Moon Dance

By Jove Chambers

Dana Gray loves her husband and her two-year-old daughter, but her life is far from perfect. Domestic strain weighs down her marriage, and her role as a stay-at-home mom cuts her off the rest of the world. It’s a thankless, never-ending job, and her only escape is shifting into a wolf and running beneath the trees and sky.

When Cole Randall is captured again, he leverages his knowledge about a threat to the werewolf community in exchange for a pardon. And he’s got a plan to neutralize this threat. He and Dana will go undercover. She’ll have to pretend to be his prisoner.

Dana knows that her draw to Cole is irrational and unwise. She knows that her life is far more stable without him in it. And she knows this plan of his is dangerous—not only to her safety, but to her relationship with her husband.

But she can’t resist Cole.

She can never resist him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: V. J. Chambers
• Release date: Mar 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310219122

Jove Chambers

Jove Chambers is the dark romance pen name for USA Today bestselling author, V. J. Chambers. Most of her books were originally published under that name.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Cole Randall stared down at the phone number written on the piece of paper, and then he crumpled it with one hand. He wasn’t going to call Dana after all. He’d gotten her phone number from the Sullivan Foundation’s website. Even though she’d apparently taken extended maternity leave, she was still listed as a consultant for the Pack Liaison Branch, and her phone number was there for anyone to see.

For all Cole knew, it was a dead-end number, anyway. One that would connect to voicemail in an office. And he sure as hell wasn’t leaving her a message.

No, he wasn’t going to call her at all.

He didn’t owe her anything.

She’d played him. She and the other members of the SF had used his knowledge of Hunter’s Moon Farm for their own ends. They’d told him that he was pardoned, but they’d had no intention of ever letting him go free.

They were all hypocrites, and she was the worst of them.

Worst because he knew she felt it. Deep inside, she knew what it really meant to be a wolf, to be connected to trees and the dark sky and the fat, full moon. And still, she hid behind the structure of the SF, hid behind her whitewashed marriage to that boyscout Avery Brooks, hid behind their child together, their perfect, average family. She hid there and pretended she didn’t know. But she…

Oh, hell, maybe she didn’t know. Maybe Cole had always just wanted to believe that she did. He remembered whispering things into her naked skin, telling her how she felt. He thought he’d been revealing to her an inner self—the self she was too stubborn and frightened to face. But maybe he’d only been projecting onto her, making her over into something she had never been.

In the end, did it really matter what happened to her?

If she died, he’d be free.

And anyway, he already was free.

He hadn’t seen her in over two years, and he never thought about her anymore.

Right. Never.

Which was why, when he’d found out about Enoch’s plans, his first thought had been that he had to warn Dana.

Cole smoothed out the crumpled paper. He sighed. Fuck it. He was going to call her, wasn’t he?

He took a deep breath, and then he got out his phone. He dialed the numbers on the paper and put the phone to his ear.

He waited.

It rang.

It was going to be an office phone, wasn’t it? It was just going to go to voicemail after two more rings, and that would be that, and then—

Hello?

Cole was stricken at the sound of her voice. He hadn’t expected his stomach to turn over, his chest to feel tight. He couldn’t speak.

Silence on the other end.

Hello? Is anyone there?

Dana. His voice came out choked.

More silence. And when she spoke again, her voice was different too. It had dropped to a whisper. Cole?

You’re in danger, he said. It was important to get it all out, just lay it out there for her. He didn’t want to catch up or exchange pleasantries. None of that mattered. When it came down to it, this woman hadn’t chosen him, had never even considered choosing him, even though he’d always been certain that—when it came to the two of them—there was no such thing as choice. They were meant to be, or so he’d thought. Something powerful drew them together, something deep and primal and bigger than anything else on earth. You need to get out of there. You need to take your family and leave the eastern regional SF branch. It’s not safe there.

W-what? She still sounded stunned. Cole, what are you talking about?

You just need to leave. And he needed to hang up now. He’d delivered his message, and there was no reason to stay on the line. But he didn’t. He wanted to hear her say something else. He wanted to listen to her speak for a little longer.

