Fever (Blood Moon Rising, #1) (2 page)

God, this guy was super-strong. Could
steroids do that?

She struggled to remain calm as her
lungs screamed for air.

The man was tall, with a dark coat and
hat that hid his face.

All but his eyes. They seemed to glow
gold, but that was impossible. It had to be the dim lightning, and
a combination of being a little buzzed and probably having a
concussion. She stomped her heel on the man’s foot, but he never so
much as flinched. She started to bring her leg up, with the
intention of kneeing him in the groin, but he pressed his full body
weight against her, stopping her cold.

“
Ah, ah, ah,” the man
purred in a scratchy voice. “This doesn’t have to be
difficult.”

“
What… doesn’t?” she
gritted out, afraid to ask.

Dumb, Danica.

He grinned, showing the points of
fangs. All his teeth looked like they’d been filed to a point, and
his gold eyes blazed brighter. “Your death.”

Fear took over, throttling her heart
rate.

He chuckled, then ran his hot tongue
over her cheek, making her cringe. “You looked lovely tonight, by
the way. Thanks for dressing up for me.”

What was he talking about?

The realization hit her
with the force of a two-by-four.
Oh, my
God.
He
was
supposed to be my date!

She’d never actually met the stranger
she’d been talking online with for two weeks now. He’d seemed so
understanding, so perfect.

Should have known
better.

Now, for her stupidity, she was going
to die out here in the woods, after he’d done God knows what to
her.

“
Hmmm,” he purred. She
could feel his bulge against her thigh, turning her stomach. “I
wish I had more time. Might be fun to fuck a queen.”

Queen? Now, she knew this guy was
crazy.

The man licked his lips. “Any last
words, sweets?”

Danica trembled, her brain paralyzed
by terror. It occurred to her how much more she could have done
with her life, if she’d only had more time. She felt stupid for
taking it all for granted. But most of all, she felt angry. Really,
really angry.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to
end. It was supposed to end sixty years from now, with her spending
the last years of her life with the man she loved.

Now, she’d never get a chance to meet
him.

She thrashed, but that only made Crazy
drive his elbow harder into her windpipe. Her lungs screamed for
oxygen as she tried clawing at his hands, but she might as well
have been scraping at cement for all the good it did
her.

“
Yeah, I have some last
words,” a deep voice said from behind the man. “Get your paws off
her, Onyx.”

The man didn’t spare a glance over his
shoulder. He smiled. “Well, if it isn’t the King of the Moonstruck
Pack himself - Gage Johnson.”

Danica peered past Onyx’s shoulder,
and her eyes widened. It was the handsome stranger who’d eyed her
from the dais, like she was a piece of candy he couldn’t wait to
eat.

That intense heat spread below her
navel, warming her despite the chill Onyx’s death threat had left
in her bones.

What the hell was wrong
with her? Clearly, she was caught up in the middle of some
gang-related violence, and she was
horny
?

It had to be something they’d done to
the beer. So help her, she was never having another drink
again.

Gage stepped forward, one deliberate
step at a time. “You’re on my soil, Onyx. What’s a Nightshade wolf
like you doing all the way out here, I wonder?”

“
Just passing by,” Onyx
replied smoothly, still not letting up on her throat. Stars started
to blue the edge of her vision. Soon, she’d black out altogether.
She clawed at Onyx’s hands, but his attention was fully on
Gage.

Gage cracked his knuckles. “You must
think I’m pretty damn stupid to believe that.”

Onyx’s toothy grin widened. “Almost as
stupid as you leaving your mate unprotected.”

Gage’s eyes flickered to her. “What
are you talking about? Let’s get real. She’s human.”

Onyx shrugged. “Your loss.” He took
advantage of the other man’s surprise. He threw Danica down hard,
swinging out with his other hand, fist angled for Gage’s
jaw.

Gage’s reflexes were crazy, because he
ducked and followed up with an uppercut that connected with Onyx’s
chin, sending him staggering back.

Onyx wasn’t down for the count for
long. He lunged at Gage, snarling, getting in a swipe at the man’s
ribcage before Gage blocked his assault and decked Onyx hard across
the cheek.

Danica watched in morbid fascination
from her lovely view on the ground as she waited for her world to
stop spinning. Her temple had connected with someone’s bumper on
the way down, making her whole face hurt from the
impact.

The men moved in blurs. Onyx’s hat
flew off, revealing the outline of a pentagram on his neck. A word
was scribbled at its center in another language.

Gage yowled as Onyx raked his nails -
which had morphed into claws - across his face, leaving behind
marks.

She blinked. That had to be her
imagination, something brought on by the terror flooding her veins
and the tampered beer.

She had to do something. She couldn’t
just lay there, helpless. Getting to her feet, she grabbed her
keychain. “Hey, asshole!”

Onyx looked over with a snarl, and she
let the pepper spray fly.

It hit him square in the eyes. He
howled with fury, clenching his eyes shut while he stumbled about
blindly for a few seconds.

Gage wasted no time. He seized the
man’s head.

Danica realized with dread what was
about to happen. “No-!”

As Gage started to twist, Onyx grabbed
something from his pocket and threw it at the ground. A pillar of
black smoke went up, crackling with purple electricity. Gage
cursed, shaking out his hands.

The smoke billowed for a bit, then it
was sucked backward into the object Onyx had thrown on the ground.
It was a silver locket, which split apart the moment the smoke had
cleared.

Danica stood there, trembling so badly
she thought she might shake herself apart. Holy crap. Did she just
see that? A scream slowly built in her throat, but it never came.
Her legs gave out, and Gage rushed forward to catch her.

