Cunningham, Pat - Coyote Moon (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Read online

  Willy snarled. She didn’t want this useless male. She grabbed him by the neck and arm and flung him aside like the annoyance she considered him. Andy hit the floor with a startled yell. Beth’s smirk vanished when Willy landed on the bed on all fours. She surged forward, putting them nose to nose, with Beth crowded up against the headboard.

  Willy smiled through a voice ragged with fury. At any rate, her teeth were showing. “My, my, what big eyes you have. I’m going to rip them right out of your head, you spiteful little bitch.”

  Beth stared past her shoulder. Willy heard the creak of the floorboard and ducked, thereby catching the desk chair Andy swung at her on her side and shoulder rather than her head. The impact knocked her off the bed. She rolled to her feet and rose up, dizzy but more furious than ever.

  Beth screamed. Andy joined her. The shrill noises ripped at her ears like jagged spikes. Both blasted acrid olfactory scrapes of pure terror that ripped her nostrils open. She wanted to take them between her jaws and shake them both until neither had any life left.

  She might have tried it, if Andy hadn’t fainted. His slow-motion collapse left her with a clear view of her own reflection in her dresser mirror. Willy froze.

  That couldn’t be her. No way. Not that wild-eyed, wild-haired madwoman. Accent on the hair: tousled on her head, bristly on her face, sprouting out of her forearms and the backs of her hands. It went quite well with the lengthened claws and ears and fangs.

  Willy’s scream wasn’t as shrill as Beth’s or Andy’s. It came out more like a howl.

  If the window had been open, she might have tried to dive through it. Some shred of common sense reminded her the bedroom was on the second floor. She bolted out of the room and down the stairs instead. Eschewing the front door, she ran out the back, aimed at the forest beyond.

  She stumbled going over the McIlhenneys’ fence, which stood between her and wooded sanctuary. She landed on all fours and ran that way for several yards before she remembered to go upright. All down the block porch lights snapped on and neighbors came to doors and windows, drawn by the commotion at the Alvarez place. Willy put on a burst of speed and left it all behind.

  The pines spread their boughs wide to welcome her home. Willy plunged into the forest’s embrace with a whimper of relief. But she didn’t stop running. Animal panic had its claws in her now, and propelled her deeper into the trees and higher into the hills. Twice she thought she heard wolves howling. The sound spurred a fresh burst of terror and even greater speed. She had to get away. From Beth, from the wolves, from the memory of that bestial creature in the mirror, staring back at her with her eyes.

  Suddenly something appeared in her path—furry, four-legged, tawny, as startled as she. She vaulted right over it without breaking stride. The coyote yipped at her back, sounds that to her panicked brain almost seemed to form words: Hey, wait up!

  She didn’t wait. She ran, until exertion and her uphill course finally took their toll. Her headlong race became a ragged jog. She still refused to stop. If she stopped, all her long-held terrors would catch up with her, and she hadn’t the strength to fight them any more.

  At last her mind began to clear somewhat, enough that her surroundings registered. Trees, trees and more trees, not a house or human in sight. She discovered, much to her surprise, that the coyote had followed and now ran beside her. She could almost swear it looked concerned.

  Because she was watching the coyote and not where she went, she didn’t see the exposed root. She tripped and went flying. She would have taken a nasty fall if male, human arms hadn’t caught her. Cody steadied her while she staggered for footing. “Easy, darlin’, it’s okay. You’re okay. I’m right here.”

  She fought him. She couldn’t afford to stand still. She had escape from the beast. She fought, but only for seconds. She’d already spent all her strength. It was so much easier to just collapse against him and let his voice and embrace and his familiar prairie odor soothe her while she sobbed against his shoulder.

  Cody held her and murmured to her, sometimes in words, sometimes in an odd growly croon that she understood nevertheless. He offered his comfort until all sobs and shudders stopped and her breathing at least approached normal. She steeled herself and looked at her forearms, touched her face. No unwanted hair.

  “That’s my girl,” Cody said. “Feeling better now?”

