Shadows of the Moon Ch. 03

"I've done something really, really stupid and I can't let them get to me. You must help me or I'll expose you."

"Hey! Take it easy! Don't you dare threaten me again, man. I'll see what I can do, but not because of some stupid threat. But because you're my friend. Where do you want to go and who will come after you?

"The people who bought the lab. They found the project Josh. They want to know what I did."

"What project? What are you talking about?"

"Project Moonlight. I didn't end it Josh. I did something stupid."

"Project Moonlight? What the hell Professor! You told me it was a dead end and that it was discarded long ago."

"It was, but I couldn't let it be. I was so stupid. The answer is in my blood and only she can sort this out-"

The call was cut short with a sharp click and a deathly silence settled over the three people listening to the recording. The sobbing voice of her father made Natalie shudder. Never before had she heard her father like this. Desperate. He was an arrogant self-centered man and she had never seen him not in control.

Aarik sighed and put the phone back in its pocket. "Josh was found dead shortly after this message was recorded."

"Why did you record it?"

"We didn't. This audio was sent to me four days ago from a disposable phone together with a copy of the remaining files of Project Moonlight."

"The thing my father worked on that you wont tell me about?"

"Yes."

Natalie sighed deeply and buried her face in her hands. "I can't believe this!" Looking back up she blinked away the tears struggling to erupt. "Lily died for this crap? Shit!"

"Maybe that's enough for now." Aarik gave her a sympathetic look. "Take the time you need to process this and if you need to talk to me again ask Liam or Eileen, they will know how to get in touch with me."

Natalie nodded numbly. Aarik rose to his feet and nodded at Liam. "Come on brother, give the woman some space."

Liam gave his brother a cold stare and Aarik accepted the challenge. The moment froze, their yes locked to each others daring the other to break first.

What's the matter with you, brother? She needs to process this. Aarik spoke in Liam's mind.

I need a moment with her.

Don't. She is distraught right now and don't need you aggravating her further.

Fuck off. I just need a moment.

For what exactly?

None of your business. Just... Please...

Aarik blinked at his brother in surprise and broke the challenge. Casting a thoughtful look at Natalie he nodded at Liam. "Natalie. Will you be okay in Liam's company?"

Natalie looked up from her curled up position and looked from one brother to the other. "Yeah. It's fine."

**

The moment Aarik closed the door behind him Liam was off the chair and knelt in front of Natalie. He had been itching to hold her since they started, feeling her distress. It had been torture to sit there and just listen.

Carefully untangling her hands from her hair he pulled her close. She tried halfheartedly to push him away but his strong arms enclosed her in a comforting embrace and she stopped resisting. Leaning her head on his shoulder she struggled to hold it together.

Soothingly he stroked her hair and hushed into her ear, telling her it would be alright. A wail forced it self out between her lips, quickly followed by a heart wrenching sob. There was no fighting it. She clung to him desperately, balling her fist in his shirt and sobbing helplessly. Liam dragged her down off the chair and into his lap, rocking her back and forth.

Burring her face in his neck she drank in the comfort he offered. She couldn't deal with this alone. If she didn't find something to hold on to she would give up. Her whole adult life had been spent on the run, forever alone. Even her father, no matter how much she disliked the guy he was still family.

Neither of them knew how long they sat like that but neither was inclined to break it up. Her sobs abated but still she sat cradled in his arms feeling completely empty. Her world had plummeted into chaos in just a few days.

"It's okay." He whispered softly into her curls. "I know it hurts."

She snuffled and sighed. "Thank you." Her mother had moved away when she was twelve and her father had been distant her whole life. The only thing she remembered from that time had been a lot of yelling and fighting. The only one she had ever been close to was Lily. To be held and comforted was a new experience and she prayed no more pain would come of it.

"I need to call my mother." She whispered, her voice still shaky.

Easing up on his embrace he let her fish the phone out of her pocket. Still in his arms with her back against his chest she dialed the number and put the phone to her ear. It felt like years between the tones. He felt so warm and secure behind her it made her relax back onto him more, rolling her head back to rest on his shoulder while he buried his nose in her hair. Their breathing in a slow steady rhythm, she waited for someone to pick up.

