Riley's Torment, A Moon's Glow Novel #2 by Christina Smith Page A

turned to
me. "What happened? Where did Charlotte bite you guys?" Joe asked,
his voice laced with desperation.
    My mind went
blank. Nothing in our experience could explain this. "She
didn't."
    His brows
furrowed. "She must have." He stood up to face me, stepping over
Lauren, careful not to hurt her. "Think!" he yelled, red-faced,
leaning toward me. He was so close I could smell meat on his
breath.
    I winced,
knowing not to take his aggressive behavior personally, but I had
no answers for him.
    "I'm telling
you the truth; she didn't bite us. We woke up here alone, and then
wandered around the island looking for neighbors. When we returned,
there were five wolves waiting. They chased us, but we got to the
cabin first. They tried to get in, so we pushed the shelf in front
of the door. We watched it all night.” I paused glancing from Nate
to Joe. They gazed at me, engrossed in my explanation. “The wolves
eventually gave up, and we went back to sleep this morning. When we
woke up, the shelf was still in place. It was easier to move today
than when we put it there last night. But then we started feeling
sick." I gulped. "I changed into a wolf when it got dark, and
crashed into the door to get out. Lauren didn't.”
    "That doesn't
make sense. You wouldn't have changed if you hadn't been bitten,"
Nate said more to himself then to us. "Check Lauren for marks.
Maybe it happened when you were unconscious."
    Nate and Joe
stepped aside to allow Lauren privacy while I looked for bites on
her body. I lifted the blanket and searched her front, and then I
lifted her to her side, trying not to cause her any more pain. She
panted, and moaned as another wave hit. Hair began to grow again,
and I had to wait until it receded listening to her screams so I
could look at her back. Tears flooded my eyes as I watched the
agony on her face. Finally, she turned back into a human, and I was
able to continue my search.
    "There's
nothing," I said finally, rubbing her arm softly. "I told you, she
didn’t bite us." I turned to face the men and spotted something out
of the corner of my eye. "Wait—what's that?" I placed the blanket
back over her and pointed to her upper thigh. There was a pinprick
that was red and irritated.
    "That's not a
bite," Joe observed as he leaned forward to inspect the wound. “The
hole is too small and there’s only one.”
    Lauren howled
in pain, making Joe jump to comfort her. Nate joined him, talking
lowly to Joe about what to do. Their voices were dull background
noise as I remembered what Lauren told me when we woke up in the
cabin. "We were drugged," I blurted out loud, voicing my thoughts.
Both Nate and Joe spun around to face me. "Lauren told me that
after Charlotte knocked me out the second time, she gave me a shot
with a syringe to keep me out. I assumed it was a sleeping
drug."
    Nate stood up.
"It must have been her saliva. But that doesn't explain Lauren's
condition. And it wouldn't have made you sleep." He paused, deep in
thought. "Unless her saliva was mixed with a drug. By adding the
drug to the werewolf saliva, she could have weakened its effects,
preventing Lauren from changing."
    Both Joe and I
stared at Nate. "Well, what do we do?" Joe asked, his voice weak
with worry.
    Nate turned to
face Joe with his shoulders set. "Bite her."
    Joe's eyes went
round with horror. "What? I can't do that. I love her."
    "If the drug
diluted Charlotte's saliva, then she needs stronger werewolf DNA in
her system to stop her from changing back and forth."
    Joe looked
torn; he obviously didn't want to hurt Lauren. "No." His voice was
a whisper as he shook his head.
    Lauren cried
out as her bones began to reshape, yet again. Nate stepped toward
Joe. "I would do it if I didn't think your wolf would attack me.
She’s your mate, and she’s in pain. It's the only way to stop
what's happening. She’s suffering, and if it goes on much longer,
she could die."
    "You don't know
that. We've never seen this before." Joe’s accent was so