Blue Moon

by J. A. Belfield

“I thought they were only after Daniel and Josh,” she said after a beat. “Why not wait? Do it another time, if they weren’t alone?”

  “To get back at me.” I growled. “She took Sean on purpose.”

  “Shit! Did she tell you that?”

  My lower lip wobbled a little. “Amongst other things.”

  “Bitch.”

  “I need your help, Jess. I don’t know what to do. I feel like I should be out there looking for them, but, damn, I have no idea where to start.”

  “I thought you had an address for them? Go snatch ‘em back.”

  “They’re not there.” I tugged at the wet strands of hair hanging in clumped tails across my shoulders. “By the time I’d figured out something was off and flew over there, they’d . . .” My breath caught. “I was too late.”

  “If they moved out that soon after taking them, they must have already had a new place arranged.” She paused, only her breaths travelling the line. “Unless where they’ve gone to is their usual place of residence, and the house they invited you to was temporary.”

  I frowned deeper. “Like a prop?”

  “Yes,” she muttered. “Something like that.”

  “Have you found anything out about them at all, Jess?”

  “I was given a name to contact. I have a meet with him on Boxing Day—”

  “That’s three days away! I can’t wait that—”

  “Given the circumstances, I may be able to get him to meet with me sooner.”

  “Do you think he will?” A rub of my hand scruffed up my hair. “I’m going out of my mind here.”

  “I’ll call him, see what I can do.”

  “What were you meeting him about, anyway?”

  “I was told he used to practice in your area, so he may know if there’s a coven, maybe know some of its members—their leader, even.”

  I blew out a sigh. “It’s a start. But I need some advice for if I’m out and about. Is there a witch repellent …something I can do? Some way of defending the house, even, if I can get them all to stay here?” I groaned, running my hand across my face. “I can’t take the risk of her getting any more of the pack. I’ve already got too much—”

  “Calm down, Jem. Give me a minute to think.”

  Jess’s feet padded around through the phone line, slides and scuffs sounding as though she moved stuff about, and the flittering of pages as though she leafed through one of her books.

  The longer I waited, the messier my hair became.

  “Why don’t you give me some time to look into this for you, and I’ll call you ba—”

  “I don’t have time.”

  “Whatever I advise you to do, I doubt you’ll have everything you need on hand. When I call you back, I’ll have a list of ingredients for you and, hopefully, a local address where you’ll be able to obtain them. Depending on the source, you may need more than a polite request to get through the door, so you need to give me at least an hour. Okay?”

  “Can’t you just—”

  “Even if I can get you through the door, I’m pretty certain it won’t be open before nine. Either way, you’ll have to be patient.”

  I groaned. “How can I be? I need to be looking for Sean now. I—”

  “Please, Jem, patience. We’ll sort this out. I promise you. But I can’t give you what you need at the drop of a hat.”

  “One hour. Please, no longer.”

  “I’ll try my best.”

  As soon as I hung up, my gaze skimmed around the bedroom. No conversation meant no distraction, and the space became nothing more than a cold, empty shell. With Sean’s absence, all warmth seemed to have been sucked from the room.

  I jumped to my feet, flitted left and right as though a frantic enough search could locate a hint of the room’s usual atmosphere. On finding none, my body shivered and I hurried from the room, but even with the barrier as I closed the door behind me, the chill stroked across my back like icy tentacles.

  I doubted I’d ever be warm again—unless I found Sean.

  My vicious headshake lashed hair against my cheek. I couldn’t think like that.

  Until I found Sean.

  I had to believe I’d find him. If not for that, I’d lose the ability to keep going.

  Without Sean, my life would be pointless.

  As another finger of iciness trailed a pattern across my back, I shot down the stairs.

  A quick peek revealed no one in the living room. I continued past, pushed open the kitchen door. Heat bled through the first sign of a crack to encircle me in its comfort.

  Connor had switched from his usual position at the foot of the table to sit near the others. My focus fell on Beth in my seat—or maybe I’d spent the past four or five months in her place. I took Sean’s empty chair beside her.

  My attention swept over the three men before landing on Nathan. I waited to see if he had anything else to say about my phone call to Beth.

  He stared hard at me.

  My jaw tightened.

  His expression didn’t waver.

  Beth’s scraping chair created a welcomed distraction. “I’m going to fix you some breakfast, Jem.”

  “I’m not hungry,” I said as she moved across the kitchen. I lifted my hand from my lap, placing my mobile on the table in front of me.

  “You have to eat.”

  Elbows positioned either side of my phone, I supported my head as my glaring eyes willed it to hurry up and ring. “Please, Beth. I’m not hungry.”

  She didn’t speak, just cracked eggs into a bowl, whisking them up.

  My face tilted to her until I met Nathan’s gaze again, and I returned to my phone vigil.

  “Did you call Jess?” Nathan asked.

  My nod took my hands along with it.

  “Did she have any suggestions?”

  “I’m waiting for her to get back to me. As soon as I know how to protect the rest of you in my absence, I’m going to get them back.”

