Luna Junction 1 Feasts with Wolves (W) (5 page)

I shoved Cade aside and rolled onto
the ground, trying to muster some small dignity as I rose to my
full and imposing five feet three inches (in boot heels). I tried
to keep my voice level. “I’d appreciate a ride back to Phoenix now,
please.” I was grasping at a sudden, brilliant idea. Perhaps I
could fool them into thinking I hadn’t seen anything or even better
that I thought it was all a big joke. “That was an awesome trick
Matt. And thanks for inviting me. But I’m really not liking this
freezing weather. So if it’s really no trouble-”

Cade was shaking his head.
He stood up straight and took a step closer to where I shivered
from cold and terror. In spite of the fact that they were all some
sort of legendary creature things (
werewolves
, my mind furtively
whispered) he still looked damn fine standing there half naked as
the first flakes of snow dropped onto his bare shoulders. “I’m
afraid the storm will make the roads out of Luna Junction
difficult, Tatum. You’ll be staying here until I say otherwise.” He
motioned to Claire. “Bring Tatum back to the house. She needs some
rest. I’ll answer her questions later.” And with that Cade Landon
dismissed me and wandered off to shovel some smoke pits.

Claire firmly took my elbow, ignoring
my flimsy protests. Finally I allowed her to propel me back to the
house. Just before she closed the front door behind us I kicked my
boot into the opening and flung it wide, shouting. “And what the
FUCK kind of steak was it you fed me today?”

Claire’s pretty rosebud lips were
pursed as she evaded my peppery onslaught of questions.

“
What are they?”

“
Is it like a disease? Is
it contagious?”

“
You’re one of them,
right?”

“
Wait, am I
dead???”

She smiled at that last one. “No,
you’re not dead. But Cade made it pretty clear he doesn’t want me
talking to you about it.” She rolled back the bed quilt and patted
the smooth sheet, indicating I ought to lie down on it.

“
I’m not tired.” Even as I
said it my mouth cracked into a wide yawn. My body sure had a
strange way of reacting to extreme terror.

Claire was gazing at me with such
sisterly concern it was difficult to feel alarm, despite recent
confessions. “Just trust me. Take a rest and you’ll feel better
later. I’m sure Cade will explain everything.”

The cozy little bed did look awfully
inviting. I was suddenly real keen on the prospect of closing my
eyes for a few hours and unseeing the traumatic vision of Matthew
Landon’s horror movie transmogrification. There surely must be some
explanation. I comforted myself with images of Cade’s muscled chest
as my mind drifted hazily toward sleep. Just before Dream Cade
began unzipping his delightfully tight jeans, I felt Claire kiss me
lightly on the forehead and sigh.

Chapter 6

The howl was primeval. I pulled the
blanket over my head and hazily figured Julia From New York had
acquired one of her boisterous one night entertainments and had
brought him home to our room. A second howl sounded and a dim part
of my consciousness recalled being a little girl curled around a
flashlight and large book filled with impossible stories of magic
and princesses, of witches and werewolves.

WEREWOLVES!

My body jackknifed upright and I was
gasping, now fully awake. The blue and cream décor of the guest
bedroom were muted in the silvery glow of the rising moon. I knew
where I was.

There was no sign of Claire. Or anyone
else. The distant howls receded further and I uneasily assured
myself they were only coyotes. Though I had heard enough real
coyote yips in my life to contradict my delusion.

As I gingerly rose from the bed, I
realized my pants were undone. Blushing, I recalled the context of
my dreams and guessed my own hands were guided by unconscious lust.
Cade Landon’s dark smirk flashed before my eyes and a wave of moist
warmth rolled between my legs.

Someone had placed a lush robe over my
sleeping form and I gratefully picked up the warm garment. I pushed
my jeans down guiltily, as if they had somehow been responsible for
my dreamy transgressions with Landon Senior. I also removed my
shirt but left my bra as I covered my cold skin with the robe. The
room was so cold I could see the fog of my own breath.

