Dark Side of the Moon (21 page)

“Come on, Selina,” London said as he unbuttoned his pants and slipped his shoes off.  “Unless you don’t want to, which is fine.  We can find something else to do.”

“No, it’s fine.  It’s just…you go in first,” I responded, unbuttoning my pants.

He nodded, and stepped out of his pants.  When he turned away from me to approach the coast of the lake, I slipped out of my jeans and shoes.  I was nervous, and felt blush creep onto my cheeks as my mate pushed his boxers off his hips.  I couldn’t help looking or gasping from the sight.  My mate was very easy on the eyes and was making my blood run hot.

As he slipped into the water, I rushed with removing the rest of my clothes.  I quickly approached the water, and tried to not let the coldness of it get to me.  Right before London turned around, I was shoulder deep in the lake.  Though it was past noon, the water was a little murky, and hopefully his eyesight wasn’t very sharp.

It was very strange swimming naked.  Floating around each other, we chatted about nothing.  The entire time, though, our ears were perked for the sound of approaching footsteps.  I really didn’t want anyone stealing my clothes again, and I was sure London wouldn’t want anyone to see us in such a vulnerable position.

But then London swam over to me.  I tried to swim away, not knowing his intentions, and backed into one of the supports holding up the dock.  London approached me, his expression relaxed.  “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said, wrapping his arms around me.

I placed my hands on his chest, trying to keep some distance.  “London, I don’t—”

“I know, Selina.  Besides, we’d have to have a ceremony before we mate.”

“We have to, or you want us to?”

“Both.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled, glad that we were still on the same page.  “I love you, London.”

“I love you, too, Selina.  And just because we have to have a ceremony before we mate doesn’t mean we can’t do other things,” he said, resting his hands on my hips.

I gasped from the touch of his hands and when he leaned in to kiss me.  His arousal pressed into my stomach.  At first, I thought that we were moving a little too fast.  But we have been together for almost three months, and I’d have to get used to his body sooner or later.

I was about to let most of my inhibitions out the door when I heard leaves rustling.  London heard it, too, and pulled away from me.  He was on full alert because we didn’t know what made the noise.

A moment later, we heard someone angrily whisper, “You idiot, they probably heard us.”

London grew angry.  “Yeah, we heard you, and if you don’t want your eyes ripped out, I suggest you start running.”

They gasped, and ran off into the woods.  My face was burning red.  Had they actually seen anything, or had they just arrived?  Looking to my mate, I said, “Maybe we should head back, too.”

He nodded and gave me a quick kiss before pushing away from me.  He went on and dressed first, then stood watch while I dried off and put my clothes back on.  That had been a strange experience, and…I was kind of glad that we were interrupted.  My experience ended at kissing, and anything other than that was mostly unknown to me.  Sure, I knew how everything worked between us, but I wasn’t ready to test that just yet.

Returning to camp, I decided to take a shower, get the lake grime off of me.  London decided to do the same, but he was much quicker than me.  He didn’t have to shave his legs.  After I dressed in different clothes, I ventured out of the bathrooms, and sat beside London at the fire.

We sat there talking with everyone for a while.  And after we ate dinner, some more people arrived with tents.  The rest of the pack coming for the full moon tomorrow night.  But looking at everyone gathered, I knew that this wasn’t the entire pack.  When I asked London, he said a few stayed behind at the houses, just in case something happened with one of the rogues.

I wish they would just leave us alone already.

One thing that got my mind off the thought of the rogue wolves was Raff and Charles deciding to do a comedy routine.  They were actually pretty funny, getting quite a few hard laughs from me.  Their material stemmed from past experiences with the pack, which included stories about pack members, and from outside sources that they found funny.

Once my hair was dry, I took a small break from the laughter to put my towel in the tent.  I had no idea how long their routine would last, and I honestly didn’t want to miss much of it.  Sure, I could hear it perfectly fine on the other side of the field, but watching everyone’s expressions was half of the fun.

