Blue Moon (20 page)

             
“I just don’t want you to feel like I’m leaving you to it, while I go off and have fun with Julian,” She tells me sadly.

             
“Don’t be stupid Dallah, seeing you with Julian makes me happy, I love you both dearly. Go have fun and I want all the details,” I tell her wiggling my eyebrows, making her and Ruk laugh.

Sitting on the bed with Ruk, we have piles of pillows behind our backs, while I sit reciting the words from the pages, which I have to cram in to my memory perfectly. What is not helping, is Ruk watching me with such an intensely I cannot concentrate.

             
“You can find the others Ruk, don’t feel like you need to baby sit me.”

             
“No, I want to be with you,” He tells me sweetly.

             
“Oh...ok,” I tell him while looking back to the page, trying to ignore the urge to lean over and kiss his moist plum lips. Damn it!

             
“Am I putting you off?” He asks with a light frown, which makes him look all the more dark and dangerous.

             
“No, I just don’t want you getting bored,” I tell him.

             
“Never would I be bored with you beautiful,” He tells me truthfully.

I shuffle a little on the bed, needing to make some noise so that he doesn’t hear my heart beat rocketing. With
being a Werewolf, Ruk and the Brothers’ have amazing hearing, sight and smell, so I have to be wary around them, I absolutely do not want him smelling my desire!

There is a knock at the door, breaking the tension, well my tension.

              “Who is it?” Ruk shouts sternly as if angry at the interruption.

             
“Me!” Mickey shouts back, while opening the door and walking through.

             
“Hey babe, what you doing?” He asks looking at me sitting with the open book that he helped to find.

             
“Just having a look at this,” I tell him holding it up and shrugging my shoulders as to not make a big deal out of it.

             
“Let's see,” He says as he jumps on the bed beside me. Wrapping his arms around my shoulder and kissing my head, while taking the book straight out of my hand.

I watch him as his face screws up, trying to make sense out of the book. To him, or anyone else, the words look like hundreds of little markings,
that is what Dallah and Ruk tell me anyway.

             
“What is this book about? It looks like a load of gibberish to me” He asks frowning.

             
“Just a book Mickey. What’s up, is everyone ok?” Ruk asks getting his attention away from the book.

             
“Nu, just wanted to check up on this lovely woman, and to make sure your being good to her,” Mickey tells him punching Ruk playfully, and getting an eye roll from Ruk.

             
“Shall we go and get some food? The guys are all down there,” He tells us with a silent plea for us to join him.

             
“I’m gunna stay here, I’m not hungry,” I tell him apologetically.

             
“You have to eat; you can look at the freaky book after.”

             
“I ate this morning, I just want to stay here, I’ll be fine I promise,” I tell him with a reassuring smile. He then jumps up, grabs me under the legs and throws me over his shoulder and starts laughing.

             
“I swear to god Mickey, you wanna put me down,” I scream at him while trying to wiggle out of his grip.

             
“You won’t do anything to me, you love me,” He says playfully.

             
“Ruk!” I scream at him for help, while he and Mickey walk out of the room casually.

             
“You need to eat,” He says simply.

Mickey swipes at my butt, while running down the mountain of stairs with me on his shoulder, which is scary as hell, as I’m helpless as a kitten bouncing about in this giant of a man’s grip.

While I repeatedly scream at him to put me down through fits of laughter, he finally lifts me of off him and sits me at the table in the kitchen next to Dom.

             
“Mickey you are such a shit sometimes,” I scold him.

             
“I know,” He tells me with a smirk and kisses my head before taking a seat.

As we sit eating the large lunch that the kitchen staff made for us,
Dallah’s cousins, Sarah, Hydie, and Laura join us. Hydie greets me with a hello and a friendly smile, while the other two barely look my way.

Suddenly the
Brothers’ all stand to their feet in fighting mode and growling fiercely, I stand up quickly needing to see what has happened to make them so angry, but it’s just Richard!

Richard and I lock eyes and as I tilt my head to the side to get a better look at him past Sallack’s humungous body, Richard’s eyes cloud over with regret, and something else that I don’t
recognize.

             
“DON’T LOOK AT HER!” Ruk growls at him, making me flinch. What has got into the Brothers’, they were keeping their cool with him last night, shit! Has Dallah been hurt? No, it couldn’t be that, I would know if she were, through our connection.

             
“Ruk,” I say his name to get his attention, as I slip my hand in his.

He turns his head to me, catching me off guard as his eyes are glowing a wonderful shade of purple.

              “It’s ok,” He tells me sadly and looks back at Richard, whom now has ten of his men stood protectively around him. As I helplessly watch on for a battle of Warlocks and Werewolves to take place, Richard surprises me by putting his arms out to his side to stop his men from reacting to the Brothers’ and Theo.

