Moonlight Betrayal: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 5)

by K. R. Alexander

  His tone was mild but I wasn’t fooled. Isaac had been waiting to inquire about my wellbeing, possibly for hours. Naturally, Kage’s bedroom door would be unlocked. Andrew maybe in there, or not.

  What was Isaac’s plan after the question and deciding for himself what all had happened?

  Take Kage quietly out back to shoot him like a mad dog, I suspected.

  “This is between Kage, Jason, and me,” I said calmly, sitting up with both hands around the coffee mug. “And, no, he never even touched me. I’m perfectly fine.”

  “Because they had to fight him off?”

  “Isaac.” I met his emerald eyes across the small room, unblinking.

  Still by the window, Zar watched us.

  Isaac’s stiff posture belied his casual voice.

  “Three things.” I spoke softly. I’d been teased by them about my list habit. Now was a time and place for one. “First of all, that was in fur and a different Moon. Mistakes were made and everyone is fine. Second, it’s none of your business to go out of your way to involve yourself in this situation that is, like I said, between the three of us. I appreciate your concern for my wellbeing, but that’s as far as it needs to go. And, third, anything you might feel like doing about Kage just now would be in violation of my moral compass, even if it was suitable for your own laws. So it could have devastating repercussions on our relationship—yours and mine. All for something that you shouldn’t have been involved in from the start.”

  I took a slow breath. “I can’t tell you how to live your life. Anyway, I regret being over-involved trying to control difficult situations along the way with all of you. I’ve made many mistakes. Most noticeably in the past forty-eight hours. I’m sorry about that. But nowhere near as sorry as I would be if our current situation—which is my fault in the first place—were to continue to escalate due to you taking out your anger on Kage. Or otherwise taking law and order into your own hands.

  “Kage bit Jason in skin last night. But it was an accident. Jason jumped into the middle of a fight. Anyone would have been bitten. Hopefully Jason was okay after he changed. That’s it. No one touched me. I’m fine. I hope they’re fine. And they get some rest. We can talk about this later. Not you. Kage and Jason and myself. Right now, what we need is a recess.”

  Isaac seemed about to say something. Instead, he averted his gaze to the bathroom door off to the left.

  There was a distinctly uncomfortable silence before he said, “We thought you would enjoy seeing Harrogate. If you’d care to go? Lunch, sightsee. Or the cinema?”

  “Cinema?” I rubbed my eyes. “That’s … a really good idea. Maybe we all need something like that today.” I looked at Zar. “Ever go to movies?”

  “Rarely. Too loud. But I’m easy. Andrew likes films.” Adding the last as if to show his team spirit was strong at the moment.

  Back to Isaac. “What about the rain and bikes? We’ll be a mess.”

  “It isn’t that far. The rain’s letting up. Give it another half hour and there won’t be much to worry about.”

  “Will you please invite the others? I’ll get ready. Thank you, Isaac.”

  He inclined his head and retreated.

  I waited until I heard doors to whisper to Zar, “What would he have done to Kage?”

  Zar stepped over to sit on the bed beside me. “Oh, maybe nothing violent.” He smiled reassuringly, also whispering. “Or … maybe just a bit. I reckon he’d mostly have destroyed Kage’s future in the pack.”

  “What do you mean?” I sat up closer to him, finishing my coffee.

  “Kage and his core aspirations. He’s trying to make up to Diana about trouble he’s been in. His reputation with Peter and Hannah is important to him these days.”

  I nodded. I’d certainly seen that in action.

  “Well … if Isaac took it back to Diana that Kage had gone for a human in fur, any human, whether he ended up biting them or not, Kage would be finished. It would destroy him. No chance of core—ever. Worm servant for the rest of his life. And, if he ever did actually bite a human after that…”

  “They would kill him?”

  Zar gave his one-sided shrug.

  “You think Isaac would really do that to him? Over something like this? All out of context?”

  “Of course not. You told him not to. He respects you as much as he does Diana.”

  “But, if I hadn’t told him?”

  “Oh. Sure he would. He has a wicked temper. I don’t think he’d actually go in there and cut Kage’s throat or something. But anything short of that to punish Kage? Sure. We’re blessed he wasn’t there last night.”

