Between Moons (The Cursed Series Book 1)

by Lilly Cain

  “If this is about the developments, I don’t know if I’m going to still have a job when I go back to Multoma. Helping me doesn’t mean I can help you with them.”

  He rubbed a hand over his jaw. Maybe he didn’t understand her after all. “This isn’t about work. That can all wait. I’m not even sure about the resort here anyway. And the land will still be there when we sort this out.”

  “They could hurt you. Hell, they could kill you! I don’t even know what they want!”

  He reached for her, pulled her in for a hug. She resisted at first, her body still and unyielding, but he held on and she eventually softened. “This is such a bad idea.”

  He smiled into her hair. It really was a bad idea. But she felt so right. And no way was he leaving her, wolf powers or not, on her own.

  * * *

  The man was an idiot. Well, not an idiot. He was intelligent enough to make her sit up and take notice in a good way. Intelligence was the sexiest thing in the world. But he had to be crazy to get involved in her mess. They sat at the small table, a large map spread across the surface. David has his phone out and they were reviewing the blog, finding any references to the Rom’s route and marking them in red on the map. He’d been right about that; amid the fluff of teen angst, boys, clothes, and more boys, there were notes about where bands of the people—that’s what the Rom called themselves indirectly, the people—stopped for short periods of time and camped, making money by trading with locals, dropping off handmade items to art galleries and gift stores, and even providing special ingredients and formulated oils to naturopaths.

  The insight into the life of the Rom was fascinating. Apparently talking to outsiders about the bands was against the rules, but no one seemed to have noticed this blog and teenagers were teenagers wherever they came from, all willing to bend the rules as they interpreted them.

  “Okay, here’s where they stopped last.” David marked a spot named Woodberry Forest, near Charlottesville in Virginia. “They kind of take a circular route here. Then they’ll head further south. Our author likes it when they go to the warmer states and the beaches on the coast.” He grinned at her and warmth spread through her chest.

  The low, grumbling growl caught them both by surprise. She bolted upright and then laughed. “Guess I’m a little hungry.”

  He chuckled. “For a minute there I thought the wolves were coming.”

  She lost her smile. “They are. What time is it?” They’d already had a late lunch from more of her stash and his dehydrated food.

  “Wow, it’s nearly six.”

  She stood and paced away from him. She sucked in a deep breath. “No wonder they didn’t attack us today. Tonight’s the full moon. They need to run. I need to run.”

  He nodded, his face serious. Their companionable afternoon was gone. “I’m going to make some dinner. When do you…”

  “I’ll have to go when it’s fully dark. I can’t be in here when I change, David.”

  He walked into the kitchen, his movements a little slower than they’d been at lunch, and she scented a light, acrid smell of fear. She dropped her chin to her chest, looked at the floor. Despite what he’d offered, what he’d claimed, that he was there because he wanted to be, and because she needed him, he was afraid of her.

  But he turned on the stove and walked back to her, and put his hands on her shoulders. “Do you think they’ll be in the woods, waiting for you? I don’t think you should go alone. I want to be there when you shift. What if they attacked then, when you were in the middle of it? How long does it take?”

  He wasn’t afraid of her. He was afraid for her. Sensation washed through her chest, like she was being squeezed. He throat tightened. She barely knew him…okay; she did know him a little now. He was smart, strong, caring and great in bed. Hell. He was brave.

  Don’t believe for a minute you can rely on anyone but yourself, Helen. That’s nothing but a lie that a man will tell you before they disappoint you or turn on you.

  Her father’s advice was never wrong. At least it had never been wrong yet, cold and cruel as it often was. Why would this be any different? How often had he told her she was better off alone, in not so many words? And sometimes, she’d wondered if everyone else was better off without her.

  “Don’t go there, Helen, wherever it is that you’re going. I can see the wheels turning. I am not leaving and I want to be there for you tonight.”

  “I don’t want you to see.” Her change had to look repulsive. She hadn’t seen it herself, but what else could it be but horrifying? Her bones broke, lengthened and shortened, her muscles and ligaments writhed inside skin that sprouted waves of fur. She became an animal. Why would any man, especially a lover, want to see that? He’d never sleep with her again, knowing what the curse brought out of her.

  “I need to know.”

  She sighed and looked into his eyes. He did need to know if she couldn’t convince him to leave her and her disaster of a life alone. Maybe having him see her change would be enough to send him screaming into the night, down the mountain and back home, and far away from her.

  He’d be safer that way.

  And she’d rely on herself, as always.

  “Okay. But I have to change outside. I can’t stand it when I’m inside.”

  * * *

  “Will you know me after you shift?” They’d had their supper, a quiet affair to be sure, and now they stood in the tall grass. She was naked and wrapped in the car blanket once again, and he stood stiffly beside her SUV with his shotgun braced in the crook of his arm. Darkness spread through the woods, though she could see him clearly in the moonlight. Now that she’d been with him she could appreciate his physique even more—those fantastic shoulders and the deeply muscled chest especially.

