Dueling Moons: A Pat Wyatt Novel (The Pat Wyatt Series Book 2) (7 page)

“As you may well know,” he began, “Christina and I have been in a relationship a little over a month now, and I was wondering…well…I was wondering if you would give me your permission to marry her.”

What?
A million questions went through my head, but the one I settled on was, “Why are you asking me?”

“Because you are her best friend, and she told me that I needed your blessing first before anyone else’s, including her father’s.”

That sounded like Tina. He father would have said yes to anyone, because he thought of her as an old maid. A “spinster,” as he called her. I was definitely the more practical of the two of us, even though I married Samuel on a whim.

However, Herb had just put this enormous weight on my shoulders, and I didn’t quite know what to do. So I asked the only question that I knew would matter to Tina. “Are you in love with her?”

“Yes,” he admitted quietly.

“Okay. Now let’s get down to the basics.” I was in a place of power and I was
not
going to relinquish it easily. “Do you have a job?”

“Yes,” he answered without skipping a beat.

“What do you do, and how much do you make?” I knew it was rude, but I needed to know that he was going to take care of the woman that I considered to be a sister.

“I am an architect, who owns his own company. And my
net
-
worth
is over
forty
-
five
million dollars.”

Holy shit on a shingle, Tina sure did have good luck. “Do you have any
ex
-
wives
or current lovers that I need to know about?”

“I had a wife once,” he paused for a second, “but she died over twelve years ago.”

Aw, poor man.
“I’m so sorry to hear that. What did she did she die from, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t mind. She passed away from an enlarged heart. Eve was the love of my life, and I have tried going out with other women, but none of the relationships worked out. Until now. Christina is the best thing that has ever happened to me. She makes me whole again, and I never thought that would, or could, happen again in a million years.”

I smiled. They just didn’t make men like that anymore. “You have my blessing to marry Tina.”

“Thank you,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “Thank you very much.”

“Don’t thank me yet, because if you hurt her in any way, I will come after you.”

“I understand. It was a pleasure speaking with you, Ms. Wyatt.”

I smiled again. “Pat. And it was a pleasure speaking with you as well. You take care now.”

“Likewise,” he said. “
Good
-
bye
.”

“Bye.” After that, I hung up, placing my cell on the coffee table. Tina was getting engaged. That is, if she said yes.

“What was that about?” Mike asked as he came out of the bathroom soaking wet, with a towel wrapped around his waist.

“Tina’s getting engaged.” I told him, jumping off the couch to do a little happy dance. Mike laughed and joined in. We danced until his towel fell to the floor, and then I laughed so hard I fell backwards onto the couch.

Mike picked up the towel, wrapping it around his waist again. “I hope Chrissie will be as happy as you are.”

I took a deep breath, regaining my composure. “Me, too.”

“Speakin’ of the marital process,” Mike said as he walked into the bedroom. “What would you like to do in order to celebrate your freedom?”

I couldn’t tell him that what I really wanted to do was fly back to New York City and see Tina so we could celebrate together. But if I said
that
—
hell
, if I even mentioned
that
—
he
would have shot me down.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we could stay in and order something for dinner.”

“That sounds great, bébé,” he said, walking out of the bedroom. I whistled when he came out in a dark gray suit, white dress shirt, and red striped tie. He looked so great in suits, and I never understood why he didn’t like wearing them. “But right now,” he continued, “I have a job interview to go to.”

“I can see that,” I said, getting up off the couch and walking over to him. “When do you have to be there?”

He gulped when I placed my hands on his chest. “
Twelve
-
thirty
.”

“What time is it now, Mr. Wolf?” I asked, pulling on his tie.

“
Nine
-
thirty
,” he whispered against my forehead. I hadn’t realized that I had been gone that long. “But I want to get there early.”

I smiled up at him, biting my lip as I felt his heart beat faster under my hands. “I’ll drive you, and you’ll be there with time to spare.”

“So you’re keeping the car?” he squeaked, and I knew that he was all hot and bothered.

“For now. But if you put the ring back in the envelope, I’ll send
that
back right away.”

He nodded while I loosened his tie and started to unbutton his shirt. “I’ll do that.” He told me.

