Wolf Moon (15 page)

“I suppose. But no one’s
ever complained before, so I’m sure they’re fine with the arrangement.”

“The arrangement?” I knew
Nick well enough to know he didn’t mean for this to sound as misogynistic as it
did. Instead of making a bigger deal out of it than it was, I decided to drop
it. I’d had a good time with the girls earlier, so I felt confident we could
carry on while the men did their bonding thing.

“Then have fun,” I said.

Nick didn’t seem too
convinced. “What?”

“Have. Fun. I’m sure
we’ll find something to occupy our evening in between waiting on you boys hand
and foot.”

“It’s not like that,” he
tried to tell me, his voice taking on that tone he used to dig himself out of a
deep hole he’d dug.

Laughing, I placed a hand
on his scruffy cheek. “I know. I’m only messing with you…kind of. Besides, you
know I’d wipe the floor with you if I played.”

Nick chuckled. “There’s
that selective memory thing again.”

Hanging with the girls
while the guys did their thing turned out to be a lot of fun. While I’d
originally thought that maybe all they did was bend over backward to make snack
platters and serve them to the dining room for the guys, in actuality, we also
played a friendly game of poker. Though, we bargained M&Ms instead of
actual cash like the guys. That worked for me. Plus, Miranda offered up a
really good Pinot Noir.

One person was missing
from our little game, but I couldn’t say I particularly cared or even missed
her. When Miranda asked if she wanted to join us, Roxanne just rolled her eyes
and slammed her bedroom door. She stayed up there all night. This worked for me,
because I felt like I was able to open up a lot more.

“So, tell me to stuff it
if it’s none of my business,” I said, popping a chip in my
mouth—apparently we couldn’t eat our winnings until someone was declared
the winner. “But where’s the baby going to go? I mean, all the rooms are
currently occupied, aren’t they?”

Layla
smiled. “Actually,
Vincent and I bought a place a couple minutes down the road. It’s close enough
that we’re nearby if Marcus calls on us. It’s undergoing a few last minute
renovations, but we should be able to move in by the New Year.”

The oven timer went off
suddenly, signaling that the chicken wings were done. Miranda stood to get it,
but I beat her to it. “Please, let me.”

I plated a few wings for
us and set them in the
centre
of the table before taking
a bigger platter out into the dining room. The guys were seated around the compressed
dining room table with their beer and cards. There were poker chips stacked
high in the center and Nick’s personal stack was looking a little pathetic.

“Here you go, boys,” I
announced, walking toward Nick who was smiling wide when his eyes found mine.
“Where do you want it?”

“Well, if you’re just
going to offer it up,” Karl said from across the table, leaning back until he
balanced his chair on two legs. The way his legs were spread apart suggestively
and his hands rested on his thighs activated my gag reflex. Did he really think
I would find that attractive or even remotely inviting? “Come on over.”

“Hmm,” I said, narrowing
my eyes at him. “I’ve seen what you bring to the table, Karl, and I just don’t
think you”—I shot a sly glance over my shoulder at Nick as I bent over
the table to set the platter down—“measure up.”

Nick’s eyes traveled down
over my backside appreciatively before he grabbed my waist and pulled me into
his lap sideways. I played the gesture up with a giggle. It was getting easier
and easier to pretend we were together. Sometimes, I forgot we were pretending
at all.

Across from us, Karl let
his chair fall back onto all four legs with a loud bang. Nick and I pretended
not to hear it; his disdain was palpable and pungent.

“Are you ladies enjoying
yourself?” Nick asked, his hand moving up and down over my hip.

I nodded. “Sure are.
Plus, we’re not losing actual money. They play for chocolate.”

“Sounds right up your
alley.”

I shrugged, wrapping my
arms around his neck and looking at him innocently. “It’s my second-favorite
thing to play for,” I said.

His eyebrows shot up and
his grin widened. “Oh? And what’s the first?”

Smirking, I leaned in and
whispered in his ear but loud enough for everyone—especially
Karl—to hear. “Your clothes.”

“Sounds like a challenge
for later.”

I shrugged again, looking
back at his pitiful pile of poker chips. “Looks like it wouldn’t be much of a
challenge for me,” I teased. “You’re on.”

“How do you know this
isn’t all just a rouse?”

“Because I’ve played you
before.”

Everyone, save for Karl,
laughed, and Nick glowered playfully. “All right, I think it’s time you went
back to playing for candy. Let the men get back to business.”

