The woman collecting the money grinned when she saw me coming with my hands full. She sat behind a card table with her money box ready to accept my cash.
“Is that it?” she asked.
“Oh, no.” I set my items on a free spot next to her. “This is my pile. I’ll be back.” I glanced at my watch. Shit. I needed to move much faster.
With time running out, I ran into the same battle I always encountered. The urge to buy everything versus the fact that I had no room at home. Why did I buy broken things, assuming that I’d fix them later? Then of course I’d remind myself that I only bought stuff I could actually fix, like Christmas lights. And I didn’t discard stuff in a haphazard pile in my house. Every new ornament got a box and a thorough cleaning. So why not add a few more?
Every new shopper who passed the table stirred my blood. Two ladies brushed by the table with one picking up a Christmas tea set. The minute she put it down—hard enough to crack the delicate porcelain—I snatched it up. I had to take the four cups’ teapot and their respective saucers home before some other garage sale shopper wannabe without scruples broke them.
I hauled my final box to the checkout. The gushes of happiness overrode the nagging feeling to see how much I’d taken. And then I remembered that I was in therapy to combat this very problem.
Before I could change my mind, I placed the box on the card table with a heavy thump.
“Did you find everything you wanted?” She made me feel ashamed. A little anyway. I’d bought enough to empty my wallet.
I kept my voice even. “Yes, a few things.”
She tried to move the box to go through it. It didn’t budge an inch. “Wow, you’re strong,” she said. She came around to the other side of the table to fish out the ornaments.
I stole a glance at my watch and gasped. I had eight minutes to pack up and get to work. “Is there any way you could move faster?”
I pulled out my pocketbook. Time to wheel and deal. The woman wanted to wrap every damn dish in newspaper. “How about thirty for everything?”
Her mouth formed an “O.” I’d made her a generous offer in my opinion. I tried to look indifferent, keeping a straight face so I didn’t look like a shopaholic pining for my next fix.
“How about forty? That tea set is collectible.”
I couldn’t help smiling. “If it’s so collectible, why are you selling it at a garage sale?” I didn’t see a collector’s label on the bottom of the saucers. I also didn’t have time to go into such details.
“Thirty’s fine.” She shrugged. “Just clearing out a few things.” She motioned to a man sitting in a lawn chair, enjoying a morning beer.
“Hon, could you help this nice lady carry her things to her car?”
For a second, I was disappointed that she didn’t want to haggle. But as I helped the man carry my Christmas cheer to my car, I didn’t care. I couldn’t wait to clean my new ornaments. To find places for them in my home. I’d make them beautiful again. Make them shine in ways their previous owner, that woman, never had. By the time I was done, those ornaments would feel loved.
I reached The Bends in record time. I must’ve built up a few karma points, since I managed to avoid every cop on the Garden State Parkway. When I pulled into the parking space, next to other shoppers waiting to get inside, I expected the day to progress well. With several boxes of goodies in the backseat, the only thing that could bring me down today would be if Bill managed to mess up the SKU numbers in the store’s catalogue system again.
I opened the door and turned to see someone leaning against my car. How Thorn managed to sneak up on me every single time was a mystery I needed to figure out.
My gaze darted to the boxes in the backseat as he strolled over to me. “You’re up early.”
“Night shift.” His voice sounded far away. He paid no mind to the boxes filled with red and green in my car.
I tried to keep my eyes on my final destination, my work, but Thorn had approached me with his arms crossed. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“As good as I can under the circumstances. Did you find Wendell and his girlfriend?”
“No leads. Rex said their trail went cold after they passed through Double Trouble State Park.”
I figured as much. If I had to choose a tracker, Rex would’ve been last on my list. That asshole couldn’t track a carousel horse’s path. But Rex’s lack of tracking skills wasn’t what kept me standing here, especially with the need to get to work. I had something else lingering on my tongue.
“Why do you keep checking on me? Erica doesn’t seem to approve.” There, I’d said it.
“Damn it, Nat. You let me worry about Erica. What I’m doing here with you right now has nothing to do with her.”
“Well, she sees me as a threat.”
His eyes narrowed. “What did she say to you?”
I couldn’t lie to him. He knew when I lied or withheld information. “In no uncertain terms am I to come in contact with you.” I paused for a moment and ran my fingers along the wrinkles in my shirt. “Why are you checking up on me?”
“You’re my friend. I refuse to give that up for her.”
I wanted to ask him what other feelings brewed within him, but a seal formed over my mouth. Once he’d told me that I was his moon. At this moment, I felt like I was as far away as the Dog Star, Sirius, is from Earth.
I started to take a step toward my job, but he laughed and leaned back against the car.
“I just remembered the last time we hunted together.” He offered his golden smile. “Before I left.”
I laughed and moved next to him. He turned his head toward mine. The sunrise appeared behind him and cast an angelic glow around his head.
“I distinctly remember the time you led me toward the swamp.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault you’re gullible.”
“As a pack leader, it’s your job not to lead your flock astray.”
