The Twin Moon (The Moon Series) (12 page)

Rosie walked out of her bedroom and answered the door, paying the pizza man and taking the pizza.
She shut and locked the door behind her.

“So how was your talk?”
Rosie set the pizza on the counter in the kitchen.

“Good.
God his voice is so sexy.”
Andy sighed as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed plates from the cabinet.

“Did he make your panties wet?”
Rosie wiggled her eyebrows at her.

“God, you can be so vulgar.”
Andy pushed her shoulder and set the plates on the counter
, then heat infused her cheeks
.
“Yes, yes he did.”

“So are you going to call him again?”
Rosie scooped up a slice of pizza and put it on her plate.

“Defe
nitely.”

Chapter Five

When Ian opened his eyes next it was morni
ng and Warren stood in his door
way holding a tray of food.

“Edge sent me over.
You hungry?”
Warren
walked into the bedroom and sat the tray on the dresser.
His dark skin was like mahogany and
his bald head shown in the dim light
.
Warren raised Ian and stuffed pillows behind him then retrieved the tray and
placed
it across his lap.

“How’s that jaw?”
He crossed
his arms over his chest as he
eyed
Ian.

“Sore.
DJ’s
got a nasty right hook.
I didn’t know we’d keep going once we changed back into human form.”
Ian surveyed his breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast.
It looked good, soft food were defiantly a plus for his sore face.

“It’s the unexpected that gets you in the end.
They
have to know you can defend yourself.
Edge says you
did
well
.”
Warren motioned to the breakfast.
“Eat up
,
you need your strength.”

“So, how did you end up part of this pack?
You
’
r
e
human.
”
Ian scooped up a fork full of scrambled eggs and chewed.

“Edge and I met when we were young.
When his guardians took him in
,
my brother and I
came looking for him and
they took us in too.
He’s my brother.”
Warren walked over to Ian’s dresser and picked up the picture of him and Ivy.
“Ivy.
She sure has made a difference in his life.”

“He’s made a difference in hers
,
too.”
Ian at
e
another bite as he watched longing wash over Warren’s face, but it was gone as quickly as it came.
Warren turned as he
returned
the picture
to it
s place on the dresser.
Ian knew that look.
Loneliness. He had worn that look himself, the night he met Andy.

“So how’s Gavin?”
Ian ate slowly trying to take his time as to inflict as little pain as possible on his sore jaw.

“A mess.
He’s convinced Shelley’s his mate.”
Warren shook his h
e
ad as he leaned against the dresser.

“He would know better than anyone else.”

“They’re sixteen.
How are we supposed to keep a hormonal sixteen year old male off a female in heat
in the first place?
Throw the mating on top of it and, well, I cuffed him to his bed this morning.”
Warren looked away.

“You what?”
Ian’s jaw fell open the eggs
about tumbled
out.
“Warren, you can’t just lock him up.
He needs help.”
Ian shifted in the bed
and
almost spill
ed
the plate of food onto the floor.
A slow burn of anger had started in his heart.

“I have a
community center to help run
I don’t have time to baby
sit a cub.
If my damn brother hadn’t got himself killed I wouldn’t even have this problem.”
Warren’s words snapped like a wet towel
and made
Ian take a quick breath to hide the anger that
burned
a hole inside his chest.
“I’m not like you
.
I don’t know how to deal with a hormonal cougar.”

Those
cub
s
were
innocent in this, especially the girl.
She had no control over any of this and God help them all if they ended up with a pregnant sixteen year old on their hands.
Edge would roast all of them.

“I can help.
Let me heal up another day and I can be there for him.
Gavin’s hard headed, but he’s smart.
He learns quick, I can teach him control.”

“Fine.
Better you than me
.
Good luck with that vicious woman he calls
a
mother, too.”
With that Warren left.

Ian was prepared to deal with anything if it meant helping the cub.
The mother
could be as mean as she wanted as long as Ian was able to do what needed doing.

***

Ian spent most of the day asleep, allowing his body’s natural healing abilities to work.
At lunch Chad woke him.
His shaggy hair and dark e
yes stared at him from the door
way.

“Jesus
,
Chad, you could say something.”
Ian sat up slowly wincing a little, but his body didn’t ache nearly as
bad
as it had last night.
Chad just shrugged as he made his way into the room with the tray then set it down in front of Ian.
It held a sandwich and chips with a can of soda.

