Luna Junction 2 Forbidden Mate (W) (4 page)

Max took the hint and retreated back to
the breakfast table while I closed the door behind me. The twins
stared at me, shuffling with uncertainty.

“
So,” said Zane. “How the
hell have you been?”

I sighed. “Pretty shitty actually. But
better now, I hope.”

He smiled. “Good.”

I looked up at the two imposing young
men who I best recalled as scraggly boys. “Damn, you guys sure grew
up.”

Zane looked me up and down. “You’re not
so tough on the eyes either.” Benji punched him lightly. He widened
his eyes in mock innocence. “What? A lady likes to know when she’s
appreciated.”

I shook my head, blushing. “Anyway,
you’ve got to be starting your senior year in the fall,
right?”

Benji nodded shyly. “Yeah.”

Zane nudged him. “Acie, Dad wants to
know if you’ll come to dinner tonight. You remember him, right?
He’s happily mated now and Tatum’s eager to meet you too.” He
paused. “We’re not all shithead Casteel brothers.”

I swallowed. So it seemed word had
spread of my street side tussle with Gideon. The boys waited for my
answer and I realized they were nervous. I had no doubt everything
Max had told me of the werewolves and the hunters was true. It
meant Cade Landon was taking a small leap of faith in sending his
sons out here to issue a personal invitation. I smiled. “I’d love
to.”

Benji exhaled with relief. “Can you be
there at six tonight?”

“
Well,” I put a finger to
my lips, “I’ll have to consult with my brimming social calendar,
but I can tentatively pencil you in.”

Zane grinned mischievously. “Do that,”
he winked. “Pencil us in.”

I laughed. “I’ll be there. I
promise.”

After a few more rounds of banter, the
Landon boys left. I stared after their truck as they sped away. I
was unsure what to make of the invitation and was surprised when
Max nodded with approval.

“
There’s no love lost
between Cade Landon and I, but he’s not one of the bad ones.” He
paused, thinking. “His mother was human, you know.”

I still felt a little nonplussed by all
the interspecies elements. “Oh,” I said because I couldn’t think of
anything more appropriate.

Max generously insisted on handing over
the keys to his truck. My battered excuse for transportation was
released to Eddie. Eddie had a garage in Williams and agreed to see
what he could do with my crumbling car.

Max still needed to open up the store
for the day because people might get upset if they weren’t able to
purchase their kitschy memorabilia before they moved on to more
interesting parts of the state. Eddie had offered to drive him into
town. I felt a little uncomfortable under Eddie’s D’arcangelo’s
cool gaze.

“
So you’ll be around for a
while, huh?”

“
Hey, Eddie. Yeah, I guess.
That all right with you?”

“
I’m not the one you’ve got
to worry about.”

Max hurriedly shouldered a dark
backpack and tried to hustle Eddie out. “She knows, Ed.”

Eddie paused and narrowed his eyes. He
spoke quietly. “You better make sure of it.”

Max stared him down. As the two men
glared at one another I sensed there had been some disagreement I
was not privy to. Eddie broke first and left without another
word.

Max sighed and raised an eyebrow. “You
going to be okay?”

“
I’ll be fine.”

His expression softened as he looked at
me for a long moment. Not for the first time I wondered how it had
been for him these past six years. Alone, with nothing but the
ghosts of his former family for company.

I tried to offer a watery smile and he
seemed to accept that as evidence. Max hoisted his backpack higher
up on his shoulder and tossed me a single bronze key. “I’ll be home
late tonight. You’ve still got a phone, right?”

“
Yeah. It’s been off since
I left Cali but it’s the same number.”

“
Good.” He appeared to be
grappling with something internally. “You’ll be all right at the
Landons. Don’t say too much.”

“
Won’t be hard. I don’t
really know too much.”

He gave me a grim smile. “You will.”
The security door whined on its unoiled hinges. “Artemis, don’t
speed on the local roads. And stay away from the Casteel
brothers.”

