Harvest Moon

by Helena Shaw

  Before she began to mix the chemicals together, Dawn brought a finger to her eye and removed the colored contact that rested there. When she’d first starting wearing them, the contacts had stung her eyes and itched like crazy, but the longer she’d worn them, the easier they were to get used to. Most of the time, she hardly ever remembered they were there.

  Another curious thought began to rise up from within her as she put her contacts away in their plain little case. It had been days since she’d worried, really worried, about the wrong person looking into her past. It wasn’t that she was beyond caring or past fear. She was still concerned about the other two FBI agents, Hart and Connors, doing a little too much digging while they were in town, but she had to force herself to think about it before the constant anxiety she lived with came back again.

  Her mind was too occupied with everything else to let herself be concerned with that. Courtney was still missing, and as much as Dawn hated to think about it, she was starting to admit that she would probably never see her again. The fact that monsters could possibly be real took up so much room in her mind that even her fears for her best friend took a backseat to that thought.

  And then, of course, there was Jase. She knew it was wrong. She knew she should be out looking for Courtney she should be focusing all her attention on that worry, but she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Jase was at the forefront of her mind, and even though she was beyond mad at him for making her worry, she couldn’t stop herself from remembering that night they’d spent together.

  “Stop it,” she said aloud before she began to section out her hair. Her roots were nearing an inch long. She was cursed with healthy, thick hair that grew incredibly fast. Everyone told her she should love that, but having to dye it so much was no blessing.

  Putting on the thin plastic gloves provided in the box, Dawn began to empty the contents of one bottle into another. The smell from the first bottle alone was overwhelming, but she had grown use to the offending odours that came from a box of peroxide.

  She’d been so lost in thought that the banging from her door made her jump, and she dropped the bottle of dye into her sink. Dark amber sludge poured out of the top and down the drain, and Dawn fished it back out and put it on the counter before she pulled off the gloves and made for the door.

  Though she hadn’t seen who was outside, in her heart she knew it was Jase. It had to be.

  Even with her hopes up, Dawn was not beyond her own carefully cultivated years of caution. She glanced out the front window and saw the red and white truck sitting outside her house, and she craned her neck to see Jase standing on her porch.

  “Dawn?” his voice came through the door. “Let me in. I know you’re home. I can see the lights on.”

  With a sigh of relief that was cut short by a new anxiety, Dawn relented and unlocked the door. The cloudy sky covered the moon, and Jase was but a shadow until he stepped into the light of her living room. It was once he was inside that Dawn finally saw the gash above his eyebrow.

  “Oh my God,” she gasped. Blood was weeping from his wound, and before he could say anything else, Dawn grabbed a towel from the kitchen and pressed it to his forehead.

  “What happened?” she asked as she closed the door behind him. “Oh God, were you bit?” She might not have known if all the lore was true, but a bite from a werewolf, that much she was starting to believe was a curse.

  “No,” Jase assured her as he sat on her couch. “Though the damn thing took a pretty good swing at me.”

  “You’re going to need stitches,” she said as she pulled the towel away from his eye. The cut was deep, but thankfully had missed his eye. “I can drive you to the hospital.”

  “No hospitals,” Jase said. “I brought this.”

  From his back pocket, Jase produced a small fabric pouch with a faded red cross on it. His uncovered eye met hers, and suddenly she realized what he wanted her to do.

  “No,” she shook her head. “No, no, I can’t. I’d screw it up.”

  “It’s easy,” Jase said. “I’ll talk you through it. I’d do it myself, but doing stitches in the mirror is a recipe for losing my eye.”

  “Fine,” Dawn said, though she didn’t know how much good she could possibly serve him.

  “Get the whiskey first,” Jase told her, and she suddenly realized what a good idea that was. A couple shots should steady her hands and make her less likely to slip and poke out his eye.

  When she returned, she had two glasses and the bottle in hand, but Jase only laughed.

  “What?” she asked, her brow furrowing at him.

