Moon Madness Read online

  She'd often wondered why Johnathon, the old pack Alpha, had put up with a rogue in his territory. Big Jimmy, the new Alpha, and his thugs wouldn't. Then someone had clued her into the family history. Cade was Johnathon's son, exiled from the pack years before for something no one would talk about. He'd gone into the army. After his tour was finished, he occasionally drifted back into the territory. Even though the argument was long in the past, Cade had always refused any attempt by Johnathon at reconciliation, preferring his solitary existence. Now, it was too late.

  She pulled harder on the door, the two werewolves playing a bizarre game of tug of war until the inhuman strength involved threatened to buckle it. Penny let go as she felt the panel start to give. She should know better by now. Hadn't she ruined enough doors and other things when she'd first been turned to know to watch her strength? And Cade had no excuse, he'd been born a wolf, had had his whole life to get used to it.

  "It's taken care of, thank you,” The evasion slid off her tongue easily. He didn't need to know about her plans. A female wolf's heat was a very personal thing, and if she chose to spend it in solitude rather than let it force her into sleeping with a guy just to satisfy an animal urge, then that was her decision.

  But she wasn't prepared for the flash of rage that crossed his features, so quickly masked she wondered whether she'd seen it at all.

  "Who is it?” he demanded, his voice tight with control. “That human? Ha! He's far too delicate, you need a wolf in moon fever honey, nothing else'll do."

  "What I need is none of your damn business!” She pushed the door wider in a sudden movement. It worked. Taken by surprise, Cade stumbled back a step and released it. Penny pulled it shut, leaning her arm out the open window as she looked up at him. “Just piss off and leave me alone Cade, I don't need you or any other wolf."

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  Chapter 2

  Thankfully for Penny's nerves, and temperature, the journey home was short and uneventful. She pulled around the back of the neat little two bedroom house she had rented and parked in front of the garage. After gathering her shopping from the back seat, she headed inside, sighing in relief as she reached the blessed cool interior of the house. With practiced ease, she kicked the door shut behind her.

  Sanctuary.

  Flicking her hair back from her face, she carried her groceries through to the kitchen and dumped her bags on the counter. She leaned against it for a long second, hands flat on the marble, her head drooping down between her shoulders.

  "Crap!” The curse exploded from her as she slammed her hands against the marble. The wood of the cabinet below creaked in protest, not used to the stresses of werewolf strength. She needed to move on. If Cade had found her, then there was every chance Big Jimmy could as well. Something Penny had a vested interest in making sure never happened. In fact, if she didn't see Jimmy or any of the Roakestown Pack again as long as she lived, then it would be too soon.

  She leaned her hips back against the counter and ran her hand through her hair, completely destroying what was left of the style before she wrapped her arms tight around herself. She'd always known her stay in Garmin was temporary, but—damn it—it was a nice little town. Even with Sam and his mad theories and schemes to avoid ‘government control.’ She'd hoped to be able to stay a little longer, perhaps until after Christmas at least.

  She pushed away, moving across the room to put the kettle on to boil. A deep sigh escaped her. The decision was out of her hands now. As soon as her heat was over—just three days—she'd pack up and move on. She'd paid up on the rent until the end of the month, so all she had to do was drop a note in Mrs. Winchester's door on her way through, and she was out of here.

  Her movements were quick and economical as she moved about the small kitchen with an ease that spoke of long practice. Ignoring the bags on the counter for now, she collected a mug from the cupboard and set it next to the kettle. Then she opened the cupboard and reached for a canister at the back. The same in design and shape as the canisters next to the kettle, there was nothing to mark this one as special. It even had ‘Tea’ in curly letters on the front. But it didn't contain tea. Well it did, but not your average run of the mill Earl Grey. It was Penny's ‘special tea.’ Wolfsbane tea. She gritted her teeth and cracked the lid on the canister, feeling the wolf inside recoil in disgust. She didn't blame it. The wolf knew what the tea did, and was even now snarling and snapping its teeth in disagreement.

