The oil on canvas depicted two wolves racing through a nighttime forest. They were larger than a normal wolf; big, muscular, and in some ways, scary. In others, magnificent. The crescent of the moon shone silvery light through the trees, and the dark sky was a gorgeous, rich shade of indigo.
She liked it.
Her work had changed considerably since she’d been here in Dark Moon Falls. It never ceased to amaze her that she now painted the creatures she’d been so wary of when she’d first arrived.
Rebecca had come to Dark Moon Falls as a refugee of sorts, a woman fleeing violence. She’d picked the small, sleepy town precisely because of its, to her, scary inhabitants.
A year ago, she’d laid in bed with her then partner, and they’d read about Dark Moon Falls, and both shuddered. They’d agreed such a place sounded creepy as hell, and that was why she was here now.
He wouldn’t follow her to Dark Moon Falls even if he could find her, which with her change of name and new papers would be almost impossible.
Thank God, she had a talent that could make her money from wherever she had space to set up an easel. Of course, she’d sadly lost the customers, and reputation, she’d built up under her real name of Louisa, but she didn’t dare to continue on with her existing business. It would have been a way to trace her.
Not wanting to dwell on the past, she put all thoughts of her ex, Nigel Dean, out of her head.
She started at the knock on her front door.
Rebecca lived on the edge of town, within the boundaries, but not close to the center. She’d bought the house and the plot of land outright, when she’d moved here months ago. She loved her new home. A wooden cabin, it was both cozy, and airy and light at the same time, thanks to huge windows in the sun room, which she used as a studio. The kitchen was on the other side of the hallway. At her feet, Darcy, her big, silly golden retriever, gave a soft bark.
He might be more likely to lick a visitor to death than actually defend the homestead, but he possessed a loud, deep bark, which had frightened more than one delivery person away.
Not many people called on her. She sold her art online, did her shopping online, and nearly all her friends were online, and none knew her real name.
She’d let go of her friends from her old life when she put into action her own, private version of witness protection. All except Jemma, her best friend. Jemma was as trustworthy as they come, and they chatted once a week on special burner phones. Those precious thirty minutes or so were the highlight of Rebecca’s week.
Heart speeding up a little, with the trepidation she always felt when anyone came calling, Rebecca crossed to the door, and sighed in relief when she saw Sally, a young girl who sometimes played on the grassy land around Rebecca’s home, and who had taken a real shine to Darcy.
“Hi, Rebecca,” Sally said with a smile.
The girl was thirteen, and a wolf shifter. At first, Rebecca had been extremely wary of making friends with anyone from the shifter community. She’d been given the third degree by the pack alpha when she arrived in town and announced her plans to buy a home, and she found him terrifying. So powerful, even as a human she could sense it, but then she’d always had a certain sixth sense, or so her Grams had told her. It apparently ran in the family, and Grams said that Rebecca showed signs of the sight even when she was a young girl.
Pity it failed her so very badly when it came to Nigel. But then again, her Grams had also said that the sight was notoriously fickle, and unreliable, and a person had to take what little information they got.
“Hi there, Sally.” Rebecca smiled and stepped back to let the girl in, then paused when she saw a second child with her.
“This is my friend, Kat. Is it okay if she comes to play with Darcy too? I told her all about you and him. She loves dogs.”
Rebecca smiled and gave a nod of acceptance. She didn’t mind the little girl, who appeared younger than Sally by a few years, playing with Darcy, but she did pause at the idea of getting more involved with the local community.
So far, she’d maintained an almost hermit-like existence and that suited her just fine.
At first, it had suited her because she’d been full of prejudiced ideas about wolf shifters, but since getting to know Sally, Rebecca was ashamed of her early fears. Now though, it suited her to keep herself isolated because she suffered from panic attacks, and they weren’t something she wanted anyone else to witness.
Darcy went crazy, his whole body wiggling from side to side as his tail thumped the cupboards. He loved anyone, but he loved Sally a whole lot.
“Darcy,” the girl cried, bending down and hugging his thick neck.
After a minute of hugs, Sally straightened and spied the easel in the corner of the room.
“You’ve started a new painting since I last saw you.” She wandered over to the canvas and studied the art. “It’s really good.”
“I’ve got you to thank,” Rebecca said shyly. “You helped teach me about wolf shifter ways here in Dark Moon Falls.”
Since learning about their society, Rebecca no longer feared the shifters the way she had; rather, she found their way of life and beliefs beautiful. They seemed so much more in tune with nature than humans, which, let’s face it, wouldn’t be difficult. They worshiped the goddess too, and loved their land. She herself held some beliefs others might scoff at. The belief that nature ought to be respected, and she’d even tried her hand a while back at Wicca but hadn’t been very good at it. Back then though, her mind had been a jumbled mess. Things were clearer now.
“So, can he come and play with his ball for a bit?” Sally asked.
“Yes,” Rebecca said. “But stay in sight of my house, okay?”
“We will, thanks.” Sally hugged her, and Rebecca forced herself to relax, to not stiffen up and freak out the way she normally did at any contact.
She’d learned from talking to Sally that wolf shifters could pick up on emotions very easily, and she didn’t want to burden the happy young girl with her own fears and neuroses. So she tried very hard to not let her anxiety show.
The girls ran outside with an ecstatic Darcy, Sally grabbing his oversized tennis ball on the way out.
Once the sounds of their laughter and commands of fetch and stay rang out, Rebecca returned to her easel. She was deep in her work when the phone rang.
