Moonlight Heart: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 4)

by K. R. Alexander

  Then I opened the bathroom door and realized there was nowhere to sleep in this whole little place besides that one bed.

  “You’re not thinking I’m going to share the bed with you?” I asked Jason while he made my tea and I stood in the bathroom doorway, toweling my hair.

  “There’s plenty of space. Kage will—”

  “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

  He appeared startled. “You slept with me in Cornwall.”

  “That was different. You were in fur. And in crisis. And you were alone.”

  “You’re in crisis.” He smiled kindly at me from the kitchen. He’d also put on dry shorts and wore nothing else besides a slender, long chain necklace. Dark, sleek, and toned as a professional surfer. “And I could change if you want. We could both change and sleep on the floor. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Didn’t think about it being an issue…”

  “You can’t sleep on the floor.” I gestured around.

  “If we change—” Jason started.

  “You don’t have to change into fur. That’s a horrible thing to do just to sleep. It’s bad enough when you get something out of it.”

  “We don’t mind. You’re right. I’ve put you on the spot—”

  “Let Jason share with you,” Kage said from the bedroom, out of sight. He still sounded angry. “I’ll take the floor.”

  “Sugar?” Jason asked.

  “No. Just plain, thanks. Can I ask you a personal question?”

  “Anything.” Beaming once more, Jason took my tea mug to the bedroom, presumably to leave on a bedside table.

  “How long has it been since you washed your sheets?” I asked.

  “Every Tuesday.”

  “You’re joking.”

  Jason reappeared in the doorway, tea-less and still chipper. “Truth.” Lifting his left hand. “When I moved out, Mum said if she didn’t see me doing laundry at least twice a week—clothes once and linens once—she’d cut me off.”

  “Cut you off?”

  “She cooks for us sometimes when we’re both working. Mum’s the best cook in the pack. Kage has been out of work lately so he cooks.”

  “Then that sounds like a reasonable deal for her to offer.” Too bad his poor mother had never tossed the dishes into her negotiating. Then again, she’d probably never imagined Jason would have picky female company over.

  It turned out, the shared bed thing—with its oft-washed linens—wasn’t so weird.

  It was sizable and I was allotted the far side with a little shelf, lamp, and my mug. Jason sat on the door-side, proffering extra blankets, offering to get me more hot water as I drank and warmed up despite damp hair.

  Kage, not looking at me, cleared laundry, books, and many chewed beef bones off the floor. Still tense, mostly silent.

  I longed to know what they’d been arguing about. Kage telling Jason to get out and Jason sitting in the Jeep at night seemed like a radical disagreement. Then again, their relationship was odd. For all I knew this happened nightly.

  “Going to tell us what happened?” Kage pulled the last cotton blanket from the wardrobe to wrap around himself for the linoleum floor.

  I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “Don’t be a martyr. Just stay on your side. And, Jason, you need to think before offering up nonexistent guest space to weary travelers. I shouldn’t be here.”

  “Sorry.” Jason crawled below sheet and duvet with me, sliding over to give Kage space. “I’m glad you’re here. We’re really happy you’re back, Cassia.”

  “Let her tell us why, princess.” Kage coldly cut short the groveling as he joined Jason. “I can’t take the suspense.”

  I drank, then set the mug aside. “You all are far from helpless, but I was too scared to leave. I don’t know if I can save anyone or find these killers. I just … couldn’t go without trying.”

  “Took you two days to decide that and come back?” Kage still had a scathing tone. “And nothing personal in it? A business transaction as far as you’re concerned?”

  Lying back, trying to warm up, I shut my eyes and didn’t answer while Jason gently hushed him. Jason leaned into Kage, both sitting up slightly, keeping space between us without anyone falling off the bed.

  After a silence, having to think through the whole thing anyway, I continued.

  “I was at the airport all afternoon trying to get another ticket and get my bag back. I travel in the cheap seats. Not like my ticket was refundable. But after three phone conversations, and several in person, they gave me a huge price break for a one-way ticket to Seattle for later in the month. I’ll rent a car or get the train home from there.