There was another voice, something muffled in the distance, coming through the receiver. Who are you on the phone with?

That would be Avery Brooks, wouldn’t it?

Dana’s voice. Avery, can you hold on—

Randall? Avery’s voice came on the line. Is that you? I knew you weren’t dead, you asshole.

Cole shut his eyes, gripping the phone tighter. Hang up, idiot. Hang up now.

You don’t get to call her, you know, said Avery. She doesn’t want anything to do with you. You need to leave her alone—

Just get her out. Take your child and get out of the SF headquarters. It’s not safe there, and you’re all going to be killed if you don’t leave. Cole jerked the phone away from his ear and forced himself to hang up.

His heart was pounding in his chest, and he was assailed by memories of Dana Gray. Her body chained up in his basement. Dragging a wet sponge over her skin. The way she responded to him, even then, even when she was afraid he was going to kill her.

Her body beneath his, her legs wrapped around him, sighing as he drove himself in and out of her.

The way she looked when she told him she hated him.

The way she felt in his arms when she was asleep.

The curve of her waist, the dip of her neck, the swell of her lips.

He jammed his phone back into his pocket and clenched his hands into fists.

I shouldn’t have called. I should have left her alone.

Nothing good was going to come of this. Cole had always known that things between him and Dana Gray could never end well, and he’d thought that ending was already past. Calling her… calling her only dug up all the feelings again. Feelings he was sure he’d buried.

Still… as much as he wanted to forget about her, he knew he didn’t want her hurt.

I had to call. I won’t let her die.

* * *

Dana Gray watched as her husband Avery lowered the phone from his ear. His movements were slow and deliberate, and she could see from the way that his jaw was twitching that he was angry.

She and Avery had been married for over two years now. Though she’d kept her maiden name, she was deeply connected to him, and she understood his moods as well as her own.

They were in the master bedroom of their apartment in the headquarters of the eastern regional branch of the Sullivan Foundation. Behind them, the covers of their bed were still pulled aside, rumpled and askew even though it was early evening. Dana hadn’t found time to make up the bed today, which probably would have annoyed him in and of itself.

But this...

She tried desperately not to make Avery angry, but sometimes he blew up anyway. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought that his temper was worse since the two had mated as wolves. Before then, Avery had seemed easygoing and affable. After, his emotions had sharpened. He seemed to react badly to anything that made him think he wasn’t right or in charge.

And Cole Randall…

Well, that was a person they never discussed. Ever.

How long have you known he was alive? Avery’s voice was strained.

She swallowed. I spoke to him once years ago, baby. He told me he was going to leave me alone and let me be happy, and he has. I haven’t spoken to him since then.

Avery glared at the phone in his hand. I’m supposed to believe that?

Believe what?

Believe that you haven’t spoken to him in years.

Well, it’s the truth.

He shook his head. "That’s not the way it is with you and him. You can’t resist him. You’ve shown time and time again that you’re willing to screw up everything in your life just to do what he tells you. He’s bad for you, Dana."

I know that. I’m not… She sighed and held out her hand. Can I have my phone back?

No.

No? She couldn’t believe he’d just said that.

No, I’m not letting him have a way to get in touch with you. He’s got your phone number, and we’re going to have to get it changed.

But that number is public. It’s posted on the website so that pack wolves can call me if they need—

You don’t even work anymore. Someone else can handle that. Avery put her phone in his pocket. Besides, I’m going to go through your call history to see if you’ve been in contact with him.

Her jaw dropped. That’s not fair.

Not fair because I’m going to find pictures of his cock on here or something?

She flushed in spite of herself. There was nothing going on between her and Cole, but somehow thinking about Cole’s… genitals made her feel hot all over.

Avery saw her reaction and clenched his jaw. "Just tell me. I’d rather hear it than be broadsided with evidence on this phone."

There’s no evidence on the phone. Nothing’s going on. I haven’t spoken to him in years. That’s the truth.

Yeah, well, forgive me if I don’t believe you.

I haven’t given you any reason not to believe me.