After I zipped up the tent and took a step back to the group, I heard a twig snap to my left.  The laughing immediately ceased, and London jumped to his feet.  Not only did he have to ensure his pack was protected, but I was the closest to the tree line.

I went to take another step toward the others, and heard a snicker from behind me.  This had better not be a prank or some sort of initiation by London or anyone else in the pack.  Looking to my mate, I found him to be tense and breathing heavily.  Looking around, I found that Ricky was sitting on the opposite side of the fire from him, so I knew it wasn’t her or Josie.  Everyone else had their attention on me.

London’s hands clenched into fists as I heard several footsteps approaching.  I had no idea what to do to get by his side.  “What are you doing here?” he nearly growled.

The wind blew into me, carrying several scents.  They smelled woodsy, too, but it was different from my pack’s scent.  Another wolf pack was approaching us, and they had the same unusual scent to them as what I smelled at the border.

“You’re getting dangerously close to my lands, Fairbanks.  Naturally, I had to come investigate,” a gruff voice sounded not too far behind me.

“We’re just camping on my land like we do every year.  Everyone knows where the border is and no one has crossed it.  You on the other hand….”

Glancing at the others in the pack, I found that they were all on alert, a few of them frowning angrily, including Artemis and Channing’s families.  I really didn’t want to witness a pack war.

The voice was right behind me when they said, “She’s new to your pack; I’ve never smelled her before.  How do I know she knows where the border is?”

“She knows, O’Malley.”

I gasped when I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders.  What in the hell was this guy doing?  “I’ll believe you for now.  But since I’ve come all this way, how about an update?  Have you found yourself a mate, Fairbanks?  It’s a little unusual for an alpha to go without a mate or pups for as long as you have.”  He hugged me closer to him.  “Wouldn’t you agree, darling?  Or have you not been part of the pack long enough?”

Shrugging him off of me, I took a step away from him.  “Don’t touch me,” I nearly growled.

Now that I was beside him, I was able to get a good look at our visitor.  He was older, crows’ feet framing his eyes and gray hairs at his temples and in his beard.  He appeared to be a little gruff, dressed as if he were on a permanent camping trip.  Standing straight, he had his shoulder back, forcing his chest out.  There was no doubt that he was the alpha of his pack.

His face was turning red as he faced London.  “You’re not going to discipline your bitch for addressing an alpha in such a way?” he demanded.

I was shocked that he called me that, even though female dogs and wolves were called bitches.  But London became infuriated, immediately charging through our pack to get into O’Malley’s face.  Keeping his attention on his rival, London didn’t even look at me as he grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him.  His voice was guttural, almost not his own, when he said, “Touch her again, and I’ll rip your fucking head off.”  London was right in his face, almost touching O’Malley’s nose.

O’Malley took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, keeping his eyes locked with London’s.  “Why haven’t you notified anyone that you’ve mated, Fairbanks?”

“Just like you told everyone when you took over your pack?”

They continued to stare at each other.  A moment later, O’Malley took a step back.  He probably only had a quarter of his pack with him at the most while almost all of our pack members were here.  O’Malley was vastly outnumbered, so the only way for him to save face was to back off.  Before he turned away from London, he said, “Enjoy the full moon, Fairbanks.”

London and I watched the O’Malley alpha retreat into the woods with his dozen or so pack mates.  And though we couldn’t see them anymore, we could still hear their retreating footsteps.  I was completely frozen, only breathing for several minutes.

My mate startled me by saying Channing’s name.  Channing responded affirmatively, but said nothing else.  The rest of the pack broke out in whispers.  Then London turned to me, his face hard but his eyes full of worry.  “Are you alright, Selina?”

I nodded.  “Why did O’Malley come at us like that?”

“We are close to the border.  He was just making sure that we weren’t trespassing or planning an attack.  He’ll probably stay close by until we leave.”

That’s when Channing called to us.  “Everything’s fine at home, London.”  He must have called those who stayed behind.

London nodded.  “Raff, Charles, take two groups.”

