Mirror Lake Wolves 02 - Moon Hunted

by Jennifer Snyder

  Ridley caught my eye. Anxiety radiated off her. She wasn’t as drunk as the others. We were both cautious tonight, albeit for different reasons.

  Alec wobbled to his feet and offered me his hand. I took it. The heat from his touch seeped through my body, making me ten times hotter than I already was. Maybe a dip in the lake would do all of us some good. Heck, it might even sober everyone up.

  As the six of us made our way through the woods toward the lake, we made more noise than we probably should. For me, it was on purpose. I wanted Tate to hear us and slink deeper into the shadows. If Violet was still around, I wanted her to have another reason to head home.

  Once the lake came in to view, Alec let go of my hand and jogged toward the water. He stripped as he went, leaving only his boxers on. Heat simmered up my neck and across my face as I took in the sight of him. The lean muscles of his back flexed in the dim light of the moon as he moved, and I found it impossible to look away from him.

  “Okay, so I guess we’re going swimming,” Ridley muttered from beside me as she kicked off her shoes. Benji had already raced to the water and was splashing with the others.

  I peeled off my shirt and tossed it onto the nearest pile of clothes. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “This may sound weird,” Ridley said as she slinked out of her shorts. “But I feel like if I don’t say something I’m not going to be able to enjoy the rest of my night.”

  I shifted to glance at her. “Umm, okay.”

  She licked her lips and paused in undressing to lock eyes with me. Her dark ringlets floated around her face as a gentle breeze swept through the air. It gave her an eerie, witchy vibe that sent goose bumps prickling across my skin.

  “Again, this is going to sound crazy, but I’ve had a feeling all night that you need to be careful,” she whispered. “It’s a gut feeling something bad might happen to you tonight if you’re not. Now that we’re out here in the open it’s gotten worse. Just, be careful.”

  “Okay.” Did she get the feeling I didn’t know how to swim? I did. Or was it something else?

  “I know I sound nuts. You can write me off as being a mental case if you want after tonight, but I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn’t tell you what I was feeling and something bad happened.”

  “It’s okay,” I said as I peeled off my shorts. “I don’t think you’re nuts, and thanks for the heads-up.” I flashed her a smile, but it was forced. All her woo-woo feeling stuff was starting to freak me out.

  Tension melted from her face as she studied me. Was I the first person to take one of her warnings to heart? Maybe in the past people had treated her like a freak because of them. I didn’t think she was a freak; I only felt grateful she’d said something. It confirmed I shouldn’t let my guard down tonight no matter what.

  I walked with Ridley to the water’s edge. The others were splashing around and laughing. Alec noticed me approaching.

  “Come on in. The water’s fine,” he insisted as he treaded water. His eyes appraised me the way I had him seconds before. Heat bloomed across my face. Wearing nothing but my bra and underwear seemed more intimate and taboo than a bathing suit even though it covered the same areas.

  I dipped my toes in the water, testing its temperature while trying to ignore the way Alec’s eyes trailed over me in an unabashed way. It was cool, but not cold enough to detour me from stepping in further. Ridley walked out until her ankles were covered. A visible shiver slipped through her and I laughed.

  “It’s colder than I thought it would be,” she said, wrapping her arms over her chest.

  “Yeah, but it’s not that bad,” I insisted.

  Splashing captured my attention. Benji had dunked Alec under, and Alec was struggling to retaliate. I took a few steps forward until I was knee-deep in the water and glanced back at Ridley. She looked small and frail as she chewed her bottom lip, staring at the rippling water’s surface.

  Did she know how to swim?

  “Hey,” I called out to her. “You coming?”

  Her gaze lifted to mine. “Yeah. Water just isn’t my thing.”

  “You don’t have to get in if you don’t want to,” I insisted, debating whether I should hang back with her so she’d feel less uncomfortable.

  “Oh, yes she does!” Benji shouted from somewhere behind me. He darted passed me, splashing me in the face as he went. “Just a little bit. Come on. We don’t have to go out far if you don’t feel comfortable, though.”

