Full Moon Dangers (Full Moon Werewolves Book 1) Read online

  Paul led them through questions about what they were all doing now, and what they enjoyed most about acting in the show. “Victoria, was it hard being the only woman on the team?”

  She glanced at him. “No, but after long weeks on the set I was ready to be away from pranks, burping, and smelly shoes.”

  “Come on now, Gary didn’t smell that bad,” Aaron said.

  She smiled, falling into the sibling repartee they were used to. Paul took some questions from the audience as stills from the show ran on the screen behind them.

  “Victoria, is it weird for you to be here without Evan?”

  She felt that question in her stomach. “Of course. We wouldn’t have the show without him. He’s a precious part of my memories of Full Moon.”

  “Is that why you never got married?”

  Wow. It was easier to handle some of this when she was a kid, she thought.

  “Are you proposing?” Gary surprised her with that remark, and the crowd laughed. “We have some news.” He continued as the crowd went quiet again. “We are signing the papers for a movie based on Full Moon. It’s about what happens later, when our kids become teen werewolves. Paul is directing again.”

  “And Evan’s sister Elise will be making her acting debut.”

  At Paul’s words, Gary turned to Victoria. He smiled and nodded at her. “That’s why you signed.”

  “She’ll be my child on the show. I can watch out for her.”

  The crowd went bonkers after that and soon Victoria was waving, blowing kisses, then heading back to makeup for help getting the hot ears off.

  “Wait, Victoria, Paul wants you to stay in costume a minute.”

  She looked longingly at the makeup chair before a voice made her turn around.

  “Hi, Tori.” There was one more person who called her that. Rosalind had a newborn at the time of Evan’s death and she’d raised Elise alone after her rock star boyfriend took off. Elise called Victoria Tori from when she first started to talk, instinctively.

  Elise was a redhead with Evan’s smile and sass. Victoria loved her like the sister she never had, and had taught her through grade school at the acting studio. She went to hug her, admiring Elise’s ears and makeup. It hurt to see her a little, as she remembered when she met Evan at the casting call for the show. He was all brash confidence, like his sister was now.

  “Hey, I’m sorry about your office.” Elise gave her a hug.

  “Nothing was stolen. How did you know about it?” Victoria smoothed Elise’s fur over one ear. “I was going to call your mom and talk to her about it later today.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Mom mentioned it.”

  Victoria figured the detail about Evan’s Emmy was kept quiet or she would have heard from Rosalind already. They both turned as a staff member for the event signaled to them.

  “You’re coming out with me. Ready?” Elise was practically bouncing on her toes in her own dark outfit with piping.

  “Of course.”

  When they stepped back out and the announcer said who Elise was, the crowd roared as she did a werewolf crouch before bouncing back up.

  The noise turned to screams as Victoria heard pops. Was that really gunfire? She caught sight of a person to the side of the stage, aiming a gun. It was the person dressed in the dark outfit similar to what she was wearing. She saw the reflective piping, showing up across the legs, not just on the sides like the actors, and a wolf mask. “Run,” she said into her mic. At the same time she pushed Elise down, looking frantically to see how they could get off the stage. Where was security?

  She was inching backward, keeping her body shielding Elise from the gunfire that continued. She heard a growl. An actual wolf was next to her, between her and the gunman. She couldn’t move. The animal was snarling, huge and black.

  It seemed to look right at her for a moment, its golden eyes filled with something she couldn’t understand. It looked at the exit behind them, then back at her.

  “Elise, come on.” Victoria noticed that Elise had passed out, and that there was blood on the young woman’s arm. “Oh my God, you’re hurt.” She gathered the girl in her arms, stood, and ran for the exit. She glanced back to see the wolf spring off the stage towards the gunman.

  Backstage, Victoria tore off Elise’s jacket, and saw what that it looked like the bullet just grazed Elise’s arm. She took off her own jacket then stripped off her t-shirt before pressing it into the wound.

