Secrets of the Moon

by Kristy Centeno

  After the very embarrassing scene upstairs, how were they expecting me to stick around? I could barely make eye contact.

  Alexis rushed inside the sitting area just as I was getting ready to argue that I was extremely uncomfortable and wanted to go home. I didn’t have to say a word.

  “Come on, Marjie, I’m taking you home.”

  A hasty farewell later, I followed Alexis out the front door.

  ***

  My mind rushed back and forth with the events of the past twenty-four hours. So much had happened in so little time and none of it helped to clear my head. Instead, I was more confused than ever. Uncovering Kyran’s secret was unexpectedly trifling compared to the fact that he was a man-eater who had yet to commit murder.

  But if the man wasn’t really a man but a werewolf, was it still considered murder? I shook my head and decided not to dwell on that for the time being.

  So far the drive home was deathly quiet and extremely uncomfortable. Alexis had yet to say a word, and in order to avoid his constant leers I opted for staring out the window instead. He was upset, yet I really didn’t understand why. He should be happy that Kyran was with me for as long as he was and I still managed to walk out of the house in one piece. I know I was.

  The tension was so dense inside the car, I felt like not even a pair of hedge clippers would be able to cut through it. It was very annoying to sit there and wait for him to say something, anything at all, but he chose to keep his mouth shut, which annoyed me even more.

  Unable to take the silence anymore, I turned in my seat to face him and said, “Whatever it is that you’re holding down, just please spit it out already.”

  “What are you upset about?” he asked without looking at me.

  “You! Your attitude!”

  He finally spared a glance my way. “You almost get yourself killed and you’re mad at me?”

  “I’m not mad at you. I just want to you to communicate with me. I have enough of your brother always holding things back and I can’t stand it that you’re just sitting there not saying a word while I’m sitting here waiting for you to explode on me.” His brief smile was incredibly reassuring to me for some reason. “Nothing happened and—”

  The little humor he showed by smiling changed into something else in a heartbeat. His eyes scorched like cinders as he glared at me. “Nothing happened? You’re really going to go there?” He shook his head and gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “Kyran stepped way over the boundaries this time—”

  “Whoa! What’s that supposed to mean, exactly?”

  “Are you still so clueless? Do you not see?” Though he added nothing else, his eyes seemed to speak to me somehow. It almost felt as if he was pleading for me to understand. But it was hard for me to accept everything I’d learned. How could I?

  “I know what Kyran is. What do you want me to say?” I averted my gaze, opting to look out the window instead.

  “He told you?”

  “Yes.” I murmured.

  He sighed and release his grip on the steering wheel. “Make no mistake in judgment, Marjorie. Kyran can kill you, and he came really close to—”

  “No!” I shook my head in denial. “He won’t.”

  Alexis reached out and rested one hand over mine. “You’ve seen nothing yet, Marjorie. Yesterday was nothing. He gets worse than that, a lot worse.”

  The tears that blurred my vision came as no surprise. What did startle me was just how much I refused to admit, even to myself, that Kyran was a bloodthirsty monster. That fact just wouldn’t register with my stubborn head. How could I understand or come to accept that Kyran, the guy I cared for, was a man-eater? It wasn’t bad enough that he was a werewolf—no—he had to be the one born with a concealed killer inside.

  “If all of this is true, then why do you guys let him mingle with people? You know the risks, then why…why?” I turned to look at him again.

  “He was doing a lot better, he kept it under control for so long that we thought…we hoped… It was useless to hope. He thought he could pull it off. Hell, we all did, but it’s only a matter of time before he snaps under the pressure. And being around you doesn’t really help him at all.”

  Alexis’s words, even though they were only meant to confirm Kyran’s story and nothing else, caused what little hope I was clinging to to break instantly. In a matter of seconds, I buried my face in my hands and allowed pent-up frustration, shock, anger, and even fear to flow down my cheeks in welcome torrents. I was so far gone in my self-pity demonstration that I was completely unaware of the car slowing down then coming to a stop at the side of the road.

