Harvest Moon (19 page)

Maybe it was her loneliness that allowed him to slide
his fingers under her chin and lift her face to meet his. Maybe it was her need
to be touched that stayed her hand as Gavin’s lips moved closer to hers. Above
everything else, it was the whiskey that coursed through her veins that
prevented her from moving away as he kissed her, softly at first, but then with
more passion.

“Gavin, I...” she tried to say, but his strong hands
found her arms as he kissed her deeper. His kisses were softer than Jase’s, and
they lacked the deep, heated passion of the man she longed for. His large hands
were rough, but the connection wasn’t there, and Dawn felt like she was along
for the ride rather than actually craving his touch.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said between shallow kisses.
“I love staring into those beautiful green eyes of yours.”

His words were meant as a compliment, but it only made
Dawn think of Jase. He’d been able to see past her little trick, and so easily
too, but Gavin was taken in by it.

“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Dawn said as she tried to pull
away, but Gavin’s hands found hers and held her tightly. In her heart, she knew
she didn’t want him, but the whiskey dulled her senses and her need to be held
made her blind. It wasn’t Gavin she wanted, but as his kisses moved down her
neck, her protests slowed to a trickle.

Without asking him to, Gavin pulled off the t-shirt he
wore, revealing his hard, muscular chest. He was big, so big, and yet his
muscles did nothing for her. As he kissed her again, Dawn let her eyes close,
and it wasn’t Gavin whose lips were on hers, but Jase’s.

With that image in her mind, Dawn let her fingers
trail up Gavin’s huge, muscular arms. Under her lips, she felt him purr with
excitement and she deafened herself to him. Maybe if she kept her eyes closed,
she could pretend it was Jase. That way, they could have one last night
together before she left Goosemont forever.

Her fingers trailed further up his arms, holding him
tighter while his kisses grew in excitement. Dawn forced herself to turn off
her senses, to let the alcohol and her imagination do the work, but when her
fingers trailed along a scar on Gavin’s right shoulder, she found herself
pausing.

The raised skin was hot under her touch. Even without
looking at it, she knew it was a big, angry looking scar, pink and still fresh.
Without thinking, she let her fingers trail along it, examining it.

It almost feels like a gunshot wound,
her mind
mused as her fingertips stroked the scar.

That was when it hit her. It was from a bullet wound,
and it was recent.

Dawn’s realization was enough to bring her back to
reality. In an instant, she pushed herself back from Gavin and retreated across
the couch.

In the light, she could see the scar that her fingers
had found a moment earlier. Her assumptions had been correct: it was deep,
ugly, and pink as it bubbled up along the muscle of his shoulder and moved with
him as he reached out for her. Even worse, it looked fresh. Very fresh.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his eyes soft and sweet.

“I just…” She fumbled for the right words. “I just… I
can’t do this right now,” she managed to stutter. “I’m really sorry, Gavin.
You’re so sweet, but I just can’t.”

“Can’t you try?” he pleaded with her, the sweetness in
his voice turning almost sickly.

All Dawn could do to answer was shake her head, but
her eyes were still on that ugly pink scar.

“I thought you said you hurt your shoulder chopping
wood,” Dawn said as she pushed herself back a little further.

As the words fell from her lips, Dawn noticed a change
in Gavin. It was no more than a subtle shadow passing over his face, but it was
enough to send the panic in her belly spinning. Worse yet, his deep brown eyes
looked different. Suddenly she was noticing flecks of gold in them that she had
never seen before.

“What, this?” he asked as he pointed at the scar. All
the sweet sadness was gone from his voice as he spoke. Instead there was a
confidence there, a confidence that had saturated even his words.

“Yeah, the scar,” she said as she kept her eyes locked
on his, afraid that if she turned her back to him, he would pounce on her.

“Oh, yeah, a piece of wood flew up and sliced me
pretty good,” he said, never faltering. “And when it hit, I wrenched my
shoulder pretty bad. It looks worse than it is, though.”

All the warmth that had been there only a moment ago
had disappeared from his voice. The golden flecks in his eyes were only growing
larger and colder as he stared into her eyes, and his smile no longer looked
sweet and naïve, but hungry, needy even.

“Oh, that must have hurt,” Dawn said as she moved to
stand from the couch.

“Is it that ugly?” Gavin asked as he put a hand on her
knee, stopping her from standing. “It’s just a scar.”