A click. "Hello. Lucy Bryant speaking."

"Mom?" Natalie sighed in relief.

"Nat, hun? Is that you?"

"Yes. Oh god, it's nice to hear your voice."

"Sweetheart where are you?"

Liam's lips brushed past the ear not occupied by the phone. "Don't." He whispered so silently she hardly heard it.

"Mom, I'm okay. I'll be fine. I need to tell you about Lily."

"She's coming up here next weekend you know."

"No, mom... I..." Her eyes welled up with tears again. "I..."

"Nat? What is it? Is Lil okay?"

"No, she's not. Mom, Lily is dead."

There was a moment of shocked silence before her mother spoke again. "What did you do, Nat? What did you do?"

"It wasn't me." She sobbed while Liam nuzzled her hair and rubbed her stomach with his thumb.

"Natalie. Turn yourself in sweetheart. They were here looking for you. If you did something then you must turn yourself in."

"No, mom. It wasn't me!"

While her mother repeated her previous advice that Natalie turn herself in Liam brushed past her ear again. "Who is she talking about?"

"Who? Who was looking for me?"

"The FBI Natalie. They are looking for you."

Liam closed his hand around hers and pressed the disconnect button.

"They have her!" Natalie gasped unable to believe what she had just heard.

"No. They are fishing for you."

"We must save her."

"Listen to me." He said with urgency. "Finding people is what I do. They are fishing for you. She'll be safe as long as she doesn't know where you are."

"What am I going to do?" Pulling her knees up she pushed back into him harder, black despair threatening to overwhelm her.

"Shh... You will get through this. She will be safe and so will you. I got you."

Natalie didn't answer. She just sat there absorbing his calm.

After quite some time he pushed her away slightly so he could stand up and drag her with him. "Come on. Let's get you to your room and your mind on other things for a while. There is nothing we can do right now anyway."

**

Liam dragged her back to her room and while she tapped herself a bath he sprawled on the bed, flipping through channels for something to watch. The warm water did wonders for her stressed out body. Working through her muscles and easing the tensions, it made her feel a lot better.

Her heart was still aching for her losses and worry for her mother but in the embrace of the warm liquid it felt like those worries could wait an hour or two. She was absolutely exhausted emotionally. She was tired of being confused, hurt, grieving, scared, hunted and afraid, one after another. Whatever happened to peace, safe and happiness?

Someone had left hair products, toothbrush, hairbrush and other necessities in her room. They had not been there this morning so she figured someone had brought it just for her. Washing out her blond hair, brushing her teeth, something she had not been able to do the previous night, and shaving her legs made her feel almost human again. A sense of detachment settled in after the calming effects of the bath, the events of the past few days seemed distant and hard to grasp. Like her mind had shut them out and would not open the door no matter how badly they clawed on it.

Looking herself over in the mirror she was satisfied with what she saw. Natalie was good looking and well aware of it. She had always been aware of it. Her blond hair and blue eyes had been her curse as a teenager. Getting boys had been easy, especially the wrong boys. They had swarmed around her and most of her young adult life had been one long row of wrong men.

Abusive. Yes she had tried that. Lasted two weeks before she broke it off.

Egocentric. Oh god yes. There had been plenty of those.

Cheating. Of course. Looking back she couldn't for her life understand how she didn't see that coming. Not just once, but tree times.

Violent. Yes. Not towards her but just generally violent.

When she ran away from her controlling father and the mess she had made of her life back home, she had pretty much given up on men. It was easier to just keep running, never getting attached. Sure there had been brief hook ups every now and then but she made damned sure none of them stayed.

The image of Liam aiming the gun at her would be abductor sent her in to turmoil. She remembered the feeling of relief, how she had seen him as her avenging angel. Strong and powerful he had sent them running. Then on the other hand, he had not hesitated long before pulling that trigger. What kind of man would shoot someone without thinking twice about it? For all he knew they could really have been agents.

