Moonstruck

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Flaming hot pain radiated from my cheek up to the bone and into my eye. I hadn’t even seen her move so I couldn’t prepare before she slapped me with everything she had. My eyes burned but I didn’t want to give her the benefit of seeing me cry.

  “Diana,” Karina gasped pulling the other girl away from me right as Orin pushed his body in front of me.

  “Don’t do this, Diana,” he said gently but with a clear warning behind his words.

  “I’m all right, Orin,” I said because the last thing I wanted was for Diana’s grief to be used against her. Yes, she hit me but her grief ran deep and while Orin had needed me in another way to help cope with the death of his brother, Diana needed someone to blame. I could be that for her.

  “Come with me,” he demanded through clenched teeth as he pulled me away from the cemetery.

  He drove us slowly, taking the longest possible route back home, I thought to calm himself down. By the look of his gripped the steering wheel, his anger ran as deep as Diana’s grief.

  “You can’t be angry with her,” I said and his head snapped my direction.

  “Like hell I can’t be. She hit you. She’s lucky she’s a woman. If she weren’t I would have ended her right then.”

  “She’s upset. Nothing more.” I didn’t let on just how much my cheek hurt. She was a werewolf. She had strength.

  When we got home, the rest of the family was already there. We entered the house two hours after we’d left and were met with a delicious aroma that said Emmie had been cooking. Traditionally, after a funeral, everyone went back to the family’s house for a wake just like this. Another thing the werewolves had in common with the humans only for this funeral, it was just the family.

  An uncomfortable silence awaited us as we entered the kitchen. The family was arranged around the table but Diana refused to look up at us. Emmie and Antan stood near the counter putting the finishing touches on the late lunch they were preparing and no one spoke for what seemed like forever.

  “I don’t suppose we can call a truce with the Balodis,” Ivan broke the silence.

  “They’ll still be coming after Lizzie,” Orin countered. “They won’t stop.”

  “That isn’t our problem.” Ivan tightened his muscles before continuing. “We already lost Phillip. I vote we broker peace.”

  “And what?” Orin raged. “Trade her for that. Hell no, Ivan.”

  “You know this is about more than just Lizzie,” Roman said to Ivan. I didn’t understand what he meant because I didn’t know the history between the two packs.

  “And I don’t care anymore,” Ivan countered. “I’m taking my wife and we’re going home.” I’d noticed days ago that they never said where exactly they came from. that could have been their normal way of doing things or it hadn’t been decided that I could be trusted.

  “I want the men who killed my husband to pay,” Diana said in a monotone voice that didn’t sound at all like she had at the cemetery. Now it sounded as if the life had completely drained out of her with the anger she expelled before. “I deserve that.”

  The group fell quiet again. Truth be told, I wanted that for her.

  “Then we need to know everything, Lizzie,” Roman said gently.

  “I don’t know where to start.” I pulled at the waist of my dress nervously. I didn’t want to tell them anything but I’d do whatever they wanted. I’d been the cause of enough trouble.

  “Start with who murdered my brother,” Daniel finally spoke.

  “His name was Gunther,” I said. “I think he was the one who actually killed Phillip but there were three of them so I can’t be absolutely positive. He also… ” my voice trailed off and I looked at Orin hoping I wouldn’t have to say it out loud again. The man tried to rape me. Though unsuccessful, that didn’t mean Gunter didn’t hurt me.

  Orin’s fists clenched against the sides of his body. He understood.

  “The one that what?” Ivan demanded. When we didn’t answer, he stood, “The one that what, Orin?”

  I adjusted my weight from one foot to another and wet my bottom lip with my tongue. “Tried to rape me,” I said softly so Orin didn’t have to because I felt the anger rolling off him in waves.

  The room fell silent and while I tried not to look at any of them directly, I could feel them all looking at me. A chair scraped across the floor as I imagine, someone tried to make the uncomfortable more comfortable. The silence became unbearable.