  “They assured me they’d intercepted the bag in Iceland and it would be on a flight back, bound for London tomorrow. The airlines have people who deliver misplaced luggage. I said to take it to the Seastar Hotel for Andrew. I couldn’t give them Melanie’s address. I can’t even admit to her I’m still here. It’s easier to lie and say I’m home than say I skipped my flight to go to another historical conference, or I’m having meetings with my secret society.

  “Then I got the Express to Paddington Station, found a place for dinner, and sat there for hours, sending dozens of emails, updating people at home that I’d be back late, making lists of what I’d have to get done last-minute to start with my school, going back and forth with my new boss…

  “August twenty-fourth is my return now. It only gives me days to prep my class and room and pretend to be a good hire and get to meetings and everything I have to do. There’s rent, appointments, friends I promised activities before I started work—but I think I’ve got it covered. What’s more important than those few days home is getting twenty more days here. We have twenty days to solve this and stop the killers.”

  Again, I lay still for a minute. No one interrupted. I looked at them. Bedside lamp on. Me nestled in extra covers while they were shirtless and apparently found the room toasty. Drained, exhausted, yet relieved: grateful to be here, as happy to be back with them as Jason claimed to be to see me. Happy; joyous—aside from the catch. The other person I’d had a long talk with while I sorted out my life in London all evening: myself.

  I wouldn’t mention the hours I’d devoted to researching immigration—what had really kept me so late. Because the end finding was I could not legally work in this country. Nor live here longer than six months. So it didn’t matter. Saving their lives mattered. And, regardless of how we felt about it, that plane ticket also had to matter.

  I looked into Kage’s hazel eyes as he watched me. Both on their sides then: Jason with his head on the pillow, close, and Kage against his back, head propped on his hand to see me over Jason.

  “You’re right, Kage. This is still temporary. I’ll still be leaving. It has to be mostly business. Walking away this time was…” I swallowed. “This is why I thought it would be best if I stayed with your sister and didn’t get so—”

  “Am I bothering you?” Kage held up a hand to demonstrate the open space in the bed, Jason between us. “No. You can stay here. Don’t have to go sleep on a sofa.”

  “Thank you. I…” Slow breath. “Anyway… As far as the ‘business’ side of things, I’d like to know if I can still have everyone’s help from our starting pack. We can sit down tomorrow evening when everyone is home and hatch a plan to find Dieter and keep moving forward. I have an email back from a contact here putting the word out that I’m looking for a translator. I’ll scry again. The main thing is to keep forward momentum. Since we don’t know where we’re headed we don’t know how long it might take.”

  “Kind of a daft question,” Kage said. “Swore to protect you, didn’t we? We’re not going to let you go around looking for bleeding vampires on your own—even if you weren’t doing it to save our pelts in the first place. You need a pack.”

  Jason, unlike Kage, was smiling. “Of course we’ll all help. Whatever you need. We’re really happy you’re back, Cassia.” Again: like he wanted to make sure there couldn’t be any
mistake. And was he?

  After my talks with Andrew and Zar about dark stars, I second-guessed all Jason said. How could I take him at face value? Then again, what was I supposed to do? Assume Jason was lying? That he was motivated only by seeking attention—no matter if it was positive or negative? That he didn’t mean his own better qualities? I couldn’t live like that.

  Anyway, Andrew had also said Jason liked me. Not a front, only … complicated. Potentially even using me for his own ends—as he had done to show off to Kage that he’d found me and make up with Kage for whatever they’d been fighting over.

  Either way, I was grateful—more than grateful; heart pounding, weak in the knees—to think we could all keep working together—including Jason. While also getting to know them better would help. I found them intriguing and confusing—an upsetting condition for me personally. Plus, there remained something unfinished between Kage and myself that must be resolved—not encouraged.

  I rolled on my side to face them. “Jed and Zar are under pressure to fill commissions. Isaac’s job is a lot of responsibility. We don’t know how demanding this could get. We may have to stay in London again, or travel more looking for vampires. We just don’t know yet.”

