Moonlit Protector (Moonlit Novella #3) Read online

  Fueled by raw anger, she balled her hand into a fist and slammed it into the Were’s face. The woman’s head snapped back with a loud cracking sound. Pain flared from Kyra’s knuckles to race up her arm.

  Not waiting for the Were to recover, she shook her hand in effort to shake off the pain, and turned to race down the hill. Halfway down, she saw bloody wolf bodies lying in the snow, slipped, and slid down the remaining length of the hill.

  She scanned the clearing and saw Tyler in wolf form, attacking one of Rock’s men. A sigh of relief escaped as she realized he wasn’t one of the injured wolves. She didn’t see Rock. His men were all on their backs, trying their hardest to fight off the attacking werewolves, but the ones they hadn’t managed to gun down were doing a good job tearing them to pieces. Where was Rock?

  “Hey!”

  She whipped her head around to see the Were she’d punched barreling down the hill.

  Kyra! Get out of here!

  Tyler’s harsh order in her head caught her attention and she turned back to see him running toward her, still in wolf form. Then the door of the sedan opened and Rock emerged. He’d hidden himself inside, most likely behind locked doors, as the wolves killed his men.

  He raised a gun and pointed it at Tyler, finger poised to pull the trigger.

  “No!” she screamed, running toward him.

  Rock saw the action and retrained the gun on her, squeezing the trigger. A dark blur flashed before her face, obstructing her view as something hit her from the side, knocking her to the ground and stealing the air from her lungs.

  She heard a yelp of pain, followed by a whimper, confirming her greatest fear. Sitting up, she saw a gray wolf bleeding in the snow. Tyler had jumped in front of her, taking the bullet meant for her. Again.

  “Nooo!!!!!!!!!” She screamed, turning toward Rock. The Were who’d pushed her to the ground had already shifted into wolf form and lunged for him, sharp teeth sinking into his arm, effectively causing his grip on the gun to fail.

  She looked around her for a weapon. Grabbing Rock’s gun would not do her well. She didn’t know how to shoot one and would more than likely accidently shoot the Were attacking him. She found a large piece of wood, thick as a club, and picked it up before rising to her feet.

  She screamed as she ran toward Rock, rage giving her courage she’d never had before. Busy fighting off the Were tearing at his arm, he didn’t see her until she was close enough to swing.

  He’d barely managed to glance her way before she swung the piece of wood. Blood spurted out of his nose as he fell backward into the snow.

  “What the—” He looked up at her, hand covering his nose.

  “Yea, I know. You didn’t expect the doormat to get up and beat your ass down.” She swung again. And again. And again. And again.

  A hand clamped around her arm. “He’s not getting back up.”

  She turned to see the Were assigned to take her away from the fight, stopping her swing. Looking down, she couldn’t even recognize Rock through the blood.

  Tyler. She raced back to him, dropping to her knees. He still lay in his wolf form, bleeding. “Shift shape! Why haven’t you shifted?”

  Silver, came his weak response. They had silver.

  She gasped, having watched enough movies to know silver was deadly to werewolves. “Is he dying?” she asked the female Were beside her. “Can we save him?”

  “He can,” the woman answered, gesturing toward the left with her head.

  Kyra followed the movement to see a tall blond man crouched over one of the werewolves who’d been shot. His hand poised over the wolf’s side, he closed his eyes. A moment later the wolf shifted into human form.

  The man went to each downed wolf, doing the same thing. Once done with the rest, he walked over to them, dropping to his knees at Tyler’s side. He held his hand over Tyler’s wound, closed his eyes… and Kyra watched in amazement as the silver bullet levitated out of Tyler’s body and into his hand. He quickly dropped it into the snow, as if the touch of it against his skin burned.

  “Shift.”

  Tyler immediately shifted shape, obeying the man’s command.

  “I told you to get back to us safely, not to start a war along the way.”

  “Did we lose anyone?” Tyler asked.

  “Not this time,” the blond answered, “but these bastards had silver, which you obviously found out the painful way. They knew what we were and how to take us out. Will more come?” He looked Kyra in the eye, asking the question of her.

  She opened her mouth to respond, but a sob came out. She’d gotten Tyler shot. Almost killed. She’d brought danger to all these people.

  “Hey.” Tyler sat up, wincing as he did. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

  “No.” She wiped her eyes. “You got shot, Tyler. With silver. I caused all of this.”

  “No. Your ex-boyfriend caused this.”

  “I brought him to you and to your people.”

  “You’re my people,” he said fiercely, grabbing her chin, making her look him square in the eye. “You’re my soul mate. You’re one of us. We protect our own.”

  “Damn straight,” the blond said. “Nobody’s playing the blame game here. I’m just looking for answers to know how to better protect my pack. I’m Jason, pack leader.”