He barked out a harsh laugh. Are you kidding me? You’ve given me so many reasons I don’t even know where to start. You remember the time that you went down to his cell to question him about why he made you kill that wolf in his house? But later I come to find out that while you’re there, he’s sucking your tits. And then there was the time that you started fucking him right after you found out he murdered your mother? You remember that?

Dana glared at him. Not so loud with those words. Piper will hear you.

He rolled his eyes.

You can’t take my phone from me like I’m a teenager who’s been misbehaving. I’m an adult. I’m your wife. That’s my phone, and I won’t let you—

It’s for your own good. Even if you haven’t been talking to him, he’s started contact now, hasn’t he? And once you start talking to him every day, God knows what you’ll start doing.

He said I was in danger. Are we going to discuss that?

Some ploy to get you to talk to him again. He’s done it before, when he was forcing his beta wolves to shift out in the world just so you’d visit him in jail.

Dana pressed her lips together. I’m not trying to defend him. I know what he is. But I do want my phone back.

Too bad.

Avery, you are driving me crazy. If you don’t give me that phone right now—

You’ll what? He crossed his arms over his chest.

She was so frustrated that she felt like she might start crying. It wasn’t so much that she even used the phone very often. Hell, it had been in the bedroom, buried under clothes, when she heard it ring. She never got phone calls these days, because she didn’t have any reason for anyone to call her. She had no job, and she had no social life. So, all things considered, losing the phone didn’t really mean much.

But it was the principle of the thing.

Avery couldn’t take her personal property. He was her husband, but that didn’t give him the right to make decisions like that.

I know you’re jealous of him, but you really have no reason—

I’m not jealous of him. Avery’s nostrils flared. This isn’t about me. It’s about you. I’m trying to protect you from him, Dana.

Well, if you want me to be protected, what about what he said? About us leaving the SF because we’re in danger?

He shook his head. "Oh, no, we’re not playing Randall’s little game. We’re going to ignore him. You’re going to ignore him. Forget about him."

There was a creaking noise as the door to the bedroom opened wider. Mommy?

Dana peered around Avery to see her toddler Piper standing there chewing on one of her fingernails. She’d just started doing it, and Dana wasn’t sure if it was out of nervousness or stress or some kind of hand-to-mouth comfort thing. She wasn’t sure if she should worry about it or not, but she did worry. Everything about Piper made her worry.

Sweetie, Dana said. You’re biting your nails. The last website she’d looked at said that Piper was probably doing it subconsciously, and that gently bringing attention to the activity might help the child decide if she actually wanted to do it or not. The website said that most children would choose not to, but Dana wasn’t sure about any of it.

Sure enough, Piper removed her small fingers from her mouth, but she looked scolded and guilty, like she’d been caught doing something wrong.

Dana flinched. Was she giving Piper a complex about biting her fingernails? God, why was being a mother so damned hard?

Avery looked back and forth from Dana to Piper, his expression hard. And then he whisked over to the little girl, facial features breaking into a grin. He picked her up and held her high above his head. Pipers!

Piper giggled.

He pulled the little girl close. Mommy got a call from a bad man who wants to take her away from us, but Mommy’s not going to leave us, is she?

Dana’s eyes widened. How dare he? There was no reason to bring Piper into this. She was far too young to ever understand.

He kept going. Mommy’s going to stay right here and take care of you, because she loves you and she would never, ever—

I’m going for a run. Dana stalked past both of them.

Avery set down Piper. Hey, Dana, hold on.

But she didn’t listen. She had to get out of there. She hurried through the apartment, needing to get to the door as quickly as possible.

* * *

Dana pulled her shirt over her head. She was out in the woods near headquarters, far enough away that no one could see her as she stripped off her clothes. Carefully, she folded them all and left them in a small pile under a tree. She scrutinized the trunk, making sure she’d be able to recognize it later.

And then she relaxed everything in her body and let her wolf take over. It scrambled eagerly up her spine, overtaking her all at once, like the rush of orgasm. She exploded into fur and teeth and claws.

She yipped in excitement, enjoying the feeling of her paws against the forest floor, the wind in her pelt. She felt good. She felt right. She felt at peace.

She took off running immediately, bounding through the woods, luxuriating in her wolf form.

