Riley's Torment, A Moon's Glow Novel #2 (33 page)

“It’s such a
warm and inviting room,” I observed. “I’ve never been in here
before.”

“Yeah, it’s not
used a lot, but it’s my favorite.”

“You know, I
never asked, but what part of the house was originally your
family’s?”

He swallowed
the drink of soda and placed his soda can on the table before
grabbing a chicken wing.

“It was a two
story house with the main sitting room, the office, which was my
parents’ room, a kitchen, and three bedrooms on the second floor.
There are only a couple rooms that weren’t touched in the
renovation. It was a pretty big house for the time.”

I thought about
the rooms he mentioned, trying to picture them with furnishings for
the time period. When I couldn’t, I took a mozzarella stick and
dipped it in the sour cream before taking a bite.

“Why are there
so many wood piles at the cottage? I noticed them yesterday when
you brought me back.”

Nate’s face
flushed. “Oh, uh…when I’m upset, or stressed, I find that physical
activity helps clear my mind.”

“Okay, what
does that have to do with the wood?”

“Well, the
activity I usually turn to is splitting wood.” He looked down at
the nacho chip in his hand. “When you left, I needed a distraction
or I would have gone crazy, so I decided to chop some fire
wood.”

I gaped
at him as his words sunk in.
Some
fire wood. There had to be five huge piles out there. “For
the whole town?” I asked, the shock clear in my voice.

He chuckled
softly, the glow from the fireplace dancing in his eyes. “I might
have gone a tad overboard.”

I snorted.
“That’s an understatement. Well, since we’ll live forever, we’ll
never run out of firewood.” A small smile played at my lips. I felt
relaxed and quite a bit lighter in this room.

He smiled, his
eyes filled with love.

“What?” I
asked, unsure what brought on the change of his expression.

“You made it
sound like we’d be together all that time.”

I blushed.
“Well, we are mated. Just because I’m upset with you now, doesn’t
mean that I always will be.” I smirked, giving him a sideways
glance. “I’m sure in fifty years; I’ll forgive you for taking away
my humanity.” His face fell. Guilt and pain plowed into my stomach.
I had meant the words to be playful, and the humanity part slipped
out.

The agony that
shone in his eyes so much since he bit me returned. “I don’t know
how I’ll ever forgive myself.”

The fun, casual
atmosphere died away in an instant, and I didn’t know how to
retrieve it, so I muttered the only thing that came to mind. “Who’s
Emma?”

By the look on
his face, they were the worst words I could have uttered.

“I’m sorry. I
was just curious. I had never heard the name before.”

He sat
silently, watching the flames in the fireplace. He didn’t speak for
a few minutes, and I didn’t know what to do, so I ate, trying to
avoid looking at him. He seemed like he needed privacy—should I
leave? Just as the thought crossed my mind, he opened his mouth to
speak.

“She was a
cousin of Will’s, the youngest of that generation. She was the most
like my youngest sister Mary. So much so that I would have said it
was her ghost returning.” He paused, a faint smile appeared on his
lips. “I’d be lying if I said she wasn’t my favorite. And I was
hers. She looked up to me and followed me around like a lost puppy.
She wanted to be an artist, and she was really good. Her father
refused to let her go to art school. He wanted her to go into the
business, like most in the family did. She was his only child, and
I think he wanted to ensure they’d be included in the will.
Sometimes, greed can bring out the worst in people.” He stopped
talking, staring at the fire, as if the images in his head were
playing out in there.

“She sounds
lovely,” I remarked, hoping to get him to continue. I was
fascinated by the story.

He nodded. “She
was. I got her into the school of her choosing and told her father
not to worry; their standing in the family wouldn’t be affected if
she wasn’t in the business. He finally agreed and let her go. She
was immature for her age. She saw life as a child would, and it
took until she finished college for her to be finally ready to
learn the secret about me. Her father told her on a full moon
night, and she took it well. We had such a close bond that nothing
about me could change her mind.” His face went white. The story was
about to take a dark turn. “She rushed to my cottage to tell me
that she didn’t care what I was—until she saw me. She caught me
mid-change, and as you know, that’s not a pretty sight. First of
all, I was naked, and hairs had grown along my body, and my limbs
were just starting to bend and shape. It must have been a hideous
sight. I wasn’t old enough to stop my change, so I couldn’t go
after her when she took off screaming.”

