Moon Madness Read online

  "Hmm...” The Alpha said, the chair creaking under his butt as he sat back. “Brandon, you're up. Just leave some for the rest of us, ‘k?"

  This was so not good it wasn't even funny. Cade swayed on his feet as the first wolf stepped into the challenge circle. He knew what was going on. Jimmy had named him feral, which meant his ass was anyone's. Physically and sexually if there were any wolves inclined that way here. They seemed more the homophobic sort though, which was good for Cade, but wasn't going to save him from a good old-fashioned beating. To death.

  He faced the challenger and raised his fists. He made sure to waver a little on his feet, the guard a little lower than it should have been, as though his injuries were too bad to mount a proper defense. He was injured, yes, but not as badly as he was making out, or as he'd made out to Penny.

  A stab of guilt impaled his heart for deceiving her, the raw fear on her face as she watched what was going on piled even more on his head. He couldn't help it, he needed her reactions to be genuine. She was too open, too honest to lie convincingly, especially in a situation like this. And he needed Jimmy and his pet wolves to buy this too badly to risk it.

  "Oh yeah, gonna be some hurtin’ going on now,” Brandon crowed, his snaggle-toothed grin cocky as he danced around Cade, showing off with some fast jabs and fancy moves. “Might as well give it up old man, you ain't gettin’ out of here alive."

  Cade dodged, faking a punch, and making it look like a sheer fluke he was managing to stay out the kid's range. Carefully he circled, keeping up his pretence and letting the kid land a few whilst making sure he stayed well out of range of the taser-armed enforcers at the edge of the circle. Those bastards were just waiting for an excuse to shock him again. His teeth still ached from the going over he'd gotten outside Penny's house. Lord knows how many volts it had taken to put him down. Bloody cowards, not one of them could take him on in a fair fight.

  All he had to do was hang in and stay on his feet, wait for Jimmy to enter the circle. Something Cade knew wasn't going to happen until Jimmy's bully boys had smacked the living shit, as well as the fight, out of his already battered body. Even with the aid of his wolf, the channel open wider than usual to give him the strength and speed of the beast without changing and losing his humanity, this was going to be one hell of a tough evening.

  "Not so ‘ard now are ya?” Brandon grinned, having managed to land his third punch of the bout, a solid right hook that snapped Cade's head back and to the side.

  Cade hissed as the impact stung, even though he'd rolled with it. Right, he'd had enough of this one now. He stumbled away and dropped to the grass. As he did, he flipped and spun. His foot snapped out, smashing into the front of the kid's knee. It was a powerful kick, one with Cade's entire weight and momentum behind it. The thing about a human knee was that it was designed to bend one way. Once it was locked straight, that was it. There was no give in it. Cade's kick however, took Brandon's knee to entirely new and un-natural angles, shattering the joint as it bent the wrong way with a hideous crack.

  "Argh, fuckin’ hell. Me knee. Me knee,” Brandon wailed, rolling around on the dirt, his hands fluttering uselessly in the direction of the ruined joint. Cade staggered to his feet, he should get an award for his play acting here, and lurched towards the kid as though to try and finish him off.

  "Gerrof! Gerrimoffme!” Brandon squealed, even though Cade hadn't gotten anywhere near him. His eyes were wide as he tried to scramble away, a moan of pain on his lips as he jarred his knee. Cade hid his smile as the bully boys stepped in, waving tasers in his direction as they recovered the kid.

  When Cade fought, he fought dirty. That knee break was a nasty, complex one. One designed to slow even a wolf down, as the body tried to heal the break with all the pieces in the wrong places. It would need to be re-broken and put back together by a doctor.

  "Steve, you're up.” Jimmy grunted from behind Cade.

  And that was the way it carried on. A wolf would enter the circle, Cade would let them land a few blows and gradually maneuver them into a position where he could hurt them—badly. But he wouldn't kill them, not yet. An outright kill and he was toast. He'd seen the Sigs the enforcers were packing, ten to one they were loaded for wolf. Even he couldn't shrug off silver-coated lead.

  He stood back as the last wolf was dragged out of the circle whimpering in pain and clutching at his shattered arm. Broken in three places, two of them joints, it was maximum damage without actually ripping the limb off.

  "Enough,” Cade went still as Jimmy rose from his chair, his deep set beady eyes fixed on Cade. “I think sunnyjim here has been holding out on us, haven't you Mister Steele?” he growled, throwing the chain to Penny's collar to the hulk standing next to him. “Hold the bitch."

  He turned to look at Cade as he removed the dirty plaid shirt covering his bulk. “You wanna play with a real wolf, Steele? Well, I'm right here."

  Cade's lips curled back in a snarl as Jimmy stepped into the circle. He dropped the punch drunk act, and snapped his fists up into a low guard. “Bring it on,” he growled.

  The two men circled each other warily. Despite his bulk, Jimmy was light on his feet as some large men could be, and he had a wide mean streak. Cade locked eyes with the Alpha and realized something else. Jimmy wasn't afraid. He was confident he could beat Cade.

