Wolf Moon (4 page)

T
he sun was bright,
bathing the room entirely through the open hotel curtains. Lying on my stomach,
I squinted against it and pushed myself up onto my elbows to rub the sleep from
my eyes. I was so exhausted after our outing last night that I crashed almost
as soon as my head hit the pillow.

My
fatigue wasn’t brought on by a shift, unfortunately. I tried, knowing that it
would help relieve the growing tension as the moon grew fuller, but I was unable
to focus. I tried for about an hour and a half before I grew too exhausted to
try again. I could still feel the strain of the change as it lingered, but I
would have to wait. Nick forewent his own change when I couldn’t perform, and
instead we just walked around in the cold…
which,
with
my naturally elevated temperature, wasn’t so unbearable.

I
was grateful for how tired I was after wasting all my energy into a failed
shift, because it didn’t give my mind a chance to run wild with the memories of
what happened to David or what I found in Bobby’s grave back in Scottsdale.

Or,
more accurately,
didn’t
find.

I
knew it wasn’t going to be easy to escape everything that had happened to me.
Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was death. Bobby’s, David’s, Samantha
Turner’s, and
Gianna’s
(whose death was at my hands).
It used to be I only dreamed of finding Bobby’s body around our birthday, but
since his case had been reopened last month in light of several other murders
that mirrored his from seven years ago, it’d been a recurring nightmare. Now I
got to add David’s death to that roster.

That
one was particularly difficult, because I watched him get tossed into the
window, and I felt responsible since Samantha was there for me.
And because I couldn’t do anything to stop her.

I
tried, don’t get me wrong, but my attempt was wasted. I didn’t have control
over what I was, and because of that, I blacked out a couple times. If I’d been
able to control it, maybe he’d still be here.

Last
night was the first night since all of this happened that my sleep was even
remotely peaceful, and I was pretty sure I owed that to Nick.

It
only took me a second to realize he wasn’t in bed with me, and one quick sniff
told me he wasn’t in the room either. I sat up quickly, only to find a folded
piece of hotel stationary on the nightstand.

Across the hall.
Back soon.

—
N

The
note made me smile as I ran my fingertips over his familiar penmanship, and
then a pang of guilt quickly washed it away. David died less than two weeks
ago. I shouldn’t be smiling over notes another man left me…or sharing a bed
with him and trying to sleep with him out of desperation.

Suddenly
feeling queasy, I rolled out of bed and locked myself in the bathroom where I
turned the shower on and stepped beneath the hot water. Maybe I could scrub
away all the wrong I was doing. No sooner had I pushed my face beneath the
spray, the water soaking my hair and flowing into my ears, did I hear the hotel
room door open and Nick call out for me.

“Brooke?”

I
pulled my face back. “In the shower,” I responded. “I’ll be right out.”

“Take
your time.”

The
water was warm, and he didn’t sound urgent, so I did as he said. I took my
time,
using the coconut-scented shampoo the hotel supplied
to wash my hair and then washed every inch of my body. Twice. Hotel showering
was always a treat, because no matter how long you stayed in there, the hot water
seemed to be ever-lasting.

When
I stepped out, the mirror was completely fogged up, the room filled with steam,
and I realized I’d forgotten to bring my clothes in with me. With a sigh, I
wrapped their largest towel around me. The white fabric barely fell past my ass
and the top of my breasts spilled slightly over the top. At least the important
parts were covered. I stepped out of the bathroom slowly, sniffing the air to
make sure it was
only
Nick in the room, and
when I confirmed it, I strode out a little more freely.

He was sitting on the end
of the bed, and his eyes snapped up from his laptop upon my arrival. They
roamed down over my near-naked and dripping wet body. His gaze was
appreciative, appraising, and it lingered on my legs for a bit. He’d always
liked my legs. When he found my eyes, he smiled. “How was it?”

“Good,” I replied softly,
my skin warming with a blush as I tucked my soaking wet hair behind my ear, the
drips from the ends rolling over my chest. “I, uh, forgot my clothes, though.
Sorry.”

Nick hopped off the bed
and grabbed my bag for me. “No need to be sorry,” he said sincerely as he
handed it to me. “When you’re done, I picked up some food from the restaurant.
We should eat before we hit the road.”

“We’re not meeting the
guys?”

“They’re actually eating
now. We wanted to be on the road soon, so they decided to eat without us so
they could finish preparing.”

I felt bad about taking
an extended shower now. “You should have told me to hurry.”

Nick scratched the back
of his neck. “They wanted to give you some space. They know they can be a bit
much.”

There was something
haloing his words, and when I figured it out, I tightened my hold on the towel
around me and looked down at my toes. “They know about last night?”

“They sensed it, yes,” he
replied softly. “But they’ve been through it too, so they understand. Well, all
but Corbin. He had this mastered before he was fifteen.”

Confused, I looked back
up at Nick, and he smirked. “He’s Marcus’ son. One of the few full-bloods in
the Pack.”

There was so much I still
had to learn about this life and these people.

“Now, uh, you should go
put some clothes on,” he continued. “I’m having a hard time being the gentleman
I was last night.”

I knew he was mostly
kidding, but the deep tenor of his voice sent a shiver up my spine, and
goosebumps
prickled up all over my body. Swallowing
thickly, I took two nervous steps backward and retreated into the bathroom,
locking the door behind me. I dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans and a thick
white turtleneck sweater. Not wanting to waste time with blow-drying my hair
when I’d already spent so much in the shower, I decided to let it air-dry into
its natural wavy state and applied a little makeup to hide the dark circles
under my eyes. When I returned, I found Nick had spread our lunch out on the
bed.

