Insolita Luna

by M. J. O'Shea

  I knew exactly what he meant. “I’m scared too. But maybe we don’t have anything to be scared of.”

  And then I did it. I pulled his face close to mine and brushed my lips across his, once, twice. He sighed, and I had to kiss him again. It felt exactly like me and Xan should feel. The most comfortable thing in the world and yet so new and scary and exciting. Just like holding hands the night before, just like when I lay in his arms. My belly tightened and instinctively, I tried to get closer. He tasted like I would have expected him to taste: warm, wonderful, and sweet. I realized somewhere in the back of my mind that I’d been thinking about what it would be like to kiss Xan for weeks, if not longer. It was like my body was saying “Finally,” because it was getting something it had been missing all along.

  Xan….

  He smiled against my mouth and let me deepen the kiss—nothing too much, just him and I getting closer. Xan’s hand left my head and his fingers found mine, twining together and squeezing. He was still smiling when we broke apart for air. I nuzzled my face into his neck, barely able to believe what we’d just done.

  For good or for ruin, Xan and I had changed irrevocably.

  “You want to know what I was going to tell you back in that cell?” he asked a few moments later.

  “Of course I want to know.” I poked him lightly in the chest. “What was it?”

  He tugged his fingers out from between mine and reached up to cup my face. “I was going to tell you that I came all the way here to save you because I couldn’t stand to let you go without telling you how I felt.”

  “And how do you feel?” My throat was sticky. Dry. I almost wasn’t ready to hear—

  “I’m not sure what to call it yet.” I was relieved and still my stomach dropped in disappointment. “I mean, last summer, September, even until… well, I’m not sure when I realized it. But you were like a brother to me. And now, I can’t see you that way anymore.”

  “Me neither. I think I know when I started to feel it, even though at the time I’d have never admitted it.”

  “When?” Xan asked, his smile mirroring mine.

  “That first night when I slept in the woods with you, when you were rubbing my back. I felt it that night. I—I think that was probably why I reacted so badly when I thought you weren’t really my friend. It was… the friendship part, of course. But it was more. I’d been starting to feel like this about you, and it got crushed so painfully when you said I was just a job for you.”

  Xan shook his head and kissed me again, on the forehead, my nose, my lips. “To be fair, I never said that. I let you believe it because I was hurt too.” He rubbed his nose up against mine. “So, no more pretending you don’t matter to me.”

  “And no more acting like I want to move on to bigger things than our friendship.” I blushed. I realized I had no idea what Xan was to me any longer. “Or whatever this is.”

  “You’re still my best friend,” Xan said haltingly.

  “Me too,” I agreed. “But maybe now there’s more.”

  “There is more for me, but I’m still scared, you know. I don’t want to ruin all these years between us.” He brushed my hair off my face. His touch was so sweetly gentle. I didn’t know it could feel so good to simply be touched.

  “Then let’s go slow. We won’t rush into anything, and if one of us feels like it’s too much, we take a step back to the way things were.”

  I didn’t want to take a step back. Not after the way I felt when he kissed me, not after how perfect it was to be held in his arms. But I realized I was prepared to do anything to make him happy. I saw myself just then. I saw how much of my life, at least lately, had been about making myself happy, about whining and bitching about not getting things my way. I was such an ass. I had to admit that it felt good to be more concerned about someone else’s happiness than my own. Like a real goal rather than some selfish game.

  “Can I kiss you again?” he asked. “I didn’t realize how much I was going to like it.”

  I pulled back. “You’ve never kissed anyone?” I wasn’t what you’d call Don Juan, but even I’d had a few little grab-and-snog sessions with our closeted quarterback, Jeremy Pulver, behind the gym.

  He rolled his eyes. “When would I have done that? I didn’t go with the men to the men’s side of the forest. I’m too young to be ready to have a child with a girl. In the Forest, I was a boy until very recently, and in the human world I was always with you.”

