The Witch and the Wolf Pack
Book Nine
Moonlight Magic
by
K.R. Alexander
Copyright © 2019 K.R. Alexander
kralexander.com
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Dear Moonlight Pack
Chapter 1
“Enjoying the view?” Andrew stepped up behind me, resting his hands on my hips.
“Not really.” I gazed into firelight flickering from a concrete grill.
“Still moping, darling?” He swallowed something.
“Moping?”
“You’ve been beating yourself up ever since Paris.” Andrew kneaded his fingers through my jacket and ran his hands to my shoulders. “You don’t suppose it’s time to move on?”
I flinched when he squeezed my neck, not because I didn’t want him touching me but because it hurt.
“All right?” His breath tickled my ear while the damp fire popped and others moved and talked not far off. Smells of yeasty beer mixed with wood smoke and wet earth of this suburban park that technically had dawn to dusk hours. “You need a massage. This isn’t good for you.”
I remained distracted by his previous question. Time to move on? As if it would ever be time. As if I could undo Paris—or all the dangers and troubles I’d led my pack into.
Yet, that wasn’t what I’d been thinking about before he interrupted my “moping.”
“Andrew? I’m okay. What about all of you?” I turned in his arms so we were nose-to-nose, myself having to look up at him more than usual due to his motorcycle boots. He was the only one of the six who normally wore old sneakers.
“I’m fine too, darling. That still leaves plenty of options.” Another aroma: fresh cut grass on his breath. Everyone else was drinking beer. My boyfriends were eating the lawn.
“I’d value your opinion. We have so much to get done and we’re so … screwed up.” I dropped my low voice to a whisper as nearby mundanes bubbled with intoxicated laughter. They talked fast and loud with their Scottish accents and constant speaking over one another, making them often impossible to follow.
“Jason is still trying to recover,” I continued. “I don’t know if Kage is worried about him or thinking about his father and Diana, but he’s getting tense and nasty. Zar will still hardly eat anything. Jed’s been trapped in skin for three days—right when he needs to be able to work off stress. You act like everything is fine no matter what’s happened, which also isn’t healthy. And having Gabriel along is starting to feel…”
“The most screwed up of all?”
“I’m grateful he came. We need him. We all wanted him along. Right? But he’s so… This isn’t…”
“Say no more, Belle. It’s as if we brought a worm bank executive camping. He makes Isaac look like an insider. He’ll never fit in with our pack—and he doesn’t want to. He wants to keep his mouth shut, get the job done, wash his hands, and go home.”
“He is awfully clean, isn’t he? He keeps hand sanitizer in his pocket.”
“You keep hand sanitizer in your purse.” Arching an eyebrow.
“But I’m a human—female—and I don’t use it every half hour.”
Andrew gave a faint shrug. “His lifestyle has made him take on eccentricities and obsessive behaviors. Goes with his table manners and depression, doesn’t it? All coping mechanisms. Do you know how hard it is to go for a few months and not change? Imagine several years. That sort of shit has to mess a bloke up.”
“I get that. I don’t blame him for how he is. But he’s also so miserable with us. He should go home. No matter how much we want—”
“No—” Andrew lifted a finger. “He was stone cold miserable in the first place. We might be a culture shock—and our classless, vagabond lifestyle out here compounding it—but don’t delude yourself, darling.”
I sighed. “It’s hard to be around a bunch of struggling, depressed people and have a thought for what we need to get done.” I looked into his amber eyes reflecting the shrinking firelight over my shoulder. He had in his contact lenses. “We can’t save the world if we don’t have ourselves in order. We can’t fix what’s happened or turn back time, but surely we can help each other. What should we do?”
“Note how much worse things could be? I’ve always found that goes a long way toward cheering me up. Humans have an unhealthy positivity obsession in certain parts of the world that leads to depression.”
“Does it…? Okay … try it on me. How much worse could things be?”
“Just in the past week? We might not have got out of Paris at all. They could have killed Jason, at least. You could have lost a limb. Or our little miracle.” With a significant look. “Gabriel might not have shown up. Even if we did all get back safe, things might have been worse at home. Instead of some petrol bombs and reavers, they could have come with machine guns and wiped out the whole pack. Instead of half the territory burnt, everything could have been destroyed. Kage could still be trapped in fur. He and Jed and Madison could have been targeted in Ambleside. Your sister could be dead. My adoptive parents could be dead. But they’re not.” He took a step back, opening his hands. “Look around. First day in Scotland and we have friends? A free room? Not even close to worst case.”
He held my face in both hands, moving in again to rest his forehead on mine. “Aside from all that—all that could have gone wrong instead of being as Moon-blessed as we’ve been—what about us? We have each other. Seven cheating death again and again to come out as eight? Soon to be nine?”
He kissed my lips and looked into my eyes again. “Don’t tell me the sky is falling, darling. If you want to argue whether or not we’ve had good fortune or bad, made advances or only made mistakes, I’ll keep you up all night.” He dropped his hands to my shoulders. “You’re right about one thing, though. We do need help. The grim brothers are getting us down. Kage has been a total arse all day. You’re making everyone nervous—”
“I’m what?”