Dawn had no trouble with scars. If she could have, she
would have traced every faded white line that crossed over Jase’s body. But
this was different. She knew what had been the cause of Gavin’s scar. Excuse or
not, it was no piece of wood that had torn through Gavin’s shoulder, but rather
a bullet from the gun Jase had fired at him the night he’d first tried to
attack her.

She knew she had to act fast. The sudden realization
of what that scar meant had paralyzed her, but not for long. Even with the
whiskey still slowing her down, Dawn’s mind was racing, yet her face remained a
stony mask as she faced the monster who sat on her couch.

“It’s not that bad,” she said, forcing herself to
smile. “I just think, before we do anything crazy, I should go double check
that Jim is okay down at the bar.”

“Why not just call him?” Gavin asked as he nodded
toward her phone.

“Oh,” she said as she moved toward the door. The
suitcase she had almost finished packing was on the other side of the couch,
but Gavin now sat between her and it. Her last bit of emergency cash was there,
and her clothes, but none of it was worth finding out what kind of animal Gavin
might become.

“He’s pretty deaf,” she blurted out. “He never hears
it, and it’s not a far walk. I should get over there before it gets dark.
You’re welcome to stay, though.”

It would be best if he stayed put. That way she would
know where he was and she could take off and he would still be waiting there.
The sun was starting to set and that meant she was in a world of trouble if she
didn’t get out that door as soon as possible.

She wasn’t fast enough, though, and before she knew
it, Gavin was standing behind her and pulling her hair off her face. Gently, he
turned her toward him, and the last of his sweet, innocent look was gone. In
its place was the Gavin she’d seen that night at the bar, the night where
Courtney was in his lap and he was the ultimate charmer.

“Come on,” he said as his hands found the curve of her
butt and pulled her closer to him. “I’m sure the old man is fine. How about you
and I have a little fun?”

Dawn knew if she flinched, the jig would be up and she
would be revealed. Even as another thought crossed her mind, an uglier,
horrifying thought, she couldn’t react. But she quickly realized that if Gavin
was the monster that Jase had gone hunting, and now Gavin was alive and well in
her living room, which meant that Jase might be just another one of his
victims.

Even as that idea crossed over her mind, she couldn’t
show it. “I’ll be right back,” she promised him as his lips brushed against her
cheek. Only a moment earlier, his kisses hadn’t been what she has wanted, but
they hadn’t revolted her. Now they made her skin crawl, and she had to stand
there and take it.

“The timing is perfect,” he said before his lips found
hers again. “You and I could have the most amazing night together.”

As he kissed her, pawed at her even, Dawn’s eyes raced
around the room. She knew she’d never make it out the door. Gavin was twice her
size, fast, and most likely a beast. She’d never be able to outrun him or overpower
him, but she was on her own. Her only hope was to outsmart him.

“You’re right,” she purred at him, shifting gears.
Gavin wasn’t the only one who could play a part when it was needed. “And I have
been so alone without Courtney.”

“I can help with that,” he said as he pulled her
closer, his body so hot that it almost burned her.

“I hope so,” she said as she nipped at his lip. “But
first, I could really use that drink. It’s been so long since I’ve done
anything like this; I need a little liquid courage. Want some?”

“I’m good,” he said as he eyed her, but Dawn kept her
mask strong. She’d gone from stoic to seductive, and she wouldn’t be beat so
easily. She’d faced worse than him, werewolf or not, and she had fought too
long to go out with nothing but a whimper.

“Just me, then.” She pouted at him. “Can’t I convince
you?”

“I’m good,” he said as he narrowed his eyes at her,
studying her, but she knew there was nothing he would find.

When he was satisfied with his inspection, he released
her, though she felt his eyes on her back while she strut into the kitchen. She
was careful not to overdo it; too much and he would be suspicious, too little
might be worse. She walked a very fine line as she moved into the kitchen and
took a glass out of the cupboard before she grabbed the whiskey.

Dawn worked slowly. She needed him close if her plan
was going to work. He needed to be impatient and come up behind her, within
arms’ reach, or she’d never catch him. He might be bigger than her, stronger
too, but if for only a second she was faster than him, she might just win.

It was when she heard his feet behind her that she
knew her plan was working. Slowly, she poured her glass and she listened, her
ears tuned on each of his footsteps and she waited until she could feel the
heat of his body on her back.