  “Marjorie.” Alexis placed one warm hand on my shoulder, an attempt at comforting my breaking heart. “Don’t blame yourself, this couldn’t be helped. We knew…we’ve always known this would happen. Ne pleure pas, s’il vous plait!”

  His caring tone reassured me, if nothing else did. My hands immediately dropped down to my lap and I raised my eyes to look at Kyran’s double. His eyes turned a dark shade of gray as he stared at me, much like Kyran’s always did.

  “I’m sorry, I…you guys have it worse than I do.” I swiped my tears away with the back of my hand. “You have to deal with his defect every day. Whereas I just met him.” Just saying those words unsettled me more than I’d ever thought possible.

  “Now you know why I was so angry when I walked inside the house.” He tipped my chin up so that our gazes met.

  My cheeks started to burn from embarrassment. “To be honest I was kind of confused then. You—” Alexis’s words came back to haunt me. If you do what I think you have in mind, I’ll kill you! “What did you mean?”

  His expression darkened and he moved away from me.

  “Alexis…” He wouldn’t look at me. “Alexis!”

  “Nothing. I was just trying to protect you. That’s all.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Alexis. You were angry because you thought Kyran was going to do something to me. What was it?”

  He refused to look at me and that pissed me off.

  “Like I said, my only interest is keeping my blood brother from causing you physical harm, that’s all.”

  At his lie, my anger boiled over. “Liar! That’s not all of it and you know it!”

  Furious that he would keep information from me, I opened the car door and jumped out, slamming it behind me. I heard him calling my name but I ignored him and started walking away. If he wasn’t willing to be honest with me then I wasn’t willing to listen to any more of what he had to say. They were all keeping information from me. I could feel it. I didn’t know if it was relevant to Kyran and me or not, but I felt like I needed to know anyway.

  “Marjorie! Marjorie!”

  He was right behind me. Recalling that he was a werewolf put me at ease when I started to wonder how he’d managed to bridge the distance between us so quickly.

  A second later, he grabbed my arm and forced me around to face him.

  “No! No! You are all lying to me.” I shouted as I struggled to break free from him.

  When he kept pulling me toward him, I tried shoving him away, but experience taught me you can shove a werewolf this way and that way, but that doesn’t mean he’s actually going to move. My meager human strength was no match for his tall, bulky form.

  “Maybe we’re trying to protect you, Marjorie! Ever thought about that?”

  “By keeping information from me?”

  “Yes!” he barked out the word.

  Was Kyran the werewolf that had been stalking me, and that was why the Rousseau’s were hesitant to tell me much of anything? Were they afraid I would freak out, again?

  “How can keeping information from me ever benefit me in any way?” I challenged.

  “So that…maybe…just maybe, after all of this is over—”

  “Over? What’s going to be over?”

  He hesitated. “We just want you to get back to your normal life, Marjorie.”

  “Well, I have
news for you, Alexis! My life will never be normal again, thanks to you guys!”

  He flinched as if I had punched him below the belt. Maybe I delivered a low blow with those words, but I couldn’t stop the onslaught of emotions going through me. I was close to exploding with emotional excess.

  He let go of me then, and I took several steps back. Suddenly, I felt bad for taking out my anger on him. Did I do that on purpose? Maybe. I really wanted to vent my anger on Kyran, but he would rip my head off, whereas Alexis would only stand there and stare back at me much like he was doing at the moment.

  Out of the corner of my eye, a flash of movement caught my attention. Something beyond the line of trees was moving, but so far all I could see was a tall shadow-like figure. It could have been anything, a big bear, a mountain lion, even a person. How was I to know? The distance didn’t allow for a quick identification. The shadow soon darted behind a tall tree and out of view.

  I glanced at Alexis to see if he’d detected anything but he was too busy staring at his feet. Concerned, I let my eyes survey the wooded area beyond the road to see if I could get a second peek at whatever was out there. I saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  As I continued to scan the area, I came to the startling realization that we were in the middle of an empty road surrounded by nothing but Mother Nature and if we were attacked, I’d only have Alexis there to protect me. Attack? From who or what? I already knew who the werewolves were. Didn’t I?