  The detectives found her like that a minute later, as they crawled to help her.

  “We were coming to talk to you anyway.”

  “Is the shooter gone?” Victoria’s eyes didn’t leave Elise as she held her t-shirt to the cut.

  “Here, let me take that.” Rex’s voice was quiet as he put his hand over the t-shirt. He took one arm off while taking off his suit jacket. Then he switched arms. “Put this around yourself.”

  Detective Morrison had her gun up, and was looking around. But no one came after them through the stage exit. A burst of voices came through the radio at her waist.

  “Shooter’s gone,” she said a minute later. “But I’d love to get us to a secure location.”

  “Did anyone out there get shot?” Victoria was shaking, and kept looking at Elise. “Did that wolf get the shooter?”

  “Why is there so much blood on the floor here?” Rex gently turned Elise. “Not from her.”

  Both detectives looked at Victoria. “Your leg.” That was the last thing Victoria heard.

  * * *

  “I mean, there’s lots of blood on that show, right? She didn’t pass out then.” The voice was vaguely familiar.

  “No, she didn’t. But that was fake. Maybe she’s not around it as much now,” Gary’s low voice answered.

  After finding Evan dead, with blood coming out of his mouth, I can’t stand the sight of it. The therapist she’d gone to while filming the last half season without Evan told her blood might be a trigger for her from now on.

  She opened her eyes. The detective from her studio, Rex, was there, talking to Gary, where they both sat in chairs near her bed. She seemed to be in a private room.

  “How’s Elise?” Her voice was raspy. She looked for water, noticing that her leg was very sore. She could feel a bandage on it now, too.

  “She’s fine. Thrilled that her fame was increased so much in the last five hours.” Gary stood to pour her a cup of water. “Her mom is here, too.”

  Victoria nodded. “I want to see them.” She smiled at Gary before taking the water and sipping.

  Gary handed her the bag she’d brought to the event, with her phone inside. “Rosalind has been calling her constantly after Elise was stitched up.”

  A buzzing came from her bag, and Victoria pulled out her phone to see Rosalind’s picture. “Ros! How is Elise? Are you okay?”

  “She’s fine – better than fine! Between this and the break-in at your studio, she’s getting so many followers and interview requests. I didn’t want you girls shot but what a boost! She’s going to have the career Evan deserved.”

  Victoria wondered if she’d hit her head or if she was really hearing this. “I’m glad she’s okay. Did you see it happen?”

  “I did, but I couldn’t get to you. I grabbed a ride to the hospital as they brought you both in. I was surprised to see you, too. I heard only Elise got hit. I’m sorry that happened.”

  “It’s just stitches. I’ll be okay. I’m going to try and come up to see you guys before I get out of here, but we’ll see.”

  “The press has gone wild, trying to get to Elise. The studio is sending security for us. Isn’t that nice?”

  Nothing about this was nice, but Victoria was glad Rosalind could find something to be happy about. She put her phone back in her bag after they said goodbye.

  “You can’t leave this room. It’s crazy out there. Detective Morrison said I have to stay here. I’ll let her know you’re awake.” Rex stepped near the window to call his partner.

>   “Did they catch the shooter?”

  “No.” Gary’s face showed lines of exhaustion.

  She reached up, and realized the wolf ears were still in her hair. She pulled on one experimentally, and it loosened a bit. A hand on her face let her know that she still had makeup on, too.

  “I want to get out of here. I have to call the studio.” She started to move her legs to the side of the bed, noticing that the leg was cut off one side of the pants. “Interesting look. Did I actually get shot?”

  “A graze, like Elise’s. She’s just like him, you know. When I arrived here and heard her laugh, it was Evan all over again.”

  “I know, and they have different fathers, too. I’m trying to do a better job taking care of her, though.” Victoria tried to stand.