  He held out his hand. Kyra shook it, tentatively.

  “Geez, you’re like ice,” he commented. “Still human, you’re probably freezing out here. Where’s your coat?”

  “Didn’t need one where we came from,” she replied. “I had a hoodie but left it back in Stix.”

  Tyler rose to his feet and helped her up, wrapping his arms around her. “Let’s get her inside somewhere and figure out our next move.”

  Jason nodded his agreement, then turned to instruct the Weres who hadn’t been injured on how to clean up the mess they’d made. The mess being three dead bodies and a severely beaten one.

  “You beat the crap out of Mr. Wonderful?” Tyler grinned.

  Kyra nodded, figuring shock was the only reason she wasn’t throwing up right now. She’d smashed his face in.

  “I wanted to do that for you,” Tyler said, swaying a bit before straightening. “But I think it’s good you did. You need to believe in yourself.”

  “You didn’t. You assigned me a babysitter and ordered me away.”

  “I was protecting you, and I’d do it again.” He swayed again.

  “The two of you can have your spat later,” Jason interrupted, supporting Tyler as they walked toward the truck. “You need to recover. Both of you.”

  “I’m fine,” Kyra said.

  “Not mentally or emotionally, you’re not. If there are more men coming, I need all my pack in top form. That includes you.”

  She smiled, warmed by the inclusion. “What about Rock? He’s the one after me. He knows what you are.”

  “Oh, he’ll be taken care of. Don’t you worry.” Jason winked at her.

  EIGHT

  Kyra stepped out onto the porch, an afghan wrapped around her shoulders to chase away the chilly night air. She’d been warming by the fire for the past seven hours while Tyler ‘interrogated’ Rock with Jason. She seriously doubted Rock would be able to speak enough to tell them anything, but she knew in her gut that it didn’t matter. Interrogation was a nice way of saying they were permanently eliminating the threat.

  After years of being beaten by a power-hungry man, she should be disgusted by the action, but she just couldn’t muster that emotion. This wasn’t a pair of men beating a defenseless, weak person to show their power. This was a pair of men defending their family, and she had somehow lucked into being included into that family.

  She looked up at the big frosty white moon hanging in the indigo sky, something warm and ticklish rolling in her belly. An overwhelming need to be near Tyler filled her and she sensed his approach.

  Ming, the pack leader’s wife, stepped out onto the porch, grinning from ear to ear. “It’s time. I can feel it.
”

  Confused, Kyra looked around, noticing the other Weres in the small community stepping out onto their porches, rubbing their arms as if they could feel the prickly sensation that had started in her belly and spread to her limbs.

  And then he was there, walking into the yard with Jason at his side.

  The afghan dropped from her shoulders and Kyra’s legs moved of their own volition. Her bare feet didn’t feel the snow crunching beneath them, the need to be near Tyler so great.

  They met in the center of the yard, a blue ray of moonlight spotlighting them, and suddenly words filled her head, desperate for release. Tyler took her hands in his.

  “Kyra, I give you freely my heart and soul for your keeping, to hold in your hands from this night forward.”

  Her eyes watered, realizing this was it. The vow he spoke of. It was really happening. “Tyler, I take your heart and soul into my body, and in turn, gift you with my love, my breath, my very being.”

  He smiled. “I promise to live each moment only for you, and to cherish each second of your existence.”

  “I promise to live only for you, and to die without your existence.”

  “I choose you, Kyra, as the bearer of my children, and the owner of my heart.”

  “I choose you, Tyler, as the father of my children, and the keeper of my soul.” A tear slipped from her eye and he gently wiped it away.

  “By the light of the moon, I become one with you, Kyra.”

  “By the light of the moon, I become one with you, Tyler.”

  A hot flame danced across her palm as the Weres around them cheered and clapped. They both looked down to see crescent marks burned into their flesh. “What’s this?”

  Tyler took her hand, kissing the half moon shape that matched his perfectly. “Humans exchange wedding bands. Weres share these. They are forever, like our bond.”

  She frowned. “Wait. You mean I’m going to actually be a Were?”

  He nodded. “You’ll shift for the first time during the next full moon, but yes. You are now a Were.”

  Her mouth dropped open in shock, drawing a bark of laughter from Jason.

  “Yeah, you get used to all the crazy and eventually just quit questioning it,” the pack leader commented.

  A howl rent the air and they all turned their heads to see a white wolf standing in the distance. The crowd of Weres all bowed their heads respectfully, as Jason shifted into his gray wolf form and ran to her.

  “Is that The White Wolf you mentioned before?”

  “Yes.” Tyler held her hand tightly. “She’s been showing up, blessing new pairings, but she hasn’t called the pack leader into a meeting. This could either be very good or very bad.”

  “Pray for the good,” Ming said, approaching them. The beautiful Asian woman rubbed her pregnant belly. “Prepare for the worst.”

