Marked by the Moon (17 page)

“No,” she muttered.

“No, what, dear?”

Alex had made her way back to Daniel and poured him a refill. “Just thinking aloud,” she said. “So, how long have you been a werewolf?”

Daniel, who had just taken a persnickety bite of bacon, choked. Then he began to cough. Alex began to worry, until the rest of the room's lack of interest reminded her that while Daniel might be choking, he couldn't choke
to death
.

Alex handed him a glass of water.

“Why would you ask that?” he managed eventually.

“Shouldn't I?” Alex leaned over the divider that hid the workings of the restaurant from the dining room and set the pot on a burner. “Is that ‘not done'?” She made quotation marks in the air around the last two words.

Daniel sighed and took another sip of water, his sober chocolate-brown gaze contemplating her over the rim before he set it down. “All of us agreed to become like this, which meant we had one thing in common.”

“What's that?”

“Either imminent death, or a very shitty life.”

Alex was glad she'd set the coffeepot down or she just might have dropped it. Hearing
shitty
come out of Daniel Finnegan's prim mouth was both shocking and slightly hilarious.

This time Alex choked, and Daniel offered her his water. She took it—no worries anymore in sharing cups, utensils, spit; germs wouldn't hurt her—and took a swallow.

“Better?” Daniel dabbed at the pristine corners of his mouth with a napkin that did not appear to have been used at all. When Alex nodded, he went on. “We don't ask one another how we came to be like this because we don't want to remember what made us choose to leave behind our humanity. It's never a pretty story.” His gentle gaze became shrewd. “Is yours?”

“No,” she said before she even thought about it.

Her life hadn't been anything to write home about. Because she'd had no home to write to. No mother, no father, no family left at all. Her life had been death, or the distribution of it, with the certain knowledge that one day she'd find herself bleeding out from a werewolf attack just like her father.

If she'd been asked at that point—death or lycanthropy—would she have chosen this?

No. She knew what lay on the other side. Or at least she'd thought she knew.

Until she'd come here.

“You're telling me no one chooses this life unless their other one sucks so badly they can't wait to leave it?”

“Yes,” Daniel said.

“But…you like being a werewolf, don't you?”

“I do.” He straightened his tie, adjusted his hat.

“Then why wouldn't someone prefer to be one without the motivation of death or a really shitty life?”

He smiled at her as if she were a foolish child. To him, she probably was. “Humanity isn't something to toss off lightly, Alex, there are things you give up that you can never get back. I hope Julian made that clear.”

Not so much,
she thought.

“What things?” she asked.

Daniel contemplated Alex for several seconds, and she feared he might press her on the issue of what Julian had made clear and what he had not. She really didn't want to lie to Daniel anymore, but she couldn't exactly tell him that Julian had not only neglected to give her instructions, he'd neglected to give her a choice.

Eventually Daniel glanced away with a sigh. “Pets.”

Alex blinked. “Did you say pets?”

“Dogs are afraid of us. Cats hate us.”

“Cats hate everyone,” she said.

“Not the person with the can opener,” he muttered. “Unless he isn't a person.”

Huh.
Alex never would have taken Daniel for a cat lover.

“I think I can live without pets.” She'd done just fine so far.

“Children.”

What on earth would she do with one of those?

“Next,” she said.

Daniel turned to her and frowned. “I have to believe that whatever you left behind was sufficiently horrible that you chose to forfeit any chance of having a child in order to escape it.”

“Okay,” Alex said agreeably. So far she hadn't heard anything she'd given up on this side of furry that she'd wanted in the first place.

“Peace of mind,” he said. “A pristine soul.”

Except, maybe, for that.

“You better explain, Daniel.”

“You killed someone after you changed, yes?”

Alex didn't think so, but still she nodded.

“It's the price we pay for immortality.” Daniel laid his hand atop hers, and Alex's throat went thick. She must not be as over the choking fit as she'd thought. “It's a very high price.”

“What if the guy—” Daniel lifted a brow. “—or girl you killed deserved to be dead?” A thousand times over.

“Ah, Julian's method,” he murmured. “A very—”

Together they said, “—bad man.”

“You still killed a human being,” Daniel continued. “Your soul is no longer white.”

“It ain't black, either.”