Like lightning, she struck. In one sharp move, she
smashed the bottle on the counter, breaking the body and leaving the jagged
remains of the neck in her hand. Broken glass scattered at her bare feet, but
she didn’t care if she stepped on them. With the broken bottle in her hand, she
spun and lunged at Gavin, her own teeth bared like a wild animal.

Dawn was quick, but Gavin was faster, and he caught
her wrist and squeezed so hard she dropped her makeshift weapon with a yelp.
The bones in her arm ached, and she swore they were about to break, but just as
they felt about ready to snap, Gavin easily tossed her backwards onto the couch
and laughed.

“Idiot,” he laughed at her. “Did you really think that
would work?”

Terror rippled over her skin as she clawed her way
backwards on the couch, but all that left her mouth was indignance. “Yeah,” she
spat at him. “I thought it would.”

“Stupid girl,” he laughed, but something about the
sound wasn’t quite right, wasn’t quite human. Outside her kitchen window, Dawn
could see the sun as it set, the last orange rays of the fall day lowering and
leaving only the night behind. “You know,” he growled at her, “we could have
made this so easy.”

“And how’s that?” she hissed at him.

“I would have made it painless, mostly,” he said. “I
could have given you the best night of your life before I ripped your throat
out. None of the other girls seemed to mind too much, at least. They all went
so willingly into my bed, though it didn’t take much. A little charm, a smile,
it was easy. You, though, you’ve been a bit of a challenge. First I played the
charmer, then the soulful loser. In the end, it was the naïve idiot approach
that wore you down.”

“Fuck you,” Dawn hissed at him as he moved closer to
her.

“You missed that chance,” Gavin snickered. “Although,
I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to a little fun now. Your friend Courtney didn’t seem to
mind much, until I bared my teeth, of course. Too bad I never got to finish
that meal.”

Dawn felt like she’d been punched in the stomach.
“What?”

“Your FBI buddy. He got so close, yet still failed. I
had to leave my dinner when he came sniffing around, and when I finally got my
chance to finish up, some buzzards must have gotten to her. No matter, she was
a mistake, anyway. Being seen with her was a rookie mistake, but I was so
hungry.” As he spoke, Dawn could have sworn that he was starting to drool.

“Do you know how hard it is for someone like me to
keep a low profile?” he asked her, though he wasn’t exactly looking for an
answer. “Some bitch turns up dead in the same city you’re in, well, people
start to wonder if it’s someone on the team. Even the worst of cops can follow
a trail when someone famous might be involved. I got out of the game before I
got caught, you see. Figured settling in some bumfuck nowhere mountain town
would be best. Hikers get lost in the woods all the time, and no one would know
who I was. It was perfect, but then I got greedy.

“But I just need to space out my meals,” he laughed.
“Besides, you’re just some drifter bitch. No one will give a shit after you’re
gone. And I am so very hungry. It’s been weeks since I last ate, and you’re
going to make quite the meal.”

As he spoke, the last of the sun dipped below the
mountains. In the yellow light of her lamp, Dawn’s eyes went wide as Gavin’s
teeth began to change in his mouth. No longer perfect rows of white squares,
they grew long, sharp, and deadly as he stepped closer to her.

“Now, let’s get to the fun part,” he said as his skin
shuddered.

Dawn watched as Gavin grew larger and fur burst forth
from his skin. The gold flecks had transformed his eyes into amber globes, and
where his fingers had been were now long, sharp claws.

She wanted to scream, but all she could hear were the
low rumblings of Gavin’s growls.

Dawn had never felt so powerless, so paralyzed as she
watched Gavin’s body bend, his bones crack, and his flesh transform. He was a
monster inside and out, and she was trapped in the house where she had once
felt so safe.

She didn’t want to give up, but she was out of
options. There was nowhere to run, no way to fight, and as his glowing yellow
eyes met hers, he dropped to all fours.

Just as he moved to attack, something loud exploded to
her right. In all her shock and disbelief, Dawn couldn’t even be sure she’d
really heard anything, but when the monster that Gavin had become turned his
focus away from her, she knew it hadn’t been just a dream.

Somehow, Dawn forced herself to look in the direction
that Gavin was now snarling. She saw her own door kicked in, the lock now
broken and useless, and in the doorway stood Jase.