  Tyler squeezed Ming’s shoulder before leading Kyra back to the pack leader’s cabin. They’d been offered a room there until they made other arrangements. Most of the Weres in the pack lived right there together, but a few had to live farther away due to the fact it wasn’t easy to just locate multiple houses for sale side by side. As it were, Weres had a tendency to move into newly built gated communities, as much for the closeness as the added security.

  “Is everything going to be all right? Is she here because of Rock? Have I endangered everyone?”

  Tyler pulled her inside the house and closed the door before placing his hands on either side of her face to kiss her long and deep. “Stop doing that,” he murmured against her lips once he finished.

  “Doing what?”

  “Taking blame.” He straightened, and tipped her chin up with his fingertips. “This pack has been battling with hunters long before you and I met, and we will do so for the rest of our lives. It’s a part of this life. The only thing bad you’ve caused is this pain in my jeans that you said we’d get rid of once we exchanged the vow.”

  He pressed against her, allowing her to feel the hard length of him against her belly. She chuckled, amused by his transition. “Wow, you waited a whole two seconds before reminding me of that.”

  “Half a second,” he replied, “but who’s counting?”

  Scooping her into his arms, he bounded up the stairs and into the guest bedroom on the second floor. He playfully tossed her down onto the cushy blue comforter covering the bed before crawling on top of her.

  Laughing, she helped him out of his T-shirt, taking the opportunity to run her fingers along the hard planes of his chest. “Does all this muscle come natural to Weres or am I just a very lucky lady?”

  “Both.” He wiggled his eyebrows, earning another laugh as he ripped the shirt from her body and yanked her jeans down.

  “Easy, now. We have all night.”

  “Yeah, but I have a feeling there’ll be a pack meeting soon and I’ll bust if I don’t get inside you before then.” He quickly discarded his own jeans and rejoined her on the bed, where he quickly went to work tasting her breasts.

  “Mmmmmm.” She moaned, reveling in the sensation of his warm mouth on her skin. “Can’t have that happening.” Kyra reached down, grabbing the long, hard length of him, earning a growl of excitement in response.

  She pushed Tyler onto his back and straddled his lap, lowering herself onto him. He sucked in a hiss, not expecting the action, and grabbed her hips.

  They rocked together, fast and furious, as if it were the last night of their life and they wanted to die high on each other. And as they climaxed together, growling in pleasure, it felt that way.

  Kyra rested across Tyler’s chest, their bodies still joined, her legs like jelly. “I can’t move.”

  “No one’s saying you have to. You can stay on top of me until they put us in the grave. I guarantee you I will die a happy man.”

  She laughed, but quickly sobered. “They could have put us in our graves today. We could have been killed earlier, all because of—”

  “Don’t say it.” He rolled her off of him and propped himself up on his elbow to look down at her. “I love you. You’re strong, like any other Were. You’re one of us, Kyra, and as far as I’m concerned, you’re perfect.”

  “Do you think I’ll fit in? The others are so strong and they fight so well.”

  “You beat the hell out of a man with nothing but a big piece of wood.” He chuckled. “And you damn near broke Rose’s nose. She’ll never live down a human doing that and getting away from her.”

  She grinned. “That was the first punch I ever threw in my life. Maybe I should have started throwing them sooner.”

  “Maybe, but I love you just the way you are. I wouldn’t change a thing about you. Especially this.” He kissed the crescent shaped mark on her palm.

  A howl rent the air, the tone authoritive.

  “That’s Jason,” she said, surprised she could recognize his howl from the other Weres.

  “He’s pack leader. You’ll always be able to sense him.” He reached for their clothes. “And that’s the meeting I knew was coming. We’ll finish up our next five rounds afterward.”

  “Five?” Kyra laughed, taking her clothes from him.

  “Oh yeah.” He winked at her. “At least.”

  Prologue

  The White Wolf watched the pack from a distance as they congregated in the small clearing behind their houses. She felt their confusion, the flashes of fear, and the acceptance.

  She’d worked her magic to bring more soul mates together, strengthening their numbers by blessing the new couples with amped up fertility. But an increase in Weres born to them wouldn’t matter if the ones already here were being killed.

  What had happened with this pack earlier had been nothing. Some bully with knowledge of a little lore. He’d managed to get his hands on silver-tipped bullets. It had hurt the Weres, but hadn’t killed any. And the man behind that attack was now dead.

  The threat to them were the real hunters, the ones who studied them, trained to kill them, and set forth to do just th
at. Two packs had lost hundreds already.

  Now it was time for all her children to come together and fight, to destroy their enemies once and for all. And she would be right there with them.

  The hunters had picked the wrong mama wolf to mess with.

  The Moonlit series continues with Moonlit Majesty, coming in 2014