By the Pale Moonlight (Book One of the Moonlight Series) (27 page)

He fluffed the pillows on the other side of
the bed and softly patted the spot beside him. "Come here," he
said.

"I'm not going to sleep with you."

Something flickered in his eyes, but he
nodded. "I know."

I pulled off my heels and hitched up the
length of my gown to knee-walk across the bed. He tucked me in
beside him, and I rested my head on his shoulder. His fingertips
played along my bare shoulder, sending a small shiver through
me.

"Are you disappointed?" I asked.

"Not at all. Well—yeah, but I'll live."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." He rubbed his cheek across
my hairline. "I know you're scared."

I didn't know to what he referred—sex or the
thought of someone wanting my head on a platter. It probably didn't
matter.

"Am I a terrible person?"

"What? Why would you think that?"

"I must be if someone wants to hurt me."

He rolled us so that he towered above me. My
lips trembled and I found I couldn't meet his eyes.

"I must've done something to this person. And
I don't have any idea what it could be—am I that selfish and
horrible I can't even remember it?" The image of the words carved
into my locker flashed through my mind. Five days. The anger, the
hatred—it all zinged home like an arrow.

"Sssh." Ty rubbed his thumb along my cheek.
"You didn't do anything."

"Now who's biased?"

He smiled and brushed a lock of hair off my
face. "Guilty as charged—and proud of it."

"I wanted tonight to be perfect," I
whispered.

"I know." His warm eyes examined mine. "There
will be other nights, Mac. Lots of them if I have my way."

I laughed softly. "So arrogant." I dropped my
eyes and toyed with the buttons lining the front of his shirt. "I
guess that's why I love you so much."

I expected to blush at my sudden admission,
but my temperature remained stable as I glanced back at him to see
his reaction. His expression was intense upon me, the humor falling
to the wayside at my confession.

He traced his thumb down my cheek and gently
pressed his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and
pulled him into a tight embrace, just wanting to feel him
close.

His breath stirred the wisps of hair around
my ear as he softly whispered, "I love you, too."

Then he was kissing me again. Languid and
undemanding, his mouth explored mine. When my fingers gently tugged
at the buttons of his shirt, he pulled back in surprise. Our eyes
met.

I ran a hand along the slope of his cheek and
pulled him back down to me.

We took our time, our clothing slowly falling
away as we delved into each other.

Things didn't go perfectly. Several times we
broke into fits of laughter at our awkward dance of limbs and
mouths. With Ty, I didn't have to worry, though. I could be myself
and learn with him.

Eventually, our laughter faded. At the moment
of no return, he hesitated. It was me who pulled him close, gently
cradling his hips between my legs as he buried himself deep inside.
His eyes of liquid fire bored into mine as our bodies moved
together.

Some time in the night, we woke to make love
again—tender and sweet. Wrapped safely in his strong arms, I lay
awake and dreaded the rising sun.

Ty and I both looked like crumpled newspaper
when he dropped me off the next morning; our clothing bore the
memory of our hasty shedding of them the previous evening. I
attempted to steam my gown with the iron at the B&B, but even
that didn't erase all of the wrinkles.

I gave up eventually, figuring it would be
impossible to hide our activities anyway. It's not like our absence
would go unnoticed. Of course, Ty was lucky in that department. His
parents wouldn't be at home when we returned.

Mine were both waiting in the living room
when we tiptoed across the front porch holding hands, neither of us
willing to break our connection just yet. No sooner did Ty lean
down for a parting kiss than my front door swung open and we were
both swept inside by my grinning parentals.

I stared at them in horror when my mom
excitedly exclaimed, "Tell us everything! We want details."

"It was fine," we both chorused. We exchanged
a sharp look and my face went up in flames at the knowing
expressions on my parents' faces. Oh God, they knew.

My father abruptly stood.

"Ty, my boy," he said, "let's you and me have
a little talk in the other room."

