Rise of the Moon (Moonlit Series Book 1) (20 page)

The wolf was gone, I realized, and moments later, Dante was there. He was bare-chested, with gray shorts that were soaked and muddy.

“Let’s get her to the truck,” he told Kaya. She nodded, helping me to my feet, adjusting my clothes for me. They let me take a few steps on my own, but my ankle hurt. Dante took my arm, wrapping it around his shoulders, and helped me walk. He was warm, like Blake and Jason, but it didn’t conquer the coldness of the rain-drenched clothes I wore.

If the two of them were here, then…

“Blake,” I breathed. “Where’s –?”

“That wasn’t Blake,” Kaya said, her eyes anxious. “You have to believe us, Evelyn –Blake would never hurt you like that.”

I knew it wasn’t Blake. What was she going on about?

“I know,” I said, more than a little confused.

“He’s still at home –the thing about foxes is they can change their outer appearance to look like someone else,” she said.

“Enough, Kaya,” Dante shook his head.

“Can… can I see Blake?” I asked. I wanted to see him. I wanted his warmth when I was there freezing cold. It’s all I was letting myself think about.

“We’ll take you back to our place, but he’s still not doing well,” Kaya said.

Dante’s face hardened, “I don’t think Carlos –”

“He’ll understand,” Jason appeared, breathing hard, also insufficiently dressed for the weather. He strolled over to me, taking my face in his warm hands and looking me over. “I’m glad you’re okay. Blake
will
want to see you. And I actually think Carlos will, too.”

Dante nodded, and we continued out of the forest, back onto the road. Blake’s truck was parked there, and Jason helped me into the back seat. He sat on one side and Kaya sat on the other while Dante got behind the wheel. I was aware of how dirty the four of us were making Blake’s truck, but when I told Jason, he just shook it off. Dante waited for a car to pass before doing a tight U-turn and heading back towards their house.

Maddie’s van was gone, I realized dazedly as we turned at the intersection. Were they home? Dry? Safe?

We came to a stop in the driveway. Kaya hopped out of the car, hurrying on ahead. Jason helped me out, leading me up the porch steps and –

Before we could reach the door, it was thrown open. Blake stood there, Kaya and a man trying to pull him back inside. Blake still looked sick, and standing on the porch in nothing but a pair of sweatpants couldn’t have helped him much. It was cold out, but sweat glistened on his bare chest. What was with all of them? The man, who bore a close resemblance to Jason with his black hair and athletic build, stopped when he saw me, glancing at the others. Maybe it was just as strange to him as it was to me.

Blake was just out of reach, gauging my reaction. Jason let go of me, and Kaya shifted nervously from one foot to another in my peripheral vision. Dante stood somewhere behind us. I knew all of this, but the only one I could see was Blake. All I wanted to see was Blake.

Finally, he stepped forward, his breathing slightly strained, stretching out his hand and pushing my wet hair back. The moment our skin made contact, my knees gave way and the tears I’d been holding back began to fall. Jason caught me before I fell to the ground. Blake had taken a step back, afraid that he was the cause. But I grabbed his hand, holding it against my cheek.

“Let’s get her inside,” a different man said from the doorway. “Kaya, get her a change of clothes.”

Blake cautiously wrapped his arm around my waist, taking me from Jason and bringing me inside. His warmth penetrated the mud and rain.

“The foxes,” Kaya began, but the man interrupted her.

“We’ll discuss that in a moment. But let’s make our guest comfortable,” the man said. She nodded, passing through an open doorway and headed up the stairs to her right. The man looked me over with eyes as golden-brown as the others; his dark brown hair pulled back and tied in a short, stubby ponytail. He was thinner than the others, but a scar along his cheek made him more intimidating.

“What bright eyes you have,” I murmured under my breath.

To my surprise, he’d heard me, “The better to see you with, my dear.”

“Are you okay?” Blake asked, sitting me on a wooden bench there in the front hallway. He crouched in front of me, his hands on my knees. Half of him was covered in mud, but if he cared, he didn’t show it. None of them showed it –although the vast majority of the people in the room were covered in wet, thick dirt.

“I think she’s just a little shocked,” Jason said, keeping close to the two of us. Dante was near, too; it felt like they were guarding me, even long after the danger had run off. The older Jason look-alike, who I assumed to be Jason’s father, went through the archway and into a nearby room and returned with a burgundy hand towel, passing it to Blake. He wiped my face with it for a moment, holding my chin delicately in his hands. I watched as the clean fabric became a dark brown.

