Children of the Moon: Book Six

by Yvonne Robertson

  “Of course I do, dear. If you look closely enough you will see that I too am a witch just like you, but something terrible happened many years ago and I came here to lick my wounds and never left again. But that's a story for another day.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything before?” Summer asked, walking toward her.

  “The time wasn’t right, but now that the town has been taken over by your friends I think we all need to come clean. I can smell a wolf a mile away and I know that handsome brother of yours is one of them, as I suspect all of them are. It’s been a couple of weeks since I smelled anything remotely human and I am guessing they have all shipped out now.”

  “Almost all of them. There is a human living with the pack until he is old enough to transition and another living on the edge of town, but for now he isn’t a problem.” Summer was astounded at this revelation from her old friend but she also knew she could trust her.

  “I would like to meet some of them, but you know I don’t venture out much. You can ask a few of them to come here and have coffee with me tomorrow morning. I may as well get to know them if I am to live among them and it will be nice for a change, just being myself.”

  “It was a huge relief to me when I could drop my cover story, Eleanor, but the true story was too risky as someone was trying to hurt me, but he is gone now. I will ask a few of the women to come tomorrow so that you can get to know them. Maybe then we can work on getting you out of this shop for a change, even if it's just a stroll down the street.”

  Eleanor looked unsure but she didn’t argue, at least for now.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Connor

  He hadn't taught defensive classes for a few years now, but he was in peak physical condition and it was only a class full of women and girls anyway, none of them should prove too much of a challenge. He would run around the perimeter of the farm as a warm-up before his class, but he still had a little time and put on a fresh pot of coffee.

  Garrett had always told him he was too cocksure of himself and he admitted there was a certain amount of truth in that statement but he had always worn his confidence like a shield and it had protected him most of his life.

  First from his father who treated his kids like they were a commodity. He tried to mate his little sister Rylee to that ancient old coot, Jeremiah, who would have made her life miserable but his father only cared about himself and his elevated station. He knew that Garrett wasn’t his blood and he took all of his anger and frustration out on him, no wonder Garrett had escaped as soon as he was old enough.

  Cillian was a different kettle of fish. He was his father’s blue-eyed boy from the moment he was born and could do no wrong in his eyes. He was still young and thankfully he was trying to be a better man since his father’s death, but he still had a lot of growing up to do.

  Connor had it easier than Garrett did but his father had pushed him hard since his teens to rise through the ranks of the pack. He knew he would have been a contender for pack beta and eventually to take over from Jeremiah as alpha but it didn’t interest him in the slightest. He had escaped for a few years to go to college and his training at Quantico, but he never wanted to be too far away from his mother and sister in case his father took his frustrations out on them since Garrett was out of his reach. He tried to make it home after each assignment, even if it was only for a couple of days to make sure they were okay.

  He had never been short of female attention and he loved the company of the many women who had come and gone in his life but he had absolutely no interest in anything more serious than a fling. Most of his relationships were short-lived and he always made it crystal clear that he wasn’t into commitment. Gloria had seemed to understand, saying she felt the same way he did and they had a lot of fun together. Then out of the blue she gave him an ultimatum, she wanted a ring and a family or she was going to look elsewhere. He missed her a lot, but not enough to give her what she needed from him. They always wanted what he wasn’t capable of giving and the nine to five, two kids and a dog, just wasn’t in his future.

  He envied Garrett his ability to trust and he and India were blissfully happy together with their kids but it wasn’t a life Connor had ever envisioned for himself. No one seemed to hold his interest for very long and he had a terrible gut feeling that there was too much of his father’s blood flowing through his veins to ever love another person that deeply. His mother had been miserable with his father and he didn’t want to do that to anyone.

  He wasn’t even sure he believed in that fated mate's crap either but just in case there was a grain of truth in it, he didn’t want anyone attaching themselves to him so he almost always dated human women. The trouble with that was that they always started hearing wedding bells after a while.

  Garrett was out on pack business with Seann and Liam and India was over at the Den with her sister helping her get things ready for their dinner tonight. He had sampled Imogen’s cooking already and wasn’t averse to eating at the Den every opportunity he got. He was a decent cook himself but he got sick of cooking for one and since Gloria had broken off with him that’s just what he had been doing.

  Garrett had asked him to stick around for a while and he planned on staying for a few weeks while Rylee was taking a break with their mother. She was going to bring her to the mountain to stay with Garrett for a visit and get to meet the rest of the pack. It wasn’t anything like the pack they had grown up in and he suspected that was largely due to Seann Donovan’s leadership.

  He changed into shorts and a fitted t-shirt and drained the last of his coffee before he took off on his warm-up run. It was only a few miles and he should get back before any of the women from the pack arrived for their class.

  There was nothing to blow away the cobwebs like a pack run in wolf form but this was a close second and his favorite way to keep fit. His muscled legs covered the ground easily and he passed the old barn where Garrett told him that one of the pack members had opened a facility for troubled shifter teens. They only had two at the moment, fourteen and fifteen-year-old brothers who had been physically and verbally abused by their father and had run away from home.