  Everything else that followed next happened so fast I scarcely had any time to take in what was happening until it was all over. The movement beyond the trees soon turned back into a shadow-like figure, and that shadow-like figure turned into a tall, hairy, and mean-looking werewolf. As it got closer to the road, I noticed it was walking on all four legs, hunched over. I jumped back when I saw it bolt upright. My sudden movement caught Alexis’s attention and he snapped his head up to look at me. When he saw me staring off into the distance, he turned to follow the direction of my gaze.

  The mean-looking werewolf started to run and I screamed when I noticed it was headed right toward us with surprisingly fast speed.

  “Alexis!” I cried out.

  Reading the werewolf’s intentions, Alexis ran to me and pushed me down on the ground just seconds before the werewolf landed on his back. The huge werewolf grabbed Alexis’s arm and tried yanking him off me. But Alexis resisted and turned slightly to slam his elbow in his opponent’s face. I tried not to move and leave my body exposed as Alexis used his frame as a shield.

  But even as he kept trying to keep the werewolf from grabbing hold of me, pangs of guilt rushed through me because had I not exited the car, perhaps Alexis wouldn’t be absorbing all the blows meant for me. A scream dislodged from my throat when an attempt to get to me failed and the werewolf ended up digging his huge canines into Alexis’s back. He bit into Alexis with brutal force and the sound of bones cracking invaded my ears.

  However, Alexis didn’t utter a sound as the werewolf savagely dug his sharp canines into his broad back, but I could feel his entire body tense. At that moment, I was unsure whether the werewolf was breaking Alexis’s spine or not, and the realization that he could die nearly stopped my heart from beating. If there was one thing I couldn’t handle right then it was Alexis’s death. I couldn’t envision a world without that face.

  The werewolf came up on his hind legs and growled, showing rows of sharp teeth. He tried to snatch my arm but Alexis deflected the move by slamming his elbow into the werewolf’s ribcage. The werewolf let out a screech of surprise and backed off slightly. Scared and concerned for Alexis, I averted my gaze from the beast and searched Alexis’s face, which was locked in a grimace. His facial expression soon changed from pain to anger, fury, and then raw rage. After catching a glimpse of Alexis’s glowing eyes, I was certain he was going to change forms right then.

  Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.

  Alexis pushed up from atop of me and stood, the movement so fast I was barely able to register it. He turned around to meet the werewolf face to face. “Get back to the car, Marjie!” His voice sounded more like a growl than an actual male voice. Without waiting for me to respond, he moved forward.

  In one quick jerk, Alexis rushed forward, slamming his body into the werewolf’s, pushing him down flat on his back. The unexpectedness of Alexis’s movements caught the werewolf off guard and he was unable to dodge the attack. As soon as the werewolf’s back touched the ground Alexis’s clothing tore loose from his own body as the change took over.

  The loud, resonating growls of the two werewolves left my ears aching and I had to cover them with both hands to keep out the worst of the noise. Moving my hands was the only movement I could master at that moment because I was very much glued to the ground, still shaking all over as I watched the conflict from my safety zone. It took all the power I had just to push myself off the ground and into a sitting position. From my front row seat on the asphalt road, I was able to see the two werewolves locked in a vicious battle.

  By then Alexis had the upper hand as he lay atop the other werewolf, biting down on the werewolf’s neck with deadly intent. That’s when I heard something crack. The noise was sickening to hear. However, the other werewolf had no intention of dying that day because he didn’t give up the fight just yet. In a quick jerk of his paw, he swiped at Alexis and struck him straight on the nose. Although the blow wasn’t a hard one, it was enough to get Alexis to loosen his grip. As soon as he let go, the werewolf shoved him off forcefully, using his arms to push Alexis from his body. Alexis rolled several feet before coming to a stop.

