By the Pale Moonlight (Book One of the Moonlight Series) (13 page)

"As I see it, we have three objectives. We
need to figure out who attacked Ty and killed Kim—that's assuming
it's the same person." I conveniently left out the attack on me. No
use pushing Ty again. "Second, we need to figure out a way, if any,
to cure a person of their...wolfiness."

That got a small snort from Ty.

"And finally, we need to somehow cure them
both."

Ty and Melanie both frowned.

"What do you mean cure both?" Ty said. "This
other person killed Kim—tried to kill you."

"Yes, but you said yourself you have no
control over what you do during the full moon. What makes you think
it's any different for this person?"

"Because whoever it was targeted you
specifically?" Ty crossed his arms. "I'd say that's a pretty big
point in the "don't cure" column. I'll agree we need to find him or
her, but only to put them out of commission."

"You mean kill them?" Melanie's eyes were
wide as saucers.

"That's exactly what I mean." Ty had that
stubborn set to his jaw that I knew well. There would be no way to
convince him otherwise. Not that it would stop me from trying.

"So, say you kill this person," I began.
"What happens to you afterward? You think you can just walk away
from something like that? Even if you go unpunished, could you live
with yourself? I know I sure as heck couldn't."

"Okay, I'll play." Ty's eyes held a
challenge. "I don't kill the person. What makes you think whoever
it is will want to be cured? And who's to say he won't try to kill
you again? Do you think I could live with
that
?"

"Uh, guys..." Melanie's head lolled back and
forth between us.

"You think I'd be able to live with you
getting carted off to prison for the rest of your life?" I stood my
ground, matching the challenge in his eyes with one of my own.

"If I don't kill this guy, you may not live
to regret anything."

"Okay, knock it off!" Melanie yelled. "God,
are you guys always like this?"

Startled, we both looked at her in surprise.
"No," we chorused.

"Good. I was afraid I'd have to gag you
both."

The corner of Ty's mouth twitched. I fought
hard to suppress a smile of my own. Neither of us would've ever
thought she possessed such a commanding voice.

I raised a brow at Ty. He winked in an
unspoken truce.

"That's better," she said. "Now. First things
first. We need to find out everything we can about this condition,
and how we might go about detecting one of these things. We'll
worry about what to do with them after we find the guy, girl,
person, whatever!" She swiped an errant strand of hair out of her
red face. "Are we good with that?"

We both agreed.

"In the meantime, you should continue to work
on the restraints." She addressed Ty. "It may come down to you
having to use them, and well, it's better to be prepared for
anything."

"I agree," he said.

"Me too," I said, though the thought of him
chaining himself down in that musty cellar wasn't easy to
stomach.

"Okay." Melanie pulled out a small notebook
from her bag. "I think we need to discuss suspects." She scratched
something on the pad. "Caleb—obviously. Anyone else?"

Ty jerked his head toward her. "Caleb
Martin?"

Crap.

Melanie searched his face. "Didn't Mac tell
you?"

"Not yet," he said through clenched teeth
before the heat of his glare hit me full force. "Well? Care to fill
me in?"

"I was waiting for the right time." I bit my
lip, knowing how feeble of an excuse it was. "I didn't want to jump
to any conclusions."

Melanie cleared her throat. "I guess now is
that time, then."

When I didn't immediately begin, she
recounted my talk with Caleb the day of Kim's memorial as well as
our run-in with him in the clock tower.

"Granted, it's a pretty flimsy connection—the
hair color thing—but it's all we have to go on right now." Melanie
paused. I hadn't dared to look at Ty the entire time, and she
seemed to sense the tension in the room. "It might help if we could
figure out a motive. Can either of you think of any reason for him
to do it? Mac?"

I leaned forward and rubbed my hands roughly
across my face. "I don't know. Maybe. He isn't exactly Mr. Popular
around school. Maybe he got fed up?"

She frowned. "Yeah, but why would he focus on
Ty?"

"I don't—"

"Maybe it's not me he's focusing on," Ty
interrupted. "It could be Mac he's after."

My jaw dropped open, my emotions somewhere
between annoyed and downright pissed off. "That's stupid."

