Hunter's Moon

by Angela Colsin

  Wrapping his arms around her, he hoped he could convey enough affection to show how much he genuinely cared in return, and it must've worked to some degree because her grip around him tightened with a soft moan into his mouth. Sweetest thing I've ever heard.

  If he hadn't been so consumed by anxiety, the sound would've made him hard in an instant. Still, he didn't stop, using all the skill he possessed to give Emily a kiss she wouldn't soon forget—because this could be the last one they ever shared.

  And all Caleb could do in the meantime was wait, and hope for the best.

  • • •

  No matter how hard she tried to convince herself nothing was wrong, Emily was plagued with uncertainty the entire way to her duplex.

  On one hand, it was flattering to know Caleb trusted her enough to reveal his secret without waiting. But on the other, that trust and his interest could prove to be a double-edged blade if the secret turned out to be something she couldn't deal with.

  He'd even called his brother and Joslyn to come by for backup, making her extremely curious. If Joslyn knew this secret, and hadn't told her, then it must've been related to family matters, and the thought provided some comfort—if it was family related, it couldn't be anything malicious, could it?

  Whatever the case, Emily tried to reserve judgment and keep her imagination from running wild before receiving the facts. Yet she couldn't fully suppress her doubts, walking up the steps to her duplex to unlock the door after Caleb had parked his bike next to her car in the driveway.

  Inside, she flipped on the lights and let him in, watching as he looked around with interest.

  “Hey, your pictures look good here,” he remarked, examining a wall full of her landscape photography.

  Emily smiled, appreciating his approval despite her misgivings. “Thanks. So … should I get us anything to drink? Potentially something with large volumes of alcohol?”

  His smile was hesitant, but he didn't answer, looking through the screen door with a shake of his head. “Not yet, Conner and Joslyn just pulled in.”

  Glancing outside, she noticed their headlights moving into the driveway next door, and opened up as soon as they ascended the porch steps.

  It was somehow relieving to see their relaxed expressions, too, as if the impending conversation didn't concern anything so dire she couldn't recover from it. Then again, Joslyn did look a little remorseful, walking inside while greeting, “Hey guys. What's going on?”

  “Nothing much. Emily just wants to know the truth,” Caleb remarked simplistically.

  Nodding, Joslyn waved her hand at the couch and said, “It's probably a good idea to sit and get comfortable then. You guys want something to drink?”

  “There's beer in the fridge,” Emily qualified, “I'll go—”

  She stopped when Joslyn took off in that direction, replying, “Nope! I've got it.”

  Sighing, she shook her head and sat in a wing chair while Conner occupied the couch. Yet Caleb remained standing, quietly leaning against the wall near Emily's seat with an unreadable expression on his face.

  Whatever was on his mind, he didn't deny one of the beers Joslyn brought back—nor did he waste any time taking a long swig of the beverage.

  It was an action Emily mirrored, cracking her bottle open while Joslyn sat next to Conner and took a deep breath. “Okay! So, how the hell do you get started on this? Because it's not something you wanna just spit out.”

  She looked at Conner, who shrugged and asked Emily, “How open minded are you when it comes to stuff that's really hard to believe?”

  At his strange question, she looked at her beer and asked, “Should I drink more of this before we go any further? Because you guys are actually starting to weird me out. Is something wrong with Caleb?”

  “Aside from being a smartass?” Conner returned, grinning. “No, there's nothing wrong with either of us.”

  Emily would've relaxed at his humor, but the phrasing of his response was too dubious to allow it.

  “What do you mean either of us?”

  At that, Joslyn admitted rather plainly, “The truth sounds a lot more complicated than it is, Em, and it has to do with all three of us, not just Caleb. But you have to believe in the supernatural before you can accept it.”

  “The … supernatural?” If Emily had to make a list of turns she thought this conversation might take, the supernatural wouldn't have even made the last spot, and she couldn't begin to imagine how in the world it related.

  The only clues available came from looking between the three of them to gauge their expressions; Conner seemed sympathetic, but relaxed, Joslyn looked a little unsure, and Caleb?

  He was completely out of sorts. He won't even look at me.

  “Yeah,” Conner qualified, “and you won't believe this right away no matter how gently we lay it on the table. But the truth is that the supernatural is real, Emily. Vampires, fairies, witches, stuff you haven't even heard of before. It all exists, and the three of us are a part of it.”

  Emily lapsed into silent contemplation at his description—mostly to figure out where the cameras were hiding and which of them had set up such an elaborate joke, or why.

  But if they were playing a prank, Joslyn wasn't admitting it, adding to her husband's statement, “We're not exactly human, Em. We're lupines.”

  Quietly, she stared at her best friend with the statement echoing in her head too loudly to allow her to think of anything to say. But she heard herself asking skeptically despite her stupor, “Lupines?”

  “Yep,” Joslyn confirmed. “Basically, the difference between us and humans is that we sometimes turn into wolves. We're a type of animal shifter.”

  Lupines? Animal shifters? Suddenly, Emily scoffed, asking, “Okay, where's the camera crew filming this prank?”