  My heart melted a little. I’d never thought of Benji as the sweet type. When he talked to Ridley, he was never anything except sweet, though.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you. Promise,” he said as he held out a hand to her.

  “I know,” I heard Ridley say before I shifted back around to let them have their moment. I made my way farther out into the lake.

  The water reached my waist when Alec started toward me. I paused, allowing my stomach a few seconds to adjust to the cooler temperature.

  “Keep it coming,” Alec coaxed. A wide smile stretched across his face, and he crooked his finger at me.

  I laughed and continued forward. Once we were close enough to touch, his fingertips skimmed over my waist as he gripped my hips and pulled me closer. The heat of his body pressed against me, and he dipped his head to brush his lips against mine. My heart beat triple time as I moved my lips against his, relishing in the slow pace he’d set. It was tender and sweet, while at the same time fiery. My arms locked around his neck as his fingers dug into the flesh of my hips. His tongue skimmed my bottom lip, teasing me as his excitement pressed against my lower stomach. Lust clouded my thoughts. It didn’t last long. Soon a prickling sensation spread across my skin as the feeling I was being watched rushed through me.

  I reined myself in, or at least I tried to. Alec wouldn’t allow it, though. His grip on me tightened as he pushed our kiss toward something deeper and more passionate. The tender slip of his tongue across mine became primal and sexy, causing every thought to evaporate from my mind. It was all-consuming the way he kissed me. I could think of nothing else besides him.

  The way he tasted. The way he smelled. The way he touched me.

  In that moment, there was only Alec and me. No one else.

  Hopefully, whoever was watching us would look away.

  9

  I grabbed the grocery bag I’d tossed in the fridge earlier. “I won’t be home for dinner tonight,” I said to Gran as I closed the fridge. “I’m eating with a friend.”

  “A friend? What friend?” Suspicion laced Gran’s words.

  “Yeah. Who is this friend, Mina?” Gracie asked. She sounded as though she knew more than she was letting on.

  I pursed my lips together. They both knew who, but neither were going to let me go without saying his name.

  “Eli,” I muttered.

  Gracie wiggled her eyebrows at the mention of his name. “That’s who I thought you were eating with tonight.” She shifted her attention to Gran. “She’s cooking dinner for him. That’s what the stuff she bought is for.”

  “How do you know?” I hadn’t mentioned anything to her. Heck, I hadn’t said a word to anyone about our plans tonight.

  “I know things.” Gracie folded her arms across her chest as a smug look stretched across her face.

  “Yeah, right.” Eli must’ve told his brothers we were hanging out tonight.

  I wasn’t sure how this made me feel.

  “Cooper told me,” Gracie confessed. “Eli and Cooper were supposed to do something tonight, but Eli canceled because he said you were coming over to cook for him.” A stupid grin curved the corners of her lips. She obviously thought there was more to the night than dinner.

  There wasn’t.

  “You’re spending the night with Eli, then?” Gran asked. Amusement twisted through her words.

  “What? No! I never said anything about spending the night with him. I’m making him dinner. Nothing more,” I corrected her. My hands grew clammy and my face
too warm.

  “Sounds like a date,” Gran insisted with a grin.

  “It’s not.”

  “If you want to spend the night with him, you’d be allowed,” Gran said as though she hadn’t heard me.

  My fingernails bit into the palms of my hands. “I don’t want to spend the night with him, Gran.”

  “All I’m saying is, if you want to, you can.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she wants to.” Gracie snickered.

  “You two are impossible.” I swiped the bread I’d bought earlier off the counter and started toward the front door. “I’m not spending the night with him. I’m cooking him dinner as payment for what he did for me the other day.”

  “And what might that be?” Gran asked.

