Hunger Moon Rising Page 4

  Any other time I would have been eager to go with her. It had taken me a long time to earn Dani's trust enough for her to show me this kind of vulnerability. Asking me to come along to a dangerous part of town let me know she felt safe with me and wasn't afraid to let down some of the hard-ass, modern woman facade she kept up so rigorously at work. Even a year ago, she would have gone herself and taken her chances rather than asking me to come.

  So I was glad she'd called me, but worried too. What if she found something out? Something that might blow my cover?

  “I don't know, Dani,” I hedged. “I'm pretty tired—it was kind of a rough day.”

  “Yeah, I know. You nearly bit my head off for no apparent reason.” She sighed. “Look, Ben, I wouldn't ask you, but I have a feeling it's important. I think I smell a story.”

  I ran a hand through my hair and sighed again. Dani and her nose for news. It won her more journalism awards and got her into more trouble than I cared to think about.

  “Dani, think about it,” I said, deciding to try another approach. “I mean, the guy was crazy. We'll be chasing around on the wrong end of town all night for no reason.”

  “So we'll chase around some.” I could almost hear her shrug. “It'll be fun.” Her tone changed abruptly. “Look, Ben, if you don't want to go, I understand. I could see you were under stress today, although you won't tell me why…?” The last word ended on a question, but when I didn't offer any answers, she went on. “If you don't want to go, I'll understand. And I'll change your ring tone anyway. That other one was kind of a joke.”

  Dani dropping a lead? It sounded too good to be true. “If I don't go with you, will you promise not to go either?” I asked.

  “Sure, why not?” She sounded just a little too careless.

  “Dani, are you crossing your fingers?” I demanded.

  “Ben, you don't have to go, really. I'm sorry I called. I'm just…well, I'm sorry.”

  I made a decision. It was better to go with her and know she was safe. That way if she found anything out, I could do damage control. “I'll be there in five,” I told her and cut off the phone.

  Once out of the house, I felt the pull of the moon much more strongly. It was an overcast night, but I could feel it anyway, skittering around under the clouds like a luminous insect, calling to me. I ignored it as best I could and prayed that I wasn't in for one of those all-nighters my overzealous partner was famous for.

  Halfway to her place, my phone sounded again, and this time it was the movie theme she had promised. I let it ring, knowing she was calling me to show it off. By the time I got to her condo, she was already on the front steps waiting for me with an excited grin on her face. Dani on the scent of a story was a fearsome creature to behold. Despite my misgivings, I had to smile.

  “Hey,” she said, climbing in the passenger side of my truck. I noticed she had changed into jeans and a sweater—not nearly as sexy as her usual short skirt, but imminently more practical for where we were going. The sweater clung to the full curves of her breasts in a way that made it hard not to stare.

  “Hey, yourself.” I steered the truck in the direction of the docks and looked at her out of the corner of my eye. “So what's this hot lead we're checking out?”

  “Do you remember how the crazy guy was shouting something about a doctor—a Doctor Locke?” Dani turned to me, her face glowing with excitement. “Well, I did a search, and the only Doctor Locke in our area isn't an MD—he's a research scientist. Specifically, his field is the hormonal and neurochemical basis of animal aggression.”

  “Let me guess what animals he was studying,” I said. “Could it be wolves?”

  “Yes.” Dani nodded. “In fact, he did a well documented study about the hormones in male timber wolves that control aggression and dominance within the pack structure. It was published in—”

  “Wait a minute.” I held up a hand. “So what does this have to do with us driving down to the docks in the middle of the night?”

  “It's not the middle of the night,” Dani objected. “It's barely nine o'clock. And we're going down to the docks because that's where the mysterious Doctor Locke has his lab.”

  “The mysterious Doctor Locke?” I raised an eyebrow at her as we stopped at a red light.

  “Uh-huh.” She nodded, a little smile quirking the corner of her full mouth. Her lips looked very kissable. I made myself look back at the road.

  “So what makes you think he'll be at his lab this time of night?” I asked, keeping my eyes straight ahead.