I rolled my eyes. “You think I’m eager
for another public humiliation? Trust me, I have no intention of
going anywhere near those fuckers.”

After Max left I returned to my
domestic chores. It was no good. The harder I scrubbed the dingy
bathroom grout the more ancient memories ran through my mind like a
cruel marquee.

It was my thirteenth
birthday and my mother had baked a sheet cake. Chocolate inside and
out. I could have eaten the whole thing myself but I wanted to save
a piece for Gideon. He smiled shyly when I offered it to
him.

“
You keep it for later,” he
said.

I frowned but left the cake
on the counter. Gideon had never been a fan of sweets.

He seemed nervous,
shuffling back and forth on large feet his lanky frame had yet to
catch up with. With a touch of wonder, I noticed his dark blonde
hair was combed and his clothes were neat and pressed. His large
green eyes glanced at me meaningfully and my breath caught. Ever
since his parents had died in a car accident six months earlier
he’d been more solemn, less boyish. And lately, out of the corner
of my eye, I’d noticed him looking at me in an odd, intent way. It
kept me up at night. I wanted Gideon to look at me.

“
Can we go for a hike,
Acie?”

I met his stare. “Yes.” I
tried to lighten my voice so my parents wouldn’t suspect I was
about to pass out. “Just going for a walk with Gid! I’ll be
back.”

My father’s stern voice
came immediately. “You be back here by nightfall,
Artemis.”

That was always the rule.
“Naturally.” I let the door slam behind me.

Gideon’s hands were stuffed
in his pockets as we walked in silence. The sweet scent of early
spring was everywhere as we reached the crest where our properties
met and then we veered off into the woods. He paused to pick a
handful of dandelions. When he handed them to me our fingers
touched briefly. The electric thrill which ran through my body was
becoming familiar. For months I’d been feeling strangely around
Gideon. I even caught myself staring at his lips a few times,
marveling at the pouty shape of them, wondering how they would feel
against mine.

I looked up at my best
friend and realized he was breathing very quickly. He stared at me
for a moment, then shook himself briefly. “Come on,” he
urged.

It took us a good twenty
minutes to reach our secret favorite place. Deep in the woods was
an enormous white birch with a natural stone bench at its base.
Gideon and I would sit for hours back to back on that bench,
staring up at the mottled sky through thick branches.

I fussed with my
dandelions, knotting them into a chain. Gideon took them from me
and joined the ends together. “Here,” he said, placing the golden
crown in my dark hair. I watched his face as he carefully adjusted
the crown. A flicker of a smile touched the corners of his
mouth.

“
What?” I asked.

His fingers lingered in the
strands of my hair. “I was just thinking. Someday, when you’re
mine, I want you to wear dandelion crowns every day.”

I stared up at him,
scarcely breathing. “I’m yours now.”

Gideon leaned forward and
kissed me.

I had never been kissed
before and I knew Gideon hadn’t either. Our mouths melted together
as we lost our hesitation. His arms wrapped around me firmly and
lifted me slightly as my own arms went around his
shoulders.

We sank down to the damp
mossy ground, a good thing since my legs seemed to have forgotten
how to support me. Gideon’s kiss became harder, more urgent as he
settled his weight on top of me. When I felt his hand moving
underneath my cotton t-shirt I flinched instinctively.

“
Acie,” he whispered, his
eyes wide. “Is this okay?”

I touched his lips with my
finger and then kissed him again. “Yes,” I answered and it
was.

Time lost all meaning as we
kissed. Neither of us noticed the fall of darkness until the growl
of a nearby animal caused me to break away with a gasp. Gideon
looked around wildly, having leapt into a tense crouching position.
I heard a strange noise come from his throat and I felt suddenly
cold. Even a little sick. My hands, still sore from hours of
morning archery practice, itched for a weapon. I stared at Gideon
Casteel in the fading light and suddenly he became unrecognizable.
Not Gideon…something else. I closed my eyes tightly, forcing the
image away.