He pulled her to him, tucking her head
against his chest. “I’m sorry,” he muttered against her
hair.

“
What… was that?” she
blubbered.

“
A cloaking charm,” he said
gravely.

She pushed away from him, shaking her
head and stumbling about. He reached to steady her, but she stepped
out of his grasp. “Cloaking charms, packs, wolves… what the hell
are you?”

“
You wouldn’t believe me if
I told you, love,” Gage murmured with a hint of humor.

“
So, my date from hell just
up and vanished into thin air?”

“
Something to that effect,
yes,” he said without hesitation.

She laughed, sounding more than a
little loony. This whole night had taken a turn toward the insane.
She never should have come here.

“
Somebody slipped something
into my drink,” Danica said. “That’s it. I’m having some kind of
hallucination. About creepy dude, my hot rescuer-”

“
You think I’m hot?” he
said with a smile.

She shrugged. “You can’t be real, so
why the hell not? Yes. You’re hot. With a capital H.” She looked
around and found her keys lying a few feet away. Falling to her
knees, she snagged them then used a car hood to help pull herself
up.

“
Where do you think you’re
going?” Gage said, following her.

“
To the ER,” she said,
trying to remember where she’d parked. It shouldn’t be hard. She
was one of the few people who’d drove a car. “I need to get a
bloodtest, see what kind of drug this is.”

“
Your blood is fine,” Gage
said, grabbing her arm.

She jerked free and rounded on him.
“Don’t tell me it’s fine! I just freaked out and thought someone
tried to kill me!”

“
That’s because someone did
try to kill you!”

“
Oh, right. So says the
hallucination. I’m probably standing out here right now talking to
myself.”

“
This is no
dream.”

She stared at him. He looked so
serious.

And so delectable.

Damn, my imagination can
cook up a stud.

Her eyes dipped to his mouth. She
swore she heard him take in a sharp breath, that his eyes darkened
- then flashed gold.

Her mouth went dry. “I have to get out
of here.”

She started to turn again when Gage
grabbed her, this time by the wrist. “Wait. You’re not
safe.”

“
No shit? I’m in the middle
of nowhere, I’ve clearly been drugged, and I should
probably-”

All the warning she had was a strange
tingling along the back of her hand before blue light lit up the
area, shooting straight out of her.

Danica shrieked. “What’s
happening?”

Gage swore, staring at her hand. “It
can’t be…”

Danica held her breath, staring at the
light, too afraid to move. This couldn’t be happening. Light didn’t
just shoot out of people’s skin.

But it sure as hell looked like that
was what it was doing. It was gone as quickly as it came,
dissolving into a pretty, shimmering crescent moon marking. “What
the hell?” she muttered when she’d recovered enough of her senses.
She examined her hand, turning it every which way. Licking her
thumb, she rubbed it against the mark. “It won’t come off! What the
hell is this?” she said, her voice ratcheting up in
pitch.

Gage sighed, looking grave and awed at
the same time. “That, my dear, would be the Blood Moon
Mark.”

“
Am I supposed to know what
the hell that means?” Danica said, tasting panic.

“
It means,” Gage said,
pulling her to him and staring down into her eyes, “that you are my
mate.”

Chapter 3

“
Excuse me, I’m your
what
?”

Gage stared at the
Mark.
I don’t believe it
. “This can’t be possible,” he murmured. “You’re
human.”

“
Right now, I’m apparently
high,” the woman said. “I need medical treatment.”

“
You need to come with me.”
He had no idea what the hell this meant, but he knew he would be a
fool to stay here. There was a chance Onyx could come back to
finish the job.

Gage started to pull her away when she
dug in her heels and pulled back. “Whoa, cowboy, I’m not going
anywhere with you.”

Her willfulness was not unlike the
she-wolves he bedded. It was one of their more enticing traits. The
promise of a challenge only served to pump more blood south of his
navel. “Do I have to pick you up and carry you?”

She crossed her arms. “I dare
you.”

Shouldn’t have done
that.

He reached under her knees, lifting
her into his arms as if she weighed no more than a
feather.

“
Hey!” She struggled, and
he tightened his grip. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“
You did dare me,” he said,
smiling slightly.

“
Put me down! Help!” A few
men - all weres - came out of the bar, took one look at them, and
chuckled.

“
Oh, my God,” she said,
digging her hands into her hair. “I’ve decided to have date-night
in psycho central. You’re kidnapping me. You’re going to kill
me.”

“
I’m not going to kill
you,” Gage said, rolling his eyes. “But that other man
might.”

“
This is a dream,” she
said, not even listening to him. “That’s it, I’m dreaming. This
can’t be real. Nothing this effed up would happen to me in real
life. My life is boring. Predictable. Safe.”

Gage sighed in agitation. “Well, for
someone who’s supposedly so ‘safe’ and ‘boring,’ you sure do cause
a lot of trouble.”

She scowled at him, but he smelled the
desire wafting off her like perfume. His dick quivered, putting a
hitch in his step. God, if he didn’t hurry up and get her home -
and away from him - then he might just lay her off in the nearby
grass and take her now and then.

Damn this mating
fever!

He walked on with
determination. His queen deserved more than a roll on the grass,
even if most she-wolves didn’t mind it. He had to remind himself
she was not a she-wolf, at least, not yet, though she would start
exhibiting the traits of one since being Marked. Besides, he
wanted
her to want to mate
with him. Call him old-fashioned, but he’d always had this image of
true love and finding “the one” to spend his life with. Maybe this
was his chance.