Dueling Moons: A Pat Wyatt Novel (The Pat Wyatt Series Book 2) (4 page)

Elliot laughed, opening the door for me. That was surprising, because I hadn’t taken him for the chivalrous type. Anyway, once inside, I looked around and thought the place seemed very nice. It had a counter with stools, and just booths (no tables) lining the walls on either side of us. The whole diner was shaped like a large rectangle, and even though it was crowded, I still liked it a lot.

However, as soon as that thought passed through my mind, I noticed that every eye in the place was on me. As we walked up to the counter to sit down, the stares never wavered. “Why is everyone glaring at me?” I asked Elliot, instinctively looking down at myself. After all, some people were dressed far worse than I was, and one guy didn’t even have a shirt on, but still they stared.

“That’s because you’re the only fleshy in the room,” he whispered to me, and my eyes widened. I was sitting here with the pack.
Holy Mary, mother of God, help me.
My hand went up to my mother’s crucifix as I prayed silently. If nothing else it was made of silver, and I had seen
first
-
hand
what a piece of silver could do to a werewolf. But to a whole pack of them? That’s what prayer was for.

“What can I do for ya?” the woman behind the counter asked. Her name tag said that she was called Angel, which suited her very well. Her face was definitely angelic. She had a small straight nose, a perfectly angular chin, and high cheekbones. Her hair was long, straight, and shinning black. She had eyes of pure honey, and her skin was this beautiful glowing copper color. She was a Native American beauty.

Elliot smiled at her, but it wasn’t friendly. “Angel baby, drop the attitude. She’s a friend.”

“She doesn’t have an attitude,” I said, sticking up for her. “She was being…nice.” The truth was, little Miss Angel had an attitude wider than the diner.

Her “What can I get for ya?” was dripping with disdain, not just for me, but for all “fleshies.”

She smiled, showing her mouth full of perfectly white teeth. “Yeah, I was being nice, Stag.”

He shook his head, smile never wavering. “No. You were being a bitch. She,” meaning me, “was bein’ nice. Now apologize to her.”

She looked at him like he was on fire, then her shoulders hunched and she muttered, “Sorry.”

“That’s more like it,” he said with his cocky smile. “Get us the usual.” She nodded, and went to fetch us our food. “Ladies and
gentle
-
wolves
,” Elliot bellowed, turning in his seat so he could face them. “This woman,” he pointed to me, “is Pat Wyatt.” I nodded at them sheepishly. “If anyone has a problem with her, they got a problem with me. Is that understood?” Everyone stared at me, but no one said a word. “Good,” Elliot said, but before he could turn around a large man asked, “Does she know what we are?” His voice was deep and southern. I considered it more of a growl than a voice.

Elliot shrugged, smiling at me as he turned around in his seat. “I don’t know,” he answered, back toward them, but his eyes on me. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

I turned so I could see everyone and gulped. “Yes,” I finally managed to say through my fear. “I know what you are…I mean, what you become. But I don’t hold that against you. I respect that you need to eat, and I respect that I’m the food.” They all laughed. “But I’ve known a creature far worse than all of you put together.”

“What is it?” Angel asked with a condescending smile on her face. She was all the way across the room, pouring the big werewolf that asked the first question a cup of coffee.

“I’m married to a vampire,” I said, and there was a collective intake of breath. “He lied to me in order to get me into his bed, and now…now, he has my sister, and he won’t let her go, unless I give into his demands.”

“And what are the demands?” a sweet southern woman asked from beside me.

“That I become his vampire bride,” I answered, and I almost laughed at the way that sounded. “To tell you the truth,” I said seriously, “I’d rather be eaten by a pack of werewolves than give into that man. On the other hand, he has my sister, so…I guess…I’m stuck.”

“Do you hate this vampire?” Angel asked.

“Hate is such a strong word.” I told her. “But yes, I do hate him. I hate him more than death himself. And there is nothing that would please me more than to drive a stake through his
non
-
existent
heart.”

“Well then,” Elliot said, looking at me, “any more questions?”

“Yeah,” Angel said, stalking up to me. “I got one more question for Ms. Pat Wyatt.”

I looked up into her eyes and swallowed. “Shoot.”

