Moonsong (9 page)

Chapter Nine

Scarlett was more circumspect with her concerns, keeping her curiosity to herself all through dinner, not asking any questions when Chase didn’t reappear and changing the subject when Adele returned from town and asked how her day had been.

Amelia recognized what Scarlett was doing on her behalf and gave her a grateful smile, the fledgling friendship strengthening between them in that moment. Keeping conversation light for the duration of dinner, it wasn’t until right at bedtime that Scarlett approached, drawing her aside.

“He was just worried about you, you know,” she said gently.

“You heard all that?”
God, how embarrassing…

“Kind of hard not to, you guys weren’t keeping things very private,” Scarlett grinned.

“I’m sorry about that. He made me so mad… I kinda lost it.” Amelia could feel herself tensing up just thinking about it.

“That’s what he’s best at, blundering in without stopping to think what the words coming out of his mouth sound like,” Scarlett nodded. “Sometimes I want to smack him upside the head and say ‘Hello, this is the twenty-first century not the nineteenth’!”

Amelia laughed at that, easing a bit. “It’s not like I was even hiding where I went, just when he started demanding…” she shook her head.

“Believe me I get it,” Scarlett gave her a sympathetic smile. “But you’re alright? That really wasn’t your blood?”

“Yeah, of course I am. Which is what I was trying to tell him in the first place.” A moment’s suspicion flitted through her that Scarlett might be trying to finish Chase’s handiwork in pumping her for information, but she pushed the uncharitable thought away. Scarlett had been nothing but sweet since they day she’d met her.

“That’s all that matters then,” Scarlett brushed the topic aside, giving her a warm smile. “I’m going up to bed; do you want to come into town with me tomorrow? I got a call from the post office that one of Gran’s packages arrived and they need me to go down and sign for it, plus it’s Friday.”

“Sure, but… Friday? Does that make a difference?”

“Oh, sorry. There’s a truck that comes through on Wednesdays and it usually brings in new stock for most of the local shops. Usually Friday is when they have the new stuff out on display. Not a real excitement worthy event, but in a little town like this… we get amped over stuff like that.”

“Ah, I gotcha. Sure, that sounds like fun.” It was better than knocking around the big empty house again at any rate. The thought came to her, wondering how Cutter was doing since she’d left him. Had he lapsed back into a feverish state, or was he on the road to recovery? She couldn’t even give him a call and see if he was alright, she realized with a frown.

“Millie?” Scarlett gave her shoulder a little shake, and Millie realized her cousin obviously expected a reply.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. My mind wandered there for a moment, I think I’m just tired. I’m gonna head up to bed too, I’ll see you in the morning, okay?” Amelia gave her a quick hug and headed for the stairwell, thoughts muddled as she climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Tired though she was, sleep did not come for Amelia, no matter what she tried. Counting sheep, playing over the beginning of Gone with the Wind in her mind, singing ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall into her pillow which usually put her out like a light before she got to the eighties. Maybe it was because of the nap she’d taken in the middle of the day, but Millie found herself wide awake and starting to feel like the walls were closing in on her.

Thinking maybe a nice hot soak would relax her enough to fall asleep Amelia decided to try out the huge claw foot tub. After serious consideration, she decided on a combination of ‘soothing’ bath salts that smelled of vanilla and a ‘Christmas mix’ of bubble bath that smelled of cinnamon and ginger, good enough to eat. The tub soon piled high with bubbles and steaming water, Millie turned off all the lights, lit the three little votive candles on the window sill and sank into the fragrant water with a sigh of contentment.

Amelia was so relaxed; she didn’t hear the light scratch at the door. The door popped open an inch and Chase’s voice drifted through to her. “Millie?”

Water sloshed over the side of the tub as she startled, gathering the bubbles to try and hide anything he might see. “Get out of here, I’m taking a bath!” she hissed with a shooing motion, bubbles flinging at the door in the process.

“I know, that’s why I came to talk to you, this way you can’t run away from me.” Ignoring her protests, Chase shut the door firmly behind him, taking obvious pains to not look in her direction.

“Chase…” God, just when she was starting to relax and unwind he had to come and pull that crap.

“Relax, I didn’t come to ogle your goodies, I want to talk to you.” Without looking, he reached over and closed the shower curtain, taking a seat on the commode. For long moments she fumed in silence, arms crossed over her chest, not quite believing he couldn’t see anything. “Look, about before…”

“Oh come on, that’s taking it a bit far isn’t it? I admit I lost my temper, but you have to look at it from my point of view. You go missing for hours and come home covered in blood…”

“Covered in blood?” she scoffed. “It was a few spatters.”

Chase held up his hands in a supplicating gesture. “Regardless, I was worried about you. The longer you were gone, the more my imagination ran away from me. The worst scenarios popped into my head and when I saw the blood, I just… saw red.”

Amelia considered that for a moment, she hadn’t meant to upset anyone with her absence but she could see how he might worry. “Well, I’m sorry; I honestly didn’t even think anyone would notice I was gone.”

Chase let out a snort. “I don’t think you realize what an impact you’ve had on this family since you got here.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Amelia replied in a slightly disgruntled tone. Laughter rumbled from his chest and he raked his hands through his hair with a silly grin on his face.

“You’re really an original, you know that?”

“It’s a gift,” she smiled back, a shrug of one bare shoulder at him.

“So… we’re okay?” Chase looked back at her, a hint of vulnerability in his eyes as he waited for her response. It was that look in his eyes that got to her more than the apology offered or any explanation, as though she had the power to crush him with a single word.

“Yeah, we’re okay, but next time how about you
ask
me what you want to know instead of demanding anything?” she raised a single brow at him.

