There were a few groans, some sighs, and a few even cursed. They obviously did not like this news.
“This is because, we don’t want to draw too much attention to ourselves. Too many shifts in one week could kill our reputation.” His father paused. “A reputation that we have been trying to keep up high. It’s been over half a century, since one of our kind were last spotted.”
People nodded, wanting to agree with their Alpha. That was really all they could do, or else they could be banished. It was the right thing to do, to stay true to the pack.
After the short lived meeting, everybody went their separate ways. The torches were blown out, and the fire was put out. Fenrir had only one more thing he had to do tonight, and that was form a group with his brothers, Eric, and his soon to be mate.
“Well, that went a whole lot better than I’d originally thought.” Sam came up to him, as he was heading back to where all of their homes were located. “Still sort of blows that we will be running in territory we aren’t used to.”
“Maybe it’s for the best. Dad’s right.” Fenrir pulled out his keys from his pocket, and unlocked the drivers side. “Too many shifts in one week. Especially with it being so damn close to last night.”
“True. Mind if I ride along with you?” Fenrir shrugged and hopped into the drivers side. Reaching over, he unlocked the passengers side. It was sort of an older chevy truck, that required manual locking and unlocking. “So I take it, Reina will be meeting us over there?”
“I guess. Man.” Fenrir let out a frustrated sigh. “I really don’t want to go over to Missy’s tonight.”
“Yeah. Me either. But, at least we get free food.”
True. Definitely true.
The place was lit up, like nothing else. Every single light had to have been lit up in that tiny house. You could smell the food, even as you were walking up to the front door. And as if she knew that they were already there, Missy had already opened the door with a big smile on her face. “I was wonderin’ when you were going to get here. Come in, come in. Food is done.”
And they did just that. Fenrir lowered his head, as he stepped over the threshold, like he normally had to do, so that he did not hit the door frame with his incredible size. Immediately, he spotted Reina, sitting on the couch with Eric. They too must have smelled him come through the door, because both of them turned to his direction.
Reina got up off the couch, and came through the tiny hall that led into the kitchen area. “Heeeey baby.” Lifting up onto the tips of her toes, she pressed a firm, and almost lingering kiss to his lips, but she managed to show some form of respect.
The weird part was, any other time she’d kiss him, he couldn’t help but want to shed her of her clothes. But this time, it was as if it did not phase him. Not one single bit. That sudden realization bit at him hard, and he looked down at his soon to be mate, with a perplexed expression.
“I missed you. I bet you sure missed me huh?” She spoke this directly in his ear, for him to only hear. He knew what she hinted at, because of her body language. He knew that she wanted him, just like he wanted her….a second before he crossed paths with that red head. It hurt him how different he felt towards his fiance. It sort of made him hate himself.
He peered down into Reina’s green eyes and delivered a fake smile. It was fake, because he definitely didn’t feel like smiling. “I did.” He motioned to the table that was set up, a little over the top, by Missy. “Lets go get something to eat.”
Fenrir, Sam, Max, Eric, Reina, and of course Missy, all sat down at the table. It wasn’t long before everybody was totally entertained by a gross story that Max was telling. Fenrir however, wasn’t paying attention much because his mind was else where. On the pretty blue eyed redhead he had crossed paths with last night. He wasn’t sure how long this was going to go on. Why he was so fixated on this woman. Why she seemed to draw him in so easily.
Why the hell didn’t he know her name? And why the hell wasn’t he there, with her right now? Wherever she was.
Grabbing a bite of green bean casserole, he was about to bring it up to his mouth, before he felt a sudden sharp discomfort in his right palm. His fork dropped to the plate, creating a really loud sound. Luckily it didn’t stop everyone from being totally engrossed in Max’s story, because last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself. What in the hell, he thought.
With his hand now in his lap, he looked down and immediately noticed the red looking rash in the very center of the palm of his hand. It was beet red, as if he were badly sun burnt there.
Looking up, he caught the gaze from his older brother, Sam. He looked genuinely terrified. “Hey uhm. I’ve got something I wanted to talk to you about.” Now he knew what was up. Sam was making it seem like no big deal, on purpose. With his head, he motioned for them to go out the front door.
Looking over at the front door, he balled his hand up into a fist. Finally, he pushed his chair back and stood. All of them looked up at him, but luckily Sam stood up to. “I have something I wanted to talk to him about. We’ll be right back.” And with that said, they both left the kitchen and out the front door.
“What do you call this Sam?” Fenrir asked in a tone that clearly meant he was troubled. And he was. Because if it was what he thought it was, he was in a world of shit. “Is it-”
“Shh. Put your tone down or they are all gonna hear.” Once they went behind Fenrir’s truck, Sam reached out and grabbed his brother’s hand. With one single glance of the palm, Sam cursed under his breath. “Yeah. It’s the mark.” He spoke softly, and then brought his hand up to run it nervously through his own hair.
