Shadow of the Moon Box Set (Werewolf / Shifter Romance) Read online

  CHAPTER 32

  He wasn't kidding. The fridge was stocked with a wide variety of cut pork, hamburger, steaks, lamb chops, chicken, pheasant, duck, and even a whole salmon.

  "Your fridge is a vegan's worst nightmare," I told him.

  "But the best food for a werewolf," he returned.

  I stood in front of the open fridge and Shadow sat on a stool at the short bar that separated the kitchen from the dining room. A cold but cooked leg of chicken caught my eye, and I took it from its leggy brethren and tore a sizable bite from the bone.

  "So is this your main hideout or is it that other place you took me to?" I asked him through a mouthful of chicken.

  "Neither, though I do prefer the seclusion this apartment offers," he replied.

  I moved to stand on the side of the bar opposite him and I leaned over the top. "So what's your story, anyway?" I questioned him.

  He raised an eyebrow. "My story? Quinn provided you-" I waved the chicken in front of him.

  "I know what Quinn gave me, but I want to hear it from the asses mouth," I insisted.

  He shrugged. "I was raised on a small farm in the Midwest, and as a young man I ventured to the cities in the northeast to make my fortune. Unfortunately, fate had something else in mind."

  "And you ran into a werewolf," I guessed.

  Shadow nodded. "Yes. His intention was to make a meal out of me, but I got the better of him in our fight. He no doubt never expected to meet a farm boy with a silver pen in his breast pocket. I used that to stab him in the chest."

  I raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing with a silver pen?"

  "My plan was to become a reporter, but instead I became part of the news," he told me. "No one believed my story that the person I killed in self-defense had been a monster, and even I didn't fully believe myself until the next full moon."

  "When you transformed," I guessed.

  He gave a nod. "Yes. The change made me realize I needed to adjust my plan, so I followed the dead werewolf's trail and found a small enclave of other cursed people. They taught me what I needed to know, and I went out into the world with the knowledge that, barring some accident or murder, I had a lot of time on my hands."

  "As far as empires go, that's not that great of a story," I quipped.

  He chuckled. "No, I suppose not, but it's the only one with the whole truth."

  "Speaking of truth, is your name really Thomas Sowell?" I wondered.

  Shadow shook his head. "No. Just my current alias."

  "So what do I call you? Thomas, like Gloria called you?" I asked him.

  "I would rather you kept with Shadow. That name suits me better than any other, even my original one," he admitted.

  "So which one of those birth certificates had your real name?" I inquired.

  "The one that read Ferdinand Finkle," he told me.

  I swallowed a bite of chicken that was a little too large for my throat. "You're right, Shadow is a lot better," I choked out.

  I set the leg chicken on the counter and coughed on the piece I swallowed. Shadow slipped off the stool and patted me lightly on the back.

  "Easy there. I don't want you to die from something as wasteful as chicken," he teased me.

  "I can. . .handle myself," I insisted.

  My chicken was choked up when Shadow wrapped his arms around me. He leaned down and his soft breath wafted over my ear.

  "But I would rather do that," he whispered.

  I felt a blush rise in my cheeks and I tried to pull myself out of his grasp, but he held me tight. Shadow pulled my back against his hard, firm chest.

  "I don't need the Heimlich," I told him.

  I gasped when I felt his sharp teeth nibble on my ear. "No, but it has been some time since you satiated another need."

  "I-I don't think that's what we should be focusing on," I stuttered.

  He chuckled. "No one will find us here unless I send for them. We're completely alone."

  His hands reached up and cupped my breasts in his palms. He massaged my mounds of flesh and ignited a hot fire inside me. I leaned back and bit my lower lip to keep back the groan.

  "Don't fight it," he whispered. "Don't fight me."

  He spun me around and pressed our lips together in a hot, possessive kiss. My stubborn refusal melted against the fire of his lust, and my own need for him overtook me. The new feral nature inside of me took control, and we soon found ourselves in the bedroom.