Richard has not taken his eyes from me, which gives me the creeps. Then Den walks towards him, standing in front of him, gaining his attention.

              “We need to speak,”

             
“Fine,” He tells Den, but makes no move to go, his eyes just bore into mine, he looks like he wants to speak with me, but why? Why are they all acting this way?

             
“What's going on?” I ask squeezing Ruk’s hand, but not looking away from Richard’s glare.

             
“Don’t look at him Zara!” Ruk warns me, and pulling my attention away from Richard.

             
“Tell me what’s going on! Why are you acting all this way?” I ask Ruk, and then look back to Richard, who is exiting the kitchen with Den close behind.

             
“Zara, you know we do not trust him, especially near you. We should go now.”

             
“What about Den?”

             
“He will be fine, the Brothers’ will go after him, and before you ask, they will not fight with Richard, we know what will be lost,” He tells me wrapping his arm around my waist as he speeds me away from everyone.

I know that he is my protector, so he
has naturally protected me, but this is silly, Richard only walked into the room. I cannot help but feel like something is being kept from me, and I don’t know if I will ever find out.

I spend the day with Ruk in Dallah’s room, letting the magical words from the book stain my memory. As the sun goes down, I know that it is time to get ready for this evening, which I am dreading after the way Richard and the Brothers’ reacted to each other. Dallah let us know that she will be joining us later on in the evening, so she has left me a dress to wear, which hangs in the wardrobe.

Shuffling through the masses of dresses, I see a note attached to a gold
skintight dress that flows elegantly down to the feet and looks like it has a train to it.

The note says;
Ruk will love this, trust me ; ) xxx

Oh my god
, is she for real! What is she doing what if he had been looking over my shoulder, rather than laying on her bed half-asleep.

Nevertheless, I
cannot help but laugh aloud at her bluntness; it is what I love about her.

             
“What’s so funny?” Ruk ask with his eyes still shut.

             
“Just a note from Dallah, you know what she’s like.”

             
“Yeah,” He says, and if he had his eyes open, I would bet a hundred pounds that he would be rolling his eyes right now.

Screwing up the note and throwing it into the bin
from the vanity table, I lay the dress on a chair while I go to the bathroom for a quick shower.

When I step out of the shower, I am startled by Ruk standing there, leaning against the bathroom wall, but quickly diverts his eyes from my naked body.

             
“Um... what are you doing in here?” I ask him and smile when I see his cheeks turn pink.

             
“Protecting you,” He tells me simply, as if it makes perfect sense.

             
“You know, I am not as weak as you think I am Ruk,” I tell him whilst wrapping my body in a towel. His gaze catches mine as he steps up to me.

             
“Oh, I know that beautiful, never have I known a woman as fearless as you.”

By complete accident! My gaze travels to his lips, pink and plump, the smoothness of them makes me want to feel them all over my body, Fuck it!

              “I need to get dressed now, can you give me a Sec,” I tell him in a fluster, turning away from him biting my lip to stop me from saying something silly like ‘kiss me’. I cannot keep thinking of him in this way, not now, not ever. However, after knowing what it is like being held in his arms, while his lips caress my bare skin. Oh crap! I’ve got it bad, if only he could be the one, it would make life easier.

             
“Ok, but so you know Zara, I will not leave your side while we are here,” He tells me gently.

Yeah, that
is what I am afraid of!

             
“Ok, got it ‘Ruk the protector’,” I tell him playfully and getting a snort of a laugh from him. But oh my, he really is living up to his name. The way he handled Richard today, had me feeling even more attracted to him, knowing that he really can look after me, protect me. I will never admit it to anyone, but that is what I need and want, I want someone to look after me, and fight my nightmares with me.

Chapter Thirteen

Walking into the ballroom with Ruk on my arm, I feel like a queen. The dress that
Dallah has designed is unbelievable, it is without doubt my favorite yet, and having Ruk beside me makes it all the more unbelievable.

Theo walks over to us, greeting Ruk with a nod of his head and me with a kiss on my cheek,

              “Angel you look stunning as usual,” Theo tells me with a grin.

             
“Thanks Theo, so do you... handsome I mean... uh is Dallah here yet?” I ask trying to get myself out of my tongue-tied state.

             
“Not yet, come on,” He nods his head over his back, and turns for us to follow him over to where we have sat every night.

Angus is first to speak to me as I sit at the table beside him, after I lean into him and kiss his cheek.

              “Sweet, you look mouth-watering,” He says with a wink, making my face flush with a warm glow.

             
“Angus, stop it. How do you think Parrise is doing,” I ask with concern, as it must be hard for him to be away from Parrise.