They nodded and picked a couple people to go with them.  After they shifted, they headed in separate directions into the woods.  I guess London was making sure that we weren’t surrounded by O’Malley’s pack.

It took the wolves a while to return.  After they shifted back, they told us that the area was clear, that O’Malley had returned to his lands.  I breathed a little easier, but I honestly never wanted to see that man again.  No wonder Artemis and her family left them.

With the mood officially ruined, conversation wasn’t easy.  So I, along with a couple other people, told everyone that we were going to go to bed.  As soon as I headed for the tent, London stood and followed me.

It took me a good while to fall asleep.  I was worried about what was going to happen during the full moon.  So far, we’ve encountered a rogue each time.  Which means we’ll probably see at least one of them again tomorrow night.  Hopefully we can capture him this time.

Chapter 23

Things were a little tense the next morning.  O’Malley coming to confront us didn’t settle well with anyone, especially London.  Artemis had said that her former alpha had threatened to take over other packs with force.  I really hope that didn’t happen because I can think of only one way London would give up his alpha position, and I did not like thinking about it.

I tried to keep my mind occupied by sketching random things.  I had no idea what was going to happen tonight.  Hell, maybe this full moon will be normal without rogues or rivaling packs interfering.  Everyone else probably had the same thing going through their minds.

After lunch, I asked London if he wanted to go for a hike in the woods.  For a while, we just walked, holding hands, not saying anything.  But I didn’t think that anything needed to be said.

We had been walking for at least an hour when London stopped.  I was about to ask him what was wrong when he gently pushed me against a tree, placing his hands on my hips.  I didn’t know what was up with him, but I wasn’t going to stop him from kissing me.

Or when his hands drifted down my sides to my hips.  Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him closer to me, enjoying this surprised affection.  My face felt warm, and my stomach churned with butterflies.  Sure, we sometimes got hot and heavy, but this was a little different after our swimming adventure yesterday.  Or maybe it had to do with meeting with O’Malley last night.

Whatever the reason, I actually found myself enjoying this and wanting a little more.

London’s hands slid down to my thighs, making me gasp.  I wasn’t sure what he was doing, or if I wanted him to continue.  When he gripped them, I decided to give him some leniency to see what he was going to do.  He ended up carefully wrapping my legs around his waist, letting his hands drift up my back to support me.

Okay, that wasn’t so bad.  And when he slipped his tongue between my lips, he ground his hips into mine.  It did strange things to me, strange things that actually felt…good.

When he ground his hips into mine again, I gasped from the contact, my face heating up even more.  I never knew this feeling existed, but the more I kissed him, the more I questioned it.  This didn’t feel like an ordinary make out session.

London’s lips drifted from mine to my check.  And from there, they ventured down to my neck.  All the while, his hands were pressing into the small of my back, forcing our bodies together.  Yeah, it felt good, but it needed to stop.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I nearly moaned his name to get his attention.  “We need to stop.  It’s too fast,” I breathed.

He pulled away from me, his face flushed and eyes hooded.  Nodding, he gave me one more kiss before easing my legs back down so my feet touched the ground.  I was glad I still had my arms around his neck because my legs felt like gelatin and I couldn’t stand on my own.  Steadying me, he gave me a smile.  “You alright, Selina?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.  And what exactly was that for?”

“I don’t know.  The moment struck me?”

I took another deep breath.  “Was it because of last night?”

He looked away from me.  “Partly.  That and we were interrupted at the lake yesterday.”

“I’m sure everything will be fine, London.  Like you said, he was probably curious as to our scents at the border and wanted to make sure everything was okay.  I believe that you can protect us from him, too.”

He gave me a crooked grin.  “He’s a lot older than me, has been a wolf much longer, and has been in a lot more fights than me.”

“Yeah, but it seemed to me that all of that has made him cocky and arrogant, which you could use to your advantage should he try to attack us.”

“Let’s just hope that it won’t come to that.”

I nodded.  “We have a lot more to worry about with the rogues.”