“Perhaps,” he said, though he didn't sound convinced.

“You agonize over who you killed,” Alex murmured. “So you have no peace of mind.” If that was the case, it was going to be a very long eternity for Daniel.

“No,” he said. “Well, yes. I do agonize over the person who ensured my immortality, and I always will. But that isn't the loss of peace I'm talking about.”

“What is?”

His eyes met hers and within them she saw a stark fear that gave her an unpleasant little jolt. “We're hunted, Alex.”

“The
Jäger-Suchers.
”

“We can never be completely at peace because there is always someone—” He took a breath. “—many, many someones, and they aren't all
Jäger-Suchers,
who live and breathe to kill us.”

You'd think Alex would be happy to know that she'd struck fear into the hearts of werewolves everywhere. Strangely, she wasn't. She felt like Godzilla, stomping on all the little racing ant-people.

“You're safe here,” she said soothingly.

His dark gaze seemed to bore into hers. “Are we?”

Did he know?

That was impossible. If Daniel thought she was working for Edward, he certainly wouldn't be this nice to her. No one would be.

The reminder of the second reason that she was here, and what she was supposed to do once she had what she'd come for, made Alex's stomach pitch and her skin crawl.

She had a sudden image of Edward Mandenauer and a posse of J-S agents descending on Barlowsville, shooting wolves like fish in a barrel.

Alex gave a mental wince. She should probably stop being so buddy-buddy with the enemy.

“You don't think you're safe?” she asked.

Daniel shrugged. “I know Edward.”

“Personally?” Alex's voice lifted with surprise, and the older man smiled.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Alex opened her mouth to ask for this story, forgetting her resolve to stop befriending every werewolf that sat in her station, and Daniel's smile bloomed, happiness lighting his
eyes and causing his slightly slumped shoulders to straighten. However, the expression wasn't for Alex but for the young man who'd just walked through the door.

“Wow” was all Alex could manage before the new arrival's gaze went to the counter, zeroed in on Daniel, and the same smile blossomed all over his face.

The guy was Calvin Klein model handsome—with feathered black hair, deep blue eyes, chiseled cheekbones, and a body that would make a werewolf jealous. Hell, she was.

He wore a blue, white, and black plaid flannel shirt over what appeared to be an extremely tight white wife beater. She had time to wish it was warm enough in here to take off the flannel before she was distracted by how he filled out his jeans.

He strode straight for Daniel, and the older man stood, waiting for him with obvious pleasure. Alex figured he was Daniel's son, or maybe his grandson, produced before whatever tragedy had made Daniel choose to become a werewolf. Though what could have induced this specimen to become one, too—and hide himself away here in the Arctic when he could be strutting shirtless on a catwalk somewhere—Alex probably didn't want to know. Then Hot Guy reached them, cupped Daniel's jaw, and planted one right on his lips.

Alex blinked. Then she blinked again. Then she glanced around the coffee shop, but no one appeared as shocked by this as she was. She suspected they'd seen it before.

Eventually the new arrival stopped giving Daniel the tongue and lifted his head, meeting Alex's eyes and winking. “Probably want to close that mouth, ma'am, 'fore you catch flies.”

He had the most gorgeous southern accent, incongruous with the flannel shirt and heavy boots he wore, and the land of ice he'd just walked in from.

“I—uh—yeah,” Alex returned. Why she'd thought all werewolves were straight she had no idea. In truth, she'd never thought much about werewolves beyond how she could kill them.

Daniel turned, stars in his eyes, goofy smile on his lips, and the young man reached for Daniel's hand with a gesture Alex found very sweet. They stood there, the tall, muscular, youthful demigod and the short, skinny, dapper old gentleman, both grinning like idiots. Alex just hoped Daniel didn't get his heart broken anytime soon. She didn't want to be here to see it. She liked Daniel.

And since when did she like a werewolf?

“This is Josh,” Daniel said.

“Hi.” Alex offered her hand. “I'm—”

“Alex.” Josh placed his palm against hers. His was toasty warm, despite having just come in from the cold without gloves. “I know.” He shrugged, and his lips quirked engagingly. “We all do.”

“Right.” She'd met them in the town square while naked. That should bother her, but it didn't. There were a lot of things that used to bother Alex that didn't any longer.

