Dark Moon (17 page)

“Do you love him?”

“I don’t know.  I hardly know him.”

“I think you know enough.”  Avery replied.

Sophia rubbed at her forehead.  “I know that when I realized he was under the ice, when I thought he would drown and I would never hear his voice or touch him again that I thought I would go mad.  Is that love, mama?”

“I believe it is.”  Avery answered softly.

“It doesn’t matter.  I already agreed we couldn’t be together.”

Avery squeezed her tightly.  “He will change his mind, my love.”

“He won’t.  He’s still leaving after the wedding.”  Sophia said miserably.

“How do you know that?”

“He told me this morning.  He said it was one of the reasons why we couldn’t – couldn’t continue.  He’ll only be here for a little longer.”

“I’m sorry.”  Avery kissed her cheek.  “There’s still a chance he’ll decide to stay.  You cannot give up hope.”

Sophia suddenly sat up.  She squirmed past her mother and pulled her boots on.

“Where are you going?”

“For a run.”

“It’s almost dinner.”  Avery reminded gently.

“I’m not hungry.”  Sophia gave her a faint smile.

Avery stood and hugged her tightly.  “Be careful in the forest, my love.”

“There has been no sign of Draken.  I am half-convinced he will not return.”  Sophia replied.

Avery shook her head.  “He’ll be back.  Promise me you’ll be careful and that you will not go far.”

“I promise, mama.”

* * *

“Evan!  This isn’t funny!  Let me out right now!”

“Leta, be quiet!”  Evan hissed.  “Just give me a minute.”

“It smells in here!”

“I know, I know.  I’ve lost the key.”

Evan winced as Leta’s scream of outrage reverberated behind the closed door.

“Calm down, Leta!  It has to be around here somewhere.”

He checked his pockets again and then got down on his hands and knees in the hallway and began to search the floor.

“Evan!”  Leta pounded on the door again.  “I’m telling papa!”

“What’s going on?”

Evan looked up to see Kaden standing in front of him.

“Oh hey, Kaden.”  He gave him a nervous grin as Leta pounded on the door again.

“Kaden!  Help me!  Evan’s locked me in the storage room and it smells in here!”

Kaden frowned at Evan.  “Evan, let her out.”

“I’ve lost the key.”  Evan said sheepishly.

Kaden tried the door handle and then studied the thick, wooden door.  “When did you have it last?”

“I swear it was in my pocket but now it’s gone.”  Evan continued to search the floor.

“Kaden, please help me!”  Leta hollered.

“Just stay calm, Leta.  We’ll have you out in a minute.”

“What in the gods name is Leta carrying on about?”  Vivian appeared in the hallway and frowned at Kaden and Evan.

“Hi grandmamma.”  Leta said plaintively through the door.  “Evan’s locked me in the storage room.”

“Evan.”  Vivian gave him a disappointed look and the young Lycan flushed.

“I didn’t mean to.  I accidentally lost the key.”

Vivian sighed.  “Oh Evan.”

Kaden pushed lightly on the door.  It was solid and he leaned experimentally against it.  It didn’t budge and he stepped back as Vivian sighed again.

“Perhaps we could cut through it with an axe.”

“Is there no spare key?”  Kaden asked.

“No, I don’t believe so.  I didn’t even know it locked.”

She stared sternly at Evan.  “Go and find your father and tell him what has happened please.”

Evan nodded.  “Yes, ma’am.”

“Wait.”  Kaden grabbed Evan’s arm before he could leave.  He stared thoughtfully at Vivian’s hair.  It was piled on top of her head in a fashionable bun and she patted it self-consciously.

“What?”

“Do you have two hair pins that I can borrow, Mrs. Williams?”  He asked politely.

She blinked at him. “I – alright.”

She plucked two pins from her hair and handed them to him.  He knelt at the door, and Vivian and Evan watched as he inserted the pins into the lock.  He wiggled them with careful concentration, moving them gently back and forth in the lock for a few minutes until there was a soft click.

With a smile of triumph, he turned the door handle and the door opened.  Leta came barrelling out and hugged him.

“Thank you, Kaden!  Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome, Leta.”  He patted her back gently as Evan grinned delightedly at him.

“Where did you learn to do that?”

Kaden shrugged.  “You pick up things.”

“Will you teach me?”  Evan asked eagerly as Leta punched him in the arm.

“I’m telling papa on you!”

