Shadow of the Summer Moon

by Amanda LeMay

  Off to the west, a single, massive thundercloud hovered over the horizon—fluffy white on top changing to a deep dark bluish-gray at the bottom.

  “Is that storm cloud coming toward us or moving away?”

  “It’s heading right at us.” Neeta glanced out toward the cloud. “That’s why it feels like you’re walking around in a sauna. It’s worse after the rain. The heat doesn’t let up. It’s like breathing through mud. Grossly humid. After the rain, you have three options—stay in the shade—”

  “And drink,” Neeru added.

  “Yes. Or stay in the pool.”

  “And drink.”

  Neeta nodded. “Or stay in the nice, air-conditioned house.”

  “And fuck.”

  I choked, then giggled, and my cheeks burst into flame once again.

  “I believe you’ve shocked our girl, Neeru.”

  Neeru leaned forward in her chair and looked at me. “Yes, I can see that. Well, our girl is going to have to get over it.” She laughed and sat back.

  Our girl.

  A warm rush, one that had nothing to do with embarrassment, settled in my chest. I’d never had friends or pack-mates refer to me as “our girl”.

  I liked it.

  No.

  I loved it.

  I loved being included in something, whether it be just us three sitting here, drinking, or the feeling that I had finally found a real home.

  “Listen, Simone, wolves fuck. A lot.”

  “What?” I choked out, giggling again. “Oh my heavens, Neeru!”

  Neeta shot her sister a look. “Some wolves.”

  “Let me rephrase that—most wolves fuck, a lot. It’s natural. It’s good for you. Human or wolf. Both ways. Every way. Let me tell you, there’s not a male out there who doesn’t love hearing his female say, ‘Fuck me, baby’ at least three times a day.”

  I clapped my free hand over my mouth, trying to stifle the laughter that threatened to bubble up and break free.

  “I’m not kidding, Simone. The only other thing that makes a male happier and hornier is when you say, ‘Fuck me harder.’”

  “Really?” Neeta licked the salt from the edge of her glass, then took a long swallow. “I thought the other thing they liked to hear was, ‘Hey baby, you wanna try anal?’, or did that change somewhere in the last century?”

  “Nope, that didn’t change. They like that one too,” Neeru replied.

  Neeta shook her head as I laughed out loud. “I...could...never...” I finally gave up trying to finish my sentence when tears streamed down my face.

  “Yes, you can.” Neeru took a short sip of her drink. “And you will.”

  I smiled, as I wiped the last of the tears from under my eyes, feeling a little uncomfortable on the subject of sex with Gunner, and stealing glances at Neeta to see if she felt the same.

  “It seems colorful expletives are a common form of communication here in Comfort.” I took a large swallow of my drink as Neeta and Neeru dropped a few more zingers into the conversation. “In Rule’s pack, using profanity was seen as a sign of weakness. A lack of self-restraint. A serious loss of control.”

  The two females next to me exchanged a murderous glare. If I were the subject of such a look, I’d be afraid. Very afraid.

  Neeta swung her long legs around and off her lounge chair to face me. “There is no one here you have to answer to. Well, except Gunner. We all answer to him.”

  She waved her hand around in his general direction, and grinned. She looked out toward where the males were still playing soccer for a second before going on.

  “What I mean is, no one here is going to punish you for dropping the f-bomb, or any other curse word that suits your fancy. Rule is a completely out-of-control, dominating son of a bitch. I’ll bet you running away and opening up his private world to outsiders chaps his ass something fierce. When he gets here, after the tribunal has passed their judgment, you’ll have a chance to add your own remarks, and no one will think less of you if you fucking tell his ass off.”

  I swallowed and looked into my glass. The ice had melted and diluted what was left of my Texas martini, leaving the jalapeno-stuffed olive to float alone.

