Shadows of the Moon (Black Wolf Agency Book 2) Read online

  “I kind of like the idea, too,” added James.

  “Yes, I agree, and our children will have plenty of room to run around and be themselves,” said Kate, smiling.

  “Children?” asked James, alarmed.

  “Yes, Yvonne did an ultrasound earlier to see how the baby was doing, and there were two heartbeats. Both babies appear to be healthy and are growing at a normal, human rate.”

  “Oh, my, God! That’s excellent news, sweetheart!” he said, hugging and kissing her.

  “Congratulations!” said Selene. She was excited for the happy couple, but a little envious. She hoped that one day she would be able to settle down and have children, too. Luckily, she felt she was getting closer to the ‘settling down’ part. Then she reminded herself, ‘Whoa, settle down there, girl! You’ve only known him for about two weeks! Don’t rush into marriage yet.’

  “Thank you, Selene,” said Kate, smiling.

  “So, all in favor of opening an upstate location for Black Wolf Agency, raise your hand,” said Charlie. Everyone raised their hand. “Wow, it’s unanimous. Now, we all have to decide whether we’re staying in New York City, or moving upstate.”

  “We’re moving, of course,” said James.

  Tyrone, Lana, Angelina, and Rocco all huddled up and whispered amongst themselves for a moment. Then Lana announced, “We’re all staying here. We all have family here. We can’t abandon them.”

  Damian and Devon whispered to each other for a moment and came to a decision as well. “We’d like to move upstate,” said Devon.

  “Yeah, Central Park is the only place we really get to run, and we have to be really careful there,” said Damian. “Besides we know that like the back of our hand. It’s time for some change.”

  “I’m staying here,” Lin announced. “My entire family is here.”

  “I’ll go wherever you go, sweetheart,” Lucius said to Yvonne.

  Yvonne knew in her heart that Lucius wanted to leave the city and be free. It was kind of him to leave it up to her, but she wanted to make him happy. “We’re moving upstate also.” A kiss on the cheek from Lucius let her know she had made the right decision. She knew they’d both be happier once they were out of the city.

  “As for me, since I’ll be retiring soon, I’ll stay in the city for now, but eventually Mary and I would like to move to Florida and live out our days,” explained Charlie. Then he turned to Marcus and asked, “What about you, Marcus? Have you decided what to do yet?”

  “I’ll have to talk it over with Selene and see what she wants to do. I may stay in the city for a while and eventually move upstate. Can I give you an answer soon?”

  “Sure, that’s fine. Take your time with deciding whether or not you’re going to move. What I’m curious about at the moment is if you’re definitely leaving the NYPD to join us fulltime.”

  Marcus thought about it for a moment. He enjoyed his time as a cop, but he felt those days were behind him. He needed to help his father, and most importantly, he needed to protect people from the more powerful, non-human creatures out there. “Yes, I’ll put in my resignation Monday morning.”

  “Good, thank you, son. The agency needs someone like you.”

  “Thanks, father.”

  Once the meeting had ended, everyone went home, except Marcus and Selene. She had delayed leaving for several minutes and finally, she came out and said what was on her mind, “I want to talk to him.”

  “You mean Sam? I don’t want him anywhere near you, whether he’s in a cell or not.”

  “They’re going to execute him, Marcus. I need to speak with him.”

  What she was saying made perfect sense. No matter how bad a person he is, he deserves to say a few words before his life ends on Monday. And, really, he was in a cell. He couldn’t harm Selene, no matter how hard he tried. “Okay, but don’t go within an arm’s reach of the cell. I don’t want him to be able to even touch you.”

  “That’s reasonable enough.”

  He led her into the dark back room they were keeping Sam locked up in. When they stepped through the door, they turned on the light and Sam startled awake.

  “Tell me exactly what happened,” Selene demanded. She crossed her arms and stared at him coldly. “I want to know every detail. If your story is convincing enough, I’ll speak with the others and try to get them to spare your life.”

