A Cursed Moon: A Weird Girls Novella (A Penguin Special from Signet Eclipse) (9 page)

Dan had never hurt anyone. He was kind and smart and loyal. He was the first person I ever told about my pathetic past. I thought he’d pity me. Instead that beanpole looked me in the eye and told me he was proud of me for surviving without parents, a pack, and a dime to my name. He had the purest heart of any man in this goddamn world and now he was gone.

My claws cracked open chests, my fangs severed necks.
Fuck you for taking him away from me, from Celia, from her sisters, from the world. Fuck you!

“Bren, leave them . . . They’re dead, Bren, they’re dead.”

Celia’s pained voice tore me away from the chunks of gray flesh my fangs continued to shred and gnaw. She knelt over Dan in her human form, pushing down on his chest and filling his lungs with her breath. Tears streaked her bloody face as she sobbed and pleaded him not to die.

My body lurched forward and bound to their side. Dan’s vacant and unblinking stare was like a punch in the gut. My wolf eyes took in his chalk white skin and blue lips, while the man within me begged him to move, to speak, to
breathe
.

I sniffed at him. . . . Christ, he was still alive, but my wolf could sense the light in his soul dwindling away with every passing moment. Every muscle in my body tensed. I couldn’t let him die. He needed a chance.

So I shoved Celia away and pierced his heart with my fangs.

I vaguely remember her screaming and trying to wrench me off him before the world faded into black.

Sunlight beat against my heavy lids, resolute it was time to wake my ass up. I blinked several times, fighting the haze that followed one hell of a nap. I swore and rubbed my eyes. Damn, I was friggin’ starving. The warm sheet slipped from my chest, exposing my pecs as I pushed up on my elbows and took in my bedroom at a glance. Hell, someone had tidied up. A basket full of clean laundry lay folded on top of my bureau, filling my nose with the clean scent of “summer breeze” fabric softener. And shit, had the babe lying next to me vacuumed?

I did a double-take when I realized the “babe” sleeping beside me was Celia. She cuddled against my pillow and tucked her bare feet deeper beneath her long brown skirt, causing the collar of her light blue sweater to droop between the swells of her breasts. I yanked her by the waist and pulled her to me, burying my nose into her neck. “I always knew we’d end up in bed.”

She laughed and pushed me off of her, smiling as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. “I see you’re finally awake, sleeping beauty.” Her smile softened as she sat up. “Do you feel okay?”

“Yeah, I guess.” I scratched at my beard, pausing when I realized how thick it was. “How long have I been out?”

Celia reached for her cell phone. “Hmm, almost forty hours. You missed a full moon last night.”

I jerked up as a swarm of memories came flooding back. The spirits . . . the witch . . . Shit—
Dan!

Celia cupped my shoulder gently with her small hand and smiled. “He’s okay, Bren. You did it.” She glanced at the door when the soft pads of urgent feet echoed down the hall. “Speaking of which . . .”

A giant wolf stumbled in his haste to round the corner and launched himself upward. He landed in a belly flop between us before scrambling to the foot of the bed. Jesus, never had I seen such an ungainly lupine.

The wolf spread out his long scrawny body. An excited glimmer lightened his intelligent amber eyes while his long tongue draped out of his mouth in true goofball glory. “Dan?” He wagged his tail and barked out a happy yip. “You’re . . . fucking
blue
.”

Celia laughed again and leaned forward to stroke the top of his narrow head. “He’s a blue merle, extremely rare for a werewolf. According to the pack Elders it’s symbolic of rare and powerful magic.” A note of concern shadowed her husky voice. “He’s supposed to develop a special ability. One that will impact the entire
were
race.” She cleared her throat and forced a hopeful smile. “He keeps admiring himself in the mirror and hasn’t wanted to
change
back to human.” Her smile widened, becoming more genuine. “I must say, he is awfully cute.”

Dan’s tail thumped louder against the mattress. He jerked up suddenly and dive-bombed Celia with his ridiculously dorky tongue. Celia wrinkled her nose and batted his long snout. “Ew, Danny. Cut it out.”

Dan was alive, well, and a goddamn blue werewolf. Maybe knowing his freak new
were
mo-jo could knock our entire species on its ass should’ve scared me, but it didn’t—at least not then. I was stoked we’d survived and decided it was time my boy had some fun.

I locked Celia in a full nelson and hooked my legs around hers. “Get her, Dan! Get her! Come on, fella!”

