Hunter's Moon.htm (36 page)

I rushed him abruptly but he dodged. People backed up quickly to avoid getting caught in the middle. Vinny had Sue's arm. He jerked it nearly out of the socket to avoid our fight. I felt a sharp pain in the same arm and I stumbled for an instant. Leo gave me that sickly smile again. His glittering eyes looked thoughtful and canny.

He jumped me and I only managed to get out of the way by a split second. He was aiming for a leg but only came up with a mouthful of fur. I took a bite at him on the way past and drew blood on his left flank. He yelped. I felt Sue smile darkly. She was getting a sample of vengeance. It tasted sweet.

Leo and I circled each other in the hot sand. The propeller on the waiting plane spun faster and faster, raising a sandstorm around us.

The men formed a circle. Vinny drew his revolver and tried to find an opening. I didn't have time to concentrate on him much but I managed to keep Leo between us. I saw a flash of light across the landscape, near the old control tower. My brief attention shift was what Leo was waiting for. He rushed me and I ended up on my back, holding his snapping jaws away from my neck with my legs.

What I had seen in the distance was the glint of light off a camera lens. I kicked Leo off of me and rolled over to gain my footing. A Channel 7 Action News van was parked near the control tower. Smile! You're on Candid Camera!

Leo dodged then and charged. But he wasn't aiming for me. He went past me. He ran full out past Vinny and then beyond Sue. He wasn't the type to cut and run but it happened so fast, I couldn't figure out what he was doing.

In the blink of an eye, he turned in a skid of dust. He aimed right for Sue. There was no way she could move out of the way in time. He went for her legs and bowled her over. Her body flew into the air. She landed on her back with a dull thud. The breath was knocked out of me so suddenly I staggered. Leo never took his eyes off me. When I reacted as I did, he gave me that sick smile again. He had figured out that hurting Sue hurt me. It hurt to breathe and I realized that he might have cracked one of her ribs. As he stalked toward me I tried to convince myself that I wasn't really injured.

Vinny was ignoring Sue now. He was concentrating on the fight. I felt Sue's pain, her anger and outrage. Leo had hurt my mate and he would pay for it.

With a deep-throated snarl I threw myself at him. I bit him; clawed him in a frenzy. He was unprepared for the ferocity of my attack and went down on his side.

I heard Leo's voice come out of that toothy muzzle and it startled me.

"Shoot the girl!" he ordered. Sue reacted in panic. Everything after that was in slow motion. Vinny turned to her. I felt her run, sluggish with an injured leg from the earlier fall. It wouldn't be enough. I tried to reach Vinny. Take him down. At least knock the gun out of his hand. Leo lunged at me and backed me away. I saw the gun raise and watched him aim. The gun barked as Vinny pulled the trigger.

Chapter 29

The bullet caught Sue in the right shoulder blade and spun her around. She was knocked off her feet. The shock and the pain made me stumble. I skidded on the ground in a tumble of dust and fur. I felt the wound as though it were my own. The smell of copper filled the air. Leo's lips pulled back from his gums in a predatory smile. He strutted toward me, lifting his nose to the scent. His tongue darted out and flipped across his muzzle. He knew he could take me now. It was just a matter of time.

I couldn't catch my breath. Sue's pain forced everything else from my mind. Blood. I could see blood when she looked down at her chest. There was a hole the size of a fist in the shoulder of her shirt, the flesh blown away by the Glaser round. She struggled to stay conscious I struggled with her. Her heart was slowing down from shock. The scent of it was overpowering; nauseating.

"End of the line, Tony," came Leo's voice from the foam flecked muzzle. Stiff hairs rose from behind ears set back far on his head. His heavily muscled, brown striped body was sweaty from effort. God, he was ugly. "All you would have had to do was return the case, Giodone."

I'd never spoken as a wolf. But I had to reply. "What? So you could ruin me and then have someone else kill me off—like you did to my father? You haven't even got the guts to do the job yourself, you goddamn scavenger."

His eyes filled with hate and the fiery scent of jalapenos filled the air. He bared teeth. This was the end of the line all right. I tried to move, straining to raise myself to my feet. I wouldn't go down like this. I couldn't let Sue die unavenged.

