Kiss of Moonlight (Lucani Lovers Book 1)

by Stephanie Julian

  “It’s really beautiful out here,” she said as they slid into the Adirondack chairs. The chairs faced the forest, not each other. And she wondered if that was because Kyle sat out here by himself.

  “It’s my favorite place in the world.”

  The contentment in his words made her smile. And loosened the tightness of her tongue.

  “How long have you lived here?”

  He had to think about that for a second. “Almost fifteen years.”

  “Have you always lived alone?”

  He continued to stare out into the forest for several seconds before he answered. “Since I’ve lived here, yeah.”

  “Have you ever been married?”

  She wanted to bite the question back the second it escaped but, damn, it, she wanted to know. Wanted to know everything there was about this man.

  He turned to stare at her, his lips curving in a way that made her chest tighten. “No. You?”

  She shook her head. “Wasn’t on my list of activities to try before I turn twenty-five.”

  As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she grimaced.

  Shit. Way to bring up the difference in their ages.

  “Does it bother you?” He continued to hold her gaze. “The difference in our ages.”

  She shook her head immediately. She actually liked that he was older. More mature.

  Daddy issues much?

  Silencing that catty voice, she said, “Since I don’t know how old you are, I guess I don’t know if I should be bothered or not.”

  “Thirty-six. And you?”

  “Twenty-three.”

  When he didn’t respond at all, she finally had to say something or burst.

  “Is that a problem for you?”

  His response was immediate. “No. You don’t act like a twenty-three-year-old.”

  “Is that good or bad?”

  “It just means I’ve never met anyone like you.”

  The smile that accompanied that quiet statement made her stomach clench as heat rose from once again.

  She smiled back, finally starting to feel the ease she’d had with him last night return.

  Would he kiss her now—

  “Kyle! Kyle, we’ve got trouble!”

  Startled, she turned toward the sound of the male voice as it echoed through Kyle’s house.

  Footsteps pounded through house, loud as gunshots.

  She jumped to her feet, ready to run. Only the sudden press of Kyle’s strong body at her back held her in place before he stepped in front of her, as if to shield her, as a man walked through the door carrying Cat.

  No, not a man. A teenager. Maybe sixteen or seventeen, as tall as Kyle and almost as broad. He held Cat against his chest, her arms around his shoulders clinging tight.

  Kyle’s entire body tightened. “Ty, what the hell—”

  “Two guys in the forest. They almost saw Norty before she got away. Cat and I led them away from the house before we ditched them and doubled back. We never heard them coming, never scented them. They were headed toward the Guliano place. We need to check them out. Now.”

  Check them out? What the hell did this kid mean? Why the high drama for a couple of guys walking in the woods?

  Her head spinning, unable to made heads or tails of what was happening, Tam turned to look up at Kyle. “What’s going on?”

  For the two seconds he looked at her, his gaze burned. Regret and a blazing anger simmered in his eyes and she had the briefest hint of fear.

  His mouth pulled into a tight flat line.

  “Cat, take Tam into the safe room with you and don’t come up until we get back. If Nortia returns with backup, tell them where we went.”

  Tam blinked, everything moving too fast for her to comprehend. “Kyle, what—”

  “I’m sorry, baby.” He shook his head. “I’ll explain when I get back. Just stay with Cat, okay? Please, just do it.”

  Then he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers in a short, hard kiss and started running for the front door. Shedding his clothes as he went.

  She watched his shirt fall to the floor and he was working on the button of his jeans when he disappeared.

  The kid holding Cat set her on her feet and brushed a hand over her bright hair before he took after Kyle.

  Leaving Tam staring after them with her mouth hanging open.

  Until Cat grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward the side wall in the kitchen.

  “Come on, Tam. We have to get in the safe room.”

  Safe room? Why would they need to get in a safe room because there were men in the forest? Why would they need a safe room at all?

  She looked at Cat, the girl’s expression showing a fear that didn’t sit right with Tam.

  “What’s going on?”