  “Goddess … and that he doesn’t own a gun.” I squeezed my temples. “You all would be working fine together without me.”

  “We couldn’t work without you, Cass. We tried—”

  “That was only because you were missing me and didn’t have a leader.” I looked up. “What if you’d had someone else in the first place? What if Atarah, or Peter, led you to find vampires? None of this would be happening. You’d all be working together. I’m the problem. Yet I’ve been blaming you for fighting and—”

  “Nonsense.” Zar took my face gently in both hands. He kissed my lips. “If you hadn’t been here, and we’d even had a starting place at all—say we’d known about the vampires—someone like Peter would have got a few wolves together and gone to investigate. But, by Moon, it wouldn’t have been us. Peter would have hand-picked those he saw as most capable, best with humans, most adaptive. Isaac’s name might have come up, but he wouldn’t take Isaac because of his career. And Kage would have wanted to go. Maybe Peter would have let him—trying to prove himself, keeping him on a short chain. But it wouldn’t have lasted. They’d have rowed and Kage would have had a tough time in the city, so Peter would have sent him home.”

  Zar cocked his head, stroking back my hair. “Don’t you see? We’re not trying to work together in spite of you. Or following because you’re all we have. We’re here because of Moon’s luck—which is fate. Because we want to be with you and we want to help our pack. Because Diana gave us a chance—and Jason wanted to be with Kage and Andrew wants to hunt down the killers. Because of those things we followed you. But we don’t need them anymore. Now we’re here because we love you. We don’t row because you’re here. We only manage as well as we do because you’re leading the way.”

  He smiled and kissed me again, seeming to think he was sharing something wonderful. Yet I felt even worse: my betrayal of Kage all the more devastating.

  I thanked Zar, hugged him, and shoved him to move. “I need to get dressed.”

  By the time I was out of the bathroom, Zar, Isaac, Andrew, and Jason were ready to go. I was surprised about the latter. Maybe Jason could also see he needed a recess, though. He and Andrew were apparently the only cinema fans in the group.

  Before we left, I stepped into the room next to mine—this already having been high-traffic with Isaac and Jason getting ready to leave. Only Jed was in there now, curled up in one of the two beds, an arm over his face. Probably awake after all the commotion, but able to nap in skin from exhaustion when he had to.

  I rested the wool ball gently on the bedside table and slipped back out.

  Then I stopped at Kage’s door. I did not try the knob here. “Kage?” I waited, but nothing, and went on downstairs.

  Isaac had been right: Harrogate—the most beautiful English town I’d ever seen—a movie, and a late lunch were all especially welcome, even in the rain. No one mentioned vampires, kindred, murder, or Kage.

  They each had their own bucket of popcorn—like the movie theater and screen, the sizes in England were not nearly as large as in the States, but still a lot of popcorn—with extra butter. Jason ate an entire box of peanut butter candy, Zar got a white chocolate ice cream bar, and Andrew a salted caramel bar. Isaac didn’t go in so much for the sweets, but asked for an extra paper cup of butter for his popcorn.

  There was a scramble over preferred se
ats and some snack spilling. Isaac and Andrew ended up sitting to each side of me, Zar relegated to an outside spot after Andrew tripped him at the end of the row. Andrew, it turned out, had a particular purpose in sitting beside me.

  Bucket between his knees, he unwrapped the salted caramel bar and offered it to me. “Would you mind, darling? Chocolate shell?”

  “You … want me to eat the chocolate off that?”

  “If you’d be a dear. Otherwise I have to pluck it off and bin it and it’s a pain in the arse—not to mention a mess.”

  I took the bar from him. “You don’t like chocolate?”

  “Oh, no, on the contrary. But it tends to give us tummy trouble so we keep it to a minimum. It’s the golden middle I’m after anyway.”

  Yes, I’d seen Andrew order anything caramel he could find on various menus. It only then crossed my mind, though, that I’d never seen them eat anything chocolate. Andrew had even gifted me chocolate-covered espresso beans. For them it was strawberry trifle, black currant ice cream, caramel milkshakes, and peanut butter candy.