He pushed my shoulder affectionately. “You should follow your nose instead of the person ahead of you.” His tone turned serious. “Sometimes you have to depend on your own abilities and not those of your alpha.”
I nodded.
“You have a keen eye, Natalya. I still don’t understand why everyone doesn’t give you credit for Deirdre.”
Deirdre. My mood immediately darkened. Five months before Thorn had left, one of the local girls had gone missing while her Girl Scout troop camped in the forest. The police had formed search parties, while the werewolves had organized themselves. A few rogue wolves had been roaming in the area and we were afraid they might find her first.
No one asked me to join their search party, so I’d headed out alone into the darkness. From the Girl Scout camp, I’d tracked Deirdre’s position. I squeezed my eyes shut, recalling how I’d found her. How the unhinged anger and hatred had emerged from me, like a consuming fire—
I found my voice. “Yeah. Good thing I joined in the search that night.”
He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and gave a squeeze for support. His hand lingered on my arm, adding heat to my skin. The pure torture quickened my pulse.
An awkward moment passed. Then our eyes locked for a moment and a hot sliver of passion passed between us. But I didn’t need eyes to sense his desire. His scent changed from calm to excited within seconds. He broke the stare and took a few steps to the side. We couldn’t keep doing this to each other. The invisible line that connected our bodies drew taut like a rope.
“I can’t keep you out here forever. You better get inside.”
I wanted to ask a thousand questions. Did he think about me after he left? Did he date anyone else while he was away?
As I walked away from him, I didn’t need to turn around to know his eyes were on my back.
If not for the full moon, I never would have met Thorn.
Back at the University of Pittsburgh, I’d somehow survived my first semester as an English major. But my second one didn’t seem likely to go as well.
/>
Like every English major, I had to take English composition for my degree. It was a damn shame the professor didn’t know the value of deodorant. From the grumbles of other students who’d survived his class, I suspected that he’d gone au naturel for a long time.
I waltzed into the classroom, only to march right back out. Under most circumstances I could endure the smell, but the moon stirred the wolf under my skin. My senses flared and receded with uncomfortable frequency. On any other day of the month, I would’ve sat in the back of the class, but on that first day, I just couldn’t take it. I’d smelled worse, but geez, if you could smell that from ten paces away, would you want to hang out there?
So I marched across campus through the snow to the registrar’s office and prepared to stand in a long line to get a new class.
Before online registration arrived a year later, I heard the upperclassmen refer to this line as Purgatory. The name fit. Heaven if you made it to the end, and hell if you gave up to return another day. While I waited I tried to occupy myself with a book, but my nose kept urging me to turn around. I caught the scent of a wolf behind me—a male who reminded me of home.
Two girls joined their friend ahead of us. “Oh, c’mon,” the man behind me groaned.
He leaned toward me and whispered, “I bet if we growled we could scare them away.” His voice resonated with me, drawing me to turn around and face him. I’d seen him many times back home, but I’d never stood this close to Thorn Grantham before.
“You look familiar,” he said.
“We’re from the same town.”
His eyebrows lowered. “Yes, we are.” The line shuffled forward. “Well, then, I’m glad I get another chance to get to know you since I missed out on the last one.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but it’s hard to mock an attractive man. Even the girls ahead of us turned in our direction, hoping to catch his eye. The trio included two blondes and one who wished her dye job could get her classified as one. They tried to spark up a conversation, and even when Thorn kept focusing on me, they didn’t stop trying.
“You’re taking a freshman course? You don’t look like any freshman I’ve ever seen,” said the tallest one.
He offered a lazy grin. “I guess I look mature for my age.”
I stifled a laugh. Male werewolves during the full moon smell like canned sex. If I hadn’t had home training from my parents, I would’ve rubbed my face all over his chest. It was a nice chest too.
“So what are you doing after you escape from the line?” the bold fake blonde asked him. Even though she was wearing a heavy coat, one couldn’t miss the healthy helping of breasts straining beneath it. Most men couldn’t resist those things. I assumed my short conversation with Thorn was coming to an end.
“Natalya and I plan to head down to the coffee shop for some studying,” Thorn said. “We’re taking English composition together and need to scope out a better study spot.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but his smirk stopped me. A blush tickled my cheeks. That tricky little devil. How did he know my name?
The woman nodded and turned back to her friends.
“How’d you know what class I need to take?” I asked.
He gestured to my backpack. “Your schedule is in the see-through pocket in the front.”
I tried to hide my smile. “How observant of you.”
He crossed his arms. “I could say the same about you.” He had a way of saying words that turned my insides into a buttery mess. I’d known him for twenty minutes and I already wanted to hand him my take-my-virginity-please card.
We strolled through the line for a bit. I wished I had something eloquent to say. Unfortunately, all I came up with was, “We don’t have to meet for coffee later.” The words stumbled out and I wished I could’ve snatched them from the air. Especially since most normal women didn’t try to retract an opening for a date. But I guess I didn’t exactly qualify as “normal.”
“You can’t back out now. Especially since you need to tell me your plans for the full moon.”
