Moon Kissed

by Michele Hauf

  “But dancing means a lot to me. I had hopes of getting that apprenticeship. It would have advanced my studies and allowed me to teach part-time.”

  “I’ll call the studio tomorrow. No, I’ll go there and apologize in person.”

  “No, don’t. It’s over. I’m sure Tony has already selected an apprentice. I don’t want you going anywhere near the studio.”

  “I will not, then. Good thing for Tony.”

  She smirked. “He’s gay, big boy.”

  “Really? But he moved so sensually with you. Ah, I don’t have that…What is it they call it?”

  “Gaydar?”

  “Yes, that. I’m sorry, Bella.” He removed his hand from her cheek, but she took his palm in hers.

  “Apology accepted. But I have a life, which you need to accept if you want me in yours. And I have a job.”

  “You needn’t work, Bella. I will take care of you.”

  “But I like my job, and I like to work. It gives me a sense of purpose. Heck, it’s a means of communicating with others.”

  “I have an office at the estate. It is yours to use when you wish.”

  “I know.” She sighed again.

  She would get nowhere arguing about her need to keep hold of the real world. Not the weird, marvelous world at the bottom of the rabbit hole that Severo occupied. That world was interesting, and she liked being a part of it. But rationally, she knew she had to cling to her world as long as possible.

  His presence, so immense and overpowering, was softened by the flowers’ perfume. At once she hated him, and she did not. He was a lost soul, roaming the earth in search of another soul who could fulfill him, make him happy, erase his pain.

  She hadn’t thought she needed a relationship, but feeling needed did something to her idea of remaining single. It obliterated the idea.

  And if that didn’t do it, Severo’s kiss did.

  He tilted up her chin and leaned in to kiss her. So gentle, lingering, not a hint of the intensity his kisses usually wielded. I’m sorry, the kiss said.

  And then it was gone, and he sat next to her, stretching his legs out to the side so they wouldn’t dangle in the pool. Bella snuggled her cheek against his chest. “I want to make this work,” she whispered.

  He stroked her hair and simply held her. His silence was the best thing he could have given her.

  Bella hung up the phone and rubbed her palms along her bare arms.

  “Something wrong, sweet?”

  She turned to hug up to her lover on the bed. They’d retreated to the bedroom. Last night she had agreed her loft in the city wasn’t safe and had gone home with him after they’d made love beside the flower-filled pool.

  They spent most nights making love. It was as if they couldn’t get enough of each other. He was her air, and she his. The man was insatiable.

  “That was Seth.” She rested her head against his shoulder and stared up at the ceiling. “He wants to talk.”

  “And he couldn’t do it over the phone? Bella, how did he sound?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s been over a month. There’s no way he could have survived as Elvira’s blood slave. She must have turned him.”

  “He would have told me.”

  “Maybe he intends to tell you when you meet. You can’t go see him. I won’t allow it.”

  “I’m not asking your permission.” She slid out of bed, thinking it was time to get dressed. A woman could not survive on sex alone. Breakfast was in order, even if it was two in the afternoon. “I’m going to see him.”

  She tugged a loose sundress over her body and took off.

  “Then I’m coming with you.”

  Heloise was not in the kitchen, and Bella was glad for that. She wanted an apple, and a few minutes to think about her friend without the wolf bellowing at her.

  Peace was not to be had.

  Her lover padded in, wearing jeans and a frown. His limp was always more noticeable when his mood was foul.

  “Last time you came along, Seth clammed up.” She bit into a juicy green apple.

  Don’t look at the half-dressed werewolf’s muscles. You can’t stay angry at the man’s ripped abs, and you know it.

  “You’re staying home, if I have to find a leash,” she said.

  He snarled. So she’d used one of the bad words. Get over it.

  “And if I lock you in the bedroom?” he challenged.

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “I will if it means keeping you safe.”

  “He’s a friend, Severo. Seriously, I’m adjusting to the possessive stuff, but you take it too far sometimes.”

