by Sage Domini
“Gideon,” I breathed. I didn’t know if he heard me. In the next breath he was gone.
“Artemis?” Max called from the next room, his voice tense and alert.
“I’m fine, Dad. Go back to sleep.”
Eventually I left the open window and dressed quietly while my father’s deep snoring resumed. I put my hands on my hips and frowned. The house looked as if it hadn’t suffered a good cleaning since my mother’s departure. I spent the next three hours dutifully scrubbing every dingy corner.
When he finally awoke, Max seemed pleased by my efforts. He whipped up several bowls of steel cut oats topped with strawberries and brown sugar. We sat across from each other and ate in companionable silence for a while.
“You’re thin,” he observed critically as he scooped the last bite from his bowl.
“Oh yeah? You’re not.” I tossed a spoon at his protruding gut.
He stared at me for a moment, then busted up laughing. He retrieved the spoon, still guffawing, then abruptly stopped. At first I didn’t understand the tension in his face. Until I felt it too.
Max relaxed first. “It’s all right,” he said, taking a few long strides to the front door.
When he opened it, Benji and Zane Landon stood on the other side, poised to knock. Zane grinned ruefully. “Should have known you’d sense us.”
Benji looked around curiously. “We heard Acie was back.”
“I am.”
The twins watched me nervously as I stepped toward the door, standing behind my father. He raised an eyebrow at me and I nodded. Two years younger, the Landon boys had always trailed after Gideon and I like eager puppies. Their older brother, Matthew, seemed to fly in a separate orbit and anyway I had never minded the twins’ company. Cade Landon was always joking playfully with his boys and theirs was a home I had felt welcome in. Werewolves or not, I couldn’t imagine having any fear of Zane and Benji.
Max took the hint and retreated back to the breakfast table while I closed the door behind me. The twins stared at me, shuffling with uncertainty.
“So,” said Zane. “How the hell have you been?”
I sighed. “Pretty shitty actually. But better now, I hope.”
He smiled. “Good.”
I looked up at the two imposing young men who I best recalled as scraggly boys. “Damn, you guys sure grew up.”
Zane looked me up and down. “You’re not so tough on the eyes either.” Benji punched him lightly. He widened his eyes in mock innocence. “What? A lady likes to know when she’s appreciated.”
I shook my head, blushing. “Anyway, you’ve got to be starting your senior year in the fall, right?”
Benji nodded shyly. “Yeah.”
Zane nudged him. “Acie, Dad wants to know if you’ll come to dinner tonight. You remember him, right? He’s happily mated now and Tatum’s eager to meet you too.” He paused. “We’re not all shithead Casteel brothers.”
I swallowed. So it seemed word had spread of my street side tussle with Gideon. The boys waited for my answer and I realized they were nervous. I had no doubt everything Max had told me of the werewolves and the hunters was true. It meant Cade Landon was taking a small leap of faith in sending his sons out here to issue a personal invitation. I smiled. “I’d love to.”
Benji exhaled with relief. “Can you be there at six tonight?”
“Well,” I put a finger to my lips, “I’ll have to consult with my brimming social calendar, but I can tentatively pencil you in.”
Zane grinned mischievously. “Do that,” he winked. “Pencil us in.”
I laughed. “I’ll be there. I promise.”
After a few more rounds of banter, the Landon boys left. I stared after their truck as they sped away. I was unsure what to make of the invitation and was surprised when Max nodded with approval.
“There’s no love lost between Cade Landon and I, but he’s not one of the bad ones.” He paused, thinking. “His mother was human, you know.”
I still felt a little nonplussed by all the interspecies elements. “Oh,” I said because I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate.
Max generously insisted on handing over the keys to his truck. My battered excuse for transportation was released to Eddie. Eddie had a garage in Williams and agreed to see what he could do with my crumbling car.
Max still needed to open up the store for the day because people might get upset if they weren’t able to purchase their kitschy memorabilia before they moved on to more interesting parts of the state. Eddie had offered to drive him into town. I felt a little uncomfortable under Eddie’s D’arcangelo’s cool gaze.
