Bright Moon (8 page)

“That’s a good start,” Clara said brightly.
“Do you know how long you were a wild wolf?”

Her wild tangle of hair shook back and
forth. “No, it was a very long time ago though.”

“Do you remember when you were born?”

Her head shook again.

“What about when you were infected?”

“I’m not sure…I believe I recall the
incident, but not when.”

“Really? What happened?”

The she wolf’s yellow eyes glinted as she
tried to relive the memory. “There was a dead wolf in the field…it
was enormous and white. I noticed it was breathing, but it wouldn’t
respond until I tried to move it. I don’t recall where it bit me.
All I remember is being hot and cold…then, just like that, I was
better. I was far more alive than I remembered feeling previous to
the encounter. I had no knowledge of what actually happened until
the moon…my parents were afraid so I left. Parker—”

“Parker?” Clara immediately recognized the
name.

“Yes, he tried to catch me, but I ran fast
and far. He never found me. Sometimes I smelled him, but I knew to
run far, far away.”

“What does he want?”
She shook her head yet again. “I don’t know. He smelled of death. I
knew he was dangerous. I never knew more of him than his scent
before Tyson informed me of his name.”

Clara couldn’t imagine someone crazy enough
to cross a werewolf. Surely pursuing such inhuman beasts with
monstrous powers was a feat no sane man would take on.

“Is it difficult to be human?” she asked,
remembering how weak Tyson was when he fought his wolf
instincts.

“Yes!” Her eyes glowed golden with the
intensity of her words. “Every moment I take a breath in this body
is agony. I feel trapped and the only way to free myself is to
change shape.”

Guilt washed over her. What if the she
werewolf didn’t want to remember her mortal life? Clara freed her
arm from the support she offered. Her legs were no longer numb or
prickling with needles.

“Are you sorry we crossed paths then?”

“Goodness no! You don’t understand. Even
though being a wolf is liberating, if I forget my human bits then
I’ve forgotten who I am. I’m glad we met and I’m grateful for what
you did.”

Clara laughed shortly. “I didn’t do
anything, it sort of just happened.”

The silver wolf looked puzzled and opened
her mouth to speak. Headlights appeared through the trees, stopping
their conversation. The car weaved in and out of an unseen road too
quickly to be human and they knew Tyson approached. Tires ground in
the dirt when he came to an abrupt stop nearby. He stepped from the
car and was next to her in a heartbeat.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked.

“I think so.”

“
That
is a car?” the silver wolf
injected, staring. A small amount of fear showed on her face. “I’m
not riding in that.”

“You’ve never seen a car?” Tyson asked
disbelievingly.

“Of course I have. They kill many animals in
the forest.”

Tyson’s blue eyes went wide, shining in the
starlight. “I think you’ve been in your wolf shape longer than I
realized. This car won’t kill any animals while I’m driving. For
now, this is how we travel. It’s the only way into the city.”

The she wolf glared at their ride as if it
had threatened her pack. Tyson ignored her and took a hold of
Clara’s arm, pulling her toward the vehicle. He put her in the
front seat and, when the woman with yellow eyes remained a few feet
off, he called to her. “Are you coming or not?”

Reluctantly, she moved toward the car. “You
know I cannot stay here,” she mumbled. Tyson popped the back door
open for her.

“You aren’t going to lose control are
you?”

“No, I will be fine,” she said through
gritted teeth. She slid in, graceful as a cat. Clara twisted in her
seat.

“Why can’t you stay here if you want? I
mean, I’m not saying I don’t want you to come, you just make it
sound like you don’t have a choice.”

Tyson, of course, was in the driver’s seat
by then. “She doesn’t. She’s bound to you.”

“Bound?” Clara repeated in shock. “How?”

“I am still trying to work that out.
Werewolves sometimes form bonds with one another, but I’ve never
seen this happen between a mortal and a werewolf,” Tyson answered
for her, repeating some of what he’d said before. He drove the car
out of the woods and they rattled along on a dirt road as he pushed
the vehicle faster than seemed safe. “It’s kind of like someone
who’s found their long lost sister, or very good friend. She feels
bound to you in that way, except magnified by a hundred. If we left
her there, she would be tormented until she found you again.”