  “You have no idea what his mind-set is. And if he is a vampire, he is not the same friend you used to know. Don’t be stupid about this, Bella. You know better.”

  She did know better.

  Setting the apple on the counter, Bella stretched her arms along it and laid her head on an elbow. “I don’t want to believe it.” She stared at the framed picture tucked behind the toaster. “Don’t you have friends you worry about? Family?”

  “I have no family. And friends are few and far between.”

  “So who is this?” She tugged out the picture and displayed it to him.

  His intake of breath made Bella stand up straight. In the picture, a pretty red-haired woman snuggled up to Severo, beaming, as was he. Which had startled her the first time she’d seen it. Severo was not a smiley fellow.

  He seemed ready to grab the photo away but wasn’t sure how to do it.

  “She means something to you. What’s her name? And why haven’t I met her? Is she an old girlfriend?”

  “Enough!” He snatched the photo and studied it for long seconds before tucking it into a drawer. “She’s someone I used to know.”

  “Really? Her picture is everywhere. Over by the TV, in the hallway. Down in the laundry room.”

  “When have you been to the laundry room?”

  “I like to chat with Heloise. Which has nothing to do with the question you’re trying to avoid. If she was a lover, I’d understand. We both had lives before meeting one another. I want to know who is important to you, Severo. Is she to you as Seth is to me? Talk to me.”

  He drew a hand over his mouth and jaw, delaying a reply. Looking about, he paced. Always he became antsy when he was riled or scented something wrong.

  “She was a lover,” Bella decided and took another bite of apple.

  “She was not,” he hissed. The ferocity in his stare made her choke on the apple. “And this conversation is over.”

  Chapter 13

  B ella sorted through her few dresses in the large closet, which, surprisingly, held only a few items of Severo’s clothing. The man did like his dark jeans and shirts. She guessed that made less work for Heloise. But if he’d lived for so long, surely by now he should have collected a wardrobe.

  Or maybe not. Though the house was grand, the man lived a simple life, which she admired.

  Yet she still wasn’t sure what he did. Something related to buying forested real estate to create a wolf preserve. But how did he make his money in order to do that?

  Feeling only a little guilty about leaving for town tonight, she decided she had every right to go out by herself. And it was to meet a friend. He couldn’t begrudge her that.

  Though she knew he meant well, wanting to protect her. But she needed to keep her life, as she’d hoped she’d made clear to him. It wasn’t as though he didn’t have a whole life she wasn’t a part of.

  That woman in the pictures. She had to have been a lover. Bella could feel it, no matter how much he denied it. And he had called out a woman’s name that night the vampires had attacked in her loft.

  Did she have a rival for Severo’s heart?

  Jealousy flushed her chest. And then she realized she was behaving like him, getting angry over something that likely wasn’t a problem.

  Though she had to admit, Severo’s jealousy did make her feel special. No man had ever b
een so fiercely protective of her. There he went again, making a girl feel like a princess.

  The bedroom door opened, and Bella didn’t bother to turn around. She wore spike heels, panties and a bra. Let him ogle.

  “Her name is Aby,” he said.

  Bella lowered the red dress she held and turned to him.

  Severo, head down, limped a few paces. “She lived with me for ten years before moving out last year. She was…everything to me.”

  Ten years? And they hadn’t been lovers? Now this was interesting. But his edgy tone cautioned her. Don’t rile the beast, Bella. Leave him to simmer.

  “Sorry. It seems a sore spot with you. I shouldn’t have asked.”

  “You need to know. I shouldn’t hold things back from you, Bella. Know that I try to be as forthright as I’m able.”

  “I know you do. I trust that you’ll tell me what you think I need to know when the time is right. So thanks for giving me that part of you.”

  He nodded. “I’m going out to look at the car before you leave.”

  And with that, he was gone.

  Bella stared at the open doorway. She had grown accustomed to her lover’s constant presence, and so his swift absence pricked at her heart.

