Temptation of the Wolf: A Silver Moon Novel (Book 1)

by L. S. Slayford

  Even in these dark times she found herself smiling at his gentleness. “I’m fine, Pierre. I promise. Could you see if Adam knows anything about this Fae for me please? It would really mean a lot if you could”.

  “Oui, ma douce une, I will do this for you. It is time for me to go now”. Luna said her goodbyes to him and then hung up.

  With the phone disconnected, Luna let out another sigh. All she seemed to be doing lately was sighing. When she inhaled, the guilt crept back in. Pierre had been on the phone but she hadn’t told him what had happened between her and Chase. She knew she had to tell him, the guilt would crush her heart like a boulder on a delicate flower if she kept it from him. He was a lawyer for heaven’s sake; he would soon discover it for himself if she withheld the information. No, she would tell him and just hope that he would forgive her.

  How do you forgive someone who has cheated on you, no matter how small the act was? Could he forgive her, would he forgive her?

  Did mum forgive dad? Luna thought. Did dad cheat though? Reading her mother’s journal earlier had sprung to mind.

  Knowing that her body was nowhere ready to sleep, even though her mind was exhausted, Luna debated with herself whether to head back down to the study and see if she could located her mother’s other journals. Chase shouldn’t be there, she told herself and it was only after repeating it in her head several times that she tucked her phone into her jeans pocket and her legs eventually carried her towards the hall.

  Soft light spilled out from under her brother’s bedroom door, telling her that he was in there. For a brief moment Luna stood outside the door, wondering if she should knock but low murmurs told her Michael was already talking to someone else. Instead, she carried on walking down the stairs and then made her way to the study.

  Chase wasn’t there as expected. Breathing a sigh of relief, Luna began searching for her mother’s diaries. The one she had read earlier was still where she had left it, on her father’s desk, next to the framed photograph of the family. Remembering where she had initially discovered it, Luna bent down and began the search for any others.

  A few minutes later and Luna had discovered another seven notebooks. It appeared as though the one she had discovered was the second in her mother’s collection. Flicking through them, Luna soon had them in chronological order. The blue polka dot notebook held secrets, secrets she was determined to uncover. Yet hesitation stilled her fingers before she could properly read it.

  How much did she want to know? That was the question. Telling herself not to be so dramatic, Luna opened the notebook to reveal her mother’s secrets.

  I did it. I followed George and by everything that’s holy I wish I had never done so. Once again he snuck out of the house when he I was in bed but this time I was ready. He headed down to the pond and I saw him transform into something incredible … a wolf! At first, I thought I was imagining it, that perhaps it was my hormones which had affected my eyes, but no, it wasn’t. It was something truly magical. George’s body was covered in a silver light, as though he was becoming the moon itself. His legs seemed to shrink and yet grow bigger. His human body disappeared and then there was nothing but a grey wolf standing next to the water’s edge. The wolf turned its head in my direction – it must have heard me make noise – and growled. Fear got the best of me and I admit that I lost all control of my bladder. This creature walked over to where I was standing and sniffed me, trying to determine whether I was friend or food, then jumped up and started licking my face. We stayed by the pond for an hour or so before the wolf walked away and transformed once again. There he was, my husband. Naked. Shivering. The wolf was gone, my husband was back. For another hour I think I cried in his arms. I don’t remember anything he told me, or even how I got back. But somehow I woke up in my bed this morning. George left me breakfast on the table but had already gone to work. A breakfast isn’t going to make up for lying to me for all this time. He has some answering to do.

  The words ended on the page but continued on the next. It seemed to be written a few days after the last entry.

  George has finally come home. The day after the night I followed him he left to stay with a friend. He said it was to give me some time to process what I had seen. I was so glad to have him back but I did tell him we had to talk about that night. The look in his eyes … it’s hard to describe, as though both man and beast were staring out of a single window. It both frightens and captivates me.

  Another entry was added a week after the last.

  What a week. George tells me he is a werewolf – a werewolf! Can you believe it? He can transform, or Change as he calls it, into a wolf since he was the first child of a werewolf. My father-in-law, before he died, was one too and passed on the genes to his son. Now George has passed his genes down to our child. I asked him if there was any chance that our baby won’t become a werewolf but he told me that the first child is always a werewolf. There is no escape from the curse. I tried to get him to tell me more about the origins of the curse but he couldn’t tell me, or wouldn’t tell me, I’m not sure. George tells me that we should only have one child. I agree with him. My entire being is full of dread for the life my unborn child is being brought into.

  Her mother’s journal was full of little entries, insights into the curse her mother had to deal with but never be a part of. Luna read about how her mother was introduced to the pack, watching them all Change into creatures science had proclaimed as legends. Luna read about the birth of her brother, attacks on their pack by other werewolf groups and even vampires, but it was one entry that caught her attention.

  I am both saddened and happy to announce that I am pregnant once again. George and I agreed that we would only have one child when I found out that my husband and my unborn son had inherited the werewolf gene, yet I find I cannot terminate this pregnancy. Children are a gift of life, even if the life is cursed. George informs me that any child born after the first will not have to suffer the curse but I don’t know if I believe it. Just because no one knows of any siblings who have transformed doesn’t mean that it can’t happen. Either way, I will be keeping this baby and no force on this earth could separate them from me.