“How does this even happen. A human?”
“Are you sure you didn’t come across another wolf somehow?”
“Oh I’m damn sure. I slept most of the day today. And I’ve been around the wolves I’ve always been around, tonight.” Looking down, he studied his hand very hard. It was red. Very red. “Whats this thing going to do?”
“It’s just the start of the mark. It’ll grow into your very own mark. All of us have it different. It’ll hurt at first, but it’ll become more bearable. But with the females….”
“What about the females?”
Sighing heavily, Sam contemplated on what to say. “Usually, with the females, it’s more painful. My wife said it was sometimes really hard to take. And she is wolf.” He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know how it would be on a human.”
“Fuck.”
“Look.” Sam reached for Fenrir’s arm, in a comforting way, but also to make him pay attention. “I’m going to talk to Roy. Surely he knows of someone that can fix this.” That actually made Fenrir feel a sense of relief, because Roy was much older than the rest of them, by a long shot. “He knew of people from back in the day…people that would not even exist now. But there is a possibility that one might still be around.”
Another sense of relief.
“Just give me a couple of days alright? If Roy knows someone, we may have to travel.”
Whatever it took, for Fenrir to be normal again, and not be crazy over some human girl.
3
A booming headache loomed over Faye. She felt as if waves knocked her into a ton of rocks over and over again. Slowly her eyes opened, and when she did, she regretted it. The vibrant bright lights above her made her squint and her eyes burn.
“Faye?” She heard a gentle tone of voice. She knew that voice.
“Noct?” Slowly, she turned her head, and opened up one eye. Sure enough, Noct was there, sitting in a brown leather chair. He’d uncrossed one of his legs, to now perch on the edge of that chair. He looked relieved to see her. “Wh-” She swallowed hard, feeling in dire need of some water. “-what happened?”
“The pain you experienced from that…” He looked completely dumbfounded. “…rash. I’m supposing it made you pass out from it.”
It made sense. It was so painful that the memories were still there. She’d never experienced such
pain before, but a rash? A rash made her pass out? “That’s so weird.” She finally mumbled softly, and also in a tired tone.
Reaching down, she absentmindedly caressed the spot that had once been bothering the hell out of her. To her relief, there was no pain, absolutely none. But she did discover she was wearing a hospital gown.
“Noct.” She spoke again, her voice sounded overly tired and it cracked at that. “Really? The ER, over a rash?”
“I cannot be too careful.” He paused, and slowly came to a standing position. He brought himself down onto the edge of her bed, and peered down at her. “But don’t worry. No ambulance came, if that is what you are worried about.”
She gave a perplexed look. “Then how-”
“I took you out back, brought you around to my car, and delivered you here.”
Faye blinked.
Noct did all of that?
“What about Lily?”
“She is still at the coffee shop, no doubt about to close the place up.”
Which meant she must not have been out all that long.
Noct peered down at his watch, as if making sure he were right about the time. “And I do believe I owe her a call. She wanted me to call as soon as you woke up.” Slowly he stood, and whipped out his phone from his side pocket. His index finger came up, signaling that he’d just be a moment, before exiting the room. He must have known that a doctor was coming, because sure enough, one did.
“You’re awake. Good.” He brought out a clip board, as well as a pen. He settled it down on the counter, right near where the sink was located. “I’m going to check your temperature. Are you experiencing any pain since you’ve woken?” With that said, he brought a forehead thermometer and ran it along her forehead, and down towards her ear. He seemed satisfied by the reading.
“No.” She shook her head, answering his question. Slowly, she rose, to sit up more straight in that uncomfortable bed. “What…was it.” She signaled by touching along her rib cage.
He now looked perplexed. “It appears to be a rash, yet…it’s not. No rash would react in such a way, unless you were somehow in the way of acid.”
So it looked that bad? Even Faye had not seen what it looked like. “I haven’t been around any acid.”
Walking over to his clip board, he retrieved it, along with his pen. He jotted down some notes, no doubt - her temperature. “Which brings me to ask. Are you allergic to anything?” His gaze lifted, and he watched her carefully. “Anything at all, that you may have come in contact with?”
Nothing could come to Faye’s mind, as she thought long and hard. “No.”
“Well. We will have you keep an eye on it. I have ordered you up some cream, and some pain medication just in case.”
That perked her up. “Does this mean I’m going home?”
“Of course. We have no reason to keep you here, if you are feeling better. And you don’t have a fever anymore.”
Fever?
“We will have your friend sign the discharge papers. In the mean time, you may get dressed.” He looked at her. “Do you need help getting up?”
“I will handle it.”
Noct came around from behind the doctor. “I already signed the paperwork after getting off the phone with Lily.”
As if the doctor took the cue, he turned on his heel and disappeared out the door.