  I paused and glanced back at her. She stood in the kitchen, prepping whatever meal she’d intended to cook tonight for us all. “My car wouldn’t start so he jumped it. It was clear the charge wouldn’t last, so he offered to give me a ride to where I was going. He bought me a battery, fixed a couple of things on my car, and changed my oil. The deal was, I owe him dinner in exchange. Nothing more. Nothing less.” I twisted the knob on the front door and stepped outside into the humid air. Gran said something, but I was done with the conversation. It had me feeling uncomfortable in my own skin. Mainly because I’d had such a great time with Alec last night. Guilt was threatening to overtake me. I attempted to shake it off as I cut through the thick air and headed straight for Eli’s trailer, carrying the groceries for his grilled cheese and tomato soup.

  For once, the Bell sisters weren’t on their porch. Today’s high temperature must have been too much. It was sweltering out. My cell said it was ninety-seven earlier. While I thought the heat had begun to taper off, it was still so humid out it was almost hard to breathe. My tank top stuck to me and the backs of my knees began to sweat as I walked. I picked up my pace, eager to be out of the sizzling sun.

  A low humming grabbed my attention as I reached Eli’s trailer. An AC unit stuck out the living room window. It looked brand-new. There were no dents in it, and it wasn’t covered in pollen and dirt from years of use like the hunk of junk that hung in our living room window. A wide grin sprang onto my face at the promise of actual chilled air. I almost forgot to knock. I caught myself before I twisted the knob to let myself in and rapped my knuckles against the door instead.

  Footsteps sounded from inside. The instant the door opened cold air washed over me, making it easy to breathe again. I closed my eyes, basking in the sensation of goose bumps erupting across my skin from the contrast of temperatures I was feeling. Cold on my front, heat on my behind.

  “Hey. Come on in,” Eli said as a breath of amusement escaped him. I opened my eyes, knowing I looked crazy but not caring. The cool air felt too good. “I see you’re already enjoying my new luxury.”

  I hurried inside and Eli closed the door behind me, sealing in the icy air. “Oh yeah. I can’t believe how humid it is out there today.”

  “I know. Figured this would come in handy more than a couch.”

  I stepped into the kitchen and placed my bags on the countertop. “Priorities.”

  “Exactly. Sometimes you have to choose which level of comfort you’re ready to sacrifice in order to gain another. In this case, I’m fine sitting on the floor if it means I get to beat the heat wave.”

  “Did you get one for every room or just in here?” I asked as I pulled my groceries from the bag and set them out on the counter.

  “Every room. Well, not the bathroom, but I didn’t think it mattered.” He crossed into the kitchen.

  “That’s awesome. I wish Gran would get one for me and Gracie’s room. It’s hot and stuffy in there at night.”

  “Yeah, I can’t stand being hot when I’m trying to sleep.”

  “Me either. That’s why I put a box fan in the window and crank it to high. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it doesn’t.” I crumbled the plastic grocery bag up and tossed it in the trash. “So, do you have a pot for the soup and a pan for me to cook the grilled cheeses in?”

  Eli maneuvered around me to retrieve what I’d asked for from a cabinet. His masculine scent wafted to my nose, causing my nerve endings to catch fire with want. I took a step back, putting distance between us. He didn’t seem to notice. When he came up holding a pot and pan, I took them and shifted to face the stove.

  “How did everything go last night?” Eli asked.

  It was a question I’d been expecting, but not one I cared to answer. Talking about Alec with Eli seemed wrong. On more than one level.

  I bypassed thoughts of Alec and the kiss we’d shared in the lake while trying to focus on things that pertained to Glenn’s disappearance or anything that could be pack related.

  “Eh.” I shrugged.

  “What’s that mean?”

  Had Tate not filled him in on things? “I wasn’t able to get any new information on Shane and his brothers.”

  “Nothing?”

  I shook my head. “No. And before you say anything, let me let me tell you why. I hoped I’d be able to get Becca talking again, but Ridley was there. Becca and I didn’t have a chance to chitchat like normal.”

  At the mention of Ridley, I remembered the weird things she’d said to me.

  “By the way, do you know anything about the Caraways?” I asked.

