Under a Raging Moon: Part Three

by Chambers, V. J.

  I hit the ground, and my beast took over my body at the same moment. The man had aimed too high. The bullets sailed over my head.

  I bounded forward, tackling the man.

  He went down on his back, gun skittering out of his hand. Perfect.

  I dove for the gun, and shifted back into human form at the same time. When I stood up, I was holding the gun, and I had it pointed straight at all the other men.

  There were only four left, because Hudson had taken down two of them.

  Kale was out of the cage now, snarling at the men who’d let him free.

  “Drop your guns!” I called out.

  The man in charge let out a string of swear words. But he lowered his gun, and so did the other men.

  I marched them deeper into the abandoned factory and locked them in a room in the basement.

  “This isn’t over,” the man in charge called after me. “We aren’t going to stop until we have that necklace.”

  * * *

  “What’s this about a necklace?” said Hudson.

  All three of us were back in his truck. I was sitting in the middle, Hudson was driving, and Kale was on the other side of me, leaning against the window. He looked weakened, but otherwise okay. He’d lost some blood, but he wasn’t badly injured. His wound even seemed to be healing a bit.

  I sighed. It was time to come clean. I dug out Lila’s necklace and held it up. “This is what they’re after.”

  Kale snatched it away from me. “Where’d you get this?”

  “From you,” I said.

  Hudson stole a glance away from the road. “Hey, that’s Lila’s necklace, isn’t it?”

  “That necklace is the reason I’m here,” I said. “Those men back there work for someone who hired me to steal it from you.”

  Kale turned to me sharply. “Steal?”

  I studied my hands.

  “Hired you?” said Hudson. “Like it’s your job?”

  “Actually, yes,” I said.

  No one said anything for a minute.

  “Usually, it’s not like this,” I said. “I steal from museums or from billionaires. People who have too much as it is. But when these guys contacted me, they quoted me a price so high that I couldn’t say no. Of course, now I know they were lowballing me, because this thing is apparently worth a shit load of money.”

  “That necklace?” said Hudson. “The jewels on it are tiny.”

  “It belonged to a werewolf princess or something,” I said. “Was Lila a werewolf?”

  “What?” said Hudson. “No.”

  “Where’d she get the necklace, then?” I said.

  Hudson shrugged. “Do you know that, Kale?”

  Kale was still staring at the necklace. “Piper, you’ve been trying to steal this necklace the whole time?”

  I didn’t know what to say. “I… I’m sorry.”

  Kale bit down on his lip. “You were right about her, Hudson. She didn’t care about us at all.”

  “That isn’t true,” I said. “I mean, at first, I didn’t, but after we’d been together for a while, I…”

  There was so much hurt in Kale’s eyes that I couldn’t continue.

  We were all quiet for several minutes. The only sound was the road beneath the wheels of the truck.

  “The necklace is mine,” said Kale. “I found it back when we were in high school. I was exploring this abandoned house that I found.” He turned to Hudson. “One of those runs I used to take in wolf form? You remember how I did that all the time.”

  “Sure,” said Hudson.

  “Well, I found this old house out in the woods. It was half-burned down. All the stuff inside was blackened and blistered. But there was a little charred wooden box. And when I opened it… I found this. So, I gave it to Lila.”

  “If it’s worth a lot of money, should we try to find out who it belongs to?” said Hudson. “Maybe give it back?”

  “It was on my family’s property,” said Kale. “And the house looked old. Probably belonged to someone whose been dead for years.”

  “It did,” I said. “From the 1910s. I don’t know all the details or anything, but it’s been lost for years.”

  “Well, that’s great,” Hudson said. “It was on your property, so it belongs to you, Kale. And just what you need. More money.”

  Kale glared at him. “You want the necklace? Because you can have it. All I want to do is go home.”

  “Um,” I said. “That’s probably not going to be possible.”

  “What?” said Kale.