  Still, it was a bit ironic saying it would give him “tummy trouble” when his adopted brother sat on his other side dumping a whole box of candy in his mouth.

  “Help yourself to popcorn,” Andrew added, as if in trade, as I carefully tried to bite the milk chocolate shell off the bar.

  “I have my own.”

  Andrew smiled indulgently at the paper sack in my left hand. “Please, darling, you don’t eat enough to keep a parakeet alive.”

  “Why are they only showing American movies? Call me crazy, but I thought we could see something … British.” It was indeed a bit of a messy procedure, but I ate off the shell while Andrew waited.

  “There was the French flick at the other cinema, crazy. Could have gone there.”

  “That looked too depressing.”

  “No, really? Not a French film.”

  I handed the bar back.

  Andrew kissed my cheek—for Zar’s benefit, I’m sure. “Thank you, Belle. If I can ever eat anything for you, just let me know.”

  I laughed, which felt especially welcome. “I bet you will.”

  Before the previews started, and while still gulping popcorn, all four of them put in earplugs. Curiouser and curiouser.

  They were agreeable film-fellows. Non-talkers and mostly polite. Andrew offered me his hand over our shared arm, though I couldn’t see anything in it. I tried offering my bottle of water, which made him look around.

  “What do you want?” I hissed.

  “To express sentimentality.” Speaking in my ear.

  Oh. Having to explain the joke to me again…

  I held his right hand with my left and leaned to my right to rest my head on Isaac’s shoulder. It was a bit weird but … not in a bad way.

  Still, it reminded me of Kage. Needing to speak to Kage, make things right. Not just for me. For him and Jason. It was one thing if Kage was done with me. But he also seemed to be done with Jason. Which was my fault. Which was exactly why I hadn’t wanted to become involved with them in the first place. And here I was. The wedge driven between the two.

  After the little cinema, we got pizza, and a chicken Caesar salad as I finally felt hungry. Then a walk through town, stopping in a few shops just to look around for me.

  I asked Jason if there was anything we could take Kage and he suggested pizza, which was a good point. Kage and Jed likely had no lunch. We’d be going to dinner late, and have worm portions. Perhaps Kage wouldn’t want to join us to meet Gavin at all now. Which was fine, but they’d all wanted to come before so I’d warned Gavin of a crowd and he’d seemed happy to oblige, saying his cook would see to us.

  It wasn’t easy to transport pizzas on a motorcycle. Instead, we got them a couple of roast beef sandwiches and a fruit pasty apiece.

  The rain started again as we drove back and I looked forward to a shower and change before getting ready for dinner.

  First, dripping and shivering, I made an effort to deliver the very late lunch.

  Jed was up and working on some little leather project he’d brought along. He was typically silent and I only left the paper bag on the desk that he sat at.

  “Hope you got some rest.” The wool ball was gone from the bedside table. Presumably tucked safely back in his rucksack.

  The others were trundling upstairs, most arguing about motorcycles, which had kept them.

  Jed glanced at my dripping outer layers.

  “Thanks,” I said in the doorway. “About…”

  He nodded.

  I tried Kage’s door again. “Kage?”

  Andrew started past. Jason had gone to the other room for his dry things.

  I caught Andrew’s arm to stop him, leaning into the door. “Kage? Can we talk? I’m really sorry. This is my fault and I want to see you. I also have your lunch. If you still want to go with us to meet Gavin, we’ll leave at a quarter past seven.”

  Nothing.

  I gave it a minute, but, no…

  I handed the bag to Andrew and returned to my own room while he let himself in.

  “Isaac?” I ran into him at the top of the stairs. “Do you want to move your things into my room? You can’t all four stay in there.”

  “You’re shivering, arä.” Touching my shoulder.

  “I’m getting in the shower.” My teeth were starting to chatter. “I’ll leave the door for you. And thank you for the idea of getting out. That was good for all of us.”

  I needed a proper hair washing and drying this time, then face done, clean clothes for dinner, Blood Tome: the works.

  Bit by bit, we got ourselves ready. By the time I was out of the shower, Isaac had moved himself and bags into my room and sat in the armchair with his phone.