“Why don’t we go into the bedroom,” I whispered against his lips, “and go over those divorce papers?”

“Why would
we
—?” I interrupted him by going on my tiptoes and kissing him. “Oh,” he said as it clicked, and wrapped his arms around me. We walked into the bedroom together, and when we were laying on the bed, he said, “Listen, instead of orderin’ in, why don’t we go to this social gatherin’ tonight to celebrate further?”

“What kind of social gathering?” I asked, as I took his tie completely off, throwing it on the floor.

“A werewolf party,” he said carefully.

“Sure,” I agreed, and he looked stunned. “Whatever you say, Mr. Wolf.”

chapter

SEVEN

“How do I look?” I asked as Mike walked in.

I’d gone out while he was at his interview and bought something appropriately sexy for tonight’s werewolf festivities. It was an ivory cocktail dress with a sweetheart neckline and a blue ribbon tied at its cinched waist. It didn’t have that stiff and itchy crinoline underneath, so it floated naturally above my curves, while the skirt went down to about
mid
-
calf
. I paired it with a
cream
-
colored
cardigan, which was not nearly warm enough for outdoor activities, but I figured it would do when I started to dance.

The sales lady said that I looked like a brunette Grace Kelly, so that inspired me when I did my hair and
make
-
up
. I pinned my hair on both sides, making sure that the left side cascaded down my back while the right came over my shoulder in beautiful curls. My
make
-
up
was light and shimmery with just a hint of blush on each cheek, mineral powder for shine, and black mascara with a little eyeliner and a hint of green eye shadow.

Hey, just because I don’t like wearing the stuff, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to put it on.

Mike smiled as he shut the door. “You look amazin’. Are you wearin’ that tonight?”

“No, I’m wearing it for my own amusement,” I responded sarcastically. “Of course, I’m wearing it for tonight. Don’t you like it?”

“I love it,” he told me carefully. “But don’t you think it’s a little much?”

“I thought that at first,” I admitted. “But the last time they saw me, I was in a sweats and an oversized
t
-
shirt
. So I figured I might as well show them that I clean up well.” I smiled that smile I knew he loved. “Besides, I called Angel and she told me that she was wearing a dress, too.”

“Where’d you get the number?” he asked as he loosened his tie, walking into the bedroom to change.

“I went
old
-
school
. I found a phone book and looked up Big Bears. You didn’t tell me Angel was the owner.”

“I didn’t know until you just told me, bébé,” his voice was muffled, so I knew his shirt was over his head.

I snuck over to the bedroom, peeking through the
s
lightly
-
opened
door. His pants were still on, but his shirt, undershirt, shoes, and jacket were lying on the old wingback chair. I watched him as he took off his belt and pants with his back toward me. When his pants fell to the floor, he kicked them off, and I waited for him to take off his boxers. But he walked out of my line of sight before I could see. It was just as well. Seeing him naked always made me want to do things to him, and we didn’t have the time.

I walked back into the living room, sat on the couch with a flop, and checked the clock on the wall. It was
seven
-
thirty
already, and the party had started at seven. “So,” I said with a sigh, “how did it go today?”

Mike came out of the bedroom, looking as handsome as ever in his black polo shirt, dark wash jeans, and white Converse. It was funny how only my shoes were the chew toys when he turned into a
wolf
-
man
. “Well,” he said slowly, “I was gonna wait to tell you but…”

“But?” I asked, literally on the edge of my seat.

“I got the job,” he said
matter
-
of
-
factly
. Then he smiled, opening his arms for a hug.

I ran over to him, and he infolded me. He picked me up before I could protest and swung me around in the air.

I laughed, and when he put me down, I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Is that all I get?” he asked with a frown.

I pulled away from him. “Yes, because if we don’t leave soon, we will never get there.”

He sighed. “Fine.”

I had replaced my big purse with a small white clutch that Tina had gotten me for my birthday last year. I hadn’t had a chance to use it, and thought that tonight was the perfect time to try it out. So I grabbed the clutch off the coffee table, picked up my coat from the back of the chair, and walked out the door with Mike dragging his feet behind me.

We got to Big Bears around eight, and I sighed when I saw that the gravel parking lot was packed. It was beyond dark outside, but thankfully, they had put on the lights I could kind of see where I was going.