A long breath of relief left his body. “I’ll agree to that if you agree to leave a note the next time you disappear,” he countered.

“It’s a deal.”

“Deal,” he leaned forward, hand extended, palm facing upwards.

Slipping her hand into his, still damp with fragrant water, she met his gaze, once more very aware of her state of undress. Amelia pulled her hand from his grasp as she followed his gaze, once more drawing her arm around herself. “You should probably go so I can finish my bath now.”

“Are you sure you don’t need someone to help you scrub your back?” his grin widened playfully and she found herself grinning back, her mood light enough to flirt back.

Millie’s light laughter followed him out and she settled back down into the water to enjoy the rest of her bath, feeling far less troubled than she had before. Maybe sleep wouldn’t elude her for much longer after all.

* * *

A firm hand clamped over her mouth, muffling the mewl of protest that escaped her lips as she woke from a sound sleep. Millie’s eyes flew wide and then narrowed in anger as Luc hovered over her in the dim bedroom light.

“
Get up and get dressed,” he hissed, letting her go, his eyes darting to the closed door.

Amelia stared back uncomprehendingly, taking in Luc’s disheveled appearance, clad only in a pair of men’s pajama bottoms, his hair standing on end.

“
Now Millie,” Luc insisted. His tone more than anything else propelled her out of bed to pull on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. “Shoes too,” he added, catching up her purse and tossing it to her before he returned to listen at the door.

“
What is it?” she dared to ask, her voice barely above a whisper.

“
Shhh, stay here. Don’t come out unless I come back to get you. If I don’t come back…” his face took on a grim cast. “You go out the window and make for the jeep. Head for California to find our grandmother, Adele.”

“
Our grandmother is alive?” Millie frowned, what the hell was he talking about? Why would she have to go out the window like a thief in the night? “I have no idea where she is, what’s going on Luc?”

“
She lives in a town called Cutter’s Folly. Just keep driving west till you hit water. I’m serious Millie, don’t stop for more than a pit stop ‘til you get there, or they’ll find you… and they’ll never stop coming...”

Amelia stared after Luc when he disappeared through the door. More aware of the danger than she had been at the time, she chased after her brother, hoping to somehow change his fate. Instead of the hallway outside her bedroom door, she found herself in the living room, the furniture already broken. If she could get to the shotgun earlier this time, maybe then... A pair of hands closed around her from behind, tight as a vice.

“
I say we have us a little fun.” His fetid breath was hot on her neck, hands roaming freely over her body, and Millie’s stomach gave a dangerous lurch. It was all happening the same!

“
You know what our orders are Zeke.” A voice came from across the stairwell. “Stop fucking around and get her in the car.”

Suddenly they both crashed to the ground as a huge wolf tackled them with a menacing growl. Millie stared at the wolf, knowing it to be Luc now, watching with new eyes as her brother took on the other two men who instantly shifted to wolf form themselves. Unable to move while she watched the struggle, she found herself making the same mistake, losing precious minutes while they tore into each other, but Millie was held transfixed. Inwardly her mind screamed at her to get up and get the shotgun she knew to be in the closet, but her traitorous body wouldn’t respond.

Amelia tossed and turned, making soft mewling sounds of discomfort as she relived with startling clarity the horrible events of the night that changed her world. She watched with sick fascination as the wolves tore into each other with terrible ferocity, destroying her home in their wake. Frightening images shifted and merged together, repeating over and over but always with the same outcome. Rending flesh, the panic of capture, stunned horror as she realized the attackers were more than wolves and it was more than a bizarre animal attack. Luc's face as he urged her to leave without him, the helpless surge of loss as he died in her arms and the acrid smell of the smoke that stained her senses.

Trapped in the cycle as parts of the dream looped again and again, she felt the urgency to become a more active participant, to somehow change what had transpired. If only she'd gone for the shotgun in the closet sooner, Luc might have lived, if only she'd woken sooner... gone out the window, they might have abandoned their destruction and chased after her. Amelia managed to change some cycle of the events in the dream, but the outcome was always the same, leaving her alone and bloodied, fleeing for her life in the little red jeep.

Feeling wan and listless, Millie came down the stairs late again for breakfast and poured herself a bowl of cereal that tasted like sawdust. The cup of coffee tasted much the same; bland and acidic, churning in her stomach as she rattled around the house.

“Hey there, lazybones, did you have a good sleep?” Scarlett chirped cheerily as she entered the kitchen for a refill on her coffee.

“I wish,” Amelia sighed, pushing a mass of dark hair away from her face to wind it up into a messy bun to get it up and out of the way.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t sleep well?” her pretty face instantly etched with concern.

“No, not really; nightmares,” Millie made a face but didn’t elaborate any further, trying her best to forget about it all.

“Oh… sorry,” Scarlett laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, but didn’t press for more. “Well, we can get you some real coffee when we go into town, perk you right up. You didn’t forget, did you?”

“No, not at all, I’ve been looking forward to it.”

“Oh good, ‘cause I’m about done with Gran’s bills; we can drop them off at the post office when we go. About twenty minutes?” Scarlett suggested, giving her coffee a stir.

“Sounds good, I’ll be ready,” Millie replied, drumming up some enthusiasm for her cousin. Twenty minutes was more than enough time to get ready, and she put on her good hiking boots again in case they went for a stroll down by the harbor. Lacing them up, her thoughts returned to Cutter, wondering how he was faring. During the drive into town, Millie’s thoughts kept returning to a certain man out in the woods, despite her firm resolution to put him out of her mind.

“I’d say penny for your thoughts but they look like they’re at least a quarter’s worth,” Scarlett said finally.

“Hmm?” Drawn from her reverie, Amelia realized Scarlett was talking to her. “Oh sorry, my mind’s been wandering a lot lately.”