Bright Moon (35 page)

“He won’t be much longer.” Callan gritted
his teeth and clenched his hands by his side. Mesha nodded in
somber agreement. Tyson tensed and cocked his head.

“Someone’s coming, I can’t catch their
scent.”

Mesha and Callan immediately changed shape,
taking on a claylike color and their bodies contorting as if
someone were molding them with invisible hands. Their ears slid to
the back of their heads and became pointed while their noses grew
long. It happened under a second in a blast of fur. When they
completed the morph, they listened before disappearing, running in
the same direction. Tyson tensed yet again, crushing her fingers.
Another moment went by before he breathed a sigh of relief and
relaxed. “It’s only Dawn and Jack.”

Clara followed his line of sight and four
wolves suddenly appeared before her. They greeted her by pressing
their snouts into her hands. She hugged them both, overcome with
gratitude for the danger they’d put themselves in.

“Thank you,” she said, too overcome to add
more. All four tails wagged. Mesha’s tongue fell from her mouth as
she grinned through her teeth. Clara turned to Tyson and found him
in his wolf form as well. He crouched by her and she climbed onto
his back without a second thought.

Thankfully, the
run wasn’t a long one. They came to a stop outside a lonesome cabin
built of great redwood logs. It would have blended in with the
backdrop if not for the shiny tin roof and bright white window
panes. When Clara dismounted, she found her legs hadn’t cramped or
gone numb as they’d done in the past. The others changed to their
human forms the same moment the front door opened with a jerk.
Lucita stood in the frame, her smile shining from her eyes. She ran
to Clara and embraced her. Beth came out as well and she was glad
to note they appeared worlds better. Lucita cried and Clara found
tears on her own cheeks once more. Her mother stepped back and her
attention drew to Tyson. A look of surprise crossed his face when
she pulled him into a hug.

“Thank you,” she whispered fiercely. Another
shocked expression crossed his face before he was able to hug her
back. Clara covered her mouth to control her emotions as the scene
she couldn’t even imagine before played out before her eyes.

“You know, we helped too, mom,” Callan
pointed out jealously. She laughed and hugged him. Beth moved to
Jack and put her arm about his middle. His arm went around her
shoulders as if they’d never been apart and he smiled. The
expression lit his face. Beth, now she wasn’t covered in the filth
of the cell, didn’t appear much older than fifteen or sixteen. Her
body was slight and she was a head shorter than anyone.

“Let’s get this girl inside and fed,” Dawn
urged everyone through the door. “She’s paler than a rabbit’s
tail.”

Clara absorbed everything as chatter broke
out around her. She learned her mother and Beth stayed behind
because they hadn’t had time to reconnect with their wolf instincts
properly. They were full of questions about the rescue and the
others were more than willing to fill them in on most parts. Dawn
prepared a small feast and their stomachs were soon filled. Tyson
wasn’t very talkative, but she wasn’t surprised. He stayed by her
side, sometimes reaching for her hand as if to make sure she was
real. Her heart would flutter each time.

Clara didn’t want to leave the comfort of
the front room, especially as night approached. Beth and Jack were
the first to run off when the moon rose. Callan and Mesha followed
soon after. The distress showed on Mesha’s face but Clara assured
her it was alright. Her mother and Tyson were the only two
remaining by 10 pm. Lucita had never been one to show anxiety
before. She had even kept her secret hidden from her children for
most of their lives. It was strange to see her anxious about
anything, but she twisted her fingers as she sat in a chair under
the window. Tyson was next to Clara with her fingers interlaced
with his, the very picture of calm.

“Mom, I understand if you want to change
into your wolf form.”

“It won’t help unless I’m out in the night,”
Lucita said with a shake of her head.

“Nothing will happen, you can go.”

“I know, but I can’t help but worry. I want
to be here with you more than anything.” Luzy’s eye moved to Tyson.
“How can you sit there as if the moon isn’t calling you?”

A small smile played on his lips and it was
nice to see him amused by something. He’d been so serious that
Clara wondered if he’d ever smile again. “I’m terribly old. If you
knew my age, you wouldn’t tolerate my holding your daughter’s hand
this way.”

Luzy’s pleasant laugh filled the room. “I
won’t ask and spare you my wrath then.”

It was Tyson’s turn to laugh.

“I daresay you two probably want time alone,
but I’m still not willing to let her out of my sight.” Luzy tried
to sound light, but her voice had a slight tremor to it. “We are
out of danger for tonight at the very least. Nevertheless, I can’t
stop reliving those horrid videos in my mind.”

Clara’s back tightened. She’d forgotten all
about Mark’s movies. “How many of you watched them?” she asked.

“We all did. Each time Mark put up a new
one, we would gather around to watch.” She shivered. “None of us
wanted to, but we had to know you were alive.”