Angel told me that the party was out back, so I found a decent parking space, took a deep breath, and started to make my way behind the diner with Mike by my side.

“Are ya nervous?” Mike asked when we were half way through the parking lot.

“Nervous isn’t the word for it. Panicked: that’s much more appropriate.”

He shook his head. “They already love you, so just relax, bébé. No worries.” That was easy for him to say; he wasn’t the one who was potentially going to his doom.

As we made our way behind Big Bears, my heart thudded in my ears. But I was worrying for nothing, because as soon as we entered the party we were greeted with open arms.

I could finally breathe as I said hello to everyone, noticing that someone had gone through a lot of trouble to make the outdoor space as nice as possible. There was a large dance floor, a stage with a band, lanterns hanging from treetops, long tables, chairs, food, and tons of booze.

Slowly we moved amongst the wolves, making our way to a table with two empty seats by the stage. The band was playing a country song that I had never heard of, but it had a good beat to it, so it was easy to see why most of the wolves were dancing. I was smiling and placed my coat on the back of one of the chairs (it was plenty warm with all of the lights blazing) and before long I heard, “Hey there, fleshy girl.” That’s when I turned to see Angel pulling Stag toward us with one hand and holding a beer in the other. “Glad to see you could make it,” she said, smiling at me, and then she narrowed her eyes at Mike. “Hey, traitor.”

Mike sneered at her, and I had a feeling that I was missing something important. “Hey yourself,” he snapped, and I could feel my face scrunch up in confusion.

“Both of you play nice,” Stag demanded, but they still glared at each other.

“Is there something going on between you two that I need to know about?” I asked, waiting for an answer.

Of course, Stag was the one to open his mouth and tell me. “They were a couple once,” he whispered to me. “A long time ago.”

I nodded. “I see. You look great tonight, Angel,” I said, changing the subject before there was bloodshed.

“You like it?” she asked, letting go of Stag’s arm so she could do a twirl. She wore a sleeveless black
mini
-
dress
with a plunging neckline, a crisscrossed back with no bra, and a pair of
five
-
inch
black stilettos that looked uncomfortable as hell. Her shiny black hair was down and so straight that it hugged her body all the way to her waist.

“Yes,” I answered after a good look. “I do.”

She turned, smiling at me. “You look good, too.”

“Thank you,” I yelled over the sudden increased music volume.

“Do you dance?” she asked loudly, and I nodded.

“Yes, I love dancing.”

“Well,” she said, setting her beer down on the table, “come on then, fleshy girl.” She grabbed my arm, pulling me on the dance floor. “Let’s see what you got.”

I looked over at Mike, and he shrugged. Great help he was.

Angel pulled me over to where the band was playing and asked them to play something faster. They obliged as she dragged me to the middle of the dance floor without hesitation. Finally, the music started to pick up and Angel began to dance like she was a stripper and I was the pole.

I was a little stunned at first. That is, until I looked over at Stag and Mike sitting at the table. They were both laughing their asses off, pointing at me like little children.

Some joke
, I thought.
I’ll show them.

And I did.

As soon as Angel stood up, I started to move with the music. I put my arms over my head, rocking my hips to the rhythm, doing the most provocative dance that I knew. Angel just stood there for a minute, watching me, and when I glanced over at the boys their smiles were replaced with a looks of shock. I threw my head back and laughed, and Angel joined in.

We danced together, our bodies moving and flowing with each other as if we were made of some sort of liquid. When the song ended and another one began, I was
all
-
too
willing to dance with Angel again. However, someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned to see burly Nathan standing behind me, smiling. “Would ya like to dance, Ms. Pat?” he asked in his raspy, southern voice.

“I’d be delighted.”

After the dance with Nathan, everyone wanted to have their chance with me. Well, almost everyone. Stag and Mike sat at the table talking to one another. They looked like they were really into the conversation. Mike would talk and Stag would nod, then Stag would talk and Mike would nod. I began to wonder what they were discussing, but I was having too much fun to find out. In fact, the moon was very low in the sky before I settled back into my seat.