“What happened?” Blake turned on his friends, unable to hide his impatience and frustration.

“Blake,” the intimidating man warned. If I hadn’t already guessed it through elimination, I would have said that this was Blake’s father by the tone in his voice.

Blake clenched and unclenched his hand by his hip before turning back to me. He took my hand in his as he sat beside me. His grip was tense, but not painful, as he rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand.

Kaya came down the stairs, having changed into dry attire and carrying a handful of clothes in her hand.

“You can use the shower,” Blake’s father told me kindly. “You’ll feel better.”

“Th-thank you,” I murmured. Blake helped me to my feet, passing the dirty towel to Jason. His hand left mine and moved to the small of my back. I limped alongside him through the archway that Kaya had left and came back through. Across from the stairs was a washroom, opened to reveal a modern black and white tile with no shower or bath. Beyond the stairs was the living room. The TV was hung on the wide wall, with three large couches facing a coffee table in the middle of the room.

Blake turned just past the stairs towards a small hallway to our right. There were three doors in the hallway. The second was the one he led me to, revealing another bathroom –this one with the shower. This bathroom was in shades of cream, with another door between the shower and sink. I’m guessing it led to the room next door.

“Your ankle’s hurt,” Blake said. He sat me on the edge of the bathtub, knelt, and lifted my foot gingerly. He slipped the shoe off, then peeled the sock down past my toes.

“It’s fine,” I told him quietly.

“Are you okay?” he lowered my foot just as gently as he’d picked it up.

No. “Y-yeah.”

He watched me for a moment, then stood up, kissing me lightly on the cheek as he did so. “There are towels under the sink. Use as many as you think you need –Kaya alone makes us have to do a load of towels every couple of days.”

“Thanks,” I said numbly, feeling the tears welling up again. Why couldn’t I keep them down?

“Evelyn?” he asked, concerned.

“No –it’s nothing. Sorry. I just… How are
you
feeling? I mean, just earlier today you were throwing up and –”

“I’m fine –don’t get off topic,” he sat on the edge of the tub beside me. “Tell me what happened. Did he hurt you?”

“No. I… It’s just… I’m just…” I trailed off as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in close to him. I closed my eyes; I could hear his heartbeat, feel his warmth envelop me. I felt safe. So safe. The tears began spilling down my face like a reservoir with a crumbling dam. “I –I was so scared.”

“You’re safe now. I won’t let anybody hurt you.”

“But you weren’t there,” I accused him. He wasn’t to blame, but I couldn’t help it. I knew that he was sick –I knew that he needed bed rest, but if he had been beside me –if he’d picked me up from work to take me home, or if I’d called him when I was parting from Maddie and her mom. “You weren’t –”

“I’m sorry,” Blake spoke softly, his hand moving up and down on my back in the same way I’d comforted him earlier.

“You weren’t there, and he… he…”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. But he didn’t even know what he was apologizing for.

I… I had been attacked –the realization hit me hard, winding me and momentarily making it hard for me to breathe. I knew Cole was a jerk, but I hadn’t pegged him for the type of guy to pin a girl helplessly to the ground. To smile when she struggled.

It was scary, seeing that kind of potential in a guy. In any human.

“I was scared,” the words came out a whisper. “You weren’t there, and he
was
and I… I ran. It was all I could do. But he caught up to me, and…”

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured over and over again in my ear, rocking me gently back and forth. His hands were in my hair, clenched against my scalp as if he was the one in pain.

“The… the wolves… they got there before anything could happen,” I told him in a murmured voice. “Nothing happened, but I was still– I’m not this fragile. I shouldn’t be. But he overpowered me so easily. I felt so weak –”

“You are strong,” he pulled away to frame my face with his hands. He rested his forehead against mine, “You are so
incredibly
strong.”

I closed my eyes, leaning back into his body, trying to focus on his heartbeat and nothing else. Even with my eyelids squeezed shut, the tears managed to slip out and down my face. I didn’t want to look in a mirror. I was afraid I’d look as broken as I felt. So we just sat there. And he just held me. Held me until my tears no longer fell, and my breathing became more even.

“I should let you take that shower,” he told me, easing himself out of my arms. “You’ll feel better –”

“Don’t,” I grasped his arm as he pulled away. I wasn’t ready to be alone with my own thoughts yet. “Please. Don’t leave me.”

