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
Bright Moon Page 27