Chad shrugged again.
He was younger than the other elders. But just as big
.
He shoved his hand in hi
s pockets
staring
at Ian.

“Don’t talk much
,
do you?”
Ian asked as he took a bite out of the sandwich.
Chad shook his head.
“Well
,
thanks for the food.”

Chad gave him a two fingered
salute
then exited the room.
That went well.
A few minutes later the front door opened and closed.
A tall man who filled the doorway entered, his black hair cropped close to his head his eyes so black the pupils were invisible.

“Ian, good to see you up.
I stopped by last night but you were out. Chad left.
Don’t know if you remember me.
I’m Alex.”
Alex stuck out his hand and Ian shook it.
Ian did remember Alex he was the
puma
and he was a vicious fighter.

“Thanks for stopping by.”
Ian took a drink of soda.

“Had to come check on you, little brother, we roughed you up pretty bad.
You mending yet?”
Alex took Ian’s empty tray from his lap.

“Yeah I feel better, not as achy.
You’re a
puma
.”
Ian eyed Alex considering him as
he
waited for the response.

“I am.
My pride moved to Mexico long ago
and I stayed behind.
Edge took
in
my mate
and myself
.”
Alex shifted the tray in his hands.
“You need anything?”

Ian
considered that
for a minute.

“Yeah,
can you help me to the bathroom?
I
’d
like to soak in the tub for a while.”
That sou
nded like just the thing to ease
his sore body.

“Can do, little brother, can do.
Be right back.”
Alex left the room with the tray and soon heard the water turn on in the bathroom.

Ian soaked a long while in the tub and after
Alex helped him
back to bed he slept again.
The phone woke him.

“Hello?”

“Ian?”

“Andy.
Hi, how was your day?”
Ian sat up slowly against the pillows
as giddy warmth suffused his chest.
She’
d called again
.
T
hat was a good thing.

“Busy.
Crazy.
I just need to talk to someone and you came to mind.”

His heart skipped a little in excited happiness as he grinned.
She had thought of him first to call?
Cool.
Maybe that was progress already.

“I’m glad you called.
W
hat’s going on?”
He hoped she’d
trust him enough to tell him.

“Well, I didn’t tell you last night when I called
,
but someone broke into my house yesterday and trashed all my clothes.
I spent today calling the insurance people and shopping for new clothes.
It’s been exhausting.”
Andy exhaled a deep breath and the sound over
the phone line was of blankets rustling
.

Ian immediately went on red alert.
Someone had broken into his mate’s house and he wasn’t there to defend her.
Damn it! Anger roiled through him making his blood boil inside him.

“Are you okay?
You aren’t hurt are you?”
He would tear them apart li
mb from limb when he caught who
ever did that to her.

“I’m fine.
He
just trashed my bedroom and my clothes.”
Andy sounded tired like she needed a long nap or a massage.
Wait. Did she just say he?
He would definitely ask her about that later. Right now he wanted to know if she was in bed and comfort her.

Ian softened his voice until it was a low rumble.

“But you went shopping?
I thought women love to shop.”
Ian imagined her stretched out
on her bed in her lacey bra,
panties and garters.

“Oh
,
I do.
Rosie went with me.
It’s just…
I guess it would have been better if it was for fun and not out of necessity.
Anyway, enough about me.
How are you feeling today?”

“Me?
I’m okay.
Took a hot bath and slept some more.
You know what you need?
A massage.”
Ian ran his hand over his chest as he thought about running his hands over her body.

“A massage?
How are you going to give me a massage over the phone?”
Andy voice was filled with disbelief.

“Easy.
But you have to listen carefully.
Are you ready?”
Ian grinned.

“Okay.”
She drawled out the O.

“Where are you?”
Ian closed his eyes and listened to her soft voice allowing it to crawl over his skin.

“I’m
lying
on my bed.”

“Okay
,
lie
on your stomach and stretch out.”
Ian tensed waiting to see if she’d do it.
When he heard the shifting over the phone he knew she
’
d complied.

“
Done.
Now what?”
Andy’s voice,
s
lightly muffled by the pillow
, was soft over the line
.

“Now close your eyes.
I’m going to straddle your hips and lean over your back.
I’m running my hand up your back.
Are you wearing another dress today?”
Ian imagined his hands on her body moving slowly up her sides.