“Maybe tonight will be our lucky night and we’ll catch one of them.  Speaking of, I need to speak to Channing and Artemis and Mom about the plan for tonight.  Want to head back to camp?”

“Sure, but we’ve got plenty of time before sunset.  Let’s enjoy the sun while we still can.”

London and I didn’t rush back to camp, continuing our hike like nothing happened.  I tried to keep myself in check on the way back as I thought about what we did.  It was surely a small taste of what would come later in our relationship.  And though it felt good, I still wanted to wait until I was at least out of school before I considered mating him.

After we arrived back at the camp, London sought out the betas and his mother to discuss the plan of action for tonight.  I knew that we were going to break up into four groups like last time, and search for the rogues.  But knowing past experiences, at least one of them would head for us.  London told everyone to be on alert tonight, to try and capture, not kill the rogues so we can get some answers from them.  I don’t know who wanted to capture them more, me or my mate.

Once London was finished planning, we set to work making our dinners.  The sun was beginning its descent to the horizon, meaning we had to have a little earlier of a dinner tonight if we were going to shift by sunset.  Though I was more comfortable now being a wolf than I was back in January, I was glad the days were getting longer.  It meant less time being controlled by the silver orb in the sky.

With our stomachs full, a couple people went ahead and shifted.  I was going to wait until it was closer to time when I had to shift.  London also delayed his transformation to call those that didn’t come on our trip to let them know of the plan for tonight.  If someone spotted a rogue, we were going to head to their location after they gave the signal—a howl.  We were going to need as many people as possible to capture the intruder, but the ones that stayed behind were going to stay put in case the other rogue shows up.  We didn’t know what they wanted, and it was safer to have our homes protected rather than them stealing information from us.

After London hung up with the other pack members, he stripped off his shirt, and unbuttoned his pants.  Everyone else who hadn’t shifted went ahead and did so.  I was still a little uncomfortable stripping in front of everyone, and went to the bathrooms under the guise that I needed to use the facilities first.  I left my shoe propped in the door so I could open it with my nose after I was in my wolf form, and took off my clothes so they wouldn’t be damaged.

When I came out of the building, London barked four times, as usual.  I made my way to his side before we took off into the woods.  I needed to stay close to him during our run.  And I couldn’t help wondering if when I became more experienced or after we officially mated if he would allow me to guide my own group during the full moons.

A more important question, how would the pack react to me being their official second alpha?  I had problems out of Ricky, and though everyone I talked to was friendly, was it all an act to not be disciplined by London?  There were a lot of questions I had that wouldn’t be answered until the time actually came.

And besides, I needed to focus on running and trying to find the rogues.

We had been running for about an hour with nothing happening when I heard something very unusual.  We would crumple leaves and snap twigs that had fallen to the ground as we ran, but it was very quick.  The twigs I heard snapping were slow and sometimes accompanied by curses.  Glancing at London, I saw that he wasn’t very concerned about the noises.

But then I heard someone calling my name, and that someone was Dan.

I stopped in my tracks, skidding across the dirt and a few wolves running into me.  I barked to get London’s attention, and it took him a moment to stop and look at me.  I whimpered, hoping he’d understand that I needed to go see why my brother was wandering around the woods alone looking for me.

As soon as he nodded, I took off in the direction I last heard Dan.

One thing that surprised me was that the rest of our group was following me.  And that London let me have point when he caught up with me.  I was leading the group to find my brother, and they were willingly following me without question.

As we came closer to Dan, we were able to smell him.  That made it easier to find him because we could follow his scent rather than the noises he made.  But after a moment, we smelled something that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

One of the rogues.

London growled and barked a couple times, telling our group to break into two.  I guess he was going to go after the rogue while I took a few to find Dan.  I hope that they’ll be able to handle the rogue on their own.

I felt a little relieved when I heard London howling for the rest of the pack.  The rogue wouldn’t be able to escape from all of us.  Now all I had to do was make sure Dan didn’t get anywhere near the rogue and returned home safely.