“You’re anxious, worried about us, depressed—moping. I know you can’t ‘snap out of’ what you’ve just been through. But you’re asking me how to improve morale around here. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, Cassiopeia, but when you’re happy we’re happy. No one’s going to buck up just because Zar starts eating again.”
“You’re not all going to turn yourselves around because I put on a happy face either.”
“A bit of genuine confidence, and a break, would go a long way.”
“My confidence is derailed at the moment. I was thinking about a break, though. I wish we could go back to Colorado for a week.”
“Let’s save that for a holiday when this is all over. Meditate? Journal? Do whatever you can with magic for finding kindred and safe members of the caster community up here to
ask about these two wild mage blokes. We’ll be all right. As long as we see you’re all right, and we’re still moving.”
Chatter and laughter trickled past. The fire was fading.
I turned again in Andrew’s arms. My own right arm remained sore from bruises caused by a reaver bite, but no worse than sore. “We should go. Where’s Traigh?”
Andrew kissed the back of my neck and rested his nose in my hair. “I’d meant to tell you about my dream.”
“Your dream? I’d love to hear any relevant dreams. You didn’t see kindred, did you?”
“Not quite. Where are we sleeping?”
“Another reason we need to see Traigh. It sounds like there’s only one spare bed.”
Andrew sang under his breath. “There were eight in the bed and the little one said, ‘Roll over, roll over.’ So they all rolled over and one fell out…”
I couldn’t help a chuckle but gave him an elbowing shove.
“Might miss hearing about my dream,” he said, “but you and your Arctic prince better take it. We’ll sort out whatever other space there is and share the caravan—possibly without freezing to death.”
“Why Isaac?” Suspicious by the suggestion.
“Did you notice he’s the only one who hasn’t come up in this conversation?”
“I … guess…”
“Why?” Andrew drew the word out. “Because he’s the only one who’s happy, darling. He doesn’t need fixing. You staying with him might cheer you, helping us all.”
“That’s noble, although ‘happy’ might be a strong word.”
“Oh, no. I’ve known that wolf for years and I’ve never seen him smile as much as he has since you gave him the good news. Did you agree to marry him? Hopefully the others will put it down to his being back in a place he loves and getting to see his old pal.”
“He’s not making much effort to keep the secret, is he? And, no, I did not agree.”
“But he asked.” It wasn’t a question.
I didn’t say anything.
“What’s wrong, darling? Afraid of commitment?”
“I can’t marry him. I’m involved in multiple relationships. Anyway, this is not a time for life decisions.”
“On the contrary…” Andrew let out a breath and stopped. “There’s Traigh. Want to discuss sleeping arrangements? I’ll round up the others.”
“What about your dream?”
“Later.” He kissed my ear and started away.
“Andrew?”
He returned the lip balm and ten pound note from my coat pocket without a word, then walked away again with a quick salute.
Approaching our host, I felt so tired I didn’t care if I was in a bed, floor, or the camper trailer for the night. I just wanted out of this park, to be with my pack, and, somehow, to heal and push on before the “worst” had a chance to catch us.
Chapter 2
I could tell by the cool light that I was waking sooner than I’d hoped. Going by how difficult it had been to drift off in this graciously provided room belonging to roommates of our host, with a bed that felt like cardboard, best to call it a night after the few hours I had managed to sleep.
I’d done my best for lucid dreaming and seeking faie. Nothing. My mind only raced with worry for my pack, my sister, and others until I’d finally slept in the early morning hours—meeting dreams of vague, menacing figures without context. Worries come to life. No more.
Andrew turned his head against mine, looking to the window or clock. Had we woken at the same time, or been doing the insomnia thing all morning as I had all night?
Was that nausea? I’d been feeling distinctly off again for the past couple days as we’d come up from London to the western outskirts of Edinburgh, stopping in Ambleside to pick up the camper trailer. At first I’d thought the queasiness was coming from my own emotional state and carsickness. But I’d started with flu-like symptoms in Cumbria—weak, achy, hot, then cold. I was pretty sure I didn’t have flu. Also pretty sure I couldn’t deal with this while trundling around the Highlands after wild mages—or even locally seeking the magical community.
Isaac had only bothered to call Traigh the morning before, asking if we could drop in since we needed a safe place to get ourselves organized for our Scottish search. Traigh, who was Isaac’s friend—somewhat adopted brother—several years younger, living here with his girlfriend and a second roommate couple, had not seemed to find the suddenness rude. On the contrary, he’d shown every sign of being thrilled to see us yesterday evening, inviting us to raid the kitchen, then to join him for a party in the park near this terraced house.
I still had no idea what the party had been about. Someone had brought a cake and beer, they’d lit wood fires in two charcoal grills, then stayed long past when we were all supposed to be there. Traigh hadn’t introduced us to anyone, seemed to feel we were all chums, and, once I’d gathered that the group were mundanes, it was just as well. I was too tired to socialize and too nervous, really, to be interacting with people when I didn’t absolutely need to. Right when we’d sworn off basically all contact, landing in a party of humans made me shiver.
