DARKSIDE OF THE MOON (22 page)

“Dale, put the fucking gun down and let the girl go or I’m going to put a bullet in your head.” Damon flanked Lucien, while Jaxon was on the other side of him.

From the corner of his eye, Lucien spotted Jayden edging his way toward Skylar.

“Why the fuck do you even care about her? Do you know what she is? She’s a red wolf, and she’s your enemy.” Dale laughed.

“Our only enemy is you and your rogue wolves who are constantly breaking the law and hurting people,” Lucien hissed.

“I bet you assholes wouldn’t be so quick to sacrifice your lives if you knew what Skylar really was.”

The room went silent. Even Zane stopped his attack and turned to face Dale.

“I see I got your attention too, Zane.” Dale narrowed his beady eyes and tightened his grip on Skylar’s neck. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to breathe.

“Skylar may look like a hot piece of ass for you Guardian boys, but she’s used goods. And we know how you only mate worthy females. None of you would risk your lives for used goods. I know that. Why, the first time Hershel took her, she was thirteen years old. She screamed like she was dying, but we all knew she liked it.”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Dale,” Lucien warned. He cut his eyes at Zane. The Were’s breathing increased and his whole body was trembling.

“I even got me a piece after Hershel made her pass out.” He bent his head to her cheek and grinned. “You wouldn’t remember, Skylar, but I was actually your first. Not Hershel.”

Skylar’s eyes widened in terror and her body convulsed as she struggled to get away.

“You’re a sick fuck, Dale, and if you think you’re walking out of here alive, you are wrong,” Damon growled.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do, dumbass, because I got some insurance.” His grip on Skylar tightened. “And his name is Zane. That crystal meth he got injected with was our latest serum. We created it so werewolves couldn’t control their shift anymore. Once the human population realizes what walks among them, it’s going to start a race war between us and them. We are stronger than fucking humans, and we are going to destroy every one of them until it’s just Weres running the earth.” Dale’s eyes glistened with delight. “It’s going to be paradise. And I’m going to lead us all.”

“You’ve been smoking too much of your own product, Dale,” Damon growled as he leveled his gun at Dale. “There’s no way we’re going to let that happen.”

Lucien glanced at Jayden, who was a few feet away from Skylar. He just needed to distract Dale a few more seconds.

“You’re not leaving this room with Skylar,” Lucien said.

Zane growled. Dale took the gun off Skylar for a second and aimed it at Zane, who took a step toward him. It was the opportunity Jayden needed.

Jayden grabbed Skylar and shoved her toward the door. Lucien grabbed her and pulled her safely behind him.

Dale growled, swung his gun toward Jayden, and fired.

***

Zane leapt through the air just before the gun went off. He landed in front of Jayden, taking the impact of the bullet to his side.

Wide-eyed, Dale realized he no longer had anything to leverage. He glanced at the door and swung his gun from Zane to the other Guardians.

Zane stumbled as the silver coursed through his body. His vision blurred and then turned black as he hit the floor with a thud.

***

“Skylar, tell them not to hurt your daddy, now.” Dale kept his eyes and his gun aimed at the Guardians. “You tell them not to hurt me, you hear?”

“Don’t hurt him.” Skylar heard herself say. She clutched the automatic rifle left by the guards in her hands and stepped out from the shadows. “I want to do it.”

Dale’s eyes widened for a brief second before she squeezed off a rapid-fire round straight into his chest. She aimed for his head and put a bullet there as well.

Dale Wade’s body crumpled to the floor.

Damon slid next to her and grabbed the gun from her hand. “He’s dead now, Skylar. He won’t hurt you again.”

She nodded once and looked around for Zane.

A Guardian with blond hair was bending over him, pressing his own T-shirt to his wound.

Snapping out of her shock, she ran to Zane and pressed her face to his fury chest. The T-shirt over the wound was saturated in his blood. He struggled to breathe as his eyes rolled back into his head.

“Don’t you dare die on me!”

***

Barrett arrived just as the red-haired female put a round of bullets into Dale Wade. He shoved his way into the room and surveyed the bloody scene with trepidation.

“I said no shit show.” He glared at Damon. “This reeks of a shit show.”

“Couldn’t be helped, boss.” Damon shrugged and nodded toward Zane. “Did Braxton fill you in on everything?”

