Touching the Moon

by Lisa M Airey

  “Damn good thing,” said George. “But you weren’t going to get away.”

  “We were hoping Elliott would sweet-talk you,” said Ro-Bear. “If that failed, we were switching to Plan B.”

  “Yep, Plan B,” said George.

  “What was Plan B?” asked Julie.

  “Well, Petey wanted to use the taser on you,” said Ro-Bear, “but he got overruled.”

  “Taser!” exclaimed Julie.

  “On low,” said Petey, “Just a little jolt to bring you back to your senses.”

  “It was overruled. So that brought us to Plan C,” said George.

  “The holding pen back at the station?” asked Julie.

  “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Someone has been divulging state secrets,” said George. Everyone looked at Elliott.

  “Whaaaat?” said Elliott. “I was just giving her a few options. Cooperation or coercion. She opted for cooperation. I had a solid plan, a successful plan.”

  Elliott handed her a cup of hot tea. She was surprised to smell the heady note of Gentleman Jack. “And I need this because?”

  “Because the last song on the first set is Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira.”

  “No!” Julie breathed.

  “Paybacks are hell,” said Elliott. “My band has been sweating bullets since you went all negatory on us. It’s your turn to squirm, Ms. Hastings.”

  She squirmed all right. And she undulated and moved like she was alone, like no one was watching. And it wasn’t the Gentleman Jack either. She had four men, four Copper Pigs that held on to her tightly. That did much to lift her spirits. And of course there was Cole and Rose. And there was Dan. And there was Gray. She also had a police force and a Sioux Nation. And Fallston.

  The band closed with three encores. The last, Rockin’ to the Rhythm of the Rain, was a Judds’ number they had adapted, and she sucked the oxygen out of the room. When Ro-Bear hammered out the last beat, she did a sharp head-shake forward and locked eyes with a muscle-bound lycanthrope with platinum hair.

  Hayden was in the room, off to one side, leaning against a wall, arms folded. She didn’t move. Neither did he. The crowd was in an uproar all around them, but the two of them were like islands in the stream. It felt like an eternity before she took a breath, and it was Elliott’s touch that made her resuscitate. She turned toward him, trying for normal.

  His eyes searched hers and she smiled. Reassured, Elliott turned to pack up their gear, but Julie’s eyes returned to the crowd.

  Hayden was nowhere to be seen.

  En route to Fallston, Elliott and Julie pulled into an all-night diner and ordered breakfast. Neither one of them had eaten anything that evening. The place was peopled with truckers who slurped their coffee in solitude. They looked rough in the fluorescent lighting, but then everyone did.

  “I’m hungry enough to eat the business-end out of a skunk,” said Elliott.

  “Charming,” said Julie, laughing. “I’m not quite so sure I could ever be so hungry.”

  “That saying goes back to the days of my great grandpa. Frontier times. I’m sure those years were rather lean.”

  She chuckled. Elliott excused himself to go to the men’s room. Julie sat there in the vinyl booth toying with her paper placemat. It outlined a map of the United States. Absently, her finger traced the route from Virginia to Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and on into South Dakota.

  She’d gone from lost to found in approximately 1,500 miles and 18 months.

  Human, but daughter of a lycanthrope. She didn’t remember her real father, just the beast that took his place. She gave a small shudder. A small part of her was angry with Gray for not having told her sooner, but then again, she had had a hard enough time grappling with his other-worldliness. How could he have expected her to handle her own?

  Elliott slid back into the booth. “You okay, Jules? You look like you just lost your best friend.”

  “Nah,” she said with a weak smile. “Just high noon that I acknowledged him. You know something, Elliott? I’m really glad you talked me back into the Copper Pigs.”

  “That’s one of the best and worst things about a small town, Julie. Once you belong, there’s no escape.”

  “No escape?” said Julie, on a sigh. She shook her head slowly. “Somehow that idea is not as scary-sounding as it once was.”