Sighing, I stood up and
walked around him, leaning over his shoulder and kissing his cheek. “Take it
easy on him, boys. Let him leave with a little dignity tonight. I’m the one who
has to put up with him after all this.”

With a laugh, Nick
reached around and swatted my ass lightly. “Get out of here, trouble-maker.”

“Have fun,” I taunted as
I wandered back into the kitchen and rejoined my game. We played another few
rounds before the conversation switched from fun and light-hearted to the impending
full moon.

“Are you excited?” Colby
asked, tossing three yellow M&Ms into the center pile. “About shifting?”

I hesitated, not sure how
to answer that. “Honestly? I’m not sure how I feel about it.” The three of them
seemed interested by this confession as they sat back in their chairs and
listened raptly.

“I know I’m supposed to
feel free and strong, but it still feels off to me. Like I’m stuck in a foreign
body and I can’t make sense of anything. It’s almost like an out of body experience.”

Layla
nodded along like she
knew exactly what I was talking about. “It’s definitely disorienting at first,”
she offered. “But it gets easier over time.”

I fingered the stem of my
wine glass. “I sure hope so, because I hate how defenseless I feel. I mean,
parts of it are great, and I love how it relieves the tension that builds
inside me leading up to the moon, but I don’t feel like I could hold my own if
it ever came down to it.”

Colby laughed, sounding
like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You took down Karl,” she
reminded me.

I looked her dead in the
eye. “In this body.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, “but
you took out a vamp…
the
vamp.”

I nodded. “Again, in
this
body.”

Silence filled the room
before the fridge opened behind me and startled us. Karl stood there with a
shit-eating grin on his face as he stared at us and blindly grabbed a couple
beers from inside. “Sorry, ladies. Didn’t mean to interrupt.” There was
something about the way he looked at me that unnerved me more than usual, but I
couldn’t put my finger on what it was or why it affected me this way.

Then something Nick said
yesterday echoed in my head:
“
He’ll stalk you, so to speak.
Learn your
weaknesses,
figure out when you’re most vulnerable…
If anything, you’ve only poked the wolf.”

I sat there, terrified
and stunned, wondering just how much he’d actually heard.

E
arly for the last four
mornings, Nick and the rest of the guys had been sent out to check the
perimeter. With over one hundred acres of land to survey, it wasn’t a quick run,
either. Understandably, this was a daily chore Marcus implemented ever since that
woman and the dead wolf were dumped on his doorstep. To busy myself, I helped
clean up after breakfast each day, even after Miranda told me I shouldn’t feel
obligated.

But
I did. I’d been in the manor several days now, and I couldn’t stand idly by
while everyone else earned
their
keep. It wasn’t
right.

Colby
and I had kept our midnight snack dates as well, and this brought the two of us
a little closer. Miranda pulled me away the day before and actually thanked me
for befriending her. Apparently it had been quite a trying year for Colby, and
my companionship hadn’t gone unnoticed as her mood shifted. It meant a lot to
me that I’d been able to make a bit of a difference in the wake of my own issues.

Tonight,
Colby and I wouldn’t keep our date, though. Tonight, we would shift. The full
moon had finally arrived, and I’d forgotten just how uncomfortable and anxious
it made me. The way I couldn’t seem to get comfortable, no matter what I was
doing drove me to the brink of madness.

With
nothing left to do after the kitchen was clean, and Nick not set to return for
another couple hours, I decided to explore the house. I’d already been to a few
of the more common rooms, but I decided to really explore now. Hopefully
learning where everything was would keep my mind busy enough and off of my
increasing anxiety.

I
decided to start with the main floor, knowing that the upper floor housed
nothing but bedrooms. I’d already been to the dining room, kitchen, and sitting
room, so I decided to explore the other half of the house. There, I found the
impressive library I had been told about, and I explored it. It was very much
like any public library I’d ever been to, housing a wide variety of novels.
There were classics and even a few first editions amongst some of the newer
fiction. Along another wall were non-fiction novels. I wandered up the spiral
staircase and was amazed at the unusual book selection there. Hundreds upon
hundreds of books devoted to the supernatural world and the occult. Informative
teachings, journals filled with past encounters with things I had yet to even
learn about: witches, ghosts,
demons
…basically
everything I’d always thought existed in movies and my imagination.