  Which was a distinct possibility. The first of Jimmy's lightening fast attacks took him by surprise, a mean jab that all but spread his nose over his face, pain exploding as his head rocked back.

  "Shit.” Cade wheeled away, wiping the blood from his face with the back of his hand.

  "There's far more where that came from pretty boy, and you're getting it all.” There was glee in Jimmy's eyes as he attacked in earnest.

  Cade backed up and blocked quickly, far more alert now than he had been with the other wolves. Jimmy was a nasty piece of work, the smallest mistake would mean it was all over. For him, for Penny, and for the abused members of the pack. However, staying out of the big Alpha's reach was easier said than done. Cade was bruised and tired, whereas Jimmy hadn't been attacked with tasers and baseball bats, and also hadn't spent an uncomfortable few hours drifting in and out of consciousness. No such luck, Jimmy was well rested and had the energy of a pup on his first hunt. A fact he was using to his advantage as he systematically wore Cade down. The twinkle in his eyes said he knew all about the exhaustion weighing Cade's limbs down and sapping his strength.

  It was impossible to completely avoid Jimmy's fists. Pain flared over Cade's body as he abandoned staying out of the way, and instead went for trying to take minimum damage. All the time he was looking for that one opening, the opening that would end the fight.

  His breathing grew ragged as he got hit again, trying to roll with the punch and ending up on his knees instead. He shook his head and clambered to his feet. But he was a fraction too slow, a heavy weight crashed into his back, nearly pile-driving his face into the dirt. The air left his lungs as a hard arm wrapped around his throat, pulling his neck back so far Cade's vertebrae squeaked under the pressure.

  Jimmy grunted behind him, hauling him around to face Penny, her horrified face filling his vision as the edges of his world turned dark.

  "Take a good last look, pretty boy,” Jimmy taunted in a low voice, his breath warm against Cade's ear. “Cause when I'm done with you, I'm gonna fuck her, good and proper. Make her scream under me. How do you feel about me screwing the bitch carrying your pups senseless? In fact, we might just share her around, make a night of it before I rip those pups right out of her soft belly."

  Penny was pregnant ... carrying his pups.

  Time froze for Cade, his world tilting on its axis. Those words, that moment, changed his life forever. How Jimmy knew didn't matter, some wolves had such acute senses of smell they could tell you what you had for lunch three weeks ago last Tuesday just by your sweat.

  Pups. His pups.

  A low snarl started in the middle of Cade's chest at the realiz
ation that he had more to lose than just his own life. He had Penny and their pups. He was going to be a father, and damned if he was going to fall at the first bloody hurdle.

  Fury pounded through his veins, driven by determination as his snarl deepened, became a full-throated howl of rage. Then Cade did the unthinkable. He opened himself fully to the wolf, not just the narrow channel as he'd been taught. As all wolves were taught at puberty or when they were bitten.

  Just a little, never let the wolf gain control because he will never back down.

  But Cade didn't want to back down. He pushed the door to his inner being wider, throwing it open and meeting his beast head on. Energy surged through him as he flipped Jimmy, easily, shaking the heavier man off as he rolled and changed.

  Terrified on the sidelines, Penny caught her breath. Bones popped and cracked, skin receded as fur exploded over it. Within seconds, the man was gone and a huge grey wolf stood eye to eye with the visibly shaking Alpha. Penny's eye ran over the heavy lupine form, the thick coat, in awe. He was magnificent. She'd never seen any wolf change so fast, not even an Alpha.

  "Someone, do something,” Jimmy shrieked, but it was already too late. Even as the goons started to pull their guns, Cade leaped. His powerful legs bunched under him, claws scrabbling for purchase as the nearly three hundred-pound wolf launched himself at the gibbering man.

  There was no time for Jimmy to change before Cade was on him. His teeth flashed white in the gloom as they sank deep into Jimmy's multiple chins. Terrified screams of pain filled the air, followed by the tearing of flesh and a horrible wet gurgling sound. Penny winced and looked away as the wolf tore the front of Jimmy's throat out, then dropped the heavy gobbet of flesh on the floor, curling his lips back as though it were diseased.

  The ultimate insult.

  Teeth flashed again, and the snapping of bone filled the clearing. The horrible gurgle stopped as though a switch had been flicked. Penny opened her eyes and looked around.

  It was like a scene out of a pantomime. All of Jimmy's buddies, his wolves and enforcer's, were standing open mouthed. All eyes were on the huge form of the wolf who had just torn out their leader's throat. Who, even now, stood over Jimmy's still warm body watching them.

  Slowly Cade's lips curled back into a snarl. His warning was clear.

  The next wolf to move was a dead wolf.

  "Fuck it, man, this is too much.” The bully boy next to Penny dropped her chain and backed away, shaking his head. “I was only here ‘cause he was a buddy."