  “What?” said Hudson.

  “Look, you heard that guy when we were leaving. He said that it wasn’t over. They want that damned necklace, and they’re going to hunt us down. I guess we could go to the police or something—”

  “No,” said Kale. “We’re illegal werewolves. We don’t deal with the police.”

  “I’m not fond of them either,” I said. “You know, considering my job.”

  “Yeah, what’s up with that?” said Hudson. “You’re a jewel thief. Seriously?”

  I nodded. “Seriously.”

  Hudson considered, watching the road as he drove. “That’s kind of hot.”

  “How can you say that?” said Kale. “She betrayed us. She used us. It’s her fault I got captured by those guys.” He pointed at his wound, which was no longer bleeding, but still had an angry bunch of scabs. “It’s her fault this happened.”

  “That’s true,” said Hudson. “You have a point.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I came back for you, didn’t I? I could have just taken the necklace and run. If I didn’t care about you, I would have.”

  “She has a point too,” said Hudson.

  “Since when are you on her side?” said Kale, looking annoyed.

  “I don’t know.” Hudson shrugged. “I guess that I’m just glad to know what’s actually going on. And besides, you have to admit this is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to us. We took down a group of men with guns. It was like an action movie.”

  “They could have killed us,” said Kale.

  “But they didn’t.”

  “Kale’s right,” I said. “This isn’t some fun lark. They could kill us. And they’re still after us. So, we can’t go anywhere that they’d know to look for us. We have to hide.”

  “We, huh?” said Kale. “Why do we have to include you at all?”

  “Well,” I said. “I guess you don’t, but…” I looked back and forth between them. “I missed you guys.”

  Kale rolled his eyes.

  Hudson cast a glance at me, sidelong. He grinned a little. “You know, I already kissed her since she showed back up, so it’s probably your turn, Kale.”

  “I’m not touching her,” said Kale.

  My heart sank.

  “You have some idea of where we should hide out?” said Hudson.

  “I might,” I said. “Just until we figure out what our next move should be.”

  “I don’t know about this,” said Kale.

  “If we’re in danger, we’d better stick together,” said Hudson. “Where to, Piper?”

  * * *

  I hadn’t been back to my parent’s house since last Christmas, and it had been months since I’d spoken to them. Generally, I wouldn’t drag my parents into business like this. In fact, I’d been extra careful to keep them completely separate from my life of crime. I didn’t use my real last name when I was working (Wainwright), and I had left no tracks that could ever be traced back to them.

  But that was kind of why they were perfect. I’d never been in this kind of trouble before, and I knew that no one would ever think to look for me here.

  Of course, it was pretty weird to show up on my parents’ doorstep out of the blue with two hulking men.

  “Kale and Hudson are my, um, friends, Mom,” I said.

  “Oh,” she said, looking them over. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. Won’t you all come in? How long will you be staying?”

  “Ma
ybe a few days?” I cringed.

  My mother’s eyes widened. “Sure. We’ve got plenty of room.”

  It was true that the house that I’d grown up in was massive. It was a tall, stately house that sat on a yard flanked by woods. In the autumn, the lawn was full of fallen leaves. My father used to rake them into huge piles and let me jump in them. It was an idyllic childhood in many respects. My parents had wanted a child so badly, and they’d worked so hard to get me. They were the best parents a girl could ask for.

  As my mother led all of us up the stairs to the bedrooms so that we could get “settled in,” as she put it, I couldn’t help but think about all the time I’d spent in this house. I was reminded of my time as a little girl, when I used to play with the wolves in the woods. I doubted that my mother even knew about that. I had somehow known that my parents wouldn’t approve of my wolf playmates. I considered it now. It was odd, wasn’t it? Why would wolves come to play with a little human girl? They’d always been so gentle with me. I wondered… could that have been my alpha wolf, coming to check on me?

  Maybe those wolves had been werewolves, after all.