  “We’ll take care of this tomorrow,” Daniel finally broke through everyone’s thoughts as if they’d all already agreed to it.

  The brothers all had wives. They could understand what Orin was feeling even if they didn’t like me much. But the fact that those people killed their brother sealed their fate as soon as Phillip died.

  There wasn’t much talking at dinner that night. I could barely eat a thing so because of the limited room, and the assumed need of the Vilkatas family to be close to each other, I set my plate on the counter and stood while taking in what little I could. Orin stayed beside me, his appetite pretty normal, cleaned his plate then part of mine as he tried to get me to take something in. I just couldn’t.

  My stomach was in knots in anticipation and fear of what was to come.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  I heard Orin in the room before my eyes ever opened and somehow I knew it was still early. Like my body hadn’t gotten enough rest and my head was too heavy.

  When I slowly opened my eyes, I found him rummaging through my clothes pulling out what I assumed I was going to wear that day. It wasn’t surprising that he chose pants and a button-down shirt that he usually wore only for yard work. It spoke to what we were about to do.

  “Am I going with you today?” I asked quietly.

  His body stilled. The muscles along his arms and back tightened as he turned toward me but before he answered he came toward me and sat on the bed beside me.

  He ran a hand down my hair then came up to cup my face.

  “I don’t like it but yes. You’re the only one that can identify this Gunther person.” Orin leaned down, brushing his lips across mine. “Though I wish you could stay back with my mother.” Reading my face he added, “She will be here taking care of the children.”

  “I guess I should get moving then.” but I didn’t make an effort to do that. Nobody had said anything about what could happen, at least not where I’d been able to hear, but we all knew it. I also knew that I’d be the most vulnerable as the one non-werewolf, or half dormant werewolf, in the group. “I should have a weapon,” I said once I finally got myself out of the bed. “You all can’t be worried about me while you’re doing what you need to do.”

  “Would you be able to use a weapon if you had it?”

  “I don’t want to die, Orin. Yes, I’d stop someone from killing me.”

  He nodded slowly then watched me dress for the day before we joined the rest of the family in the kitchen.

  The entire group moved around the kitchen solemnly as they fueled their bodies for the coming battle. I had absolutely no appetite but Orin insisted that I needed to eat so I choked down as much as I possibly could. I’d be grateful that I did later, he said.

  “We’re ready to go,” Antan announced as I put my plate in the sink.

  All at once they started to move like everything had been planned in my absence. A few went outside to wait for the rest of us but Orin had disappeared so I didn’t know what to do. He’d want me as close to him as possible and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. just as I was about to go searching for him, he found me.

  “I had to grab something for you,” he said quietly wrapping a strap around my waist. When he was done I looked down to find a very large knife in a leather sheath hanging halfway down my thigh. “Just in case.” Those dark eyes burned right into me. There were words I wanted to say right then but couldn’t find my voice.

  I wasn’t stupid. I knew that their mission, our mission, was to murder the entire Balodis pack and they would
be trying to end the existence of the Vilkatas. To help me understand the politics of pack life, Orin explained that the Balodis family was the governing body over their pack so that meant that there were more members than just that one family.

  We could’ve found ourselves outnumbered and he couldn’t promise that we’d beat the entire pack but he could ensure a power shift among them and when that happened, they’d be even more vulnerable.

  After a quick squeeze, Orin pulled me by the hand so we could join the others. When I glanced back over my shoulder to the house next door, I saw Emmie gently rocking the baby and tried to put myself in her shoes. Losing a son just to have to watch your other kids walk off into a battle that could cost her, even more, couldn’t have been easy. The thought almost brought me to tears.

  Since I hadn’t been part of the planning, I couldn’t be sure exactly what we were doing but Antan seemed to be leading up back through the forest, across the edge of town then through another thick set of woods to the spot where Phillip died.