Though it was dark outside a strange
light emanated from the room’s only window. I peered beyond the
eyelet curtain and saw a blanket of untouched white stretching in
all directions. At least several inches of snow had fallen as I
slept. The moonlight bounced off the snow and rendered the world
surrounding the Landon home achingly beautiful.

Cade Landon was correct about one
thing. I wouldn’t be going anywhere soon. As I was about to turn
away from the window a pair of dark shapes galloped across the
fresh snow and disappeared into the dark shadows of the woods. I
backed away shakily and pulled the robe tighter for comfort. I
remembered Cade’s earlier promise. It was time to find him and
collect.

The hallway outside the bedroom was
dark but I was drawn by the feel of heat and the faint glow of
fire. Cade was seated in the large living room as if he were
awaiting me. A comfortable fire roared in the stone hearth and I
moved closer to it, holding out my icy fingers. “I thought you
didn’t get cold.”

“
Not easily. But I still
make some attempt to see to the comfort of guests in my
home.”

It was impossible not to stare at him.
He wore an open flannel shirt and the broad lines of his chest
beckoned. His posture was lazy but he watched me intently behind
tented fingers.

I swallowed thickly. “You said you’d
answer questions.”

“
So ask some.”

I crossed my arms in front of my
chest, feeling the robe did little to clothe me when confronted by
the scrutiny of Cade’s dark gaze. “You’re all
werewolves?”

“
Yes.”

I searched my memory for knowledge of
all things werewolf. The list was remarkably short. “Did someone,
you know, bite you or something?”

He shook his head, smiling faintly.
“Lycanthropy is genetic. My father was a werewolf as am I and my
three boys.”

“
That’s not how Hollywood
tells it.”

“
Well, no one from
Hollywood asked a real werewolf.” He paused, choosing his words
carefully. “It’s possible. To turn a healthy human with one bite
under a full moon. But it’s forbidden in our communities. The
results are…unpredictable.”

I tried to allow this information to
penetrate. It was proving to be a trying process. “And your wife?
She was one too? And Claire? All of Luna Junction?”

I jumped when Cade suddenly stood. He
moved to a dark corner of the room and I heard the clink of
glassware. He tossed back a shot of dark liquid and then turned to
face me. “Interrupt me if I’m not making any sense. I’ve never had
to explain all this to an outsider. There are five werewolf
families of Luna Junction. Besides the Landons there is Claire’s
family, the Casteels. My deceased wife was a Hoffman. The Bellinis
are the most numerous and the Ivanovs are a wild bunch who carve
out an existence deep in the woods.” He gave me an appraising
glance as I settled on the edge of an overstuffed chair. “We are a
very private community and don’t often welcome outsiders. We do
what we have to and won’t hesitate to dispense justice among our
own kind.” His face darkened as he stared deep into the dancing
flames and he seemed to be speaking to himself. “Though the hunters
still believe we need to be controlled.”

I recalled Claire’s strange comment
about the hunters who had been responsible for Anna Landon’s death.
I wanted to ask him more, but understood the pain of the topic. His
face had collapsed into bewildered hurt as he pondered the
tragedies he saw in the fire. I felt the strong urge to caress his
distressed brow and nestle his head between the soft pillows of my
breasts…and then…

I cleared my throat and gripped the
edges of the chair. I was really some piece of work. Here I was in
the dark talking to a guy about his dead wife and all I could think
about was the rasp of his hot tongue over my nipples. So I did what
any reasonable person would do. I changed the subject. “Do you eat
people?”

His eyes were amused. “Not me,
personally. Though I can’t vouch for everyone, I’ve always found
human flesh to quite stringy with a garlicky aftertaste.” The look
on my face much have been something to behold because Cade laughed
outright. “Damn, Tatum. I’m only teasing. No, no wolf in Luna
Junction indulges in a taste for fair young maidens so your flesh
is quite safe here.” When he’d finished his moment of mirth, he
grew serious again. “My mother was human.”