  “Can’t worry about rubbish like that,” Kage said.

  “He’s right.” Jason took my hand on the pillow. “We can delay commissions, or get new jobs. We can’t get our families’ lives back. We’re a pack. We’ll be in this with you as long as it takes. You’re the one doing us the favor, putting your life on hold to help.”

  “Moon, we’re letting you sleep with us,” Kage snapped. “What more do you—?”

  “Letting me—?”

  Jason snorted. Kage finally grinned

  I laughed, shoving Jason’s hand away and still laughed until I had to turn my face into the pillow. Warm enough by then, I pushed back some extra covers. It was the first time I’d had a good laugh in days and, somehow, it washed away most of what the shower had missed.

  I’d made the right choice. We would be back together. The good, the bad, the fights, the public displays of inappropriate eating, and the quest for undead and things that spilled blood in the night. And … moonlit waterfalls? Dinner dates? Even more inappropriate use of our time in ancient castles? Trades for kisses, and more?

  Twenty days didn’t mean fulfilling my own heart’s desire. It meant twenty days until the next goodbye. I couldn’t do another like the last goodbye that had almost killed me. Yes, I loved them. But I was here to work with them to solve a crime, then go home. No less. And no more.

  So what the hell was I doing in bed with two of them an hour after I’d returned?

  Find the killers.

  Watch the clock.

  But, first, get through the night beside these two without regrets.

  Chapter 3

  Bloody vineyards, burning cities, and groups of robed, hooded figures. The tree where Abraham had been found, the group around it—large and powerful as my pack, though impossible to tell more details. Blood ran down the tree, into roots, then sprouted through earth in the form of standing stones. In the middle of this stone circle, crouched the ancient figure of the bookkeeper: the vampire from below Versteckterstein Schloss in Germany. Cupped in its black-veined hands, rimmed in long, yellow fingernails, were a dozen bloody eyeballs.

  I jumped away with a yell that caught in my throat as fangs sunk in there, crushing off my breath. I fought, thinking for an instant I was free to run, only to feel strong hands close around my shoulders, my back, holding me in.

  “No!”

  “Cassia!”

  I recoiled, stopped by those hands and discovering I lay on my side. I’d have been off the bed, crashing to the floor, but someone was holding me tight, pulling me to the mattress.

  “Cassia? Shhh, it’s all right.”

  I slithered to the middle of the bed, curling against Jason’s chest, pressed in tight all along his body for the warmth. He wrapped his arms around me, kissing my hair, talking to me, his bare legs along mine, his chest smooth and solid and protective.

  “You’re all right. Our guards are out. We’re here with you,” Jason murmured.

  A third hand brushed my hair—Kage leaning over Jason.

  “More visions about France?” Kage asked.

  Jason shushed him. “Leave her alone.”

  “Could be learning useful sterk the way her dreams go.”

  “If she has, she’ll tell us when she’s ready.”

  I drifted off again in Jason’s arms, wishing I’d never talked to Andrew about him—just let Jason show me who he was. But thinking much more, as I fell asleep the second time, about vampires and sliced throats and eyes cut from faces.

  We had to find Dieter. And a translator for the Blood Tome we’d stolen from the bookkeeper. Quickly.

  The windows were hardly light with a cool gray from after the storm when I woke. Dusty old blinds made this light even more faint, mere pale lines and strips to each side of the two bedroom windows.

  I’d moved again in my sleep. Both males were detached from me, whispering on the bed beside me. I blinked and rubbed my eyes to see them, my head aching and mouth dry.

  Jason lay mostly on top of Kage, Kage holding his face, Jason nibbling along his jaw to his scarred collarbone. Jason was the one talking—mixing their own Lucannis with English so I only got stray words. It seemed to be a string of endearments: how beautiful Kage was, how much Jason loved him, how blessed Jason was with Kage in his life, and so on.