Dan was on Celia like duct tape, slathering her face with his werewolf love. Celia squirmed and squealed. “Don’t. . . . Stop. . . . Knock it off. . . .
Ew!
”

“I believe she asked you to stop.”

We froze at the sound of Aric’s deep voice. He stood in the doorway, his arms crossed, his thick brows angling into a frown. Unlike Dan, the stealthy bastard hadn’t made a sound.

I released Celia. She hurried to pull down her skirt. Oops. The hem had bunched up during the struggle and—oh
shit
—hiked all the way past her lacey pink panties.

Dan’s tail curled between his legs, his submissive nature buckling in Aric’s strong presence. “
Dan
,” I warned, my jaw tightening. “If you piss on my bed, I’m going to beat your ass with a newspaper.”

Aric’s brows softened when he locked eyes with Celia, his eyes sparking with heat and tenderness completely unfamiliar to me. Celia’s lips parted and her irises sizzled, giving him back what she’d sensed in his stare. She wiped her face on her sleeve, her cheeks warming to a soft blush. “Hi, Aric,” she murmured.

“Hello, Celia.”

They stared at each other, forgetting the rest of us. No one made a sound. And except for Dan’s ears drooping, no one made a move, either. I let Celia and Aric have their moment, but hell, it was a long friggin’ moment. Just when I was about to yell at them to get their own damn room, Celia dropped her gaze and slipped to the edge of bed.

She tugged on her slouchy suede boots. “I should go.”

Aric’s expression hardened, the angles of his face tightening with frustration and annoyance.
Now, that’s a look I knew oh so well.

He huffed. “I guess you wouldn’t want to keep
Misha
waiting.”

Oh shit.

“And I’ll just bet your
fiancée
can’t wait to have you back,” she snapped.

I tucked my hands behind my head. “Actually, Ceel, I doubt that angry bitch is at the edge of her seat waiting for Aric.” She glanced at me over her shoulder. “You see, I kinda let her read his note.”

Celia’s eyes widened and she cleared her throat, trying to squelch her expanding grin. It didn’t work. Aric caught it and lowered his head. She shoved her cell phone in her purse and walked toward the door, slowing as she neared and pausing beside him.

Aric maintained his position against the frame, casually leaning back with his arms folded over his chest. His nose flared slightly, capturing her scent. Like a shy teen, Celia played with the strap of her purse as she spoke to him. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you when you told me not to go after Dan. I wasn’t trying to pick a fight, or insult you. I just wanted to help our friend.”

Aric hooked a long strand of her hair with his finger and tucked it behind her ear then slowly trailed his finger across her jaw line, using it to lift her chin. “It’s not that I didn’t think you could help. I know you’re tough. But you were facing an enemy that could have robbed you of your soul.” He released her then but kept his eyes trained on her. “It would destroy me if anything ever happened to you.”

For a moment, I was sure Celia was going to say something back—maybe about his declaration of their matehood in the letter. But she instead she averted her gaze and walked away . . . even though he continued to watch her closely.

“Quit staring at her ass,” I yelled when his eyes trailed her out of the room.

“Don’t be an asshole, Bren,” she hissed from the end of the hall.

“He’s the one eyeing your butt cheeks like they can fold paper,” I shot back defensively.

The door slammed, cutting off Celia’s growl. Aric rubbed his face, trying to beat back the heat crawling up his neck. “Thanks,
Bren
.”

I scratched Dan’s ears, my grin widening. “No problem, boss. So, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

“I came to speak with you about what happened the other night. You should have howled a
call
the moment those spirits showed up.”

“Why? Because Celia was with me?”

Aric paused. “In part, but also because you were in danger, and so were the humans we’re sworn to protect.”

“Nah. You would’ve been too distracted trying to get Celia alone so you could make out with her.” Aric stared at me, probably torn between snapping my neck and laughing. Either way, the prick didn’t deny it.

He cleared his throat, struggling it seemed to wrangle in his patience. Hmm. Wonder why?

“Your pack is not your enemy, Bren. You have to stop perceiving us as such.”

I opened my mouth, ready to make some wiseass remark. But considering I dragged my tail into danger and took Celia along for the ride, I knew the bastard had a point. I’d needed them, and had waited too damn long to
call
in our location.

Aric watched me, his expression stern. “I hate to admit it, but you did a hell of a job tracking Dan. I don’t know if another
were
could have fixed on such a weak trail.”