  The men’s silence spoke louder than any words. I lifted my head. They all stared at me. So did Beth—but whereas Beth’s smirk appeared impressed by my idea, the three men looked offended with their incredulous expressions and clenched fists.

  Getting them to obey, I suspected, would not be easy.

  19

  A plate of scrambled eggs received only a cursory glance before I reset my sights on my phone.

  Beth’s hand came to rest on my shoulder. “If you don’t eat it now, it will get cold.”

  “I already told you I’m not hungry.”

  With a small sigh, she sat and positioned my phone in the centre of the table before sliding the plate of food beneath my nose and a mug of coffee by my elbow. “Watching it will not make it ring any sooner, Jem. You may as well eat your food whilst you’re waiting.”

  I twisted my head to her. “I’m not hungry.”

  Her dark gaze held mine. “If you won’t eat for hunger, then eat for Sean. How do you think he’d feel if he knew you weren’t taking care of yourself? And if you’re planning on getting him back? How do you expect to do that with no strength?” She raised her eyebrows, lifted my fork and waved it beneath my nose.

  I stared at her for seconds and blew out a breath, taking the fork. Despite its light texture, the yellow fluff struggled along my oesophagus and thunked into my stomach like a brick. I put the fork back down and nudged the plate away.

  Beth shoved it back, worked my cutlery back into my tightened hand. “So stubborn. This lot must be rubbing off on you.”

  “Eat the food,” Nathan said.

  With a suppressed growl bubbling deep in my chest, I stabbed at the food and shovelled it in, one mouthful after another until my plate sat empty. The fork hit the table with a clatter as I pushed my p
late aside and returned my phone to its original position.

  About halfway through sipping my coffee, impatience and irritation kicked in. The scrape of my chair jolted everyone’s heads up as I stood. Their gazes followed me to the other side of the room where I peered from the kitchen window.

  As I recalled my last hunt in the forest with Sean, a sharp pain stabbed into my chest. I grit my teeth against it and began to pace.

  “When did Jess say she’d call back?” Ethan asked.

  “She said at least an hour.” With each meet of the wall, each spin, my focus locked onto my mobile. “What time did I come down?” I asked after a few more minutes.

  Connor shrugged. “Ten-to-seven-ish.”

  The clock read seven thirty. I ran my hands through my matted hair, suppressing a groan. In a need to do something, I walked to the end kitchen unit and opened the drawer. A pad sat on top of the contents, but finding a pen took some shuffling. When I had them both, I placed them on the table beside my phone.

  “Where’s the Porsche?” I turned to Connor. “Still at your house?”

  He nodded. “We all came back through the forest. Did you want me to fetch it?”

  “No.” My rapid headshake matched the speed of my answer. “I want you to stay here. Under no circumstances can you go back to yours until this is over, Connor. The witches will have keys to your house now, so you can’t go back. If you need anything, I’ll get it. If you—”

  “You can’t seriously expect us all to hide away whilst you go off on some wild, solo search mission,” Ethan said.

  I stared hard at him. “That’s exactly what you’re going to do.”

  Connor pushed to his feet. “Now hang on a minute—”

  “No, Connor. It’s nothing but male pride that created this bloody mess in the first place—male pride and vanity.”

  His entire face darkened along with his green eyes. “If you think, for one minute, I will sit here and allow a …a . . .”

  “What?” I snapped. “A female? You don’t think I’m up for the job because I’m not male, is that it? You can’t stand the thought of handing the reins over to me because of some gender issues you’ve got going on?”

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

  “No?” My hands unclenched to point at him. “So, explain then.”

  He rubbed up his hair. “I’m …I’m just not used to sitting around and doing nothing.”

  “Do you want your sons back?”

  Nathan leaped to his feet. “Now that’s overstepping—”

  “No, Nate.” I spun on him. “If you’d all listened to me, they would be home right now. Josh wouldn’t be bloody bewitched. Danny would not have followed, and Kyle and Sean would not have been dragged into something that isn’t even their argument.”

  Nathan’s hands flew up, slapped back down against his hips. “Oh, so we’re going back through the ‘I told you so’s’, are we?”

  I glared at him. My chest rose and fell beneath the weight of my heightened temper, and the clench of my hands dug my nails into the palms. I let out a long, slow breath. “I don’t want to fight with you.” I rubbed across my face as I realised I’d picked a fight with the wrong people. “It’s just …I managed to outwit her before …I know I can do it again. I have to.”

  “You don’t have to do it alone.” Nathan’s voice calmed a little, too.

  “Yes, I do. I can’t take the risk of losing more of you.” My jaw clenched as emotion threatened to take control. I opened the French doors, stepped out into the conservatory. Even there, my facial muscles and hands refused to relax. “I should have bloody finished her when I had the chance.”

  A warm hand came to rest on my shoulder.

  I turned to Ethan. “I had her.” My clawed hand raised in mime. “I bloody had her, and I let her go. Now, I seriously wish I hadn’t. I’ve never wished anything more than I do that.”

  Ethan rubbed my arm. “You couldn’t have known she had something like this planned.”