I knew I was going to die with her— I knew my heart would stop when hers did. The connection was too tight.

It was actually okay. Better to die with her than live without her. But, by damn, he would go down with me.

He lunged at me before I was ready, always one to take unfair advantage. What's a fair fight to a hyena, after all? He was in mid-air when I heard the first gunshot and smelled fresh gunpowder. His body jerked sideways. He screamed and landed on his side. I could see the wound where the bullet entered him. The flesh was charred around the edges. It wasn't healing like the bites had.

Bloody bubbles rose from the wound and I knew the bullet had opened a lung. Fitting. He raised his head and the burning coffee of his anger filled my nose, stronger than the blood. He started to rise. Even mortally wounded he was in better shape than me. A second sharp crack split the air and his head slammed into the ground. His left eye disappeared in an explosion of fur and darker things.

I turned my head to see smoke still rising from the muzzle of Bobby's stainless steel 9mm.

Vinny looked as shocked as I felt. He raised his Browning .357 and started firing. Bobby moved like quicksilver and took cover. He returned fire and Vinny's body twitched with each bullet that entered him.

With bullets sizzling through the air over my head, I dragged my body to Sue's side. She was nearly unconscious. I couldn't feel her in my head.

I closed my eyes and felt for that little thread. That shining glowing line of energy that was Sue. I found it but it was dull and limp. It glowed weakly.

"Sue?" She fluttered her eyes open and looked at me. A weak smile warmed my heart.

"Guess… it wasn't meant to be, huh?" Her voice was a husky whisper.

"You're going to be fine." We both knew I was lying.

The air was suddenly still. The absence of sound startled me. When I looked up, only Bobby was still standing. He walked toward us. I turned to him and growled. I wouldn't let him have her. Not even though he had killed Leo.

Bobby was bleeding from a bullet to the shoulder. It was healing before my eyes like time-lapse. There were bodies on the ground. All of Leo's enforcers. All with multiple bullet wounds—one or more in the chest plus a head shot.

Even if he was involved with hurting Sue, I still owed him for getting us out of Vegas. He seemed to know who I was and it didn't appear to matter to him.

I coughed up blood. That worried me. "Camera crew— by the tower. All of this… on film." I couldn't stand anymore. I dropped to the ground and felt my heart slow as Sue's life slipped away. I smelled his surprise and saw him move in a blur when he spotted the television van and reporters. Two more bodies would soon be in the dust. I didn't care. I only cared for the woman on the ground in front of me. My mate was dying.

"Don't go." I felt my eyes beginning to water. "I don't want you to go."

Sue whispered with eyes still shut. "I hoped that we could go somewhere exotic." Her voice was breathy and her body shuddered as she fought to get each word out. "Somewhere with white sand and palm trees."

I rubbed my hand against her skin in frantic gesture. "We'll go there! I promise I'll take you. Just don't leave!"

She smiled brilliantly and opened her eyes for a brief moment. "I love you." Then her eyes shut again and I couldn't feel her anymore.

I reached inside my mind. Felt for the thread. I tentatively reached out to touch it, to feel what was wrong.

It was as though a zoom lens focused. I was suddenly standing next to the thread. Except it wasn't a thread. It was a cord as big around as my hand with smaller cords connected and twisted to make up the whole. It was a living thing. You could tell. But it was injured. I could see that strands of the larger cord were snapped and broken. As I watched, more threads snapped. The glow faded even more.

I didn't know what to do. I hesitated to touch it, to make it worse. Her wounded heart beat slower and slower.

Suddenly it snapped fully. Instinct took over. I reached out lightning fast and grabbed one end before it disappeared into the darkness.

A wind rose up that became a hurricane-level gale in milliseconds. The cord I held tried to pull away from me. There was a weight to it like it was caught in the storm. It whipped back and forth and started to drag me toward the darkness with it. I looked for something to hang onto and saw the other end of the cord.

The moment I reached out and grabbed the other side, it happened. The force of the contact blew me away. It raised every hair on my body. I felt electricity, power, whatever it was, accelerate between us. Lightning bolts of energy raced from me to her.