Each of the
Brothers’ and Theo stop speaking while they watch Angus for his reply, but he looks a little lost for words.

             
“Fine I’m sure. Do you want a drink sweet?” He asks already pouring me a glass of champagne, and passing it to me. I get the feeling he does not wish to talk about it.

             
“Thanks Angus,” I tell him before taking a sip, keeping a wary eye on him. I think is up to something, or is it that he's hiding something as he is looking a little guilty, but relieved at the same time, which is weird.

The evening goes surprisingly well, until Richard decides to grace us with his company, walking over to us with his bodyguards and... Den, who stands at his side like one of his own.

             
“Zara, Gentlemen,” He greets us before he turns on his heel and speaks with Laura, Hydie and Sarah.

There is something not right with everyone tonight; they all seem on edge, especially Richard.

Ruk’s arms come around me as he bends to talk to my ear.

             
“Dance with me beautiful?”

             
“I would love to,” I tell him with a meaningful smile.

We dance together in silence, while Ruk keeps his eyes firmly fixed on Richard and his men, so I go unnoticed checking him out, admiring his handsome side profile watching closely as his manly jaw flexes as if he’s ready to pounce and take down h
is enemy any second. I think he is unaware of how tight he is holding me, but I’m not complaining, enjoying the feel of his muscles tightening under my fingers. Then, suddenly I feel Dallah enter the room, and she is so very happy.

             
“Dallah’s back, let’s go find her,” I tell Ruk, breaking his concentration, looking at me surprised as if he’d forgotten I was here.

             
“Take my hand then,” He tells me while already slipping his large one into mine.

I see Dallah standing at the top table with Julian only a foot away from her, and she locks eyes with me smiling happily as we make our way to her, but just before we get to the others, Ruk pulls me to a halt and turns his face to whisper in my ear. The scent of his aftershave hits my nose, and the feel of his nose brushing against my ear does things to me they shouldn’t.

              “You know she was right, I do love the dress,” He whispers in a sensual tone. My mouth opens wide as I blush, my chest tightens, and I feel butterflies fluttering inside me. Ruk carries on pulling me past the crowds of people to get to Dallah, unaware of the effects his words caused.

Seeing us near, Dallah steps forward. “Oh look at you, I knew this dress would triumph the others,” She tells me with a knowing smile.

              “I love it Dallah, thank you. How was your day?” I ask with a mischievous smile, now bringing the blush to her cheeks.

             
“Perfect,” She tells me while sharing a shy look with Julian.

I smile at the both of them, that
is until Richard walks up to us with Den still at his side, but looking like he would rather be anywhere but there.

             
“Dallah, where have you been? You were meant to be here hours ago,” He tells her angrily before he looks straight at me with a look of... sympathy! WHAT THE...

             
“I was busy. Let’s get this over with Richard,” She tells him while reluctantly taking his arm to do the routine of meeting and greeting.

Ruk gives Richard a low growl of warning due to his eyes lingering on me for too long, which he sneers at
us and pulls Dallah away.

             
“Zara, come sit with me and have a drink,” Julian asks, giving me a wink.

I take his hand and sit with him at the table and soon were laughing and joking just
as we did back home. Ruk sits opposite us at the table, soon surrounded by five beautiful women, that I think are also werewolves as they flirt with him and ask him to dance with them. I know from my time with Sallack that werewolves have a hard time finding their true mate, which gives me a pang of jealousy as one of them sits on his lap brushing her fingers through his hair. The thought hits me, what if she is his mate. He continues smiling and laughing with them, while I feel like jumping up and ripping him away from them. I know it is wrong of me to feel that way, but the heart wants what the heart wants after all.

             
“Zara, you alright?” Julian asks me tenderly.

             
“Shit, sorry, what were you saying?” I ask him, but again, my eyes land on the women surrounding Ruk.

             
“Why are you looking at Ruk in that way Zara?” Julian asks me with a knowing tone.

             
“Just making sure he doesn’t need help,” I lie.

             
“Yeah, looks that way, why don’t you go over and join in the conversation.”

I look back at him with a sigh, and smile up at him.

              “No, he’s having fun; it’s nice to see him smile.”

             
“It's good to see you smile, he makes you smile?” He asks me with a look of understanding.

             
“He does, yeah.” I tell him sadly, and then look back in Ruk’s direction instantly catching his gaze, as he stands up brushing them all aside, which they don’t look too happy about. He heads towards me with a determined look on his face, which makes my heart hitch up a beat.

             
“Julian, give us a moment,” Ruk asks as he comes to stand beside us.

             
“Yeah, no worries.” He tells us with a grin as he walks over to join the Brothers’ and Theo, whom stand in a circle, and most likely plotting something.

Ruk takes Julian’s seat and looks at me with a smile while tilting his head to the side.