I was horrified
for that girl. The way he described her, it must have been
terrifying to see him that way. When I saw him change for the first
time, it happened so fast, and he was so far away that I didn’t see
much, but even that had frightened me. I couldn’t imagine how this
girl took it.

“When I turned
back human, I went to find her. Her father told me that she left
town and gave him a note to pass on to me. It said that she had
been on her way to tell me that what she had learned didn’t matter,
until she saw what a freak I really was. If I came after her, she’d
hurt me.” He laughed darkly. “Even then, she couldn’t threaten very
well.”

It did sound
like something a child would say, but I could see that she had
succeeded in her threat. The pain was still in his eyes after all
these years.

“She hurt you,
didn’t she?”

He attempted to
smile, but what he accomplished just made him appear even sadder.
“She just proved to me what I had always known.” He gazed into my
eyes, and the agony in them tore at my heart. “I’m a mon—”

I stopped him
from saying the word he always used to describe himself by placing
a finger on his lips. He breathed deeply and kissed the pad of my
finger softly. That simple gesture changed the atmosphere in the
room, energy crackled around us. I sucked in a breath as he leaned
forward. I thought he was going to kiss me, but instead, he just
hovered inches away from my mouth, barely touching. His breath was
hot as it caressed my lips. He moved slowly, our bodies never
touched—the heat that emanated from each of us felt like a furnace.
My breathing grew shallow and a tightness began in my stomach. He
bent down, his breath reached my neck, and I felt goose bumps rise
along my skin. It was crazy that I was having trouble breathing by
simply being so close to him; the non-touching was more sensual
than the actual feel of his hands on me. Somehow by avoiding it,
our touch seemed almost forbidden.

Hours later, or
it could have been seconds, my mind had turned to mush so I had no
idea how much time had passed before his lips finally made contact.
While I wanted his mouth on mine, he continued to tease me by
spreading tiny kisses along my chin, leading to my ear. I moaned
when he nuzzled on my earlobe. His tongue ran down my skin, just
below my ear. My heart began to beat faster, my breathing was
hollow. He felt so good; I didn’t want him to stop. “I love how you
taste,” he whispered in my ear, his hot breath giving me goose
bumps once again as he continued his journey.

When his tongue
slid over the curve of my neck, everything went still. The image of
sharp teeth and blood flooded my mind, and I yelped, jumping up off
the couch. The remorse shining in his eyes cleared my mind of the
image, but the damage was already done. I felt so bad for my
reaction. After he told me about Emma, I wanted to make him feel
better, but instead, I only made it worse. His face was unreadable,
a mask he used to keep me at a distance. I hadn’t seen the
expression since we first met when he was fighting his feelings for
me.

“I’m sorry,” I
whispered.

“It’s fine. I
understand.” His voice was void of emotion, mirroring the look on
his face.

We didn’t have
time to discuss it more, because the library door opened, hitting
the shelves filled with books behind it with a thump. I blinked,
surprised to see Adrian standing in the doorway, with Lauren behind
him.

“I need your
help,” he said desperately.

“With what?” I
asked, gazing at Nate, still worried how my reaction would affect
him.

“Charlotte has
my sister, and she’s going to kill her.”

Dread washed
over me in a wave of exhaustion. I was so tired of werewolf drama.
Would we ever have a normal life where girls were not kidnapped,
and men didn’t bite your neck without permission?

“
How? I
thought she was in Philadelphia.” I asked, worried for him. I knew
he must be frantic because I knew how much he loved his
sister.

He shrugged. “I
don’t know how, but I know she’s here.”

“
How do
you know she’s here?” I asked. The idea of bringing his poor sister
into our crazy life was unacceptable. We had all gathered in the
office and were standing around Adrian, waiting for his
answer.