  The beast rose and lunged toward Alexis with his snout wide open, his sharp teeth extended. Alexis recovered quickly and rose, turning to meet the impact head on, but his effort wasn’t fast enough. The werewolf slammed into him with all his might and closed his snout on one of Alexis’s back legs.

  The loud cracking sound of Alexis’s back leg breaking was deafening. Still, I heard no yelp of pain or discomfort come from Alexis, only a loud and angry growl. In an equally swift movement, Alexis angled his body to the left so that he could grab hold of the werewolf’s back leg with one hand. Once he grasped it, he gripped it with such force I could clearly see the claws embedding themselves into skin and flesh, and yanked the werewolf forward, making him lose his balance and fall sideways.

  It was then Alexis rose and managed to bite the other werewolf in his abdominal cavity. The beast yelped in pain and surprise and started to furiously twist beneath Alexis. The scene was bloody and vicious, yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Not even when Alexis clamped his snout on the beast’s abdomen and used his claws to mutilate the werewolf’s face. Roars of anger and pain could be heard loud and clear.

  Throughout all of this, I was still frozen to the same spot I had been to begin with, sitting on the ground near the red Lexus. I began to wonder how it was that no cars were passing by. It was early evening. Heck, the sun was still out. I expected at least one car to pass and see the circus show of two werewolves ripping each other to pieces, but none did.

  I, however, could only watch in horror as the werewolf finally managed to dislodge Alexis from atop him using his back legs. Instead of getting up and charging again, he turned…toward me. His cold, calculating eyes appraised me for a second before he rushed toward me. I tried to scramble up but my legs refused to obey. I was staring death in the face and I couldn’t move to save my own life. I watched in shock as he ran with sturdy determination, closing the gap between us in only a few seconds. The werewolf leapt upward, flying through the air like a mountain lion trying to grab a bird in midflight.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Alexis’s following pursuit.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The werewolf was big, strong, and fast, but Alexis moved faster. Before the beast could get to me, Alexis leaped through the air at the same time the other werewolf did and tackled him first. Both flew right over my head and landed on the red Lexus with a
big smash. The car’s hood dented rapidly with the added weight, the chassis bending like hot plastic. All the windows exploded outwards, forming tiny sprinkles of glass missiles that rocketed outward. In order to protect my face, I covered it by using both hands as a shield. I could feel a few sharp sparks of pain here and there where the miniscule pieces of glass cut the backs of my hands.

  As soon as both werewolves landed, Alexis dug his huge claws on the back of his opponent’s shoulder blades and put all his weight on him. The beast tried in vain to rise. Unfortunately for him, Alexis was bigger and stronger.

  Once the werewolf was secured, Alexis ripped through skin and flesh using his sharp canines. Within seconds a low gurgling sound invaded my ears as the flesh around the werewolf’s neck was exposed, a big hole now visible where flesh used to be. In one last desperate attempt to survive, the werewolf dug his own hands onto the car and tried pushing his body up to shrug Alexis off. But his effort was hopeless. Alexis used that massive snout of his to tear off what was left of the beast’s neck. The gruesome move left the werewolf’s head dangling at a grotesque manner. I stared in open fascination and morbid curiosity throughout it all.

  For what seemed an eternity, I couldn’t remove my eyes from the dead werewolf. My heart was locked in panic mode and my brain refused to send out any commands to my frozen body. It was only after I heard Alexis groan that I realized he was hurt and came back to my senses. I rose rapidly from the ground and ran toward what was left of the red Lexus.

  “Alexis! Alexis!” It seemed that all I could say was his name.

  Alexis was already standing next to the car, in his human form. In my hurry to get to him, I nearly caused another catastrophe by almost ramming into him.

  “I’m all right, Marjie.” His voice was so low I could scarcely hear it. He was covered in bloody bite marks on his chest and neck, several long gashes were visible on his shoulders, and he had a noticeable limp. How could he say he was all right? “Why didn’t you listen to me and get in the car like I asked you to?” he reprimanded me.