Yet Liam did not strike her as the aggressive type. He was clam and in control. There seemed to be some passive aggressive tensions between him and his brother but she had a hard time seeing any one of them hashing it out in a brawl. They both seemed so sure of themselves.

She really liked Liam. There was no denying it. She needed him to get through this. Sighing she shook her head at the image in the mirror. "Girl you have taken chances on worse guys than him. Why get sensible now?" She told her own reflection.

Turning off the lights she left the bathroom to join him on the bed. He was still sprawled across it where she had left him but the remote lay forgotten inches from his hand. His chest rose and fell slowly and his eyes were closed.

"Liam?" She whispered but got no reaction. He was sound asleep in her bed.

She was about to wake him when there was a knock on the door and a voice called out that it was the things sent for from the kitchen. Natalie frowned at the door and looked down at the sleeping form in her bed. Had he ordered something? Deciding to find out what, she opened the door and a young dark haired man rolled in a cart stacked with snacks.

He smile at her pleasantly. "Will that be all, miss? We were told to take good care of you so if there is anything you need just let us..." He trailed off and his eyes went big as saucers at the sight of Liam in her bed. He blushed deeply and she realized what he must think.

"Umh... Know." He finished and shuffled his feet as if eager to get away.

"Yeah. No. I think you brought everything. There is enough on this cart to last us all week."

He nodded. Eyes wandering between Liam and herself.

"You may go now."

Stunned he looked back to her. "Oh. Umh. Sorry, miss. Have a good evening." His eyes were shining from excitement as he backed out of the room and she closed the door behind him.

Grabbing a bowl of ice cream from the cart she walked over to her side of the bed and looked down at the sleeping Liam. He was snoring lightly and it made him look absolutely adorable. Smiling to herself she put the bowl down, pulled the jeans down and crawled into bed with him. She could have argued that keeping pants on might be a good way to stay decent but weighing that against the fact that jeans were extremely uncomfortable to sleep in she choose comfort over decency.

Picking up the ice cream she flipped through the channels until she found something watchable and cuddled in close, resting her head on his chest. It was heaven. It felt safe. Savoring every bite of the ice cream and the warm body next to her she was perfectly at ease.

**

Sluggishly he lifted a arm to rub the sleep from his eyes. It felt heavy and disconnected from his body. Everything felt disconnected. Light flickered somewhere in the room but his half-asleep brain did not want to hold his eyes open long enough to look up the source.

A weight pinned his right arm and part of his chest to the bed. Something warm. He moaned at the lovely smell from whatever it was and his body reacted instantly, blood flowing to the area between his legs. Inhaling deeply his eyes finally fluttered wide open and he stared up into the wooden ceiling. The TV was still on and Natalie was asleep lying halfway on top of him. The wolf in him howled in triumph and it was clawing fiercely at his control. His pulse quickened at the images flowing through his mind of their naked sweaty bodies entangled together.

Breathing heavily he extracted himself from the sleeping woman with great difficulty. He rolled her over on her back and while posed above her he couldn't help but press his nose to her neck. What was it about this woman that made him so out of his mind? Mate? The wolf questioned cautiously in his mind. Liam frozen in place. Was this what it felt like? Was she his mate?

He had never considered getting a mate. For him life was about survival. He never kept any close social contact with anyone, a mate had never even crossed his mind.

...But holy fuck how he wanted her now. Despite knowing how wrong it was his tongue found it's way out of his mouth and slowly stroked the smooth skin of her neck. She tasted divine. Better than he ever dreamed of. With a deep groan and all the willpower he could muster he pushed away and sat back. His erection strained painfully against the coarse cloth of his pants. All he wanted was to be with her, to be in her.

Climbing off the bed he headed for the bathroom. How long have I been out? His body felt relaxed but his mind still clung to sleep, begging him for more. Once he had relieved himself and made it back to the bed he looked at his phone and found the time to be six in the morning. Roughly calculating he estimated he'd slept for at least eight hours. That was the most he had slept in one night for a long, long time and by the feel of it, it had been more qualitative sleep than usual too.

He turned off the TV and smiling down at the sleeping form he grabbed the hem of his sweater and pulled it up over his head, it was soon followed by his jeans and lifting the covers he slipped into bed beside her. She hummed contently in her sleep and put a hand to his naked chest as he lay there just watching her.

