Moon of Shadows

by H. D. Gordon

  Once her destination came into sight, I got the feeling that I knew whom Delia had been skipping school to spend time with.

  I watched from the shadows as she ran into the arms of a Wolf that looked to be maybe twenty years older than her, older than me even. He was sort of handsome, with bright blue eyes and golden hair, and he scooped up Delia, spinning her around in a circle and planting a long kiss on her lips.

  A couple of the other older male Wolves and younger females who were sitting around a large bonfire that had been built near an old barn hooted and hollered at this display of affection. My instinct was to rush in and grab her, dragging her home by the collar if that’s what it came down to, but the thought that she would hate me forever if I did so struck me, and I hesitated before making myself known.

  Delia had been skipping school, and sneaking off to likely come hang out with these much older males…

  My temper flared. I tried to get a handle on it. But then, the male with the blue eyes and golden hair whispered something highly inappropriate in Delia’s ear.

  A low growl started in my belly, but it was lost under the sound of Delia’s giggle.

  When she nodded and let him lead her away from the others and around the side of the old barn, it was all I could do not to jump out right then and send the lot of them scattering away from the snapping of my jaws.

  As the moon looked down indifferently from above, part of me wished I hadn’t followed her here, that I didn’t now have to make a decision to step in or not.

  Ultimately, I decided that sixteen was too young in my mind to partake in what I feared Delia was on the brink of, so I shifted into my mortal form and reluctantly went around to the other side of the barn.

  I didn’t expect the rage that stole over me when they came into sight. It wasn’t even the shock of seeing my younger sister entangled with the male. It was the fact that he was so much older, and I’d very clearly heard her tell him to slow down.

  Twice.

  And from where I was standing, it looked like he had no intention of doing any such thing.

  My body moved before I even really processed what I was doing. One moment, I was standing in the shadow cast by the barn, watching the male grope my little sister, and the next, I was in my mortal form, gripping him by the back of his shirt and hauling him off his feet.

  My eyes flared Wolf-gold, a detail I only noticed as the male’s face flooded with fear and he looked at me, my glowing eyes reflecting in the blue of his.

  Delia let out a screech of fear, but when she realized it was me, a different kind of horror stole over her.

  “Oh my Gods,” Delia said. “Dita, put him down.”

  I did exactly as she asked, tossing the male against the barn hard enough to rattle his brain in his skull.

  “She told you to slow down,” I said through clenched teeth as I stalked over to where he was still slumped against the barn, his eyes widening in fear again as I approached.

  “Dita, leave him alone!” Delia said, and despite her near-shout, I barely heard a word over the rushing of blood in my ears. A ring of red was tinting my vision, and there was no seeing past it.

  The next thing I knew, I was gripping him up by his shirtfront with one hand while the other balled into a tight fist. Off-handedly, I felt Delia tugging at my arm, but I tossed her off me with ease and turned back to the blue-eyed Wolf who’d thought it wise to feel up my little sister.

  I slammed my fist into the center of his pretty face and felt his nose crush easily beneath my knuckles as a thin smattering of blood sprayed my face.

  Then, I drew my fist back again.

  And again.

  “Stop!” Delia screamed in a pitch so high that it gave me pause. “Dita, please!”

  All of a sudden, the scene expanded, and I was able to see past my rage.

  Delia had tears streaking her face, and the face of the male I’d ripped out of her arms was beaten to a bloody pulp. I was still gripping his shirtfront, but it was spotted with scarlet, along with my hands and face.

  I dropped the male and took a step back, seeing that some of the others had run over from the bonfire to this side of the barn, and were staring at me as if I had three heads.

  Everyone was silent for what seemed a long moment, the only sounds the crackling of the fire and the bugs chirping.

  I reached toward my little sister, but she jerked away from me.

  “Don’t touch me,” she said, but didn’t argue when I told her we were going home.

  Not until we got back to the house, anyway.

  “Delia,” I said, “I’m sorry, but—”

  We were standing in the rose gardens behind the house, having taken the same way back as when we’d gone. My little sister wheeled on me at these words, and the fire behind her eyes actually made me stop in my tracks.

  “No, you’re not,” she snapped, her eyes narrowing down to slits as she looked at me. “So don’t bother lying. All you want is to control everyone, to make everyone do what you say. But you’re not an Alpha, not a real one.”

  This stung, but I knew she was upset, and the sticky blood on my knuckles was a reminder that I didn’t do much good when I lost my cool.

  I kept my voice even, sympathetic. “Delia, that Wolf was much older than you, and I didn’t think he was going to stop.”

  “And so what if he wasn’t?” she said, tears streaming down her face again. “I love him.”

  I fought the urge to take her by the shoulders and try literally shaking some sense into her. “You don’t know that,” I said. “You’re too young. I’m just trying to protect you.”

  “I do know,” Delia sneered. “Just because you’re incapable of falling in love, doesn’t mean the rest of us are. And I wish you’d stop trying to protect me. You’re not my Gods damned mother.”

  I winced internally, the words cutting deeper than I suspected she’d ever know.