Adrian’s
shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. When I got home from the gym, I
scented her in the house. I raced around looking for her, but she
wasn’t there. Charlotte came out of her room, told me she had her
locked up, and was going to kill her once and for all.”

“Why?” I asked,
anxiety flowing through my body. “Why would she kill her?”

“She won’t.
She’s just trying to scare him. She must want him to do something
for her, and this is her way of controlling him,” Joe suggested
from where he was standing behind me and Nate.

Nate nodded,
agreeing with the statement.

“We have to go
get her!” Adrian moaned, glancing around at each of us. The
desperation in his face was heartbreaking.

“He’s right. We
have to help. His sister is innocent in all of this.” Lauren
agreed, taking Adrian’s side.

“Calm down,
Lauren,” Will said, pushing past the rest of us to get to her. “You
can’t just rush over without a plan.” He turned to Adrian. “Where’s
this house?”

While Adrian
gave them the directions, I wandered over to the windows, feeling
anxious and a tad claustrophobic from standing in the midst of the
frantic discussion. I was terrified for his sister. She had been so
young when her world was torn apart. Assuming she was with a good
family as Charlotte had said, did she know about werewolves? And if
not, to learn this way would be shocking.

Everyone in the
room was talking loudly. Lauren became Adrian’s advocate, now that
there was a child involved. She was ten years older now, but still.
The girl must be terrified. The others were calmer than Lauren,
trying to soothe her. I suddenly needed fresh air to clear my head.
I pushed the window open and sighed, closing my eyes when the cold
air hit my face. My lids popped open as a scent drifted to my
scenes.

“WEREWOLF!” I
screamed.

Everyone froze
and turned to me except Nate. He dove in front of Will just as a
shot rang out. Blood poured out of his chest as Joe and Adrian
rushed to the windows. Adrian jumped out of the now broken window
to chase the other werewolves that were surrounding the house.

“Is it silver?”
Joe asked as he hesitated at the opening.

“No, it’s
lead,” Nate grunted with pain. Joe nodded and jumped to help
Adrian. The sound of growling and fighting drifted through the open
screen.

I rushed to
Nate, lifting him up as Lauren dragged a stunned Will to the back
of the room.

“Are you okay?”
I asked Nate. The smell of his blood was overwhelming, and my
stomach turned as I fought the urge to vomit. He sat on the edge of
a chair looking down at the widening red spot on his chest.

He nodded, as
he peeled off his shirt. I watched in awe as the bullet literally
pushed its way out of his chest. The blood was the only evidence
that he had been shot.

He yanked at
his pants and rushed to the window. “Stay here,” he ordered, before
he jumped out. He leapt into the air and exploded into his wolf
form, diving onto the back of a brown wolf who was attacking
Adrian. Joe was fighting the other brown one. Charlotte and James
just stood watching the fight. James was focused on the window with
a gun in his right hand. It was lowered but ready to make another
shot at the first sight of Will. He wanted to get in the house, and
he was waiting for the brown wolves to clear the way. By the look
on his face, he wasn’t going to let two failed attempts stop him
from getting what he wanted; he was determined.

“Where’s the
gun?” I yelled to Will. We needed protection from this psycho.

Will was
standing behind Lauren, watching the scene outside. “It’s in my
safe,” he called out. “I’ll get it.”

“Get down!
James is waiting for you to show yourself.”

Will crawled
behind the desk, and by the sound of beeping, he was putting in the
code. The door popped open, and he tossed me the gun. With my new
reflexes, I caught it easily. I wished I had thought to practice
target shooting as part of my training. The last time I shot a gun,
I couldn’t hit my target.

“What’s going
on?” Lauren hissed loudly from her position of guarding Will who
had returned from the safe.

I focused on
the fight outside and held the gun out the window, prepared to help
in any way I could. But I didn’t need to. Both brown wolves were
now lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood.

“Two of the
other wolves are down,” I called out as the growls stopped
outside.