I was part of her. I felt my power tear through her body. I think I screamed. The magic touched every cell, every neuron, seeking… something. Each time the energy found what it was looking for, it tripped a switch. Surprised light blazed in long-darkened rooms. I saw strands of the cord expand and lengthen. They re-connected with their counterpart on the other side of my body. I felt her body heal. Felt flesh rebuild itself.

"Don't leave me." The wind caught the words and threw them into the darkness, tried to rip the mended strands apart. The whisper became a howl that cut through the cold night and warmed it. I felt her pain and helplessness as the wind got stronger. I fought back by sending more energy, more warmth, more… love… to her. More switches were thrown. More receptors turned on with each new burst of energy.

Every human has dormant DNA. Strands of us have been unused since the dawn of time. Some believe that people who have certain receptors turned on have psychic abilities— telepathy, empathy, and other stuff. I don't know if I believe that. I know that studies have shown that some of that dormant DNA has to do with human sexuality.

Rather, not sex precisely, but mating. Marriage rituals are fairly recent developments. What happened before rituals to bond people? Was it body language or body chemistry? Can we smell and sense things that can't be seen?

Each switch that flipped brought Sue closer to me. I could feel it. 'And the two shall become one.' What if those aren't just words?

I pressed harder and faster. The energy found each piece of the puzzle and put it together. When the last piece slammed home, I felt it. My eyes were closed, both in real life and in my mind. The wind died at last.

Suddenly it was absolutely still. Absolutely peaceful.

When I opened my eyes in my mind, the cord in front of me was whole. It glowed softly in my hands. I released the strand and it instantly dimmed. I touched it and it glowed—released it and it faded. She was still in danger. She needed my strength to make her live. I moved myself closer to the strand; it reached out to me, and wrapped itself around me.

I opened my eyes in the real world and looked down at her pale, drawn face. I tried not to look at the wound in her chest. It was a killing injury, and I didn't want to think about that.

Long dark lashes lay against those pale cheeks and her hair stirred in the hot breeze. Her mouth was open slightly and even the lips were pale. She was unconscious from loss of blood. She couldn't hear me, but she knew I was there. I touched that cool porcelain skin and was surprised that I was human again. I didn't remember changing back.

Tingles raced through me, just like always. Even now I couldn't bear not to touch her.

I heard a noise and I turned my head. I knelt, naked, by Sue's side. My head was foggy. I could only manage to keep Sue alive. A man dropped to one knee beside me and I recognized him. Carl Jenkins. Dr. Carl Jenkins, a noted neurologist and an old Family friend.

"Jesus!" He opened a black satchel and removed instruments and bandages. "She's lost at least half her blood supply. I can't imagine what's keeping her alive! She should be gone."

I would have answered but I was too tired. All I could get out was, "Can you fix her up?"

"The wound's bad." The thick fog of worry added to his seriousness. "But if she'll stay alive long enough to get through surgery, I think I can save her. It's a miracle she's still with us."

Nice to know I'm a miracle. But he voiced the trick. Could I keep her "with us" long enough for Carl to stitch her back together?

I looked at her again as Carl started to clean her shoulder enough to see the internal damage. Carl's a terrific surgeon but I didn't know if he was good enough to save her in a field setting. We didn't have time for a hospital.

The smell of ozone found me and a low clap of thunder filled the air. A wind came from nowhere. Carl looked up in a panic and stripped off his shirt suddenly, using it to cover Sue's wound as sand began to swirl.

"We need to get her somewhere protected. God, I hate to move her, but… Carmine!" He draped his body over Sue, trying to keep the wound clean. I saw Carmine, Jerry and Mike head our way. Where had they come from? Who called them?

"We need to move her into the hanger," instructed Carl. "Gently. She's in bad shape."

I watched from where I was as the sand blasted my bare skin. Jerry and Mike each took one of Sue's legs and Carmine eased large gentle hands under her spine. Carmine's face was level with mine when he looked at me for the first time. "Christ, Tony, you look like hell! What did Leo do to you?"

I didn't respond. I couldn't respond. He stared at me long and hard. "We'll take care of your lady. Carl will fix her up." He reached into his pants pocket and dropped a set of car keys on the ground in front of me. The movement registered in my brain but I didn't stretch to pick them up. It was too much effort.