“So you’ll be around for a while, huh?”
“Hey, Eddie. Yeah, I guess. That all right with you?”
“I’m not the one you’ve got to worry about.”
Max hurriedly shouldered a dark backpack and tried to hustle Eddie out. “She knows, Ed.”
Eddie paused and narrowed his eyes. He spoke quietly. “You better make sure of it.”
Max stared him down. As the two men glared at one another I sensed there had been some disagreement I was not privy to. Eddie broke first and left without another word.
Max sighed and raised an eyebrow. “You going to be okay?”
“I’ll be fine.”
His expression softened as he looked at me for a long moment. Not for the first time I wondered how it had been for him these past six years. Alone, with nothing but the ghosts of his former family for company.
I tried to offer a watery smile and he seemed to accept that as evidence. Max hoisted his backpack higher up on his shoulder and tossed me a single bronze key. “I’ll be home late tonight. You’ve still got a phone, right?”
“Yeah. It’s been off since I left Cali but it’s the same number.”
“Good.” He appeared to be grappling with something internally. “You’ll be all right at the Landons. Don’t say too much.”
“Won’t be hard. I don’t really know too much.”
He gave me a grim smile. “You will.” The security door whined on its unoiled hinges. “Artemis, don’t speed on the local roads. And stay away from the Casteel brothers.”
I rolled my eyes. “You think I’m eager for another public humiliation? Trust me, I have no intention of going anywhere near those fuckers.”
After Max left I returned to my domestic chores. It was no good. The harder I scrubbed the dingy bathroom grout the more ancient memories ran through my mind like a cruel marquee.
It was my thirteenth birthday and my mother had baked a sheet cake. Chocolate inside and out. I could have eaten the whole thing myself but I wanted to save a piece for Gideon. He smiled shyly when I offered it to him.
“You keep it for later,” he said.
I frowned but left the cake on the counter. Gideon had never been a fan of sweets.
He seemed nervous, shuffling back and forth on large feet his lanky frame had yet to catch up with. With a touch of wonder, I noticed his dark blonde hair was combed and his clothes were neat and pressed. His large green eyes glanced at me meaningfully and my breath caught. Ever since his parents had died in a car accident six months earlier he’d been more solemn, less boyish. And lately, out of the corner of my eye, I’d noticed him looking at me in an odd, intent way. It kept me up at night. I wanted Gideon to look at me.
“Can we go for a hike, Acie?”
I met his stare. “Yes.” I tried to lighten my voice so my parents wouldn’t suspect I was about to pass out. “Just going for a walk with Gid! I’ll be back.”
My father’s stern voice came immediately. “You be back here by nightfall, Artemis.”
That was always the rule. “Naturally.” I let the door slam behind me.
Gideon’s hands were stuffed in his pockets as we walked in silence. The sweet scent of early spring was everywhere as we reached the crest where our properties met and then we veered off into the woods. He paused to pick a handful of dandelions. When he handed them to me our fing
ers touched briefly. The electric thrill which ran through my body was becoming familiar. For months I’d been feeling strangely around Gideon. I even caught myself staring at his lips a few times, marveling at the pouty shape of them, wondering how they would feel against mine.
I looked up at my best friend and realized he was breathing very quickly. He stared at me for a moment, then shook himself briefly. “Come on,” he urged.
It took us a good twenty minutes to reach our secret favorite place. Deep in the woods was an enormous white birch with a natural stone bench at its base. Gideon and I would sit for hours back to back on that bench, staring up at the mottled sky through thick branches.
I fussed with my dandelions, knotting them into a chain. Gideon took them from me and joined the ends together. “Here,” he said, placing the golden crown in my dark hair. I watched his face as he carefully adjusted the crown. A flicker of a smile touched the corners of his mouth.
“What?” I asked.
His fingers lingered in the strands of my hair. “I was just thinking. Someday, when you’re mine, I want you to wear dandelion crowns every day.”
I stared up at him, scarcely breathing. “I’m yours now.”
Gideon leaned forward and kissed me.
