Cascades of Moonlight (The Parker Harris Series: Book #1)

by Amy McClung

  Summer was over, and school was about to start again. My most recent moon cycle just ended. The daytime hours were spent sleeping in my car once again. My back was killing me, and I have begun looking for a new spot to spend those days. Before heading home, I stopped back by the cabin and crept up to the window to take a peek. The new tenant was in there. Tall, dark and handsome was putting it mildly. He sat so still on the couch reading one of my books. Great, he's a klepto. As if taking my haven wasn't enough for him. For some reason though, I was totally mesmerized by him.

  He glanced up from the book and looked as though he was sniffing the air. He stood up and walked toward the window. In a fit of panic, I ran around the side of the house. He stepped out on the porch and peered around turning his head slightly in my direction. Before he made eye contact with me, he gave up and went back inside. Making my way around the side of the house, I glanced inside once more.

  For someone who just moved in, he didn’t have a lot of stuff with him. One would expect there would be boxes everywhere. Most people don’t unpack everything immediately. I never even knew this cabin was on the market, it always appeared abandoned. It had been more than a month since I was there, and the place looked like a million bucks. A lot of remodeling had been done to make it livable. When I said I cleaned it, I removed cobwebs and dust. The place looked like it had been painted and spruced up, like a real residence.

  My phone went off with a text, and it was my friend Jackie asking where I was. A quick glance at my watch let me know I was going to be late for school. I changed quickly in the car and freshened up with deodorant and body spray before heading to class. I couldn’t stop thinking about how odd that guy seemed and wondering why I had never seen him before. I live in Cascade, Idaho; there are barely a thousand people that live here. So far, I have yet to meet any other freaks like me other than those few vampires, and that was during a full moon and on the outskirts of town. Who knows if I would even recognize a vampire in my human form? For all I know, I’ve seen dozens without realizing it.

  Keeping a secret like mine is not easy, in a small town, where people are so nosey. It doesn't help that people around here are not too keen on wolves. In fact, there is a place not far from here that has a sign that states ‘Tag a wolf, get a free pizza and a pitcher of beer.’ And believe me, people love pizza and beer. Once in the middle of hunting season, I was running through the woods and was skimmed by a bullet, it was quite a close call.

  So, as I was saying, school is starting up again. It's midway through September, and I'm in my senior year of high school. There are only thirty in my senior class, and I grew up with all of them. We rarely get new people in our small community. In all my years of school, I think we have had four new people. That can be a good thing, for me at least because new people tend to want to ask a lot of questions. Getting to know someone is not easy for....Wait...who is that?

  My train of thought went right out the window when I spotted him. The most gorgeous boy I had ever seen walked into my classroom. He was not from around here that was obvious. There's no way I would have missed that hair, that smile, that body. At that moment, I swear everything was in slow motion, and I could hear music in my head. For some reason I hear Corey Hart’s I Wear My Sunglasses at Night, I’ve been listening to the 80’s satellite radio channel in my car too much. In my defense, he was wearing sunglasses. He was at least six foot; maybe a few inches taller, had short wavy dark hair, and built like a rock from what I could tell. My nose caught his scent, slightly sweet with a hint of musky cologne, as he walked in the room, and it smelled like heaven.

  Recognition hit me like a ton of bricks; it was the cabin guy. I had not seen him as clearly as this, but I recognize the scent of his cologne and the shape of his bu… uh profile. He sat down in the front of the room. I couldn't stop staring at him, and he must have felt it because he turned around and glanced right at me. Immediately, I put my head down, hoping that he would think he imagined it.

  Trying to be sneaky, I rolled my eyes upward to make sure he had looked away. He smiled at me, and my face turned beet red, but I smiled back as best I could, and then dropped my glance to my desktop. My heart was racing so fast I thought my chest would explode. I have never felt this way from seeing a cute guy. Of course, the word cute did not do him justice at all.

  After class was over, he took his time getting up by fumbling with his books and gathering his stuff together. Christine Randall, the most popular girl in school, stopped to flirt with him as he was standing up. She twirled her hair, batted her big doe eyes at him, and shoved her unnaturally large padded hooters in his face. I rolled my eyes and said “Excuse me” as I tried to push past her. She huffed and stuck her foot out, tripping me. As I fell forward, the new guy reached out and grabbed my arm to steady me. Our eyes met, and his gaze sent shivers down my spine.

