A Werewolf's Moon (The Council) (10 page)

“I’m not going to act on it.”

Feeling dazed, I put my head between my knees, staring at the floppy eared bunnies on my feet. “Sure.”

His hand touched my shoulder, “Hey,
it’s
okay.”

I held a finger up, “Shush.”

Chapter 11

Breathing in, breathing out… So the werewolf wanted me, so what? I didn’t want him did I? No, not really…maybe. Okay, so I liked the guy. I wasn’t ready to have him sink his teeth into my shoulder for keeps. But if he didn’t—I mean, he said it was a close call tonight. A crazy wolf made toothpicks out of my backdoor because he wanted to ma
rk me like freaking fire hydrant
. Not to mention that vampire at the bookstore. I was going to have to spend the next two days wondering if anyone else would try to sneak a fang in me. Jeez, I really didn’t want to be stuck with some crazy animal for eternity. Maybe being with Quinn wasn’t such a bad idea. He was a good guy, not a slacker or a jerk. It would make for a safer two days. I’d have peace of mind. But in exchange for those two days, I’d
have to spend forever with him.

I lifted my head to find Quinn sitting on the floor in front of me, thick arms draped over his bent knees. He didn’t move, didn’t seem to breathe. He was just watching me with those glowing eyes that made my h
eart do gymnastics in my chest.

“I have another hypothetical question for you.” I said, trying to word it correctly, “If you bite me right now, what would the other werewolf guys do if they got too close?”

“Nothing, they’d smell me.”

“I’d smell like you?” oh God, really? I was going to smell like a guy forever? That wasn’t something a girl wanted to hear.

“Not completely, just the mark on your shoulder.” He rubbed his temples, “I can’t believe we’re discussing this. We need to be leaving.”

“No,” I shook my head. “So they’d smell the mark, then what?”

“Nothing, like I said before. If one of them was stupid enough to try anything, I’d retaliate.”

“How?”

He lifted his shoulder, “It’s every male’s right to dispose of a threat to his mate.”

“And you’re so sure I’m your mate?”

“I know the signs.”

“Really, what are they?”

“I can’t intimidate you.” He admitted, frustrated.

“That’s generic.” And pretty much true.

He hesitated, “You touched my scar.”

“I did?
When?”

“In the mill.”

“Did not.”
I snapped
,
my cheeks heating as a fuzzy memory played in the back of my mind. Whatever happened to keeping my hands to
myself
?

“Did to.”
He grinned.

“I
think
I’d remember.” I did. But I wasn’t going to tell him.

“You were still a little knocked out.”

“Fine.”

“Fine what?”

I slid out of the chair and dropped to the floor in front of him.

“
Pepper
?”

I pulled at the jersey to bare my right shoulder and closed my eyes. “Do it.”

“
No
.” he growled.

I opened my eyes and drowned in confusion, “But you want to.”

“You’re taking a major leap of faith.”

“You just said I could trust you.” Why wasn’t he chomping at me? I could see the way his eyes kept darting between my face and my shoulder. He really wanted to.

“You’re not sure.”

I shook my head, “No, I’m sure. I’m sure about what I don’t want. And I don’t want to be marked by some nut. You’re positive that I’m your mate. So why wait?”

“
Why?
Are you ready for that?”

“No.”

“My point exactly.”

“Are you?”

“I wasn’t at first, but I’m okay with it now because I feel what it’s like to be without you.”

“We can ease into it.” It’s not like we didn’t have eternity. So what if it took a few years, or a hundred? We had all the time in the world.

“Are you sure?” He made the grouchy werewolf face that sent normal people heading for the hills. Me, I just rolled my eyes. Maybe I really was hi
s mate.

“Look, you said when I changed I’d feel what you feel. I’ll want it then.”

“We can wait.”

“I don’t want to get bitten by anyone else!”

“I won't let it happen.” He took my face in his hands, smoothing the pads of his thumbs across my cheeks. “I promise.”

“No, you can’t promise.” I argued. “What if someone does bite me? What then? Then you couldn’t. I’d be stuck with some other mangy animal. I wouldn’t be able to irritate you, or try and sneak up on you once I can phase. I really want to do that. You sneak up on me all the time. It’s only fair!”

“Maybe you should think about it for tonight.”

Maybe I should, but I still felt so vulnerable. Almost as if the floor would disappear out from under me. I didn’t want to venture into the unknown, into this world of magic and werewolves without someone I could trust. “If I ask you to after tonight, you will do it?”

“Yes.”

“No arguing?”

“None, you’ll have had time to think. The last thing I want is you resenting me.” He pulled me up with him and let out a deep breath. “I’m starved. Let’s get something to eat.”

“How can you be hungry now?”

He smirked, “I’m a teenager and a werewolf.”

“You might as well be a bottomless pit.” I made a face. “Okay, let’s have dinner. But nothing fancy, please.”

“You’ll need comfortable shoes,” a wolfish grin lit his eyes and face as he eyed my bunny slippers.

“Where exactly are we going?” as long as it was away from here and proved to be a good distraction, I just might be able to sleep on the idea of him biting me. I couldn’t
guarantee that I wouldn’t throw myself at him later tonight if the situation called for it. But I didn’t see many bad guys g
etting the best of my watchdog.

“New York, there’s this new pizza parlor…you do like pizza?”

New York, for dinner, was he kidding? I wasn’t going to pass up on a chance to have real New York pizza. “Duh, most people like pizza. Now get out so I can change.”