He was different. He was a shadow of the man who had
kissed her goodbye in the alley behind Jim’s bar. Even in a heavy flannel and down
jacket, she could see he’d lost weight. The hollows of his cheeks were only
barely hidden by the beard that grew along them, and he was covered in dirt.

But his green eyes still burned, and most of all, he
was there.

“Dawn!” she heard him yell, and it was like music to
her ears. “Get down!”

Her paralysis still held her like a ghoul, but somehow
she broke free and forced herself down on the floor. A shot rang out, and for a
brief second, Dawn prayed that it was all over, but she wouldn’t be that lucky.
When she looked up, she saw the gun in Jase’s hand, but Gavin was still
snarling, and she could only watch as the hulking beast sprang forward and
knocked Jase across the room.

Dawn had always pictured werewolves as just that,
wolves, but now she realized that wasn’t exactly true. Gavin’s face had the
features of a wolf, but his golden eyes looked human, and the snout he’d grown
was somehow wider, larger, and held bigger teeth.

If he had just become a wolf, Jase might have easily
been able to overpower him, but that wasn’t the case. Though clawed and covered
in fur, Gavin didn’t have paws, but instead large, muscular hands that easily
knocked Jase backwards once more.

Even worse, Gavin didn’t charge on all fours, but on
powerful back legs that left his hands free to claw at Jase as he avoided the
monster’s next attack.

Jase wasn’t totally outmatched, though. He might have
been smaller than and not nearly as strong as Gavin, but he was smart and
fought dirty, As Gavin moved to attack, Jase’s fingers dove toward his eyes and
sent the monster howling with pain.

It only served to distract Gavin for a second, for he
was on Jase again, knocking him to the floor and pinning him down. Jase managed
to catch Gavin by the neck and hold back his snapping jaws, but from across the
room, Dawn could see his arms shaking from the strain.

She didn’t know what she could do, what she should do,
but she forced her eyes to sweep across the room until she spotted the
discarded neck of the bottle she’d tried to use to defend herself.

Gavin was too busy trying to catch Jase with his teeth
to notice as she scrambled on hands and knees across the kitchen floor. He was
too focused on Jase to see her roll the broken bottle neck toward them, praying
that Jase would see it.

Mercifully, he did. In one quick move, Jase grabbed
for the weapon, and with an arcing sweep of his arm, he slashed at Gavin’s face
and sent the monster stumbling backwards.

“You bastard,” Gavin growled from behind a clawed
hand, his voice hollow, deep, and horrifying.

When he moved what had become of his hand from his
face, she saw the reason for his unbridled rage. Jase hadn’t just cut him, but
slashed him deeply with the bottle. Thick, oozing red blood spilled from the
deep slashes, and flaps of skin hung from his snout as he snapped and snarled.

Though the wound was deep, it only slowed Gavin down
for a second. Even with blood pouring, he was on the attack again, and Jase
only had the bottle to defend himself.

Gavin clawed while Jase slashed, and the two seemed
hell-bent on destroying Dawn’s house as they fought. It was nothing like Dawn
had ever seen before, nothing like the wrestling matches she’d watched as a
kid. One of them wouldn’t survive this fight, and Dawn’s fate was in the hands
of the winner.

Part of her wanted to run for the door, to escape and
take off, just like she always had. Something inside her pleaded with her to
dive out the door and run into the dark night.

But she couldn’t. She couldn’t leave Jase to the
monster.

No more running
, a voice in her said, this one
louder than all the others. She forced herself to look for something to help,
and that was when she saw it: a tiny glint of silver sparked in the lamplight.

Jase’s gun.

There was no more thinking, only instinct as Dawn dove
for the weapon. She landed hard on her shoulder and pain exploded behind her
eyes, but she blocked it out as she picked up the gun. It was still warm from
the first shot Jase had fired, and she fumbled with it. She’d never fired a
pistol, but it was time for her to start.

As she picked up the gun, her eyes met with Jase’s. He
looked like he was about to say something, but the words never came as Gavin
sprang at him.

His teeth only missed Jase’s face by an inch at most,
but he knocked Jase against the wall and pinned him there. In the chaos, Gavin
had lost sight of Dawn, and in that lucky stroke, she knew the advantage was
hers.

“In the heart!” Jase screamed as he held back his
attacker. “Shoot him in the heart!”