  Once I was back in a standing position, he held onto my arm. He turned to Christine and said, “Excuse me; Justine isn’t it?”

  She looked annoyed. “It's Christine,” she said, emphasizing the Chris.

  He smiled, sincerely stating, “My apologies, Christine…it was nice meeting you, but do you mind leaving us alone?” She huffed and walked away swaying her hips and made the loudest steps possible with her knee-high boots with stiletto heels. It was amusing how utterly ridiculous she looked in her diva attire as though she lived in Hollywood, California instead of a small town in Idaho.

  In Cascades, she looked more like a hooker. My friend and I secretly called her Kit, as in Kit Deluca from Pretty Woman; the trashy hooker that no one wanted to be. Julia Roberts was the type hooker that every girl dreams of becoming; the girl who lived on her own trying desperately to survive and ended up meeting a rich, handsome man who swept them off their feet. Ok, just kidding about wanting to be a hooker, the rest is true, but Kit is the trashier of the two. Christine’s display of childishness at this moment was pathetic. I have a feeling she will be going somewhere like California or New York for college next year.

  A hand came up in front of my face, waving to get my attention and awoke me from my thoughts. My head turned, and I was instantly captivated by his deep voice. “Hi, my name's Quinn.”

  So, I said, “Hi, uh Parker, yeah that’s me.” I have such a way with words.

  He apparently didn't mind my inability to converse, because he went on to say, “I'm new in town.” Big duh, I thought, but I let him continue. “Would you like to have lunch with me today and kind of fill me in on what goes on around here? Tell me who the cool people are, what's fun to do around town, that kind of thing.”

  Of course, I said yes, what would you have said? Alas, this is my problem, I don’t think first before speaking. I should've known someone that freaking beautiful would not pick me without an agenda. He was not only striking, but he smelled so delicious that bad thoughts were running through my head. The last thing I wanted to do was turn down an opportunity to get to know this man.

  Oblivious to the reason that he chose me over Christine, the rest of the day dragged on due to my excitement about lunch. An assortment of fantasies ran through my head of how it would go. One consisted of him showering me with roses and telling me how I was the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes on. In another fantasy, he fed me the jello-type substance that is served in the cafeteria as we gazed into each other’s eyes. One fantasy even consisted of me being Cinderella, and he was my Prince Charming. Any romantic scenario I could dream up, while plagiarizing Disney stories.

  Anxious to see what would happen, I went to the lunchroom looking for Quinn and found him sitting all alone in the back of the room. Trembling with anticipation, I checked my hair in the cafeteria window and hoped that my face didn’t have anything on it.

  I walked over to his table and used the lovely opening line of, “Hey Quinn, I see you tried the meatloaf; you’re a brave man.”

  He smiled as he took his f
ork and stabbed it. “I don’t eat this stuff normally, but you already knew that I'm sure. We gotta keep up appearances at school though.”

  How would I know what he normally eats? That was weird to say, but he continued, “Look, I could sit here and beat around the bush, but it seems pointless when we both know what is going on between us. I knew what you were as soon as I walked in that classroom. I wanted to meet and see if there's going to be a problem with the two of us being here.” He motioned to a seat across from him. “So, sit down, kid. Let’s talk.” I pulled a chair out and took a seat.

  “I want you to know that I came into town for a change. I’m not here to cause trouble or anything. I want to have a normal life, maybe make a few friends along the way. If you're ok with that, maybe we could even be friends. If you feel it’s possible based on…well you know.” I’m almost positive the confusion was written all over my face. He gazed at me skeptically, “You look confused.”

  See, I told you. “I'm not sure what you mean…you knew what I was?”

  With a satirical smirk, he said “So, I take it you haven’t been one that long? You probably haven’t told anyone close to you, trying desperately to keep it all a secret…does that about sum it up?”

  Confused again, and a bit irritated this time, I clenched my teeth and spat out, “What are you talking about?” He sat down his fork and leaned in toward me, his breath smelled like roses.

  Softly he whispered, “I know you're a werewolf, hon. When did you first turn?”

  I gasped glanced around to see if anyone was listening, and said in a loud whisper, “Werewolf? Are you crazy? I’m not a werewolf; there's no such thing!”