  Nobody said a word for the longest time as we stood there remembering the events of just a couple of days before. My stomach tightened as the memories flooded through me. The blood, the sounds, the way that Phillip spoke to me. He was wrong if he thought that I was worth his death. but if I had to I’d spend the rest of my life, however short that may be, trying to prove him right.

  “Is this where it happened?” Diana asked quietly. “Is this where my husband died?”

  “Yes,” I whispered. I didn’t want to tell her that I could still see the dark mark left by the blood that had poured from her husband’s body.

  “Lizzie, you have to lead us from here.” Orin stepped into my side. “Do you remember where their place is?” Nodding quickly, I started out the way Phillip and I had come because I couldn’t get away from that spot fast enough.

  Every step I took, Orin was right there taking it with me. His presence gave me a confidence I’d never had before.

  “Everybody knows what to do, right?” Daniel asked as we made our way closer to the house I’d been kept in.

  “No,” I answered honestly. From somewhere to my right someone snorted.

  “That’s because you just get to hide while we protect you,” Nell spat at me.

  “Um… no,” I said back.

  “Elizabeth,” Orin said with a sigh. “You can’t fight them. We’re here to end something that was going on long before you came along. The only thing you can do is not make me worry about you.”

  “No.” I stopped short causing everyone else to as well. “I’m not some inept human that you can just brush aside.”

  “Except you sort of are,” Diana cut in. “I just want the wolf that killed my husband dead. I don’t care about the rest of it. So let’s get on already.”

  “Then why give me a weapon?” I glared at Orin.

  “It’s not like she’ll use it,” Nell said with a giggle.

  “Like hell I won’t.” My words surprised them as did the force I put behind it. I was really getting sick of everyone making assumptions about me. Months ago, I would have hidden. That wasn’t me anymore.

  “Stop!” A low growl sounded from Orin’s chest.

  I started to protest but one look from him shut me up completely.

  “You heard it, too?” Roman leaned in close to his brother and whispered. Orin gave a short nod so clearly something was happening.

  “I don’t have time to argue with you,” Orin said to me through clenched teeth. “I’m your husband. You will listen to me. Stay back, Elizabeth.”

  My eyebrows shot up as he turned his back to me. There was a slew of words on the tip of my tongue that I wouldn’t let loose. Couldn’t let loose. Not to the detriment of the others.

  But Roman, his mouth slid into a sly grin as he spoke right into my ear. “Tsk, tsk, Orin’s temper is coming through.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Roman and pushed him away, while keeping a small grin at bay, to join Orin at the front of our pack. That was the first time I claimed to be part of them. Something inside told me I’d used the right word. Like my dormant werewolf gene was nodding its approval.

  What I saw had me wanting to run and hide the way Orin wanted me to. Shadowed figures made their way through the morning mist, maybe a dozen or so large men made their way toward us. Some I recognized from the house, some I didn’t. What I did know was that we were outnumbered without question.

  “The tallest one in the middle with brown hair. That’s Gunther.” Trying to whisper, it was obvious everyone heard me, even those I didn’t mean to hear when the Balodis pack each growled and someone yanked my arm hard enough to pull me to the back.

  It was Karina. She didn’t stop until we were further away for the about to battle packs.

  “I’m supposed to take you back to the house.” She kept us moving with a grip so tight I just knew there’d be bruises.

  “I don’t want to leave.” I pulled against her but made no progress.

  “Do you think I want to leave my husband right now, Lizzie? This is what was decided.”

  “Please. Karina, please. If something happens to Orin… ”

  She thought about that for all of five seconds then nodded and turned so that we could make our way off to the side where the others wouldn’t notice us. I couldn’t hear anything going on but Karina could. She wasn’t sharing the details though, even when I asked but I hated not knowing.

  “Come on, Karina. I need… something.”

  She sighed. “Fine. Orin just promised to rip Gunther’s throat out. They’re basically goading each other, trying to see who has the biggest dick.”

