Moon, Bitten

Chapter Thirty-Five

Kate dropped the gun and it clamored to the carpet with a heavy thud. Her eyes widened as she gazed at the male bodies entangled in a pool of blood and for a heart-stopping moment she dared not breathe.

Only when Ronan shoved Danny's dead weight aside did she release a sharp exhalation.

  Julie shifted beside her, reaching down to retrieve her 40' Smith & Wesson from the carpet to return it securely to the small of her back.

  Ronan staggered to his feet, clutching his side as he gave Danny a quick, hard once-over before raising intense, burning eyes to her. The amount of space dividing them could not alter the impact of that smoldering stare and Kate would have held it for all eternity if not for Julie's sudden grip on her arm.

  "Are you okay?" her friend asked with concern glimmering in her cerulean eyes.

  She tore her gaze away from Ronan's to peer at Julie, managing a small nod of her head, "Y-yes." She stammered.

  Julie shook her head, "I'm not buying it. Come on, you need to sit down." She let Julie guide her by the arm into the bedroom because she seemed powerless to do anything else, realizing she was shaking.

  She sat down on the mattress and watched as Julie disappeared from the room, abandoning her to the sudden horrifying realization of what she'd done.

  Her ex-boyfriend lay dead at the bottom of her stairs. She had killed Danny. She was a murderer.

  A large shape filled her doorway and she lifted teary eyes to Ronan – and gasped. The amount of blood on his shirt snatched at the remaining color in her face as she staggered to her feet.

  He rushed forward and gripped her arms gently, "No, sit down, baby." He said softly, easing her back down onto the mattress, "I'm not hurt."

  The mattress dipped with their combined weight as Ronan reached out to tuck tendrils of hair behind her ear.

  A breath shuddered through her as she spared the doorway a glance and then peered back at him, "Your friend?"

  "He'll survive."

  She felt some relief – relief for Luna. But that relief was short-lived as unimaginable grief and guilt assailed her. It wrenched at her heart, making her chest ache something awful as she fisted the blankets beneath her. "I killed him, Ronan, I killed a man."

  "No, sweetheart," Ronan reached over and cupped her chin to gaze fiercely into her tearful eyes, "He was dead long before he walked through that door."

  She frowned at him, "What do you mean?"

  The silver in those eyes softened in their brilliance to a gentle gray, "The amount of drugs and alcohol in his body would have essentially killed him. It was only a matter of time."

  "But it didn't – " she started argumentatively.

  "No," he interjected, " – but the change would have. He was bitten and humans are not meant to survive the bite of a werewolf. His body was already fighting the transition, and with the combined toxins, it worsened his condition. You simply put him out of his misery."

  "Not that the bastard deserved it." Julie growled from the doorway.

  Kate and Ronan raised their eyes to cerulean daggers, "He deserved a prison cell, Jules." Kate contested.