  The ability to hold back the change slipped through her control and she didn’t answer, couldn’t. She turned away from him. The last thing she wanted to see was the revulsion that would fill his expression when he watched her give in to the curse. Become a beast, whether he called her that or not.

  She let go and pushed instead, calling the change to her in a way she never had before. Not letting it happen like last night, but drawing it in with each breath, willing it to go faster, to make this experience less gruesome for David and less mortifying for her. She hunched down under the blanket and hid what she could, especially as the bones in her face contorted. Power slammed into her and she gasped for breath, shaking as she absorbed the force of what made her a wolf. Pushing might not have been the best idea. No time to absorb the energy, to release the pain. Fur rushed over her body and she lifted her head and screamed, the sound morphing as she was, changing into a long, wailing howl.

  The last of her fur and the length of her tail emerged and the blanket slid from her back. She howled again, this time the undulating cry that filled her with a triumph she couldn’t explain if she had been in human form. She was wolf.

  David sucked in a long breath behind her and she looked at the human male. Still attractive. Still strong, a good mate. He gazed back at her with awe, as he should; she was strong, powerful, and worthy.

  The woods called, with their shadows and sounds and scents, begging her to run and hunt. She tasted the air and found no scent of the intruders to her new territory. She let her tongue loll out in a wolf grin and gave in to the call, bunching her muscles and pressing into the loping run that could devour the mountain if she so chose. She ran.

  10

  “Well, shit.” He was a complete idiot. How was he going to protect her if he couldn’t even follow her? Helen in wolf form hadn’t looked back once as she dashed off into the woods. He ran but she was long gone before he even hit the edge of the trees. He stopped and looked into the dark shadows. No doubt she could see just fine in there, but him? Not so much.

  The only thing he could do was go sit on the porch and try to listen in case she called for him or if she tried to make a run back to safety. He walked back to the cabin and parked his butt on the
warped wooden stairs. “Fuck. Goddammit.” All he could manage was a curse word or two. “Completely useless, Sherman.”

  He needed a minute off his feet anyway. And time to wrap his mind around the sight of Helen shifting forms. Jesus, she’d changed so fast he had to think about it all to try to see it. Considering what she’d told him before, tonight wasn’t an ordinary shift. She must have tried to hide it from him. He set the gun across his lap and rubbed his face. Last night she’d been gone until sometime around midnight. All he could do was wait.

  It was a lot earlier than midnight when the first strange sounds caught his attention. A rustle in the trees, a snap of twigs. In the moonlight he caught movement in the light bush. He picked up the gun and lifted it silently to his shoulder. There was motion in a few areas. Someone was out there and wanted him to know it. He picked up the powerful hunting flashlight beside him. His dad didn’t believe in jacking deer—freezing them at night in the beam of the powerful light—but he had one or two of the massive lights for some reason, and David had gone to get one not long after he’d first sat down to wait.

  The beam caught the reflection of eyes, three sets. Wolves, considering the height from the ground and the growling that came as he pinpointed them. Likely the same wolves that had gone after Helen the night before. She’d thought there were three and this confirmed it. At least they were here, watching him, not out in the forest, chasing her.

  He set the flashlight down on the step beside him and stood. The gun might not be much help against three, it was only a lightweight shotgun meant for bird hunting, but it would sting like hell. If he shot them, they might leave. Or they might attack. He took a slow, deep breath. Then another. A line a cold sweat dripped down the back of his neck and he ground his teeth against the feeling, and the fear that hung low in his belly.

  In the next moment, they were gone. No rustles, no twigs snapping this time. Just a sense they’d left. He lifted the flashlight and scanned the edge of the trees, the bushes. Nothing. But no sounds of life from the forest either, not a breath of wind, an owl cry, nothing.

  Minutes passed and he eventually sat back own. They were gone. They’d left a message, maybe, that they could have attacked him while she was running. Could have attacked her, too. Their behavior shone a strange light on the previous night. Had they meant to kill when they’d rammed the Jeep at him and Helen? They’d been chased, but neither of them ended up hurt. And they probably could have been—a fledgling werewolf and simple human man. Something he would discuss with Helen when she returned.

  A chill ran through him. Maybe she wasn’t going to return. Maybe they’d killed her and had shown up to threaten him after doing it. Tell him silently to go away, stay out of their business or he’d end up dead, too.

  He paced the length of the porch and caught the edge of his sneaker on a broken bit of board. This place really needed some work if he were going to start using it again. If he didn’t knock it down and build a retreat. His father would have both been proud of that, as something his son built, and hated it, as it was on his precious mountain.

  David shook his head and looked out into the dark. It was going to be a long night, with nothing but memories for company and worry for a woman who wasn’t quite human.

  * * *

  The bitter, angry scent of the intruders bit at her nose the closer she came to the cabin. Not daring to increase her pace, she crept closer. When she was nearly in sight of the small building she realized that the scents had split into three—three wolves—and that there was a fresher path of their stink leaving the bushes near the cabin than the one arriving. Whatever they’d wanted to accomplish, coming here instead of coming after her, they’d done it and moved on.