  Willy sucked in air. Too many odors assaulted her. The forest sounded as noisy to her as a city street. Not to mention what Cody’s touch on her skin did to her. She shivered all over in panic of a different sort. “No, I’m not. I don’t know what’s happening. Beth—in my bed—I wanted to kill her. With my teeth. Like an animal. And then all that hair—” Get off that subject, quick. Find a smaller worry she could deal with. She peered beyond Cody’s shoulder. “Where are we? Jesus, how far did I run?”

  “Couple miles at least. Don’t fret it. I can get you back home when you’re ready.”

  Miles? She didn’t even like to jog. “How did you find me? How did you follow me? What happened to the wolves? What are you doing out in the woods in the middle of the night and—” She shoved away from him. “And why are you naked?”

  “That’s not really important right now.” Chaos take it, he’d hoped to ease her through this, slide her over the rough spots. No time now. “Willy darlin’, there’s a reason this is happening to you. You’re— Will you quit staring at my private parts?”

  “What the hell is that?”

  “Just what you think it is. Never mind. You—”

  “But it’s…fuzzy.”

  “We’re built different than what you’re probably used to. Works the same, though. I’ll be more than happy to give you a proper demonstration later on. Now listen up, because this is important. You’re a—”

  “Is that a red rocket?”

  “Willy, for the love’a Chaos—”

  A long, dark howl rose out of the east, chocked with irritation. The other wolf answered from farther to the south. Willy’s eyes went blank for a second as instinct surged to the fore. Her mouth opened before she could stop herself.

  Cody slapped his hand over her jaw and held it shut. “Don’t you dare answer. We got enough problems.”

  Too stunned to resist, she stood with his hand over her mouth and listened to the calls of the wolves retreat. Cody nodded in satisfaction. “Giving up. Must not’ve cut our trail. That’s a break, anyway. Yow!”

  He jerked his hand away. She wrenched herself out of his hold and backed off and glared at him. Her teeth had drawn blood. He licked it off his palm. “You done?”

  “Done? Done?” She heard and hated herself for the hysterical shriek in her voice, but she couldn’t stop it, any more than she could suppress the shudders that suddenly wracked her. “Yeah, I guess. I just ran four miles in two-inch heels and I’m out in the woods with a naked guy and I sprouted hair all over my body and I almost killed my sister with my teeth. You don’t get any more done than that.”

  “Um…don’t fret about the shoes. You lost those a ways back.”

  “Uh?” She glanced down. Sure enough, she was barefoot. Four miles barefoot. Like that made a difference. A laugh hiccupped out of her, right on the edge of tears. “Oh, screw the shoes! I’m scared and I’m tired and I don’t think I’m human and I don’t know what to doooo.”

  Her voice rose into a howl. Cody darted forward and gathered her into his arms and pressed her face to his pecs. “Into the chest, darlin’, atta girl. We don’t want the neighbors to hear.”

  “This isn’t the first time.” She knew she shouldn’t hold him so close, knew where that would take her, but she couldn’t let go. “High school. This boy, he wanted, I said no, he hit me and I tore his throat open. Blood all over my prom dress.” And long auburn hairs. Longer than the bob she’d worn back then. “Then tonight, with Beth. I was so mad I couldn’t think. I could taste her blood in my mouth. I can’t be around men. I can’t be around anybody. I don’t want to be around you because I
know what will happen but I can’t help it, you smell so goddam good.”

  Cody stroked her hair and let her babble it out of her system, and didn’t speak until her words wound down to whimpers and finally to nothing. He sighed carefully, in and out. She wasn’t really in a state to hear this, but… “Willy, listen up. We need to get you somewhere safe, in case those two flea-buses circle back. We’re out of time, so I gotta be blunt. You’re a werewolf.”

  She stiffened in his arms. So that’s how to snap a gal out of hysteria. “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me. Definite wolf. Not all the way, though, just half. From what I’m seeing and smelling, I’d say the wolf’s stronger than the human.”

  She lifted her head and stared at him. His eyes were inches from hers, and utterly sincere. “You’re serious.”

  “‘Fraid so. You almost shifted tonight, that’s what happened to you. The wolf and the ape are all mixed up and your body can’t make up its mind. I’m betting once you switch all the way, everything’ll sort itself out.”