**

Natalie tried to roll to the side but something around her waist kept her on her back. Yawning and stretching she slowly opened her eyes. Liam was sound asleep on his stomach, his arm curled around her as if he was afraid to loose her if he didn't hold on tight. Carefully she blew on his ear until he lifted the arm to chase the annoyance away. Smiling she slipped out of the bed while the arm was lifted.

She brushed her teeth again and made herself ready to face the day. The only problem was her clothes. She still had on the red tank top, that and her jeans were the only piece of clothing she had. There wasn't much she could do about it now but maybe she could get a ride into town to pick something up. Shrugging she left it at that. If it was the only clothes she had then so be it. The most important thing was getting her new underwear. That would go a long way.

When she came back out Liam was sitting in bed, his elbows resting on his knees, and blinked at her sluggishly as if he just woken up.

"Hey beautiful." He greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning to you too. How did you sleep?" She smiled back at him.

His smile turned wider and he chuckled. "Absolutely fantastic. I can't remember when last I slept this good. I should sleep with company more often."

Natalie raised an eyebrow and crawled in between the sheets on her side of the bed. "Are you telling me that's unusual for you?" She tried to act nonchalant about her hidden query by grabbing the remote and turning the TV back on.

"It has been known to happen." His lips turning upwards in a smug smirk. "But I can't remember any of my previous company putting me to sleep for-" He glanced at his phone. "-I'd say ten hours."

"I'm sorry if I bore you. If you wanted me to entertain you maybe you should have been more clear about that." She huffed, pretending to be insulted.

"And what would you have done if I had been?"

There was a pregnant pause and she delayed her answer on purpose until his eyes flickered from the TV to her, looking for answers. Stretching her arms over her head she rolled her eyes innocently at him and bit her lip seductively. He tensed instantly and a feral look of wild desire entered his eyes. Natalie hesitated. For a moment she had been sure he would throw himself at her but then he pointedly looked away, breathing heavily.

"Fuck." She heard him curse under his breath.

"Liam?" Natalie propped herself up on an elbow and turned towards him but he would not look at her.

"Liam." She tried again with more force and slowly he turned to look at her. "What's up? You're acting really weird and it's freaking me out."

He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Nat. I just... It's been a while."

"What?" She stared at him in confusion.

"Since I had company bed-wise."

Natalie burst out laughing and fell back down to the bed. "Oh shit, Liam. I thought you were going to reveal something seriously fucked up and all you're nervous about is that you might have forgotten what to do with a woman?"

In a flourish of moment he rolled on top of her, straddling her waist and one hand on each side of her head for support. From his elevated position he looked down at her with a sheepish grin. "Don't poke the big bad wolf girl. You might wound my pride."

"Why don't the big bad wolf show me how much he remembers then? Prove me wrong." She whispered seductively, pushing her shoulders back to accentuate her breasts.

Liam gave her a hungry look and lifted his hand to caress her face. His thumb traveled lovingly down her nose to rest on her lips and she parted them to take him inside. Her eyes held his as she sucked his thumb suggestively. Remembering a dark cellar passage and this sexy man pressing her to the wall she knew she wanted more. There was some unspoken sexual attraction between them and she saw no reason to hold back. If this was the only good thing happening in her life right now then she would enjoy it any way she could.

Now when his clothes were off she had a good view of his body and it was gorgeous. Finely toned muscles, broad strong shoulders and he moved in a way that screamed dominance. There was a long scar going down from his neck across his chest. As a matter of fact she saw several scars but nothing quite as prominent as the one on his shoulder.

At the sight of his thumb disappearing into her mouth his eyes took on a whole new shade of fiery passion and the thumb was replaced by his hungry lips. The kiss wasn't gentle and using his thumb on her chin he pried her lips open to give his tongue access. Not that Natalie struggled, she was happy to open for him and let him explore. He kissed her like a man starving for her taste, like he had been drowning and she offered him the precious few breaths he needed to live. Quite possibly the best kiss of her life.