Riley's Redemption (A Moon's Glow Novel) (21 page)

Once I was dressed in
my cotton top and shorts, I emerged through the trees and met them on the path.
They were staring at me, shock and awe clouding their faces. “You guys want
some pizza?” I asked, as if I hadn’t just been a wolf and had scared the
daylights out of them. “I was just heading to the cottage to order some.”

Instead of answering,
they simply nodded and fell in step next to me.

The rest of the walk
home was quiet, but I could see the two of them exchanging curious glances out
of the corner of my eyes.

Game Night

“Where is everyone
else?” Marisa asked as we stepped through the door of the cottage, breaking the
awkward silence that had fallen upon us since we started our journey.

“Hunting,” I answered,
as I picked up the portable phone and hit speed dial four.

While I ordered the
pizzas Marisa sat down on the couch and Nathan perched on the arm of the chair
next to the door. He was close enough to the exit in case he needed to escape.

“Why aren’t you with
them?” Nathan asked when I hung up the phone after ordering.

He watched me as I went
to the fridge and pulled out three water bottles. He was still watching me when
I wandered back into the living room and tossed them each a bottle. I twisted
the top off of mine, took a swig and then I answered. “Because I don’t enjoy
eating raw meat.”

“But wouldn’t that be
instinct when you’re a wolf?” Mari asked, the bottle still unopened in her
hand.

I shrugged as I fell
onto the plush chair opposite her, the cushion puffing out air around me. “It
is, but my mind doesn’t like the idea of crunching bones and fur in my teeth.”

Mari winced and Nathan
looked disgusted. A twinge of guilt twisted in my stomach. I shouldn’t have
been so blunt when he was still getting used to the idea that some of his
family members were werewolves.

“I’m sorry Nathan,” I
said sincerely, as I twisted the cap back on my bottle and sat it onto the
coffee table in front of me.

He lifted a shoulder
dismissively and slid into the chair, his legs resting on the arm, his feet
dangling in the air. His bottle was forgotten, wedged between the chair’s frame
and the cushion.

“How are you doing with
everything?” I asked, my voice edged with concern. “I know when
I
first
found out about werewolves, I was upset, and that was just about Nate.”

Again, he lifted his
shoulder, but this time he shoved his hand through his light blond hair. He was
obviously still struggling with everything.

“But for me,” I went
on, my voice as soothing as possible. “It was more that Nate had lied to me for
so long. I was angry that he didn’t trust me.”

Nathan turned to face
me; his lip twitched as if he wanted to speak, but changed his mind.

Mari was watching me
from where she sat; her eyes were warm with agreement.

“Don’t get me wrong,” I
continued with my conversation that had turned into a monologue. “The whole
wolf thing freaked me out. But, when I realized that Nate was the same person I
fell in love with, I finally got over it. As I’m sure you realize that Lauren
and Nate are still your family, who just happen to grow fur once in a while.”

Nathan sighed heavily,
his head falling back against the chair, his pale hair a contrast to the navy
blue cushion. “I know what you’re saying,” he began, finally finding his voice.
“But it’s hard to contemplate when you were just covered in fur and attacking
me.”

I laughed and Mari
giggled.

Nathan shot her a look
that made her freeze, her dark eyes wide with uncertainty.

I fought the grin that
just wouldn’t leave my face. “I’m sorry I scared you,” I giggled slightly. “But
it was funny.”

He narrowed his eyes at
me and scoffed.

“It
was
funny,”
Mari interrupted, as Nathan was about to speak. “You should have seen your face
when she knocked you down.” She started to chuckle, an endearing sound that was
contagious.

I couldn’t help the
laugh that slipped out. “And when I licked his face,” I gasped through my
giggles, which made Mari’s chuckle turn into full on laughter.

Nathan’s lips began to
turn up almost against his will. Finally he chuckled softly, his eyes lighting
with amusement. “Whatever,” he grumbled with a grin. “But I’m not the only one
that was scared.”

Marisa’s laughter
ceased, her face going blank. “What do you mean?”

“Who was it that
screamed their freaking head off?”

I laughed even harder
and pointed at her, a lock of hair falling into my eyes. I pushed it out as the
laughter heightened.

She lowered her head
with a small smile. “Well, it’s not every day that a wolf comes after you. And
we weren’t sure if it was a real wolf or not.”