  “I know that,” I said quietly.

  But my sister was on a warpath, and once that were so, there was no way of stopping her. It was a trait we had in common.

  “Do you?” Delia replied.

  As was my usual defense when someone genuinely managed to hurt me, my anger took over. “You’re acting like a brat,” I said, my voice going hard. “And a female that no one will respect if you don’t slow the hell down. If you can’t see that I only want what’s best for you, I’m sorry, but I forbid you to see that male again.”

  Delia’s eyes went as round as moons. “You can’t stop me,” she said. “I will see him. He loves me, and we’re going to get Mated.”

  I took a couple steps forward so that there could be no mistaking my words. “Yes, I can. And, no, you won’t,” I growled. “I’ll collar you and chain you up tight, if that’s what it comes down to, but you will not see him again. He’s lucky I didn’t kill him, but if I catch him with you again, I won’t be so generous.”

  Delia’s face went as red as an apple, and the look that flashed behind her eyes would have withered me if I hadn’t been so angry.

  “I hate you,” she said, and the fire in her gaze said she meant it. “I hate you so fucking much. “

  With that, she turned and ran toward the house, slamming the door behind her.

  I stood in the rose garden, trying to pretend that my little sister had not just broken my heart.

  Chapter 14

  Kyra asked me what had happened with Delia, but I was not really in the mood to talk, so I brushed off her attempt at conversation. Then I left the house and started walking, eager to be absolutely anywhere but home at the moment.

  It was funny, because I’d spent the greater portion of my life searching for a home like the one I now had, but now that I had it, the trouble never seemed to end.

  Delia’s words to me kept replaying in my head, and the sting of them wasn’t lessened for the repetition. Somehow, I was sure that the issues with my little sister were my fault, a failure of my impromptu parenting. At the rate we were going, I�
�d be lucky if the twins still talked to me before all was said and done.

  Delia hadn’t been wrong. After all, I was not the Alpha of our family. That had been our father, and since he’d never relinquished that title to me, I didn’t have the perks a true Alpha had.

  I wasn’t her mother, either.

  In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what the hell I was. I knew only that her words had hurt, and maybe that was because they rang true.

  The night grew darker, the full force of the stars covering the sky before I pulled out of my own thoughts enough to see I’d reached the Faery Canal running along the eastern edge of Faerport.

  I found a place by the water and took a seat on a bench, watching the glittering skyline of Cerys in the distance.

  I knew it was petty and ridiculous, but I wondered what it would be like if I just up and left. If I packed a small bag of necessities and set off to wherever my feet took me, leaving everything and everyone behind.

  Despite the most recent events, my family was in a good place now. We had a home and several legitimate businesses, and even money saved. If Devon was smart about it, they could make it without me.

  The trouble was, I was not entirely convinced that Devon would be smart about it. Not because I thought he was stupid, but because his heart was too soft. I prayed I was wrong, and that my tangling with him was a result of my jealousy and need to be in control.

  Because that was better than being right, and if I was, the sooner someone took out Carson Cartier and his lapdog Arsen Bain, the better. I’d felt the clear threat when I’d been in their presence, and if I’d learned anything from the life I’d lived, it was that paying off Wolves like them only worked for so long.

  The town of Faerport was quiet and still for the late hour. I pulled my eyes away from the slow moving water of the canal and took in the arched roofs of the shops and buildings. With the TorRunn Mountain range visible far to the west, the quaint streets with swept sidewalks, and the trim green parks with blooming cherry blossom trees, it was exactly the kind of place I’d always dreamed of living. It was the closest match to the picture of the far away land I’d carried in my pocket for so many years.

  The bench I’d found was beneath a cherry blossom tree near the water, and I settled into the shadows.

  “Dita?” asked a voice behind me.

  I didn’t jump, but I’d been so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn’t been aware anyone was near. I’d unwittingly tuned out my sharp senses, which was a stupid thing for a Wolf to do under any circumstances.

  When I saw that it was Elian, I relaxed a fraction.

  “Thank you for using my name for once,” I said, not mentioning but noticing the fact that he also didn’t have a random female on his arm for once.

  Not that I should care.

  Elian claimed the seat beside me without invitation, and I thought of protesting, but did not. The Demon seemed to get more handsome every time I saw him, with his smooth, light brown skin and the dimples that disappeared and reappeared depending on his expression.

  I pushed these ridiculous thoughts aside in a hurry.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  I sighed and pulled my gaze away from him. I’d been staring too long. “Thinking,” I said.

  “Mm. About what?”

  “The complexities of the world.”

  One of those dimples appeared as a smile tugged up his mouth. “And have you drawn any interesting conclusions?”

  “Quite the opposite, actually. I think it’s more that I’m discovering I don’t have any correct conclusions at all.”

  I could feel Elian’s gaze on me, and felt a pang of self-consciousness that was so unfamiliar it took me a moment to pinpoint.

  He nodded, apparently unaware of the strange effect he had on me. “Some would argue that’s the most important conclusion of all… Do you want to talk about it?”

  One of my eyebrows went up. “Of course not.”