The information surprised me. “Oh, so
it’s possible for a werewolf and a human to, um…” My voice trailed
off. I could think it, I could dream it, I could even come close to
doing it in his sunny kitchen, but just then I couldn’t talk about
it.

“
Mate?” he finished and
nodded. “Yes, a werewolf and a human can certainly mate. Though
there are some, like Claire’s brother, who come by their own ideas
and have decided it’s somehow sacrilegious. Such wolves believe
mating with a human ought to be forbidden.”

“
But you obviously don’t
feel that way?” Now I was blushing furiously.

“
No,” he said. “I don’t
feel that way.”

I toyed with my robe belt. The
crackling fire filled the moment of silence. “So what does it
mean?” I finally asked. “To be a werewolf?”

Cade sighed. He considered his answer
for a long moment before speaking. “It means being the embodiment
of ancient suspicion and misunderstanding. Being a werewolf means
being guarded towards all who are not your kind yet feeling the
acute loneliness of not being part of the wider world.” He lowered
his head. “Some, like my son, attempt to mingle with mainstream
humanity and they can play along for a while but long term success
in the human world is elusive. The burdens of solitude and secrecy
become too much to bear and the werewolf becomes mean. Or goes
mad.” His mouth twisted into a sardonic grin. “And then you might
see the violent bloody fanged creature of popular culture.” His
face grew serious again. I dared not make a sound or a move for
fear he would stop speaking and I had never been more fascinated by
any subject. “It means we have superior senses, feel the urge to
shift most acutely during a full moon and will be mortally wounded
by the pierce of silver although our bodies are otherwise
extraordinarily hardy.” His gaze traveled down the length of my
body once more. “Being a werewolf means we have appetites as men
do, but with added intensity which might frighten some. Now Tatum,
I need to ask a question of you.”

“
Yes,” I breathed. And in
that moment I would have said yes to anything he asked, anything he
required.

“
Do you like
school?”

“
School?” I scarcely
remembered school. It seemed a century had passed since I pouted
under my comforter, jarred out of my pity party by the ringing of
the phone. “I major in history,” I said as if it would somehow
explain everything.

Cade thought about that.
“Why?”

I was flustered. What the hell
difference did it make if I studied molecular biology or underwater
basket weaving? It seemed we were dealing with much weightier
issues. “I don’t know. I like history. Knowing the truth about what
happened before is meaningful if you’re to figure out where you’re
going next. Does that sound lame?”

“
Ah.” My answer pleased him
but I wasn’t sure why. “I knew you were a smart one. But you still
didn’t answer my question.”

“
No, I don’t like school,”
I finally said. I hadn’t realized that was true. I was supposed to
earn a four year degree and then move on to a grueling postgraduate
program which would leave me crippled by decades of debt. And now
it all seemed so…unappealing. I shifted as my arousal grew. I
wanted him so badly I felt as if I would climax if he even breathed
on me too closely.

Cade had been rolling the stubby shot
glass between his fingers. He placed it upside down on the small
table and crossed his arms. “Tatum, I want you to remove your
robe.”

It didn’t even occur to me to disobey.
My fingers shook as I pulled at the loose knot. Slowly I dropped
the robe from my shoulders and let it sift to the floor. Though the
room was dark I did not miss the craving in his eyes as he looked
upon me. Without being asked, I unhooked my bra and freed my heavy
breasts. Cade’s breathing was ragged as he stared. Feeling bold, I
slowly rolled my panties away, the satin wet with my intense want.
I didn’t know how to render the invitation any more
plain.

His voice was hoarse. “Tatum, you need
to understand something. If I take you even once, then you will be
mine.”

“
Good,” I whispered though
his words sounded so final. As if entering my body were an act of
absolute possession. But even as I desperately wanted what he
wanted, I was anxious. My sexual skills were somewhat shallow and I
wasn’t confident I knew how to please an average man, let alone an
absurdly attractive one whose experiences began before I was born.
There was also the werewolf factor. Would creature sex be different
somehow?