Moonlight (By My Light, Book One) (Werewolf Shifter Romance) Read online

Another splitting headache later and I found myself among the conscious again. I opened my eyes, and the world was a fuzzy vision of colors and shapes. My head pounded at its ill treatment. I tried to sit up, but my arms buckled and I fell back on a soft, cushioned surface. My hands felt the thin strands of blankets beneath me, and a little bounce told me there was a mattress beneath that.

  I listed my head to one side and saw I was in a medieval sort of room. The walls, ceiling and floor were made of smoothed stone. Twenty feet to my left was a thick, ornate wooden table stood beside an equally thick wooden door. A large, gray metal lock was wrapped around the handle. Twenty feet to my right and against the wall was a dresser and vanity with a large mirror. It reflected a blurry me as I lay on a high four-poster bed raised on a six-inch high stone platform. On the wall behind the bed were two tall, wide windows with thick sills.

  A noise in front of me caught my attention. I dragged myself to the side of the bed and looked at the foot post to see a fifty-inch TV thirty feet in front of me. The scrolling bar at the bottom and the woman with the microphone in hand told me I was watching the news.

  The reporter stood in front of a tall gray-stone castle which was swarmed by other reporters. Wind whipped at her clothing and perfectly-manicured hair, and the light told me it was morning.

  "I'm standing in front of William Fox's castle atop Indigo Industries headquarters where a nearly-tragic scene unfolded last night."

  The view changed to a camera on a helicopter. The helicopter flew around the rooftop of the building, or what remained of the rooftop. The top six floors were scarred ruins of their former selves, and there was a skid mark on the grounds in front of Fox's castle where the dragon had made its crash landing. The woman's voice-over narrated the scene.

  "Some time last night a main gas line exploded, sending massive columns of fire into the sky that was seen for miles. Mr. Fox's personal secretary, Aldus Emery, had this to say." It panned to the large front entrance and steps of the castle where Emery, the bespectacled man of last night, stood in front of a few dozen reporters and flashing cameras. He sported a bandage around his head.

  "It's a regrettable accident, but Mr. Fox has every intention of rebuilding," Emery told the reporters.

  "What exactly was on those floors?" a reporter asked him.

  "Research and development," Emery replied. "Now if you will excuse me." He walked down the steps with the reporters mugging his every step.

  The TV went black.

  "It seems you can't believe anything you hear on the news," a voice commented. I whipped my head to the door and found Fox standing there with the control. "It was fortunate for us the dragon could be carried away via a transport plane before any police helicopters made their appearance." He set it on the ornate table and walked over to me.

  I scurried away from him, and it was then I realized there was something different about me, something wrong. I touched my hand to my throat and my fingers came into contact with cold metal.

  "Do you like it? It was made to your measurements," Fox told me as he reached the side of the bed.

  "What the hell is it?" I choked out.

  "An insurance policy." Fox held up one of his hands and showed off a shining gray cuff link. He pressed his other hand against the cuff link and I saw it was a button.

  That was the least of my worries as a jolt of electricity raced through my body. My muscles tensed and loosened, and tensed again as the current flowed over me. I fell back writhing in pain as my body spasmed and twitched. The source of the electricity was the collar around my neck.

  Fox released the cuff link, and the pain stopped. I gasped for air and clenched the sheets beneath me.

  "Amazing what humans can do with electricity, isn't it?" Fox commented. "The collar is connected wirelessly to my cuff link. If I feel you've become a danger to me then one simple press of a button will solve that problem. The most amazing part of this invention is the way the current travels through the collar. It first passes through a silver conduit that, for werewolves, heightens the pain of the electricity."

  This man was insane. I had to get to those reporters. They would help me because I'd be one hell of a story. I rolled over and dropped onto the hard stone floor at Fox's feet. He stepped back as I made my pathetic attempt to the window. The sill stood three feet off the ground. I leaned my shoulder against the cold stone wall and pushed myself to a seated position. I reached my hand up, but my fingers only brushed against the tip of the sill. My arm dropped to my side. My energy was sapped and I gasped for air against the echoing pains of the collar.

  "I admire your perseverance, but the reporters left several hours ago. The report you viewed was taped," he informed me.

  A few hours. So close to hope and yet so far. I shut my eyes to try to block out this terrible nightmare. The clack of footsteps against the stones made me open my eyes and I saw that Fox stood at the now-open entrance.

  "Aldus will bring you some food soon. We wouldn't want you to be completely exhausted for tonight," he told me. The door shut behind him with a loud click.

  Tonight. My eyes widened. Tonight was the night of the full moon. I had to get out of here. I couldn't let him turn me into a guinea pig.

  I reached again for the sill and my fingers caught the lip. I grimaced and tried to pull myself to my feet, but my strength failed me. My legs buckled and I fell back onto the cold floor. Warm tears streamed down my cheeks. I was so tired I couldn't utter a sob. My one chance, my last chance at escape, and I'd thrown it all away to save a son-of-a-bitch.

  No, that wasn't quite true. I'd done it to save Dakota and Lance, and everybody else in the city who would've become fried foods if that dragon had been allowed to run amok over the city. I leaned back my head and sighed.

  "You're a big, softy, Gwen. . ." I murmured.

  I was so tired that I didn't even care that I fell asleep there on the floor.

  CHAPTER 7