The Moon Rises (39 page)

Finn blinked a few times, thinking quietly. Then
he climbed off her and stood up next to the couch. Gigi had been too wound up
in the heat of their make out session to consider how he might actually leave.
She just assumed he wanted to stay. Wrong again when it came to deciphering
males, Gigi felt her eyes begin to burn.

Finn held out his hand. “I don’t want our first
time to be on the couch.”

“Our first time what?” Gigi asked, standing up
and wiping her eyes.

Finn had been smiling softly, but it faded.
“Maybe you’re not ready?”

“For what?”

A hint of pink flushed his skin and he grinned
awkwardly, trying to find the words. “Let’s just go to bed.”

“Oh,” Gigi whispered, understanding now. She ran
into her bedroom and waited for him next to the bed. “Should I get naked now or
during or what?”

“You need to stop talking,” Finn said with a
silly grin. “You’re making me think I should send you to a sex ed class instead
of taking you to bed.”

“But I don’t know what to do. The book said the
basics but…”

Finn kissed her then flopped on the bed and
pulled her down against him. “We’ll just hang out tonight since you’re making
me tense and you look like you’re stressing.”

“No. I want to do it now.”

Finn laughed and kissed her neck. “We’ll see.
Don’t think so much.”

“No one has ever told me to think less. I’m not
sure how to respond.”

Finn stopped kissing her and laughed so hard the
kittens jumped on the bed and meowed at him. Gigi giggled even though she
wanted them to go away so she could focus on Finn. Yet the kittens purred
deeply as they climbed on Finn with Earth even resting on his head.

“The children are restless, Ma.”

Gigi laughed harder. “Even if we don’t do it, can
you stay the night? I like waking up with you next to me.”

Finn glanced up at Earth who was kneading his
scalp. “While I don’t want to scare the little guy, the wolf in me wants to
knock his ass off my head.”

Laughing, Gigi told the cat to get off his head
and Finn scooted closer. His smile mirrored hers as he pressed his hips and
lips against her. Then while his hips stayed where they were, his lips pulled
back.

“Why is it so important for us to have sex right
away?” Finn asked, as his fingers grazed up and down her bare thigh.

“People have sex.”

“So? We’re not people. We’re you and me. We can
do what we want.”

“And I want to have sex.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you.”

“Or because you’ve been teased for so long that
you think the only way a male can prove he really cares is by taking you to
bed?”

Thinking he was talking down to her, Gigi
frowned. “Sex is a way to show love.”

“Yes and it will be when we do it, but you’re
kinda obsessed with me never saying no like saying no proves I don’t care. I’ll
still love you even if we spend the night just cuddling. Sex doesn’t prove
anything.”

“Are you trying to teach me something? I’m not a
little kid.”

Grinning, Finn was clearly amused. “When we first
met, you were like a little kid, but now you’re more like a teenager. You want
what everyone has or what you think you should have, but you need to stop and
think about what you really need.”

“I like the feel of you against me. I like how
good it feels and I don’t want to stop.”

“Neither do I, but I think you view sex as a
threshold that if you cross will make a male stay with you. Any male would have
sex with you. It proves nothing. Not having sex with you and just being close
to you is more difficult and it proves more than giving into my desire.”

“I’m lonely,” she muttered. “I remember feeling
loved by Mamma and I want to feel like that again. Maybe sex won’t make me feel
that way, but I hate being alone.”

“You’re not alone. I’m here and I love you.”

“But you’re unsure.”

“For good reason. I know the threat and it’s real.
Forgetting is too easy. But if we sleep together tonight, I would still be
unsure. I would still worry and resent my selfish behavior and fight with
myself over what’s right. Sex won’t fix things. It will feel good and I hope
you like it. Even if it’s incredible, it won’t magically make you happy or make
me forget how I put you in danger.”

Gigi frowned as she lay on her back and stared at
the ceiling.

“I still don’t understand things,” she said,
remembering her conversation with Anton. “If Anton hadn’t stood me up, we would
have slept together. I would have thought the sex meant he would stay with me,
but he was always going to dump me. Maybe I do think you’ll stay if we have
sex, but it doesn’t matter, does it?”

“I want to stay with you. I’ve never been in love
before though and I’m fumbling around like an idiot, trying to do the right
thing. I’m confused too. It’s not just you. Still you need to realize I’m not
rejecting you when I don’t rip off your clothes after a few minutes of making
out. I want to do something right because I feel like I do everything wrong
with you.”

Gigi rolled over and sighed. “You’ll stay
tonight, won’t you? I know I’m supposed to be independent and not need anyone.
Ella makes fun of girls who get lonely and need a male, but I am lonely and I
do need you. I don’t care if that makes me stupid or weak. There’s something
wrong with me and I can’t fix it. I just have to give it what it needs so I can
be calm and feel safe.”

“First of all stop listening to Ella as if she
knows everything. I know for a fact she’s desperate for a boyfriend, but Declan
called dibs when she was sixteen and no male can date her. He wants to protect
her, but he’s basically blocked all her dating options and she gets lonely too.
Ella won’t admit it, but she would date anyone at this point, just to have some
male companionship. So don’t put too much stock into what she says. Everyone
lies to make themselves look and feel better.

“Secondly you live in the Circle and everyone has
something wrong with them here. This isn’t a normal place and you don’t have to
be normal to fit in. I actually think the reason so many people in the Circle
like you is because you’re different and you can’t really hide it. So just
relax and be you. You’re like a month old in some ways and I think you do just
fine.”

Smiling, Gigi caressed his chest. “You’re a good
boyfriend.”

“I do my best.”