  Cat finally dragged her to the wall and kicked the baseboard. “I don’t know. I only know Ty nearly freaked when he caught the guy’s scent. Shit, that’s not what I meant. I meant caught sight of them.”

  No, Cat had meant exactly what she’d said but Tam couldn’t focus on that right now because the wall slid open to reveal a set of steps going down into darkness.

  Terror opened a huge black pit in her stomach. “No. I’m sorry. I’m not going in there.”

  Cat flipped a switch and a dim glow appeared near the bottom of the steps.

  Didn’t help. No way, no how. Not enough light. Not enough space, enough air. It reminded her—

  “Tam, please.” Cat tugged on her hand. “I won’t go without you. I know it’s dark and scary but I need you to come with me. I don’t like the dark, either. Please, please come with me.”

  How did this girl know she didn’t like the dark? Had she said those words aloud? How could Cat know she’d been held hostage in a closet, tied up and gagged while the man who’d raped her slept in her dead mother’s bed?

  Tam forced herself to look at Cat and saw a reflection of her own fear on the girl’s face. That more than anything motivated her to move.

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Alright, Cat. We’ll go down there. But I want to know what’s going on when we do.”

  Cat nodded, her unbound hair bouncing around her shoulders. “I’ll give you all the answers I can. Just please hurry.”

  Taking a deep breath, as if she were about to submerge herself in water, Tam started down the stairs. She didn’t know who held the other’s hand tighter but by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were both trembling.

  The stairs led to an open room almost as big as the upstairs, decorated like a basement play room. Only with more weapons.

  A lot more weapons.

  “Jesus, Cat,” she breathed as she drifted toward the center of the room. “What…”

  “It’s okay, they’re Dad’s.” Cat stopped at the bottom of the stairs and started to flip switches. “He told you he was in private security, right?”

  “Yeah, he just didn’t…mention weapons.”

  Which was stupid. Of course he’d have weapons. She had nothing against them. She’d just never seen so many in one place. Christ, he had an arsenal down here. Blades of every shape and size. But only two guns, unlike anything she’d ever seen before. Blocky and matte black, like wrought iron. Weird.

  A whoosh of air brought Tam around to look at Cat. The door at the top of the stairs had closed, shutting them in. Now that she was down here, and since it wasn’t as cramped as she’d imagined it would be, Tam wasn’t as freaked out. But Cat wasn’t doing as well.

  “Hey, sweetie, are you okay?” Tam walked over to the girl and put her arm around her. Her body shook and the smile she turned to Tam was more like a grimace.

  “I’m fine. I just don’t like to be confined.”

  “Yeah, me either.” Though hopefully not for the same reason. “Why don’t we go sit over here and you can tell me what’s going on.”

  Cat shook her head as they sank onto the couch in the farthest corner of the room away from the door. “I honestly don’
t know. Ty got all bent out of shape on our run.”

  “That’s the boy you were with?”

  Cat screwed up her face in something resembling an apologetic smile. “Yeah. We were, uh, out running.”

  Tam sensed a lie in her words but why would Cat lie about something so innocuous? “What happened to Nortia?”

  Cat dropped her gaze to stare at her knees. “Nortia tried to draw the men away and Ty brought me home.”

  Now, Tam wasn’t the greatest at spotting a liar. Hell, she’d allowed the man who’d attacked her into her apartment because she’d recognized his face. But Cat was lying. And Tam had no idea why.

  “Cat—”

  “No, please don’t ask me any more questions.” Cat hung her head even further. “Blessed Goddess, I’m so sorry but I can’t answer them.”

  The teen sounded heartbroken and Tam stared at her in disbelief. The situation had turned surreal.

  The awkward dinner. Her way-too-intense feelings for a man she’d only met yesterday. A man who’d rushed out of his home to confront two strangers on his land, with a teenager at his side, as if they were being attacked. And now she was trapped in a basement safe room with a freaked-out girl who couldn’t stop shaking and looked ready to puke.

  No, not puke. Crawl out of her skin.