  “So I was the first person you’ve kissed.” I said it softly, with awe. There was something about that idea I liked very much. I rubbed the pad of my thumb across his lips. “You’re an amazing kisser. I never would’ve guessed.”

  “I guess I’ve had a lot of time to think about it these past couple of months, seeing as though the boy I wanted to kiss wasn’t talking to me. Thinking is all I could do.”

  “Months? You’ve wanted it to be like this for months?” I pounced on Xan and tickled him. “Why didn’t you just say something? All that time I thought you didn’t care at all, and you wanted to be more than friends?” I growled playfully and attacked his neck with kisses. Xan put up with it, laughing and batting at my tickling hands, until he’d had enough. He tossed me off to the side and then rolled over on me and wrapped me up in his arms so I’d stop wiggling.

  “I said it today. Isn’t that good enough?” Xan gave me a beguiling smile after I stopped wiggling and looked up at him. At least, he tried. He didn’t do seductive very well, but I had to kiss him anyway, had to wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze him. His lack of practiced looks made him so much more real and lovable than someone who knew exactly what to do.

  “It’s perfect,” I said between kisses. “Perfect.”

  WE TALKED and cuddled and kissed our way through the morning, lost in the happy bubble of our hotel room, until the phone rang, startling us both. I didn’t want to go anywhere or see anyone that would encroach on the golden glow of our perfect moment in time. But, since I had no choice, I answered it.

  “Be ready in an hour,” Silivasi told me. I assured him that Xan and I would be dressed and waiting in the lobby. We hung up and I collapsed against the pile of pillows we’d built up against the back of the bed.

  “We have to get up soon,” I sighed. “I don’t want to go deal with the lycans.”

  Xan chuckled and pushed at my chest. “Isn’t that why we’re here? You shower first—you always take forever.” I grumbled and got off the bed slowly. I was half a heartbeat from telling Xan to come get in the shower with me. Then I realized we were nowhere near ready for that, and I’d be screwing up big time if I tried to rush us. Didn’t mean I wasn’t dying to touch him. We showered and put on our well-worn clothes, then watched some European TV show until it was time to go.

  “All ready?” Silivasi asked when Xan and I walked into the ornate lobby. Lilya was standing next to him, chic in a pair of perfectly cut pants and a very expensive- looking sweater and jacket.

  “As ready as I can be. What are Xan and I going to be doing there? Just standing back and waiting for all hell to break loose?”

  Silivasi chuckled. “You’ll be getting your treaty signed, if I’m happy with the answers they give me.”

  It was the “if” that made me nervous.

  Chapter 11: The Council

  WE PULLED up in front of a façade that may have well belonged to an embassy of some sort, as it fit in perfectly with its surroundings. I couldn’t believe the lycan council was hiding right there in plain sight in the middle of all the other government complexes. I would have expected just a bit more discretion. The building was ornate, perhaps even more so than the ones surrounding it. There was a row of flags, illuminated in the gathering dusk. I felt small walking toward the front doors. Insignificant. I wondered if that’s what the lycans had in mind when they located their council there.

  “A bit full of ourselves, aren’t we?” Silivasi asked with a sardonic smile. I didn’t know what to say, since from what I’d seen s
o far, he was right. “You don’t all have to speak in our defense at once,” he added with a low chuckle.

  “Brother. Behave. We’re going to have to convince the council you’re not who Komarov said you were. Acting like a snobby ass won’t do it.”

  Silivasi ruffled Lilya’s hair. “When have I ever not acted like a snobby ass? I believe that’s well within the rights for any nobleman.” He smiled again, like we were on our way to the opera or a night out and not to meet people who’d harbored fear and hatred toward him for centuries. Then without hesitation, he rang the call bell to speak to the receptionist on duty.

  THE SLIM, fashionably dressed lycan woman at the entryway didn’t react to our presence other than to shoot Xan an odd look and me a contemptuous one. I nearly rolled my eyes at yet another lycan acting like I was the dirt on his shoes, but we weren’t there for me to have a hissy fit. We were there to talk to the council and to make damn sure Silivasi was happy and signed the treaty.