  Sam gulped hard as his eyes widened in shock. Apparently the thought of them executing him hadn’t entered his mind.

  “Well?” she said, impatiently.

  “Look, I already told them what happened. They didn’t believe me. I overheard them saying there were no more murders since I was captured. There’s got to be a logical explanation as to why they stopped, but I assure you, I’m not your killer.”

  “You’re gonna have to do a hell of a lot better than that,” she said, turning to leave.

  “Wait!” he said, and when she turned to face him, he looked truly frightened. “I’ll tell you everything. As you could probably already tell, I’m homeless. I spend most of my time in Central Park. Well, one night, when I was scavenging for food and trying to hunt whatever small animals I could find, I found the body of a dead man behind a bush. I looked for any clues or evidence I could find and picked up only a hint of a scent. I was able to track him down and saw him after he had just killed his next victim.

  “And what did he look like?” asked Selene.

  “He had light brown hair and blue eyes and was an average height.”

  The description sounded familiar to her, and suddenly, she remembered the man in her office that day. He perfectly fit the description of the man Sam claimed to be the murderer.

  “I’m warning you, he’s still out there,” said Sam. “And executing me for a crime I didn’t commit makes you no better than him.”

  That was certainly true, if he was innocent, but Selene was still convinced Sam was the murderer. But if he wasn’t, it was a decision they could never take back and would regret for the rest of their lives.

  “I don’t believe you,” she said, staring into his eyes coldly.

  “Well, for my sake, I hope he kills again before you make the horrible mistake of executing an innocent man.”

  “For your sake, I hope so,” she said, turning the light off and exiting the room.

  Selene went in the guest room, grabbed her bag, and headed for the door; her only intent was on getting out of there as fast as she could. She couldn’t stand to be in the same building with Sam any longer.

  When they got outside, Marcus caught up with her, gently grabbing her shoulder. She turned to him and looked into his eyes. “What’s the big hurry?”

  “I can’t be in there any longer, at least not for now.”

  “You don’t think he’s telling the truth, do you?” he asked.

  “No, not one bit.”

  “Me, either. His story sounds fishy and unrealistic. If we weren’t able to track down this suspect he speaks of, how come he was able to?”

  “Right, exactly. And how come the murders have stopped since we locked him up? I don’t believe a word that asshole says. He’s the killer. They can execute him for all I care.”

  “Well, I’m glad you seem to agree with their decision now.”

  “Can we not talk about it for a little while? I need to get my mind off this,” she said as kindly as she could.

  “Me, too. Hey, listen, I gotta run some errands. Can I drop you off at your apartment, go do what I need to do, and come over when I’m done?”

  “Sure, honey, that’s fine.”

  Selene noticed that Marcus had stayed there until he saw that she got into the building okay before driving off. She loved that about him; so polite and caring. She made her way up to her apartment and went to unlock the door, noticing that the knob was locked, but not the deadbolt. ‘Hmm, that’s weird. I thought I locked that when I left this morning.’

  Letting it slide, she entered the apartment, hanging her blazer and purse on the hook b
y the door. She noticed something was odd. Everything looked normal, but she sensed something was wrong. She sniffed the air curiously and picked up a strange, yet familiar scent.

  Then, out of nowhere, she felt a crushing, sharp pain in the back of her head as something hard and heavy hit her, and she was knocked to the floor, lying on her stomach. Disoriented, she struggled to get up, but was held down with brute force. She managed to turn enough to see the man holding her down, as best as she could, anyway. In a blurred, double-vision, she recognized it was the strange man who paid her a visit in her office that day at work.

  “I found you,” he said, and when she started to scream, he covered her mouth with his hand. “It’s no use. No one is going to help you. You’re mine, and when I’m finished with you, you’re going to wish you were dead.”

  As her captor tied her wrists behind her back, fear began to overwhelm her. If this was a human, she could fend him off no problem. But this was a werewolf attacking her; quite possibly the werewolf that converted her. So many thoughts were running through her head at that moment, but the most important stood out over all the rest; she needed to escape.