“How can we help?” Angel asked, giving me her best wink and a dark smile.

I couldn’t believe it. I had inadvertently allied myself with a werewolf pack, just by telling them that I hated my vampire husband. As a rule, I don’t usually say that I hate people. My mother always said that you shouldn’t hate anyone; you can hate inanimate objects, but you shouldn’t hate people. But Samuel really wasn’t a person. He was a dead man. And by saying that I hated him and wanted him dead, I had gotten the wolves on my side. Who knew that it was going to be so easy?

Certainly not me, that’s for sure.

chapter

FOUR

The pack and I had talked for hours about my time spent with Samuel, and the fact that he wanted to turn me into a vampire. But it wasn’t as if they were pumping me for information. Trust me; they had plenty to say in return. Each of them had their own story about turning into a werewolf.

The burly man (who had asked me the first question) was named Nathan. Maryanne, the skinny woman who sat next to me at the counter, had turned him into a wolf. She was made by a rouge werewolf trying to make a pack for himself, and for years she tried to find herself a friend, until one day she decided to make one instead. Nathan was a biker passing through when the full moon came. She found him stranded on the side of the road and thought that he looked like food. That is, until she got a closer look and realized that he was built like a wolf and bit him instead.

Nathan said it was the luckiest day of his life because he was just diagnosed with
stage
-
four
lung cancer and the doctors had given him less than six months to live. But after his transformation, the cancer had miraculously disappeared.

I smiled, laughed, frowned, and even cried at some of their stories, but the story that really got to me was Angel’s.

We were laughing as one of the male wolves told us that he had tripped and “accidentally” fell into a werewolf’s mouth when Angel banged on the counter, commanding everyone’s attention. “Okay,” she yelled with a smile on her face, “my turn.” We all
quieted down. She had that kind of effect on people. The woman seemed like the kind of person who would bite your head off if you didn’t give her your full attention.

She took a deep breath to compose herself before she began. “I was ten,” she said solemnly. “My parents and my sisters were killed in a
tornado
.” The way she said the word, I suspected that what happened to them was
not
a freak accident like a tornado. “I was the only one to survive because I was staying over at a friend’s house. We were having a sleep over. When I went home the next mornin’, I found my house turned upside down. I tried to go inside but the police stopped me before I could even try. My parents’ bodies were mauled beyond recognition, but my sisters only had broken necks. That’s why the police thought it was a twister.
Now
I know that it was a pack with a leader set on destruction. After that, they put me in foster care for the night, until my aunt from New Orleans came to pick me up. She told me that I was going to live with her, and I didn’t complain because she was my favorite,” she paused, her eyes becoming dark pools of sorrow.

“I was playing outside one night; it was the night of the full moon, and I remembered lookin’ up at it just as I heard a growl come from the darkness. A pup cornered me, but I fought him tooth and nail. I took the shovel by the fence and whacked him over the head. He whimpered and ran off. That’s when I tried to run into the house, but before I could even take two steps, I was surrounded by the rest of the pack. The last thing I remember was one of them lunging at me. When I woke up the next day, I wasn’t feelin’ any pain, but as I looked down at my stomach, I saw these…” She lifted her white
t
-
shirt
revealing long, jagged scars on her stomach. “And these…” She pulled her collar down showing us the bite marks along her collarbone, and then she turned around, letting us see her scarred bronze back. The bite marks and claw marks ran along her spine, becoming one continuous mess of tissue at the back of her rib cage. It looked as though they had tried to kill her, but turned her instead.

She put her shirt down, tucking it in her pants. “The next full moon, I joined that pack. Then a year later, I learned that they just wanted me because they killed my family and thought that by recruiting me they’d gain an ally, not an enemy. They were wrong. I joined this pack as soon as I was able, and on the next full moon, we killed every last one of them.” She smiled. “It was the best night of my life.”

I don’t know what compelled me to get up, but I did, walking over to her and giving her the biggest of hugs.

She laughed, pulling away from me. “What was that for?”

“I can’t imagine what I would do if I lost my family like that. I lost my mother almost four years ago, and I still can’t talk about her without getting choked up. But I’m glad that you did what you did. You may never get peace, but at least those sons of bitches will never hurt another little girl again.”

