There was smoke in the east I thought might be a threat, but I didn’t want to call for backup if it ended up being just a hiker or something else innocuous.” I opened my mouth, but Elias rushed on. “Not that that’s a good excuse. I messed up. I should’ve followed protocol.”

“Did you see any strange activity on the south side? Hear any shots?”

The kid’s throat worked a swallow. “No.”

They’d hit so fast. I’d been running and then tumbling. I knew I was in trouble once my body refused to eject them, and town had been closer than the compound.

Dr. Ryan was so upset when I admitted I didn’t think I’d make it to Doc Mullens on the far side of Guadalupe Falls. Very few were privy to our secret, and I hadn’t been eager to add him to the short list. In a place where legends about mythical creatures abounded, it made it easy to grow a bit lax. The locals and visitors were used to exaggerated stories and imaginations running wild, so any slips got chalked up to that.

Still, I probably shouldn’t have shifted in front of Dr. Ryan—had I not been disoriented and focused on healing, I wouldn’t have. Too late now, and while her predecessor obviously hadn’t mentioned the reality of the creatures inhabiting the woods, the fact that she’d gone from shock to offering to check my vitals suggested she remained cool under pressure.

My gut said Dr. Ryan would prove to be a good ally, the same way Dr. Vaughn had been when I’d taken Elias to him that first time. The kid nearly died from an infection that’d run rampant too long to simply heal it himself.

You say it like I’m some sexual deviant...Dr. Ryan’s face flashed in my mind, and I idly wondered what it’d take to lure out her sexual deviant side so it could come and play with mine.

Seriously, what was wrong with me that I kept thinking about the pretty vet when there was a threat that needed to be taken out?

Must be some anesthesia left in my system, messing with my head.First, I’d deal with the current threat, and then I’d circle back and have a conversation with the vet about keeping our secret.

“Were there hunters in the forest today?” The season didn’t start till fall for almost every type of game, but we were in a protected area, and wolves were never on the menu. Didn’t mean we hadn’t had to teach poachers a lesson before.

“No,” Elias said. “I would’ve noticed, I’m sure of it. I’m sorry I didn’t hear the shots or see you go down, but the smoke... It didn’t look right. Didn’t smell right. So I took Gideon with me to check it out. Like I said, I should’ve had someone fill my post while I was gone, but?—”

“But nothing. The tower doesn’t go unmanned.” If he’d been with Gideon, he’d also been distracted. Due to the leftover landmines from his past, I’d let most anything involving his personal life slide. Far too much, it seemed, and now we both were going to have to face the consequences.

Elias dropped his chin so low it tapped his chest. “Yes, sir.”

“Did you find the source of the smoke?”

He fiddled with the strings of his hoodie. “It was gone by the time we got there. Not just the smoke, but there wasn’t any trace of a fire. The spot gave me the heebie-jeebies.” Great. He hadn’t a clue who shot me, but he got weird vibes from a stamped-out campfire.

“You four,” I said, spinning toward my front line and pointing at Sasquatch, Diego, Tyrese, and my beta, Nissa. Ihesitated as the last member’s round belly caught my eye. Both noticing her baby bump and considering not sending her because she was pregnant would piss her off. She insisted she could do all the same tasks until she reached the tail end of her pregnancy, and while my small-but-there gentleman side wanted to argue, I also didn’t want to be the misogynistic asshole she’d accused me of being when I first suggested she take time off from infantry.

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