He gave me a half-hearted smile. “You don’t have your books to fend me off with.”

“I… I don’t want to fend you off,” I said, my grip easing reluctantly. Did he not like me after all? Maybe he could only see me as pathetic. Was I tainted in his eyes? But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that I wanted to forget. And, yes, I would use Blake if I needed to. “All I know is I’d rather have the memory of your touch over his.”

“If you say that, it’ll make it hard for me to hold back,” he spoke quietly. His fingers, though, were already at the hem of my sweater. I didn’t say a word as he peeled it up over my head. His fingers trailed down the bare skin of my arms as the sweater landed in a wet heap on the ground at our feet, sending a light sprinkle of mud and dirty water over the bottom of the white vanity. I didn’t know if his skin was still hot because he was sick, or because I was cold.

I also didn’t know if it was just because my nerves were already spent, but I wasn’t uneasy. Or, if I
was
uneasy, the moment he took my hand in his it disappeared. I stood up, reaching up and pulling his head down to my height so I could kiss him, only slightly aware that I still had a shoe on my left foot.

“Evelyn…” he breathed another warning as he reached for my tank top.

“So… don’t hold back.”

Chapter 28: Blake

Through the doorway from where I sat on my bed, I watched Evelyn brush her hair quickly, wincing when it caught. She looked better –and it wasn’t just because she was no longer caked in mud, though it made a world of difference, too. While it was clear she hadn’t forgotten what had happened just like that, she was visibly more confident now; her back straight where it once curved in misery.

I, however, was fuming with frustration. Why hadn’t I been there for her? Being poisoned didn’t even seem like remotely a good enough reason for letting her come so close to… to…

My breathing was shaky, a combination of my irritation and the poison that still coursed through my body. The silver had done its job, but it ran through my veins nonetheless. Although, it was the lesser of the two evils by far.

“Feel better?” I asked, forcing myself to get up and re-enter the bathroom. She smelled better, even though the clothes smelled strongly of Kaya. That also pissed me off, but there was no way she’d be able to wear the clothes she came in.

“Much… Thank you,” she responded with the slightest blush.

“Good,” I told her, bending slightly to kiss her temple. The motion made me dizzy, another reminder that I wasn’t at a hundred percent quite yet. She didn’t notice.  “I’m going to go and talk to the others. Join us when you feel up to it. Don’t rush –they’ll understand.”

“I think I have a hold of myself now,” she set my brush down beside the sink. “I’ll be right there.”

“I’ll put your clothes in the wash,” I told her, opening the door to the hallway and heading towards the living room, leaving the door ajar.

“Well, we definitely won’t be able to use Evelyn as a virgin sacrifice now,” Kaya whispered to Jason, who rolled his eyes and shoved her off the couch. It didn’t matter what they said though. I wasn’t embarrassed. She was my mate, after all.

Jason and Dante had both gotten dressed, though it didn’t look like either had bothered trying to wipe the mud off before it dried. Dante had a streak of gray-brown on his neck, and Jason was rubbing the mud off as he spotted it on himself. I could see it speckled the tan couch between him and Kaya.

I didn’t say a word as I quickly went down the steps to the basement. In the corner was the laundry room, and I opened the door to be greeted by the smell of body odour that clung to the clothes that sat in multiple baskets on the floor. I moved to the washing machine, glad that it was empty, and tossed her clothes in, adding detergent and turning the water temperature to warm before pressing start.

As soon as I’d pressed the button, I realized that maybe I should have rinsed them in the sink or it the tub to get rid of the mud before putting them in the wash, but then figured if anything I could also put them through the wash a second time.

Leaving the machine to work things out, I headed back upstairs, once again feeling that dizziness. I shook it off as I turned towards the living room. Evelyn stood in the doorway, unsure of whether or not to join.

“They don’t bite,” I encouraged her. And she stepped forward as everyone spun around to look at her.

“
Man
, you are quiet on your feet,” Kaya exclaimed, sitting up straight. “Scared the shit out of me.”

“Uh, sorry,” she murmured, crossing to me. Kaya was right, of course. Evelyn
was
quiet on her feet –and when all the werewolves in the room didn’t hear her approach, that kind of meant something. But we’d worry about that later. They’d left one couch empty, and I led her to it, past Carlos who sat in his lounging chair. She nodded her thanks to him as she sat down.