“You looked pretty good out there, girly,” Stag said with that cocky smile of his. He handed me a glass of water and I gulped it down without a moment’s hesitation.

“Pretty good?” Angel said, limping over to us. She was having a terrible time with her heels. They even made her grimace as she took them off. See, I was right. They were nowhere near comfortable. “Honey, you’re only pretty good in bed.”
Ouch!
“This girl has real talent.”

I blushed at the compliment and smiled at the insult meant for Stag, until Mike opened his big mouth. “If you think she’s good at dancin’,” he said, and I pleaded with him silently not to say it, “you should hear her sing.”

Great, now he’d done it. Now I was going to have to sing in front of all these people.

“Yes,” a voice said from behind me, making my skin crawl. “You should hear my wife sing.”

Both Mike and Stag stood up, looking purely wolf as I turned slowly, trying not to make any sudden movements.

There he stood with that creepy smirk on his face: Samuel Satané, in the flesh.

Angel growled at my side, while everyone else became still and quiet. The creepy part of it was, they all began to form a circle around us, just as a real wolf pack would do with their prey.

“Easy now, pup,” Samuel said coolly as he reached out to pet her, but she bit at him. He dropped his hand, that awful smirk never wavering. “I just need to talk to my wife.”

“
Ex
-
wife
,” both Mike and Stag said from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at them, and they looked at each other before they looked at me.

“I like to have the ink dry on my documents before I start
ex
-
ing
people out of my life.”

I turned my attention back to him, looking into his cold blue eyes. “What do you want, Samuel?”

“Me?” he asked innocently, placing his hand over his heart. “Whatever makes you think I want something?” God, he was so phony. No wonder my sister fell in love with him. They were both the king and queen of fake.

I folded my arms. “Oh, I don’t know, Samuel. Maybe it’s the fact that you’re standing right in front of me.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, raising his fist ever so slightly. Mike and Stag growled, and all the wolves seemed to echo their warning.

Samuel relaxed his muscles and became very still. “I am not here to fight. I am just here to talk to Patricia.”

“Good thing, too,” Angel growled at him, “because you’re clearly outnumbered, bloodsucker.”

“I’ll ask you again,” I said, pulling everyone’s attention back to me. “What do you want?”

He became very serious, bowing his head so his face was closer to mine. I could feel Mike and Stag stiffen behind me, while Angel’s eyes turned a florescent shade of yellow. “I need to discuss something with you,” he whispered, but I was positive that everyone could else hear him. “Alone.”

I knew that it was mostly likely a trap, but I just wanted him to leave, so I went along with it. “Fine.”

“What?” Mike screamed at me, grabbing hold of my arm. Then he turned me around to face him. “You can’t go with him, bébé.”

“Mike, if I have a problem, I’ll scream,” I explained, staring into his eyes. We had one of those silent understandings and he nodded, letting me go. I turned back, gesturing toward the parking lot. “Shall we?”

The wolves parted as we walked past them. And when we were finally in the middle of the gravel and cars, he pulled me to him, kissing me as hard as he could. His cold lips felt colder under my overheated touch, but I did not kiss him back. I just stood there waiting for him to stop. After a moment, he pulled away from me, hunching his shoulders.

“Why are you here?” I asked, realizing that it was quiet. Dead quiet.

“I do not know,” he said, closing his eyes with a sigh. Something was wrong. Samuel seemed forlorn, and it wasn’t like him.

“Then I suggest you leave.” I told him, turning to walk back to the party.

He caught my wrist before I could take two steps.

“Do not leave,” he pleaded, and my eyes widened. Oh yes, something was most
definitely
wrong. “Hear me out,” he continued as I tried to pull away from his grasp. “Please.”

That caught my attention. Samuel must have been extremely desperate to say the “p” word. “You have two minutes,” I said, looking at my watch.

He let go of my wrist, and I stood there with my arms folded. “I have a problem,” he breathed, looking at me, and I waved him on. “Jessica is driving me insane.” He ran his fingers through his black hair. He was clearly frustrated, and I stifled a laugh. “She will not leave me be. Everywhere I am, she is, too. I am so desperate that I have told her that I am a vampire, but she does not seem to care. She told me that she loved me no matter what and now she wants to be one of us.”