“Zane’s been infected with a special crystal meth and is out of control, there are humans who have seen him shift, and Dale Wade isn’t dead.” Barrett glared at the body on the floor. “Well, he wasn’t dead.”

“Yep. Oh, and Zane has been shot with a silver bullet.” Damon turned his back so the Guardians who were working on Zane couldn’t see his face. “Even if we get the silver out, there’s still the problem of his inability to control his shift. He’s still a liability.”

Ignoring Damon’s concerns, Barrett headed for his hurt Guardian.

Kneeling down, he assessed Zane’s chest wound and the bullet wound. There was a third wound where flesh had been torn away from his shoulder. “Zane, I know you can hear me. I know you’re in there. So you better fucking listen to your Pack Master.”

Zane opened his eyes and blinked once.

“I’m going to dig this silver bullet out of your side. It’s going to hurt like fuck, but there’s no way around it. I’ve also got to get the silver out of this other wound. It looks like they skinned you and just poured liquid silver in. I’ve got to take more flesh out, and that’s going to hurt too. Once it’s out, you can heal the wound on your shoulder.”

“Is he going to die?” Skylar looked up at him with earnest eyes.

“Not today.”

“Am I going to die?” she asked. “I did kill my father, and the Pack Law says the penalty for killing your parents is death. Am I going to die?”

He pulled his knife out of his back jean pocket and flipped up the blade. He turned to her.

“You can’t kill someone who’s already dead. And if people found out that Dale wasn’t dead to begin with, then that would require a whole lot of paperwork. And if there’s one thing I hate, it’s paperwork.” He glared.

“He’s right.” Jaxon knelt beside Zane, ready to assist Barrett. “Barrett hates paperwork.”

Skylar’s shoulders sagged in obvious relief. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me until we fix Zane.”

***

Zane woke up in a bed in the Guardians’ infirmary. His back ached like a bitch and every muscle in his body was sore.

“He’s awake.” Skylar’s voice had him turning his head.

“How do you feel?” She leaned down and cupped his face.

“Step back and let me have a look-see. Boy, you look like you’ve been run over and dragged ass-backwards in the streets.” Dr. Gilliam, the Pack doctor, stepped up and shone a penlight into his eyes. Dr. Gilliam looked more like a mad scientist with his gray hair poking up in all directions. He’d been the Guardian’s personal doctor for years, and despite his crappy bedside manner, he was one of the best.

“Cut that shit out.” Zane waved away the old man.

“I need to check your vitals.” The crotchety old doctor frowned.

“I’m fine. My body just hurts like hell.” He scowled as he tried to sit up.

“You’ve been out for a week.” Skylar grabbed his hand and pressed it to her chest. “I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up after Barrett dug the silver out.”

He ran his hand across his side where the bullet had gone in. The wound was completely healed. He moved his hand up to his chest where the silver had been poured in. That was healed as well.

“Your shoulder is taking more time to heal than the other places,” she said.

He touched his fingertips to the rough patch of skin where Hershel had pulled flesh out with his teeth.

“If nothing else, you can always cover it with ink.” Barrett stepped up to his bedside with Lucien, Jaxon, Braxton, and Jayden behind him.

“Thank you.” Zane looked around his band of brothers. “But I’m still going to be a problem. I didn’t find a cure for what I have been injected with. I’m still a danger to our Pack.”

His stomach turned as he faced his new reality.

“So is that it? Do you think so little of us?” Lucien sulked.

“You are my brothers, and I’m trying to do the right thing here, if you’d shut the hell up.” Zane swallowed the lump in his throat. “I can’t be a Guardian if I can’t control my shift.”

“Zane, you’ve not shifted in a week.” Skylar smiled.

“I’ve been out, that’s why.” He hated this. He hated losing his brothers, his job, Skylar, but he had to do the right thing by them all.

“No, it’s not,” Dr. Gilliam said. “I ran your bloodwork and compared it to the blood sample we got when you first came in. The drug is out of your system. You were only infected one time. While it did take a while to get out of your system, it didn’t change your DNA. You are back to normal.” The doctor slapped him on the shoulder. “Well, back to your old self, I should say.” He made his exit.

“Is that true?” Zane’s heart leapt, and he looked to Barrett for confirmation. His hand squeezed Skylar’s. He inhaled deep, and Skylar’s scent of strawberries and spice flooded his nose. He could smell her. Finally.