  “Seriously, Tori? You’re so stubborn. Let me help you.” Gary put his arm around her. “What the hell are you even talking about? He had a drug problem. We all got him to go to rehab once. The temptation must have gotten to him.”

  “The night before — the night before I found him,” she still couldn’t talk easily about Evan’s death, “I knew he was drinking. I tried to get him to stop. I was so mad at him. I said — terrible things. He slapped me. I know he didn’t mean it.”

  “I know. I saw it.” Gary’s arm tightened around her. “Tori, you just got shot. Sit down. We can talk about this later.”

  “You saw him?”

  “I did. I followed him, and I hit him. When I left, he was in the chair in his trailer, holding a bag of ice to his cheek. I got him the ice, even after I hit him. He was miserable, saying he shouldn’t have hit you.”

  “If you’re feeling better, I’d like to get your statement about the shooting.” Rex was watching the two of them. “The shooter either had really bad aim, or just wanted to scare people. If I didn’t see the blood on both of you, I’d say they were shooting with blanks.”

  “Of course.” She shook her head to clear it of thoughts of Evan and the past. She leaned into Gary rather than sitting down. His weight was comforting. He even smelled good, she thought.

  Eventually, during the intense questioning that took place, she sat, though he sat with her. She tried to remember everything about the shooter, the gun, the things that happened before and afterwards. Something clicked in her mind about the costume, but she couldn’t think what it was right then.

  “Hey, Detective, the shooter seemed to have a costume like ours, but the legs were different, more lines on them.”

  “Lots of versions of these for cosplayers.”

  “But the reflective stuff on the sides; ours looked different. I don’t know, so much was happening.”

  Detective Rodriguez made a note.

  She felt tears when Gary kissed the top of her head while she was describing the moment Elise got shot. Kiss my lips, she thought, then jerked away from him at the inappropriate timing. Guess this childhood crush will never go completely away, she thought.

  The doctor came in, and looked at her wound, assuring her it would heal nicely before taking a picture with Gary and Victoria.

  While she was being examined, she wondered if she should mention the wolf that protected her and Elise. Did she imagine it? Sometimes people who feared shifters stirred up hate. The shifter was obviously trying to help here, but she could imagine people saying the shifter hurt them, and trying to discover who it was. She felt strongly that she knew the wolf. She kept quiet about it for now.

  “How come all your makeup is gone already?” she whispered to Gary after he left. “I don’t even want to know what that picture is going to look like.”

  He seemed to start to say something, and then stopped, glancing at Rex. They heard noises increasing outside the door. “We need to get out of here.” Gary had his phone to his ear, asking someone to help them get out of the hospital.

  Rex helped them avoid the crowd, saying the police would have a press conference later.

  She knew a few pictures were taken, despite being covered with Gary’s coat as he hustled her to the back elevator and out the staff door.

  To her surprise, Gary pushed her into a gray van, saying he had another function. The van took her home after driving around for a while and making sure no one was parked outside of her home.

  She stepped into her house then slid off Gary’s jacket. “Damn.” Gary’s jacket. The house was so quiet. She didn’t want to stay here. She grabbed the jacket and went to the house he owned on the edge of town.

  When she got close, she parked outside of the gated area, realizing she didn’t want to deal with the guard calling her in, and people knowing she followed him to his house. She could see his house, but not well. The garage was open.

  Victoria recognized one of the bodyguards as he got into the driver’s seat of the black SUV through her binoculars. Occasionally she was followed by media, usually on the anniversary of Evan’s death, and she used them to make sure her house and studio area were free of press before she went there.

  Gary got into the passenger seat, and they pulled onto the street.

  She had to scramble to turn around and follow before continuing behind it further out of the city limits. Traffic was getting lighter and she kept further back so they wouldn’t see her.

  When they pulled into the forest preserve on the edge of the city, she had a bad feeling. Was Gary into drugs? Was she about to see him do something illegal?