Things were easier when she was changed. Her thoughts were simpler and more primitive. She only cared about running, being one with her surroundings, and hunting. A few times, when she’d been out on a run in wolf form, she’d caught and killed rabbits or squirrels. When it was happening, it always seemed like the rightest thing in the universe. Being the wolf was a singularity of purpose, far away from the rest of her complicated life.

And her life was complicated these days.

It shouldn’t be, maybe. In terms of the things she was dealing with, her life should be easier. She didn’t work anymore. Instead, she stayed home full time with Piper. All she needed to do was take care of her daughter, keep the house clean, and make meals. Should be fairly straightforward.

But it wasn’t. It was hugely difficult, more difficult than Dana had ever imagined.

It was a job that was never done, for one thing, so it was exhausting. By the time she got breakfast cleaned up, it was practically time for lunch, and by the time lunch was cleaned up, it was practically time for dinner. And Piper was demanding, constantly demanding, constantly needing things. Of course, that was what children did. Piper was a little girl, and she needed Dana. Dana even liked the feeling of being needed, knowing how important she was to her daughter. It filled her with a sense of rightness not that different than the way she felt when she was the wolf. Being a mother was ancient and primitive, and she knew the feelings of it in her bones, the way she knew to hunt rabbits when she shifted.

But the feelings weren’t enough to guide her, because it was too confusing to know how to be a mother.

There were so many conflicting pieces of information, and there were so many things that Dana needed to protect the little girl from. Was she watching too much television? Was she playing with appropriate toys? If Piper was only given dolls, was she being conditioned to grow up to value having babies over a career? Should Piper be given toy stethoscopes instead? What if Piper liked the dolls better? Did that mean that she was already screwed up and there was nothing Dana could do about it?

On the other hand, what if Piper reacted badly from Dana’s interference? What if too much parental dictation of her imaginary life stunted her creativity and individuality?

Dana felt like every day was a battle, and every day, she failed in some way.

She lost her temper, or she didn’t make a healthy meal, or she didn’t get Piper to pick up her toys.

Before all of this, Dana had been very good at her job. She’d been a first-rate tracker who had brought it rogue werewolves. Rogues were wolves who’d changed for the first time and gone crazy, generally killing people. The SF found those wolves, brought them in, and trained them to control their shifts so that they didn’t have to shift at the full moon.

Then Dana had been promoted to head up her own branch of the SF—the Pack Liaison Branch. She’d pioneered the working relationship that the SF now had with traditional werewolf packs.

In the past, the SF had required all wolves to go through their training. But the training stripped a wolf of pack ties, and it focused on suppression of wolf characteristics. The traditional packs kept their shifting in control because they all had alpha wolves, and those alphas could control the shifts of the others in their packs. Packs were typically family units. Mothers and fathers were the male and female alphas, and their children were beta wolves. When a wolf took a mate, he or she became an alpha, in full control of shifting.

Dana and Avery had their own pack that way. They were alphas to little Piper.

But even though Avery was an alpha in his own right, he still struggled against his wolf. He had been trained by the SF to believe that he and the wolf were separate entities. That his human side was the true side of him, and that the wolf ought to be suppressed.

Dana used to believe that as well, but she didn’t really. Not anymore. She knew that things were better whenever she made sure to shift and run in the woods. Being one with her wolf meant that she was happier, more balanced. If it weren’t for running in her wolf skin, Dana was pretty sure that the strain of raising her daughter would have driven her insane by now.

She wished Avery would do it with her, because she thought it might mellow him a bit. He always seemed so tense and touchy. He’d get angry at the slightest thing. She tried to convince him to run with her, but Avery wouldn’t do it.

For one thing, Avery didn’t have as much control over his shifting as Dana did. The full moon forced wolves to shift. If they had an alpha, they would shift back. If they had gone through the SF training, they could resist the shift. Most wolves didn’t bother with shifting at any other time, treating it as a nuisance. But it was possible for every wolf to get mastery of his or her own shifting, to be able to do it at any time and to be able to do it without pain.

