“It means there’s a werewolf on The Demon Isle,” Charlie clarified darkly.
“But, I thought werewolves could only change during a full moon,” Emily said, confused, as she did not know the entirety of Charlie’s story. “How did a werewolf kill someone the night before a full moon?”
“That’s how it happened when Charlie…” Melinda stopped, covering her mouth, beginning to understand why Mack had needed to speak with Charlie.
“The coroner discovered a very unique thing about the wolf’s bite… its missin’ a tooth, Charlie.”
Charlie’s nostrils flared, a flurry of emotion raging through him.
It wasn’t just any werewolf.
It was the werewolf.
The very one that had bitten him ten years prior and had left a tooth embedded in Charlie’s shoulder after its hideous attack.
“I guess you can consider yourself lucky you survived, Charlie. The body we found this mornin’…” Mack couldn’t finish, and she had seen plenty of bloody attacks during her time as sheriff.
Melinda stared at Charlie, deeply concerned over what this would mean for him.
Michael’s empathic ability could feel Melinda’s fears mounting and he grabbed for her hand. She barely felt him holding onto it. Her skin felt numb.
William took a few quick paces around the room, blood no longer in his thought and the look of comprehension dawning in his emerald green eyes. “Yes,” he mumbled, as if answering his own silent question.
The rest turned and waited breathlessly for him to explain.
“It is extremely likely that this wolf’s return is behind your heightened tension these last few days, Charlie. Even though you have never permitted the full transformation to take place, you still have your werewolf senses. I believe that this wolf’s arrival may have triggered the connection between you.”
“How do I break it, William? I want nothing to do with it,” Charlie pleaded, his voice charged with shaken control. “Unless…” he added, his eyes brightening to a new thought.
“Don’t even think about it, Charlie,” exclaimed Michael, already understanding what Charlie was thinking. “You cannot use yourself at bait to capture this thing!”
“I am afraid Michael is quite right, Charlie,” William agreed. “You cannot confront this wolf without an almost certain chance of transforming completely. I am sure you remember what happens then?”
“You mean other than a murderous rampage,” Melinda tried to mutter light-heartedly.
Charlie covered his face with his hands, looking pained as he forced himself to sit back down. He looked up, dropped his hands, staring into the eyes of Melinda and Michael. They shuddered at the same moment. Melinda, because she saw true fear in Charlie’s eyes and this frightened her above all else. And Michael, because his empathic abilities sensed Melinda losing her fight to keep her own fears from overwhelming her.
Charlie stood up, pacing back and forth, stopping every few steps to speak, but nothing would come out. He gulped, his throat feeling like a pile of dry ash as he searched for the courage to say what he needed to say.
“There’s something I never told you guys,” he finally let slip out. “And don’t get mad at William, I forced him to swear to secrecy,” he added.
“What did you keep from us, Charlie?” asked Melinda, sounding equally agitated and concerned.
He took another moment to answer. Thinking it over carefully first. “If I transform, fully surrendering to my werewolf side, and the one that created me is still alive… it becomes my alpha. I will no longer have control over my actions, whether it’s a full moon, or not.”
“What!?” breathed out Michael.
“Charlie… this is… huge!” was all Melinda could say.
“I have to agree with your siblings on this one, Charlie,” said Mack, shaking her head. “This situation is turnin’ into a much larger problem than even I thought it would be.”
“And William isn’t going to be much help,” reminded Melinda. “Or have you forgotten that a werewolf bite is poisonous to him?”
William ignored Melinda’s remark, realizing it was misplaced anger, and knowing he would do whatever was necessary to save Charlie.
“I guess I just hoped it would never come to this. I hoped the thing would never come back here. I didn’t want to burden you with what I thought would be unnecessary worry.”
“Turns out it was necessary, Charlie!” Melinda retorted in a huff. Her heart was beating at a much faster pace than it should and she sucked in unsteady air trying to calm the panic attack now threatening to surface.
No one replied. No one knew what to say, or do, with this information. After another long moment of tense silence, Michael did his best to bring everyone out of their stupor.
“And here we all thought that Charlie’s edginess was just over the new girl in town.”
“Ha. So much for the Eva Jordan theory,” Melinda added, her eyes tear-filled.
Charlie sighed, deeply regretful as he witnessed his sister crumbling before his eyes. He stepped over to her, forcing her to hug him.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she sobbed. “I can’t lose you too. I just can’t.”
“I know, Kiddo. I’m sorry I never told you. I really am. But everything’s going to be okay. This full moon will come and go, just like any other. I promise.”
Just then, the sheriff’s radio started chirping.
“Looks like I am being called away, Howards. You all talk amongst yourselves and let me know what you figure out. I’ll be in touch.”
She showed herself out, but before she let the door close, she gave another warning.
“Be careful, all of you. I don’t want to be losin’ any of you either. That put out there… Charlie, if you transform and can’t be controlled, you know what I’ll have to do.” She patted her upper pocket. “I’ve still got the bullets you gave me.”