  He lay me down on the bed and pressed half of his body over mine. My chest heaved with each excited gasp, and I squirmed beneath the fiery glow in his yellow eyes. His hand swept up my side and his claws cut through my pants and underwear. They fell away in ribbons and revealed the quivering flesh of my ample hip. His fingers toyed with my hip before they slid to my inner thigh. I jerked up when his warm hand slipped into the coarse hair between my legs. His fingers dipped between my hot folds and stroked my sensitive nub.

  I lay my head back and closed my eyes to enjoy the full, delicious warmth that washed over me. A thick blanket of lust covered my hot flesh. I reveled in the feel of his touch as his finger excited my passions. Each teasing stroke brought out more of the beast within me, more of the animal that longed to be taken hard and fast. I wanted to be claimed by this man, this monster, this lover, to be only his for this night and all the nights after it.

  "More," I groaned.

  He chuckled and pressed hot, teasing kisses down my neck that intensified the passion that grew inside me. I clutched the sheets and bent to his will as my hips thrust with his strokes. My body longed for us to be one, to know each other as only lovers could know each other. Every moment we were separated was an agony to my tense, hot body.

  He raised himself onto his arms and looked down at me with a feral grin. He tore open my shirt and revealed my pert, swollen breasts trapped in my tight bra. They heaved up and down as the lust threatened to consume me. He cupped my breasts in his hands and massaged them. I leaned into his touch, but it didn't satisfy the desire inside me

  "Please," I begged.

  His hot lips brushed against my ear.

  "Please what?" he asked me.

  "Please take me," I pleaded.

  "Will you know no other?" he returned.

  I squirmed beneath him, but his hand moved down and pressed my hip to the bed.

  "Please," I choked out.

  "Swear it," he demanded.

  I licked my wet lips with my tongue and panted for breath. "No other," I swore. "I only want you." A wave of delicious need washed over me and filled my body with lustful want. I arched my back and groaned. "Please give me all of you."

  His voice was husky and thick with his own need. "As you wish."

  He tore off his own clothes and threw them aside. My bra soon followed, and he parted my legs and settled himself between them. I moaned as he slid deep into my wet, welcoming core. My walls massaged his thick, pulsing member. He grunted and thrust deep inside me.

  "Yes," he hissed.

  "Oh god," I groaned.

  I clutched onto him as we performed the dance of lovers. Each of his strokes brought me satisfaction and frustration. I craved every thrilling tremor of pleasure that ran through me, but it wasn't enough. My lustful body and mind ached for completion, for the bliss that awaited lovers at the climax of their union.

  I grasped his upper arms and arched my back. "Deeper," I begged. "Faster."

  He grunted and penetrated me faster and harder. His strokes rubbed against my clit and sent hot flashes of pleasure through me.

  I felt a change come over me, the transformation from human to some wild thing. My hands lengthened and my hips widened. Fur sprouted over my body and my tense muscles stretched and thickened. My breasts swelled and fell over my chest in thick mounds of rippling, sweat-soaked flesh. My new body was sensitive to the touches of my mate as we rutted atop the sheets.

  His grunts turned to low, deep growls that echoed off the walls of the room. My soft moans joined him and our sensua
l chorus only heightened our lust. My lover's thick arms wrapped around me and our fur brushed against one another as he, too, transformed into a creature of wild, lustful desire. His manhood swelled and deepened inside me. He penetrated me with faster and deeper strokes. Each penetration demanded I give in to his will, and I allowed myself to fall into the hot, sensual, wild nature that he'd given to me.

  "Yes. Oh god, yes," I groaned. I clutched onto him and pressed my large, swollen breasts against the thick muscles of his chest. The friction between our bodies was agonizingly wonderful. "More. Please more. Never stop. Oh god, take me. Make me yours."

  "Mine," he growled. His possessive word and tone only heightened the lustful abandon inside me.

  "Yours. Only yours," I chanted. I felt the reverberations of orgasm sweep over me. My eyes opened wide and I panted for air. "Oh god, yes. Yes! Yes! Yes!"

  My body spasmed with the sweeping pleasures of orgasm. I twitched beneath my mate as he continued to thrust into me. My wild pleasure was stretched to the limits of exhaustion before he finally stiffened and spilled into me.