  Finishing dressing, I sat on the bed while we talked over what might be hidden in the pages of the tome.

  This was it. We were going to meet the translator. Answers. A new path.

  A domestic moment like this with Isaac should have been soothing. Instead, I thought of Kage, and how having time with him right now felt more important than having time with Gavin.

  Chapter 14

  Rain fell in a lazy drizzle as the seven of us coasted down an incredibly long private road to the manor—like driving through a golf course in late evening gloom. Just before twilight, but with the peculiar darkness of thick cloud cover well settled.

  Seven because Kage had come after all. Jason had even given him is bike to encourage him along. Jason shared with Andrew. Kage had accepted this, but if he’d said anything to Jason today I hadn’t heard it. Or to anyone else. He’d never glanced in my direction once he’d finally emerged from his room. It could not be adding any cheer for him that his allergies were acting up and he was sniffling, having had a long coughing fit in the bathroom before he’d been down and ready to go.

  Now we seemed to be gliding through a lush, cultivated sort of wilderness that would be no help. To our right ran lavender fields, then manicured grounds, while rows of stately trees towered to our left. Here, also, tumbled a small but fast river, or possibly still called a beck, likely given extra life from overnight’s rain. Past a stone bridge over this on the left, we instead went right, up toward the house.

  I’d mentioned having the bikes to Gavin and he’d proposed we park in shelter of the coach house, which he would leave open for us so they would be out of the rain.

  I assumed this would be simple until we made a curving right and found ourselves looking at the majestic manor with its prize-worthy garden hedges, impressive three-story bulk, glowing windows, and roughly six outbuildings.

  Did he live here alone with his small staff? That was what it had sounded like. Old money, apparently. Or maybe he grew it on trees.

  We pulled around the wide drive to a refurbished stable building, something that looked like a cottage, and finally found the coach house with the open garage door off to the house’s right.

  They pulled the bikes in this nicely lit
space beside a spotless black Ferrari.

  I climbed from Isaac’s bike and was still gazing stupidly at this while everyone else was pulling off helmets or already making their way to the courtyard. No one else even seemed to notice the car aside from Kage, who stopped to look but moved on quickly as he avoided me. The only one of my pack with any interest in a four-wheel.

  Walking through lavender-scented air toward the mighty front doors—a long way from the coach house, or any other outbuilding—everyone was staring.

  “Blimey,” Andrew said under his breath. “Feels like we need a ticket, doesn’t it? I didn’t know there were estates left like this in England that didn’t belong to either National Trust or royals.”

  It did feel like we needed a ticket. At least I’d had the forewarning of my scry for the place. I recognized the doors, a bit of the grounds, the lavender. Still, that vision had conveyed maybe ten percent of the real life setting.

  It was making me uneasy. What was this place? Who was this mage?

  That unease carried through as I stepped to the copper door knocker in the shape of an owl’s head. Andrew beside me, Zar behind with the tome sealed in a biscuit tin. Behind him were Jason, Isaac, and Jed, then Kage at some distance, as if he could pretend he didn’t know us.

  I knocked.

  I should have dressed better. Not that it made a difference. I only had what I’d brought for my original trip to Brighton. No evening dresses had made the cut. I actually did own a nice dress because I’d been to three weddings in the past two years. Seemed like all my friends in Portland were that age.

  Even if I’d been in heels and pearls, I couldn’t expect them to dress. I doubted any besides Isaac owned a suit. Andrew had dressed for the hotel work, but that had been a uniform.

  What did they do for weddings? When they chose a mate, did they have their own ceremonies? Were they legally married in human society?

  Kage had told me it was the maternal line name that was passed down. They must have some traditional ceremony, even if they didn’t marry in the eyes of the law. Maybe both?

  Isaac Allyn? Andrew Allyn? I didn’t like them. The others were all right with Allyn, though… But would the same traditions apply with a female human? Which made me realize I didn’t actually know Isaac’s current surname. How odd. Not that the names mattered so much since it wasn’t like they and myself were compatible as far as reproduction. Without kids to carry a family name, we could all keep our own.