  Panic rose in my chest; I could feel my legs shaking. My heart raced, wondering how he could know that from meeting me. Quinn sat back, folded his arms across his chest and said, sardonically, “Really? You're going to play it like that?”

  Getting angry now I scoffed, “Look here, I don’t know what you think you know, but if you're trying to say I smell like a dog or even look like one… Well, you're not making a friend here!”

  He covered his mouth to hide his grin, and said, “So I suppose that you haven’t been spending the full moon cycles in a cabin, my cabin actually? And that wasn’t you watching me through my window the other day?”

  Embarrassment flared inside me; I hadn’t realized he saw me that day.

  Stumbling over my words, I said, “So you're calling me a stalker now too? Oh and a squatter? Nice!” Feeling outraged, I stood up, gathered my tray and belongings, and turned to him once more. “I think it's best that you stay away from me. You may think you're funny or cute, but I don’t. Good luck making friends, but here’s a suggestion…you may want to try a different approach.” And in a whisper, filled with irritation, “The whole werewolf idea makes you seem a bit crazy.”

  He looked stunned, and a bit perplexed, so I just turned and walked away. As I reached the doorway, I turned around to look at him again, and he had vanished from sight.

  As I left the lunchroom, the thoughts rushed through my head. How does he know that I'm a werewolf? No one knew that. When he saw me at the cabin that day, did he follow me? Did he see me change? Could it mean he is one too? He sniffed the air when he came out on the porch, maybe he caught my scent. He said that he wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be a problem with both of us being here, and he does smell a little different than most humans. What does that mean? Maybe I should've admitted it, but to say it out loud to someone at school would be scary. What if it is a trick, and he told everyone and I became an outcast, or worst.

  Or, what if he was sympathetic and we became friends? Could he be someone I confide in and trust? No, I couldn’t take the chance that he would tell someone; I couldn’t let my parents find out like that, it would kill them. I wonder if I convinced him with my denial. If he knew when he walked in the room, then I probably didn't. Great, it’s my senior year and now I am probably going to be hunted down like, well, a wild animal. My reputation is non-existent now; I don't need this kind of recognition.

  My best friend Jackie called out my name. With my head reeling over Quinn and what happened, I almost missed her completely. She ran up to me, smacked my shoulder, and I about dropped my lunch on the floor. As I balanced myself, I blurted out, “Ow, geez you could speak, and it's just as effective, if not more so, as smacking me!”

  Jackie laughed, “Um, hello, I said your name like five times already and that wasn’t working.”

  I mumbled, “Oh, sorry about that, guess I was somewhere else.”

  Jackie scoffed and said “Yeah, ya think! Were you lost in fantasy with that new hunk? You know the one whose table you just left! What's up with that? You looked pretty ticked off when you walked away from him. What did he say? Do I need to beat him up?”

  I snorted, "Don't worry about him. He thought I could help him with something, but I turned him down." She grabbed my arm and dragged me back toward the lunchroom to eat with her.

  We had barely sat down when the questions began, “So, where did he come from? He is freaking gorgeous! What would make someone that looked like that, come to a tiny town in Idaho?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “How should I know?” I picked up a hamburger on my plate, shoved it in my mouth, hoping to use the excuse that I was chewing so she couldn’t pursue this line of questions any further.

  She was quiet for a minute, probably trying to think of more questions to ask or different ways to phrase them. The silence did give me a chance to brag a little. “Maybe you should ask Kit what you want to know, she was all over him after class,” I said and then giggled, “of course he called her ‘Justine’ and blew her off to talk to me, which you know made her so mad.”

  Jackie spit her coke out when she laughed and stuck her hand up to give me a high five. We both had been the objects of teasing from Christine “Kit” Randall over the years. She was a blonde bombshell that had always been popular in town. Rumors are she was popular with more than just the boys in school, but, again, those were just rumors.

  Enough about Christine, let’s talk about someone I like, my best friend, Jackie Martin. Jackie has long, straight, brown hair and blue eyes, and she is almost supermodel thin. We have been best friends since birth, practically. Our parents were best friends so we'd been somewhat forced to be together, but that’s a good thing. We were exactly alike, well, all but the wolf thing.