Heading over to a counter, where a pair of drawers were, Noct opened one up, and pulled out Faye’s work attire. “I told her to just go on home, because you needed your rest tonight.” He smirked softly. “She will be over first thing in the morning though.”
“Oh. Great.” Faye nervously chuckled, as she brought the blanket off of her. Nervous Lily, meant a bombard of questions and over time spent.
Laying the clothes down on the edge of the bed, Noct reached out to help her up, by taking one of her arms.
Faye simply looked down at the floor. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather just change in the bathroom.” She looked over at the promising bathroom door. She knew she had to have looked extremely goofy with her hospital gown on. The damn thing was open in the back.
“Certainly.” Noct mentioned, before taking her clothes back into his hands, and headed straight for the bathroom. Any other time, Faye would have detested the fact that he had went in there, but with a hospital gown that showed a full moon, she was actually sort of relieved.
Following in there after him though, all she had to do was give him a single look, and he took it as a hint. “I will be right out here, if you need me.”
You wish, she thought.
Once she was finally alone, she let out a heavy sigh and immediately untied the hospital gown from around her shoulders. Once it dropped, she looked at herself in the mirror. Immediately, she saw where the rash was located and it…really did look like acid had hit her. How would she have ever missed acid touching her skin? Was there something on the counters at work? Surely not, because wouldn’t Lily be in the same condition?
And how would it come up right under her breast? None of the counters were that high, despite Faye being so incredibly short as it was. She wanted to touch the mark, but forced herself not to. If it felt as ugly as it looked…
Grabbing her underclothes, he put them on, and followed up with her black pants and black shirt, that no doubt had Noct’s Mudslide written all over it. Her apron, if she recalled, must have still been at the shop, and all it took was a little pat down, to quickly retrieve her phone from her back pocket.
Stepping out of the bathroom, she was looking down at her phone with a grin and a shake of her head. Noct must have noticed, because he was literally right in front of Faye and she had to stop. “Lily. She’s such a worry wart.”
“And a good friend for being so.” Faye looked up at him, with a small smile. “Anyone would be stupid to not want to make sure you are okay.” The look on his face made Faye’s smile falter. Not necessarily in a bad way, but there was some strange hidden meaning behind what he was saying, that took Faye aback. Perhaps she was reading too deeply into it. “Let’s get you home.”
And with that, he placed his hand along her lower back, and practically escorted her out of the hospital room.
Noct had a car that people only dreamed of having. Sure it was very old but apparently Noct was very good with cars, and had it restored. It was a deep blue color, and on top of that, it was a Corvette. “So. I actually get to ride in the infamous car of Noct?” Faye joked, coming to the passengers side.
He came to the drivers side, and unlocked it. “All you had to do was ask, my dear, and I would have given you the ride of a life time.” He winked in a playful manner, before opening his side and sliding on in. Shortly there after, she heard her side unlock, and she opened.
Truth be told, that simple wink made her feel…funny.
Definitely not in a bad way.
Definitely in a very good way.
“I will be sure to remember that next time.” She spoke, with a happy smile and slid into the passengers side finally. Buckling herself in, she settled back into the seat comfortably. Those seats were slick leather, the upholstery and everything was entirely dark.
The car roared to life, and that sound would make any car enthusiast buckle at the knees.
“Are you hungry by chance?” Noct asked, as he pulled out of the parking lot. With a simple swing around, they were already on the main road. “I could pick you up something, if you’d like.”
Faye quickly shook her head. “No. I’m okay.” She looked over at him. “Thank you though.”
“I am giving you a few days off so that you can rest. I think that would be wise, no?”
“Actually, that’s the last thing I want to do.” Looking out her window she was silent for a moment. “You know you don’t have to baby me. It was a rash, not like I broke my leg or something.”
“But if it is a rash, which is it, don’t you think you should spend some time at home, until it gets better.” Faye could see out of the corner of her
eye, that he would occasionally glance in her direction. “I wouldn’t want it to spread, if that were the case. And especially in a place where there are drinks and food.”
Damn. He definitely had a point there.
She nodded nonetheless because he was completely right, even though she didn’t want him to be. Truth be told, she wanted to work. She loved working. And for once, she felt like taking Lily’s advice and actually spending more time outside her home. But she knew there was no arguing with Noct. “Okay.” She looked over at him then. “But you have to give me more hours. Since I’m no longer in school, I want to work more.”
Faye could see a smile slowly spreading along his lips. One things for sure, her boss definitely had a gorgeous smile. “Deal.” He simply said, before turning down another road. Her house was merely blocks from where the car was now, and when he pulled up, she felt so much better. There was just something about being home that made her feel at comfort and ease. She’d spent a great deal lately away from her books, her kitchen, her bed…her couch?
The Call of the Moon Page 5