When Dana had been captured by Cole Randall, the wolf serial killer who had kept her chained in his basement while he tried to work up the nerve to kill her, Cole had taught her how to control her shifts. He had taught her how to embrace her wolf, to integrate both of them together, so that her wolf was part of her, and she was part of her wolf.

She thought she could teach Avery the same thing, but he resisted. He was afraid of the wolf, and he didn’t want to give in to it.

She tried to explain to him how blissful it was, how deeply peaceful and tranquil, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t interested, and that was that.

So Dana ran alone, glorying in her simplistic, animal side. And it was a sweet respite from the rest of her life, an oasis of freedom.

Sometimes, when she ran like this, she had an urge to keep running. Running forever, never shifting out of her wolf form. Simply staying in this perfect world of rightness and peace.

She felt it again as she leapt through the forest. Stay, whispered the leaves on the trees. Be with us.

Not today, Dana thought back.

But someday… someday she wondered if she just might do it.

CHAPTER TWO

Avery looked up to see his wife coming back into the apartment. She had that glow around her that she usually did when she’d come back from shifting into the wolf, and he had to admit that she was beautiful. He felt the familiar tug of his wolf to her. They were mated. She was his.

He wasn’t sure why that couldn’t be enough in and of itself.

Maybe it was because real life—human life—wasn’t quite as simple as wolf bonding.

But he still smiled at her. Hey, babe.

She made her way into the kitchen, which was sectioned off from the living room of their apartment by a breakfast bar that jutted out between the two rooms. You’re making dinner?

Avery gave the green beans in the skillet a stir. Just chicken nuggets, french fries, and green beans. All frozen stuff I’m heating up. It was Piper’s idea.

She kissed him on the cheek. Thanks, sweetheart.

Yeah, I made the bed too. He grinned at her.

Thanks. She sighed. I swear, I don’t understand why I can’t get on top of this house. It just seems so overwhelming.

He turned back to the green beans. They’d argued about this before. She didn’t have anything to do except keep the house clean and watch Piper, so he didn’t understand why everything was such a wreck all the time. But he didn’t want to have that argument again. He didn’t want to argue at all. So, he didn’t say anything.

She was quiet too. Then, she started to back out of the kitchen. Well, I guess I’ll sit down with Piper for a bit.

He reached for her and pulled her body against his.

She wrapped her arms around him.

He held her close. She was soft and small, still his Dana, and he knew her body as well as he knew his own.

She buried her face in his chest.

He planted a kiss on the top of her head.

They held onto each other like that for a long time.

Then she went into the living room. He listened while she made Piper’s dolls talk in high, silly voices. He listened to his daughter’s laughter.

God, he loved them both so much. He’d never given much thought to children, and Piper had come along quickly after he and Dana had officially become a couple. But the little girl was basically the best thing that had ever happened to him. The first time he’d seen her, all her tiny fingers and toes, squalling and squirming, he’d been overwhelmed with such a rush of love that it had nearly toppled him. He’d never expected to feel so much for someone.

And he was bonded to all of them through their wolfness as well. Dana was his mate, Piper was their beta wolf. They were connected so tightly and so deeply that being without them would be like losing part of himself.

Still.

That didn’t mean it was all easy, because it wasn’t. He thought that he and Dana would be good at being married and raising a child together. After all, they’d worked together as partners for years, and they had a good working dynamic. Somehow, he thought that the work dynamic would transfer into their family life.

But it didn’t, not really.

Dana was never happy anymore. Okay, that wasn’t fair. She was happy sometimes, but she was complaining more often than not. She seemed to be frustrated with every aspect of their lives together, and it was difficult for him not to take it as a personal affront. It was his job to make her happy, right? So, whenever she wasn’t, it must mean that he was doing something wrong. He didn’t know how to please her.

It didn’t help that his work was different than it used to be. Avery had enjoyed being a tracker more than anything. He was good at it, and it was important work. He liked the excitement of hunting down the rogues, and he liked the unpredictability of the job. He’d never known when he and Dana would get a call that would send them off to Maine or Massachusetts. They’d drive all night, sniff out the rogue, bring him back to headquarters. It was exhilarating. But it wasn’t a great job for a man with a family, because of all the travel and