  The man forcefully flipped her over and grabbed her by the throat, sniffing her neck, hair, and face. “Converting you was a mistake, you know that, right? You were supposed to die, like all the rest.”

  “I know,” she said, staring into his cold eyes. Then, with all her strength, she broke the bond on her wrists and pushed him off her, springing to her feet. It amazed her how quickly she had recovered from a blow to the head like that, and apparently he was shocked as well. “And you’ll regret it.”

  Remembering what Marcus had told her about thought and concentration, she leapt at him, changing into her wolf form in midair, her paws landing against his chest, sending him backwards. He sprung up and shifted to his brown wolf form, snarling.

  What came next, Selene had no idea. She had seen wolves fight before… on TV, but she had no idea how to do it herself. When he lunged at her the first time, she dodged him, whirled around, and sank her teeth into his back leg. With a yelp, he spun around and bit into her side. She shook him off and jumped on his back, wrapping her front legs around him. When her teeth were within an inch of his fur, he reared up on his hind legs like a horse, throwing her backwards. While she was on her back, she saw him lunge at her and rolled out of the way to miss the attack.

  She was thinking maybe she should have stayed in her human form. She knew how to fight as a human. They had to go through extensive training when they joined the agency. She knew how to take care of herself that way, but not in wolf form. So she ran.

  Selene ran off into her dark bedroom and hid on the other side of her bed, waiting for him to follow.

  “Oh, you’re a coward, are you?” he asked, walking into her bedroom bravely. “Went to hide in your bedroom. Come out and face me, little girl! Or, are you afraid to? You know, you’re no match for me.”

  Selene waited, hearing his footsteps grow closer and closer to the bed. She wanted to attack when he was close, and since he was in his human form, he would be most vulnerable. When it sounded like he was only a foot away from the bed, she leapt onto the bed and sprung off it toward him, her mouth open wide and teeth ready to tear into his flesh. She knocked him to the floor and her teeth almost came in contact with his throat when he shoved her face away. She snapped at his hands, biting into one of them. He yelled in pain, and in a fit of rage, he forcefully shoved her away and she slid across the hardwood floor, managing to stay on all fours.

  He quickly changed to his wolf form and let out a snarl so loud and vicious, she was convinced it was a roar. She snarled back and charged at him. He was ready for her this time, though. When she came in contact with him, he ducked, rolled, and threw her hard against the wall with a hard thud and crack as the drywall crumbled.

  She tried to get up, but he was on her in a second, pinning her to the ground and sinking his teeth into the back of her neck. She yelped loudly in pain and struggled to break free, but it seemed the more she struggled, the stronger his grip got. The pain quickly became overwhelming; so much that she didn’t know how much longer it would be until she lost consciousness.

  Then, as the room began to slowly go black, she heard another wolf’s loud snarl as the enemy wolf was torn off her back. In too much pain, she lay there unmoving, only able to partially listen to the fight. Then everything went black.

  Marcus, in his black wolf form, brutally tore into the brown wolf’s fur, aiming for his throat several times and missing.

  The werewolf was skilled, but he knew he couldn’t keep it up for long. The black wolf attacking him was far too brutal. He knew he was protecting his mate. One of the rules in the werewolf pact was to protect your mate at all costs, and the black wolf was certainly doing a good job at it.

  Escaping from Marcus’ vicious jaws, the brown wolf ran, leapt onto the bed, and right through the window, the glass shattering into a thousand pieces. Marcus rushed over, but by the time he made it to the window, the wolf had already changed to his human form and landed on his feet, three stories below. He stared up at Marcus for a second and grinned evilly before taking off, disappearing onto a side street.

  Marcus rushed over to Selene. She was now in her human form; not a good sign. He heard that was what usually happened when a werewolf died.

  “No, no, no…” he said, picking her up and holding her in his arms. “Please wake up, sweetheart. Please wake up.”

  She remained still.