  She caught sight of Gary and his bodyguard at the sides of the SUV, and it seemed like they were stripping. She yanked her car into a parking space, and slid down in her seat while keeping her eyes on Gary. Was she watching a lover’s tryst? She’d never seen him naked before, and while she couldn’t see everything from across the dimly lit parking lot, she could see the well-defined chest and arm muscles that made millions of women go to his action films. His thigh muscles in particular were keeping her attention, as she’d never seen those bared on him, except during pool or summer scenes on the show when they were all younger. He turned around, as though he smelled something. She barely noticed that as she looked at his beautiful ass. She slid further, and couldn’t see for a moment, before popping up again.

  She screamed out loud when the bodyguard dropped to all fours and started shifting, ears and paws forming first before his body rapidly joined in the change. Then she glanced back at Gary, and found the wolf that had protected her during the shooting. He was a real werewolf.

  They trotted to the edge of the trees, and she quietly closed her car door as she followed them. She could hear movement on the path ahead of her, and hoped it was them and not more werewolves. Were Hunter and Aaron werewolves, too? She was pretty sure Evan wasn’t. Maybe he wouldn’t have struggled with his addictions as a werewolf, though she didn’t know.

  Silence. Maybe she should just go home.

  She turned around, ready to return to her truck, and found the black wolf in front of her.

  There was no fear, she realized later, back at her house. She and the wolf watched each other for a moment before he turned and ran off. She couldn’t move from the path for a moment. Did she imagine it?

  Returning home, she did something she usually did only on the anniversary of Evan’s death. She watched several episodes of the show. Was Gary a werewolf the entire time? She still couldn’t decide about Hunter and Aaron. Evan was as awkward in the early episodes as she was with the shifting, so she didn’t think he was really a werewolf. But Gary’s scenes, as he dropped and changed, or ran while shifting — they were always smooth.

  She googled how to turn into a werewolf. It pulled up lots of hate sites, as she suspected. In the last few years, the shifter bigots had really gained momentum. It made her sad to see the sites of suspected celebrity shifters, like they should be shunned.

  She got to her studio at seven the next morning after a restless night. Her leg was throbbing and she swallowed Advil along with her chai latte.

  “Why are you here?” Adrian stepped into her cleaned up office. She even had
a new desk.

  “How did you make this happen?”

  He waved a hand around. “We had another chair, and I made the teens help during their class time. But I wanted to tell you that we had a one million dollar donation to the scholarship fund online last night.”

  “From the shooting publicity? Who sent it?”

  “Warner Wolfson.”

  “That name can’t be — “ She turned and looked at Adrian. “Warner?”

  “You know him?”

  “Maybe.”

  After Adrian left, she pulled out her phone, wondering if Gary still had the same number. “I wouldn’t have told anyone,” she said simply.

  She first drank to excess when she was sixteen and had a fight with Evan over his pot smoking. She wanted him to see what it was like, but it wasn’t Evan who held her hair back while she threw up. Gary found her behind the trailers, and stayed with her until she felt better. While they were talking that night, she remembered asking him what his middle name was. Warner. She didn’t think he’d even remembered that night.

  “I wouldn’t have told anyone,” she said again when he sat down at the coffee shop an hour later. His response had an address and time. She took in the gray streaks in his hair, the scruff, the UCLA hoodie. “I don’t need a bribe.”

  He set a tea latte in front of her. “I know. I wanted to do it. I didn’t even know you had that scholarship set up in Evan’s name until I tried to find your address last night.”

  She stood up. She didn’t want to admit she’d kept track of his career, of the women he’d dated; she’d even gone to the musical where he substituted on Broadway for a few weeks, in disguise. And he didn’t even know where she lived.

  “Sit down, Tori.”

  She waited.

  “Or are you afraid of me?”

  She sat, abruptly. “No, of course not.” At least not for the reasons he was thinking. “Why are we here, Gary?”

  “I went to your play. In Reno.”