“Why did you do that
anyway?” Nathan asked me, all laugher dissipating, his voice edged with
apprehension.

“Because, I wanted to
scare you.” When they both opened their mouths to protest, I lifted my hand to
silence them. “For two reasons. One, because it was funny.” I grinned at them
and added a wink. “The second was because you shouldn’t be lurking in the woods
when we are in our wolf forms. It’s not safe.”

Fear marred both of
their features. “You guys would never hurt us?” Marisa whispered breathlessly.

“Of course we
wouldn’t,” I reassured her. “But like you said, most werewolves let their
instincts take over. None of us would ever want to put you guys at risk, so just
to be on the safe side, stay inside on full moon nights.” As if on cue; a howl
rang out from miles off, followed by the answering calls of the rest of my
pack. I was guessing they had taken down their prey.

When Nathan and Marisa’s
faces went pale, I felt the need to make them feel better. “It’s just a
precaution. I promise none of us would hurt you, but we just don’t want to take
the chance that it
might
happen. We would never risk the people we
love.”

They both nodded
robotically as the doorbell rang. It was the pizzas. I could smell
them
and
the deliveryman through the door.

Once I paid the guy and
handed my guests a couple of slices, I finally dug in. I was famished. As I had
been told so many times by both Nate and Adrian, turning into a werewolf takes
a lot out of your body and you need food to replenish. I was fine with that. It
was just the type of food that my friends and I disagreed on. I preferred my
meat heated up and preferably without the fur.
But hey, that was just me
.
I obviously wasn’t the norm, since I was the only werewolf here.

I clicked on a movie we
could watch while we ate and before long Nathan was smiling and laughing at Marisa’s
impression of the main character. It wasn’t until he finished his fourth piece
that his smile faded. “Meg,” he began, his tone of voice heavy with curiosity.

I lifted my head, a
large bite of cheese and dough stuffed in my mouth. “Mmm?” Was all I could
manage.

“How did you take it
when you found out Nate turned you into a werewolf? I heard that you thought it
was Charlotte at first.”

I swallowed the food
and placed my empty plate onto the table. “I will admit, I didn’t take it well.
It was a while before I was able to forgive him.” I paused, thinking back to
the dark time when I was shut up in my old bedroom at home in denial. “But, I
think my reaction was partly due to the change. Becoming a werewolf wreaks
havoc on your emotions. With some, they have to try to control the urge to
kill. With Lauren, she focused on other people’s problems rather than her own.
And with me, I guess I just chose to ignore the issue. In my delusional mind,
if I focused on what wasn’t important, like how I was turned, I wouldn’t have
to deal with what I had become.”

Marisa made a small
sound of comfort, but Nathan’s face was thoughtful. He was thinking my answers
through. I could almost see the wheels turning. He opened his mouth to speak
again, but was interrupted by the door. It flung open and all of my pack filed
in, their faces glowing. The run and hunt must have been invigorating.

I knew that, for me,
once I got over the pain of the change, I always felt rejuvenated afterward.

“Yum dessert,” Adrian
said as he picked up a large slice of pizza with everything on it. He turned to
Marisa, as he chewed. “What are you guys doing here?”

Both teens shifted
uncomfortably in their seats. My fellow werewolves must not have noticed the
scent of human and didn’t know how close these two were to danger. Since I had
already given them a warning, I saw no need to expose their secret. “I called them
and asked them down for pizza so I wouldn’t have to eat alone,” I lied.

Marisa and Nathan
smiled gratefully, most likely not interested in all the lectures they would
have received.

Nate moved toward me
and sat on the arm of my chair, his scent luring me to him. “I told you I would
have come with you,” he said softly, reaching out to brush my cheek with his
fingers.

I leaned my head on his
jean clad leg, allowing his touch to soothe me. “I know, but I thought Nathan
could use some normalcy. I wanted to show him that even wolves eat normally and
I thought we could have a game night or something.” As I was talking to Nathan,
I realized he needed to see that we were just like him, if he was ever going to
get over it. He needed to have a fun night with his extended family and not see
us as wild animals that could rip him apart. And by the gratitude on his face
when he glanced at me, I knew I was right.

“
Woo hoo
!”
Lauren hooted. “Game night, lets kick some ass. Joe is on my team! He’s awesome
at Scrabble.” I groaned inwardly, I hated scrabble, but for some reason Lauren
loved it.