“It was an accident, Leta.”  Evan ruffled her hair and she growled at him, her eyes lightening to green, before stomping down the hallway.

“I’m still telling on you!”

“Aww, c’mon Leta…”  Evan trailed after her and Kaden suppressed a grin as Vivian shook her head. 

“Thank you, Mrs. Williams.”  He handed her back the hair pins and she tucked them into her hair before eyeing him carefully.

“Are you in love with my granddaughter?”  She asked bluntly.

He stared at her, shocked into silence by her forwardness.

“Well?”  She asked impatiently.

“Mrs. Williams, I – “

“Call me Vivian.”  She interrupted him.

“Vivian, I’m sorry.  I’m not really uh, comfortable talking about this.”

“Aye, I suppose it’s really none of my business is it?”  She said amiably.

He didn’t reply and she stared shrewdly at him.  “When Tristan was young, I used to imagine what type of future he would have.  I wanted him to be happy.  I wanted him to find love and have children of his own.  I believed he would be happiest with a Lycan.  Our family had been nothing but Lycans for generations, and I saw no reason for that to change.”

She smiled a little.  “Of course, my husband was a fair bit more open-minded than I.  He was friends with humans and Lycans alike and when Marshall’s parents died we took him in, even though he was half-human.  We took Marshall in because it was the right thing to do.  I did not expect that I would learn to care for and love him as much as I did my birth child.”

She leaned against the wall and studied her hands for a moment.  “Still, I expected that Tristan would find love with a Lycan and when I realized that he had fallen for a human, I was against it.  I liked Avery, I did, but deep down inside I believed that humans were not capable of feeling the emotions that Lycans did.”

“Lycans live in packs.  They spend their entire lives loving and protecting the members of their pack, and I did not believe that humans would ever understand that.  I did not trust them to understand the Lycan way.  I wanted my granddaughter to be raised by a Lycan mother.  I wanted her to grow up strong and proud of who she was.”

She sighed.  “I look back at my behaviour and at how I thought, and I am ashamed.  You mistrust and fear the Lycans, and it’s understandable why.  No one blames you for that, Kaden.  I, however, had no reason for my dislike of humans other than pure ignorance.”

“You seem to like humans well enough now.”  Kaden said quietly.

“Aye, I do.  Avery and Maya changed my mind.  Their love for my sons opened my eyes to the realization that humans can and do love as fiercely as Lycans.  Your sister is another example of that.”

She smiled at him.  “I want my granddaughter to be happy.  Being with you, being around you, seems to make her happy.  I can see it on her face.  I can smell it on her.”

He blushed and she smiled again.  “I am a much different person than I used to be, Kaden.  I’ve learned to love and trust humans like I trust my own kind.  I know that your situation is different from mine and you have many reasons for not trusting my kind, but I hope that you’ll consider staying with us after the wedding.  You make my sweet Sophia happy, and that makes me happy.”

She hesitated and then patted Kaden’s arm gently.  “Will you think about staying?”

He stared at the floor.  “I’m not sure it would be a good idea, Vivian.  I am not like my sister.  She trusts and loves more easily than I do.”

“Fair enough.”  She sighed softly.  “Will you be joining us for dinner tonight?”

“Aye.”

She held her arm out.  “Walk an old Lycan to the dining room would you?”

He nodded and took her arm, leading her down the hallway.

Chapter 15

“Have you seen your sister?”

Nicholas looked up from the chess game he was playing with Doran.  “She went for a run.”

Kaden frowned.  “What do you mean?”

Nicholas moved a chess piece and grinned at Doran.  “Checkmate.”

Doran groaned as Kaden sighed impatiently.  “Nicholas, what do you mean?”

“I mean she went for a run in the forest.  We Lycans like to do a little thing called exercise.”

“She went alone?”  Kaden scowled.  Sophia had not been at dinner and although they had ended things amicably enough this morning, he couldn’t help but worry that she was upset with him.

“She’ll be fine.”  Nicky said.  “She’s tougher than you think, human.”

“You should not have let her go alone!”  He snapped.

Nicky laughed.  “You know as well as I do that Sophia does what she wants.”

Kaden swore softly and stomped from the room as Doran grinned at Nicky.  “He’s got it bad for her.”

“Aye, he does.”  Nicky agreed.  “I suppose she could do worse in a mate, although I never pictured Sophia falling for a human.”