  We've been through a lot together. A few years ago, her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and we spent every night together while her mom went through chemotherapy. Some days we tried to have fun and take our minds off things to stay happy and other days we sat holding hands and crying. That was probably the hardest thing we've experienced in our friendship up to this point. Her mom pulled through, and she has been in remission for a year now. The whole experience not only brought Jackie and I closer, but now my mom spends more time with Jackie’s mom and leaves me alone when dad goes out of town without her.

  There was very little I didn’t share with Jackie. I haven’t told her about my wolf problem. Even though, I feel pretty sure that if I did she would be okay with it. At least I hope she would. It’s just, well, how would you explain to your best friend that you're a werewolf? Not so easy when you think about it, is it? In fact, thinking about it gives me hives and makes me short of breath; it petrified me. The time will come where I will have to tell her. She had been patient for two years now, but she’s going to want to know where I go every month. Jackie is great, but we mostly spend time together during school. She spends most of her time with her boyfriend, Mitchell. Usually the few times she isn’t with Mitchell she spends with her mom, so I rarely get girl time anymore.

  She and Mitchell have been together for about two years officially. Before that, it was a lot of flirting and crushing on each other. It seemed that everyone, but the two of them, knew they'd been dating since grad
e school.

  Mitchell Davis was tall, with blonde hair and brown eyes, and he doesn’t look very muscular, but he isn’t skin and bones either. I guess you could say he's average size. He's a great guy, and I'm happy for the two of them, but I miss spending time with Jackie. We used to hang out every weekend doing girl stuff like painting nails and trying on clothes. I'm sure if I ever get a boyfriend I'll be the same way and completely understand. Yep, that’s right I've never had a boyfriend.

  It’s okay though, again, how do you explain to a boyfriend that you're a werewolf? “Hey sweetie, you know how most girls have ‘that time of the month’ and they can get irritable. Well, during my time of the month I'm a real animal!” Yep, I'm sure that would go over fantastically. So far, I haven’t had to worry about that part. Although I admit, I wouldn’t mind having that problem with Quinn.

  Back to Jackie, I think I'll tell her soon. After all, I shouldn’t go through this alone, right? Maybe I'll do it on my eighteenth birthday. That allowed me a couple of weeks to practice how to tell her. After everything we have meant to each other, she would be the one to understand. If she told me that she was a werewolf, I would understand. Who am I kidding? First, I would laugh, thinking it was a joke, and then I would scream and run. One thing I love about Jackie is that she is not terribly nosey. If I tell her that I don’t want to talk about something, she doesn’t pry. She will wait until I am ready to talk and, even if that never happens, she doesn’t push the subject. For two years I've had to run away for three days a month and hide and Jackie has covered for me, no questions asked.

  As I was walking home, and thinking about all of this, I realized that I wasn’t far from my…well, Quinn’s, cabin. Taking a detour, I decided to go retrieve my things from him. When I reached his doorstep, I paused with my hand in the air ready to knock. Before my fist made contact, the door flew open, and Quinn stood there, shirtless. My fist landed square on his chest, because my body was still moving forward, and I couldn’t stop. My palm opened up and pressed against his firm torso. Wow, he is hard as a rock. My heart began to race and my breathing became labored. All I could think was, ‘what a body!’

  He smiled at me, and I managed to squeak out, “Books…please.”

  His eyes squinted in puzzlement, “Books? What books, hon?”

  Grow up, Parker, and demand this jerk give you your stuff back, I thought to myself. “My stuff is in the window seat. So, just let me gather it up, okay? You took over this cabin rather quickly. I didn’t know it was on the market or I wouldn’t have left my stuff here.”

  He smiled and replied with the utmost sarcasm, “Oh, you follow the real estate market closely? What kind of place are you looking for?”

  Ugh, he is annoying. “Don’t be a smart ass; the cabin appeared abandoned is what I meant. Can I get my things or not?” He looked down at his chest and I realized my hand was still there and pulled it back quickly.

  He left me on the porch as he turned to go back inside. To avoid embarrassing myself further, I walked away. With my back turned, I heard, “Uh, hello, forgetting something?” I whipped around, and he held up my book bag.

  I walked back to him and ripped it from his hand, “Thanks, butt munch.”

  The look of amusement on his face was aggravating as I turned and walked away. “Pleasure, as always sweetheart,” he yelled as I was leaving.

  He called me sweetheart, and I melted inside. Oh, get a grip Parker. Geez.

  Chapter Three