  She stepped around the bed and pulled open a dresser drawer by the bed where she knew he kept a photo of the woman.

  Ten years.

  She traced the woman’s face and Severo’s beaming smile.

  “Will you ever smile so big for me? Or is she always in your heart? What did she mean to you if you weren’t lovers?”

  A child? A friend? A relative?

  “Maybe Heloise would know?”

  He held the Mercedes’ keys and waited for Bella. She had insisted on going into town to meet Seth without him. He knew she’d meet trouble.

  After their argument this afternoon about Aby, he did owe Bella further explanation.

  It hadn’t been an argument. More like him clamming up and not knowing how to face the feelings he’d kept buried for more than a year.

  For ten years he had shared his life with her. Now Aby was gone. Stolen by another man.

  He’d given Bella what information he could about his and Aby’s relationship. It wasn’t much. Perhaps he could give her more. But how did he release the feelings that sat in his chest like a black mass unwilling to be pried out?

  It was generous of her to say she would accept what he could give her when he felt right about it. “Bella. My Bella.”

  “You’re not coming along?”

  Surprised he’d not caught her scent, Severo hardened his frown. She wore red, and that angered him. Seth was just a friend, he reminded himself. Just as he and Aby had been friends?

  He attempted to remain stoic. “No. I promised I would not.”

  “You won’t follow me?”

  Well, he hadn’t promised that.

  “At least stay out of sight, if you do. I know you will follow me.”

  “I loved her,” he said and clutched the keys tightly. “Aby. I loved her. I could have made her my mate, but she didn’t want that. I respected her for that.”

  Bella dropped her purse on the front seat and gave him an expectant look. “You don’t have to talk about this.”

  “I need you to know me.”

  “Thought we were taking it slow now. I won’t meet the werewolf until the next full moon. I don’t need to meet the old girlfriend. Ever.”

  “She wasn’t my girlfriend. She was my…” Even after all these years, he still didn’t know how to describe their relationship. “Aby is a familiar. Do you know what familiars are?”

  She shook her head.

  “They are bridges for demons from their realm to this one. She is a tool. And she’s a shape-shifter like me. But familiars shift to cats.”

  “Really?”

  He could read her thoughts and answered them. “Cats and wolves do not get along, nor should werewolves and familiars. But I found Aby when she was a kitten—rather, the wolf did—and led her home. She had just begun a new life. Familiars have nine of them. They forget their experiences, though, from one life to the next.

  “Aby grew up here, and we were like friends and relatives and lovers. Though we never made love, I wanted to have that relationship. And there were times I could sense the same desire in her, but mostly, she thought of me as a brother figure.”

  Bella didn’t speak, which made the confession easier. Or maybe not.

  “She fell in love last year. With a good man. A demon hunter. Someone I did not initially care for, but now I’m glad she loves him.”

  “Someone you didn’t care for? The poor man. I can imagine the rough time you must have given him.” Bella’s smile soothed Severo’s anxiety. “It must have been hard for you.”

  “It still is. I miss her. She doesn’t call often enough. It’s been months since I’ve spoken to her.”

  “Maybe you should call her.”

  “No, she’s on the road all the time. She and her highwayman.”

  “Highwayman?”

  “He’s a demon hunter. Bit of a celebrity in the paranormal realm. I didn’t like his cocksureness when I first met him. I felt threatened. But we’ve come to an understanding.”

  “Sounds like you’ve decided to accept him, if only because he means so much to Aby.”

  “That’s about it.”

  He bowed his head, and Bella stroked his cheek. He loved her touch. The warmth of her, standing so close, yet not threatening, felt exquisite. She accepted him.

  “Aby is who the wolf thinks about when he howls to the moon, I am sure. They used to get along, the wolf and the cat. It’s bizarre to imagine, but we were happy.”

  She kissed him, barely touching his mouth. “Is it all right, then, with me? I don’t want to step on her memory.”