  “I don't know—maybe the fact that he was there when I called a little while ago?” Dani said, sounding smug. “I explained who I was and tried to ask him some questions, but he wouldn't say a word. Finally, I asked about his research with the wolves—you know, most people you get them talking about themselves and their work, and they'll spill it all.”

  I nodded. Every good reporter knows that. “So what did he say about the wolves?” I hoped my voice sounded calm and natural.

  “He said, 'There are wolves, and then there are wolves. I can say no more over the telephone.' And then he hung up.”

  I shot her an incredulous look. “So you thought it would be a good idea to go down there and try to get more out of him? At this time of night?”

  “Why not?” She shrugged. “No time like the present, right?”

  “Wrong,” I said. “Dani, don't you see how dangerous this is? This guy, this mad scientist, probably heard your voice on the phone and decided to try and lure you down there for who knows what kind of disgusting, kinky reasons.”

  “It's not like I was having phone sex with him, Ben,” she objected. “And why would he decide to try and lure me to his lair on the basis of my voice?”

  I looked at her. “Come on, Dani, you know you have the most amazing…I mean your phone voice is really…” She gave me a strange look, and I let it go, realizing I was digging myself into a hole I couldn't get out of.

  She made an exasperated sound. “Why do you always assume everyone is after me, Ben? That everyone wants me?”

  Because I want you, I wanted to say, but didn't. I just drove. After a long moment, Dani spoke again.

  “Ben, are you getting tired of me?”

  “What?” Her words startled me so much I almost hit the car in front of me. I slammed on the brakes just in time and looked over at her.

  “I mean…” She was looking down, as though studying her nails. “Are you losing patience with me?” There was a vulnerability in her voice that broke my heart.

  “No,” I said at once. “Of course not. Losing patience how?”

  “I don't know.” She looked out the window, refusing to meet my eyes. “It was just something silly that Tara said. I guess…I guess she was wrong.”

  “Of course she's wrong,” I said, feeling like I had missed something along the way. “She's your little sister—isn't that how these sibling things are supposed to work?”

  “Like you would know.” Her voice sounded more normal now. “Being an only child.”

  “I was lonely,” I told her, making the turn that led into the docks. “No one to play with. I always wanted a little brother—or a sister. I wasn't picky.”

  “Neither am I or I wouldn't be hanging around with you.” She slapped playfully at my arm, then pointed to an empty parking lot. “Oh, look, park there. I think this is the place.”

  Actually, it turned out that the building that housed Doctor Locke's lab was down a long row of abandoned warehouses from the parking lot Dani had me park in. I didn't like walking past the deserted buildings with their burned out lights and broken windows, and it wasn't because I was afraid of getting hurt, either. Nothing could stop me but a silver bullet—yes, that part of the legend is true, anyway—or another werewolf. I wasn't worried about Dani, either; I was reasonably certain I could protect her.

  No, the reason I wasn't anxious to go walking along the docks district that night was that the cloud cover had broken, and the nearly full m
oon was beaming down like a skull in the sky. It felt like a spotlight shining right on me, making me sweat with the need to be something else, something other.

  “Dani,” I said, hoping she wouldn't notice the way my voice was coming out deeper all of a sudden. “I really think we should park a little closer. Or maybe just give it up. This is a bad idea.”

  “Don't be silly—after we drove all the way here? Besides, I don't see any other parking lots. Come on, you've got an alarm on your truck, and we won't be gone long.” She climbed out of the truck as she spoke, and I had no choice but to follow her.

  “Dani, I really don't like this,” I said.

  “Why?” She hooked her arm through mine in a friendly gesture. “Are you afraid? Don't be—I'll protect you.” She smiled up into my eyes, and I sighed. Well, the moon wasn't completely full, and besides, I'd been controlling myself for the past five years—I could probably manage one more night.

  We walked down the empty street, our footsteps echoing against the concrete, and soon enough, Dani pointed out the building we wanted. It was the only warehouse that looked reasonably intact—also the only one with a light on inside.