Nathan grinned, his
eyes shining as he rubbed his hands together. “Okay, who’s on my team? I love
to beat Lauren.”

His sister scowled at
him, but I also noticed the glint in her eyes. Nathan had been guarded with her
since he had found out and I knew she would be relieved to see him acting
normal toward her.

“I’ll be on your team,”
Marisa called out a little too enthusiastically. Her cheeks heated when she
realized how she sounded.

Adrian frowned, a third
piece of pizza poised in front of his mouth.

I clamped my lips
together to stifle a laugh and noticed Sadie do the same thing. She sat quietly
beside Marisa, giving pointed looks in his direction. Lauren loaded a plate
with pizza and handed it to her. She smiled thankfully and took a bite.

“Okay, who else wants
on the winning team? Meg, Sadie?” Lauren asked.

Joe sat down at the
kitchen table. “No, we’ll take Nate; he’s older and knows more words.”

“Hey,” Nathan glared at
Joe and then his sister. “Is that cheating?” he asked turning to me.

I laughed. “Ah…no. But,
I don’t think it’s fair either.” I glanced at my husband and winked. “Nate, you
and Sadie can be on Nathan’s team and Adrian and I will take pity on Lauren.”

“Hey, that means they
get
two
old people. They know more than we do,” Lauren protested.

“Am I the only one
offended by being called old?” Sadie asked, her gaze moving between Nate and
Joe. They only smirked in answer.

I laughed, leaning over
to pat her knee. “
Sorry
, but you should get used to it. I’m sure it
won’t be the last time you’ll hear it.” I sat back and placed my empty plate on
the end table. “But it is a good idea for you to be on the opposing team.” I
smirked at Adrian. “It will give you a chance to whip Adrian’s butt.”

Sadie stood up, holding
her plate in her hand. “Then I’m definitely in.” Her voice was playful, but I
couldn’t help notice coldness in her eyes. Something happened out in the woods
and I just hoped he didn’t screw up too badly.

For the rest of the night
we played Scrabble, Pictionary and Charades. Meanwhile we ate all the pizza and
four bags of chips I kept in the cottage for emergencies. The night turned out
to be fun and we made a vow to end all full moon nights that way. I was happy
to see Nathan punch Lauren playfully on the shoulder and when she stole a hug
from her baby brother, she mouthed, “Thank you,” over his shoulder to me.

Once everyone left,
leaving Nate, Sadie and I, the cottage felt empty and extremely quiet. When I
asked Sadie what had happened with Adrian she promised to tell me later; she
was too tired to explain. She left the two of us alone snuggled on the couch
watching an old black and white movie. “Have you heard back from Henry,” I
whispered softly, not wanting Sadie to hear.

He shifted his position
so he could look at me. “No, not yet; but I also called Stephen, now that I
know I’m looking for a werewolf.” Stephen was the werewolf pack leader. Yes,
there was a pack, a very large one that monitored werewolf behavior to make sure
they didn’t expose our secret. We didn’t belong to it, actually I had never met
anyone who did, but Joe and Nate were friendly with their leader.

“What did he say?”

“That he’s never heard
of him. But he said he would ask around the werewolf community.”

I reached out and
touched his cheek, then moved my finger upward to brush a piece of hair off his
forehead. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

He made a low sound in
his chest. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“For what?”

“For obsessing. I
should be giving all my attention to my new wife, not some name that I don’t
know the meaning of.” He snuggled me in closer with his arm. “But I just can’t
let it go until I get answers.”

“Don’t worry about me.
I understand.”

He smiled and focussed
once again on the movie.

We were silent for a
while, both of us watching the TV screen. “So, what happened when you found
Nathan and Marisa in the woods?” he asked, breaking through the quiet.

I had been drifting,
the sound of his breathing right next to me, lulling me to sleep. The sudden
sound of his deep rumbling voice startled me. “What do you mean?” I whispered,
surprised by his question.

“I followed your scent
trail home, while the others took a different route. They didn’t notice the
extra scents.”

I shrunk guiltily into the
couch cushions. “I’m sorry I lied. I just didn’t want to put them on the spot
and have everyone interrogate them. I taught them a lesson and told them to
stay away on full moon nights and that it was too dangerous to be curious. I
got my point across, so there was no need for any further feedback from you
guys.” My words came out more defensively than I had meant them to.