"Wasn't me who turned him down." He shrugged.
"Maybe he's pissed you wouldn't go out with him."

I narrowed my eyes, face burning. "Whatever.
That was over two years ago!"

"And?"

"And...and...I can't believe you brought that
up," I muttered.

For the first time that day, his smile
traveled to his eyes. "Looks like I hit a nerve." To Melanie, he
said, "Mark him down for definitely having a motive."

"Yeah, but why would he wait all that time?"
she asked.

I held my breath. Surely he wouldn't tell her
about the night he'd broken up with Carrie.

"Who knows," Ty said with a quick glance in
my direction.

"Okay. Anyone else?" Melanie asked, oblivious
to all that had just transpired. I let out a slow breath, happy he
decided to keep the moment between the two of us, and made an
effort to concentrate.

As hard as we tried, we couldn't come up with
another name. Sure, there were plenty of people who could've done
it—but everyone seemed to be accounted for during the night of the
football game.

"I give up," I said finally. "It could be
anybody."

They both nodded, exhaustion clear in their
expressions.

"There was another matter I wanted to bring
up," Ty said, his eyes fixed on me, as though afraid of my
reaction. "I want to look into buying, or more likely, making
silver bullets."

"No way." I shook my head slowly. "I don't
like that idea at all. We don't even know if that myth is
true."

"You're right, but we don't know that it
isn't. And I'd rather be prepared in case this thing does come
after you. Or worse, if
I
come after you."

"Do you really think I could shoot you?" My
reality seemed to bend at the thought.

"I don't think you'd want to," Ty admitted.
"But that doesn't mean you won't have to."

His words were like a punch to the stomach.
"I couldn't do it."

"You can, and you will if you have to."

My chin quivered slightly. "I need something
to drink." I hurried into his kitchen and stood shaking at the
counter. Ty's mother had several herbs growing in a window box. I
concentrated on their smells—the earthiness of parsley mingled with
the sharper, woody scent of rosemary and thyme—hoping they would
ground my swimming head.

I sensed his presence before he spoke.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No."

"It's only a last resort, Mac. We have to
plan for the worst."

"Just wait. Please... Let's just see what
happens first."

At my pleading tone, his eyes went soft.
"Okay. You can have it your way for now. But if we aren't able to
figure something out, I'm going to make the bullets."

It was the best I could ask for.

o0o

Mrs. O'Neill came home just as we were about
to head upstairs to start our mad quest. She insisted on fixing us
all dinner, a luxury she was seldom around to provide. It was well
past eight o'clock by the time we managed to get away.

We didn't really know where to begin once we
plopped in front of Ty's computer. Melanie was the most proficient
with the internet so we allowed her to take control of the mouse.
We rambled about the net, giggling at the number of sites dedicated
to werewolf worship.

"I think you could be their hero," I
said.

"Great." Ty didn't seem overly excited by the
idea. "Are there any serious sites we can go to?"

Properly chastised, we got down to work.
First order of business was to try and determine whether there was
any way of curing him. Most of the supposed treatments bordered on
ridiculous, if not planted square in la-la land. Ty's personal
favorite was the "kneel in the same spot for one hundred years"
cure.

"Now all I need is a fountain of youth and
I'm all set," he mumbled.

Another favorite was taking a knife and
hitting the werewolf on the head three times. The information
didn't specify whether this would work in human form, but
nonetheless, I felt it necessary to grab a butter knife from the
kitchen. I thwapped Ty on the forehead three times, but of course
nothing happened save him getting annoyed.

Holy water, making the sign of the cross,
calling their Christian name three times—all seemed a bit
implausible.

"That stuff never works in the movies." I
rubbed my forehead. We'd been at this for hours. "I think I need
more caffeine."

"I'll get it," Melanie offered.

She scooted out of the chair, and I slid into
her place once she exited the room. I felt like a kid finally
allowed behind the wheel of a car. A faint floral scent lingered in
the air. "Mmm."

I smiled to myself when Ty didn't seem to
take notice. Boys.

Many sites came up when I punched in a new
search on how to identify a werewolf. I flipped through several web
pages, looking for anything useful. Ty propped his chin in his palm
beside me. I tried to ignore his close proximity.