  Elliott pulled parallel to Julie’s car, intending to wait while she turned the motor over. She stepped from the car, thanked him and shut the door. He wound down the window.

  “I’ll follow you home,” he said.

  “No need. I promised Gray I’d share a piece of birthday cake tonight.”

  “It’s after midnight, Julie.”

  “He said he’d be waiting.”

  “All right, then,” he said, with a frown. “I’ll walk you up.” He parked the car, joined her under the stars and stuck out an elbow. Julie crooked her arm around his. They walked across the parking lot in unison, their footfall in step, laughing quietly about the backstage banter and endless sass that flew between them all when they were not focused on a song.

  He deposited her in front of Gray’s door and she knocked softly.

  “Thanks, Elliott.”

  He pursed his lips. “He will keep you tonight.”

  She took a deep and weighted breath, then nodded. “Probably.”

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “Getting pretty close.” She hugged Elliott fiercely, pecked him on the cheek and gave him a reassuring nod.

  Julie watched him walk back down the empty corridor with a grave feeling of loss. It was impossible to please everyone. She’d go crazy trying. She knew that, yet she felt guilty and sad. The quiet scuff of Elliott’s shoes against the carpet was so depressing. She knew he was pulling for Dan. A small part of her also wondered if Elliott was attracted to her himself.

  Gray popped the door open and she stood there, rooted to the spot. He assessed her mood silently, then, without a word, he tugged her inside, shut the door and locked it. He attempted to wrap her in his arms, but she side- stepped him.

  “Shower first,” she said, placing a hand on his bare chest. “T-shirt second. Cake third.”

  “What’s comes fourth?” said Gray. He wrapped his hand around the arm that held him at bay, tugged it to the side and pulled her close.

  “We’re going to have a serious talk about that.”

  She spent a good long time in the shower and she ran it hot attempting to wash away a world of worry. When she emerged, her skin was pink and her face was flushed. She wore an extra-large t-shirt and it swamped her petite frame.

  She ate a piece of the birthday cake. Gray ate most of the rest of it. She watched him devour her baked good with a soft smile.

  “You are packing carbohydrates like an athlete,” she observed.

  “I’ll be on a long-distance run for the next few days,” said Gray. “We lycanthropes require lots of calories. Especially the home-baked kind.”

  Julie snorted. “You are so spoiled.”

  “And loving every minute of it.”

  “Gray?” He heard the weight in that one word.

  “Ruh roh.”

  “Don’t you dare go Scooby Doo on me,” she admonished. “I need some answers. What about all this lycant business?”

  Gray shifted in his chair. “I’m not too involved in lycanthrope social mores, Julie. There has only been Lync and me these past few decades. South Dakota is definitely not mainstream and we, as Native Americans, are not the dominant culture. My instruction as to lycanthropy has been rudimentary and elementary at best.”

  “But you knew the term.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think that I’m a lycant?”

  “Yes.”

  She sat back in her chair as the weight of that one word settled deep.

  “Why?”

  “You have a way about you, Julie. How often have I held you without taking advantage?” She went to answer, but he held up
a hand. “Sure, it’s part self-control, part love and respect, but even still, you are quite a temptation. In essence, you protect yourself with your peaceful vibrations.”

  She was quiet for a moment and Gray watched her as she toyed with her fork.

  “If I left you, if I moved to another place…” She couldn’t finish the question, but Gray gave her the answer anyway.

  “Another lycanthrope would find you. He would calibrate to your tuning fork.”

  She nodded. Numb. She felt so numb. “Did I ever have a choice, Gray?”

  “The truth?”

  “Please.”

  “No, Julie. You never had a chance. Not from the moment I first set eyes upon you. But I’m a good man. I’m not one to force the issue. I gave you plenty of space and time, enough space and time to court you, woo you, and win you over.”

  She looked up at him, her face stricken.