  Joslyn smirked. “I wish I could say there was one, Em, but this isn't a prank. The secret Caleb was worried about exposing to you is that he's not human, and we can prove it anytime you'd like if that's what you want.”

  Emily was smiling and shaking her head before Joslyn finished with her explanation, ready to announce that they'd have to do better than this. But she soon realized that none of them were smiling back, at least, not in a way that made her think they were kidding.

  In response, her smile faded with doubt creeping in, and Caleb groaned, muttering something under his breath that sounded like this is so fucked, redoubling her sense that they really weren't lying.

  But it simply couldn't be true! Maybe stuff like ghosts were real—who knew what happened in the afterlife. But vampires? Fairies? Animal shifters?

  “No, you guys have to be jerking my chain,” Emily started, trying to rationalize everything. “I don't doubt there's some paranormal stuff out there, but what you're telling me doesn't make any sense. If fairies existed, how have they not been discovered before?”

  “Because human's never see the things they don't believe exists,” Conner supplied. “For example, some beings have pointed ears, and they interact with humans everyday. But you've never seen it because you believe it's not there.”

  At that, Joslyn frowned, quick to add, “And my biggest regret is that we've been friends all our lives, but I couldn't tell you any of this because we have to stay hidden to protect ourselves, and humans. So if I wanted to tell you, I would've had to get permission.”

  “Permission from who?”

  She shook her head, casually replying, “Don't worry about that right now. Let's just focus on the basics first.”

  The basics of what? A crash course in the secret lives of lupines? Rattled by the mere idea, Emily stood and paced across the room, keeping her gaze away from everyone present while trying to come to terms with what they were telling her. But there was just so much to swallow—and so much doubt—that she could barely process it, let alone accept it.

  At least, not without seeing it for herself.

  “You said you could prove it?” she asked, turning to face Joslyn again.

&n
bsp; Nodding, her friend looked between Conner and Caleb, then directed Emily, “Watch my eyes, you'll see them start glowing.”

  Reluctantly, she did as directed, watching carefully while Joslyn stared at her. In the process, she almost expected her friend to start laughing before exclaiming we so had you going! Then Emily could grab the nearest pillow and smack her in the face, laugh, and tell them what kind of jerks they were.

  But that option flew out the window when Joslyn's eyes actually started to glow.

  “Holy shit!” Emily exclaimed, backing up several steps. “What the fuck, Joslyn?”

  Much to her bafflement, her best friend's doe eyes were now a brownish shade of gold as she quickly held up a hand and rushed out, “It's okay, Emily, you don't have to be scared.”

  “The hell I don't! Why are your eyes glowing?”

  “We call it the cusp of change. It happens just before we shift into wolves.”

  Emily tried to take her meaning in, but the words were hovering just over her head where she couldn't quite reach them. At the same time, a million questions surfaced, moving through her mind too swiftly to keep track—but one stood out.

  Can I actually trust them, or should I get going while the going's still good?

  Chapter 17

  Emily wasn't taking this very well, and Caleb felt sick.

  As she stared at her childhood friend in shock, doubt, and even fear, he tried to come up with something to say, anything, that might ease her discomfort. But all he could think about was Fiona's similar reaction, and his worry that, at any second, Emily was going to take off without warning.

  Sweat beaded his forehead, his chest constricting as if a fist was squeezing him, stealing his breath. But he forced his focus onto Emily, wiping the moisture away from his forehead with the back of his hand and clearing his throat to state as gently as possible, “We wanted to tell you this because we all trust you.”

  “You trust me? Why?”

  “We know you're a good, decent person,” Conner qualified. “And you've been friends with Joslyn for years. She's still the same woman you knew before, she just has a few habits she's had to hide.”

  “Habits? You mean like … turning into a wolf? And then what?”

  “We usually just run around the woods as wolves,” Joslyn answered as simplistically as possible.

  “Do you … kill people?”

  “No, we're not murderers,” she answered seriously. “Most of us live the same way as humans. We go to school, get jobs, and have families. The only special part is the wolf thing.”

  Conner reinforced her point with a nod of his head, then snapped his fingers as if recalling something important. “Oh, I know what could help. Emily, when you get the chance, you should talk to Nicole and Ashley. They were both born human like you, but then they were turned.”

  “Turned?”

  He nodded. “If a human wants to become a lupine, they have the option. But my point is that there are people around you can talk to if you want a more familiar point of view on the matter. They went through the same confusion you're dealing with now when they learned the truth.”

  Caleb thought that made a lot of sense. Nicole or Ashley could easily relate to her perspective—though Emily was staring at Conner like he'd just spoken gibberish.

  The confusion and doubt in her sapphire eyes gave him the strongest urge to reach for her and promise he'd do whatever it took to make this right. But he was the very reason she was trapped in such confusing disbelief to begin with, and she'd likely turn down any attempt at comfort he offered.

  So aside from giving reassurances, there was nothing he could do.

  “Emily,” he started softly. “I'm so sorry. I didn't wanna scare you with this, but you deserved to know.”

  Her gaze remained steadily away from him, and she didn't even address his comment before asking, “How are humans turned?”

  Joslyn explained the process. “We have to change into a wolf, and bite the right side of their neck. The change is instantaneous, and afterwards, the pack helps them get used to life as a lupine.”