  “Switch? You mean, into a wolf?” Good God, this must be loonie night, and here she was stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a naked one. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “Wish I could say yes, but you’re showing all the signs. You’re a wolf, and the sooner you own up to that—Hey, where you going?”

  “Home.” Willy marched past him, eyes carefully averted, in the direction she figured Coopersburg must lie. The panic had run its course; her brain operated coolly again, all unwanted thoughts and emotions carefully suppressed. Okay, not all, but distance from Cody would take care of that. And maybe by the time she got there, she’d have figured out a way to deal with Beth that didn’t involve homicide. “Werewolf, my ass.”

  In the blink of an eye Cody shot ahead of her and planted himself in her path. “I can see you’ve gotten good at this, but you can’t keep running forever. Face facts, darlin’. You’re a wolf, pure and simple, and you better accept it, or what happened tonight’ll happen again. Next time you might kill somebody.”

  Like she hadn’t thought of that. Quick, distract herself. She waved her arm at the sky. “Explain why I’m human while a full moon’s out.”

  “It only works like that in the movies. We can change whenever we want.”

  “‘We’? So you’re a werewolf, too? Well, I guess that explains the lack of clothing.”

  “Not wolf. Coyote.”

  “Oh? Well, that’s a big difference.” She started walking again.

  He got in her way again. She glared at him, seething over the effort it took to keep her gaze locked on his and not let it dip. Her mood swings threatened to swing her in that totally inappropriate direction again. Think of something else. “Okay, I’ll play along. How am I supposed to…switch?”

  “First you take your clothes off.”

  “That’s what I thought.” She stalked down the hillside. “That’s the sickest pickup line I’ve ever heard.”

  She picked the stretch with the fewest rocks and stomped along it. She kept her glare riveted straight ahead, so she wouldn’t have to look at Cody. She could hear him trotting at her side, just out of reach. “Not a line,” he said, “just common sense. You’ll rip your clothes if you try to change in ‘em. Just thinking ahead, is all.”

  “Of course,” she said frostily. “And I suppose in order to achieve this ‘switch’ I have to sleep with you?”

  “Well, no. Never heard of it done that way.” His voice lit up. “Might be fun, though.”

  “I’m calling the cops when I get home. I’m having you put away.” And maybe herself, right after.

  “If that’s what makes you happy. I’m betting it won’t.” He reached for her arm. “For your own good—”

  She snapped at him, a move so quick, so instinctive, she had no time to think. Her teeth clicked together just short of his fingers. She followed it up with a snarl that would have backed up a whole pack of wolves. Cody stood his ground and waited her out. The snarl died away when she realized what she’d done. Her color drained off until she was pale as the moon.

  “That’s her,” Cody said softly. “The wolf. You don’t let her out, she’ll kill you. Chew you up from the inside.”

  “No. I’m not. You’re not. Those things don’t exist.” She would have bolted, but Cody caught hold of her and wouldn’t let go, no matter how much she thrashed and snapped.

  “Atta girl,” he encouraged. “Set her loose. I’d rather we didn’t do it like this, but like my daddy always says, any den in a twister.”

  Willy ground out a curse and kicked. Her knee fell short of its target. Their legs tangled and they tumbled to the ground. She tried to scramble up, but couldn’t find her footing. Her hands and feet kept sliding all over the carpet of pine needles, and Cody. Like having four legs that refused to cooperate with a brain programmed to deal with only two.

  “That’s the spirit, darlin’. Hey, is that hair on your neck?”

  She aimed a punch at him, and missed. How dare he make jokes while she—oh crap. While she rolled around on the ground on top of a naked psycho. She shoved away from him and scrabbled back. “Don’t touch me. Don’t come near me.”

  “You sure?” His grin infuriated her. “For our breed, this counts as foreplay.”

  “You disgusting son of a—”

  Coyote. Cody was gone. She blinked and he blurred. The coyote crouched in front of her, forelegs splayed and hindquarters hiked in the air. He waved his tail and yapped at her, an invitation to play.

