Moonstruck

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “What are you doing here?”

  I’d only been gone a couple of hours. What could’ve happened to put him on edge in that time, I didn’t know. Didn’t think I wanted to.

  As he came closer, I noticed the small beads of sweat dotting his forehead and worry creasing his brows. The only time I’d seen him perspire was when we had sex and since that couldn’t be the reason now, I swallowed hard, steeled myself, and waited.

  “We have to go,” he said as he roughly grabbed my elbow.

  Two of the items in my hands dropped with his roughness.

  “I just need to—”

  “Now.”

  Orin snatched everything from my arms and dropped them on the nearest table then took my arm again and dragged me from the store.

  He moved so quickly that all protest got trapped in my throat.

  Something happened but his lack of explanation scared me. He wanted me home. I could deal with that because I felt safest there. Yet still, I wanted to know.

  We burst through the front door, not bothering to shut it behind us and climbed the stairs two at a time. I tripped, banging my shins against the wood. It stung then ached and he still didn’t stop. Once in our bedroom, he had a suitcase flayed open and was tossing everything from intimates to shoes inside without folding them.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “You’re leaving,” he said without looking at me.

  My stomach dropped and my heart ached.

  “Where are we going?”

  “We aren’t going anywhere.” Satisfied with his packing job, he finally stopped to look at me. “You are.”

  I heard him wrong. I must have. Orin wouldn’t be sending me away. “What?”

  “You have to go home.”

  “This is my home.”

  His jaw set hard, those teeth grinding together as he stood there looking at me.

  My eyes burned with tears ready to fall. He couldn’t be sending me away. I hadn’t done anything wrong and he loved me. And he loved me.

  I took a hard swallow so I’d be able to speak but barely caught my breath as if I’d been punched in the stomach.

  “To my father’s?”

  He nodded.

  “I can’t do that, Orin.” I blinked rapidly trying to figure out what I’d done to make him want me to leave. Yet nothing stood out. “Did I do something wrong?”

  “No. I did.”

  “What?”

  Orin approached me taking both my hands in his. “My—” he sighed, “—My brothers are on their way here.”

  “Why does that mean I have to leave?”

  “I need to protect you. They’re strong.”

  “You’re strong,” I yelled.

  This was my worst fear. Going home to a father that I’d disobeyed on the highest scale wasn’t going to be pretty.

  He gave me that sideways smile that I loved.

  Having the strongest person I knew protecting me meant there was no chance his brothers would get close enough to hurt me.

  “Together, they’re stronger.” He took a deep breath. “Once we find our mate and bond, we are the strongest. But that’s when our mate is one of us.”

  “Are you saying that I… that I make you weak?”

  “No,” he said then took a deep breath. “I guess technically, yes but I’d rather—”

  “Why do they care?” I dropped onto the bed feeling more like a petulant child than the married woman I really was. But I didn’t want to leave the only place that truly felt like home. Or the one person I trusted and loved more than anyone else.

  “Our family would be unstoppable if we all have our mates. Mates like us.” He meant wolfmen. Women. Whichever.

  I thought about what he’d said. That they’d be strongest if the entire family was mated. That they were coming here.

  That he may not be able to protect me.

  “Do they want to kill me?”

  Orin pinched his lips together and stared at me then crossed his arms over his chest.

  That silence answer what his words wouldn’t. The reality hung heavily on my shoulders. We stood there as I tried to come to terms with the idea that four werewolves wanted me dead and one would die to keep it from happening.

  We were there for a very long time not speaking but searching each other for an answer.

  The shrill sound of the telephone downstairs broke us out of the showdown. I’d never answered the thing so I wasn’t going to now and Orin made no move for it either.

  “It’s not going to be easy,” I whispered, “going home.”

  Understatement of the century. Returning to my father would be as close to Hell on Earth as one could get. Not to mention humiliating.

  I wouldn’t try to talk Orin out of sending me because it never would’ve worked. And I didn’t want him to get hurt.

  The mere fact that he wanted to send me away meant he wasn’t sure he could protect me from them. And I trusted his instinct.

  “If there was any other way,” he said. “I don’t know what else to do.”

  My lips trembled as reality set it. The reality of what crawling back to my father would mean.

  “He won’t let you in,” I whispered. “He may not even let me in but he really won’t let you in.”

  Orin’s gaze slid over my face as he ran his hand up and down the back of his head. He already knew that.

  “So we won’t see each other,” I said even though I clearly didn’t need to.

  We stared again. Tears filled my eyes at the thought of leaving him. I also didn’t want to run home with my tail between my legs like a lost puppy. I wanted to stay with him. Wanted my husband. I thought I saw his eyes glistening but when I looked again, the moisture was gone.

  “Lizzie, we have to go. They’ll be here soon.”

  I wet my lips, took another breath, and walked past him out the door.

  We rode in silence like strangers at first but then as if to make me or himself feel better, he quickly told me his mother was the one to alert him that his brothers were coming. Their wives had kept it from his parents at first but Phillip’s wife finally broke down and told them everything.