“I expect you to do your job, Mack. Nothing less,” he agreed firmly. “I’m supposed to protect the Isle, not be the thing it needs protection from.”
She nodded stoically, and let the door slam shut.
Melinda’s nostrils flared and her eyes began to tear up again.
“You gave her bullets!? To kill you!”
“It’s going to be okay, Melinda,” Charlie insisted.
“How can you be so sure?” she demanded.
She turned to Michael and then to William for support, but neither spoke.
Michael, still grasping Emily, now as if his life depended on it, could not reply to Melinda because he could barely keep himself together as her anguish washed out of her body like a flood.
Clearly, to Melinda, no one wanted to admit they might be in more trouble than they could handle. Melinda’s throat felt constricted and she gasped for air. The room started to spin and her mind shouted for her to run and hide… to disappear completely.
Charlie and Michael reached out to her but she batted them away, heading for the door.
“I can’t be here,” she spat out in a pained voice. “I can’t watch my brother basically… die…” She ran out of the house as fast as possible.
Charlie stepped out after her, shouting, but she did not hear what he said. She just kept running, blocking everything from her mind. She needed to get away. She couldn’t go back inside that house.
##
“What perfect timing!” Charlie rambled angrily. “Just when I was starting not to worry about her, every waking moment.”
“Just let her go,” William advised. “At least she is out of the house and not locked in her room.”
“Great! Out there, who knows where, with a werewolf on the prowl.”
“She is stronger than you think, Charlie. Give her time to sort out her feelings. I think it might be good to let her do this.”
“Maybe I should go after her?” asked Emily. “Maybe she wouldn’t mind talking to me, being I’m a girl and all, and not a brother.”
Michael tossed h
er an appreciative smile. “Maybe it’s just better if Melinda sits this one out. Give her some space like William said. We can handle this one, ourselves. We just need to come up with some kind of plan that doesn’t involve you turning into a werewolf, Charlie.”
“Yes, let’s not have it come to that, shall we?” agreed William. “Perhaps, the best place to start is…”
“Research,” both Charlie and Michael finished.
William smiled dryly. “Actually, yes. I want to know what allows this wolf to change without the moon being full.”
“You’ve researched this before,” Charlie said. “You found nothing.”
“Perhaps I missed something. Perhaps, what I need is not in my own library, but on that confounded thing Emily calls a laptop.” He glanced at Emily expectantly.
“Oh, come with me, William. It’s really not so bad.” She grabbed her bag and dug out her laptop. She and William retreated into his study to see what they could find.
This left Charlie and Michael alone in the kitchen.
“I’m impressed,” Michael suddenly told his brother.
“By what?”
“How calm you stayed during all of that. Your wolfy thing didn’t even surface.”
“I think it’s just shock, actually.”
“Still, if you can stay that calm, with all of this going on, maybe everything really will be just fine. Or maybe, whatever happened last night…” he trailed off, waiting expectantly for a reply.
Charlie didn’t reply, but Michael didn’t give up.
“C’mon, we all know you got some secret gal you like to hook up with every summer. What’s the big deal?”
“It isn’t a big deal. It’s just a relationship of… convenience. It works great for her and it works … really great for me.” He couldn’t help but grin, thinking of Nina dancing around her kitchen.
“Do you like her?”
“Sure. She’s a…” Charlie thought hard how to explain a complex woman like Nina. However, he could not do so properly without giving away too much about her. “She’s a really incredible woman. Not a human woman, of course. But if you’re asking if I’m in love with her, she’s not the one, or anything like that.”
“Okay,” nodded Michael, dropping the subject. “So what now?” he asked, getting back to the problem at hand.
“Keep busy. I may appear to be holding it together, but if I allow myself to disappear into my brain right now, this whole alpha thing will consume me.”
Michael saw it again. True fear in his brother’s eyes. It wasn’t a sight he enjoyed, and it wasn’t like Charlie to let it leak out.
“Any ideas, other than research?” Michael asked him.
“Just one. Find this alpha before it finds me.”
“Maybe we should visit the crime scene,” Michael suggested. “Maybe we can find something the investigators overlooked.”
“They certainly would miss any supernatural clues it left behind,” agreed Charlie.
“Sounds like we have a plan, then. Let’s go tell William and Emily.”
##
Melinda huffed her way down the street. It had been sunny earlier, but now, clouds and fog were rolling in, layering a salty mist over every surface. This did not deter the tourists, though. They still bustled about, mindless of the weather. Of course, everyone knew the old saying, ‘If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute.’
“God damn you, Charlie Howard,” she spat at the cobblestone walkway. “And William… My William, keeping a secret that big from me! Ugh,” she snorted.
A tourist made to step around her, in a wide, obvious motion.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m talking to myself,” she spoke crazily, at the same time eying the man, as if to say, Yeah, I’m a freak, deal with it!
At that same moment, her toe slipped into the edge of a crevice and she tripped, falling forward. “Ah crap!” she shouted as her hands dutifully flew up to protect her face.
Someone caught her though, holding on tightly, not allowing her to fall.
“You okay?” a male voice asked her, sounding concerned.