  Folklore was divided on what Wolfsbane did. Half of the tales had it as an ingredient in witch's potions designed to turn a person into a werewolf that, as far as Penny knew, was complete baloney. The only ways to become a werewolf were to be born one, or to get bitten. But then, folklore had never been the most reliable source of information.

  It was the other tales she was more interested in. The ones describing Wolfsbane as an herb that could suppress the wolf. Research on the internet had located a suitable supplier. Wolfsbane wasn't your average herb so there was no way she could walk into a ‘normal’ herbalist and ask for it. No, she needed a Warden. The magic-users of the paranormal world, any of them would keep a supply. Trouble was, she didn't want to leave a trail for Jimmy to follow. Which meant a back street Warden who didn't keep records, and a bribe to say she'd never been there.

  Penny wrinkled her nose as the water hit the herbs, releasing the pungent aroma. It was good for her, she told herself, ignoring the howling in a small part of her mind, locking it away so she didn't have to hear it. And maybe, just maybe, if she drank enough of the foul stuff, it would achieve the impossible and revert her physiology back to just plain human.

  Hell, if she thought that was possible, she'd take whole baths of the stuff.

  Pulling a face, she dunked the filter ball, watching as the hot water infused into the tea leaves and turned the water a weird brownish color. Then the tea was ready and she removed the ball, dropping it into the sink and lifting the mug to her lips. Her stomach rebelled at the smell, her wolf's self-preservation instinct perhaps, but she forced the tea down anyway, closing her eyes as she felt it burn all the way down. When she'd first started drinking it, it had been hard to keep down, which wasn't surprising. For a human, even the smallest dose could be lethal. It wasn't lethal for a wolf, so the warden she'd brought it from had said, but there was a fine line between suppressing the wolf and illness.

  The mug fell from her fingers into the sink with a dull clump. She leaned her palms against the cool porcelain as she felt the effects race through her system, boosted in its journey by the wolf's enhanced metabolism.

  As her heart rate slowed to near human, she opened her eyes, feeling a sense of calm steal over her as the wolf inside calmed, became quieter. It still wasn't enough. Before, she could go weeks without realizing the wolf was there, the smallest presence in her mind. But now, so close to her heat, the wolf was restless even as the Wolfsbane forced her into sleep. But it was an uneasy sleep, the beast stirring fitfully as she fought the drug. Penny sighed. It was going to be the basement after all. She'd known it was going to come to that.

  By rote, she packed her shopping away. She was going to be out of it for a couple of days and when she ‘came to’ she was going to need a lot to eat. It was the same every month; PMS, get furry then eat everything in sight. And that was just a normal month. She'd never been in heat before, already it was feeling like a normal month, just ten times worse. She shuddered. Lord knew what sort of an appetite she'd have when it was over.

  Pushing the piece de la resistance, the chocolate cake, onto the top shelf of the fridge, she stopped and looked around the kitchen. It would have to do, the wolf would stir again soon, despite the Wolfsbane tea still in her stomach. The closer to her heat she got, the less time it took for it to gnaw through the calming effects.

  On silent feet, she went through the house, securing all the doors and windows. The last thing she needed was a burglar getting in. She wasn't worried so much about anything being stolen, she t
ravelled light and had nothing she couldn't replace with ease. But there was the risk that an intruder could make their way down into the basement; then things would get dicey. Chained up with warden-made chains, unbreakable whilst in wolf form, Penny would be at the mercy of any Tom, Dick or Harry who turned up. Unless of course they were stupid enough to get within reach. In which case, she wouldn't need the chocolate cake in the fridge...

  She completed her rounds and with a heavy heart headed down to the cellar. Each step down the stairs into the darkness felt like another step into the hell her life had become. A hell ruled by the animal that dwelled within her, an animal who craved flesh and blood, making the woman she had been shudder in disgust.

  Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she looked around. A small basement, only sixteen feet by ten feet, was occupied by the washing machine and dryer in the corner. The other empty space dominated by two heavy chains attached to rings concreted into the floor, half hidden under a ragged duvet. Removing the pre-existing storage shelves and installing the chains had taken her a weekend and some extensive research to complete. However, it hadn't been a job she could hand over to a handyman. Yeah Bob, I need some rings right about here and here, they're to hold the chains to keep me under control when I turn into a ravenous beast each full moon. Cheers mate.

  Determined not to think about what she was doing, she crossed over to the laundry area in the corner and started to undress. The counter was well out of the short reach of the chains so at least she wouldn't chew on her own shoes like some common mutt. Quickly she peeled her clothes off, first the casual shirt and jeans that were like a second skin, then the no-nonsense cotton underwear she wore in the heat of the day. Plain and utilitarian it might have been, but there was no way she could stand anything like silk or lace near her skin. Not with her heat coming up and the sensitivity of her skin in the last few days.

  Finally she stood barefoot and naked on the cold concrete, shivering a little and rubbing her arms. But it felt good to be naked, really good. The brisk rubbing of her arms turned into more of a caress as she became lost in the sensuous slide of skin on skin.

  Stop that right now!

  A little voice in the back of her head snapped her back to reality. Penny recognized it. Morgan's voice, the beta in the Pack who had schooled her through her first changes. The old wolf had warned her about things like that, things the wolf would make her revel and delight in if she let it.

  Resolutely she dropped her hands, not even brave enough to try and rub warmth into any other chilled areas of her skin. That way led to decadence and a way for the wolf to stop Penny locking them both in the chains until it was too late. If that happened, neither the thin wooden door at the top of the stairs, nor the slightly more substantial one at the back of the house, would stop two hundred pounds of determined she-wolf.

  Ignoring temptation, she walked over to the centre of the floor and knelt on the tatty duvet. Spread out across the floor, it served as flimsy protection against the chill. She picked up the heavy manacles, fastening them first to one slender wrist, then to the other.

  "Lycaon,” She whispered. It was the trigger word for the cuffs, one she could only say when fully human.

  At the sound of her voice the sigils inscribed in the leather of the cuffs flared brightly, and a haunting three note melody hung in the air for a second before it faded away. The magic clamped around her wrists, even though the cuffs didn't tighten or change in any way. They didn't need to, they were just something for the magic to latch onto. When she changed, the magic bond would change as well, holding her lupine form as easily as her human one.

  Human fairy tales and films might have pegged werewolves as being some kind of freakish hybrid form between human and wolf, but the reality was quite different.

  True werewolves had two forms, human and wolf, nothing in between. So anything that did look like the traditional film werewolf had to be either a demon or perhaps a vampire. Both could assume weird mixed up forms and had probably led to the origins of such tales. Penny was betting on the former, there were some ugly-ass demons about.

  Giving the chains a swift tug and finding them strong, Penny lay down, wrapped herself in the duvet and closed her eyes. Tears welled behind her eyelids at what she'd become, chaining herself in the basement, hiding herself away from the world lest it discover her shameful secret.

  Then the door at the top of the stairs crashed open, the heavy tread of footsteps storming down them. “What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

  Penny sat bolt upright, holding the duvet up against her breasts as though it were a lifeline. Which it was in a way, the preserver of her dignity. Wolves were tactile creatures, needing to touch and be touched. A basic need Jimmy had twisted, using it to force the pack into all night orgies. Penny though, was more reserved, perhaps a remnant of her human thinking and not at all comfortable with being naked in front of people.

  "What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded. “Other than breaking and entering?"

  Cade stepped forward, his tall frame shaking as he advanced on her. His silver eyes took in the chains, her clothes on the side, the duvet hastily wrapped around her like a toga. “Just answer the damn question! And what's this?” he snarled, holding up a mug.

  The one Penny had just used, obviously recovered from the sink in the kitchen upstairs.