“We're off to the market,” Daniel said.

“We need to get some hamburger,” Josh informed him.

Alex hoped hamburger was actually hamburger around here.

“Don't you have a job?” she blurted.

Daniel cast her a quick glance, and she realized she might as well have asked:
Is he your boy toy?

But Josh just laughed. “We own the movie theater. Don't have to go in until later.”

“There's a movie theater?”

“It's a town. Why wouldn't there be?”

Considering that the inhabitants of this town liked to
spend their evenings running on four paws beneath the light of the moon, Alex didn't figure a theater would get much business.

“What do you show?” she asked. “
Wild Kingdom
kind of stuff?”

Josh's forehead creased. “What?”

“Caribou? Rabbits? Whitetail? Maybe some zebra and antelope to jazz things up?”

Josh glanced at Daniel, who shrugged. “She thinks we show films of prey.”

Understanding spread over Josh's face, quickly followed by confusion again. “Why?”

“She's still new.” Daniel patted Josh's arm. “She'll catch up.”

“Catch up?” Alex echoed. “To the caribou?”

But the two were already headed for the door.

“See you tomorrow!” Daniel called as they left.

“You seem worried.” Rose had left her perch at the cash register to join Alex behind the counter.

“I hope he doesn't get hurt.”

“Hurt?” Rose repeated, appearing genuinely puzzled.

“Young guy, older man. Usually doesn't last.”

Rose laughed. “They've been together since 1783.”

“They—What?”

“You thought they met here?”

Alex wasn't sure what she'd thought.

“You know,” Rose said quietly. “We're people most of the time.”

Alex tilted her head, studying Rose's serene face. “I don't understand what you're trying to say.”

“You think we're different than other people? We really aren't.”

“You turn into wolves beneath the moon, Rose. How different can you get?”

“But when the moon is down, we're just like everyone else.”

“Order!” Joe sang.

Alex began to load her tray. “You sure don't eat like everyone else.”

Rose laughed. “Barlowsville is the same as any other city in the Arctic. Coffee shop that serves the same food as a thousand other coffee shops. Movie theater that shows the same movies they show at any other theater in Alaska. Bookstore with the same books. Shoe shop. Grocery store.”

“Big white laboratory with your own resident Dr. Frankenstein,” Alex continued. “Lord of the Wolves telling everyone where to go and what to do. And your own personal blood bank of Inuit.”

Rose's eyes widened. Alex wanted to bite off her tongue. Why not? It would grow back.

“Julian really must trust you,” she said.

Alex moved back to the counter and began to unload her very full tray in front of the single customer that remained from the breakfast rush. She glanced at the clock. She had maybe half an hour before the lunch crowd descended.

She smiled at the young woman, who could have been the local schoolteacher if there'd been a school. “Anything else?”

Mouth already full of scrambled eggs, she shook her head, and Alex turned back to Rose. “Why would you say that?”

“You've been here what? A day? And you've already met Cade; you know what he does. Not to mention the village.” Rose peered into her face as if she might discover all of Alex's secrets. “New wolves don't usually learn about the Inuit until
after
the first full moon.”

Alex wasn't going to admit how she'd discovered Cade,
or why Julian had taken her to Awanitok. But she wasn't sure what she should say instead, so she said nothing.

“And now with all the trouble over there—”

“You know about that?”

“Not much stays secret around here.”

Alex hoped that wasn't true.

“Any idea who's gone rogue?” Alex asked.

“No one in this village!” Rose put her hand over her ample bosom. “We would never hurt anyone.”

Rose obviously believed that, as did the rest of the café. Everyone in the restaurant was bobbing their head in agreement. They'd been listening in. Considering their werewolf ears, it was hard not to.

Rose nibbled her lower lip. “Julian hasn't brought home a new wolf since—” She broke off.

“Alana. I know.”

Rose's eyes widened even farther. “You won't hurt him, will you?”

“Hurt? Him?” Alex thought he'd be more likely to
kill
her. But she decided to keep that to herself.

Rose lifted one shoulder. “He's our alpha. I don't know what we'd do without him.”

“Anything you wanted,” Alex muttered.

Rose tilted her head. “You don't seem to like him.”

“What's to like? He's an arrogant, domineering control freak.”