              “You’re happy? I haven’t seen you smile like that in a while,” He asks as he brings a strand of my hair forward and lays it over my shoulder.

             
“I was thinking the same thing about you,” I tell him, as my breath hitches when his eyes glow faintly, but no longer the brown shade his eyes are, but the purple shade they turned when we connected.

             
“Why are you looking at me like that beautiful?”

             
“It’s your eyes, they’re glowing purple, you look amazing,” I tell him while gazing at him in awe.

             
“Yeah? And every time you look at me like that, your eyes do the same thing,”

             
“No way! Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask before looking down shyly.

             
“Because I didn’t want it to burn out,” He tells me with his intense eyes searching mine.

Now I know this I have to be careful around Ruk in public, but I can’t help but look at him like he‘s the hottest man alive, so it will take some practice.

              “Hey Ruk, you wanna come up to my room with a few of my girls, we could have a lot of fun?” One of the women he was just speaking to blatantly asks, as she stands in front of him thrusting her chest out.

             
“No he doesn’t!” I tell her with an angry sneer, not giving him a chance to reply.

             
“Didn’t realize you had a girlfriend, my bad!” She laughs as she walks over to the Brothers’, now followed by her girlfriends.

             
“Sorry, but you could do much better than them,” I tell him apologetically, as I now feel bad for speaking for him.

             
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” He tells me with the largest grin on his face.

The singer who’s been entertaining us all night with her beautiful voice, stops and speaks into the microphone, I have no idea what she said, all I know is that every pair of eyes in the room are on me. However, as my eyes linger on Ruk, I tense up noticeably and look around the stilled room.

             
“Zara Carter, come to the stage please,” She asks politely.

             
“Why?” I shout out, making the Brothers’ laugh.

             
“Zara, guest of Princess Dallah, come please,” She repeats, looking annoyed that I haven’t yet made a move.

Standing to my feet with a frown in place, I make my way over to her, whilst I climb the few steps up to the stage; she takes my arm and
whispers to me,

             
“You have to sing, do you have a song, or shall I get the band to play something random,” She whispers then looks me in the eye.

             
“Are you being serious?” I screech at her, and curse this night for the rest of my life. I cannot walk away now that I am on the fucking stage, I will look scared, and that is something I don’t want.

             
“Fine, random it is,” I tell her with a sign.

Taking the microphone from her hand, my
heart thunders in my chest, I do not want to do this. As they play the intro, I instantly recognized the song, Shayne Ward; Promises. It is without doubt the most beautiful song I have ever heard. And heard it a lot I have, as it was the song I used to have on repeat when I was going through my heartache over Den, at the emotional age of 16.

             
“I can’t sing this!” I tell her in a whispered plea, but she ignores me and walks of the stage, the bitch!

Locking eyes with Den across the room, taking a deep breathe through my nose, I hold on to the microphone for dear life.
I cannot remember the last time I was this scared. I look at him angrily for doing this, because I know that this was his idea, there is no way in hell that this was random.

Trying to fight off the tears and fear, I don’t start to sing until the chorus kicks in.

The song is about a person being so desperately in love that they feel in heaven when around them, the need to have that special person with them tonight, wanting to die in your lover's arms. Needing that person, with no promises. Wanting to stay with that person forever, never to run away and be alone.

It is
a song that was meant for Den, now bringing up bad memories.

As the song comes to an end, I breathe heavily, while trying to keep a hold of my emotions. I’m so angry for Den doing this to me; I now have
a hundred speechless men and woman looking at me in a different light, that is what I didn’t want. Slowly they start to clap and whisper, while I hear Mickey give me a Wolf whistle and a few fist pumps, which makes me laugh, until I see the look on Den’s, Sallack’s and Ruk’s face’s.

As I walk off the stage, careful not to fall on my face, I get hands come out to
me, to touch me as they praise me for my voice.

Dallah appears in front of me with a look of unconditional love.

              “Don’t Dallah, please don’t!” I tell her through the tears in my eyes. I can feel how overwhelmed she is, and her wanting to tell me so, but I don’t want that, I want to find that little fucker Den and kill him!

             
“Zara, he’s gone, he left out the back,” She tells me knowing that I’m scanning the room for Den.

Walking through the masses of people, I make my way into the gardens, followed by Dallah close behind. I see Den sitting on a bench by the water fountain, with his head in his hands.

             
“Den! What the fuck was that? I know that was you! How could you put me through that?” I scream at him enraged.

He knows that I don’t sing in front of people because they go all starry eyed and hypnotic. Moreover, that song was so personal to me; it had so many hidden messages in it.

              “I needed to hear you sing it again. You used to sing that for me didn’t you?” He asks with a tear running down his cheek.