  Connor clenched his fists. His own father had been a little too handy with his beatings too when they were young until his son’s got too big and strong and he had backed off knowing they would likely beat him to a pulp. He had taught Rylee to defend herself from an early age too, but her small stature meant she would never be as strong as her brothers, it wasn’t sexist, it was just a fact. She wasn’t usually on the receiving end of her father’s anger, it was almost always directed toward Garrett and Connor by association if he tried to defend his brother.

  He hadn’t met these two kids yet but he would make a point of seeking them out. Sometimes they just needed to know that someone gave a shit about what happened to them. He had made a career out of chasing down scumbags before his lack of aging had forced him to step down and open his own investigation business a little closer to home.

  Garrett was the only one who knew exactly what he did for a living, his mother thought he worked in insurance. He didn’t take on too many cases these days and even then he had other detectives working for him that covered most of the daily stuff. Connor liked to be involved himself, especially when it involved looking for missing kids. He was looking forward to meeting Lukas Alexander, on the surface it seemed they had a lot in common.

  There were two horses in the paddock and they ran to the fence to meet him as he approached. He stopped for a moment to rub their noses before they cantered off again to the other side of the fenced area when someone else approached with a bucket that probably contained food. He ran on again, hardly out of breath and circled back to stop in front of Garrett's house and sat down on the step with his water bottle and rubbed his face with the towel he left draped over the porch rail.

  Seann, Garrett and Liam pulled into the yard in Seann’s truck and got out. They came toward him and sat on the steps and he didn’t know why but felt
that they were all privy to some joke that no one had let him in on.

  “Here they are now,” Garrett said as the door opened and some of the women came out into the courtyard.

  India, Imogen and Kandis joined them while Roisin and Jay sat down on Imogen's porch with the children to watch them train.

  “Imogen has to take it easy, she just had a baby,” Seann warned and Connor wanted to chuckle at the protectiveness this huge tough guy was projecting.

  “There will be no hands-on with her but she can still train,” Connor said.

  “Both of my sisters are pregnant too, here they come now.

  Another truck pulled in and Bree, Hope, Lukas and Nate got out and the men joined the others on the porch while Bree and Hope began stretching and warming up with the other women.

  “Yeah, those two won’t be doing any combat training for now.” Connor watched the heavily pregnant twins go through their paces.

  “Rafe, our pack doctor said they are fine to train a little but nothing more,” Nate said as he shook the other man’s hand.

  “So, it’s only India and Kandis that can actually do any real training in this group for now?” he asked, wondering if he needed to warm up at all for this class.

  “My sister should be here in a moment too but she’s not a shifter, she’s a witch, although she is strong and fast,” Lukas added and Connor suppressed the urge to groan out loud.

  “I know India is pretty tough but is there anything I should know about Kandis, she looks a little delicate?” he asked Liam who just smiled.

  “No, you’re good,” he said but Connor felt as if once again he was the butt of someone else's joke when a snigger ran through his audience.

  “Okay let's get started then.” he walked into the center of the women warming up just as Summer jogged into the courtyard and stopped for a minute to catch her breath.

  He barely glanced at her before he took Bree and Hope to one side and showed them some simple but effective defensive moves that even they could manage despite the extra load they carried between them. They were both in great shape and light on their feet, both of these things were useful when confronted by an attacker. He was also aware that Hope had been kidnapped recently so he was careful not to do or say anything that could be a trigger for her.

  He left them to practice with each other before he turned to Imogen and quickly found that she was lightning fast in her responses, so much so that he needed to be on his game to catch her before she shot out of reach of him.

  “Is your wolf as fast as you are?”

  “She is the fastest in the pack by a long shot,” Kandis said before Imogen had a chance to reply. “She can also preempt your moves when she is on her game.”

  She was still stretching out her limbs waiting on her turn and Connor thought the gorgeous blonde looked more like a ballet dancer or a pageant queen than a fighter. She looked almost fragile and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt any of them.

  “You have to play to your strengths and speed is definitely yours, Imogen.” he turned back to her. “But I am going to show you a move that can disable a grown man and even a wolf for a few seconds, giving you enough time for you to run. I need a volunteer for her to practice on.”

  He looked at Seann who stepped forward and Connor showed her again where to pinch her thumb and forefinger on her mate’s neck and squeeze hard. Seann didn’t go down as most grown men would but he looked a little disoriented and Imogen was able to jump on his back and put her arms around his neck, eliciting a laugh from the men on the porch steps.

  He showed India the same moves and like her sister she was a quick study

  Both of you need victims, sorry I mean volunteers to practice on,” Connor said with a smile as Garrett got up reluctantly to be his mate’s guinea pig.

  Connor turned to face Kandis who had straightened up and was shaking out her arms and legs, ready to spar with him.