  A breeze kicked up and rustled the leaves of the ancient pecan tree shading us. I looked up into the thick branches that spread over our heads. Everything, from the landscape to Gunner’s pack, was the polar opposite of what I had experienced while growing up. The trees around my mother’s mansion were kept pruned to perfect geometrical shapes, just as the lush green lawns and brilliantly colored flower gardens were kept in perfect order. Here, in Comfort, on Gunner’s ranch, the only trees kept in any sort of order were the rows of pecan trees lining the highway as you drove up to the big, wrought iron gate. Everything else, even the flowers, grew wild, untouched and unrestrained by any gardener’s pruning shears.

  From the day I was born, my life had been a lie. My mother pruned and primped me for the day she knew would come. I’d pretended to be strong and in control. The only thing I controlled was the wolf inside of me. Then Rule plucked me like a flower, crushed me in his hands, so sure I would crumple beneath my own sense of honor, and crawl back to him when my heat came along with the full moon.

  Gunner’s pack showed me what true honor was and I knew now what having control really meant. Control wasn’t hiding the real me inside this human body. It was running to save my life. Control was holding tight to those tiny shreds of honor that pushed me forward to a new life. Control was the courage to stand against someone stronger than me, and fight back.

  I looked straight into Neeta’s soft gray eyes. “Thank you.” I shifted my gaze to her sister. “Thank you, both.”

  Neeru smiled and tipped her glass to me while Neeta touched my shoulder, and like each time Gunner touched me, her Alpha power seeped into my body, giving me strength.

  “Rule, or anyone from your former pack, comes near you, threatens you in any way...”

  Neeta didn’t finish. She didn’t need to.

  Her promise of great bodily harm lay in the set of her beautiful face, the slow, deliberate blink of her suddenly stormy gray eyes, and her cunning smile that flashed her long, white canines.

  A new kind of warmth flowed through me. I smiled, blinked back the tears that stung my eyes and clogged my throat.

  This was what it felt like to have friends. To have that wonderful, nurturing connection and support that came with living in a loving, protective pack.

  And I was good with that. Very good.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  “WHEN’S YOUR NEXT MOON Dance?”

  “November.”

  “I think I’ll come up for that. You know how I love a good Moon Dance.”

  “And Taber never disappoints.”

  Neeta laughed. “I don’t know if Gunner would agree with that.”

  “Well, yeah.” Neeru smiled. “He’s also doing the one in Albuquerque in October. Their Moon Dance is always huge. Hemming and I are going to that one. Anton knows how to throw a party.”

  “He certainly does.”

  The soccer game was winding down. I’d lost track of which side scored the most goals, and the males didn’t seem to care. Their energy level seemed to have dropped a notch. With their long tongues hanging out to one side or the other, none of them moved faster than a trot.

  “November’s Moon Dance may be Taber’s last,” Neeru said quietly, as a loud, clanging bell sounded off near the barbeque. The wolves out in the field stopped what they were doing, turned toward the bell, then like a small, stampeding herd, ran full-out to the pool. “Hemming is ready to step down.”

  “Seriously?” Neeta sat up in her chair and stared at her sister. “Wow. That really is...just wow.”

  “Step down? You mean, relinquish his Alpha role?” I hiccupped. Whoa. Tequila brain. I needed to stop talking.

  Neeru nodded, swung her legs around and off the lounge. She held out her glass for another fill-up.

  “They can do that? Ju
st stop?” Too many Texas martinis made my brain fuzzy. “They can quit being the Alpha? Like quitting a job?”

  “Yes, something like that, though it’s not really as easy as quitting a job. There are a few formalities that have to be followed.” Neeta filled Neeru’s glass, then offered the nearly empty pitcher to me again.

  I shook my head and moved my glass out of her reach. “No, no, no. I’ve had too much already.” I couldn’t even finish what I had left in my glass.

  “More for me!” Neeta turned back to her sister. “Hemming didn’t produce any Breeders to take over for him, did he?”

  “Nope.” Neeru looked over at the pool. “You and Gunner were very lucky with Brenin.”

  “One out of nine isn’t bad.”

  “You have to be a Breeder to become an Alpha?” I asked.

  Both Neeta and Neeru nodded.

  “And you inherit your Alpha position from your parents?”

  “Yep,” Neeru answered. “Well, sort of. It’s a little more complicated than that.”

  “And of your nine offspring, Brenin is the only one who was born a Breeder?”