  “The pack … ?”

  “That's just a fancy word referring to all the lupines living together in a city,” she responded, and Caleb was so glad for Joslyn's presence and easy going attitude he could've kissed her.

  Still, Emily took a deep breath, then glanced down at the beer in her hand as if she'd forgotten it was there—and wasted no time downing the rest of the bottle.

  That's when Joslyn asked, “Would you like us to go so you can think about everything for a while, Em?”

  Lowering the bottle, and despite her obvious incredulity, Emily's response was given without hesitation.

  “Yeah, actually. I would.”

  Nodding, Joslyn patted Conner's leg to urge him out, and as she stood from the couch, she mentioned, “We'll be right next door whenever you need us, okay? Caleb, come on.”

  Caleb knew he should go, but he was having trouble making himself move. Emily still hadn't looked at him, and it was worrisome. He much preferred her method of ignoring him and asking questions to Fiona's march out the door, but not knowing what Emily was thinking was damned near impossible to deal with.

  So, as Joslyn walked over and started urging him toward the exit, he found himself staring in the human's direction, trying to memorize everything about her for reasons he couldn't discern.

  “Emily, I … ”

  He would've continued, and asked her not to leave no matter what happened. But she turned and disappeared into the kitchen before he could utter a single word.

  And his heart broke. She hates me.

  Caleb didn't register anything that happened next. Instead, he somehow found himself in Conner's apartment several minutes later, pacing back and forth across the living room while wondering what the hell he'd just done.

  Had he made a mistake? Was history about to repeat itself? Why the hell am I just pacing over here when I could be consoling her?

  At the thought, he nearly moved to the front door. But Joslyn stopped him at the last second when she reentered from her brief bathroom break.

  “Try not to run a track in the carpet, Caleb. You might fall through the floor.”

  Normally, he would've made some clever retort. But now, he continued to pace.

  Seeing his agitation, she went on, “Seriously, Em'll be fine. She just needs time to think.”

  Conner, who'd been sitting on the sofa the entire while, reinforced his mate's point. “Emily's not closed minded, Caleb.”

  “Neither was Fiona,” he heard himself muttering.

  “Yeah, but I know Emily, and it's just gonna take her some time to come to terms. Even still, don't you think you're overreacting? I know you told a human what you are before and it went badly, but you just seem—”

  “Because Fiona killed herself!” Caleb suddenly snapped, coming to a stop in his pacing as he impulsively announced the truth.

  And it stunned both Joslyn and Conner into silence.

  But he couldn't keep it hidden anymore, so worried history was about to repeat itself with Emily that he went on, “Fiona left when I told her what I was, went to stay in Atlanta, and I didn't wanna leave it on bad terms. So I followed her the next day and found her dead. She'd overdosed on her prescriptions.”

  “Oh my god,” Joslyn whispered. “Caleb, I … I'm so sorry.”

  Conner was speechless for a few moments more, but finally asked softly, “Do you know why?”

  “Yeah, because I'm not fucking human. Because I'm a damned supernatural freak who should've known better than to tell a woman who wanted a normal life the reasons why I couldn't give it to her.”

  “You can't believe that,” Joslyn returned.

  “I don't know what the hell I believe,” Caleb muttered, turning to face the door where he stared outside at Emily's car parked next to his bike. “I only know we've scared the shit out of the woman next door, and now we're just supposed to sit here and let her think about it.
”

  Silence ensued his statement until he heard Joslyn sigh. “I know, and I don't like it either. But we have to show her that she can still trust us by giving her the space she asked for.”

  He knew that, but it wasn't right. Even if Emily came to accept the truth without any complications arising, he'd never be completely at peace with upsetting her this way.

  But his thoughts were temporarily distracted from the matter when he heard Conner standing from his seat, and looked back to find his twin approaching with a concerned look in his eyes.

  Once he was only a few feet away, he asked, “Why didn't you ever tell any of us what actually happened with Fiona? Or at least tell me?”

  Knowing Conner felt slighted by his twin's lack of confidence when they usually shared everything, Caleb exhaled low, admitting, “Dad knew. He was with me at her funeral, and I made him promise not to tell anyone. I just … I couldn't let Fiona be remembered as the human who took her life when she found out about us. She deserves better than that, so I asked him … ”

  He would've continued, but the sound of an engine turning over hit his ears.

  Without pause, Caleb looked outside just in time to see the headlights of Emily's sedan coming on. She was now sitting behind the wheel of her car, which then backed out of the driveway—and Caleb's heart increased it's pace so swiftly he thought it'd explode.

  “Shit! She's leaving!”

  Grabbing the doorknob, he rushed outside just as the sedan took off down the street, cursing loudly in its wake.

  “Where is she going?”

  “I have no idea,” Joslyn remarked, now standing on the porch. “Maybe she thinks a drive will clear her head. Or she could actually need something from the store.”

  That was entirely feasible, but Caleb was so concerned he'd just royally fucked up that he couldn't entertain any rational possibilities. When Fiona left, he knew exactly where she was going, knew how to find her.

  But this time, he didn't have any damned clue.