  He didn’t look over at me as he spoke or touch my hand the way he sometimes did when we were driving.

  When he turned into my father’s drive, he stopped the car halfway to the house.

  Orin didn’t want my father to know he was there, that he’d dropped me off.

  He would want everyone to think he’d abandoned me.

  I couldn’t move until he got out of the car and came to my side then pulled me out by the hand.

  As he walked me up the drive, I looked at the house I’d grown up in. It was past dinner, not yet dark, but a few lights shone from the windows. Father would be in his study for whatever he did in there at night.

  Finally, we stopped outside the front door where Orin set my suitcase down.

  “I’m sorry, Lizzie,” he said so softly that I almost missed it.

  He turned to leave but I couldn’t let him go like that.

  “When will I see you?”

  “I’m not sure.” He kept his back turned to me. “When it’s safe.”

  I watched him walk away without so much as a glance at me until I couldn’t see him anymore. He hadn’t even kissed me good-bye.

  Then I knocked on the door.

  While wishing for someone other than my father to answer the door was a nice idea, there was no way that would happen.

  Father pulled the door open, his normal face dropping in surprise which he schooled rather quickly back into that cold mask I’d seen my entire childhood. His eyes flit down to my suitcase then back to me. Nervous tension curled in the pit of my stomach and I started fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. Something I hadn’t done in months.

  “Elizabeth,” he said with a tone meant to get me talking.

  “I need to come home,” I responded hoping he wouldn’t ask for more of an explanation.

  The words
tasted like vinegar on my tongue. My only plan was for him to fill in the blanks himself so I wouldn’t have to lie or tell him the truth.

  “What makes you think you’re welcome here?” He stared out over my head refusing to look at me.

  “I don’t have anywhere else to go.” I hated the begging tone my voice had taken on. I was begging to come back to a house that I’d hated my entire life.

  “What about that husband of yours? The one you were keen to run off with? Shouldn’t you be his burden?”

  “Things are complicated right now. May I please stay here? Temporarily, of course.” I waited for his answer not sure if I hoped for a yes or a no.

  “There are rules in this house, Elizabeth.”

  I nodded because I knew what was coming. I’d memorized every rule of that house by the time I turned three and I tried so hard not to break even one of them.

  “He’s not allowed here. You are to have no contact while under this roof. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, Father.” My voice came out barely a whisper. I don’t know why. I fully expected him to say that about Orin which with how angry I was at that point, I didn’t think it would be an issue.

  Stepping out of my way, he finally let me inside although every muscle in my body screamed at me to run in the other direction. Instead, I held my breath as my left foot crossed the threshold. The echo of the closing door behind me sent shivers up my spine almost as if I really thought I’d never walk back out.

  Deep down, I worried that I wouldn’t.

  Being back in my old room again was exactly as uncomfortable as I thought it’d be. Father had taken me in but not without consequences. So far it hadn’t moved passed the I told you so lecture I endured for an hour after I arrived.

  Father believed I hadn’t been a proper wife which caused Orin to stray and put me out of his house.

  The truth sat perched on the end of my tongue but I couldn’t say it no matter how badly I wanted to. I just had to endure it.

  Alone in my room that night, I missed Orin’s lips, longed for the feel of his body against mine. It’d only been hours, not even a full day, yet the linger of Orin’s touch on my skin began to fade.

  The next morning, my rules reverted back to when I lived at home before which meant I’d be expected to be dressed and seated at the table with my father for breakfast.

  The silence hung heavily with the exception of forks scraped across the plates. This was even more uncomfortable than it’d been before.

  “Thank you for letting me stay here,” I said to break the awkward quite.

  If I was in his house, I had to play the part.

  He didn’t look away from his paper.

  “What else could I do? Can’t have my abandoned daughter on the street. How would that look?”

  “I wasn’t abandoned,” I said quietly planting my eyes back on the plate.

  The newspaper rustled and I felt the heaviness of my father’s stare on me.

  “Where is your husband then?”

  That I couldn’t answer because I didn’t honestly know. Even if I did, I’d never tell him. Instead, I patted myself on the back for keeping things civil and continued to eat in silence until I could hide away in my bedroom.

  My room looked exactly the same as it had when I left it months before. Likely my father hadn’t set foot inside. He’d have no reason to. Yet I was no longer comfortable in there. This had been the one place I could be without the pressure of my father. Now there was a large envelope sitting in the middle of my bed. That hadn’t been there when I went down to dinner.

  I pushed the envelope open and dumped out the contents.

  Three thick stacks of banded money landed on the bedspread.

  Only Orin could’ve left this here. He’d been in this room while I’d been down at breakfast.

  I ran to the window and searched the landscape for any signs of him. He’d come and gone without anyone knowing. I knew how he slipped in and out quickly but I really wished he’d do it when I was in the room.

  After finding a safe place to hide the money and still not hearing from Orin, I tried to do the few things I used to love. None of my books kept my attention. The garden seemed drab and boring, although I still walked it several times a day to escape the oppressive air of the house.