  The lycan was cordial but bored with Silivasi and Lilya, until he gave his name. The young woman’s eyes flew open, and then it didn’t take more than a matter of moments before the main lobby was flooded with menacing-looking lycans, still in human form but a hair’s breadth away from baring their teeth. The circle of lycans moved closer. I knew they were waiting for a sign, something that would make them act.

  “Lilya, come stand behind me. We will protect you,” one of the females said. The woman was tall and had vibrant red hair. I would have called her beautiful if I wasn’t terrified of her. She reached for Lilya’s hand to pull her away from Silivasi. Lilya, who so far in our acquaintance had been sweet and reserved, stood straight. Her eyes bored holes in the other woman’s face.

  “Why on earth would I need protecting from my own brother? He’s never done anything to harm me.” Instead of pulling back, she stood in front of Silivasi to protect him from whatever the other lycans were about to do.

  The others stood silently. “You mean he hasn’t been holding you captive?” the woman whispered.

  Lilya snorted and rolled her eyes. “No, Auntie, don’t be bloody ridiculous.” Lilya played it off like it was a joke. “You know how strong my wolf form is. You think my late-blooming brother is capable of holding me, even if that were his goal?”

  “What are you saying, child?”

  “I’m far from a child, Auntie Rona. And I’m saying that Andrian was planning to come here today to tell you what really happened all those years ago, but I know better than to think that will work. You won’t listen to him, so I will talk in his stead. I’d have done it decades ago, but I didn’t want to ruin his fun—my brother can nurse one hell of a grudge. I have to say he deserved every moment of sulking he indulged in.”

  It was hard not to laugh at the description of a powerful lycan sulking. It was even harder not to admire the way Lilya had taken a tense situation and diffused it with a single sentence. Silivasi, Xan, and I stared at her, not to mention a whole room of lycans. I had a feeling we weren’t the only ones seeing this authoritative side of her for the first time.

  “Don’t you think we can take this conversation somewhere more civilized than an entryway?” she asked, the honey back in her voice. No one would be fooled by her softness any longer. Lilya was a lycan, full blood, and no one to trifle with.

  The young lycan who’d let us in appeared to remember herself. She drew away from the crowd and cleared her throat. Then she gestured for us to follow her and led us and a small group of lycans back to a board room. I doubted we were in the formal council chamber—the lycans wouldn’t likely bring a human and a dryad in there with them—but wherever we were was impressive nonetheless. Everyone sat nervously, eyeing each other. I was sure they were waiting to see who spoke first. Again, and less surprisingly this time, Lilya took the initiative.

  “I’m not going to bore all of you with a long, involved story. It’s a waste of all of our time. Here are the facts.” She went on to list everything I’d recently found out in a no-nonsense tone. The other lycans’ faces went from shocked to awed. It was obvious the overwhelming difference between assumption and fact had them reeling.

  “And you’re sure that Komarov killed your parents?” a tall brown-haired man stammered.

  Silivasi nodded. “Nearly certain. He had means and motive. I was in hiding, healing from the attacks and learning how to deal with my new lycan traits. I didn’t hear about it until Lilya came to find me. I can’t think of anybody else who stood to gain from their deaths more than he did.”

  “And he was the one who set you up to be attacked?”

  “Again, I’m nearly certain. He was jealous, and his jealousy made him irrational.” Silivasi smiled ironically. “I hear he never got what he really wanted. The love of the council, yes, but not the girl.”

  He still loves her….

  The realization hit me when I saw Silivasi’s face. It was so sweet but so sad. How many hundreds of years had he been thinking of her? I supposed time meant little when he had so much of it to spend.

  “Komarov got the seat in New York; the American council was his. He seemed eager to leave the old country. Perhaps he was worried about you finding him.” It was that same brown-haired man. He seemed to be in charge.

  Silivasi shrugged and gave the lycan a pointed look. “Perhaps he couldn’t stand to look at Alina any longer. It was her who caused his insanity.”