Then Gideon’s hand was on
my elbow as he pulled me to my feet. His voice was uneasy. “Come
on,” he said. “We need to get home.”

He waited for me as I
tripped through the wilderness, scratched at by unseen branches. My
angry parents awaited us in the clearing and my father glared
fiercely at Gideon. Oddly, he wore his quiver and had a bow slung
on his back. There was no time for goodbyes as I was hustled into
the house. I was only able to glance back once to see Gideon’s
quick wink and grin. I didn’t know that would be the last time
Gideon Casteel would ever smile at me.

I squeezed the dirty mop
between my hands, breathing thickly, trying to banish the
recollection of what came next. Gideon’s sudden and devastatingly
cold behavior. A lonely walk in the woods one night to our special
place only to stumble across a party I hadn’t been invited to which
included all of Luna Junction teens. Gideon’s cutting words.
We’re not friends.
And
then the sound of laughter as he shoved me lightly. I was nothing
to him. To any of them. He grabbed one of the willing Bellini girls
and kissed her full on the mouth while I broke into earth
shattering sobs and stumbled blindly back through the
woods.

“
It shouldn’t matter now,”
I told the empty bathroom. It shouldn’t. But it didn’t change
anything. I could forgive my parents in their misguided attempts to
shield me. I could forgive myself for wasted years of
self-indulgence. I could even forgive the wary folks of Luna
Junction, given my lineage and destiny.

But I couldn’t quite forgive him. My
former best friend. The first boy I’d ever loved. He should have
known better.

Chapter Five

The Landon place was a bit out of the
way but I remembered the route with no problem. Cade Landon owned a
substantial piece of property with its own private road. I kept the
driver’s window open, breathing in the honeyed scent of late
spring. The longest day of the year was rapidly approaching and in
that early evening hour the sun was still hours from its reluctant
retreat.

Several crookedly parked pickup trucks
were in front of the house so I didn’t feel badly about parking
just as informally. I didn’t see any of the Landons but I knew they
were nearby. Max had assured me that in time my ability to sense a
werewolf would be honed to the point where I could pick one out in
a jostling crowd of thousands.

I didn’t notice the girl at first.
Auburn haired and apple cheeked, she was cute but not beautiful.
She leaned against the rustic porch pillar, watching me silently
with a hand on her heavily pregnant belly. She suddenly laughed.
“You gonna come out of there or what? I don’t bite, you
know.”

I climbed out of Max’s truck warily as
the girl ambled over. I wasn’t sure how to begin. “Um, I’m Acie?
The boys invited me for dinner?”

She winked at me. “I know. I’m Tatum
Landon, the evil stepmother.”

I was confused. “So you’re Cade’s um…”
I wasn’t sure how to finish. She couldn’t be much older than me.
And I didn’t feel that prickly alarm in her presence which I had
begun to recognize as the hunter’s sense.

Tatum nodded. “Mate, yes.” She patted
her stomach fondly. “And I’m about to freaking burst. Can’t believe
I have another month left.”

“
Cade’s mate?” I bit my
lip. “But you’re not a-“

“
No,” she said shortly.
“I’m not.” She held my gaze for a moment and seemed to be daring me
to say the wrong thing.

“
Well,” I smiled.
“Congratulations.” Max had mentioned in passing that werewolves
sometimes mated with humans, but many werewolves feared this
indulgence interfered with the bloodlines and they discouraged it,
even outlawed it in some communities.

Tatum looked at me approvingly and
grabbed my arm. “Come in the house. Cade’s in the kitchen slaving
away at the stove and the boys are around here
somewhere.”

As I let myself be pulled along towards
the dim interior of the Landon home, I felt another jolt of memory.
For a split second I was racing across that clearing behind the
house into the woods, panting as I chased a laughing Gideon. He
would pause just long enough for me to nearly catch him and then he
would race ahead, always too fast.