  “Cat, are you okay?”

  The girl shook her head. “No.” The tears in her voice tore at Tam’s heart. “I didn’t mean to yell. I’m sorry.”

  Tam reached for her shoulder, hoping to comfort. “Hey, it’s okay. Just talk to me. Tell me about the guy. Is he your boyfriend?”

  Cat’s laugh sounded more like a sob that she couldn’t hold back. “No, not my boyfriend. Although…”

  “You like him.” Tam tried for a teasing tone, hoping it would make Cat smile. No such luck. It actually made her look worse. Tam put her arm around the girl and drew back with a gasp before resting her hand on Cat’s forehead. “God, you’re burning up.”

  “I know. I can’t help it.” Now the girl looked at her with overflowing eyes. “I’m so sorry. I can’t hold it together. I hate being in here and the moon is full tonight. It’s too much. I don’t want to scare you. Please don’t be scared, Tam. Please don’t—”

  The girl tore herself off the couch and ran for the other side of the room, where she folded herself into the corner.

  Startled, Tam just sat there.

  “I’m sorry,” Cat cried. “I’m so sor—”

  Then the girl gasped and fell forward onto her hands and knees. Tam shot to her feet, ready to run to her when her vision went fuzzy.

  Or Cat did.

  Tam froze, her mind unable to process what she was seeing as Cat disappeared right in front of her eyes.

  No, not disappeared. Changed.

  Between one blink and the next, the girl was gone. A shimmer of light, or sparks, remained in her place for a brief second, a shimmer that dissipated like summer fog.

  Then the little black dog she’d been feeding stood in the exact spot.

  The dog whined, looking up at her with Cat’s bright blue eyes.

  Tam opened her mouth to speak. Then closed it again.

  She blinked but the dog was still there. Still staring at her.

  No.

  Tam sat up slowly, wondering if she’d had that break with reality the doctors had warned her about. They’d told her if she continued to repress her feelings about her attack, she might experience some dissociation. Was that what this was? Had she finally gone crazy?

  The little dog cocked its head to the side and whimpered, as if she’d done something to be ashamed of. The sound made Tam’s heart hurt.

  Maybe the dog wasn’t real. Maybe if she tried to touch it, it would disappear.

  Forcing her feet to move, Tam walked to the dog, shivering by the wall where she’d seen Cat disappear.

  When she was close enough, Tam forced her knees to bend and put her hand on the animal’s head.

  Silky fur, black as midnight, slid under her hand as she began to pet the dog. It felt real. So very real.

  Tam opened her mouth, but no sound emerged. After a deep breath, she tried again.

  “Cat?”

  The dog smiled and its fluffy tail began to wag.

  Tam felt like a hundred pound weight dropped on her chest.

  She drew in a ragged breath, nearly choked on it but forced her hand to continue to pet the dog.

  Her head began to spin, questions repeating in ever-increasing circles.

  Had she really seen Cat disappear? Was this Cat now sitting in front of her? In the form of a dog?

  “No.”

  The dog whimpered, its little head and shoulders sagging as if she’d kicked it.

  “I’m crazy, right? It finally happened. None of this is real.”

  The dog huffed, as if exasperated. Could dogs be exasperated? Or was this just another manifestation of her madness?

  The dog butted her head against Tam’s hand, her cool, wet nose brushing against her leg, shocking her back to reality.

  No, the dog was real. Lifting the hand that wasn’t petting the dog to her thigh, she pinched. Hard.

  And gasped in pain.

  Tensing, the dog stared up at her with wide eyes.

  “Holy shit.”

  She could barely hear her own voice, almost like an echo of sound. But she heard the dog’s whine clearly. As if asking a question.

  It took all her courage to look the dog in those light blue eyes and say, “Cat?”

  The doggy smile appeared again and the tail started to thump.

  “Holy shit.”

  Magic. The word flitted around in her head, as she tried to grasp the concept.

  She didn’t believe in magic. Her mom had never read her fairy tales at bedtime. Her mom had barely been around at bedtime because she’d been working a second job so they wouldn’t starve.