Tyson looked away and Clara knew his eyes
were burning with anger. “Did Callan get my email? Is that how you
found where I was?”

“Callan wasn’t checking his email
regularly,” Tyson said without looking at her. “He was killing
himself when he discovered the message and it was several days
old.”

“You saw the pictures then?”

Tyson faced her with a gentle smile and
nodded. “It was a shot in the dark on your part, but it worked. In
one of the pictures, you captured a giant sequoia. Sequoias are
more commonly found in California because of the National Park that
protects them. That knowledge, combined with the information you
gave us in the first email, helped us find you, although it took a
few days. He had you holed up in the outskirts of Crescent
City.”

Luzy shifted in her chair as if she sat on a
cushion of pins. She glanced out the window and pushed her bangs
from her face. “I do wish the moon wasn’t so bright tonight.”

“Mom,” Clara leaned forward. “You know I
will be here when you come back.”

Luzy nodded.

“Lucita, you are still a pup in a sense. You
have to be careful, or you might lose control. You should act on
the desire to go wandering while it’s your decision.”

“If I didn’t know better, I would think you
two were
trying
to get rid of me,” she said defiantly, but
gave in with sigh. “I know you’re right, I can feel it will be too
much before the night is up.” She went to Clara and kissed the top
of her head. “I’ll be back soon.”

“I know you will, and I’ll be here,” Clara
replied. Luzy walked briskly to the door and left. Clara turned to
Tyson, who was holding perfectly still and she knew he was
listening.

“She’s gone,” he informed her under his
breath. Clara’s heart thrilled when he scooted near and put an arm
around her waist, drawing her as close as he could to kiss her. He
wasn’t quite as gentle as he’d been when they’d shared such
pleasantries in the tree. Hunger drove his passion and spoke of a
man starved of feminine attention. As always, he was able to
maintain control, even when she kissed him back almost as hungrily.
She rested her head on his chest, loving that they could bask in
the moment. They stayed that way for a time, cuddled together on
the cushy couch.

“When did you know?” she asked
presently.

“Know what?”

“That you loved me.”

She felt a chuckle rise in his chest. “I
have to tell you something if you want an honest answer. Do you
remember Scott?”

“Scott…?”

“Scott Shorts.”

Clara pushed against his broad chest and her
eyes widened. “I dated him in high school!”

“And?”

“And nothing, we broke up. I called it quits
when mom di—when I
thought
mom died.”

“Why?”

Her brow knit and she twisted the ends of
her hair in her fingers. “He…wanted more. I wanted less.”

He nodded and put an arm about her
shoulders. “Exactly.”

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“I saw you with him before you called it
quits. Jack and I were following a lead of a werewolf running wild
near your town, and stopped to get something at a supermarket. You
were in the checkout line adjacent to ours. Jack was telling me
everything he’d discovered, but I didn’t hear, not after seeing
you. You were flirting with that boy and I wanted to pummel
him.”

“You were jealous?” She kept her breath pent
up in her chest, which made speaking hard. “How is that possible if
we hadn’t met?”
“That’s what I was asking myself. I left the store without
purchasing a thing. I hadn’t had feelings like that in a very long
time and never were they as strong. Jack had to punch me in the gut
because my eyes had gone yellow as we left.”

“I think I remember seeing him punch you. I
thought it was horrible,” Clara mumbled.

“I knew my love was a curse, but it was too
late. I knew I loved you, even if I tried to deny it. Imagine my
disdain when I ran into your brother the next year as if by fate. I
half wanted to turn him away.”

At a loss for words she stared at him. He
glanced at her and cleared his throat.

“Scott didn’t leave you alone after you
broke things off, did he?” he asked.

“No, he kept calling and texting.”

“And showing up at your house and your
job—among other places,” Tyson added.

“He did at first, but he eventually moved
on.”

Tyson shook his head. “No, I stopped
him.”

“What?” she shouted. He ran his hand slowly
through his hair.

“I told you I had been keeping an eye on
you.”

“What did you do to him?”

“I didn’t hurt him. I just…threatened
him.”

“How exactly?”

“I just let my eyes glow a little and he
panicked. He wasn’t the brave sort, was he?”

She pulled her hand from his and stood. He
grabbed her arm as she made to leave. “Why are you so mad?”

“You knew back then and never told me! We
could have been together all that time!”
He laughed and any trace of jealously vanished. “Come back and sit
with me. We’re together now, what’s the point of wasting time?”

She knew she couldn’t stay angry at him and
let him pull her back down. There was no way she would be able to
spend the night alone anyway. She relished the way he held her,
like he would never let her out of his sight again. Listening to
the beat of his heart was soporific, sending her rushing back to
dreamland…and she felt safe.

THE END
of
Book
One