Rose's lips curved. “We are what we were when we were made.” At Alex's confused expression, she continued, “He was a Viking. Becoming a werewolf didn't change that.”

“Becoming a werewolf changes everything,” Alex said.

“Yes and no. At least for wolves like us. Certainly there
are lifestyle changes.” She tapped one ear. “No more silver hoops. Can't make any plans for one night out of twenty-eight. But when we become one of Julian's wolves, we retain who we were. Haven't you?”

Alex nodded absently. She had. She couldn't argue. But Rose's explanation had given her an idea.

“So Barlow is a dick because he was a Viking, and Daniel was, is, and always will be gay, just like Josh.”

“And Joe will always love music and people and food, and I will always love Joe,” Rose said.

“What if you were a killer when you were made?” Alex asked. “What then?”

Rose, who'd been smiling at Alex as if she were the smartest kid in this year's kindergarten class, froze. “I—uh—what?”

“If fabulous human beings become fan-damn-tastic werewolves, then it follows that a psychotic killer as a human would become an equally psychotic killer as a werewolf.”

“I suppose,” Rose agreed. “But Julian would never allow someone like that to become one of us.”

Alex glanced out the front window as a cloud danced over the sun. “What if he didn't know?”

 

Julian was so furious when he came into the house that he took one look at the empty fireplace, absently thought about building a fire, and kaboom—he had one.

Flames shot up the chimney with such force he was concerned he might set the roof ablaze. As it was he singed the arm of a chair that he'd placed a little too close to survive spontaneous combustion.

“Faet!”
he muttered, then closed his eyes and recalled how he'd pressed a kiss to Alex's head and murmured
shh
.
The image caused a fresh burst of fury, allowing him to put out the fire without having to climb onto the roof or even step a single foot into the living room.

Then he strode through his house, tossed off his clothes, turned the shower to Arctic, and stepped right in. He hadn't made a mistake like that with his magic since…

Julian yanked his head from beneath the frigid stream. He hadn't made a mistake like that with his magic since he'd discovered it.

Alex took over his mind, his body, his emotions. He had a hard time controlling himself in any way when she was near. Which, if he wasn't careful, was going to lead to a lot more serious mistakes than starting a wildfire in his fireplace.

How long was he going to be able to stand having her in town? How long before he did something he really regretted like—

“Like what?” he muttered. “You've already slept with her. What else is there?”

Shh.
His own voice drifted through his mind, followed by that image of himself kissing her hair, holding her close.

The jittery roll in his gut reminded him that there were a lot worse things than
sleeping
with the enemy.

Julian shut off the water and heaved a relieved sigh. He might live in the Arctic, he might be a Viking by birth, but no man enjoyed ice on his genitals for very long.

Julian donned a fresh pair of jeans and a minnesota vikings sweatshirt that someone had given him for Christmas as a joke—really, who wore purple and yellow on purpose—and stepped onto the porch.

His snowmobile sat at the north end of the house. Minutes later he raced toward Awanitok where Jorund the younger told him what had happened to Dr. Cosgrove.

“When he didn't come to work, his assistant went to the
house. She found him—” The old man sighed. “—or what was left of him in the backyard.”

“The first body was discovered several yards
outside
of town,” Julian clarified, and Jorund nodded.

Which meant the rogue was becoming bolder.

“No one saw anything this time?”

“No,
Ataniq.
”

The two of them stared down at the bloody blotch in the snow. There were no tracks. The snow was like ice. A common problem around here.

“Order everyone to stay inside after dark,” Julian said.

“There is a lot of dark at this time of year.”

“Then there will be a lot of staying inside until this is over,” Julian snapped, and went home.

Ella stood on his porch wearing a concerned expression. “Have you seen Alex?” she asked.

He'd thought she would go back to Ella's that morning, but if she hadn't…maybe she'd stayed with Cade just to piss him off.

Julian's blood pressure rose at the idea of what else she could do with Cade that would piss him off. “She wouldn't dare,” he muttered.

“Dare what?” Ella tilted her head. “Your face is getting red.”

Julian imagined steam coming out of his ears. Big mistake because the next thing Ella said was: “There's steam coming out of your ears.”

If he wasn't careful he was going to melt his brain into gruel.