I
pulled one in particular from the shelf and carefully thumbed through the pages.
In it were documented accounts of run ins with non-Pack “strays,” a term used
in the book and one I’d heard Nick use a time or two, as well. Some were pretty
detailed in what these men—and a few women—did. Most of them had
broken the cardinal rule of Pack Law and hunted and killed humans. Naturally,
this resulted in their executions at the hands of the Pack.

Curious,
I perused each case to see if I could find Nick’s name attached to any. No
dice…at first.

Then
I reached a new section of the text and found his name written next to an entry
I already knew about: the nest he burned in Alaska.
The fire
in which my brother had perished.

I
couldn’t bring myself to read it, even though I really did want to know the entire
story and not just a brief account of it. I closed the book and replaced it on
the shelf, telling myself I’d come back when I was ready.

After
leaving the library an hour later, I wandered down into the basement. Through
the house, I could hear Miranda doing laundry,
Layla
talking on the phone, and Colby was in her room, listening to some band I’d
never heard of—or could even understand, for that matter. I suddenly
empathized with my parents when they used to call my music “noise.”

In
the basement there was a huge in-home theater, complete with three rows of
seats and a wall-to-wall screen. It was impressive. There was also a huge game
room with an extensive bar and only the most expensive liquors adorned the
shelves. A pool table, air hockey machine, and a foosball table were spread
throughout the room. You name it, and I’d bet this basement housed it. There
was a huge wall-mounted flat screen on one end where I imagined
sporting events were watched by the men
—and who knew,
possibly the girls. I enjoyed a good UFC fight from time to time.

Then,
along the right wall of the game room, was a huge wooden door. It stood out
from the rest of the house in that it was old and rustic looking, like maybe
this house was built decades—maybe a century—earlier than the
interior and exterior would imply. It was one of those doors made of heavy wood
planks that rounded at the top. Thick strips of metal with huge bolts held it
all together, and an old metal door handle was fixed to it.

The
curiosity that had always plagued me—the one that pushed me to join the
Scottsdale PD—propelled me toward the mysterious door. I pulled it open,
inhaling deeply and recognizing several scents. They were mostly those of the
Pack, but there was also the lingering smell of sweat and blood and old water.

I
flipped the light switch to my left and descended the stone steps slowly, allowing
my eyes to adjust to the flickering. Once I reached the bottom, my eyes scanned
the room I was now in. It wasn’t like the basement above. Instead of running
the full size of the manor, it was roughly the size of the foyer and sitting
room combined. The walls were concrete, but this only made sense given the
sub
-subterranean location. A table sat
in the middle of the room, old leather-bound books lay open on it, and there
was a reading lamp there as well. I walked farther inside, noticing the
barbaric-looking weapons that hung on the walls. I had started to wonder what
this place was when I spotted a large cage in the far corner, hidden in the
darkness where the light didn’t quite hit, and I immediately knew.

This
was a dungeon.

Inside
the cage housed an old-looking cot and a toilet similar to a jail cell. It was
no five-star
resort, that
was certain.

Every
Pack member’s scent lingered here. Some were recent—within days, maybe
even hours—and some weren’t. I was curious as to why.

Stepping
forward, I reached out and touched the cage, instantly recoiling when my
fingers itched and burned upon first contact. I put my tingling fingers in my
mouth, hoping to ease the sting, but it numbed my tongue a little as well.

“It’s
steel, but we had it melted down with pure silver,” an authoritative voice said
from the stairs behind me. Marcus.

“I’m
sorry,” I said, ashamed that he’d caught me snooping around his house.

He
only smiled, seeming unperturbed at finding me down here. “No need to
apologize, Brooke. This is your home now too.”

When
he joined me near the cage, I felt his calm radiating off of him. He really was
okay with my being down here. “
Wh
-what is this
place?” I asked.

“It’s
likely what you suspected upon discovering it,” he replied coolly. “This is
where we bring any strays who’ve broken Pack Law. Here we’ll assess their
crimes and decide how to best handle each situation.

“Most
can break through steel, which is why we had this one made. The silver, as
you’ve noticed, keeps them from being able to touch it long enough to break
out.”

I
looked around the room, suddenly curious about the weapons again.

“Those
are purely for show, I assure you. Though, they do tend to frighten most
weres
into opening up.”

“Most?”

Marcus
nodded solemnly. “Some need a little more…encouragement.”