Her tough veneer cracked, and her eyes started to glisten with fresh tears. “How can you be so nice to killers like us?”

I shrugged and said, “Because I have no common sense.”

She laughed, blinking so the tears would disappear. “You can come in here anytime, fleshy girl,” she said, patting my shoulder. Then she put on her apron and went back to work.

It was around
three
-
thirty
by the time we decided to leave. I had promised Nathan that I would play poker with him and told Maryanne she could show me the sights so I could finally go home, not that it wasn’t a pleasure meeting all of them. I was just so tired.

When we got into Elliot’s car, my eyes were starting to get heavy, even though I had to hold on for dear life as he drove back to my apartment.

He was quiet for about ten seconds before he started laughing and reminiscing about how well they all took to me. I was still just trying to keep my eyes open when he said, “You’re like this juicy bone.” I looked at him sideways, and he laughed. “Bad analogy?”

I rolled my eyes. “You think?” Then I sighed, yawning to keep awake. “So why do they call you Stag?”

“Uh…” he paused, lightly banging his hands on the steering wheel. I could see the wheels in his head turning. Wood was definitely burning in that skull of his. “I’m a bit of a…um…ladies man.”

I laughed. “Why does that not surprise me?”

“It usually doesn’t,” he said. “Surprise other women, I mean.”

“So you’re the Alpha, right?” I don’t know what made me ask, but as soon as it was out of my mouth, I wished I hadn’t said it.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m the Alpha, Patty.”

“Pat,” I corrected.

He smiled, glancing at me sideways. “Sorry, Pat. You’re really pretty.”

Where did that come from?
“Thanks.”

“Would you…?” he paused, taking a deep breath, “I don’t know…go out with me sometime?”

Oh, shit.
“Elliot.”

“Stag,” he corrected me with a smile.

“Stag. I’m married.”

“Right,” he breathed. “I forgot about that.”

“Besides,” I said without thinking, “I don’t think that Mike would like us going out.”

“But I thought you said you guys were just friends?”

“We are,” I answered, my sense catching up with me. “He’s just very protective of me.”

We pulled up to the front of the tan apartment building, and he unlocked the doors. Then he turned in his seat, facing me. “Can we be friends?”

“Is that even possible with you?” I asked.

He nodded vigorously. “I can do friends. I won’t like it, but I can try.”

“Do you really mean that?” I couldn’t tell whether he was saying it to say it or if he actually meant it.

“Yeah,” he said with a
half
-
smile
. “I really do.”

I thought about it for a minute. After all, did I really want to be friends with a misogynistic werewolf? “Okay,” I conceded. “Friends.” I took his hand and shook it.

He stared into my eyes intensely. “Yeah, friends.”

“So,” I said, changing the subject, “are you going to help Mike find a job?”

He nodded, dropping my hand. “Yes, ma’am, I sure am. I have a law firm that he might like.”

“A wolf firm?” I was joking, but when he nodded, I blanched. “Oh, well that’s…”
Careful
. “Wonderful. Thank you for that, and for taking me out today.”

“No problem,” he said with a bright smile, “anytime.” He leaned closer to me, and I turned away from him to unbuckle myself.

“Well,” I said, not looking at him, “
good
-
bye
.” Just as I was about to open the door, he turned me around, took my face in his hands and kissed me. The insane thing was that I kissed back.

Honestly, no one was more shocked than I was, but I quickly regained my senses and pushed him away. “Friends,” I reminded him.

He nodded, staring at me with his eyelids at
half
-
mast
. “Right…friends. Bye.”

“Yeah, bye.” I put my hand on the door handle, and for the life of me, I couldn’t get the damn thing open. Elliot leaned over and helped me. When he pulled back, we were so close that I could feel his breath on my face. “Okay, bye,” I said for the third time. Finally, I slid out of the car and made my way through the glass doors of the apartment building.

I was tempted to see if we had mail, but decided that stalling would not be a good idea. So I took my keys out, fumbling with them as I tried to open the inner door to the apartment building. When I finally got it open, I turned just in time to see Elliot drive away. He smiled and waved, while I nodded.