  He knew she was fit but she was still a woman and tiny compared to him. Liam was watching him closely, how protective these wolves got when it came to their mates.

  “Okay, Kandis. I am going to come straight for you and I want you to give it everything you’ve got to get out of my way. The goal is to get away, don’t try to defend yourself because you will only get hurt. Are you ready?”

  “I guess so.” she shrugged and braced herself for his attack.

  He heard a snicker going around the courtyard and everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch. He feinted left and then came straight at her, expecting her to go right to avoid him but instead of retreating as he had told her to do she dropped down sweeping her right leg hard behind his knees, throwing him off balance and then came up and hit him hard on the chin with the heel of her hand. He heard the others laughing as she stood back and gestured for him to come at her again and realized he had been deceived. This chick could take care of herself.

  “That’s the way you want to play it,” he grinned and charged her, catching her off balance and she went down but caught his left knee and pulled him down with her.

  Kandis bounced back up onto her feet.

  “Is that all you’ve got, pretty boy.” she was enjoying this way too much.

  Connor knew he had to kick it up a notch to save face if nothing else, there was no way he was going to let the blonde beat him in a fight. He attacked her again and he felt the weight of her punch as it hit the side of his face but he jumped out of the way when she tried to sweep his legs again. They sparred for another ten minutes and he had to hand it to her, she was holding her own pretty well. It was just getting interesting when Seann called a halt.

  “Kandis, you proved your point that you can fight like the best of us and I can tell Connor is holding back because you’re a woman, so it was never going to be a fair fight anyway. If you had been a man your face would have been bloody and messed up by now. Right or wrong, it’s a fact.”

  Kandis held out her hand and they shook.

  “Remind me never to underestimate you again, Kandis,” he said with respect.

  He wiped his face and took a long drink of water before turning to the last of his students for the day. He saw her at a distance when she ran into the courtyard. All tan limbs and long blonde hair but he wasn’t prepared for the virtual punch in the gut when she came closer and introduced herself.

  “You must be Connor, I’m Summer and I’m wishing I had gone before Kandis now. Please be gentle with me, I’m not a fighter.” she teased.

  Connor’s mouth was dry and he had a sudden vision of her long limbs wrapped around him, begging him to be gentle and his wolf growled low in his belly. Her perfect white smile and unusual violet eyes were framed by thick dark lashes and Connor had never wanted to have someone in his bed as much as he did the woman standing before him.

  He was aware that everyone was watching them and he covered his shock and held out his hand to shake hers, but the touch of her small hand in his jolted him and he let go quickly and bent down to tighten his laces.

  What the actual fuck was that.

  His wolf was unsettled and he knew he needed to go for a run but first, he had to try and act normal and get through the rest of this training session. There were too many eyes focused on him right now.

  He had Summer do the same things as Imogen and India and had them practice on the other men again, who weren’t looking as cocky as they had been before. He was acutely aware that he was doing everything he could to avoid touching Summer again, he just hoped that no one else had noticed.

  He glanced her way and she looked as shell-shocked as he did so at least he hadn’t imagined it. He reached out his hand to her and then mentally scolded himself and snatched it back again. He needed to get the hell out of here before he did something really stupid.

  She was beautiful but so were the other women here. Kandis was in fact stunning, but he felt nothing even close to the attraction Summer Blackwood evoked in him and there was no way he could afford to act on it because it wou
ld turn out the way it always did with his relationships and he wasn’t going to risk it. Unlike the other women in his life before though, he suspected that this one would almost certainly rip out his heart and feed it to his whimpering wolf.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Summer

  She sank under the bubbles and held her breath counting the seconds to see if she could beat her record. She knew how freakish it was that she could hold her breath for ten minutes or more but it was a trick that witches taught their children when they were very little. Her grandmother once told her that it dated back to medieval times when a suspected witch would be thrown in the river and if she floated they would hang or burn her for being a witch, but if she sank and drowned, then she was innocent.

  Grandy said that most of them would lay still until their accusers were gone and would then come up to the surface and leave their families behind and go into hiding for the rest of their lives. These women were drawn to each other and would form a coven, helping to protect each other from the wrath of the human race. Most of the time these women would indeed be innocent of the trumped-up charges against and there was no dividing line between a good or a bad witch in the eyes of their mainly male accusers. Man's greatest fear was actually from women themselves.

  She stayed in the tub until the water was getting cold before drying herself off and wrapping her thick fluffy robe around her. She blow-dried her soft blonde hair with a paddle brush until it was silky smooth. It hung down to her waist and she kept it long partly because it reminded her how her mother had loved to brush it when she was just a little girl, the strokes of the brush were comforting to her.

  She wished her mother was here now so that she could ask her what in the hell happened with Connor Adair today that had her so freaked out. She knew he felt it too but he pretended that he didn’t and somehow that made it so much worse. She felt a jolt when the wolf had touched her hand and when she met his eyes she felt as if she was drowning in their pale green depths.