Then we’d sorted out these sleeping arrangements and I’d proceeded to lie awake for the next four or five hours.
Sick or not sick?
I was pretty sure I felt okay this morning. Still so early, though.
Think about Andrew instead. Why had I ended up in bed with him? What, exactly, was the procedure with Andrew? We’d slept together—alone—only one time before, seeming months ago, though it was just the middle of September now.
Our physical contact last night could be best described as cuddling. He’d kissed me, said I should see a doctor, and we’d talked about my symptoms and telling the rest of the pack—or not. Circular conversations.
I’d have been happy for more. Not feeling my most sexy as I worried, I was also aware how much I could use a dopamine boost. Yet I wasn’t going to initiate anything with Andrew, and he’d only talked.
Some of the same feelings now. He was awake. I was awake. What now?
I sighed, pressed against him, head tucked to his chest, refusing to check a clock.
He pulled away, climbed from bed, and was gone.
Exactly. I turned my face into the pillow, feeling a wave of misery with a slight tingle of nausea. Both could get out of hand so I rolled to my back.
The usual inhabitants of the room had wooden packing crates for bedside tables, and other vintage and grunge effects in the room. I felt bad for being here since I was pretty sure they didn’t know about us. Traigh had been emphatic it was all right to stay. Still…
I rinsed my mouth with my water glass there, spat into it, put a couple pieces of crystalized ginger in my mouth from the bag beside my phone on its charge cord, then turned the phone on before I lay back.
We’d been going minimal with phones now. Only Isaac, Andrew, Gabriel, and I had real ones but we had locations turned off and usually the phones themselves now. I’d warded Traigh, his girlfriend, and this place the moment we’d arrived, not letting anyone inside until it was done. Traigh, a jolly soul and not at all intimidated by magic the way the wolves had been, seemed to find the whole performance entertaining.
Now, though, I needed a bit of phone. I had to see a map of Scotland and look up the town west of here that Traigh claimed encompassed a flourishing magical community. We had to start somewhere, asking after our quarry. Yet dangers even in asking scared me. How could we protect ourselves, know the people we asked were trustworthy, and also protect them? It was a lose/lose situation wherein either the people we asked were dodgy or else random innocents whom we put in jeopardy just by asking.
A horrible situation that had literally kept me up last night. But what else to do?
I would talk to the others today in a last ditch for alternatives. Afraid to try scrying these novice wild mages, Calum and Frim, and without being able to look them up on Facebook or a phonebook, all we had left was what Milo had re
commended: asking around in the caster community. If they were as infamous as he’d suggested, someone would know about them. Maybe even where they were. Yet that didn’t solve our problems.
I was looking over the map, not pleased to realize how very large the Highlands were, when Andrew returned. I’d thought he was done with me for the morning: his own baggage kicking in. No, he’d only been to the bathroom. He climbed back in bed, eyelashes damp from splashing water on his face.
“We’re not supposed to be on those.” He yawned.
“I had to look at a map. I’ll turn it off. And all of us need to settle on what we’re doing this morning. I wish we didn’t have to approach casters.”
“We can’t do this on our own, Belle. No matter what your mage pal in Portland said, we’ve got to talk to a few strangers.”
“I know. I just … it’s hard. If we can minimize contact that will help.”
I wished I could talk to Stefan. Stefan had chewed me out for taking us to Paris. He’d acknowledged some of the stupid choices I’d made, even if the wolves wouldn’t. He’d made me feel better. Like Andrew’s pointing out worse things, some negativity could lift my spirits. It’s a very uncomfortable thing to know you’ve majorly screwed up while everyone around you acts like you’ve done nothing wrong.
“We’ll drive ourselves mad like this,” Andrew said. “We’re already not talking to anyone at home. We won’t trust each other next. What do we have left then?”
“Andrew?” I put the phone to sleep and rolled to face him, propped on an elbow. “You’re aware that I messed up and almost got us killed, right? Even if you don’t act like it?”
Andrew, who had flopped on his back, staring at the blue ceiling, frowned at me. “You’re sick.” He was referring to the smell of ginger in my mouth.
“I’m fine. It was only a twinge.”
He heaved a sigh and looked at the ceiling again. “You didn’t want to go after them. But they were one hope and we tried and they paid off. Even that druid was a bit of help. What’s his name? Orion. Before Paris we didn’t know what to do next, who to hunt for. Now we do.” He looked at me. “Simple as that, Belle. This Moon. That’s what matters. Maybe we could have found out another way. Maybe we could be more ‘careful’ while hunting mass murderers. Who knows? But, right now, in this Moon, we’re still moving, still on a trail—because of you. Doesn’t mean all your ideas are golden.” He smiled. “It does mean you have our attention. However you want to proceed with finding these next wankers we’ll do it.”
Moonlight Magic Page 1