“So?”

A smirk cut through his serious demeanor. “So I think I found the perfect forum for your skills.”

I rolled my eyes. “You want me to teach the little pukes at the Den how to track, don’t you?”

Aric grinned. “Damn, Bren. It’s like you can read my mind—just no sex talk. Stick to the subject and you won’t piss me off.”

“Okay, if I must. But what if one of the little bastards has a question about getting laid?”

“Then you can direct him to me.”

“Shouldn’t I direct him to someone who’s actually getting some?”

Aric pinched the bridge of his nose and growled something about me being a monstrous pain in the ass. He pushed off the door frame to leave, but I stopped him.

“Can I ask you something?”

At first I thought I pissed him off enough to say no. But then he crossed his arms again and gave me a stiff nod. “Go ahead.”

“My dad failed to
turn
my mother wolf. How the hell did I manage to
turn
Dan?”

Aric abandoned the doorway and lowered himself into the old beat-up leather chair by my bed. He leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs. “Bren, the
turning
process is complex; it’s not just about piercing another’s heart and transferring your wolf’s essence. If it were, we’d have more
weres
. The Elders believe the donors and recipients have to be spiritually and physically tough to endure one soul’s invasion of another’s.” He shook his head. “Even then, if their love for each other is weak, they’ll fail.”

I growled defensively. “You sayin’ my parents’ love wasn’t strong? You don’t know shit. They were mates, goddamn you!”

I should have known better than to challenge an Alpha, especially one who’d already whooped my ass. And yet for some reason, Aric didn’t respond with aggression.

His shoulders remained relaxed and he continued, dismissing the growls that continued to burn a hole in my gut. “I told you what the Elders believe. What I didn’t explain was that a lot can go wrong. Your father could have released your mother too soon, or his fangs may not have punctured her heart deep enough. I didn’t know your father. But I know it killed him to cause his mate pain.” He lowered his head and stared at his palms. “If he didn’t commit to the task out of fear of hurting her, he failed her even before he began.”

I took in the sadness creasing the edges of his eyes. “Are we still talking about my folks?” I asked like a dumb-ass.

Aric paused, then slowly leaned back. He ignored my question and glanced between me and Dan. “I think it helped that Dan was dying. Your desperation to save him committed you to
turning
him. Under other circumstances, I can’t be sure you would’ve survived.”

I paused to think about what Aric said. “I guess that makes sense. Here’s the thing, though, most successful
turns
occur between mated couples—or those who love each other deeply.”

Aric nodded. “That’s right. Otherwise the human’s soul would reject the
were’s
.”

“Well, boss, Dan and me aren’t a couple. Does this mean he’s been secretly in love with me this whole time? I mean, I can’t blame him if he is, I’m pretty damn awesome—”

Dan actually growled at me. Aric rolled with laughter and it took him a moment to collect himself. “The
turning
process is typically done between mated couples because their love is believed strong enough to survive the experience. But you’re forgetting there are other kinds of love—like that between brothers, which you and Dan appear to share.”

Dan wagged his tail when I turned to acknowledge him. I grinned and patted his back. “Okay. Thanks, Aric.”

He stood to leave. “I’ll expect you at the Den tomorrow, on time and ready to work.”

“Yeah, yeah, I read the note, remember?”

Aric huffed. “Yes, and not only did you read it, but you passed it around like a damn hors d’oeuvre.”

I chuckled. “I guess I shouldn’t have shown it to Celia . . . or your fiancée.”

Aric shrugged. “I don’t care who saw it, everything in it is true.”

My spine stiffened. “Even the part about Celia being your mate?”

“Yes, that, and the part where I call you a loser.”

I barked out a laugh. “So you don’t care that what’s-her-face got mad?”

His expression hardened, losing its humor. “No. I only care what Celia thinks.”

“Well, she thought enough to ask to keep it.”

My comment seemed to surprise him. “She did?”

“Yup, she’ll probably sleep with it under her pillow.”

Aric laughed and headed for the door. He stopped before walking out and glanced over his shoulder. “Thank you for keeping her safe.”

I nodded but didn’t respond. Celia was part of my pack—the real one. And packmates would take a cursed gold bullet for one of their own. My stomach growled as Aric disappeared, furious I’d gone so long without feeding it. I slapped Dan’s skinny rump and nudged him out of bed. “Woman, you better put on that French maid outfit and fix me some grub. Daddy’s hungry.”