  A few more moments and he collapsed beside me. His arms pulled me close to his chest and I heard the hard patter of his beating heart. I smiled and nuzzled my cheek against his chest. He reached up and petted my hair. An unbidden murmur of pleasure escaped my lips. He chuckled.

  "Care for an encore?" he teased.

  "Only in my dreams," I murmured as I slipped into a deep, well-earned sleep.

  CHAPTER 33

  I didn't know Marge's cooking from a four-course French dinner until the next morning. The bed bounced, and I creaked open my eyes to see Shadow stand beside the bed. He was completely naked, but was solving that non-problem with a pair of pants and a shirt.

  "Where are you going?" I murmured.

  "I'm expecting a guest within the hour," he explained. He slid his shirt over his head and turned to me with his wicked grin. "It's someone you know."

  I sat up and frowned. "Quinn?" I guessed.

  He shook his head. "No."

  "It's not Baldwin, is it?" I wondered.

  Shadow chuckled. "No, and I'll leave it as a mystery for you to solve," he added as he finished his dressing and strode towards the door. "Breakfast will be served soon. I hope you're hungry."

  "Starving," I answered as I flung aside the sheets. Shadow's eyes swept over my naked form and his lips curled back in an appreciative grin. I wrapped the covers over me again and glared at him. "Do you mind?" I snapped.

  "Not at all. I would be glad to stand here," he told me.

  I snapped my finger at the door. "Out."

  He chuckled and bowed his head. "As you wish."

  Shadow slipped from the room like his namesake and I pulled on some of his clothes. In a few minutes I stepped into the main area of the large apartment and the smell of eggs and bacon wafted to my nose. There was an island in the kitchen with stools, and I took one of those to watch Shadow cook bacon.

  "So got any plans for dealing with your son?" I asked him. Shadow froze over the bacon and shut his eyes. I sighed and ran a hand through my wild hair. "Sorry. Me and my big, blunt mouth."

  Shadow shook his head and got on with the cooking. "No, it's my fault. I really should accept the fact that my son has to be dealt with, but running was always easier."

  "But no more running now," I commented.

  He flipped the sizzling slices of pig and a sad smile slipped onto his lips. "No, no more running."

  "So do you have a plan?" I wondered.

  "That depends on what my informant brings me," he replied. Shadow slipped the bacon onto two plates and turned to me. He slipped one in front of me and another in front of the stool he took. "His information will give us a full view of the situation."

  I raised an eyebrow. "You mean him killing us last night wasn't enough?"

  Shadow picked up a piece of bacon and studied the slice. "The difficulty with the attack is it's our word against his."

  "So the werewolf courts can't sniff out the truth?" I guessed.

  He took a bite of the bacon and shook his head. "No. Night will have scrubbed the house clean last night and used the party and the attack as a cover for his actions. He may also bring charges against us for escaping with your vampire friend."

  I leaned back and held up my hands. "He's an acquaintance, not a friend. You've got a closer relationship with him by assigning him to your detail."

  Shadow put down the rest of his bacon and frowned at his full plate. "Yes. I wonder if I wasn't hasty in allowing him to leave."

  I set my elbows on the table and shrugged. "If there's one thing I've learned about Quinn is that he's reliable. A little hard to deal with, but reliable."

  "Let's hope you're-" A knock on the door interrupted our conversation. A sly smile slipped onto Shadow's lips and he nodded at the door that led to the garage. "Care to do the honors?" he invited me.

  I frowned and half-turned to the door. I studied it for a moment before my eyes flickered back to Shadow. "Do I really want to know?"

  "You're not afraid to meet an old friend, are you, Detective Selena?" he teased.

  "I've had some old acquaintances try to kill me lately, so yeah, I'm a little nervous," I retorted.

  He chuckled and shook his head. "You won't find unsafe quarters with this gentleman." There came another knock, and this one was more impatient.

  "Fine, I'll answer it," I grudgingly agreed.