  Willy gulped, hard. I did not just see that.

  The coyote lolled his tongue. Cody’s grin on canine jaws. His yellow eyes held Cody’s twinkle. He rocked back on his hindquarters and became Cody again, kneeling before her. “See that? Nothing to it. Now you try.”

  I’m not going to scream. Screaming is for sissies.

  She fainted instead.

  * * * *

  Cody’s rough, wet tongue washing against her cheek brought her back to consciousness. She opened her eyes. Her gaze filled up with the sky and the stars. And the moon, ducked behind the towering crown of a pine as if embarrassed.

  Cody became a man again, and tenderly stroked her hair back from her forehead. “Too much too quick?”

  “I’d say so.” She shut her eyes and stayed on the ground. She wasn’t quite ready to sit up and face this new reality just yet. “How did you do that?”

  “Durned if I know. It’s just how we are.” He moved his hand to her shoulder and neck and massaged the rigid muscles there. “I don’t know what the wolves believe, but we hold the God of Chaos created coyotes because he felt the world could use a laugh. Seems as good an explanation as any.”

  “So you’re a coyote. And I’m…a wolf. Or half a wolf, anyway.”

  “That’s how it’s shaping up. Maybe the human half’s why your pack abandoned you. How long you been like this?”

  “Like what? Living life in an emotional blender?” She snorted. “Forever, it feels like. Since puberty for sure. That’s when the crazy dreams started. Running naked through the woods, howling with a wolf pack…oh God.” She screwed her eyes more tightly shut, like that would end it. “I kept telling myself it’s because I read The Jungle Book when I was six.”

  “Blamed crime, that’s what it is. Kick a pup out without warning her. Well, we can fix this. Normally your family’d be around you for this, but you’ll have to make do with me.” He slid his arm under her shoulders and eased her upright. “You ready to give it a go?”

  Willy opened her eyes. She studied his face. And smacked him hard across the cheek.

  Cody rocked back. “What the Sam Hill was that for?”

  “For coming on to me in the garage, you bastard. For jumping all over me and licking my face—”

  “Hey, you invited me over. How’s a feller supposed to say no?”

  “I thought you were a dog!”

  “I can be a dog for you, if that’s what revs your engine.”

 
He just couldn’t keep that grin off his face. “All right, let’s get this over with. What do I do?”

  “First off, you’re gonna have to lose the clothing.”

  “Is that really necessary?”

  “Yeah, it is. Human clothes don’t fit so good on a canine body.” He indicated his nudity with a rueful shrug. “Gets expensive after awhile.”

  She thinned her eyes at him. “Turn around.”

  “What for?”

  “You know damn well what for. You’ve had all the freebies you’re going to get.”

  “Suit yourself.” He hitched around until he had his back to her. He gazed blandly at the trees until he heard the slither of fabric over flesh, then glanced over his shoulder.

  Oh mama, had he picked a fine one. She must be lifting those cars she worked on, to get arm and leg muscles toned that nice. Unlike coyote gals, who ran too skinny, she had a bit of flesh on her. It made her curvy, and threw off an illusion of softness. Her auburn hair tumbled over her shoulders, partly obscuring her face. He pictured that hair, its thickness and texture and scent, all over her body, and couldn’t quell an anticipatory whine.

  She glanced over. “Hey! I said no peeking!”

  He shrugged, but didn’t look away. “I’m a coyote. What’d you expect?”

  “You’re a—” She snapped her jaws shut. Words failed her when it came to Cody Gray. She let the last of her clothing drop and stood before him in her bra and panties. “Now what?”

  He gestured at her undies. “Those, too.”

  She folded her arms. “No way.”

  “Okay but those panties are gonna chafe you something fierce.” He got up and went to her, and even managed to lay a hand on her shoulder without it getting bit off. Her scowl lied; her trembling betrayed her. “This isn’t something to be scared of,” he told her. “That back there, with your sister, that ain’t how it is. It’s not about violence. It’s about letting your wild side out so it can run around a bit. I get the feeling”—he worked his finger under the bra strap biting into her skin—“you tend to keep yourself tied up too tight for too long a stretch.”