  “I’m sorry I left your side for one moment,” he said frantically. “I thought we caught the killer. I thought you were safe. I’m so sorry, baby.” He looked down at her beautiful, yet blank face. “Don’t leave me. I’ve waited all my life for someone like you. I love you, Selene.”

  Only a couple seconds later, which felt like an eternity to Marcus, Selene’s eyelashes began to flutter as her eyes slowly opened. She smiled as her eyes began to focus, settling on him. She struggled to sit up, cringing in pain. She placed her hands on the sides of his face and ran her fingers through his hair, as she leaned in and kissed him.

  “You had me worried,” he said, letting out a sigh of relief.

  “Why? You can’t get rid of me that easily,” she joked.

  “I don’t want to get rid of you. I never want to get rid of you,” he said, smiling. Then he opened his mouth to repeat what he had said to her only a moment ago, but she gently pressed her finger against his lips to hush him.

  “I love you, too, Marcus.”

  ~ Chapter Eleven ~

  Immediately, as they made their way out to the car, Marcus called everyone at the agency, calling an emergency mandatory meeting. Once they were belted in, he took off, turning on the lights and siren. He wouldn’t have normally taken advantage of those privileges while he was off duty, but he had to this time. Besides, what could be more important than trying to catch a killer on the loose before he had the chance to kill again?

  When they arrived, Kate, James, Yvonne, Lucius, and Lin were already there, waiting.

  “What the hell, Marcus?” asked Lin, as in walked the rest of the agency, right behind Marcus and Selene. They were just in time to hear the answer to Lin’s question.

  “We have the wrong guy.” He got straight to the point. No sense wasting time on the details for now.

  “What do you mean, we have the wrong guy?” asked Yvonne, confused.

  They all looked at Selene, seeing the scrapes, cuts, and bite marks on her. Then she calmly explained, “A man snuck into my apartment a little while ago and attacked me. He said that converting me was a mistake; that I should have died like the rest. Then he tried to kill me, and he would have if Marcus hadn’t showed up.”

  “What happened, Marcus? How come you didn’t kill him?” asked Lucius.

  “He got away from me.” How come he couldn’t kill him? Were his skills rusty? Perhaps he needed to brush up on his fighting techniques.

  “Don’t beat up yo
urself over it,” said Kate. “You saved Selene’s life. You should be proud of that.”

  “Oh, I am, believe me.” He looked at Selene, making quick eye contact and smiling at her. Then he said, “Back on topic. We have the wrong guy. We were actually going to execute this innocent man, thanks to all of you.”

  “We’re sorry, Marcus,” said Tyrone.

  “You should be. Now, we have to release Sam and tell him we were wrong.”

  “First, let me ask, did you see the killer?” asked Lucius. “Do you happen to have an article of clothing with you with his scent on it?”

  “Yes, I do,” said Selene, taking off her shirt and handing it to him. She hated to do it, but that and her skirt were the only things with his scent on them, and she’d much rather them see her bra than her panties. She almost laughed at the thought, but managed to hold back. She was surprised at how polite everyone was, though. Or, perhaps it was because they feared Marcus’ retaliation if he caught one of them staring at her in just her bra and skirt.

  Lucius sniffed the shirt and passed it to James, who passed it to Kate, then Damian and Devon.

  “All of the werewolves, except for Kate, head out and search for this lowlife scum,” ordered Marcus. “He has great fighting skills, so don’t separate. When you find him, show no mercy. Selene and I and the others will take care of releasing Sam.”

  “Alright, boss,” said Damian as he and his brother headed out the door, followed by Lucius.

  “Be careful, honey,” Kate said to James.

  “I will. Sleep here until the killer is caught, alright? I want you and the babies to be safe.”

  “Okay, baby. I love you.”

  “I love you, too. I’ll be back soon, I promise,” he said, kissing her. Then he ran after Lucius, quickly catching up with him.

  Marcus led the way back to Sam’s cell. On their way back, Yvonne grabbed her small medical kit and caught up with the group again. Marcus turned on the light as he entered the room, startling Sam awake again.