Ty's slumped shoulders and resigned face gave
me the impression of a dead man walking. He threw me a "help me"
expression. I shrugged and gave him a big, toothy grin that said
"You're on your own. I've got problems of my own." Speaking of
which, my expression snapped back into line when I caught the
warning in my mother's eyes.

I clasped my hands around my knees and waited
for the fallout to begin.

"Do I need to tell you what a big step you've
taken, young lady?" My mother's voice was amazingly calm, but
stern.

"No."

"Can I presume you took...precautions?"

My face went up like a Roman candle. "Yes," I
managed.

She read me the riot act. If there was ever a
more thorough sex talk, I'd be shocked. I picked a small nick in
the coffee table and focused on it the entire time. It seemed best
to not make eye contact as she lectured me on proper birth control
methods and the dangers of teenage pregnancy.

Torn between mortification and an insane need
to burst out laughing, I bore it as best I could. The only thing
keeping me together was the thought of what my father was telling
Ty at that very moment. The poor guy. It's one thing to hear these
things from a parent, and quite another to be lectured by the
father of the girl you just lost your virginity to. Hopefully, Ty
wouldn't be too spooked to speak to me again.

"Now—do you have any questions?"

Oh. My. God.
"No, ma'am."

"I've raised you with a very loose hand,
Makenna. I have to trust you to behave intelligently. I hope I
can."

I swallowed hard, a sudden perspiration
breaking out across my forehead. "I know, Mom. I'm sorry if I let
you down."

To my surprise, she laughed softly. "I'm not
disappointed in you, Mac."

"You're not?" I found that hard to believe.
Not after a forty-five minute lecture on the pros and cons of using
a sponge vs. a diaphragm.

"Not at all." She tucked a strand of hair
behind my ear. "You're not a little girl anymore. You're a woman.
I'm just glad you made one helluva good choice in who you chose to
experience this with."

My eyes flooded with tears to see hers fill
up.

I threw myself into her arms, the tenuous
hold on my tears at last breaking. "Thank you, Mom."

I think on some level we both realized the
times when she would be my refuge were coming to an end.

When we parted, she swiped at her wet cheeks.
"But I have to say I'm very angry that you've done this! I wanted
you to be my little girl forever."

I laughed through my tears. "I'll always be
your little girl. I promise."

"You better." She shook a stern finger at me.
We stood and hugged one last time. "Now it's time for you to go
rescue Ty. Off with you now."

The kitchen was empty when I went through the
swinging door. I cocked my head to the side and thought I heard
muffled voices coming from the family room. Poor Ty. I hoped I
could get him out of there without my father making a fuss.

I needn't have worried. I found the pair of
them sitting in our leather recliners with a football game blaring
through the big screen TV. Involved in a loud debate about one of
the ref's calls, they barely acknowledged me when I entered. After
my fifth throat clearing, I finally gave up and joined them.

"I trust I can leave you two alone for a
minute," my dad said, shaking his empty beer bottle. Ty and I both
nodded.

When he was gone, I stared at Ty in wonder.
He laughed as he reached for the remote to pop the set off.

"What?" he asked.

"I just got a talk about birth control and
babies. I come in here and you guys are debating the finer points
of football. Did he say
anything
to you, at least?"

"Sure."

I urged him on with a wave of my hand.
"And?"

"And...everything's fine?"

"Grrr," I seethed. "Tell me!"

"He didn't say much, actually." Ty shrugged
nonchalantly. "Have I ever mentioned your father has a very fine
gun collection?"

"He didn't..."

"Like I said, he didn't say much. He marched
me over to the cabinet and said, 'If you get my daughter pregnant,
or hurt her in any way, you'll get to know one of these guns very
well.' Then he said, 'Got it?' I told him 'yes' and that ended our
talk."

"Oh, man..."

"We were in here anyway, so we decided to
watch some football. He thinks I have a great chance at a college
team." Ty said the last with a big grin—an expression that was
basically a "neener neener" to the different talks that we had each
"suffered" through.

Men.

o0o

"I think I found something."