“What are we having?” I
asked as he handed me a sandwich wrapped in cellophane.

“Turkey and Swiss,” he
replied with a grin. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

The sandwich had barely
touched my lips, and I froze. Nick noticed this and set his own sandwich down.
“Brooke?”

My hands started to shake
as multiple emotions overwhelmed me. David and I were discussing plans to host
dinner for our families tonight…before we got into a fight and I fled the
house, leading to his death. Had I stayed instead of acting like a coward,
could it all have been avoided?

Logic told me probably
not. Samantha Turner still would have shown up. Deep down, I knew this. But I
still wondered, what if…

Those two words, while
small, were powerful. They held the possibility for a different outcome. An
outcome I would give anything to change.

What would we be doing?
Preparing the turkey? Maybe our mothers and I would be fighting for counter
space in my tiny kitchen while our dads and David watched the game and had a
beer. This would have been our first Thanksgiving with both sets of parents,
and because of what happened, I was sitting in a hotel room having a turkey
sandwich.
With my ex.

A tear slid down my
cheek, alarming Nick. He put his sandwich down on the wrapper. “I know you’d
rather be with your parents today, but—”

I shook my head. “No.
It’s not just that,” I confessed, wiping the tear from my cheek. “David and
I…we had plans to host Thanksgiving for our families. I’d completely forgotten
what today was.”

Nick sat in silence,
probably unsure how to console me. It was no secret he disliked David, but he
never wished this upon him. He had told me that it was dangerous for me to
continue on with our relationship. And while I was certain part of his
reasoning for saying this was borne out of jealousy, I now knew he was afraid of
what would happen and how it would affect me. In hindsight, I should have
listened sooner.

I tried to put on a happy
face, but it felt forced. “This is fine. Thoughtful,” I said softly, picking
the sandwich back up. “Thank you.” Reluctant, Nick continued to watch me,
making me nervous. “Sorry you won’t be back in time for Thanksgiving dinner
with your Pack.”

Nick smirked. “We
celebrated last month, actually. It’s a Canadian thing.”

“Oh,” I replied. “Well,
then.” Even though my appetite had dwindled, I took a few bites of my sandwich.
“So, how much longer until we arrive?”

“We have about fifteen
more hours until we get to the manor. Barring any bad weather that could keep
us from holding our schedule.”

“And the bikes are okay
to drive in this weather?”

Nick shrugged. “As long
as the roads aren’t too bad, the guys would prefer to take them all the way,
but if we have to, we can always rent a van and load them into it, and they can
drive the rest of the way.”

We discussed the
possibilities of running into the storms that had been forecasted, and Nick was
confident that even if we hit them, we’d still arrive at the manor before the
full moon. If we didn’t, he also had a plan to keep
me and
everyone safe
should the change be forced upon me.

Hesitating a moment, I
eyed the last little bit of my sandwich like it was some kind of puzzle. “Do
you think I could have a few minutes to call my parents before we headed out?
Just to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving? I’d really like to hear their voices.”

Nick smiled. “You don’t
have to ask, Brooke. Of course you can.”

After lunch, Nick slipped
across the hall to talk to the guys before we left, and I pulled my phone out
of my jeans pocket. I dialed the number for my parents’ house and waited for
someone to answer. My mom did on the third ring.

“Hello?”

I smiled. The soft melody
of her voice relaxed me more than anything else could when I felt lost and
alone. “Happy Thanksgiving, Mom.”

“Brooke, honey,”
Mom
replied, her own smile evident in her tone. “I’m so glad
you called.” I could hear her cover the receiver before she shouted through the
house.
“Keith! Brooke’s on the phone!”
There
were heavy footsteps in the background before he arrived at her side.

Several emotions swelled
in my chest: happiness, sadness, regret… Why couldn’t I have waited just one
more day before leaving? Given them this one last celebration.

You know why,
I inwardly told myself. And I did; had I stayed,
I’d have continued to find excuses, and they could have gotten hurt.
Like David.

“Are you there yet?” Mom
asked.

“No. We stopped in Utah
for the night. We’re actually going to be heading out soon, but I wanted to
call and talk to you guys first,” I explained.

There was a pause from my
mom before she finally found the courage to ask, “And Nick? He’s really what
you need right now?”

I
sighed,
chastising myself for thinking she was more okay with this decision than she
really was. I should have known she would never truly accept it. In her eyes,
I’d run off with another man shortly after my lover of two years was murdered.
Even I knew how awful that looked. But I wanted to try and make her understand.
“Not
him
, Mom.
Space
. I needed to get away from Scottsdale for a bit. So much has
happened lately, and I need to, I don’t know, wrap my head around it all. What
better place than living in the countryside with no distractions?”

I wasn’t sure how true
that “no distractions” part was considering the whole Pack lived under one
roof, but I had an entire countryside to run free in if I ever felt too
claustrophobic.

“I’ll come visit, and
maybe you guys could fly out and visit me,” I suggested. “In fact, I think
that’s a really great idea. Maybe at Christmas… What do you think?”

Even though I wasn’t in
the room with them, I could sense my mother’s sadness. She tried to put on a good
front, but her voice belied her words. “That would be lovely. We’ll definitely
see what we can do. Here’s your father.”

“Okay. I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, honey.”

The phone switched hands,
and I swore I could hear my mom sob as she left the room. I was just starting
to mentally beat myself up over it when my dad’s voice filled my head.