I had never been kissed before and I knew Gideon hadn’t either. Our mouths melted together as we lost our hesitation. His arms wrapped around me firmly and lifted me slightly as my own arms went around his shoulders.
We sank down to the damp mossy ground, a good thing since my legs seemed to have forgotten how to support me. Gideon’s kiss became harder, more urgent as he settled his weight on top of me. When I felt his hand moving underneath my cotton t-shirt I flinched instinctively.
“Acie,” he whispered, his eyes wide. “Is this okay?”
I touched his lips with my finger and then kissed him again. “Yes,” I answered and it was.
Time lost all meaning as we kissed. Neither of us noticed the fall of darkness until the growl of a nearby animal caused me to break away with a gasp. Gideon looked around wildly, having leapt into a tense crouching position. I heard a strange noise come from his throat and I felt suddenly cold. Even a little sick. My hands, still sore from hours of morning archery practice, itched for a weapon. I stared at Gideon Casteel in the fading light and suddenly he became unrecognizable. Not Gideon…something else. I closed my eyes tightly, forcing the image away.
Then Gideon’s hand was on my elbow as he pulled me to my feet. His voice was uneasy. “Come on,” he said. “We need to get home.”
He waited for me as I tripped through the wilderness, scratched at by unseen branches. My angry parents awaited us in the clearing and my father glared fiercely at Gideon. Oddly, he wore his quiver and had a bow slung on his back. There was no time for goodbyes as I was hustled into the house. I was only able to glance back once to see Gideon’s quick wink and grin. I didn’t know that would be the last time Gideon Casteel would ever smile at me.
I squeezed the dirty mop between my hands, breathing thickly, trying to banish the recollection of what came next. Gideon’s sudden and devastatingly cold behavior. A lonely walk in the woods one night to our special place only to stumble across a party I hadn’t been invited to which included all of Luna Junction teens. Gideon’s cutting words. We’re not friends. And then the sound of laughter as he shoved me lightly. I was nothing to him. To any of them. He grabbed one of the willing Bellini girls and kissed her full on the mouth while I broke into earth shattering sobs and stumbled blindly back through the woods.
“It shouldn’t matter now,” I told the empty bathroom. It shouldn’t. But it didn’t change anything. I could forgive my parents in their misguided attempts to shield me. I could forgive myself for wasted years of self-indulgence. I could even forgive the wary folks of Luna Junction, given my lineage and destiny.
But I couldn’t quite forgive him. My former best friend. The first boy I’d ever loved. He should have known better.
Chapter Five
The Landon place was a bit out of the way but I remembered the route with no problem. Cade Landon owned a substantial piece of property with its own private road. I kept the driver’s window open, breathing in the honeyed scent of late spring. The longest day of the year was rapidly approaching and in that early evening hour the sun was still hours from its reluctant retreat.
Several crookedly parked pickup trucks were in front of the house so I didn’t feel badly about parking just as informally. I didn’t see any of the Landons but I knew they were nearby. Max had assured me that in time my ability to sense a werewolf would be honed to the point where I could pick one out in a jostling crowd of thousands.
I didn’t notice the girl at first. Auburn haired and apple cheeked, she was cute but not beautiful. She leaned against the rustic porch pillar, watching me silently with a hand on her heavily pregnant belly. She suddenly laughed. “You gonna come out of there or what? I don’t bite, you know.”
I climbed out of Max’s truck warily as the girl ambled over. I wasn’t sure how to begin. “Um, I’m Acie? The boys invited me for dinner?”
She winked at me. “I know. I’m Tatum Landon, the evil stepmother.”
I was confused. “So you’re Cade’s um…” I wasn’t sure how to finish. She couldn’t be much older than me. And I didn’t feel that prickly alarm in her presence which I had begun to recognize as the hunter’s sense.
Tatum nodded. “Mate, yes.” She patted her stomach fondly. “And I’m about to freaking burst. Can’t believe I have another month left.”
“Cade’s mate?” I bit my lip. “But you’re not a-“
“No,” she said shortly. “I’m not.” She held my gaze for a moment and seemed to be daring me to say the wrong thing.