But then a scream ripping through the night air turned my veins to ice.  Hoping that he only fell and twisted his ankle or broke his foot, I took off as fast as I could toward my younger brother.  But how was he going to return home with an injury and without seeing that I was a werewolf?

A moment later, I finally found Dan.  But he wasn’t in any way that I’d want for him to be.  He was on the ground, arms and legs in the air, trying to fend off the black wolf that was biting him.  Rage boiling in my veins, I charged at the wolf.  How dare he attack my brother.

Tackling the rogue, I tried to clamp down on his neck.  I was angry that he had attacked me back in December, but I was furious that he did the same to Dan.  We have done nothing to this wolf, and he condemned us to a life ruled by the setting sun and full moon.  We rolled around on the ground from my blow, a couple other wolves joining in.  Maybe if we wounded him enough he wouldn’t be able to run away.  We’d just have to keep attacking when his wounds healed, though.

But then someone hit me in the chest, causing me to loosen my grip on the rogue’s neck.  A few other wolves had ahold on him, so I wasn’t too worried.  Ten against one had the odds in our favor.  Leaving them to it, I ventured over to Dan.

He was lying on the ground, coughing.  I hated seeing him in pain.  As I approached him, his eyes widened, and he tried to move away.  That’s when I noticed that he had some blood splattered on his face and hands.

The wolf had bitten him somewhere.

My ears pressed against my skull as my tail lowered, my heart constricted in pain, and tears welled in my eyes.  The fate of a werewolf had been mine and mine alone in my family, and so far I had kept it from them.  How was Dan going to take this news?  How were the both of us going to keep this from our parents?  Why did that wolf have to attack us?

Dan tried to move away from me, but the blood on his hands made them slippery and he fell.  I wanted to comfort him, let him know it was me, but there was no way for me to do so as a wolf.  He was afraid of me because he had just been attacked by a wolf and I was also a wolf, but didn’t know that I wouldn’t hurt him.

A high pitched squeal sounded, drawing my attention to the fight.  The rogue had regained his footing and slung Raff off of his back.  Shit, what was I supposed to do?  We needed to weaken him so we could capture him, but he was clearly much stronger than us.  Where were London and the rest of the pack?  What was taking them so long?

Not knowing what else to do, I charged the wolf again, desperate for him to lose his footing.  Though I knocked him down, he rolled over us until he was free of our grips, running off into the night.  The group followed him immediately, but I just watched.  My brother needed help.

Turning back to him, I found that he had moved just a little bit.  I tried to appear friendly, keeping low and not showing my teeth.  “Get away from me,” he yelled as I approached him.

I knew that he was just hurting and didn’t know who I was, and I tried to not take offense.  So while he tried to move, gasping in pain, I laid down, resting my head on my front paws.  While Dan struggled to move, I looked at him.  His right foot appeared to be twisted, so I knew he would only be able to hobble away at most.  The rogue had attacked me on my arm to disorient me, then grabbed my leg to drag me away.  Seemed like he had done the same to my brother.

Leaves rustled with footsteps, and I went on alert.  Looking at the source of the sound, I saw London slowly approaching me.  Dan, of course, didn’t like the new arrival because he did look awfully similar to the rogue.  He tried to scoot away even faster, yelling, “Are you deaf?  Get away from me.”

I just looked at him and whimpered, begging for him to somehow understand.  London lay beside me, and liked my snout a couple times.  My brother had just been attacked, was most likely going to become a werewolf at the next full moon, and we had been too slow to keep it from happening in the first place.

We lay there for a long time, watching Dan struggle with trying to stand.  I kept whimpering at him, and he just told me to go away.  But there was no way that I was going to leave my brother’s side.  Sure, we had our differences and several fights throughout the year, but he was going to need me after the sun rose.  He just didn’t know that just yet.

Then, London startled me by standing and running off into the woods.  I had no idea where he was going, and hadn’t heard or smelled anything unusual around us.  Hopefully he’ll return soon.