  “That's it—that's the address. He's there, I know it.” She pulled her arm out of mine and ran ahead of me in her excitement to get to the story. Before I could call her back, a dark figure had stepped out of the shadows between two abandoned buildings.

  “Hey there, pretty lady,” a masculine voice slurred. My were-enhanced night vision let me know it was probably just a bum looking for spare change, not a real threat, but I didn't care. The moon scratched the back of my neck with silver fingernails, and my blood surged.

  “Oh!” Dani took a step back in surprise and nearly tripped on a crack in the concrete. I was there to catch her before she had time to fall.

  “What the hell do you want?” I snarled, pushing her behind me and getting into his space.

  “Hey, man…” The bum backed up, holding out his hands in front of him as though to prove they were empty. “Just wanted to talk to the lady.”

  Adrenaline coursed through my body, and I felt a growl building in my throat. I grabbed the front of the bum's coat and jerked, lifting him a clear three feet off the ground. His eyes grew huge, and he squawked in surprise.

  “Stay away from her.” My voice was a low growl, almost unrecognizable, even to me. And yet I couldn't seem to stop. All the fury of the moon was building inside me, urging me to protect what was mine, and Dani was definitely mine. I was about to throw the bum back into the alley he'd come from like a sack of trash, but a hand on my arm stopped me.

  “Ben, what are you doing? What's going on?” Dani's frightened voice acted like a shock to my nervous system. I turned to face her, trying to slow my breathing. I could feel the adrenaline and testosterone spiking inside me, urging the change, and I knew I had to control it. I dropped the bum, and he scrambled to his feet, frantic to get away from me. He turned and ran into the shadows, the slap of his cheap shoes echoing down the dark alley between the warehouses.

  “Ben?” Dani was still looking into my face anxiously. She looked genuinely frightened—frightened of me, I suddenly understood. The bum had only startled her, and she probably could have handled him herself—she took self defense classes after all. But seeing me get violent had been a new experience for her—probably not a welcome one.

  “He…he was trying to hurt you,” I said lamely, willing my voice to come out normally instead of as a growl.

  “No he wasn't—he was probably just panhandling. There was no need to…” She shook her head. “Ben, I've never seen you act like that before.”

  “I was…frightened for you,” I said. “You shouldn't get ahead of me when we're out in this end of town.”

  She was beginning to get mad; I could smell her anger like burning leaves on the crisp autumn air. “Oh, so I should stay by your side like a good little girl, and hold Daddy's hand tight so the big bad boogieman doesn't get me?”

  “Something like that,” I muttered. My blood was still surging, urging me to do unspeakable things. In the moonlight, Dani's face looked flushed, and her eyes were bright. I wanted to push her to the ground and take her. I fought it with everything that was in me. God, coming out tonight had been a terrible idea.

  “What the hell is wrong with you lately?” Dani demanded, fisting her hands on her hips.

  I shrugged and jammed my hands into my jacket pockets to keep from grabbing her. I needed to get inside, out of the moonlight. “Come on,” I said, turning for the lighted building at the end of the row again.

  Fuming, she followed me, but I knew I hadn't heard the last of it.

  Chapter Five

  Dani

  I couldn't understand what the hell was going on with Ben lately. He was like a completely different man—a stranger I didn't even know. Where had my partner, the pacifist, vegetarian Buddhist, gone, and who was this testosterone-driven jerk that had taken his place? Despite his size, Ben had one of those sweet, open faces that always made bums and people down on their luck ask him for spare change, and he always gave it to them too. I had never even seen him give a street person so much as a hard word or a nasty look—let alone pick one up and toss him around like a rag doll.

  I watched his broad shoulders hunch under the denim jacket he wore as we made our way to Doctor Locke's laboratory. I wanted to grab his arm, swing him around, and make him explain to me right then and there what the hell was going on, but something stopped me. There was an air of menace about my usually gentle and mild-mannered best friend that frightened me. It hung around him like a foreign spice, the scent of musk male animals get when they're fighting over a female.