  “What do you mean? I know they’re witches. The oldest witch family in Mirror Lake, actually,” he said as he watched me get out a stick of butter and begin rubbing it along the hot pan.

  “I know that much. Ridley is new, though. She moved here a few months ago. I’m not sure she has the same magic as the others. Do you know anything about her? I know your dad keeps in close contact with the Caraways.”

  “He keeps close contact with all supernaturals in town,” Eli corrected.

  “Right.” Why did I get the feeling Eli was hinting at there being more supernaturals here than what I’d grown up knowing about? Were there more than the witches living in Mirror Lake?

  The Montevallo vampires didn’t live here at the moment, they moved often to keep suspicion in regards to their never aging at bay, and the Caraway witches didn’t allow any other vampires to reside in Mirror Lake besides them. Any who tried were driven out by us. It was part of the deal we had going with the Caraway witches. They cloaked our ritual grounds so humans and others wouldn’t be able to harm us or witness our ceremonies. In return, we were to keep vampires who weren’t a part of the Montevallo vampire family away. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure why the witches wanted vampires banned from Mirror Lake, but I’d heard once it was because some held the power to compel witches to do their bidding, and the Caraway witches didn’t want to be controlled. I understood. I wouldn’t want a bloodsucker to control me either.

  “Does your dad know anything about Ridley?” I bypassed the questions forming in my head about what other supernaturals might be living in my town and went directly to what I wanted to know more about—what powers did Ridley Caraway have?

  “She has magic, if that’s what you’re asking,” Eli said. “It’s not as powerful as the others, though. Not yet, anyway. She’s a Caraway witch, but her bloodline was passed to her through her father. If it had come from a female born Caraway, she’d be much stronger. Her father was Rowena’s sister. Why?”

  “She said some strange things to me last night.” I laid two slices of bread in the pan with the melted butter, allowing them to soak in some of the butter and toast before placing two slices of cheese on one. A good grilled cheese was made with two slices and loads of butter. That was the secret.

  “What did she say to you?” Concern flared through his words. It had me looking away from the sandwich I was cooking to meet his stare.

  “Nothing bad. Just something about how she could feel tragedy in the air when we were in the woods.”

  “Okay.” Eli leaned against the counter beside me and folded his arms across his solid chest. Electricity pulsed to life across my skin nearest him.
“I mean, that is where Glenn was abducted. We know from the blood and signs of struggle he wasn’t taken willingly. He’d been injured. Tragedy in the air might describe that section of woods well.”

  “I guess.” I tried to ignore what he was making me feel and added more butter to the pan I was cooking his sandwich in. “The way she looked when she said it left an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, though.”

  “Understandable.” He started to say something else but paused when he saw me gearing up to say something more. “What? She said something else?”

  “She warned me I should be careful.”

  “Of what?”

  I shrugged and then tried to cram two more slices of bread into the tiny pan. “She said she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what I needed to be careful of, but she’d feel bad if something happened to me and she didn’t warn me. There was something about last night that gave her a bad feeling.” I thought about adding how she’d said it after we had all been drinking and went for a swim in the lake but decided to keep that to myself. Knowing I’d been drinking while in Shane’s presence wasn’t going to sit well with Eli.

  A sigh escaped him. His warm breath floated over the side of my face as he leaned closer to me. “I wasn’t going to say anything about this because I didn’t want you to be afraid, but somebody was in the woods last night and it wasn’t just Tate and Violet.”

  A shiver slipped along my spine. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, somebody tranquilized Tate. Shot him in the ass actually.” A smirk twisted Eli’s lips as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

  “Is he okay?” Thickness built in the back of my throat.

  I knew someone had been watching me. When we were swimming in the lake, I’d felt someone’s eyes. Stupidly, I’d thought it was Tate. Now that I knew it hadn’t been him but someone else, my skin crawled.

  Eli nodded. “Yeah, he’s okay. A little groggy and dizzy this morning, but after a couple hours, it should wear off.”