  Tam hadn’t grown up with dreams of falling in love with a prince and having him whisk her away from her drab life. That just never happened.

  At least not to people like her and her mom. Her mom had scrimped and saved and worked, sometimes seven days a week. She’d ingrained in Tam the necessity of taking care of herself. Of believing in herself. Of trusting what she saw with her own eyes.

  Her mom had raised her to be practical.

  And that training had gotten Tam through the worst weeks after her attack with her sanity intact. Sure, she had issues. Who wouldn’t?

  But Tam knew she’d seen Cat disappear and this dog reappear in the exact same spot. So either she’d finally lost it…or Cat had become this little dog.

  No, not a dog. A wolf.

  “Werewolf.”

  She said the word aloud and when she didn’t hear maniacal laughter, she took a deep breath and said it again.

  The dog barked, startling Tam, but the dog’s happy grin and tail wagging didn’t seem at all menacing. In fact, she got up and licked Tam’s face.

  “Cat, it is you, isn’t it?”

  The dog barked again and did an entire body wiggle, those blue eyes gleaming.

  Tam started to grin, shaking her head and let her butt hit the floor before she toppled over.

  “Holy shit.”

  * * * * *

  Kyle refused to think about the situation he’d left at home.

  He knew if he didn’t put it out of his mind, he’d never be able to leave Cat and Tam.

  The look in Tam’s eyes…

  No.

  A growl rose up but he swallowed it. They needed silence. Already shifted into his wolf, he ran low to the ground and fast, Tivr at his heels.

  Rage flowed like lava through his veins. Someone had invaded his space. Someone who didn’t belong here. He didn’t tolerate trespassers. He couldn’t. He had too much to hide.

  And too much to lose.

  It didn’t take them long to reach Tam’s house but it wasn’t soon enough. The two men Tivr had seen earlier were already inside.

  As he raced for
the front, Tivr cut off behind him, heading for the rear.

  Even though he now wore his pelt, he thought like a man. And the man knew he didn’t want to rush in there and start ripping out throats. This wasn’t a kill mission. They needed information.

  So he slowed, keeping to the shadows where his black pelt made him invisible as he made his way to the porch. He smelled Tam’s scent all over it, now mixed with two other men. He’d make them pay for that.

  As he got closer, he heard voices, though he couldn’t make out what they were saying. By the time he got to the window, though, he heard them clearly. And he didn’t like what he heard.

  “Fuck, where the hell is she?”

  “She’s supposed to be here. She never fucking goes out.”

  “I don’t think she’s gone for good. Her stuff’s still here.”

  “We’re gonna have to wait her out. Shit. I hate all this nature shit. I can’t wait to get back to the city.”

  Kyle fought back a growl. They were here for Tamra.

  But why the hell would they want her? Something related to the rape? She’d testified against the man who’d hurt her. Were these men here for retribution?

  “She wants us to bring the girl back tonight. We gotta stay until we get her.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Better not go back empty-handed again.”

  She? They were working for someone? Who?

  Since they weren’t going to leave, Kyle slipped around the back. He found Ty sitting at the back door, head cocked to the side as he listened.

  The men inside were now talking about what they were going to do when they got home, which mostly consisted of getting laid and getting drunk. No hint of where they’d be doing that.

  But then one of them mentioned “last month’s clusterfuck.”

  Last month, someone had kidnapped one of the streghe in Margie and Cat’s boschetta.

  Not everyone was convinced that had been a Mal attack. The kidnapper had possessed power, but once the boschetta had examined the body, they’d discovered the man’s magic had a mishmash of origins. Not just Etruscan or Celtic, but some of both, with a little Norse and Egyptian thrown in, as well.

  The Malandante were a sect of Etruscan descendants who chose to use their magic against their fellow Etruscans or for monetary gain and power. They were fiercely insular and barely ever mated outside Etruscan bloodlines. It made no sense that they’d use another pantheon’s magic, even in combination with Etruscan.