At
first, I was slightly horrified, but then I thought back to my time on the
police force and realized that sometimes you did whatever you had to do to get
your confession, and you weren’t always proud of it. Sure, I’d never beaten the
hell out of a suspect before, but there was a certain level of deception
involved, which was probably the human equivalent of what happened down here.

“These
rules,” I said, running my fingers along the hilt of a dagger. “Nick’s told me
a little about them, but I’d like to hear them from you.”

Marcus
leaned against the table and folded his hands in his lap. “Obviously, we’re to
keep our existence from the human world.”

“What
if a human were to find out by accident? Like if someone shifted in front of a
human unintentionally.”

Marcus
considered this and nodded. “Nick said you shifted in front of your partner before
his death.”

“I
did. So, what would have to happen if he had lived?” I was afraid of the answer,
but my curiosity needed to be appeased.

“Some
humans have kept our secret, but we keep close tabs on them to be sure. Other,
less trustworthy, ones have to be disposed of,” Marcus explained.

“But,
doesn’t that go against the cardinal rule of not killing humans?” I asked.

Impressed,
Marcus regarded me with a smile. “A loophole to the rule. You’re quick.”

“Cop,
remember?”

“Ah,
yes.” There was a beat of silence between us before he continued. “Yes, it is
also important that we don’t take human lives, but if our own existence is
threatened, then it’s all about our survival.”

What
he said made sense—it was messed up in a way that the human part of me
still couldn’t quite accept, but it made sense to my wolf half.

“So,
what about this mate thing?” I asked finally. “How does that usually work?”

“Once
a mate has been chosen and accepted, no other male can lay claim to her,”
Marcus explained.

“But
can they try?”

Marcus
watched me before responding. “You’re concerned about Karl.”

“I’m
concerned that he thinks I’m available, and I’m even more concerned about his actions
as of late.”

“Karl
knows the repercussions if he were to do anything to another male’s mate. Especially
a fellow Pack member’s mate.”

“Does
he? Because he doesn’t seem to be acting like he cares much about the
consequences of his actions,” I informed him. “And Nick isn’t impressed.”

Regarding
me with a smile, Marcus did his best to reassure me. “I’ll talk to him again.”

I
thanked him, and then returned to my line of questioning. “Does everyone, even
those not in the Pack, adhere to this set of rules? I mean you call it
Pack
Law.”

“Well,
we’re not the only Pack,” Marcus explained, surprising me and piquing my
interest. “There are actually several chapters throughout Canada, more in the
US, and a few overseas. This makes it easy to keep tabs on the strays and
ensure that they’re following Pack Law. They’ve each got their own territory to
police, and the rules are in place to guarantee everyone’s safety and ensure
our survival.”

“So,
what happens if someone breaks one of these rules? You just lock them up here
and rehabilitate them like prison?”

“Sometimes,”
Marcus replied.

“But
not always?”

“Not
always,” he confirmed. “Each Alpha has their own way of dealing with things,
but most have a set up similar to this one. And, depending on the severity of
the crime, we may have to dispose of them.”

I
pondered what this meant, trying to wrap my head around it. “So, you play
judge, jury, and executioner?”

“When
the situation calls for it, yes.”

“Have
you ever brought anyone else down here? Any
thing
else?”

Marcus
paused a moment, reading my expression, possibly wondering if there was a
reason I was asking. Like, maybe I knew something and was fishing for more
clarity. This only intrigued me further.

“Once.
A little over six years ago,” he said. “Your brother.”

My
knees buckled, but I quickly righted myself. “M-my brother? I don’t understand.
If you had him, why didn’t you just—
”

“Kill
him?” I nodded. “Because I was looking for information on
Gianna
,
and he was her most recent progeny.”

“And
he escaped,” I guessed.

As
if cross at the memory, Marcus glowered. “Not without help.”

“
Gianna
?”

“Nick.”
He sensed my confusion. “He was still relatively new to all of this when we’d
found your brother. He fell for his act. He believed your brother when he told
him he wasn’t like the others.”

“M-maybe
he wasn’t,” I said, trying to hold onto that one last shred of hope that my
brother was a decent person, even as a vampire.

Marcus
only held my stare. “As soon as he was free of that cage, he threw Nick against
the far wall. Several weapons fell on him, and a dagger pierced his abdomen.

“On
his way through the manor, he ran into Miranda and our youngest daughter,
Cordelia
.”

I
drew a blank at this name. Why had I never heard of—