First Moon (New Moon Wolves) BBW Werewolf Romance (10 page)

“My pinkie did you find it? Did you reattach it?” Audrey asked. She closed her eyes. She knew it was gone, but she had to ask on the off chance a miracle had happened while she’d been unconscious.

Jenene shook her head. “We couldn’t find it.”

Audrey rubbed her head with her good hand. She pictured her pinkie in Nick’s stomach. Animals weren’t much different from humans, at least not when it came to basic biology. The acid in his stomach would eat away at her flesh until only bone remained, and even that would soften into a gel. The whole thing gave her the heebie-jeebies. The wolf had eaten a piece of her, like she was food. Soon her finger would be wolf poop, which...
ugh.

I’m not food,
she thought fiercely.
I’m not poop and I’m going to kill that wolf if it’s the last thing I do.

Audrey smiled, remembering the knife she’d shoved into his side. She hoped it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. Hoped he was out there bleeding and suffering under some bush. Better yet, she hoped Tao was closing in and would put an end to his brother’s madness.

Before she’d been sorry about what Tao had to do, but now she had no mercy for the blond wolf. He was psychotic and a threat to everyone, including his own family.

“Can I get you something to drink?” The nurse’s sweet voice intruded on Audrey’s thoughts.

“Do you have apple juice?”

“Yep. Nice and cold, too.”
Jenene rearranged the blankets covering Audrey, tucking her in nice and tight. “Your boss is here. Are you up to seeing him? He waited while you were in surgery.”

Audrey’s eyes went wide. “I had surgery?” She looked with wonder at her bandaged hand. What horrors lay hidden beneath the gauze?

“We put some pins in your hand, the bones were shattered in a few places. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much we could do for your pinkie other than stitch it up.”

“Oh,” was all Audrey could say. It was too much to process. She hadn’t even realized she was hurt beyond missing her pinkie.

Jenene headed for the door, stopping at the threshold to ask, “So your boss, yes or no?”

Audrey shrugged. “Send him in.” No point in keeping him waiting.

The nurse left and returned a minute later with a can of apple juice. Jay trailed behind her, his thin face tight with worry.

“Are you okay?” He rushed to stand on her good side.

Audrey popped the tab on the can of apple juice and downed half of it in one gulp. Then she said, “I think so. It’s a lot to process.”

“I thought you were dead. You were covered in blood and I couldn’t wake you up.”

Jay sounded so upset, she laid a reassuring hand on his arm. “I’m okay, just missing a small part.”

He grimaced. “Yeah, how did
that
happen?”

“The wolf came at me.” She paused recalling the sequence of events and quickly editing them into something believable. “I was telling a family to leave. They didn’t like that the beach was closed and the wolf just came out of nowhere.”
She paused again, working out what to say next. “He was going after the family, so I told them to get out of there and I got between them and the wolf.”

Jay whistled. “Wow, that was brave. I’ll have to let the big bosses know what you did. I bet you’ll get a commendation.”

Audrey just shrugged. Being the director of the park service in Glen Vine, Jay would think of things like that, but she preferred to have her pinkie back.

He pulled her crumpled gun out of his pocket, it was so compact now it fit. “I found this next to you.”

Audrey took the gun and examined it while she concocted a believable lie. “I shot at the wolf and missed. He jumped on me, knocked me over and ripped the gun out of my hand. He must’ve crunched it with his jaws.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, wow,” she agreed. “That’s probably how I lost my pinkie. It’s all kind of a blur.” She put her good hand to her head again.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” He smiled at her.

“Me too.” She handed her gun back to him. “I don’t need this anymore.”

“Not even as a souvenir?”

She shook her head. “Losing my finger is more than enough.” Looking up at Jay, she asked, “Did they find the wolf yet?”

“No, not yet. We’re still looking. The police gave us a dozen officers and we’ll probably get more because he’s attacked more people.”

Audrey’s heart sped up. “He got more people?” She bit back a swear word. Damn it. She’d failed. Nick had sunk his teeth into more victims anyway.

Jay nodded. “The good news is, if we don’t spot him in the next twenty-four hours, we’ll assume he’s dead. It’s been eight days since he bit you. If he’s not dead now, he will be soon.”

She gave a wan smile. “Yeah, the rabies timeline is pretty reliable.” Most animals died within seven days of infection. Too bad they weren’t really dealing with a rabid wolf.

“Thank God for small favors.” He took her good hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Get better. Once you get out of here, it’ll be over and you won’t have to worry about wolves anymore.”

Audrey gave a weak laugh. If only he knew. Wolves weren’t leaving her life anytime soon.

***

After Jay left, Audrey had a light dinner of gelatin and broth and then fell asleep. Some time later, a light touch on her shoulder woke her.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes. “Tao? Is that you?” She recognized his smell she realized with a start. He had a scent like sweet grass mixed with fresh earth. She went still, letting the change in her reality sink in.

Tao immediately became concerned. “What is it?”

Audrey tapped her nose. “I can smell you.”

He relaxed. “The closer you get to your change, the more sensitive your senses will become.” Pulling a chair up to the side of her bed, he settled into it. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay, I guess. Nick...” She trailed off and just held up her bandaged hand.

He covered her good hand with his. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“I stabbed him. He can’t change now.” Satisfaction throbbed in her voice.

“I saw the wound.” He gave a low whistle. “Remind me not to make you angry. You did some damage.”

“So you found him?” She couldn’t keep the anxious excitement from her voice at the thought this whole nightmare might be over.

Tao nodded. “I know where he’s hiding.”

“You didn’t kill him?” She frowned at him, deflated.

“He’s not a threat right now.” He squeezed her hand. “I needed to know if you were okay.”