  “I meant get the whiskey so we can disinfect this,” he said, laughing again. “But I could use a drink, and I’m sure you could too.”

  “Oh,” Dawn sighed.

  “It’s fine,” he assured her as he took her hand in his. “And thank you. I owe you one.”

  “I think I owed you,” she said as she took the towel from him. His bleeding had already begun to slow, and she poured some of the Johnnie Walker Red onto a clean part of the towel. Gently, she pressed it back to his wound, but he didn’t gasp or hiss or cry out. He only sat stoically on her couch and let her play nursemaid.

  “So, what happened?” she asked as she dabbed at the gash over his eyebrow.

  “I followed those hunters into the mountains,” Jase began as he opened up the antique medical kit he carried. Inside there wasn’t much, just some gauze, some thread, and a needle. Once he threaded the needle, he passed it to Dawn and then continued. “The wolf wasn’t going to be staying put, not with that many guns out looking for it. I don’t know, I’ve tangled with a lot of these things, but this one is different.”

  “How is it different?” Dawn asked as she shifted in her seat and leaned over her patient.

  “It’s bigger, it’s smarter,” Jase said. “Most of these things, they go wolf and they lose their humanity. All of it. This one is smart, calculating. You can get started, by the way,” he said.

  “Um…” Dawn hesitated.

  “You’ll do fine,” Jase assured her. “It’s like putting on a button.”

  “Okay,” Dawn said as she took a deep breath. The needle easily slid through Jase’s skin, and he didn’t even flinch. He only continued to talk.

  “I did shoot it, the other night, that is,” he said. “By its tracks, I can see it’s limping just a little. I thought I could get the drop on it, but it was waiting for me. Dawn, I think it set a trap for me.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked him as she began her second stitch.

  “I found... something,” he said. “Remains. The other hunters must have seen them, too.”

  “Oh my God,” Dawn paused. “It’s not...?”

  “Your friend?” he said. “I doubt it. She was a redhead, right? Well, the hair was blonde, but there was enough to know that the person it belonged to was no longer alive.”

  As much as Dawn felt for whoever the poor soul that Jase found, she couldn’t help but be relieved to hear that her friend wasn’t the one mangled in the woods. Despite her own fears that she would never see Courtney again, there was still a chance, and she clung to it.

  “Well,” he started again. “I was examining the remains, seeing if there was anything I could use to track the bastard when it sprang on me. I hate to say it, but if some of those other idiots hadn’t shown up when they did, I might not have made it.”

  “What about…,” Dawn began. “What about the other guy, the one that was bit?”

  That was when Jase finally showed some remorse. Just a hint of it flashed over his eyes while Dawn made another stitch.

  “I have to put him down,” he sighed. “Another werewolf out here? It would be chaos, more than there is now. He hasn’t turned yet, but he will. The first change is always on the full moon, but as he learns to control it, he’ll be able to change any time the moon is out.”

  “But what about if you kill the werewolf that bit him?” Dawn asked as she finished her final stitch. “
Like, the alpha, or whatever.”

  “The alpha and the one that bit him are two different things,” Jase said. “The movies don’t get everything right, I’m afraid. If this wolf we’ve got here is the head of the lineage, then killing him will end the curse over his entire line. It doesn’t work if it’s just some werewolf.”

  “How can you tell they’re the head of a line?” Dawn asked as she cut the end of the thread. All said and done, her stitches, all five of them, looked pretty damn good.

  “They’re bigger,” Jase said. “This one is big, but they’re bigger. And they’re all female. Kind of like a queen bee, I guess.”

  “Have you ever seen one?” Dawn asked as she poured two more glasses of whiskey.

  “No.” Jase shook his head. “But I know hunters who have. Not many have taken on an alpha and lived to talk about it. Either way, that guy who got bit is a dead man. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

  “Damn,” Dawn sighed. “I just... I can’t believe the world is this crazy.”

  “I’ve seen crazier,” Jase said. She knew it was meant as some weird form of reassurance or comfort, but it only served to worry her more.