  Luna didn’t know whether to snort in disbelief or laugh at the irony. Her mother had sent her away yet here were her very own words saying that she wouldn’t part from her child.

  The rest of the pages were not that interesting, mostly her mother’s fears for her children, that she could sense her husband keeping more secrets from her. The following journal was much the same, but in the pages of the next journal she found something.

  I am scared, I can admit it. Yesterday, we heard from another pack who demanded an audience with George and his wolves. They called themselves the Crescent Moon Pack and live somewhere up north, although they refused to say where. George met with them, taking a few of the others with him. When they returned they were pale and the fear on their faces was clear for all to see. Apparently, they understand that we have a werewolf son and that our second child, our human child, is a daughter. They have demanded that we turn over Luna to them by the next full moon. Naturally, George refused to hand her over. I do not know what happened exactly after George refused but Mike tells that they used strong magic to overpower them, magic they had never experienced before. George spent last night promising me he will keep our family safe but I am worried.

  Another entry was written the following week.

  Sweet Lord, please, please, please give me strength to do what needs to be done. George has informed me that we have no choice but to send little Luna away for her own safety. The alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack can do great magic, terrible magic, and needs Luna to complete some kind of dark ritual. George has found a safe place for Luna but it means sending her to Europe. How can I send my baby to another country? How can I not send her away when staying here means her death? George has admitted that he is not as strong as the other alpha and I see the pain in his eyes when he said that. I understand that she
has to go but the pain almost makes me want to keep her here. Six years old. That’s all she is. We only have a few more weeks before the Crescent Moon Pack return. I have already started preparing for the move. I asked George why we couldn’t all move to Europe but he refuses. As alpha, he says, it is his duty to protect all those on his lands. An alpha dies defending his territory. He will not budge on his decision. As much as I hate it, he is right. She has to go so that she can live. It will kill me to leave her there but her life depends on it. I am her mother; I will do what I have to keep her safe. All I can say is that I hope it is the right thing.

  Flicking through the pages, Luna found an entry dated to two weeks after she had started school in Paris.

  It is done. Little Luna has taken well to her new school but my heart has been torn to shreds the moment I said goodbye. I know she will never forgive me but they can’t get to her now. She is safe.

  Fourteen

  Tears fell from Luna’s eyes, blinding the words on the pages, the pain born from two decades earlier overwhelming in their intensity. Luna’s body heaved with sobs, clutching her stomach as though she could force the sorrow back, force it back inside so that she wouldn’t have to deal with it. Her eyes were closed, her mouth open, wanting to scream so that the world would hear but nothing came out apart from the sounds of her heart being ripped apart.

  For so many years Luna had suffered with the pain of being abandoned, sent away to another country, surrounded by strangers. So many nights she had cried herself to sleep in her room, clutching her teddy bear from home, wrapped in the patchwork quilt her mother had sown herself. Luna had saved them both, still sitting on her bed in her Parisian apartment. She had shared her room with another boarder when she first moved to Paris, a British girl named Samantha with flaming red hair, creamy complexion and freckles scattered across her cheeks and nose, who would creep into Luna’s bed each night. Samantha would hold onto Luna, cuddling her, never leaving her until the morning when their Home Teacher would knock on their door to get them ready for lessons. Even at six years old, Samantha somehow knew the hurt she was dealing with. Samantha’s family had also understood this and Luna was invited to their home during the holidays if her own parents couldn’t fly over to France. They were still the best of friends even though Samantha had moved to Tokyo shortly after they had graduated.

  Luna’s body started to relax a little, the tears still streaming down her face but finding it easier to draw in air. It was easier to think, too. In the early days of being left at school, Luna had begged for her mother to bring her home but every single request had been denied. Screaming, crying, pleading - nothing worked. Luna had even begged Michael to hide her in his suitcase so she could sneak away. When he refused she had tried getting in the case herself. She could still hear his laughs at the sight of her curled up into a tight ball in the confined space.

  A sharp tap at the door startled Luna out of her reverie and her tears ceased to fall. A mop of honey blonde hair was all she could see at first, the tears distorting the image of her brother standing there, peering through the doorway.

  “Luna”, he called, his voice soft as rose petals. “I heard you crying. Stupid question but are you alright?”

  Luna nodded, her head pounding with the ferocity her sobs had caused. Wiping away tears was easy, wiping away pain wasn’t quite as simple. She was still sitting on the floor, the notebooks strewn all around her. Wordlessly, she handed Michael the notebook.

  Michael stepped forward and reached out for it. He took a quick glance at what was written on the aged pages and sighed. He sat down next to his sister and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Eyes still closed, she leaned into him and willed the tears away.

  “Do you believe us now, Luna?” he asked softly. “That you weren’t sent away because you weren’t wanted, but because it was the best thing for you?”

  Luna nodded her head, her throat still sore. She lacked the energy to talk, her brain couldn’t formulate words, she could only feel.