  “Come here to me, Spud.” He opened his arms and she moved to sit on his lap. He wrapped her in his big, strong arms. “Doesn’t this feel good?” She nodded into his chest. “Then you have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. We’re right for each other.”

  Julie sat quiet in his arms breathing in his scent, listening to his muffled heartbeat. She nuzzled his neck and felt him nuzzle hers in return. When she pulled away, she searched his eyes. They were dark and liquid, like molten chocolate.

  “Are you going to make love to me tonight?”

  “I want to. Yes,” he said. “But I want to make sure that you understand what I’m asking of you.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I’m talking about a life-long bond. Once committed to each other in this physical way, we would always belong to each other, Julie, in every regard. If we got married and then divorced, it wouldn’t change a thing. I would need you like water.”

  “You’ve told me this.”

  “I haven’t told you all of it.”

  “You might be able to pick up and move on, but I could not,” he said. “Oh, I could probably contain myself for most of the month, but when the full moon came, I would track you down. I would find you too tempting to resist and you would be incapable of refusing me. I would ravish you whether you wanted me to or not.”

  “You said that you could never hurt me,” she reminded him.

  He tried to explain. “No. I won’t. But you might get a bit… er… manhandled in the heat of the moment. He paused and looked at her.“ And, if you tried to fight me, I would win.”

  Julie was quiet a moment. “What if you tired of me?”

  “I couldn’t,” he replied simply. “It doesn’t work that way.” He was staring at her with ancient eyes, sad and lonely. “You could turn into a one-eyed, two-toed, flying, purple people-eater and it wouldn’t matter.”

  “That’s true love, Gray.”

  “It is, Julie.”

  She felt the intensity of his emotion. She had wanted to wrap her soul around the warmth of that emotion, but his mood was dark.

  “Is there more?”

  “Most lycanthropes take their mates by force. These days, they call it date rape.”

  “Ah,” she said, with a dry swallow. “And, do the same bonding rules apply?” She couldn’t hide the nervous quiver in her voice.

  “Yes, they do.” He waited a moment as his words sunk in. “That is why most women avoid us in the extreme and they do this without even knowing why. Instinct, I guess. Most of us never share a bed with anyone under any circumstances, ever. Most of us never find willing mates. And, if we do take a mate by force, sooner or later the community usually finds a way to kill us or lock us away in retribution. For these reasons, we lead very solitary lives. That’s why these days, we are so few.”

  “I see. So Lync was jealous of you because of me.”

  “Yes.”

  “This is why he found it so funny that I didn’t know.”

  “Yes.” He paused. “Outside of me, only he, as a lycanthrope, truly knew how vulnerable you were.”

  She snorted. “I’ve always been completely safe.”

  He smiled at her innocence and kissed her hand. “I have a worry.”

  “What is it?”

  “Knowing what I know of your past, I am afraid that my passion would terrorize you.”

  She bobbed her head.

  “I’m afraid that because of your past trauma, you’d run.” He searched her eyes. “Julie, I’d have no choice but to follow. I worry that I’d haunt your dreams each and every month until they locked me away.”

  “I’m not afraid of you, Gray.”

  “I’ve held you, Julie. I’ve touched you. But, I’m going to be inside you.” A lock of hair tumbled forward across his brow and she brushed it back. “And it’s not enough for you to accept me,” he said meaningfully. “You’d have to accept what I am, because we’d be making more of the same.” He stared at her intently and she held his gaze. “How would you feel if I got you pregnant, Julie?”

  “Would you want to get me pregnant, Gray?”

  “Yes, and I would work very hard at it.”

  She smiled despite herself, but he didn’t smile back.

  “Would you welcome that child? Or, would you be repulsed by the thought of it?”

  His words stung, and she frowned at the question. There was so much hurt in his voice that she stared at him confused and confounded.

  “You need to know how you truly feel about everything.”