  The lycan’s jaw dropped. “My Alina? What did she have to do with either of you? She was betrothed to Nicholai Christinel at that time. They married shortly after.”

  “I know. I’ve been out of sight all these years, but I’ve been keeping watch on everything that happens here,” Silivasi answered curtly. “Charlie, may I have the treaty, please?” He gestured to me, and I pulled it from my pack.

  “I was sent this by the New York council. They wanted me to know what Komarov was up to, and that they had nothing to do with it. I suppose they didn’t want war with the mad were-king.”

  The lead councilman shrugged. “We know nothing of Komarov’s whereabouts or any of this. Does this say he tried to incite a war?”

  Silivasi nodded. “Between myself and the lycans. They are trying to stave it off—they offered peace, real peace, not uneasy rest. They also offered me equal status and a seat on the council. And this was with their belief that I was a full-blood werewolf. Will you honor these promises?”

  Everyone waited to see what the lead councilman would say. It meant more than just my success: disputes that had been ongoing for hundreds of years had the chance to be mended.

  Finally, the lycan spoke. “Yes, we will honor this. And if Komarov passes into our territory, we will do our best to aid in bringing him to justice.”

  “Someone hand me a pen,” Silivasi ordered. As soon as the pen was in his grip, he bent down and signed his name with flourish. The lead lycan reached for the treaty, but Silivasi held it back and gestured toward me. “It was his contract to get the signature from me. I will honor that and let him return it to claim his payment.”

  I was grateful, but it wasn’t about the payment. Not really. I carefully took the treaty and placed it in its protective coating before sliding it into my backpack.

  After the formal business was complete, things grew awkward and quiet. It got to the point pretty quickly where I felt like I needed to get up and move out of the room. I was afraid of insulting anyone, though, so I stayed put but wriggled unhappily in my chair.

  After a few more moments, Silivasi stood and stuck out his hand to the male lycan who’d been in charge. “Thank you for listening to me. Perhaps we will see more of each other in the future.”

  He got a slight nod in return. Then the lycan stood, and soon everyone else followed suit. We filed into the hallway and headed back the way we came. I was more than ready to get out of there. We were near the doors, back in the lushly appointed front hallway, when Silivasi stopped cold.

  “Alina,” he whispered.

  A lovely brune
tte with warm almond-shaped eyes and porcelain skin looked up, startled.

  “Andrian,” she breathed in return. “It’s been….”

  “Forever.” He moved closer, and she did as well. They stood there, inches apart, staring, silent and still. It was one of those moments that made me feel like I was interrupting something special. I backed away and Xan did too.

  Alina turned toward Lilya. “It’s nice to see you, little sister. It’s been far too long.”

  “You as well.” Lilya came forward with a hug for Alina.

  “Sister?” I whispered at Xan.

  “That’s what she said.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s cultural. I hope they’re not really related if her and Andrian….”

  I elbowed Xan.

  Silivasi cleared his throat nervously. “How is Nicholai?”

  “Didn’t Father tell you? Nicholai died years ago. He was poisoned. We never did find the culprit.”

  “O-oh.” Silivasi looked, if possible, even more nervous.

  Alina reached up and cupped his face. “I never forgot you, Andre. Not even for a single day. I am so glad you have returned.” Then she reached up on her toes, kissed him on the cheek, and turned to walk quietly down the hall.

  “Go after her!” Lilya whispered forcefully and smacked him on the side. Hard.

  “Another day,” he answered with a sigh. “Another day. We need to get our guests to their destination.” He turned to us. “Are we dropping you at the airport?”

  Xan looked at me. “I’d prefer to go by the Forest. It will take the same amount of time, and we won’t be cooped up in a plane.” If there was something I remembered very well from our childhood trips, it was that Xan didn’t much like airplanes… or cars, or buses.

  “The Forest is fine with me,” I answered. It wasn’t like I was going anywhere without him.

  “The closest entry is back by Andrian’s manor. Right near where I found you the first time.”

  Silivasi nodded. “So back to the woods with us?”