  “You never could. I try to keep the two of you in different places in my heart. You are my mate, Bella.”

  “But will I ever be as close to you as you were to her?”

  “I hope so.”

  She understood what he could not put into words. Bless her for that. And it gave him all the more reason to try his damnedest never to allow Aby into that place in his heart that Bella now occupied.

  “I suppose you should be going?”

  She eyed the keys he held out. Please change your mind. Stay away from the vampires, and make love with me tonight.

  She took the keys. “Remember what I said about staying out of sight.”

  “I bow to your command, sweet. But know, if all hell breaks loose, I’m going to be there, loud and proud.”

  “Deal.”

  Scarlet was a local bar that catered to Goths and, now that Bella thought about it, probably paranormals, as well. She’d been here only once previously, with Seth. The entire place was lit in red: the booths were red vinyl, the dance floor was lit underneath by red bulbs, the windows had red stained glass and even the toilets were red.

  An appropriate place to meet vampires, she supposed. If one wanted to meet a vampire. Which she did not.

  “Please don’t let him be a vampire.”

  Thankful they were meeting in public, she parked the Mercedes in the lot and hopped out. Wearing red might be overkill, but she never failed to dress the part when clubbing.

  Though consciously aware of her surroundings, she didn’t spot a werewolf lurking in the shadows. Of course, Severo would be discreet. She smiled to think he was out there somewhere, keeping an eye on her. And it didn’t feel like she was being stalked, only that she was loved.

  Her black velvet stilettos clicked on the sidewalk, and she had merely to flash the bouncer a smile for admission.

  It took a while to adjust to the atmosphere. The red tricked her eyes and painted the faces around her.

  Dirgelike music surprised her. Seth liked the funky techno stuff. He’d call this stuff a snoozer.

  “Where are you, Seth?” She sipped her drink and scanned the crowd and the upper level. Seth waved and lifted his drink.


  With a glance to the door—would Severo make good on his promise to follow her?—Bella headed upstairs.

  Seth rose and kissed both her cheeks and mouth. Lemon, cologne and beer—the scent worked on him. His hair seemed darker, the long fringy bangs hanging over his eyes. A couple of silver rings flashed on his fingers. Seth had never worn jewelry; bling, he said, was for posers.

  Bella slid into the booth next to him. He held her hand, so she had no choice but to sit close. That was usual. He seemed to be the same old Seth, except for the rings. But a turtleneck in this weather?

  “I’ve missed you,” he said close to her ear so she could hear over the music. “You look great, Bellybean.”

  “You don’t look so bad yourself. You dump Elvira?”

  “No bitchy stuff tonight, Bella. Please. She’s my lover, and you’re going to have to accept that.”

  “I can, but does that mean you’re a vampire?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Severo said you couldn’t have survived this long without her turning you.”

  “You still hanging around that bastard werewolf? Is that why you’re never home?”

  “I had to move out to his place after vampires tried to kill me. Did you hear that, Seth?” She leaned close to his ear. “Vampires tried to kill me. She’s doing this, you know. She’s jealous.”

  “I don’t want to get into this argument again. You’re being brainwashed by that dog.”

  “Don’t call him a dog. He’s a wolf.”

  “Yeah, and I’m Renfield.” He slugged back the beer.

  Bella stroked the stem of her cosmo goblet. She had no appetite for alcohol right now. Or for snotty friends.

  “Hey,” he said in a calmer voice, “we started on the wrong foot. Let’s just chill and catch up, okay?”

  “Is that why you wanted to see me?”

  “It’s been so long, and I know I’ve been ignoring you. So you’ve moved? Permanently?”

  “No, I still have the loft. I’m not sure about moving to town right now.”

  “Fair enough. What about the audition? Wasn’t that a few nights ago?”

  He’d remembered. Good old Seth.

  “I didn’t get the apprenticeship.” She shrugged. “I’ll give it another go next time.”