  “Gray, I’ve been frightened in spots, but repulsed? That’s crazy talk. I’m not repulsed by you. Why would I be repulsed by a child you give me?” He pulled her to him and kissed her softly. She leaned into him and deepened the kiss.

  He growled softly in her ear, his arms squeezing her just a little tighter. Suddenly, he lifted her and carried her into the bedroom, peeled back the covers and deposited her between the cool sheets.

  “Do you trust me, Julie?”

  He slipped into bed beside her and pulled her to him.

  “I do.”

  “Do you accept me?”

  “Yes.”

  “There is no going back.”

  “I understand.”

  He grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and lifted it to her shoulders then locked eyes with hers once more.

  It was a question.

  By way of answer, she pulled her arms out of the sleeves. He pulled the shirt up and over her head and she reached up to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into her embrace. He bent to her in agonizing slowness, his eyes holding hers in silent communion. Then, he closed his eyes and kissed her.

  Gone was the soft, tentative butterfly kisses to which she was accustomed. This kiss was hungry and deeply, gut-wrenchingly possessive. He took that kiss from her, wrestled it from her and he delighted in the taking. When he released her lips, there was triumph in his eyes and more. They flickered with fire and smoldered with intent.

  “Passion?” she asked nervously.

  “Uh huh,” he growled.

  “I think I like it,” she said softly. “Could I have some more?”

  33

  Gray made love to her again in the pale light of dawn, his touch exquisitely slow and tender, and he cradled her to him when they were finished.

  “You belong to me now, Julie.”

  “I know,” she said, rubbing her cheek on his chest. “But, you belong to me too.”

  “Yes,” he said, kissing her forehead. “That, Julie, is also true. When I return from the forest, I’ll put a ring on your finger.”

  “Okay.”

  “I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings between us.”

  She just looked at him and waited.

  “I don’t love you,” he said softly. “Not in the traditional sense.” She cocked her head, not quite sure she heard him correctly, but his eyes were soft and he wore a tender smile, so she listened patiently. “What I feel for you is so much more than that. You are my everything, my world. I will not die for you. No, Julie. I would survive
anything to be at your side, to protect you, to keep you safe. My heart will beat as long as yours does. You will never be alone.”

  A fat tear ran down her cheek and he kissed it away.

  “I know that you’ve been adjusting to the new me.” He brushed her cheek and kissed her nose. “I’m so grateful that you could love this man and accept his wolf.”

  Another tear leaked out, and again, he kissed it away.

  “I fell in love with Big Boy first,” said Julie in a whisper. “The hard part was allowing myself to accept his big, scary human.”

  “Ah.” He gave her an Eskimo kiss, then drew in a deep lungful of air and hung his head on her shoulder.

  “What is it?”

  “I want to make love to you again.”

  “Okay.”

  His head snapped up quickly.

  “Okay?” He searched her eyes. “I’m trying so hard not to overwhelm you.”

  “Oh, you overwhelm me, Gray. Physically and emotionally. You completely overwhelm me. But, I like to feel your power and your strength. I like it. If you are holding back, there’s no need.”

  He stilled completely, kissed her lips softly, then he took her at her word.

  They left his apartment together in the morning light. She drove them to her house where he changed into wolf form and bolted out her kitchen door en route to the forest.

  She folded his clothes neatly and tucked them into her bureau.

  Her body was tender. She still felt his touch. Everywhere. It was like Gray was still with her in one sense, but without his physical presence, she was bereft. The weekend seemed to last an eternity.

  Dan called to say they had finally found out some relevant information from an off-the-cuff remark made from one of Lync’s co-workers. The investigating team had been interviewing anyone and everyone in the hopes of tracking Lync down.

  “What kind of comment?” asked Julie.

  “Turns out Lync was a big Star Wars fan,” said Dan.

  Julie groaned. “The man who answered my AAA call introduced himself as Luke Skywalker.”

  “I know. You told me.” Dan was quiet a moment.