Shooing him out of my room I threw on a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a green t-shirt. When I met him in the hallway his
eyes were glowing again.

“Ready?”

“Sure, but won’t we be noticed appearing out of nowhere?” Excited didn’t begin to describe how I felt. I was ready to burst from the anticipation, and not so freaked out anymore
.

Okay, that was a lie. I was just hiding how freaked out I still was.

“I’m not going to phase where anyone will see us.” He held out his hand and I slipped mine into it. I felt a cool rush of air. My vision blurred. When I could see again I was standing in a very dark alley next to an old brick building. I heard sirens, and drivers honking their horns. Steam rose from a grate out of the building beside us, dampening my face as Quinn led me down the alley. When we reached the sidewalk I could barely contain my amazement as I stared up at the tallest
buildings I’d ever seen.

Everywhere I looked I saw something too magnificent to describe. The buildings went so high up I had to tilt my head all the way back to see their tops. The lights were multicolored, illuminating offices and signs. A man was selling watches on the corner, next to a man selling hotdogs. A woman whistled for a cab and waved her hands until one stopped abruptly and took off just as s
oon as she sat in the backseat.

“You look shocked.” Quinn said, keeping a firm hold on my hand as we walked down the crowded sidewalk. I was so distracted by the sights and sounds I just let him pull me along.

“I’ve never been anywhere like this before. It’s all cement and metal.”

When we crossed the street, a swarm of people from the other side bisected the group we were walking with, and they didn’t care if you got jost
led about. They just shoved on.

“This isn’t the friendliest part of town,” he grunted, making sure we didn’t get separated.

As we continued the crowds thinned out and the atmosphere quieted. Little shops and restaurants had chalkboards outside to illustrate their menus. People were rushing in and out with paper bags of yummy smelling takeout. It
was so different from Capeside.

“Here it is.” Quinn steered me toward a short flight of steps
down to an old green door.

Inside the restaurant was filled with people eating and chattering. A line of patrons waited to be seated along a plastered wall. Candles sticking out of empty wine bottles lit small tables covered in red and white-checkered cloths. Italian music played softly in the background from speakers hung over an arched doorway leading into the kitchen. It was like being in
Lady and the Tramp
.

“So,” Quinn eyed me, taking time to let suspense sink in. “You have a choice.”

I stepped closer to him to hear over the background noise, “I do?”

“Yeah, we can eat here or get it to go. I have an apartment in the city.”

“You live here?” the surprises just kept on coming.

I glanced at a little clock on the wall, the whiteboard hanging below it said there was a forty minute wait for dining in, due to the limited seating, and fifteen for takeout.

Stay or go? Part of me wanted to go, because this wa
s starting to feel like a date.

Taking me to a nice place, holding my hand…yep, this had date written all over it. Quinn probably didn’t intend for it to be that way, but I didn’t want to sit at table with candlelight and romantic music floating in the background.
Way too soon.

“Your place,” I said confidently.

Once we had our pizza, Quinn took me behind the restaurant and held my hand again. I curled my fingers around his feeling butterflies flutter in my stomach.
It was nice. I really liked it.

He was a good person, a little surly, but he didn’t make me feel as if I had to be anyone but myself. Not to mention the freaky need to have him around. I couldn’t describe it. The more I was with him the more I wanted
to
know about him and be in his presence. The want was becoming a need. There was this pull that made me shift closer to him as we walked, or when I sat next to him, I di
dn’t want any space between us.

It was hard though. I wasn’t in love with him. I was in like. Knowing that he was my mate scared me. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Maybe acceptance would come with time, or maybe I would feel like this always. I was just going to have to take it day by day. At least I knew I could trust Quinn, and right now that was enough, I think.

We materialized
in the middle of a living room.

“
This is my apartment.” He said.

With polished concrete floors and exposed ductwork, it was very industrial. I ran my hand along the back of a black leather couch. I’d never been in anything like it. I
dropped Quinn’s hand to have a better look around. The kitchen, which opened to the living room, was equipped with monster stainless steel size appliances. The walls were covered in green glass tile.

I loved it, but it didn’t fe
el homey, or lived in and used.

The couch was new, the stained cement floor so shiny it glared.

“What do you think?” he sat on the couch, setting the pizza box on the coffee table, still doing his p
redators watch as I explored.

“It’s beautiful.” I went to the far side of the room and grabbed one of the heavy green drapes, pulling it aside to look out at New York City. We were at least thirty stories up. Below I could see the cars zipping around in a blur of colorful lights. It wasn’t bright enough outside for me to see as clearly as I wanted. Still, it took my breath away.

“Do you spend a lot of time here?” I got the feeling he didn’t.

He shrugged, fishing the takeout silverware and plates from a paper bag that came complementary with our pizza. “Council members travel a lot.”

I smiled. “That means no.”

“Yeah, basically.
Mostly I phase back to clean up and sleep. I got it six months ago, so who
knows,
maybe I’ll spend more time here in the future.”

We ate sitting next to each other on the couch, just chatting. He hadn’t gotten around to finding a dining room table yet. Aside from all that, it was comfortable, like we’d done it a million times before
.

“So, explain your rules about phasing to me. You can’t appear at the airport or Georgia, but you can in the back alley in New York?”

“Can’t
phase
somewhere I’ve never been. That’s just the way it is. I can think of Tokyo all I want, but I’ll never get there.” He grabbed a couple cokes from the fridge. “But, the rules about where we can phase are for safety.”