  Things had been a bit different after I grew up. Being a teenager hadn’t always been idyllic, but perhaps no one’s teenage years are perfect. I felt as if my parents were too overprotective, as if they wouldn’t let me go anywhere or do anything. I’d been so frustrated with it that I’d gone far away to college.

  And then, after the incident in my dorm room had happened, after I’d killed people, all I’d wanted was my parents. I hadn’t been allowed, though. I’d been shuffled off to the SF, cut off from everyone. Maybe the truth was that I’d come home because I was scared, and instinctively, I always came to my mom and dad when I was scared.

  But that was crazy, of course. They couldn’t help me with this situation.

  I didn’t even know how we were going to get out of this. I’d made a big mess of things.

  Later on that night, we all ate dinner together, and my parents did their best to make polite conversation without being too intrusive.

  “So,” said my father, “how do you know these men?”

  “Um, we met through work,” I said.

  “This mysterious job of yours,” said my mother. “Do we get to know any more about that?” She smiled at Hudson and Kale.

  “Oh, they don’t work with me or anything,” I said. “I just was doing a job, and that was how I met them. They helped me out when my car broke down.”

  “How nice,” said my mother.

  My dad was a little more wary of the guys. I could tell. He kept an eye on them as he buttered his bread and cut his meat. He wasn’t sure about them.

  I really wished I had a better cover story as to why we’d come to visit.

  “Listen,” said my mother, “you aren’t in some sort of trouble, are you, Piper?”

  “Oh, no,” I said. “No trouble.”

  “So, you just dropped in on us out of the blue?” said my father.

  Hudson and Kale both exchanged uncomfortable glances.

  “Well, I guess I should have called first,” I said. “But we were in the area, so…” I shrugged.

  “You’re all three traveling together?” said my mother.

  “Yup,” I said. I stuffed my mouth full of broccoli so that I didn’t have to answer more questions right away.

  “So, if you don’t work with Piper, what do you do for a living?” asked my father.

  Hudson had just put a piece of potato in his mouth, so he chewed, looking helpless.

  Kale’s eyes got big. “Uh, I have a, um, landscaping company?”

  “Landscaping,” said my father. “Well, that’s interesting.” He turned to me. “I didn’t even know you were interested in landscaping, Piper.”

  “I’m not,” I said. “That’s Kale’s job. We met through my work, not his.”

  “You met, and then you all went on a cross-country trip together?” said my father.

  My mother cocked her head. “Piper? Is there something you want to tell us?”

  What did she mean by that? I cleared my throat. “Look, maybe we should just talk about something else. Something less… troublesome.”

  “Troublesome?” said my father. “Talking about work is troublesome?”

  “You know I don’t like to talk about my job, Dad.” I sighed. “How have you and Mom been? Go anywhere interesting for vacation this summer?”

  My father shrugged. “We went to Cape Cod again.” He gestured with his fork at Hudson. “And what do you do for a living?”

  “Dad,” I said. “Don’t grill them. Come on.”

  “I fix cars,” said Hudson, smiling.

  My father raised his eyebrows. He opened his mouth to say something, but my mother interrupted him.

  “Well,” she said. “I think that’s lovely, don’t you, Gavin?”

  My father heaved a big sigh, letting us know he most certainly did not think it was “lovely.”

  No one spoke for several minutes. There was nothing except the scrape of silverware against plates.

  Then my father burst out with, “I just don’t understand why you’re here, Piper.”

  “I can’t come see my own parents?” I said.

  “You know that’s not what I mean,” he said. “Why did you come here? Why did you bring these two…” He seemed to be struggling for a word. “Men?”

  I bit down on my lip. Maybe this had been a very bad idea.

  * * *

  Later that evening, my mother knocked softly on my door. “Hi, Piper, can I come in?”

  What was I supposed to say? No, Mom, I need my privacy like I’m still sixteen years old? I let her into the room. I was staying in my old room, though, so there wasn’t really a lot of space for her to sit down. We both had to settle down on the bed, like I was still a teenager.