  Neeta nodded. “Yes. Breeders are rare. Even though a mated pair may both be Breeders, it doesn’t ensure they will give birth to a Breeder. There are exceptions. Gunner, Hemming, Taber, and Sorin are all Breeders and share the same mother. Hemming and Sorin are full brothers, sharing the same father, though they’re years apart.” Neeta looked back to Neeru. “Do you think Taber will accept? He’s kind of wild.”

  “He’s a good male. He may act like an ass sometimes, but he’s an honorable ass. He’ll do the right thing. He’ll be a good Alpha, not that he knows that yet.” Neeru downed the last of her drink in a couple of swallows. She stood, stretched, and smoothed her light summer dress around her hips. “And he only gets on Gunner’s last nerve because he can. Taber doesn’t pull that shit on Hemming and Sorin.”

  “I’m sure Gunner will be honored to know that.” Neeta shook her head. “What about Sorin?”

  “Sorin would be an awesome Alpha, but Taber is first-born by, like, two minutes.”

  I looked over at Neeru suddenly realizing why the two brothers looked so much alike and yet different. “Taber and Sorin are twins?”

  “Yep.”

  “I had no idea wolves could have twins. No one...” Rule had lied about that as well. Anger flashed through me as I stared at the ground, or tried to—the blades of grass seemed to move and dance on their own as I tried to focus.

  Way too much to drink. And on an empty stomach.

  Maybe passing up breakfast had been a bad idea.

  “Twins are not real common, but it does happen,” Neeru added. “And the reason why they look so different is because they have different fathers.”

  My eyes flashed up her. It wasn’t the grass that whirled on its own, it was my head.

  “How?”

  She leaned toward me, her eyebrows raised, a sly, little smile on her face. “I guess their mother was feeling exceptionally frisky during her heat and it took two males to satisfy her.”

  I stared at Neeru in disbelief. “Oh my.” I giggled, hiccupped again, and slapped my hand over my mouth.

  “Oh my, is right.” Neeru laughed. “Anyway, it has to be Taber. Sorin will never mate again.”

  Neeta topped up her own glass with the last of the Texas martini mix, then set the pitcher beside her chair and glanced at me.

  “Sorin lost his mate in a fire, what...” She turned back to Neeru. “Thirty-four years ago?”

  “Yes.” Neeru shook her head. “Poor male. Almost lost his baby girl, too. He got her out, but his mate didn’t make it. So, so sad.”

  “That is just heartbreaking. Maybe he hasn’t met his sakana yet.” Because I’d met mine and he was perfect. And I needed to see him.

  “She was his sakana.” Neeru replied, and even though I was a quite tipsy, I couldn’t mistake the sadness in her voice. “If it wasn’t for needing to be there for his baby girl, I don’t know if he would’ve survived. She’s grown up now and mated, with her own offspring on the way.”

  “Maybe there is still hope for Sorin. Kern found Maygan after their mates passed. My point is, they’re happy now.” I glanced over at the pool as the males began to exit in their human form and grab towels from a nearby stack.

  Every male naked. So much shiny, wet skin.

  Don’t stare!

  I tore my eyes away, turned my back to the pool, and refocused on Neeta and Neeru.

  “True. Sometimes we do get a second chance.” Neeta sighed and finished off her drink. “Not always, but sometimes.”

  A painful sadness swam in Neeta’s eyes before she blinked it away. Sadness didn’t only swim there, I felt it all over my skin. I wanted to sob. I wanted to hug her and tell her I understood her pain. I knew that crushing sadness.

  Neeru leaned over and touched her sister’s hand. “No one can replace a sakana, but there’s always hope.”

  Neeta looked up at the naked males behind me. Their deep voices traveled through the yard like rolling thunder. By the rustle of fabric, some of them were in the process of dressing.

  A small smile touched Neeta’s lips. “Yes, for Sorin, there is always hope.”

  Neeta’s fingers touched my hand, her sad smile now suddenly brilliant with happiness that shone right through her sparkling gray eyes. I clasped her hand tightly and let her unexpected joy flow throughout my body.