As I opened the door to my apartment, the first thing I saw was Mike sitting on the couch, face set in anger. He had changed out of his wet clothes, and was sitting with his arms folded over his favorite ratty gray
t
-
shirt
, staring down at his
paint
-
ridden
jeans.

“Did you have fun with Stag?” he asked, not looking up at me. His voice was a low growl, and I knew that if he looked up his eyes would have been a bright yellow color (something that happens to werewolves when they’re angry).

“It was okay,” I said with a shrug, setting my purse down on my computer chair. I didn’t want to get too close to him. When it comes to supernatural beings, it’s better to air on the side of caution.

“What did you two do?” he asked, sounding like Samuel. I was half expecting him to say something like, “You are mine, and you will tell me what happened.” But he didn’t. He just sat there being angry with me.

“Well, we went to a diner.” I explained, leaving out which diner we had gone to. “And then we went back to his place,” I lied, and I could see the vein protruding out of his neck. “Let me tell you that he sure knows how to please a woman.”

He glared up at me, eyes yellow and face red with fury. “You two had…”

“Sex!” I supplied. “I wouldn’t call it that. It was more along the lines of carnal animal passion.” I know it was mean, teasing him like that, but he really hurt my feelings earlier with that comment. Besides, I couldn’t help it. I guess being cautious really wasn’t the side I was on after all.

Mike inhaled deeply, and his eyes turned their normal shade of green. An amazing effect if you ask
me
—
stunning
and creepy. “You would do that to me?” he asked, his lips set in a tight line.

“No,” I yelled. He was being an idiot. “But for you to think that I would do something like that to you tells me that you don’t trust me, and to say what you said earlier…” I paused, trying to keep myself calm. It wasn’t working. “Tells me that you’re ashamed of me.”

He dropped his arms and his face softened. “That’s not true, bébé. I love you. I could
never
be ashamed of you.” He stood up, walking over to where I was, and placed his hands around my elbows. “Listen, I’m sorry for what I said. But I was just tryin’ to protect you.”

I pulled away from him. “From what? The pack? Well,” I huffed, “you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“What are you talkin’ about?” he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“Stag took me to Big Bears.” I explained as I placed my hands on his chest. “We all hit it off almost immediately. They like me because I can’t stand Samuel, and they basically said that any enemy of a vampire was a friend of theirs. Besides, that Angel girl said that I could come back anytime, so I took that as a
thumbs
-
up
from all of them.”

He looked shocked to the very core. “I’ll be damned. How did you manage that?”

“Like I said I can’t stand
Sam
—”

“No,” he interrupted. “I mean, how did you become friends with Angel?”

I sighed. “We have something in common.”

“And what might that be?”

“Loss,” I said, looking into his eyes, and he seemed to understand.

He lifted my chin, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “For the record,” he whispered in my ear, “I knew you were lyin’ when you said you had sex with Stag.”

“How?” I asked skeptically.

“When you lie your voice gets husky.” He told me, and I smiled up at him.

“You mean,” I made it like that on purpose, “like this?”

He gulped. “Exactly.”

I leaned into him, scarping my nails along his beautiful upper body. “Tell me if you want me to stop,” I said, as I pulled up his shirt, kissing his chest.

I looked up in time to see his head go back. “Good God, no,” he rasped, and I knew that he was completely turned on.

Taking his hand in mine, I kissed his open palm. Then I let it go and undid his jeans. His breathing became sharp and ragged but when I finally reached a certain area, his breathing stopped altogether.

I leaned up, kissing him, and as we did so, I kept my hand where it was. However, his hands were pressing me closer. He lifted my shirt, and I raised my arms so he could take it off. Then he tugged at the elastic waist of my sweats, and when he leaned in to kiss me again, suddenly everything changed. He became very forceful, and he bit my lip, almost making it bleed.

Pulling away from him, I took off my pants while he took off his shirt and jeans. Then he pushed me up against the wall, and he pushed so hard that I grimaced as pain shot through my back.

Once I was good and pinned, he started to kiss me everywhere. First, he kissed my neck, then between my breasts and before long, he was kissing me all the way down my body. He stopped before he had gotten to the good stuff. Then he stood up and ran into the bedroom, coming back out with protection.