“It’s true.” Barrett grinned and looked around at his Guardians. “You assholes need to get out of here so Zane can rest and spend time with Skylar.”

His head hit the pillow as he sucked in a deep breath. One by one, the Guardians said goodbye. Jayden lingered behind.

“I’ll go get you some water. I’ll be right back.” Skylar pressed a kiss to his lips and gave them some privacy.

Zane spoke. “Hey man, I want to thank you for protecting Skylar.” He realized his beef with his sister really had nothing to do with Jayden. Zane had just needed someone else to blame for their failing relationship.

“It’s what we do, man. No need to thank me.” Jayden shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned. “Zane, I should be thanking you. You took that bullet when it was meant for me. The thought that I wouldn’t be here with Haley scared the fuck out of me.”

“It’s what brothers do.” Zane nodded.

Jayden grinned and stuck out his hand and they shook.

“You can’t go in there, ma’am,” Dr. Gilliam shouted as the door swung open.

“I can go wherever I want to.” Granny huffed as she, Haley, and Ava barged into the room and right up to Zane’s bedside.

Barrett and Skylar came back in to see what the fuss was about.

Zane frowned, and Granny took his hand and pressed her lips together.

“Granny, he’s resting and doesn’t want you to bore him.” Jayden gave Zane an apologetic look.

“I’ve got something to say and I’m saying it.” She glared at him and then at the doctor, who threw up his hand and stomped out of the room.

“Zane Steele, I want to thank you for saving my grandson’s life. I don’t know what I would do if something had happened to him.” Her lips quivered and she blinked her eyes to hold back the tears.

Haley bent down and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Zane.”

“You’re welcome.” He shifted uncomfortably. He wasn’t used to all this attention.

“Granny, can you please give Zane some peace now?” Jayden took her arm to escort her away.

He stopped and pointed to the large Band-Aid covering her upper arm.

“What happened to your arm?” He frowned. “Did you fall?”

“No, I didn’t fall.” She shot him a glare. “And I don’t appreciate your suggesting I did.”

“Sorry.” He held up his hands. “Didn’t mean to offend. So what happened?”

Haley giggled and covered her mouth.

“Yeah, Granny, show them what happened.” Ava snorted.

“Fine.” She tugged at the corners and carefully pulled off the Band-Aid. She smiled brightly as she showed off her arm. “I got some ink.”

Jayden’s mouth dropped and he turned pale. The women giggled, and Zane could swear he heard Barrett mutter, “Fuck my life.”

Zane was confused and then stunned. Granny had a bright pink dick tattooed on her arm.

“That shit better be temporary.” Jayden’s face turned bright red. He tried to slap the Band-Aid back on, but it fell right back off.

“Ouch.” Granny scowled. “It’s still tender.”

“Holy shit, you mean it’s real?” Jayden asked, his voice getting louder.

“Of course it is.” Granny lifted her chin. She looked at Barrett and showed her arm. “Do you like my rocket ship?”

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Barrett closed his eyes and rubbed his temple.

“Granny, that’s not a rocket ship,” Jayden said. “It’s a dick on your arm.”

Zane bit his lip to keep from laughing.

“Of course it’s a rocket ship. I always had a thing for Buzz Aldrin. He seemed to always have that mysterious twinkle in his eye. Neil Armstrong was pretty hot too.” She grinned.

“Oh god, just kill me now,” Jayden muttered.

“If Matt did that tattoo, I’m going to kill him.” Barrett glared at the old woman.

“He most certainly did not.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “He refused to do it when I came in. So I had to find someone else to.”

“The name. Give me the name.” Barrett spoke slowly, but everyone could hear the anger boiling beneath the words.

“A guy named Tommy.”

“Where’s his shop?” Barrett pushed.

“I don’t think he has one. He did it out of his parents’ basement. He said he needed the money for art school.” Granny smiled. “I am always a supporter of the arts and higher education. So I killed two birds with one stone.”

***

“Keep your eyes closed,” Zane called out to her over the roar of the Harley.

“My eyes are closed,” she said. She tightened her hold on his waist as he sped down the road. The cool air whipped through her loose hair, and the bright sun warmed her face. Riding with Zane always made her feel better about life.

It had been three months since Zane had been shot. Two months since she’d finished Ava’s house, and one month since the town of Jonesboro had torn down the abandoned apartments due to drug activity.