"Okay, here's something." I fought a grin as
I read. "Werewolves in their human form often have extremely bushy
eyebrows that meet in the middle. Hmm, the modern uni-brow.
Attractive." I examined his face. "Definite possibilities."

He smirked. "Funny. What's your excuse?"

"Ha ha." I swatted his hand away when he
tried to pinch my side. "They can be extremely hairy, especially
their hands and feet."

"No hair here." Ty waggled his fingers. He
dropped his hand, resting it lightly on my arm.

My heart sped up. "Too bad smelly feet aren't
a sign—yours would definitely qualify."

"Hear hear."

"Exceptionally long third fingers." I
examined the hand laying on my arm. "Yours look normal to me."

"Anything else?"

His face came to within inches of mine. I
licked my lips. "Yeah. Extremely bad breath."

"We might have to test that one out."

"Yeah..."

Our mouths met tentatively at first, but soon
the light touch grew in intensity. My lips parted and he deepened
the kiss, brushing his tongue against mine. A slow heat grew in my
belly as his fingers dug lightly into my hips.

"We shouldn't be doing this," I whispered, my
voice husky.

"You're right." He captured my mouth again,
and my thoughts floated into the ethers.

"Ahem."

Ty and I pulled apart quickly. Melanie stood
in the doorway with several cans of soda in her hands. "Sorry," she
said.

"Not at all. We were just...testing a
theory..." My face went warm as I let my words trail off. "Here." I
clicked back to the window she'd been in and returned to my seat.
Pulling my knees to my chest, I tried to ignore the sensations
coursing through me. Ty's eyes followed me, but we both did our
best to get back to business.

o0o

My vision blurred at the edges. I rubbed my
foggy eyes and tried to focus on the computer screen over Melanie's
shoulder. Yet again, I stifled a yawn with my palm and eyed the
clock. It was close to midnight and I was beat.

Ty and Melanie were engrossed in a website
claiming to have the secret of how to cure werewolves, a.k.a lycans
or shapeshifters. I knew all the lingo now, but my brain was just
about kaput and each line was starting to meld together. I glanced
at Ty's bed with its dark blue comforter and fluffy pillows. I knew
from experience just how comfortable it was. But no, I couldn't be
a wimp. If they could stick it out, so could I.

I had no sooner made this decision when I
jerked my head up, having momentarily fallen asleep where I sat.
Bits of their conversation cut through my grogginess, but the
actual words did a complete fly-by.

"Mac!"

I jumped. "What?"

The corner of Ty's mouth lifted. "You're
exhausted. Why don't you lay down?" He motioned to the computer
with a jerk of his chin. "This may take a while."

"I'm fine." I straightened and opened my eyes
wide. It felt like I had sand beneath my lids. "Where were we?"

Melanie and he exchanged an amused
glance.

"What? I'm fine." As if on cue, my right eye
started to twitch.

Ty pulled me to my feet. "Glad we're all in
agreement."

If I hadn't been so exhausted, I might've
fought harder. But once I climbed under the warm covers and sank
into the mattress, I was done for. Ty turned off the small bedside
lamp.

"I really wanted to help," I whispered.

He paused. "What are you talking about? You
figured out I didn't kill Kim. I'd say you've done enough for one
day."

I smiled weakly. "Yeah, but only because of
Melanie."

We had a lot of work to do and the time was
ticking away fast. Unfortunately, we didn't seem to be getting
anywhere. Right now the only thing on the table was my lame dog
whistle idea. It annoyed me to no end that I couldn't keep up
physically.

"Don't underestimate your part in this." He
squeezed my hand reassuringly.

Suddenly, I didn't want him to leave my side.
Nothing sounded better than falling asleep safe within the warm
comfort of his arms. The same desire burned in his eyes. He threw a
quick glance over his shoulder. Melanie sat staring intently at the
colored screen, her back to us.

He bent over me and brushed the hair away
from my face before pressing his warm lips against my forehead.
With one last check on Melanie, they closed over mine in a gentle
kiss. "I could get used to having you here," he whispered.