Clara felt guiltier than before and kept her
peace the rest of the ride. Luckily it wasn’t a long one. Tyson
pulled into a hotel parking lot, taking the car around back and
switching the engine off. Before the car could die down he was at
Clara’s door, opening both it and the back one for the
she-wolf.

“Are we going to check in?” Clara asked.
Tyson dangled a set of keys in front of her.

“It’s done.”

The silver wolf stepped from the car,
staring at the tall hotel building, her eyes round and glinting in
the low street light.

“Haven’t you ever seen a hotel before?”
Tyson asked her, watching closely to gauge her reaction.

“You call this a hotel? I’ve never seen a
building this large and…”

“And what?”

“Reflective.”

Clara couldn’t hold back a smile of
amusement. The hotel, with its many windows, was reflective in the
city light. The thought of someone never seeing one before was
boggling.

“You really have been in the woods too
long,” Tyson commented seriously.

Their room was fairly high, all the way up
on level twelve. Tyson led the way with a gimping mortal and a
gawking she werewolf. To make matters worse, he opted to take the
stairs. “I don’t think an elevator ride would be a good idea for
our new friend,” he explained. “I know you’re hurting, I can carry
you.”

Clara shook her head. “Thank you, but I can
make it.” Her legs burned, but she forced them one in front of the
other. They weakened then gave way before they reached the second
flight. Tyson caught her and pulled her into his arms before she
knew what happened. The she-wolf was already a few flights ahead,
too nervous to wait in the cramped space. “Sorry,” Clara muttered
and lowered her head.

“Sorry?” he asked and his arms tensed,
holding her closer. His cheek touched hers when he spoke in her
ear. “Don’t be sorry.” She forgot how to make words find their way
to her mouth until he reached their room and put her on her feet to
unlock the door.

“Thank you,” she whispered with pink rising
in her cheeks.

Two queen sized beds took up most of the
room and she wanted nothing more than to fall on one and sleep for
days—even weeks. She felt particularly grimy as surveyed the neat
room, especially when she noted how dirt smudged her hands and arms
were.

“I think you’ll find everything you need in
the bathroom. We’ll be safe here until your brother and Jack catch
up, so try to make the most of it,” Tyson said.

“How long are we staying?” the she-wolf
asked. She wandered the room, poking and touching things unfamiliar
to her, which was most everything.

“A few days. Maybe more, maybe less. We
should be prepared for anything.”

Clara edged her way to the bathroom and
slipped in, shutting the door firmly. There were sets of folded
clothes, one of which had a paper “C” pinned on it. She guessed
that pile was for her. She was glad for the items, even is she
didn’t know how Tyson had the time to devote so much attention to
detail in such a short time.

A hot shower helped relax her sore muscles.
She pressed her forehead to the tile and let the spray dissolve
what ache it could. After a time, she was afraid she’d fall asleep
standing there and hurried to finish. The gash on her shoulder had
healed enough that she didn’t need a new bandage and was able to
discard the old one. She was elated to find her pile of clothing
fit pretty well. The outfit was cotton, much like the one she’d
found in her room at Tyson’s mansion. She located a comb and ran it
through her hair, taking some time to get all the tangles out. When
she was satisfied with her appearance, she discarded her dirty
clothes and left. Steam spilled into their quarters when she opened
the door. Like any hotel room Clara had ever seen, there was a
small area devoted to dining. A plain wooden table stood under a
window that overlooked the city. The silver wolf was there and ate
from a large plate that had since found its way to the room. The
thick cut of steak she ate almost made Clara forget she was
vegetarian and her stomach rumbled with hunger.

“Here,” Tyson said while handing Clara a
plate. With her attention on the food, she hadn’t noticed him
standing next to a trolley loaded with plates of food. She took the
dish offered and her heart dropped. It was a burger. “It’s a garden
burger,” Tyson said before she could make a face.

“Thank you, but how did you know I—”

He jerked a thumb at the she werewolf. “She
told me.”

“Oh.” She moved to the table and sat
down.