She shook her head. “You shouldn’t have left him. Jay said he bit more people.” Her voice went up with panic.

“That was before he attacked you.”

Audrey blinked as she rearranged the timeline in her head. “Oh.”

Tao gently stroked her uninjured arm. “Trust me, he’s not capable of biting anyone at the moment. He’s out cold right now, too injured to do anything but sleep. I wouldn’t have come otherwise.”

She pulled away from Tao’s touch, no longer finding it soothing.“But what about when he heals? How long do we have before he’s on the loose again?”

Tao lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. He looked tired. “Three or four days.”

“I know he’s your brother, but he’s also a killer, Tao. He can’t be allowed to continue like this. If you can’t kill Nick, take me to him and I’ll do it.”

“Tell me what happened today,” Tao countered.

“I shot at him and missed. He took my finger and ate it. Simple as that.” She sniffed back tears. “He’s a sadistic bastard. I can’t believe he’s even related to you. Or that you would hesitate to kill him.”

“We were born together, grew up together.” Tao ran a hand through his hair, his expression anguished. “I knew him before he went crazy. He was a good wolf.”

Audrey didn’t know how to respond to that. She had no love in her heart for Nick and it made her anxious to think Tao would let his feelings cloud his judgment. She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. “He’s bitten so many people now that you’re going to have a whole pack of wolves like me at this rate.”

Tao nodded. “I know. Everyone at the hospital is talking about it. They ran out of rabies vaccine and had to bring it in from other cities.”

“So what are we going to do?” she asked. “What’s the plan to keep, not just me safe, but the rest of the world too?”

“I don’t have a plan.” When she started to protest, he raised a hand. “But I have some ideas. I think I can take away Nick’s ability to control you.”

She gave an exasperated sigh. “What about the other people who’ve been bitten? Shouldn’t we find them?”

“Yes, but first things first. Let’s take care of you, then we can deal with everyone else.”

“Okay, so what’s your big idea?” She tried to cross her arms but gave up. The IV and the bandages around her hand made it impossible.

Tao shook his head. “Not here.”

“So where?” she asked, frustrated. Nothing good was happening. Nick wasn’t even close to being contained.

“Let’s get you out of the hospital and back to your place where we can talk.”

Chapter Twelve

Audrey insisted on taking a shower before they left, careful to wrap her injured hand in a plastic bag. Tao hunted down some clean scrubs for her to wear, sweet talking a nurse to get them. There was no way Audrey could wear her ranger uniform home. Nick’s claws had ripped holes in the shorts and blood covered the green fabric along with dust making everything but her underwear unfit to be worn.

He paced her room while he waited for her to get dressed, rehearsing what he would say when the time came. It was a crazy idea, something he wasn’t sure would work, but it was his one shot to keep Audrey safe. He couldn’t pass it up. Tao just hoped Audrey couldn’t either.

She came out of the shower, her hair wet and clinging to her face. “I’m ready,” she said. Catching sight of her clothes on the hospital bed, she went and chucked them all into the garbage can. “ So much for that.” She sighed. “Let’s get out of here.”

***

Tao’s heart pounded in his throat during the drive to Audrey’s house. Seeing her again, catching her scent in the air squeezed his heart. He had to face reality, he was interested in the woman his brother wanted to claim as his mate. He would never let Nick have her, not in a million years.

Nick was now the kind of wolf who would toy with his prey just to see it suffer. If he’d doubted that before, he knew it now after what Nick had done to Audrey. His brother was no better than a human serial killer. Stalking Audrey in the shadows, forcing her to his will and then making her bleed. It was sick.

Tao had to protect Audrey. It had become his prime objective, even ahead of his pack. That was not a good thing. A disloyal wolf was a dead wolf.
The way things were going, he would violate every principle he’d been raised to uphold. All in the name of one human woman turned wolf.

His nose twitched as if to say ‘she smells worth it.’

Tao had to agree, but he didn’t see a way out of this mess without betraying loyalties he’d held sacred all his life. He was on a path that wouldn’t ever let him turn around and go back home. All he could do was keep everyone alive long enough and pray a solution presented itself. Damned if he didn’t have any better ideas than that.

They didn’t talk much on the drive home. Audrey looked pale, her face drawn from stress and fatigue. She’d been through a lot and now he was going to ask her to endure more.

Would she say yes to his plan? Would she take the chance knowing it might not work?

His stomach churned with worry.

***

When they arrived at her house, Tao escorted her inside, a steadying hand under her elbow. To her irritation, she found she needed to lean on his strength. Audrey made her way to the couch where she sank down into the cushions. Her body ached with physical fatigue and the mental toll of stress. “So tell me, what’s the big plan?”

Tao stood in front of her, shifting his weight from foot-to-foot, his hands clasped behind his back.“If Nick finds you, he’ll mate you. The bigger problem is you won’t be able to say no.”

Although his words weren’t new, Audrey processed them slowly, integrating them with the fact that Nick had literally bitten off pieces of her body. The idea of Nick touching her again agitated her. Fear gripped her shoulders. She wasn’t strong or fast enough to fight him off.

She pushed herself off the couch and distracted herself by feeding her charges. She’d been gone so long they were starving. Feeling guilty, she gave everyone extra big servings of food.

“And in this case mate means the same as rape, right?” She shuddered and fear coiled in her gut. “I can’t stop him. Can you?”

“Maybe--” He hesitated.

“Maybe? You said you had an idea.” Audrey grabbed a bag of birdseed sitting on the floor next to the cages and tossed it to the robins with more force than necessary. To her surprise, they were almost ready to be set free despite her recent neglect.

He trailed after her as she moved from cage to cage. “Yes. I do. Nick’s hold on you should be able to be replaced by a stronger wolf.”