  She arched an eyebrow. “I believe it's called a mug, you drink out of it,” she replied, deadpan. “But then that would be for the more civilized among us, a subtle nuance of acceptable behavior I'm sure bypassed you completely."

  "Don't piss me off, Penny.” The growl in his voice deepened. He hurled the mug down on the floor next to her. It shattered, making her jump as the shards peppered the bare skin of her calf. The pungent smell of the contents, still warm, rose to her sensitive nostrils and made her wrinkle her nose. “You know damn well what I mean, this is Wolfsbane."

  His voice dropped dangerously low as he stood over her. “I'll ask again, just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

  She lifted her chin, looking him directly in the eye. It was a challenging look and she knew it, not that she cared at the moment.

  "None. Of. Your. Business,” she replied. She didn't know how she remained calm, faced with a furious werewolf. A furious male werewolf. Gritting her teeth, she fought down the reaction of her own wolf, so close to the surface now she could almost feel the fur starting to crawl all over her skin. She had to get rid of him, he was bringing the wolf out quicker.

  "Get the fuck out,” she ordered, furious with him, with her reaction to him, with the world itself.

  "No,” he replied, reaching down and taking a hold of the end of the chain. “Because if you're doing what I think you're doing, then you're either some kind of miracle hitherto unknown to wolf-kind or you're fucking out of your mind. Which is it?” he asked, wrenching the chains loose from the floor with a negligent heave.

  "Hey! No, you can't do that,” she protested, fear and frustration driving her forwards, the duvet forgotten as she tried to put the chains back. But it was no use, the bolts were snapped and she didn't have time to fix them. Already she could feel the rise of the moon outside, calling to her.

  "Do you know what you've done?” she demanded.

  She ignored the fact that her voice cracked, dropped a little. It signaled the tenuous hold she had on her control. But it wasn't nearly as clear as an indication as the sharp scent that rose from her skin, the scent of the forest and something else. The scent of her wolf as the change edged closer.

  "Solving a problem caused by one dumb bitch who can't see further than the end of her nose, that's what,” he snarled back, his eyes hard as he wound the loose chain around his hand. “You're in heat, do you know what happens to a female wolf if they can't mate in heat?” He took up the slack on the chain with each loop of his wrist.

  "They turn wolf, the heat ends, and some sort of sanity returns to their lives.” Penny threw back, her slender frame almost
shaking with the effort to hold the change back. She couldn't, wouldn't, change with him in the room, but it was a struggle. He was too much of a distraction. Her wolf had his scent, Penny could feel her interest as it stirred within her, looked out through Penny's eyes to see who the male was. The male who smelled so good.

  "Bullshit,” he shot back, the chain taut now, and he began to pull on it, trying to pull Penny towards him. He was an Alpha, his stance, his attitude all screamed that.

  "They go mad, needing to mate ... unable to mate. And then the locals are forced to hunt a feral wolf before she kills too many of their kids. Fancy that Penny? You'll be stalking the school playground looking for your next snack."

  "No!” Disgust, fear and loathing all vied for equal footing within her. “I wouldn't ... I couldn't do that,” she protested. “You don't know me, Cade, don't know what I'm like. I couldn't do something like that in a million years,” she said, not noticing that when she'd dug her heels in and refused to be pulled towards him Cade had simply wound the chain around the back of his hand and moved closer.

  Then he was close enough to touch, close enough she could feel the heat of his breath fanning over her bare skin. She was naked in front of the guy, which didn't seem to matter to her at the moment. In fact, she wanted him to see, wanted to arch her back and show herself off to him.

  "The human you were wouldn't,” he said, his voice implacable as he looked down at her. “But you're a wolf now, governed by a whole new set of laws, and you have to learn to live with it. Or you'll die, simple as that. Because I will not let you go feral. I have some morals, even if you don't."

  "You bastard.” Tears of frustration and hurt welled at his words. Her hand shot out and cracked him across the cheek. A heavy blow that rocked his head back and left a red mark. He turned back to her, a dark look in his eyes that took her breath away.