Ty was dozing off in a chair beside me, and
he jumped at the sound of my voice. More determined than ever to
find a way of protecting me during the moon cycle, Ty and I had set
right to work after we each grabbed a quick shower and a large dose
of caffeine. Even so, our activities of the night before seemed to
be taking their toll on the boy.

"Sorry." I smiled at his dazed expression and
pointed at the screen. "This is sort of a random find, but it says
here that werewolves have an aversion to ash trees."

He closed his eyes. "Great, I'll remember
that the next time I feel the need to scale one."

"I was just thinking... I mean, this may
sound stupid, but everyone or thing seems to have its personal
kryptonite."

"Yeah—in my case, that would be silver."

I glared at him before heading out of the
room.

"Where are you going?" he yelled.

I pushed through the trees between our houses
until I found what I was looking for. I looked up at the large ash,
the very one in which Ty and I shared our first kiss. Its leaves
were in full autumn colors—greens fading into yellows and purples.
Backlit by the sinking sun, it appeared almost on fire, its rounded
top licking the sky with dazzling hues.

With a firm grip of one of its thick limbs, I
hoisted myself up, slowly climbing upward and out until I could
reach some of its smaller branches. I broke one off, bending and
twisting it until it came free. Then I shimmied back down the
trunk, landing hard and shocking my ankles. "Ow!"

"What are you doing?" Ty leaned casually
against a nearby maple tree.

"Thought we might test the theory."

"This should be good." The corner of his
mouth twitched. "Are you expecting me to cringe away from it?"

"That would show it works." I brandished the
branch like a sword and swung it at him menacingly.

He only laughed. "Sorry to disappoint. I'm
not feeling any sudden urges to run away."

I frowned. "Touch it."

He obliged by closing his fingers over the
end of my makeshift club. Nothing happened.

"Try climbing the tree."

He threw me an exasperated look, but obliged
my request. He swung up into the limbs with little effort and
motioned for me to come up with the tip of his finger. "Wanna play
me Tarzan, you Jane?"

"This is serious." I playfully swatted him
with the end of the branch and he almost fell out of the tree.

"Ow!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"No, Mac. That really hurt." He hopped down
and limped around in pain.

"I barely tapped you." His scrunched features
made me stop. "Jesus, you're really hurt!"

"I've been trying to tell you that. Here,
give me a hand."

He draped an arm over my shoulders and we
half walked, half hobbled back to his house. Once he was safely
delivered to a dining room chair, I insisted he take off his pants
so I could have a look.

He grimaced but pulled down his jeans to
reveal silky blue boxers.

"Nice." My grin faltered when I caught sight
of the purple bruise on his upper thigh, growing darker even as I
watched. "Holy shit."

Ty met my eyes. "I think you might've been
right about that kryptonite thing."

With his leg iced and elevated, we tried to
puzzle out what this could mean in our search for a cure.

"Isn't it obvious? Somehow we need to utilize
this as a weapon to use against the other wolf...and me, should the
need arise."

I stared at the branch I'd laid on the table
when we came inside. "That would be interesting."

"I didn't mean for you to carry around a tree
limb everywhere you go." He picked up the branch and tested its
heft. "They make baseball bats out of ash trees, you know?"

Light began to dawn. "A bat."

"Easy to make. Bet I could knock out a few of
them pretty quickly. There are plenty of trees out in the yard and
a few limbs wouldn't be missed."

"I like it."

He nodded. "Only as a last resort, though,
okay?"

"Last resort? If today is any indication, I
could send you to the moon with one good swing."

"Yeah, but bats aren't very long, Mac. The
wolf would have to be very close and I'd rather you didn't take
that chance."

"But..."

"No buts. Gun first, bat last."

I reluctantly agreed.

We spent the better part of the afternoon
making the bats. After hobbling into the shed behind me, Ty had
second thoughts about wanting to go anywhere near flying wood
shavings. That meant it was my responsibility to run the machinery,
and it was a disaster right from the start. It took several
attempts to finish, and even then the bats turned out misshapen and
far from aerodynamic.