  Her belly tightened. She’d left the man alone when she’d run. Not her fault; she’d needed the space, the air, the night. But he couldn’t keep up and had stayed back. She’d left him undefended. She sniffed at the tracks left by the wolves. No blood. But they could have hurt him in human form. She hesitated. She could leave him now. She knew where to go next, could see it in her mind the route she would take. She could travel a long time in the remainder of the night. Maybe half the distance between her and the closest band of the Rom. The man would only slow her down, as he had the night before, when she’d tried to run from the wolves in human form. Twice he’d shown he couldn’t keep up, but…that felt wrong. She couldn’t abandon him.

  The moon had begun its descent. The intruders were gone from her territory, and if they’d hurt the man before they left, well, she would continue her hunt for the people and if a few throats were torn, so be it.

  She trotted into the clearing and spotted the man sitting on the steps. Her man. She walked to him, taking her time. His eyes were wild and his scent tainted with fear. Something had happened, but she could smell no blood. She stopped a few feet from him and waited until he seemed calmer.

  “I thought you might be dead,” he whispered.

  She took a step closer. Not all of his words were clear to her, but the meaning, and the emotion, she understood him well enough. He’d been afraid of the wolves, known they were there, and feared for her.

  “They came here and I thought maybe they’d gotten to you and came here to warn me off. To forget what I’ve seen or they’d be back.” His voice was so harsh to her ears, like he had to force the words out.

  She put a paw on the step beside him, and leaned against him. He smelled better, the fear fading. He smelled good.

  Very slowly, tentatively, he touched her. This was also good. The feeling of his hand on her ruff, the weight of it and the way he ran his fingers through her fur. She stepped aside and he immediately stopped, but she walked to the door and waited for him. He was probably cold. He needed warmth. The fire inside didn’t smell good to her, but he would enjoy it. If she didn’t go in he might not either. So when he took the hint and opened the door, she trotted inside and flopped down on the wood floor beside the sofa, far enough away from the flames that they didn’t bother her eyes or her nose.

  “Right. Okay.” He followed her inside and locked the door behind him. “Uh, let me know if you want out, okay?”

  She showed him her fangs. What did he think she was, a labradoodle? But the bowl of water he offered was very nice. And even better, when he sat down to rest, he sat right beside her where he could touch her. She listened as he told his side of the evening’s events. Maybe he didn’t think she understood him, not really. But he told her how he felt about losing her, his guilt over not being there to protect her. Then he revealed his fear over the wolves’ appearance, and his understanding that they could have attacked him. How he’d waited and not fired. Brave and smart. This man would make a good mate.

  The thought occupied her for some time. So long in fact that she barely noticed the man falling asleep, and hardly minded when she realized she was dozing off as well.

  Morning came and she stretched. Somehow she’d slept though her change. Slept so deeply she hadn’t woken when David apparently moved them to the bed. Her outstretched arm encountered the warmth of his skin and the rough sprinkle of hair on his chest. She took a deep breath of his scent.

  “Finally. I wondered if you were going to sleep all day, Miss Wolf.” David’s rumbling voice sent a thrill of sensation down her back. She snuggled closer to him and he wrapped his arms around her. His cock stood at attention, apparently waiting for a repeat of the day before. Sounded perfect to her. She rolled over, flipped him onto his back, and climbed onto his lap. He had time to make a gasp of surprise before she slid onto him and began a rhythm that left them panting and pleasured only a few minutes later. Then she kissed him and rolled away laughing before walking to the shower.

  Speed had its advantages, but she’d take it slower next time, savor him and let him drive her just a little bit crazy. She stood still under the cold spray. Maybe it was the water temperature, but she was suddenly struck with how completely she’d accepted him in her life. Expected him in it. When had
that happened? It had something to do with a conclusion the wolf had come to, but she couldn’t remember now. Instead the voice of her father threatened to appear with one of his awful warnings. Put downs disguised as advice. Not what she needed. Today was the first day of the hunt. She had eight weeks to regain her humanity and put her life back together.

  She threw on some clothes. It was just about time to hit a laundromat. A few steps in the cozy cabin and she was back in the living room. David stood at the window, his back to the glass and a coffee cup in his hand. Coffee would be so good now. Even the dreadful instant. But the taste was so different now in reality than what her memory claimed. The curse had taken that from her.

  “Good morning,” she said and walked toward the kitchen.

  “I think we already exchanged pleasantries, and definitely had a good morning,” he quipped, then pointed to the counter. “There’s tea made and the last of the toast. Supplies are running out.”

  “Then it’s a good thing I’m moving on. I’ll repay you for the supplies.”

  “You know I’m coming with you,” he stated calmly and took another drink of his coffee.

  She picked up her cup, took a sip. “A girl’s gotta try. But maybe you should listen to me, David. I can drive you to where you can get some help for your Jeep if you want, or even to a car rental place, but you shouldn’t come with me. I have eight weeks off from work to take care of this mess. But you run your company, and you can’t just go off on vacation. How will it look?”

  He tilted his head and watched her for a moment, long enough to make her fidget under the weight of his gaze. “Since I do own the company, I can go on vacation, and I don’t really care what anyone thinks. Do you?”