  I waited for her to say something.

  But she only studied her fingers, taking deep breaths, as if she was going to speak, and then not saying anything.

  She’d wanted to talk to me, hadn’t she?

  I was starting to feel uncomfortable. “You haven’t done much with the room.” It was still decorated the way it had been when I left for college that last year. My old posters were on the wall and everything.

  She looked around. “Oh. Well, we have so many other rooms. I like to come in here sometimes and remember when you were still running around underfoot.” She smiled at me. “You were a beautiful little girl.”

  My turn to look away, this time because I was a little embarrassed at my mother bringing that stuff up. It always reminded me of before—before I found out I was a werewolf, before the world fell apart and I had to change.

  She took one of my hands. “And you’re still beautiful, Piper. So very beautiful.”

  I peered up at her, and my heart hurt for a minute. I had forgotten how much she loved me. I didn’t interact with people that cared about me very often. It felt odd.

  She patted the top of my hand. “Well, I don’t really quite know how to go about saying this, but…” She took a deep breath. “Actually, it’s a little bit of a relief.”

  “What?” I was confused.

  “Your father and I were never really quite sure why you never brought anyone home with you, anyone, well, special—”

  “Mom, if you think that the reason I’m here is because—”

  “Now, let me finish,” she said, tittering a little. “I said that maybe you just hadn’t met the right person, but I have to admit, sometimes I wondered if, well, you weren’t gay or something. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We would have been just as happy if you had a girlfriend. Really.”

  “Mom, please—”

  “Wait.” She gave me a look—one of her “mom” looks, and I shut up. “And I knew there were all kinds of other things out there too. Like you could have been asexual. Or… or this. And, well, actually, I think it’s wonderful.”

  “Mom, you completely have the wrong idea here
.”

  “Sweetie, I’ve seen programming on TV about this, and I think it’s very brave of you that you’re a polyamorist.”

  “A what?” I said.

  “Well,” she said, “you can either be a monogamist, which is one on one, or a—”

  “I get it.” My face had somehow turned beet red. I couldn’t look at her. “You have this all wrong.”

  “You don’t have to deny it. I know your father was a little, well, obnoxious at dinner, but I think he’ll come around if you allow me to talk to him about it.”

  “Talk to Dad? About…” Me having sex with both of them? I shuddered. I got up off my bed and ran a hand through my hair. “Please don’t say anything because that’s not what’s going on.”

  “Don’t be silly, Piper, I can tell.”

  I whirled to face her. “What do you mean?”

  “I can see it. It’s in the way you all look at each other. During dinner, I caught the both of them snatching glances at you, and I could just see it. They both adore you. And the way you came to their rescue in front of your father. There’s a strong bond between the three of you. It’s obvious.”

  Geez, seriously? My mother could see that? I sat down on the bed again—flopped down is more like it. I started shaking my head, shaking it hard. “No, I don’t think so, Mom. I did some things, and they’re very angry with me. Hudson maybe not so much, I can’t tell. But Kale… And the thing about Hudson is that he can just turn on a dime. He could be happy with me one minute and furious the next. But Kale will hold a grudge forever, and I betrayed him.”

  “Oh, sweetheart.” My mother wrapped an arm around me. “I’m sure it can’t be as bad as all that.”

  I looked up at her, and I felt reassured, as stupid and strange as that seems. She was my mother. After all this time, she was still able to comfort me, just like I was a little girl. I was happy, for the zillionth time, that I’d been lucky enough to be adopted by this woman, whose love for me seemed bottomless.

  “I don’t even know if it’s what I want,” I said. “I mean, how could I possibly be in a relationship with both of them?”

  “People do it,” she said. “I told you. I saw television programming.”

  “They don’t even want it,” I said. “I mean, they get so angry with each other. They’re so jealous.”