  And there was something else that scared me too. Ben's eyes when I had looked at him…they'd almost seemed to glow. Like someone had lit a flame behind his mild brown gaze, and he was burning inside with the need to…to what? But, no, I shook my head. I had to be mistaken about that, because it was just plain crazy. Probably it was just a trick of the moonlight.

  “Here we are.” Ben knocked on the steel door of the mostly intact warehouse—hammered was more like it, actually—like he was desperate to get inside for some reason.

  Before I could ask him what the hurry was, the door slid open with an ominous shriek of metal on metal, and a voice said, “To what do I owe this honor?”

  “Doctor Locke?” I said, stepping forward and giving him my best smile. “I'm Danielle Linden from the Sun Times, and this is my partner, Benjamin Davis. I believe we spoke earlier on the phone?”

  “Ah, yes, the intrepid young lady who wanted to know all about my fascinating research.” He stepped out of the doorway, motioning us into the lighted interior. Ben pushed past the doctor, as though he was freezing and wanted to get in out of the cold, even though it was a really mild night for September. I frowned as I followed him, but there was no graceful way to ask him what was wrong in front of Doctor Locke.

  “So, Ms. Linden, what is it you wish to know?” He was an older gentleman with very peculiar hair—black with gray stripes on either side that didn't look entirely natural. He wasn't wearing a lab coat, as I had expected, but a ratty old brown sweater and gray slacks that were out at the knees. The smell of stale coffee and dirty socks hung around him like a cloud, and I was careful to keep my distance. In contrast, the lab laid out in the huge warehouse space behind him was spotless and sparkling, filled with expensive and arcane equipment I couldn't begin to guess the uses of.

  “Doctor Locke,” I began. “Over the phone, you said—”

  “Watch out!” Ben, who had been standing quietly to one side, suddenly grabbed me and pushed me behind him.

  “Watch out for what?” I demanded. I was getting damn tired of his overprotective routine, and he was so tall that I couldn't even see what it was he had supposedly saved me from this time. Then a low, menacing growl filled the air, and I heard the click of toenails on concrete.

  Peering out from behind Ben's broad back, I s
aw a huge wolf stalking toward us. It was pure white with pale blue eyes, and its muzzle was wrinkled back to show long pointed fangs like pearly daggers.

  “Now, now, Sasha.” Doctor Locke walked forward casually and pushed the animal, which seemed to have fixated on Ben, away. I didn't know how he dared—the wolf was so big its head came easily above his waist, and he wasn't a short man. The wolf slunk away, still snarling, to lie in a corner, and Doctor Locke spread his hands and shrugged. “She is quite territorial, as you see. Now then, where were we?”

  Ben was still standing directly in front of me, and I touched him on the shoulder to get him to move. That was when I realized he was vibrating—actually, he was growling himself, but it was such a low sound that I felt it through my fingertips rather than hearing it.

  “Ben?” I stepped back from him, more startled than afraid. Was he trying to back the wolf down by giving it some of its own medicine? He still had his back to me and I started to pull him around to face me, but something stopped me. For some reason, I didn't want to look into his eyes just then. What if what I had seen outside wasn't a trick of the moonlight? What was going on?

  “Please, Mister Davis.” Doctor Locke sounded completely unconcerned. “I assure you, there is no need for such an overt display of aggression. Sasha is quite obedient. She will not attempt to harm your Chosen.”

  “His what?” I asked, assuming he was referring to me.

  “I have not claimed her. She is not my Chosen,” Ben said, talking as though he knew exactly what Doctor Locke meant.

  “Oh, I think she is. I have been working with your kind long enough to know a mating mark when I see one.”

  “A mating mark? And whose kind? What are you talking about? Ben?” I put a hand on my partner's broad shoulder. “What is he talking about?”

  “I have put no mark upon her.” Ben was still talking strangely, acting as though I wasn't there. He had turned to face us, and I was relieved to see that his eyes looked normal, at least.

  “Not a physical mark, perhaps,” Doctor Locke said, still speaking only to Ben. “But your possession is quite evident. To me at least.”