“Yes. I’m fine,” she spoke with mock gratitude as her savior helped her stand upright. She picked up her head and inhaled, losing her breath again. “Oh… you,” she squeaked out.
“Is that good or bad?” he asked, his molasses eyes dancing in amusement.
It was her dark-haired motorcycle man... and he’d have to pick now to happen across my path...
“You know, that’s the second time I’ve saved you from falling. Do you do that a lot? Or am I just lucky?” he asked.
“No, I don’t fall a lot and you just happen to be in the right place at the wrong time,” she told him, keeping her chin held high.
“Don’t you mean in the right place at the right time?” he asked.
“However you want to see it,” she replied. “Look, thank you for your help. Again. I’m fine now... just having a really bad day!” she added hotly, turning away.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he called after her. “I mean that your day is bad, not that you’re okay.”
She just waved her hand as if none of it mattered and stormed off. She still had a brother to be angry with.
“Hey, wait a minute,” motorcycle man yelled, catching up to her. “Bad day or not, can I at least know your name?”
She stopped mid-street and stared at him, nearly laughing. He must think I’m a inconsiderate, freak. But what’s new?
“Melinda,” she found herself telling him. “My name is Melinda.”
Just then, a car screeched to a stop, honking its horn. “Yeah, yeah, I’m moving,” she hollered haughtily.
Her dark haired hero then did something quite unexpected.
“C’mon,” he said, grabbing her hand. He jogged alongside her, seeing her safely to the sidewalk across the street. He let go once she was safely off the road. Melinda shot him a questioning look.
“I couldn’t well save you from falling and then let some impatient driver run you over now, could I?” he replied to her silent question.
She blew it off, noticing they were standing next to his motorcycle. She stepped forward to take a closer look. It had clearly seen some mileage, but its solid black steel construction called out You can trust me… I won’t let you down…
“Best way to travel,” her savior winked, grabbing his helmet.
Melinda noticed an extra helmet hooked to the bike.
He noticed her staring at it.
“You wanna go for a ride? I’m a safe driver, I promise.”
There were so many reasons to say no: Charlie is in serious trouble. This guy is a total stranger. She had no idea where she would be going, and no one else would know where she was going…
Nobody will know where I am…the thought suddenly filled her with exhilaration.
She grabbed the extra helmet and straddled the bike. The young man hopped on and she wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Get me the hell outta here!” she breathed out with an air of defiance.
“Your wish is my command,” he said, kick-starting the motorcycle. He made a sharp u-turn and headed out of the town, speeding his way through the winding roads of The Demon Isle.
Melinda closed her eyes taking in every smell, breathing in the fast moving air as if she had never breathed properly before.
“What’s your name?” she shouted over the roar of the engine.
“Riley,” he shouted back with a grin.
“It’s nice to meet you, Riley,” she shouted back, holding back a squeal as Riley took a sharp turn at a very high speed.
He laughed at her, again seeming amused by her behavior. “You’re going to cut off my circulation if you hold on any tighter.”
She eased her grip. “Sorry, I’ve never been on a motorcycle before,” she admitted.
“Well then, Melinda,” he said teasingly. “I’d better make sure I give you the ride of your life.”
She averted her eyes, feeling h
er cheeks heat up. A flutter moved through her stomach sending butterflies dancing through her nerves.
Screw it all! She thought to herself. Just this morning she had been perfectly content knowing her future would be spent working alongside her brothers to find their father. Now, by this time tomorrow, Charlie might not even belong to himself... she let the thoughts slip away with the wind, leaving them behind in the motorcycle’s wake.
She couldn’t think about it. She could not think about losing a brother.
She had to loosen her grip on Riley again, having been grabbing on too tightly.
Once out of the town, Riley sped up the bike even faster. Melinda felt a rush of adrenaline kick in and squealed as the wind slapped against her skin.
At least she hadn’t worn her ankle length summer dress today. Not that she was dressed much better than the previous day. But she had at least found a well fitting pair of jean shorts to go with her tank top and sweater. She glanced down at her flip flop covered feet... not that they covered anything. Not the smartest choice for a motorcycle ride. She toyed with throwing them off and just going barefoot but decided against it.
“I love this!” she shouted, unable to contain her giddiness over this feeling growing inside of her.
Riley peered around his shoulder and cast a brilliant smile upon seeing her.
She had never understood why people rode motorcycles until just this moment. There was something freeing about it. The air whipped by and yet she could see everything flying past as though in slow motion, seeing it for the first time. With every rotation of the tires, she flew away from her life, farther and farther from every worry or doubt.
She liked this feeling.
And she liked this molasses-eyed stranger named Riley.
THREE
Charlie and Michael stepped into the study.
“You two find anything useful?” Michael asked.
“No,” William answered without lifting his head from the laptop. He squinted at the screen and looked at the keypad, typing a letter. “Look at that. You type it here and then it shows up…” his eyes rolled over to the brothers, staring at him in momentary delight.
Witches of The Demon Isle Box Set, Volumes 1, 2 & 3 Page 12