“Are you hungry?” Noah asked her. “Can I get you a cup of tea?”

“Not if it troubles you,” she glanced at me.

“Not at all,” Carlos said, leaning forward and resting elbows on his knees. “In fact, Noah was just about to get a tea for both him and myself.”

“Then… please,” her fingers searched for mine across the small distance between us on the couch.

“Can you get a tensor bandage?” I asked Noah, still concerned with Evelyn’s foot.

Noah nodded as he left the room.

“I’m Carlos,” my father rose to his feet and extended his arm. “Blake’s father. You’ve met everyone else, if I’m correct. Well, save for Noah.”

“I’m Evelyn,” she took his hand in hers, shaking it politely. “Blake’s father. I –”

“Would never have guessed it?”

“I would –from the way you both hold yourself. But no, not from appearance. Not like Noah and Jason. Also, Blake’s already told me he was adopted.”

“He adopted me when I was very little,” I explained. “But you’re right about Jason and Noah.”

“It would have been funnier if you told her that Noah was actually Dante’s father,” Kaya giggled from the other side of the coffee table.

“With the night I’ve had, I probably would have believed it,” Evelyn shook her head. “First, the van, then Cole, and then
wolves
… What other surprises can you throw my way?”

“You’re sure it was Cole?” Dante asked, pulling his laptop off the coffee table and up onto his lap.

Her grip tightened, but her voice came out even and spiteful, “I’ve known the guy, unfortunately, for three years. I think I can recognize him.”

“We saw him,” Kaya took a precautionary glance at Carlos. He waved her on. I sat straighter. What was going on? What had I missed? “We didn’t see Cole though, Evelyn.”

“Who did you see?” Evelyn frowned.

“Blake.”

Evelyn sat, the frown deepening into a look of confusion. But then she shook her head. “No. It was Cole.”

“I believe it was. It’s just not what we saw,” Jason said.

“Then you all saw wrong. Dante said it himself. Blake was here, sick.”

“The point we’re trying to make –”

“Foxes,” Evelyn interrupted suddenly, her gaze swinging around to Kaya. “You said something about foxes.”

I looked at Carlos, who met my gaze evenly. He wasn’t stopping it. Was he encouraging it? We could have made her believe anything –she admitted it herself. But he was letting us slowly reveal our secrets.

“Blake, would you care to answer?” Carlos asked as Kaya opened her mouth to respond.

“I would
like
some answers in general,” I muttered under my breath, before turning my body towards Evelyn’s, looking to Carlos one last time. “At our school, we have three fox shape-shifters. Cole, Marissa and Philip. As far as we know, they were sent out here three years ago to investigate something –but they’ve given us no information as to what. Foxes have a few abilities, but the one Kaya was referring to was their ability to change into someone they’re not. They’re the only shape-shifters we know of that can change their appearance, except for the obvious human to animal form.”

Evelyn let go of my hand, covering her face with both of them as she leaned her head back on the sofa.

“If Cole is a fox shape-shifter… then are you guys wolf shape-shifters?” she asked, dropping her hands and scrutinizing me.

Kaya’s mouth dropped open a little bit, and Dante’s fingers stopped moving on his keyboard. Noah didn’t show an outward reaction as he entered the room and set the tray of mugs filled with tea on the table. He’d brought sugar and milk along, too. Carlos laughed loudly, making Evelyn jump.

“No,” Carlos shook his head. He reached out and grabbed his tea, setting it on a coaster before putting just a single teaspoon of sugar. “God, no.”

“She put two and two together really quickly,” Kaya said to Jason.

“Then –” she stopped herself, shaking her head. “I don’t believe it. You guys can’t be–”

“Werewolves?” I offered. I grabbed the tensor bandage as Noah pulled it out of his pocket and passed it to me. I shifted from beside Evelyn to the floor in front of her, picking up her injured foot and beginning to wrap it. My fingers trembled, but no one seemed to notice.

“God, that makes way too much sense,” she rubbed her temple with her right hand. “Mostly the last hour. The wolves that saved me were Jason, Dante and Kaya, right? Jason, you ran after Cole.”