  Two full weeks without seeing Orin made me crazy and left me with an overwhelming need of a different sort. I didn’t bother to fight either.

  I sent Olivia a note asking her to meet me for lunch in town because I needed out of my house. She sent back a time and place and was already there when I arrived.

  “Did I hear right?” Olivia asked the moment I sat in the chair across from her in the diner. “Are you back at your father’s?”

  I grimaced but nodded then hoped she’d take the hint not to ask any questions.

  “What happened?” she asked anyway. “The way you and Orin were together I never thought… it was like a dream.”

  “It’s temporary.” It had to be. It better be.

  “How long has it been?”

  “Two weeks.”

  “Have you talked?”

  We ordered before I had to come up with an answer. Saying that I hadn’t spoken to my husband in weeks brought a lump the size of an apple to my throat like I couldn’t breathe.

  I shook my head instead. “What’s new with you?”

  Her face exploded with happiness. “Things are so much better than I ever imagined it’d be. Charles is very kind. We hope to be expecting soon.”

  “Really?” I hadn’t even started to consider children. Then again I didn’t think Olivia would be able to bring herself to prevent a pregnancy the way Orin and I did. Even she wasn’t as brazen.

  “We want a family as soon as possible.” Olivia looked like she meant that too.

  Talking the way we hadn’t in months, lunch turned into a two-hour event after which we hugged tightly before going our own ways. I couldn’t let so much time pass before seeing her again.

  In no rush to get back to my father’s, I walked slowly down the street pretending to window shop. Glancing in the window used to be something fun I did with Olivia. Now, there was nothing I wanted anyway.

  Then I saw him and stopped in my tracks.

  Orin stood across the street, three doors down, with four men who looked remarkably like him. I finally got a glimpse of my husband and he was with the men who wanted me dead.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Orin’s brothers stood beside him on the sidewalk, large and intimidating. Their laughter and a playful slap on his shoulder was a direct contradiction to the fact that if given the chance, they’d kill me where I stood.

  My husband smiled back at them but knowing him as I did, it took great effort to put that on his face. The smile never quite reached his eyes the way I knew it could. The way it had all the times he smiled at me.

  He was as heartbroken over being apart as me. After swallowing hard and steeling my nerves, I forced myself to keep moving.

  The closer to their group I became, the harder it was to keep from looking at Orin. If I let my gaze fall on him, I wouldn’t be able to tear myself away. The smart idea probably would’ve been to turn the other direction to avoid them altogether.

  Instead, I kept the lot of them in my peripheral as they moved to my side of the street and put themselves directly in my path. Their massive frames took up all the space on the sidewalk in front of me and I had to stop.

  They towered over me as Orin did and I knew I should’ve been scared or at the very least worried they’d figure out who I was and attack. I quickly decided that would be unlikely since we were in public. There had to be some sort of rules of conduct even among savage beasts.

  “Pardon me,” I said quieter than I’d meant to be.

  The four burly men intimidated me as they turned their very dark eyes to me. They looked so similar yet different prominent features set them apart when I got close enough.

  “We’re sorry, Miss,”
the one on the left said. “Didn’t mean to take up the entire walkway. We’re just brothers who haven’t seen each other in a long time.”

  They parted for me to pass.

  I smiled and dipped my head then pushed forward through the pack.

  I tried to keep my eyes off Orin and could see him doing the same though we were both failing miserably. When I was almost in front of him, I kicked one foot with the other, purposely tripping myself so that I would fall into him.

  Orin caught me easily and held on for an extra second then gave my elbow an extra squeeze and ran his thumb over my skin quickly.

  “So clumsy of me,” I said looking at my husband, trying to convey everything I’d thought and felt over the past two weeks in that one hard look.

  “That’s quite all right,” he said back holding my gaze.

  I pushed off him to right myself then hurried away. Without knowing how his world worked, I didn’t want to chance hanging around too long.

  But I had to see him.

  Seeing him was so much better and worse than I could have imagined.

  He was such a sight for sore eyes but did nothing for the need that had been building inside me. Yet I hate that we couldn’t talk, touch him with any meaning, or love him. I had to act like that man who knew me so intimately was a stranger.

  Doing so hurt.

  Turned my stomach to the point I had to swallow my lunch down again.

  “Now,” one of the deep voices behind me said. “Let’s go talk about this marriage business.”

  My body tightened as I tried not to visibly flinch at those words.

  Without looking back, I walked the town from one end to another, took two laps around the park, then started for home. Yet somehow, my legs took me to Orin’s home instead of my father’s.

  It made sense to me.

  My husband’s house was my home now, even if I’d been exiled to the bowels of hell. As I got close, tense voices and strained words came from the backyard. I should’ve turned and gone the other way as fast as my feet would carry me. Nothing good could be happening back there yes till I made my way around the corner.

  There was a spot, a tiny spot I could stand, peer around the corner, and not be seen.

  “Where is she, Orin?” One of them, I’d call him the biggest but not by much. “This’ll be easier if you just tell us.”