  “I should have known, should have realised she was leading up to something, that she had bigger plans. I knew she wanted Josh. I couldn’t figure out why—still can’t figure that out—but I knew.” I ran my hands over my head for the umpteenth time. “How could I have been so naïve? Because they don’t have our physical strength? If I believed, for one second, she planned to, or had the ability to take all four of them, there’s no way I’d have told Sean to go in.” I met Connor’s eyes. “I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t.”

  He nodded.

  At the shrill ring of my mobile, our heads all whipped round as though magnetised by its beckon. My stare locked with the vibrating device.

  “Answer it,” Nathan said.

  His words snapped me out of the trance, and I strode around the table, snatched up the phone. “Talk to me, Jess.”

  “Okay. First, I called my contact, and he agreed to meet with me tomorrow morning—”

  “Tomorrow isn’t soon enough. You need to meet with him today.”

  “Tomorrow will have to be soon enough. In the meantime, I’m sending you on a shopping trip.”

  “For?”

  “Ingredients you’ll need if you want to protect your home, and if you want to protect the rest of the pack.”

  I sank into Sean’s seat, picked up the pen. “Tell me.”

  She sounded as though she ruffled through sheets of paper. “Okay, write these down: iron beads, burdock roots—”

  I tapped my pen against the pad. “How many beads?”

  “As many as they have. You’ll probably buy them out of their stock.”

  I scribbled in my unintelligible way when taking notes. “Got it.”

  “You’ll need red thread—strong red thread. It is vitally important that it’s red. Get a good few yards of it to be on the safe side.”

  I wrote that on my list, mumbling the words beneath my breath.

  “You’re also going to ask them for some centaury.”

  I frowned as I swept the pen across the page. “What’s that?”

  “It’s an herb.”

  “Never heard of it.”

  Jess sighed. “It’s the legendary herb of centaurs, Jem—used for protection. They may not have any. If they haven’t, don’t worry too much. I have some here, and I’ll be with you in a few days, so I’ll bring it with me.”

  My head lifted, pen stopped. “You’ll be …you’re coming …here?”

  “Of course. You need my help. This is simply to keep you all safe until I get there.”

  I blew out the biggest sigh. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said. “Now, write down mandrake root. You need to ask if they have some already soaked and made to order, because it’s supposed to sit in water for three days. It’s the affected water you’re after.”

  “What’s it for?” I asked as I scribbled.

  “Sprinkled over your thresholds, it will prevent anyone with malevolent intent entering. It’s more reliable than the brick dust, which you proved can be broken.”

  “Okay,”—I scrawled—“mandrake root, soaked in water for three days.”

  “Right. You also need alcohol.” More pages rustled her end. “Any kind will do.”

  “Sure, okay.”

  “And dragon’s blood—”

  I let out a snort. “There’s no such thing as dragons.”

  “I seem to recall you spending years telling me there were no such things as werewolves, too.”

  Another small snort broke through as I shook my head. “Yes, but—”

  “Anyway, it isn’t really blood from a dragon. It’s the resin of the Indonesian Dracaena Draco tree. It’s only called dragon’s blood because of its red colour.”

  “Okay.”


  “And finally, you’ll need gum Arabica,” she said.

  “Gum Arabica,” I repeated as I wrote. “I presume wherever I go, they’ll know what all these things are.”

  “Of course.”

  “So, do you have an address for this shopping trip?”

  “Yep. It’s a shop called Sacred. About an hour’s drive for you. This is what you need to know in order to get in . . .”

  I listened to her directions, copied them out and ensured I had them correct. With the request to call her back later for further instruction, I hung up and gave Beth, and the silent and watchful men, my attention. “I have to go out. Whilst I’m gone, you all need to stay in the house.”

  All three men faced me. Maybe without even realising, Connor shifted his position until he’d blocked the rear exit from the house.

  “You’re not running off and doing this alone, Jem.” Nathan’s voice came out low. “It’s ridiculous.”

  “Actually,”—I folded the paper I’d written on and tucked it into my pocket—“what’s ridiculous is you three being too chauvinistic to admit I’m right.”

  A flit of my eyes to the wall showed the time as seven fifty-five. Traffic would be heavy if I didn’t leave, and I wanted to get to the shop for opening. I took a step around the back of Beth’s chair.

  Nathan shifted toward me. “You’re not going alone.”

  “Yes, I am.” As I moved again, Nathan stepped closer. “You planning to physically restrain me from going?”

  “No.”

  As I went to walk out, Nathan grasped my arm, giving a gentle tug back. I looked down at his huge fingers circled around my bicep before lifting my stare to his.

  “I forbid you to leave this house alone,” he said.

  My glare matched the defiant tilt of my chin. “Is that an order?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “As your Alpha, yes.”

  “And if I disobey?”

  “You will not disobey me whilst you are a member of my pack.”

  My eyes narrowed, jaw tightened as I tipped up my head to study him.

  He held my gaze steady.

  Tension filled the atmosphere to bursting point.

  After minutes of staring at Nathan, I broke through the static silence. “Then, you’ll have to kick me out.”