  He made a break for it, crashing through the darkness into the trees. It was like opening a floodgate. All around the clearing, beer bottles hit the ground as Jimmy's wolves lost their nerve and ran for their lives with their tails between their legs.

  In the middle of the circle Cade threw back his head and howled. A howl of ownership and warning. A howl that said he was Alpha here and any wolf who tried to cross him would share Jimmy's fate. He dropped his head, his massive chest heaving as he panted. Then, almost gracefully, he collapsed into a heap by his enemy's corpse.

  "Cade!” Penny screamed, her heart in her throat as she tore the collar off and raced to his side. Frantically she checked him over, trying to locate a pulse or something, but in her panic not finding anything. He was dead. But how? A wail escaped her, and she buried her face into the thick fur of his neck, weeping as her heart broke.

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  Epilogue

  He woke slowly, the world coming back to him in increments. First warmth surrounded him, and he stretched out, feeling comfortable and contented. Crisp sheets brushed against his skin as the soft weight of a feather duvet pressed down on him. He sighed and rolled onto his side, wanting nothing more than to wrap the duvet around him and doze for a while. But something tugged at him, something niggled in the back of his brain. There was something he'd forgotten, something important. Sound followed next, the sounds of someone, several someones moving around in other parts of the house. House? What house? Where was he?

  Startled into full consciousness, Cade sat upright, blinking as his eyes focused. The fight. He looked around, recognizing one of the rooms in the pack farmhouse. It had always been a bolt hole, a place where new wolves were integrated into the pack, and a stopover for others who just felt the need for the company of people like themselves. Usually it was the Alpha's residence as well, and with a shock Cade realized that was him.

  He'd killed Jimmy.

  "You're awake!"

  He snapped his head around to find a girl hovering in the doorway, her large doe-like eyes fixed on him. As soon as he met them, she flushed and dropped her gaze. “I'll get Penny,” she murmured, disappearing from the doorway before Cade could utter a word.

  He shook his head as he swung his legs out of the bed then realized he was naked. Swiftly, he pulled the duvet back over his lap in case the girl came back. Last thing he wanted to do was flash some poor unsuspecting girl and get accused of sexual harassment or something. Jimmy might not have cared about the ages or well-being of his pack, but Cade wasn't Jimmy, and he did.

  He ran a hand through his close cropped hair; he so wasn't ready to take on a pack. But he had no choice. He'd killed Jimmy, killed the previous pack Alpha, which meant he had to replace him. That or leave what was left of the Roakestown pack open to whatever dominant wolf breezed in. Possibly even someone worse than Jimmy, hard as that was to imagine.

  "Cade.” The delighted shriek gave him scant warning as a warm and very curvy body hit him in the chest, toppling them both back onto the bed.

  "Hello, Little Wolf,” he said with a smile, smoothing Penny's hair back from her temple and looking up into her beaming face.

  "Hello, yourself. Do you always sleep so much?” Worry and concern chased after happiness over her expressive heart-shaped face. “How do you feel? Are you hungry?"

  "Whoa. Slow down there a little,” he ordered, his hand sliding into the hair at the nape of her neck and drawing her down for a long, slow kiss. A kiss that spoke of new beginnings and a shared future. A kiss that held a promise he intended to fulfill as soon as physically possible, his lips and tongue slowly explored her soft mouth. With a sigh of regret he pulled away and looked at her. “Now I'm fine, so how about you fill me in on what's happened."

  A slow smile spread over her face, happiness practically oozing out of her pores until he could smell it on her skin. Any worry he might have had about how she felt carrying his pups after a heat-driven encounter eased a little, but he still kept his silence, wanting her to say the words. To say she wanted him in her life, wanted him to be around for her and the pups. Some female wolves didn't.

  "So? You any good with home decorating?” she asked, a delicate eyebrow raised as she drew the moment out a little longer, trying to make him ask, say the words.

  He played dumb, shrugging as he rolled her over. Already he could smell the slight difference in her scent, at least two others crowding in. His nose wrinkled slightly as he assessed the scents, then he grinned.

  "I'm damn good at hanging wallpaper. Especially pink nursery wallpaper. That do you?"

  Penny didn't answer, not with words anyway, but reached up to pull him down for a kiss. A kiss that held all the answers he needed.

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  About Mina Carter

  Mina Carter can be found exploring in the middle of the English countryside with her real-life hero and their young daughter ... the true boss of the family. As a successful businesswoman, Mina never tires of learning new skills, qualified in such fields as Aromatherapy, welding and corsetry.

  She juggles full-time mumhood, running a family business and writing, tossing another ball in the air with her cover artwork. For her, writing time is the wee hours of the morning or any spare minute that can be begged, bought or conned.

  Her first stories were penned at age 11, when she used a stationery set meant for Christmas thank you letters to write stories instead. More recently, she wrote f
or her own amusement to save on outrageous monthly book bills, as well as for the masses of friends on her doorstep demanding longer stories. Now you'll find her reading and writing original worlds where the paranormal is everyday and romance is a must.

  Mina's website: mina-carter.com

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