  I hopped off my stool and stalked over to the door. My nose picked up a scent I couldn't quite place, something like musk and paperwork. I swung open the door and found myself staring at a very familiar person.

  "Chief?" I squeaked.

  It was indeed the police chief of my precinct. He stood in the doorway in plain clothes. One whiff of his body told me he'd added a bit of cologne to his person that masked his natural scent, but wasn't overpowering. There was a yellow folder tucked under one arm. Shadow came up to me and set a hand on my shoulder.

  "Good morning, Chief," Shadow greeted my former boss.

  "'Morning," the Chief replied as he stepped inside and nodded his head at me. "Detective," he replied. He turned his attention to Shadow and handed over the folder. "Here's what you wanted. The latest on Night's dealings. You were right about him. He's making a move to not only muscle in on your territory but humans, too."

  I looked the Chief over and raised an eyebrow at the Chief. "You're a werewolf, too?" I asked him.

  "Not exactly," Shadow spoke up as he opened the folder and flipped through a few pages. "He's more of an informer. I keep the streets clean of some crime, and he keeps me in the know about investigations in which I have an interest."

  "But only if you can keep your prodigal son under control," the Chief reminded him.

  "So you knew about werewolves the entire time?" I questioned my former boss.

  He grinned at me. "Welcome to the club, Detective."

  "Why the hell didn't you tell me?" I growled at him.

  "Rules are rules," he pointed out.

  "And it seems Night is intent on breaking them all," Shadow commented as his eyes scanned the documents.

  I held up a hand. "Wait a sec. If you knew about werewolves then why did you have that creep Baldwin on the force?"

  The Chief frowned. "I wasn't aware of his true nature, or that he was a plant sent in by Night."

  "Nobody's perfect," Shadow agreed. He lifted his eyes and shut the folder. "This will help a great deal. Thank you."

  "Don't thank me. Get that damn son of yours off the streets, and this time for good," the Chief demanded.

  Shadow pursed his lips, but bowed his head. "I understand. I'll see what I can do."

  "You'd better." The Chief turned to me and held out his hand. "You may not believe me when I say anything, but I was glad to have you on the force."

  I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. "I don't plan on giving up my badge just yet, Chief. If Baldwin could get the job done as some sort of monster-"
/>   "He was a ghoul," Shadow reminded me.

  "Whatever he was he could get the job done, and when all this mess is done I plan on getting back to my desk," I swore to my boss.

  The Chief dropped his hand but grinned at me. "I'm glad to hear that, Detective, and good luck on getting through this mess. There's a small war brewing out there, and it'll take all my resources to keep it under wraps."

  "We'll see what we can do," Shadow repeated.

  "You do that, and good luck to you both," the Chief answered.

  He nodded to us, turned and left through the garage door. Shadow shut the entrance and turned back to the living area. He paced a few feet before he stopped and cupped his chin in one hand.

  "Damn. . ." I heard him mutter.

  "That bad?" I wondered.

  He turned to me with pursed lips and worried eyes. "Worse. Night means to start a war with the humans, and he means to start it within the week."

  CHAPTER 34

  "What do you mean a war?" I asked him.

  "Night intends to physically move into my parts of the city and those controlled by neither of us, and take them by force," he explained to me.

  "And what are your guys ordered to do if that happens?" I continued.

  "To protect my assets without revealing the truth about werewolves or my influence to humans." Shadow took a seat on the arm of a plush chair and shook his head. "Unfortunately, my rules create a handicap for those under my influence."

  "And Night isn't going to hold to that handicap," I guessed.

  Shadow gave a nod. "Correct. All of your Chief's vast sources inform us that Night will do whatever it takes to control the city, even if that means revealing werewolves."

  I nodded at the folder in his lap. "Is that what's in the folder?" I wondered.

  He held it out to me and I took it. "Mostly the financial movements of Night's assets," he told me.

  I opened the folder and saw lines and lines of transactions with categories like for drug deals, blackmailing, extortion, a few murders, and a block of rows for legal dealings like loans. The total wasn't easy to add up, but I guessed it was a couple tens of millions of dollars.