  Elian gave me a smile that was underlined with sadness. “Of course.”

  “I could use a distraction, though,” I said. “You could tell me about yourself.”

  The Demon grinned, and my heart skipped a beat. No wonder he always had a new female with him.

  “So you want all my secrets, Miss Silvers, but I can have none of yours?”

  I offered a little smile of my own and waited.

  “All right, then. What do you want to know?”

  “Anything,” I answered.

  Anything was better than the reality of my own life at the moment. I didn’t say this, but somehow, I thought he knew it.

  “I’m a Demon,” Elian began, “but I suppose you already knew that. My brand of magic is fire, and I like to use as much of it as I can while still flying under the radar of the authorities.”

  This reminded me of Kyra, and I studied his lovely face as he continued.

  “Let’s see… What else?”

  “What do you do for a living?”

  “Oh, lots of things, but mainly, I solve problems for rich people.”

  I laughed. “I didn’t even know that was an occupation.”

  Elian shrugged, leaning back on the bench with his perfect posture. “You’d be surprised,” he said. “But that’s just part of what I do. I also own several properties, two newspapers, and make a modest sum selling my written works.”

  Of all of it, that last bit surprised me the most. “Really?”

  Elian nodded. “Yes, really. I like to read, too, of course, but then, people don’t pay you for that.”

  “What kind of written works?”

  “Political pieces, mostly.”

  As someone who’d dropped out of school very early to support my family, and could only read at an elementary level, this awed me, though I didn’t let it show. I remembered his loft nearby, the fancy clothes he always wore, the private train car, and the various females he always had on his arm.

  “You do well, though,” I said.

  “I like to diversify.”

  I’d never heard it put that way, and my ignorance on the matter made me feel a bit self-conscious again. I shoved the feeling away as best I could.

  “And now that you know about me, what do I get to know about you?”

  “I’m afraid I’m not nearly as interesting.”

  “Somehow, I very much doubt that.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to this, so I said nothing at all.

  “How did you know the Hound from the train?” he asked.

  I swallowed, recalling my near run in with Erek Blackwood, and the information I’d gained by following him after. In all the craziness as of late, I’d nearly forgotten about the whole thing.

  “We have a history,” I said.

  Eli nodded. “That much was obvious.”

  “And the un-obvious is none of your business.”

  “Since I allowed you to crawl into my private train car to get away from him, I disagree.”

  Heat bloomed on my cheeks at the memory. It was not often I got embarrassed in the way I always seemed to be doing around Elian.

  “We didn’t part on the best of circumstances,” I said.

  And by that, I meant that the last time I’d seen Erek Blackwood, I’d knocked him unconscious to keep him from arresting me. Then I’d rode away into the sunset with the fires of hell burning behind me.

  But, somehow, this did not seem like fodder for polite conversation.

  “And the Bordens?” Elian asked, the abrupt mention of the name making me go rigid. “Did you part on good terms with them?”

  My head whipped toward him, my eyes narrowing and my mouth pressing into a tight line. “What is that supposed to mean?” I asked slowly. “Who sent you?”

  Elian must have seen my next intentions in my eyes, because he held both hands up. But the bastard also smirked a bit with amusement.

  “Take it easy,” he said coolly. “No one sent me. You must not recall, but the first time we met was outside the Borden Estat
e. After what happened to them, I was just making conversation.” He paused, his head tilting. “But you did sound mighty guilty just then, Miss Silvers. Consider my interest thoroughly piqued.”

  My shoulders relaxed a fraction, but my eyes remained narrowed. “The wise choice would be to un-pique it.”

  This made him laugh, and I found myself biting back what might have been a smile.

  “What do you know about what happened to them?” I asked, sure to keep my voice even.

  Elian shrugged and looked out at the water. “No more than anyone, I suppose. I know that there was an accident of some kind—an explosion at one of the Borden’s storehouses, and the Borden brothers were trapped inside… Lukas didn’t survive. An odd thing, really.”

  I nodded, feeling strange at hearing the incident mentioned by someone who wasn’t part of the family. Of course, it would have been big news, as the Bordens were a powerful family, but after three years of a new life and so many miles of ocean and land between us, it was something to have the past pop up again.

  But one part of what he said surprised me. “I thought I remember reading somewhere that both Borden brothers died in the accident,” I said casually. “Both Lukas and the other one… What was his name?”

  I knew very damn well the name. It was not as if I could forget.

  “Lucian,” Eli supplied. “Though I think most who knew him just called him the Mad Wolf.”

  A shiver tried to run up my spine, but I gritted my teeth against it. “That’s right,” I said.

  “He’s as good as dead,” Elian replied. “In fact, being dead might be the better alternative.”

  I waited for him to explain.

  “I’m sure you heard he was terribly burned, but the rumor among the privileged is he didn’t really die, that he’s actually just been in a coma all this time. The healers don’t think he’ll ever wake up. I think I’d rather pass peacefully than to have my body kept alive without my mind… Hey, are you okay?”

  I wasn’t sure what expression he’d glimpsed on my face, but I forced a smile and nod.