  I didn’t care what they did. I was the one in their bed. Not the other way around. Yet the whole thing was disconcerting, even more than embarrassing, in a way I couldn’t put my finger on.

  Kage slid out from under Jason, onto his side, his back to me, and they went on kissing and caressing until I thought things were going to get more serious.

  Then Kage shoved him. “You have to go.”

  Jason answered in Lucannis—a pretty, lyrical sound, though as strange to my ear as Russian or Japanese.

  “No, you don’t.” Kage laughed a little. “Go on and get dressed.”

  Something else in Lucannis.

  Though both whispered, presumably for my sake, I doubted either one was troubled if I was awake or not.

  “Then shower. I don’t care. But go. Only half an hour until Peter’ll be waiting to escort your privileged carcass out of here.”

  “Come with me.” Jason was stroking his face, pushing him into the pillow.

  “To work?”

  “To fuck me in the shower.” Face against Kage’s, he caught Kage’s hand in his own, pulling it below the duvet that came up to their chests. “I’ll be on time. The longer I’m with you the longer I live a perfect day.”

  “Go get ready, princess. I’ll fix your thermos.”

  Then I knew where the disconnect came from: I’d rarely seen affection between the two, much less something like this.

  Jason scrambled back on top of him, saying, “Neä amaus Vinu.”

  “Love you too. Now go.” Kage was shoving him off the far side of the bed. “I’m accountable—” He hissed out a breath. “Bloody hell, stop it!” No longer whispering. “And I wish you’d shower after work instead. You know that. You smell like the shop and petrol when—”

  “Then we have more time—if I don’t now.” Jason held onto his face again, pulling Kage’s head after him so Kage had to sit up, even once Jason’s feet were on the floor and moving in the right direction. “You weren’t worried about being late yesterday.”

  “I wasn’t watching the clock and Peter bit my head off. You tosser—go—get—” While Jason kept engaging his mouth. Kage leaned out more, sitting up in bed fully for the leverage to twist Jason’s wrist around to the side. He threw Jason to his knees with a sudden wrenching force, crashing to the linoleum hard enough to make the room shiver.

  Kage leaned out after him, cursing him before their mouths were together again.

  With his one free hand, Jason g
rabbed Kage’s hair and tugged him the rest of the way out of bed. Kage fell on top of him.

  More arguing, muffled and broken off, a horrible bang that sounded like Jason’s head made contact with the floor, then Kage was on his feet, dragging Jason with him. He had Jason’s arm twisted up behind his back, pulling him to the door by the foot of the bed.

  Jason tipped back his head, eyes glazed. He gasped with the pain as Kage jerked his wrist between his shoulder blades and shoved him into the doorframe. Kage followed, pinning him there, teeth locked around his throat, pressing full-length against him. He held Jason so tight the muscles bulged through his own arms and back, while Jason was trembling and breathless.

  “Thank you,” Jason gasped, struggling against him. “Kage—ah—I love you—fuck me—” Cut off on a quick cry of pain. “You’re silver, Kage. You’re everything. Please—”

  Kage dragged him off into the bathroom.

  Huh.

  I lay there with my arm over my face, listening to them through the bathroom door. For some reason, I kept seeing Andrew’s You have no idea smirk aimed at me.

  Really, I should be making an effort to remember those dreams and get my notebook from the kitchen table.

  I didn’t budge.

  Soon after the shower finally did come on, the hollow door banged open, slammed shut, and Kage stormed to the kitchen, muttering to himself.

  I heard a pot clanking on a burner. The small refrigerator door opened, also slammed, then another moment of muttering before Kage called, “Do you want tea?” He must have considered it a safe bet I’d be awake.

  “Do you have coffee?” I asked, shifting my arm and sitting up.

  “No.”

  “Black tea? Anything with caffeine in it?” I scrubbed at my face with both hands and reached to sip from the cold dregs of last night’s tea mug.

  A pause. “Herbal, water, bone broth. That’s it.”

  Bone broth? Must be what he was heating to put in the thermos for Jason.