As she raised the pistol, somehow the chaos that
surrounded her went deathly quiet. It had been years since she’d fired a gun,
but somehow it all came back to her.

Just breathe
, her father’s voice whispered in
her ear.
You can do this. Just breathe
.

The world moved slower and slower as Dawn raised the
gun. Only the sounds of her own breathing echoed in her ears as she aimed. From
her vantage point, she had a clear shot at Gavin’s right side, and as he used
his powerful arms to lift Jase’s feet off the floor, she knew she had her shot.

With his arms raised, the sides of his ribs were left
completely exposed. He was so focused on his prey that the gun pointed at him
had no value, no notice at all, and Dawn had ceased to exist.

“Just breathe,” Dawn said aloud as her finger gently
squeezed the trigger.

All the sound in the room came back to her as the gun
came to life in her hands. The explosion rang in her ears, Gavin’s snarling
filled her house, and Jase’s screaming all came back in a horrible cacophony
all at once.

But as the gun fired, a new sound came alive. A
horrible, wailing howl erupted from Gavin’s horribly fanged mouth as his
monstrous hands released Jase, who fell hard to the floor.

The howl never stopped, only changed and grew worse
and worse as Gavin wrapped his arms around his monstrous body. For a second,
Dawn thought she’d missed, that she’d only grazed him, but then she saw the
blood as it poured from the wound she’d inflicted on him.

Stumbling backwards, Gavin’s body began to change
again. He grew smaller and his fur melted away as he dropped to his knees. Only
as he fell did his eyes meet Dawn’s, but she didn’t see the remorse she
expected there, only disbelief as he coughed and choked on thick, black blood.

With a hard twitch of his body, Gavin collapsed. His
chest rose and fell one last time as Dawn looked on, and with one more weak
spasm, he stilled.

“He’s... he’s dead, right?” she finally whispered
while she kept the gun pointed at Gavin’s body.

“Yes,” Jase said as he leaned back on the wall of her
house. “Now, where did you learn to shoot like that?”

“My dad,” Dawn said as she dropped the gun. “My real
dad, he taught me.”

“He did a damn good job,” Jase said. “Thanks for
saving my ass.”

All at once, the realization of what had just happened
crashed over Dawn and her whole body began to tremble. Without thinking, she
ran to Jase, finding him beaten and bloodied.

“Oh my God!” she screamed. “Were you bit? Tell me he
didn’t bite you!”

Even though he was covered in blood—both his own and
Gavin’s—Dawn didn’t care. She put her fingers to his face and looked for what
might be bites. She wanted to know if he was okay. She needed to know he was
okay.

“I’m fine” he assured her as he took her hands in his.
“He didn’t bite me.”

“How do you know?” she asked, her eyes still searching
him as he held her hands.

“They sting like hell,” he said. “When... when Addy
was bitten, she kept going on about how much the bites stung her.”

“Wait,” Dawn said as she pulled back from him. “What
do you mean? I thought you said the werewolf killed her.”

“It did,” he said, but then he looked away from her.
“But... not directly. The bitch got the drop on us, but she didn’t get the
kill, not really. She only managed to bite Addy’s arm. We hoped that maybe
there was something we could do, but the stinging set in almost immediately.
After a couple days, we knew she was changing. Dawn... I’m the one who killed
her.”

“What?” Dawn breathed. “You didn’t...”

“I had to,” he said, still refusing to look at her.
“She begged me to. She didn’t want to become the thing we hunted. She didn’t
want to hurt people. The full moon was only days away, and she didn’t want to
be a monster. So... I shot her and buried her body down by an old church. I
figured she’d like that bit.”

“Oh, Jase,” Dawn said. He looked so ashamed, but she
could only feel sympathy in her heart. Gently, she let her fingers move to his
face again, but this time not to look for scrapes or scratches. There, on the
floor, she kissed him. She was tender with him, careful not to make his wounds
worse, and she let herself begin to believe that he had really come back to
her.

“Jennifer,” she whispered to him as her lips left his.
“My real name is Jennifer.”

“Why are you...?” Jase asked as his eyes examined
hers.

“Because I want to trust you,” she said as she kissed
him once more. “And I want you to trust me, too. I don’t think I’m ready to
tell you everything. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to tell anyone
everything. But I want to try.”

“I think it’s a good place to start,” Jase said as he
wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.