“I’ve got to run a few errands,” Tyson said.
“Our new friend will stay with you.”

Clara was chewing and nodded in
response.

“Remember,” Tyson said to the silver wolf.
“Don’t let her out of your sight, not even for a moment.”

“I will be careful,” she replied.

Tyson left and Clara ate her food, watching
as the woman across from her cut another large piece of meat and
put it in her mouth. Clara swallowed and said, “Have you been able
to remember anything more?”
She nodded, her wild, tangled hair bouncing and her eyes burned
bright yellow. “My name is Mesha,” she said proudly.

“Mesha? What a lovely name!”

“Thank you.” She smiled after swallowing
another large chunk of beef. “I’m still trying to recall my birth
date. It may take a little more time.”

“What about your parents? Do you remember
their names?”

Mesha paused before speaking, deep in
thought. “I think I had a sister, Margaret, or…Mary?”

“That’s alright,” Clara assured her. “At the
rate your memory is coming back, you’ll remember everything in no
time.”

She nodded. “I think it would help if I
handled things I was more accustomed to. Everything has changed so
much that nothing looks the same. Even your clothes are strange to
me.”

“It’s a little odd not knowing how old you
are,” Clara agreed. “You appear to be about my age, but it sounds
like you grew up decades before now.”

“Decades?” Mesha asked. “Is that all? That’s
nothing compared to Tyson.”

Clara sat a little straighter, suddenly more
awake. “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you know? He’s ancient! That’s why
he can control himself so well. I saw in your memory how he’d
stayed in his human form during the full moon. Do you know how hard
that is? I never knew it was even possible.”

“I only knew how very ill he was.”

“His will is strong.”

“How old is he?”

“He never really said. Communicating in our
wolf forms is strange and hard to explain. I suppose you could say
we bond on a certain level. We learn a lot about each other without
ever saying anything. Tyson doesn’t like people to know how old he
is and I don’t press him.”

Clara’s chest tightened with jealously.
Mesha could reach Tyson on a level only another werewolf could. For
a brief window of time she wished she were a werewolf. Mesha
laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“I see how jealous you are.”

“I’m not,” she lied quickly.

“Deny it all you like, I know the truth.
I’ve been in your head, remember?”

Clara twirled her hair and looked away,
unwilling to admit anything she hadn’t come to terms with yet. She
struggled to admit the attraction, but jealousy, however fleeting,
meant she could be falling in love and that alarmed her. Mesha
chuckled again.

“Don’t be jealous. Tyson is not the sort of
man I would find myself attracted to.”

She twisted a bit of her hair around her
finger. “What sort of man would you find yourself attracted
to?”

“One whose attention is not already
engaged,” Mesha said with another laugh.

“Oh.” Clara felt a range of emotions.
Instant disappointment made her heart heavy and was followed by a
tiny bit of paradoxical relief.

“Have you finished your meal?” Mesha
asked.

“I think so, yeah.” She pushed the rest of
her food away, suddenly not hungry.

“You should rest, you look exhausted.”

“What about you?”

“Trust me, I am not tired.”

“You’re not?” Clara covered her mouth when a
yawn snuck out. Her full stomach made her all the sleepier.

“The moon will rise soon and we do not tire
easily. You sleep, you need your rest.”

Because I am mortal,
Clara thought.
She tried to forget it as she stood and climbed into one of the
beds. Her body remembered just how worn it was and she was asleep
almost before her cheek hit the pillows.

The dreams that
haunted her chased away any hope of a sound slumber. Wild dogs ran
in and out of them, as well as her brother, who dripped with blood.
One dream replaced another and she was trying to run from wolves
that overtook and nipped at her with their razor sharp teeth. They
only left when Tyson appeared to fend them off. She woke, curled in
a ball and hugging a pillow. Comfort persuaded her to lay still in
the hopes that a more hopeful dream would come. Tranquility died as
frustration built in her chest. She couldn’t escape Tyson, not even
in her dreams. Her body was stiff and she sat up slowly, rubbing
her neck. Something caught her eye before she could stand. There,
on the oak nightstand between the two beds, was a pink rose in a
glass vase.