For the past few months, the full moon had just meant that I paced the rooms in my tiny apartment alone. I also never interacted with the meager number of wolves on campus. “I don’t have any plans.”
His golden eyes twinkled as he rested a warm palm on my shoulder.
“You do now.”
It’s amazing how time has changed the world around me. And yet while I worked at The Bends that morning, I felt as if I were standing still the whole time. My fingers lingered on the Haunted Heather collector’s set of porcelain figurines. For the third time, I’d pushed the moaning pieces of porcelain around into different arrangements. Damn enchanted antiques. Every time I touched one, it groaned right on cue. To quell the desire to perfect their position, I mentally kicked myself and made a decision to move on to something else.
By ten a.m., The Bends’ usual throng of morning shoppers had pored over the wares. I took a few minutes when we weren’t busy to tidy up. I adjusted three rows of old costumes and just barely heard Quinton creep up behind me.
“We’ve never sold any of those,” he commented.
I avoided his dark eyes. After our “date,” I’d steered clear of him whenever possible. I respected him professionally, but the germ-laden dead-bodies thing made my skin crawl.
“Everything in here will have a home eventually. It’s all about the right shopper at the right time.”
He nodded and continued to stand behind me. Okay, creepy janitor, I should find something for you to do.
“Did you take Mrs. Schaefer’s bureaus to the back loading dock?”
“I took care of that a while ago.” I knew he’d done it, but perhaps it would encourage him to remember something else he had to do. I most certainly didn’t expect him to go from piece to piece like I did, searching for dust or fingerprints to remove.
Bill came to my rescue. “Quinton, I’ve got the customer who bought that old chest. Been waiting a year and a half to get rid of the damn thing. Take care of it, will you?”
Quinton nodded again before he left my side. I watched him shuffle away and wished I could wash our encounter from my mind. Before Neil the zombie had made his appearance, I’d learned that there was more to the necromancer, but even I had standards, such as “no sex with men who played with dead people.”
Not long afterward, I had an unexpected visitor from New York. Heidi the mermaid stopped by.
When I’d actively participated in group therapy, we’d spoken often. She bounced into the room and browsed through a few tables before she came my way. Something about her reminded me of a contained supernova. From the way she walked to the cadence of her words, she held a power I didn’t understand.
Every time I saw her, I expected her to look like the legends in books. Long blonde hair, pale, translucent skin. But with bronzed skin, dark red hair, and light green eyes, this mermaid in black boots wouldn’t inspire anyone’s bedtime story.
I approached her with a smile. “What are you doing in my neck of the woods?”
“I had to get out of the city for a while.” The freckles on her face spread as she smiled. “I brought Abby along to keep me company.”
The Muse, dressed in a thick cardigan sweater and jeans, stood in the corner watching others walk past her as if she didn’t exist. Someone as beautiful as she was should’ve gotten a glance or two.
“Not sure if we have anything you like.” From the way they lingered, I sensed that they needed the company of someone who could relate. “I’ve got a break coming up if you want to get a treat. They have tasty smoothies at the local Dairy Queen.”
She nodded. “That sounds good.” No matter the season, even a mermaid couldn’t turn down a brain freeze–inducing Triple Berry Delight smoothie from DQ.
In the company of others, I felt safe heading down the street. The Long Island werewolves wouldn’t dare attack in daylight hours, but by this point I refused to take any chances.
As we walked
along the road, Abby kept glancing around as if she expected us to be followed.
“C’mon, Abby.” Heidi pushed her forward. “Nat and I have everything covered.”
“A werewolf and a mermaid teaming up against the psychopath author who wants my help finishing his damn book. That’s not a plot I’d offer anyone.” She flipped her light brown hair back and crossed her arms. We’d get nowhere if she checked around every corner. From the way she walked, everything in her world must’ve projected danger.
Soon enough, we reached the local ice cream place. The older man behind the counter filled our order for three smoothies. Always friendly with a smile, Phil had served the South Toms River Township since I was a kid. “You ladies must be hungry if you need three.”
“Our friend is waiting outside,” I said.
“Well, bring your friend in next time. You know I love to meet new people.”
Heidi took a generous gulp of her smoothie before she replied, “Sure thing. Nice place you have here.”
As we sat at the tables outside the shop, I couldn’t help but think about Abby’s existence. My life revolved around organization and cleanliness, yet she lived in a world of not only loneliness but also fear. Fear of the very same people who served as her purpose in life—her authors.
Heidi raised her face to the sun. “So glad to be farther inland. I get the blotchies when the full moon approaches. The tides kick my ass.”
“Blotchies?”
She pulled up her tank top to reveal light blue dots that resembled hives along her ribs. Most likely her body’s reaction to anxiety.
I asked, “Do you run away every time the tide comes in?”
“Not all the time. Just on days when I miss home.”
We sipped in silence for a bit. To me, home was my family of werewolves and my things—my ornaments. To be away from them brought up feelings I didn’t want to think about. “After all these years, do you still remember your home? If I may ask?”
Coveted Page 9