  Michael continued. “Mom and dad ordered me not to tell you anything. I hated it. I hated seeing you cry. I’m this big bad werewolf, sis, but the sight of you crying still hurts. Every time I came to see you in France you’d ask me to take you back home and every time I had to leave you there. Every time I felt your pain but you couldn’t feel ours”.

  The summer when she was seventeen, Michael and her mother had flown over to spend two months travelling around France with her before school started. Her dad had had to stay back in Virginia, probably on pack business she now realised, but those eight weeks were the best times Luna had experienced with her family. They had spent time in all the major cities – Reims, Nantes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Carcassonne, Lyon, and Marseille – endless hours shopping, walks in the countryside, sampling various wines. Michael would tell her stories of his love life back in the States and then try his luck flirting with all the French girls that he came into contact with.

  But it was the last night that proved to be the worst. Back in Paris, after the three of them had gone out to dinner, their mother had headed up to her hotel room, leaving Luna and Michael in the bar together. Sipping on his beer, Michael had asked what her plans were for after she had graduated. Luna had told him she was thinking of returning back to the States. Michael’s response was just to heave a sigh of exasperation. When she asked him what was wrong he had told her that with the level of education she enjoyed she could do anything she wanted.

  “I want to go home, Michael”, she’d replied.

  “Don’t do it, sis, don’t come back. France is more your home than America”.

  The pain his words had caused with those words had been excruciating. Vicious tears welled up in her eyes and she had just stared at him. “Fine”, she had whispered to him, her voice raw with pain and hatred for her family just then. “I know when I’m not wanted”.

  Michael drained his glass and slammed it on the bar. Others in the bar had turned their heads in their direction but neither Luna nor Michael had acknowledged them. Their eyes were locked on each other. “It’s not about being wanted, or not being wanted. It’s about what’s best for you. You are wanted, sis, but it’s better if you stay here. Get your education, get a life and grow up and do something you love. There’s nothing back in America”. And with that, Michael had stormed off upstairs to his room.

  Luna had flagged down a taxi and rode back to her school in tears. She’d refused to talk to her brother for the next six weeks before he had finally got her on the phone. That was the last time she had begged to go back home. Never again did she ask. After graduating she had remained in Europe and then applied for the necessary visas for her to stay in France to work.

  Michael’s voice brought her back to the present. “I don’t know anything about this Crescent Moon Pack though. I can ask Mike, see if he knows anything about them”.

  Luna looked up at Michael, giving him a small tired smile. “I think our first priority should be trying to find this artefact Lyulf wants. Then we can ask Mike”.

  Thoughts spilled across Michael’s face. “Good idea but I haven’t got a clue what this artefact is or where to start looking for it”.

  Looking up at the wall, an idea sprang to mind. “What about the safe? Would it be in there?”

  Thankfully Michael knew the combination to the safe. “Dad gave it to me when I took over from Jerry as Beta”, he had explained. Looking inside there was nothing extraordinary, nothing that jumped out and screamed magical object. Instead, there were just two journals, the worn leather obviously old and soft to the touch. A glint of silver from the back caught their eyes. Reaching in, Michael pulled out a small key.

  The shrill of a phone made both of them jump. Michael broke into the biggest grin when he answered. The only time he ever smiles like that is when he’s talking to a girl he wants to get into bed, Luna thought, shaking her head at him.

  Whilst Michael was chatting softly on the phone, Luna turned her attention back on th
e key. What did it open? It had to be something important otherwise it wouldn’t be in the safe. There was nothing to distinguish it, but its size suggested that it opened something small, like a jewellery box.

  Soft chuckles caught her attention. A massive grin covered his face, his eyes animated. “Sis, that was one of my pack members. She’s offered to nurse me back to health. After all, an alpha should be looked after”, he said. “Can you start searching and I’ll help you in a bit? After I’ve had a bit, of course.”

  Luna looked at her brother in disgust. “You’ve been in a car crash, attacked by a fairy, we have some kind of artefact to find, there’s a creature out in the woods that looks like it’s a horror movie reject and then been ambushed by a flock of crazy birds and you want to go out to get laid? Sometimes I wonder if we’re really related to each other”.

  Michael just laughed at her. “Don’t be such a prude. Besides, Angel is hot. She transferred from another pack back west a few months ago and she’s been trying to get into my boxers since then. Think tonight I’ll finally let her take my pulse and see if she can do something to my temperature”. Luna watched him as he wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively but she just shook her head at him.

  “Fine, fine, you pervert. You go but you need to be back first thing to help me. We don’t have time for you to be lounging around in bed with anyone. You need to help me”. Pausing for breath, and the words that would actually get through to Michael now he had the promise of sex, Luna’s phone shrilled. Pulling it out, the screen told her it was Pierre calling.

  “Salut, Pierre”, she said.

  “Luna, my little love, I have the information you seek but there is a price”.

  “Oh?” she asked, slipping the key into her jeans pocket.

  “Oui. You must let me take you for dinner when you return otherwise I shall not give it to you”.

  A warm smile spread across her face, her shoulders relaxing slightly. “I think I can just about afford that price. What have you found out?”