Ties To The Blood Moon

by Robin P. Waldrop

  Chapter 42

  Now that I had things with Aunt Bev taken care of, I needed to talk with William. He had sent me a bunch of text messages earlier, but each time I saw it was him, I cleared my phone. Just thinking about him made my heart ache to the point I felt like a part of me was dying.

  Hey ;o) I messaged him while lying in bed, hot tears stung my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away. You have to be strong.

  Hi beautiful ;o) I was wondering if you had already forgotten about me. He texted right back, like he’d been waiting by his phone.

  No. I couldn’t forget you. Not after what you’ve done. I wanted to say, but didn’t. I want to see you.

  When? Right now?

  Nah, I can’t. How about tomorrow night? Can we meet and go to your family’s cabin? I needed him to think everything was fine, and I wanted us to be alone.

  Okay. Tomorrow night it is. I’ll pick you up at seven. ;o)

  No. I’ve got something to do. I’ll meet you at the cut-off. I couldn’t take a chance of my aunt catching me with him. Like I said…the woman was far from stupid.

  Sleep didn’t come easy for me that night. All I could do was think about William, and cry. Why had all of this happened to me. Just a year ago, I was a normal teenager with normal problems. It seemed like overnight my whole world had flipped upside-down, and I was an Adlet princess werewolf, and by the end of the next night God only knew what I would become.

  I woke up crying out for William, my gaze flitted across the room. It took me a moment to get my thoughts in order before I realized I had the same nightmare, again. My mom’s screams sounded so real to me, my heart ached. There was something different about it this time though. In my last dream, William had coaxed me to jump from the cliff with the promise of catching me, which he did not.

  This time, William screamed for me to run away while he fought with Zane, trying to hold him back. When I reached the tree-line I stopped and turned around at the exact same time Zane drove a long knife into Williams heart. William told me he loved me, then collapsed, and I woke up.

  I thought about the nightmare for a long time and when I finally glanced at the clock on my nightstand. It was nine-thirty. I wasn’t sure exactly what time I had fallen asleep, but I never wanted to sleep again.

  What if I had judged William too harshly? What if, somehow Joseph had been wrong, and William wasn’t working for Zane? If that was the case then wouldn’t William have told me? I was so confused. Every time I thought about the situation a huge knot formed in the pit of my stomach.

  Even after everything I had learned, deep down I was keeping alive the tiniest bit of hope that just maybe William wasn’t an evil monster like Zane after all.

  I sat up and stared at the ring the chief had made and placed on my finger. In the dimness of my room it still sparkled. I rubbed the stone against my shirt to polish it and when I looked at it again I could have sworn it glowed. I rubbed my eyes, then turned on my lamp and looked at it again. It sparkled from the light, but it didn’t glow. “Okay, Genevieve,” I mumbled. “You’re losing it, girl.” I smiled dimly, falling back into my pillow, and scooped my cell off the nightstand.

  I text messaged Luna to make sure she was awake before sending her the details for tonight. I made sure to tell her to memorize the message, and then delete it so unwanted eyes wouldn’t see it.

  It was one of the longest days ever. I was anxious as hell, so I tried to stay away from Aunt Bev as much as possible to keep her from noticing. Living in the same house, there was only so much I could do to avoid her.

  When six o’clock rolled around I was already freaking. Seriously, like mid-heart attack freaking. All the pieces of my plan had been laid out and were starting to fall in place. This was good. I thought if I could get through the night, I could get through anything.

  I put on some old clothes and threw my back pack over my shoulder. When I hit the landing at the bottom of the stairs I stopped and took a few deep breaths, trying to keep from falling apart in front of Aunt Bev.

  “I’m gone,” I called out as I headed to the kitchen. I had my hand on the back doorknob when I heard her call out from behind me.

  “Wait a minute,” she said, not unkindly.

  I flinched, but shook it off. I took a quiet breath and forced a smile before turning around. “Yeah?”

  “Nothing. I…I just wanted a hug before you left.” Her voice broke up. Aunt Bev must have known more than she was letting on.

  “Hey, I’m only going to be gone for a few days. You’re acting like I’m never coming back,” I said, trying to keep my tone light, but my voice broke up a little, too. I really hated lying to her about something so important and life changing, but I felt I didn’t have a choice.

  We hugged each other tightly for a long moment before I finally had to pull away and leave. If I would have hugged her any longer, I would have broke down and told her everything.

  While backing out of the garage, Aunt Bev, leaned against the open doorway leading to the kitchen with her arms wrapped around herself. I rolled down my window and waved, and she waved back. I saw her wipe her eyes as she turned to go inside.

  When I pushed the shifter into first gear, I glanced back at the house. The garage door slowly closed and I felt a sudden ache inside my chest, like a part of my life was ending. I guess in a way it was.

  I pulled into the little gas station on the edge of town, grabbed my bag and hurried into the bathroom. When I emerged a few minutes later, I had on a tight blue jean skirt, a silky black camisole top, a short-cut blue jean jacket with the cuffs turned up, and a pair of black spiked high-heels. The guy behind the counter couldn’t stop staring at me. His mouth gaped open and he stumbled, almost falling behind the counter when he tried to reach a pack of cigarettes for a customer without taking his eyes off me.

  I tried to hide my amusement, but couldn’t. A man coming into the store held the door for me, and after I walked out he continued inside, but let the door close on his girlfriend or wife, whichever she was. That was all the convincing I needed. I had to know I picked just the right outfit for my tryst with William. I wondered when the time came if I would have the strength to not to let it go too far.