  “Enough with that,” Jase said as he gently took Dawn’s chin in his strong hand. She thought, she hoped, that he was going to move to kiss her as he pulled her closer to him, but he stopped and stared into her eyes. “So, you took out your contacts,” he said before he released her.

  “Yeah,” Dawn said as she forced herself to turn away. Just that simple touch had sent her heart soaring, but then there was nothing but disappointment. “I, uh, was about to dye my hair before you showed up.”

  “Colored contacts, dyed hair,” Jase said as he looked her over. “Sounds like I’m not the only one with secrets to share.”

  “No,” Dawn shot back. “I just like how I look this way.”

  “Bullshit,” Jase said. “I’ve spent enough time pretending to be people I’m not to know when I see someone else doing it. Who are you hiding from?”

  “No one,” Dawn lied. “And screw you. You take off for three days after screwing me, and then don’t even call, and now you think you’re entitled to know all about me?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Jase argued, his voice turning to a low growl. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

  “Like hell you do,” she hissed at him. “If you cared, you would have called. Instead, you just show up here and expect me to play nurse and then call me a liar.”

  “It’s not like you called me, either!” he shot back. “God, I don’t have time to play stupid games. Is this really what you want? Or do you want me to go kill the monster that murdered your friend?”

  “Screw you,” Dawn said. His words cut deep. Though she’d begun to accept that very fact, hearing it from someone else shattered her.

  “Oh God, I’m sorry,” Jase said as he pulled her into his arms. “I didn’t mean... Goddamn it.”

  “She’s not dead,” Dawn argued as she fought off his embrace. “She can’t be.”

  “Stop,” he said as he only tried harder to control her, but Dawn wasn’t having it. Fury and hurt rippled through her as she pushed against his muscular chest, but he was stronger than her and didn’t give in. Still, she fought like a caged cat and twisted in his arms until his lips found hers and he kissed her deeply.

  His kiss calmed her, but only for a moment. As her senses came back to her, she pushed against him again. “Damn it,” she hissed, but his answer was another kiss, this time deeper and hungrier, and she found herself falling into it rather than resisting.

  With his tongue, Jase parted Dawn’s lips and began to explore her mouth. His kisses were hungry and passionate, and his fingers found her blonde hair and took hold of it.

  Their kisses deepened, and Dawn lost sight of the last of her protests. All that mattered to her now was the taste of Jase on her tongue, the feeling of his hands as they explored her body, and how much she wanted him. With their lips never parting, Dawn fumbled with the buttons of his shirt as she worked to undo them.

  The buttons seemed to take an eternity to open, but it was worth it to view what was hiding underneath. It was once she got his shirt open that she broke their kiss, but only so that she could begin to trace her lips down his muscular chest.

  Bruises had already startled to blossom on his skin, but Jase didn’t flinch as Dawn let her kisses move over each light purple blemish that traced across his strong chest. In the light, she could see scars peppering his flesh as well, and she let her fingers trail over them one by one as she worked her way down until she reached his belt.

  Even through his jeans, she could see the beginnings of his erection. Dawn was a woman incensed, and she moved to unbuckle his belt, removing it with a hard tug.

  “Dawn, you don’t have to,” Jase began, but she stopped him.

  “I want to,” she whispered as she undid his jeans. With his strong arms, Jase pushed his hips off the couch as Dawn tugged at his pants and freed his waiting cock. It was already pulsing and hard, and it only served to drive Dawn’s desires harder and deeper as she kissed and nipped at the tender flesh at the base of his stomach.

  “Oh, God,” Jase groaned as Dawn teased him. She let her fingers trail ever so close to the base of his shaft, but never close enough to touch him there. It was a delicate, deliberate dance, and Dawn wanted to drive him into a frenzy before she gave him the one thing he wanted most.