  But why? How? Was this another one of those Alpha-talent...things? Was she giving this to me, or was I taking it from her?

  Neeta released my hand, but the feelings seemed to connect us in some way. I looked to Neeru. Did she feel it also? This happiness?

  Neeru only smiled. “Yeah, well, it’s not like Sorin is leading a sheltered life. There is a very good chance he may meet someone, someday. He’s always off with Taber setting up breedings and such. With the way Breeders are pampered, he and Taber have their pick of females. I’m not sure, but I think those two males have a female they share, right there in our pack.”

  “They share females? The same female?” I asked, more than a little shocked.

  “Sure.” Neeru laughed. “Why wouldn’t they?”

  “Together?”

  Neeru laughed even harder at my question.

  “Neeru, stop laughing.” Neeta slapped playfully at her sister. The gesture made my heart twist. I would have loved a sibling to tease. “Simone is extremely uninformed about wolf culture.” Neeta turned to me. “Sharing is not uncommon for wolves, Simone, especially unmated wolves. Even some Alphas have more than one mate.”

  Would Gunner want to share me with another male? Sharing him with another female would break my heart.

  “I think Derry is the only female Taber doesn’t share. Won’t share,” Neeru added. “I think he loves her.”

  “She won’t have any other male, either.” Neeta took another long sip from her glass. “I swear, Derry goes through withdrawals every time Taber leaves, but she never says a word.”

  Neeru shook her head. “Too bad her first mate was such an abusive, honorless bastard. Taber would never harm her, but she won’t let him close enough to trust him with her heart.”

  “If he ever harmed her, or any other female, we would kick his ever-lovin’ ass,” Neeta said under her breath.

  “And cut off his dick.”

  “Right, that too.”

  I broke into a fit of giggles.

  “Well, it’s time.” Neeta said as she nodded toward the long picnic tables near the barbeque. I looked over, my head swimming as I tried to focus without falling on my face. Sky, Denny, Les, and Tan were moving around one of the tables set up with food, unwrapping bowls and laying out the last of the supplies they’d brought from the kitchen.

  Males that had finished dressing were already heading toward the tables, pushing roughly, but playfully, at each other as they formed a disorganized line. I glanced to the pool. Hemming was busy trying to drag his jeans up his long legs w
hile talking to Gunner, who was still in the pool.

  “I’m still so shocked Hemming is thinking of stepping down.”

  “Don’t say anything yet. But he’s ready and I’m done. No more little ones for me. He has his hands full with Carrine and me, so he’s ready to retire and spend his time keeping us satisfied.”

  “It’s a wonder you three ever make it out of the bedroom.”

  I spun around on my heels, caught myself on the back of the lounge, and stared at Neeru with my mouth hanging open. “You...three?”

  Neeru smiled. “There you go, Neeta, shocking our girl again. Our tipsy girl.”

  “Hemming has two mates.” Neeta picked the margarita pitcher up off the ground, stepped over to a small table nearby, then set her glass and the pitcher on top before turning back to me. “They share him.”

  “Two...mates?” Stunned, I stared back and forth between Neeta and Neeru.

  “Add that to the list of what males like to hear a female say: ‘Hey, baby, I got a friend wants to have sex with us.’”

  “I heard that,” Hemming said from twenty feet away. He walked straight up to Neeru, and put one arm around her back as his other hand lifted her chin. “What else do males like to hear?”

  “You know, the usual. Those little words that make males all hot and horny.” She leaned in to her mate, wrapped her hand around his neck as he bent down, and whispered in his ear. A huge grin spread across Hemming’s face.

  “You got it, sweetheart.” Hemming growled as his mouth came down on hers. He picked Neeru up in his arms and walked away toward the house without a backward glance.

  I shook my head, amazed at how easy Neeru and Hemming, and even Neeta and Gunner, made loving relationships appear. Even though Neeta and Gunner were no longer living together as a couple, they had been working together for years and it still showed in every interaction between them.

  If—no, not if—when I mated with Gunner, I’d need to share him with Neeta. But what would we share? I swallowed and sucked in a breath.