“Well,” I smiled. “Congratulations.” Max had mentioned in passing that werewolves sometimes mated with humans, but many werewolves feared this indulgence interfered with the bloodlines and they discouraged it, even outlawed it in some communities.
Tatum looked at me approvingly and grabbed my arm. “Come in the house. Cade’s in the kitchen slaving away at the stove and the boys are around here somewhere.”
As I let myself be pulled along towards the dim interior of the Landon home, I felt another jolt of memory. For a split second I was racing across that clearing behind the house into the woods, panting as I chased a laughing Gideon. He would pause just long enough for me to nearly catch him and then he would race ahead, always too fast.
Immediately I caught the heady aroma of food. Cade, I recalled, was an expert cook. His had been a cheerful, welcoming home, but the tension I felt as I crossed the threshold was becoming a familiar response. There were werewolves within.
Tatum led me back towards the kitchen where Cade Landon presided alone over an assortment of preparations. He waited by the stove, staring expectantly as if he knew I was about to enter. His expression was kind when he saw me and as I did a quick once over I reflected that the past six years certainly hadn’t done him any harm. I could well see how his imposing body and chiseled features would tempt any woman.
He smiled as Tatum melted into his arms and they tangled in an embarrassingly passionate kiss. I tried not to stare at them but truthfully felt a tug of longing in my gut. The sexual pull in the room was almost palpable between these two. Although I’d had more than my share of exploits, they were often quick and brutish couplings which left me frustrated and incomplete. I’d never been cherished or gazed at with the combination of lust and love which hung between these two.
I looked up and realized they were both staring at me. I tried to smile. “Hello, Mr. Landon.”
He laughed. “You’re an adult now, Artemis. Call me Cade.”
“Very well, Cade. Thanks for the invite to dinner. Oh, but I go by Acie all the time now.”
He turned back to the stove, Tatum’s arms still wrapped around his waist. “You still take you meat well done?”
With a jolt I realized that the blood rare meals w
hich had been a common sight in my Luna Junction childhood likely had something to do with the hidden nature of those eating them. “Thank you. That would be great.”
He touched Tatum’s upturned face. “Sweetheart, I heard the boys out back. Why don’t you bring Acie out there?”
Tatum gave him a quick kiss and patted him on the derriere. “C’mon Ace. Can I call you Ace? That’s an awesome name.” She bounded past me through the kitchen and down the hall, moving quite quickly for a heavily pregnant woman. “So you grew up here, huh? What was that like? You’ll have to tell me about it. Did you always know about the werewolf thing? Sometimes I still can’t believe it. Ha! My mother crapped a big enough golden twinkie when I told her I had quit school and married a guy twice my age. It’s been a year and a half and I’m still leaving the zoology aspect out.”
I smiled. It was hard not to enjoy Tatum’s exuberance. Plus I was relieved to not be the only non-werewolf in attendance.
Tatum opened the back door and I squinted into the sunlight. Zane and Benji were a ways off, fiddling with something by the barn. They waved. I still felt strongly off balance and tried to banish the wish to hold a bow.
Sitting nearby, so still I didn’t see them at first, was a young blonde couple. Matthew Landon was the older brother of the twins. I remembered him as serious, but ever polite. He offered a small grin and mild hand wave. The girl sitting mutely on his lap was not smiling, nor did she offer any greeting. She was still quite petite and had grown even prettier than I remembered her. She was Claire Casteel, Gideon’s older sister.
“Acie,” she finally said.
“Claire,” I responded carefully.
She swallowed but made no move to rise. Matthew squeezed her hand. I remembered them just like this, the Luna Junction golden power couple. It was nice to know some things hadn’t changed. Claire had always been friendly towards me, but guarded. Once, seemingly a million years earlier, I’d heard her arguing with Gideon. You’re not a couple of cute kids anymore. It’s dangerous and Mom and Dad would have forced you to end it. It’s inevitable, Gid.
I had never understood what she was talking about. Until that moment. Claire sighed and jumped up suddenly, wrapping me in a strong hug before I even saw her coming. She released me quickly and stepped back, looking at me curiously. “Well, you came back. So, when did you find out?”