“I did,” Jason wrung his hands together, not questioning how she’d known. Evelyn was smart –I’d known it from the beginning.  “I didn’t get him, though. That’s what foxes do. They slip out from beneath you. I can’t believe that little shi–”

“Nothing happened,” she said firmly, though her eyes watered up again. She broke her eye contact and made herself busy preparing her tea, reaching around me as I pinned the tensor bandage in place. One scoop of sugar. Two. Three. A bit of milk. She stirred it quickly, “And I have you guys to thank for that.”

“Blake would kill us if we let anything happen to you,” Dante reassured her.

“Well, no need for that,” she murmured. She looked us over, her eyes narrowing slightly in thought. “Werewolves. Then… Carlos is –”

“Our Pack Alpha,” I nodded, smiling a little.

“And the eyes… they come with the werewolf gig?” She picked up her mug and took a sip.

“More or less. You get the odd blue pair of eyes,” Noah answered.

“Like dogs.”

Carlos sputtered a laugh. “Exactly like dogs.”

Evelyn smiled at Carlos, already so far from the wary looks she’d given him when she first arrived.  Carefully, she set her mug down and then leaned back, resting against my arm. Looking up at me, she frowned.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You’re still sick, aren’t you?” she said. “You’re still hot.”

“That’s not something that comes and goes with sickness,” I joked.

“I meant your body temperature,” she scowled at me.

“Well, Blake was poisoned earlier,” Kaya said.

“Kaya,” Carlos warned, setting his own tea down.

“Oh. So we’re not telling her everything,” she gave a small, unapologetic shrug. “Whoops.”

“Poisoned?” Evelyn repeated.

“It’s fine. I’m healing fast,” I told her. “Which you already know.”

She blushed profusely, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“We do,” Jason muttered.

“So the poison,” she said loudly, steering the conversation back on track.

“It was wolfsbane. But we got back in time. Carlos is skilled in the art of healing,” I told her.

“My skills are limited,” Carlos rebutted. “Kaya’s father, Michael, is our Pack doctor.”

“So you, what, gave him an antidote?” she asked.

“Acupuncture,” I corrected. “With silver tipped needles.”

“Doesn’t silver poison you?”

“It’s a misconception from the past. Though, maybe in large doses –like a bullet into the heart or, you know, the head. Small doses actually benefit a werewolf. The chemicals react alongside our bodies to fight off the imposing poison and allow us to heal.”

Opening up to Evelyn was like a dream come true. Since I met her, it was all I wanted. I wanted to spend hours talking to her, but half the things that came to mind came from a life I, up until now, couldn’t even let her peek into. Was this Carlos’s blessing? Or was he planning something?

Evelyn stifled a yawn with her hand, “So my book on werewolf history has it all wrong.”

“Let’s just say you can ask us any question, and we’ll clear things up,” Carlos said.

“If werewolves and shape-shifters exist, what else exists? Vampires?”

“Unfortunately,” I muttered.

“Demons? Witches? Necromancers?”

“Yes, yes, and yes,” Jason stretched out, lifting his foot up onto the coffee table. Underneath the hem of his sweat pants, dried mud streaked his skin. I thought about pointing it out, then changed my mind. He’d find it later.

“This is a lot to process,” Evelyn said, reaching out and pulling one of her hairs off my shirt.

“You’re handling it pretty well,” Carlos commented.

“Yeah, but I’m going to go home and scream into my pillow,” she joked. “I feel like I’m dreaming. But I hope that I’m not.”

“I could pinch you,” Kaya offered.

“Ah, no. I think I’m fine, really.”

“I’ll answer all of your questions,” I promised her. “But what’s important right now is what action we’re going to take. Carlos –”

“We’ll discuss it later, Blake,” Carlos interjected. It was the first time he’d put a halt to the conversation. “But it’s getting late, and I’m sure Evelyn’s long past her curfew.”

“What time is it?” she sat straight up.

“Nearly one o’clock,” Dante said. “You guys took your time in the shower.”

“Carlos is right. I need to go,” Evelyn got to her feet. “For obvious reasons, I’d like a ride home… if it’s not a bother.”

“You’re too nice for your own good,” Kaya said. “Demand it –then stand your ground.”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t told that often,” she waited for me to get to my feet. “My phone is probably full of messages from my mom and Maddie. Where’s my bag?”

“By the door,” Kaya said. “It’s how we stopped in the right place, you know. Lightning struck and we spotted it in the ditch.”

“Thanks for picking it up,” Evelyn said. Then she turned to Carlos and Noah, “Thank you for… everything. I… I promise I won’t tell your secret to anyone.”