  She listened as his breathing turned harder and faint demands of aching need left his lips, but still she tormented and teased him. The anticipation made everything better, not just for him, but for her as well. Watching him writhe under her touch ignited a fight deep between her legs, and it wasn’t until he begged her that she was going to give him what he needed.

  “Please,” he moaned. “I can’t take it.”

  With a devilish smile, Dawn caught his eyes and saw everything she wanted from him there. His look was pleading with her and said everything that his words couldn’t. It was only then that she let the tip of her tongue trail across the head of his cock, and she shivered with pleasure as he moaned deeply from her touch.

  “Yes,” he groaned as her lips worked their way down his shaft. “Oh, Dawn, yes.” Precum began to spill from his tip. It was salty on Dawn’s tongue, but she paid it no mind. Controlling Jase’s pleasure was all she wanted at that moment, to make him ache for her and need her while she slowly and passionately gave him what he needed.

  His breathing had turned shallow and his cock began to pulsate on her tongue. Dawn knew what was coming, but she wasn’t finished yet. Though she enjoyed pleasuring him with her mouth, she pulled herself away from him and met his eyes.

  “Oh my God,” Jase breathed as she released him. “Holy shit.”

  “We aren’t done,” she purred at him. Like a cat, she prowled her way over his chest and her lips found his again while her fingers moved to her own t-shirt and began to tug it upwards. Her own need was starting to swell, and she knew it wouldn’t be long before she gave in to her own carnal impulses, but until then, she was going to have her fun.

  Jase’s hands went to explore her body, but she caught them and pressed them down on the couch. “Not yet,” she cooed as she released him and sat up. As if she was performing for him, she pulled her shirt over her head. She’d taken her bra off when she’d gotten home from the bar, and she bared her breasts to Jase as she threw off her shirt.

  Again, he tried to lean forward, to put his lips all over her body, but she stopped him. This time, she was in charge, and she leaned back and began to unbutton her own pants while he had no choice but to sit and watch.

  “I want you,” he growled. Though she hadn’t said it with words, he quickly understood just what she was up to, and despite his own need, he sat back and watched while she pushed down her pants and then her panties, finally baring herself to him.

  “I’ve thought about this for days,” she murmured as she moved back on top of him. Her long, lean legs
straddled his hips, and she teased his cock with the lips of her sex, but she wasn’t ready to give in yet. She wanted to toy with him, tease him, and make him wait for her like she’d waited for him.

  “Me too,” he groaned. “God, all I’ve wanted is to be inside you again.”

  His admission sparked a fire inside her, and no amount of teasing could stop her. Expertly, she lowered herself on top of Jase and let his cock fill her. He fit her so perfectly, so snugly, and her body hummed with pleasure as she took him all the way into her body.

  There were no words then, only moans as she grabbed his wrists and held them over his head while her hips started to buck on top of him. Though she knew he could easily overpower her if he wished, he did no such thing and let her dominate him while she rode his cock.

  Pleasure rose up inside Dawn’s body, and she knew what was coming. His body so perfectly aligned with her own that the pressure of her pelvis on his was enough to bring her close to the edge, but she knew she would need help if she wanted to find her release.

  “Make me cum,” she moaned as she released one of Jase’s hands. “Oh, God, make me cum.”

  Totally attuned to her game, Jase was happy to bring his hand between her legs, and his fingers easily found the bud of her pleasure that was hidden there. Gently he stroked it, but as her hips began to buck wildly, his touch grew hungrier and needier until she was right near the edge.

  “More,” she moaned. “Oh, God, more!”

  If he had planned to tease her, he failed miserably as his touch brought her over the edge. Her orgasm exploded white hot from within her belly and flowed through her like lava, warming her entire body while she struggled to continue riding him. Despite her efforts, she faltered as her orgasm filled her, but Jase was there to catch her. He leaned up on the couch and held her tightly against his strong chest until her orgasm subsided, leaving her breathless and shivering.

  “Oh my God,” she moaned, but they weren’t done yet. Jase was still hungry for his own release, but he was gentle with her post-orgasmic body as he took control.