“How come you never dated more? Michael’s always
saying how you’re gay.”

“Yeah, if a male doesn’t sleep with a new female
each week, he’s labeled gay. Collecting females is as important to a Were’s
masculinity as fighting all the time. Yet female Weres can’t be whores while
the males have to be. I haven’t had a girlfriend in years, so they keep saying
I’m gay as a way to force me to do what they expect. Again you can’t put much
stock in what people say because they lie and twist things. No one thinks I’m
gay. They think I’m weak, but in their mind, it’s the same thing.”

“But how come you don’t date?”

“I’m just not good at dating.”

“You were good with me.”

“Because your standards were so low and you still
ended up thinking I wanted to eat you.”

Gigi rolled her eyes. “It seems so stupid now,
but it made sense at the time.”

“Dating’s tricky. Alphas make it look easy. I’d
watch them even before they were Alphas and think, yeah, I can do that. Then
I’d end up looking like I was drunk or something. I’m just not that guy.”

Gigi saw how even though Finn’s lips were in a
smile, his eyes seemed unsure, tense maybe. While he was hiding something, she
was hiding her plan to hunt down the monster so she wasn’t going to push him.
Lies were helpful sometimes.

“Well you’re my guy, Finn.”

Finn smiled softly and pulled her closer. “Just
because we’re not going to have sex, doesn’t mean we can have a little fun even
with the audience.”

Grinning, Gigi thought to send the cats from the
room, but they would just sit in the hallway and meow. Finn really didn’t seem
to mind the audience and he kept his promise about staying the night. Falling
asleep with him against her helped Gigi settle down and her last thought was
whether she would get to have sex before or after she killed the monster.

Gigi was glad to find Tobin alone in his booth
when her shift began. After playing with the children, hugging them and
listening to their stories about chasing and eating frogs, she moved to Tobin’s
table and waited for him to look up from his book. When he noticed Gigi, his
blue eyes studied her before he smiled.

“I hear you killed another monster.”

Gigi glanced around then frowned at him. “How did
you know about the first one?”

“Oh, I just assumed. At first, I thought maybe
its master destroyed it. When you recovered so miraculously, I sensed you had a
hand in its demise.  Come sit down, Gigi.”

Sliding into the booth, Gigi studied Tobin whose
handsome features often hid behind his mask of indifference and distaste for
others. While he was always friendly towards her and Ella, he tended to treat
the other waitresses poorly. Never rude, just cold, both Tobin and Murphy
seemed especially distrustful of humans.

“Are demons real?” Gigi whispered.

“Of course.”

“Could a demon make those flying monsters?”

“Yes, but a demon would only do so if compelled
by someone else. Demons do not live in this plane of existence and they must be
summoned here. If they were allowed to run free, demons would not spend their
time making monsters and stealing waitresses. So if you’re asking if someone
might have summoned a demon and forced it to do these things, the answer is
yes. If you are asking me if I think this is what has happened, my answer is
no. Too much work for too little benefit.”

“Who could make those monsters besides a demon?”

“Necromancers, sorcerers, witches. I suspect a
necromancer.”

“Could you make them?”

Tobin smiled slyly, understanding the implication
behind her question.

“Do you think I am the one who is taking the waitresses?”

Gigi had considered Tobin as a possible culprit.
She watched enough crime shows to know it was usually someone lurking in the
background, someone introduced, but not overtly suspicious. Gigi also knew
Tobin was lonely. He wanted a wife, but even though he possessed the power to
make children, he didn’t seem as successful with making himself a mate. Tobin
had means, motive, and opportunity, yet she didn’t think he was the monster she
needed to destroy.

Mainly because he looked at her sometimes the way
the others males looked at her. He wanted her, but the bird monsters never
attacked her because she wasn’t human. The master behind the monsters only
hunted humans, but Tobin would be happy to have Gigi. She saw it in his eyes
even now while he feigned humor at being accused of abductions and possibly
murder.

“No, I don’t think it’s you, but you could make
them, couldn’t you?”

“Yes and so could Murphy. Any powerful
necromancer could create those things. Twisting magic and flesh is what necromancers
do, but Murphy would never take girls from the club. He has a ‘don’t shit where
you eat’ policy.”

Gigi sighed. “Are there other necromancers in the
Circle?”

“Someone new is in the Circle, but it can be difficult
to track magic here.”

“I plan to kill the monster who took Sara. She
might be alive and I want to save her. I have to believe I can save her, but
I’m worried whoever took her is the same person who took my memories and put me
here. If my master is the monster, can I kill him?”

“In theory no. Yet I often wonder about your
origins. I suspect you are a weapon hidden in the Circle for some future use.
After all not only is your blood toxic, you seem immune to the toxins in the
flying beast’s claws. Justine was incapacitated quickly, but I heard you were
quite lively even after the beast got hold of you. I do think it’s possible you
grew too powerful for your master to safely keep in his presence. If you truly
have broken from your master’s grip, you could fight him, but it’s just as
likely he would destroy you. Most powerful creatures who bend humans and beasts
to their will tend to install a sort of kill switch in their creations. With a word
or phrase, your master could destroy you. I suspect he doesn’t want this or
else he wouldn’t keep healing you.”

“So if I find the one who took Sara, I might save
her, but it’s not likely?”

“Even if he’s not your master, the necromancer
who made those flying monsters will be very powerful and you have no magic.
While I do not know what you are or why you were put here, I do know you have
not even a hint of magic in you. After a month in the Circle, magic would have
begun to cling to you like with all humans. Even tampered with, you are
essentially human. I can’t imagine what else you could be?”