Kaden jogged through the yard and into the forest.  Leo and Jeffrey were on watch and they nodded to him as he approached them.

“Have you seen Sophia?”  He asked.

“Aye, she went for a run a couple of hours ago.”  Leo answered.

“Thanks.”  Kaden started into the woods and Jeffrey put his hand on his shoulder.

“You can’t go in there.”

“You let Sophia go alone.”  Kaden snapped at him.

“Aye,” Jeffrey said affably, “but she is a Lycan.”

“So?”

“She can take care of herself.”  Jeffrey answered.

“So can I.”  Kaden took another step and grunted with anger when Jeffrey’s hand tightened on his shoulder.

“It’s not safe.”  He repeated patiently.

“Let go of me, Lycan.”  Kaden said quietly.

Jeffrey gave him a hard look.  “And if I do not, human?”

Before Kaden could reply, Leo rested his hand on Jeffrey’s arm.  “Let him go, Jeffrey.”

“Leo – “

“He can take care of himself.  Let him go.”

“Fine.”  Jeffrey released Kaden and took a step back.  He shook his head as Kaden disappeared into the trees. 

* * *

Kaden hiked quickly through the trees.  It would be dark soon and his worry for Sophia gnawed at his belly.  He cursed to himself.  The minute he found her he would turn her over his knee and spank the hell out of her.  His groin stirred at the thought of Sophia across his lap, her naked ass ripe and full, and her low voice begging him to touch her.

He snorted loudly.  What had happened between him and Sophia was done.  He had wanted to fuck her and he did.  Continuing to fuck her wasn’t something that could happen, no matter how much he wanted her.  He would –

There was a soft growl and he turned to see the brown wolf staring at him.  He hesitated and then took a step forward.  “Sophia?”

She growled again and he put his hands up.  “I’m sorry.  I was worried about you.  You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

He took a step backwards when the wolf growled again and bared her teeth at him.

“Sophia?  What’s wrong?  I thought – “

The wolf snarled loudly and stalked towards him.  His heart pounding, Kaden backed up slowly, his hands held out in front of him.

“Just calm down honey, okay?  Don’t – “

The wolf crouched down to attack.  He gave a startled shout and stumbled back, tripping over his own feet and falling on to his ass.  Kaden scrabbled backwards as another wolf, this one three times the size of the brown wolf, appeared.  It was grey in colour and its snout was lifted in a silent snarl.  It stalked towards the brown wolf, a growl emitting from deep within its chest, and the smaller wolf lowered its head and whined uneasily.

The grey wolf barked loudly and snapped its teeth.  The smaller wolf whimpered and then backed away into the trees.  It turned and loped off as Kaden released his breath in a harsh rush and collapsed on his back.

He peered up into the trees as the grey wolf stood over him.  It looked down at him and he stared into its jade eyes.

“Gods, I hope you’re Sophia.”  He muttered.

The wolf made a chuffing sound and he cringed as it leaned its head down.  It licked his cheek and he closed his eyes.  There was a quiet pop and then he felt the naked weight of Sophia straddling his abdomen.

“Hello Sophia.”

“Hello Kaden.”

He opened his eyes and stared into her dark ones.  They were filled with amusement, and she wiped away a smudge of dirt from his cheek.

“Kaden?”

“Aye?”

“Why were you trying to talk to that wolf?”

“I thought it was you.”

She snorted.  “You thought that puny little wolf was me?  It wasn’t even a Lycan for the gods sake.  It was just a regular wolf.”

“I’ve never seen you in your Lycan form.  How was I to know that it wasn’t you?”

“Lycans are bigger, stronger, and smarter than regular wolves.  Regular wolves are afraid of us.”  She licked her lips and her eyes glowed briefly.

“Is that why it ran away from you?”  Kaden asked.

Her eyes glowed again.  “It tried to take what is mine.  It’s lucky I let it run.  I should have ripped its throat out for trying to harm what belongs to me.” 

She growled lightly, her nostrils flaring with anger, before she closed her eyes and shook her head.  When she opened them again they were their normal dark brown.

“Why are you out here anyway?”  She asked suddenly.

“I came looking for you.  You shouldn’t be out here by yourself.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Aye, so I keep hearing.”  He muttered.

He was uncomfortably aware of Sophia’s naked heat against the muscles of his stomach.  He shifted under her as she unbuttoned his jacket.  She pulled it apart and rubbed his chest through his shirt.