  My eyes popped wide. Karina snorted and shook her head.

  “Metaphorically speaking. They’re competing to see who’s more of a man.”

  Oh. The more I was around the Vilkatas family, the more sheltered I realized I had been my whole life.

  Beside me, Karina sucked in a short breath and all hell broke loose around us.

  Loud, terrifying growls filled the air. I expected to find them all shifting immediately but they didn’t. Why were they fighting in human form? I didn’t know but it seemed like a better idea to shift.

  “What happened?” I asked urgently.

  “Gunther told Orin that his wife tasted delicious and not in a way that says Gunter had a bit of you. He meant it sexually.”

  Orin couldn’t let Gunther get to him that way. I’d been honest when I said they hadn’t molested me in any way. He needed to trust that. When I turned back to Karina, she’d flipped around and was growling at something herself but I couldn’t see what.

  The world moved like it did when Olivia and I spun at parties.

  My face slammed into a tree, scratching every inch of skin and I felt a small trickle of blood down my cheek. Even worse, Karina was about to take on two of the Balodis’ herself. One lunged, she jumped, the other caught her and I hear something crunch before she hit the ground.

  Gaining my bearings, I pulled the knife out of the sheath on my hip and ran. I didn’t stop until the blade sunk deep in the first man’s back. A loud roar erupted from him. I felt like my ears would explode. I didn’t care. I yanked the knife out and stabbed it again. He shook and rolled landing on top of me and crushing the air from my lungs.

  Black spots filled my vision and my head become so light I thought it’d float away. Once I could get some oxygen, I pushed everything else aside, sprung to my feet, grabbed the knife and scurried over to Karina who looked about to be bested by a very large, dark man.

  The knife was still safely in my grasp but he was on the other side of her about to strike. There was blood running down her leg and somehow I knew she was about to shift. Before she got the chance, I threw myself on top of her.

  “Get off me, Lizzie,” she grunted out.

  “They can’t hurt me,” I said squeezing my eyes shut hoping that was still the case. “They need me. They can’t hurt me.” Turning over, I found the man I’d heard called Henry
, stop his swinging arm.

  “We can’t kill you. We can certainly hurt you.”

  I swung the knife. He grabbed my wrist, yanked me to him and started backing away. Karina shifted. From the beautiful dark haired women into an equally dark-haired beast with a long snout and large, snarling teeth. It still made me take a step back, which pushed me further into Henry. Big mistake. His grip tightened causing me to drop the knife.

  I thought he was going to run with me but he thought better of it, spun me away from him with such force that my foot caught and I hit the ground with an unimpressive thud. My head hit a tree stump sending brain into a fuzzy world of confusion. Trying to shake that off, I willed myself to get back to that knife. The one that I left a hundred miles away. I couldn’t see what Karina was doing.

  Just before I got to her, I threw up. Not a good sign considering how hard I hit my head but I wasn’t going to leave her there to fight on her own.

  “Run,” I told her shaking the fuzz from my head. “We need to run.”

  “I can’t run, Lizzie. My leg is useless.”

  That’s when I saw how badly she was injured. I wanted to check on her but first, I got the knife.

  Henry charged again.

  I swiped the blade hoping to make contact but since there were two of him, I couldn’t be sure. So I just kept at it until I heard him groan and something wet and warm sprayed across my neck and chest.

  He stumbled backward, his arms flailing and got a hold of my hand. Taking me with him, the gurgling from his chest scared me. At least now I could see him, even if it was like he was in a tunnel. We were near a hill because it had given us a good view of the rest of the family but now it served another purpose. Henry kept pulling me.

  At the very last second, I braced my shoulder against a tree and Henry fell down the hill where I assumed he’d bleed to death.

  I allowed myself two long breaths before shakily making my way back to Karina.

  “Come on, Karina,” I said helping her to her feet. Her arm went around my shoulder so she could lean on me as we made our way to a small alcove I’d seen on our way up.