She picked it up, and sighed when she heard her therapist’s voice.
“Rebecca, it’s Dr. Rogers here.”
Crap.
Rebecca knew as soon as she heard the older woman’s soft tones that she’d missed an appointment. She’d written it down, but her damned fluffy mind, as she called it, had let her down and she’d forgotten.
“I’m supposed to be there, aren’t I?”
“Yes, dear.”
Crap.
She’d picked a therapist who was located out of town because she didn’t want to have the past, the darkness, in any way linked with her new home, but it meant at times like these, when she’d messed up, that she couldn’t simply hop in her car and shoot over to her appointment. No, it was a forty-minute drive each way.
“I’m so sorry, Dr. Rogers. I wrote it down, but I got into painting and it must have slipped my mind.”
“That’s okay, we can have a quick chat on the phone now, if that’s suitable, and then I’ll book you in for next week.”
“Okay.” Rebecca walked over to the window and checked on the two girls, who were still playing with Darcy.
Smiling, she focused back on the conversation.
“So how have you been?”
Always the same opening line. For once, she answered truthfully. “Good, Dr., I’ve been good.”
“Sleeping well?”
“Yes.”
“So…no nightmares.”
Oh, she wouldn’t go that far. She never had many nights free of the night terrors that plagued her, but they’d been few and far between this last week or two.
“Some,” she said. “Not so man
y as usual though.” She’d take what she could get.
“How has the journaling been going? Anything come up?”
Rebecca had suffered a head trauma and she couldn’t remember much of what happened to her when she was attacked, but more than that, Dr. Rogers felt she was blocking things out. The police had told Rebecca the details of the attack her boyfriend had carried out on her during their many interviews with her, but over time, she’d forgotten even those…or most of them.
Dr. Rogers felt this was a protection mechanism. Instead of processing the horrors while awake, Rebecca processed them through nightmares. Terrors which had her waking up screaming, but which she couldn’t remember.
Apparently, she wasn’t processing them very effectively that way.
“It’s going okay, but no, nothing has come up. Nothing major.”
Dr. Rogers wanted to try things this way first. Some meditation, journaling, and her favored option of hypnotherapy, and if none of that worked, then she said at some point they must try the nuclear option of getting Rebecca to sit and look through the British police files.
So far, Rebecca had tried the meditation and journaling but stopped short of daring to attempt hypnotherapy. As for looking through the police files and seeing herself battered and bruised…just no. The idea made her sick, made her want to run away all over again, and Dr. Rogers clearly understood how much it freaked her out because she’d not brought it up again for the longest time.
“My painting is going well,” Rebecca said brightly. “And I’m eating better. I’ve gained a few more pounds. I’m exercising too, walking Darcy.”
“Good. That’s all good.” Dr. Rogers was positively beaming if her tone was anything to go by. “Okay, let me look in my planner, and let’s get you scheduled with a face-to-face soon.”
They made plans for a new appointment, and Rebecca hung up the phone.
She went to the window and looked out, but couldn’t see the girls or Darcy. Not too concerned, she pushed the door open and stepped outside.
Glancing around, she listened for the shouts and laughter of children playing, but came up empty.
Where were they? The girls knew not to run off. Well, Sally did at least. She had a good head on her shoulders.
“Sally,” Rebecca called out. When she got no answer, a slight tingle of worry raced up her spine.
“Darcy.” He always came when she called, but again there was no answer.
Shit. She’d be lost without Darcy, and how much trouble would she be in if she’d somehow managed to lose two young shifter girls? Would the town folk blame her? Ostracize her? Or worse?
“Sally,” she called again, straining to hear as she raced around the back of her house.
Still no answer. Damn, where had they gone?
Her house…cabin really, was situated on the edge of the woods. It was surrounded by grass and flowers on all sides, but that soon gave way to thicker vegetation and then the dark of the woods. There was a gravel road through the forest, but other than that it was pretty isolated up here, and she worried the girls might have gotten lost.
Surely though, Darcy would be able to find his way back home?
Where could they have gotten to?
“Sally?”
She reached the edge of the forest and hesitated. Her house was on a natural hill, and built up, on stilts, so from her big window in the living area, she could see beyond the trees, down the road and to the edge of town beyond. At night the lights of houses and businesses twinkled at her.
The place was perfect, secluded, but not so much so she felt scared or trapped, normally. But now? Now she looked at the thick woods in front of her and felt a twinge of foreboding.
Digging deep, and finding her courage, Rebecca pushed into the trees. The moment she stepped from bright sun to dark, dappled light was somewhat disorienting. She glanced at the canopy overhead and shivered. Calling both girls’ names, and Darcy, she pushed deeper into the woods, worry gnawing at her.
After ten minutes of racing around, calling out and getting no answer, Rebecca had worked herself into a state of anxiety.
She stopped, panting, and decided the best thing to do would be to head back to her cabin, and if there was still no sign of the girls, she’d better call someone.
Who was the sheriff again? Barnett? That was it.
Panting, Rebecca turned around, looked, turned around some more and groaned. Oh Lord, where was she? Now she’d gone and added to their problems by getting lost herself.
How could she find the girls and Darcy when she couldn’t find her way out of the woods?
Determined not to break down and cry, she took a deep breath in and looked around again, trying to figure out which way was her house.
As she stared at the trees all around her, she heard it. Laughter.
The girls?
With hope, Rebecca followed the sound, and gave a cry of delight when she heard a familiar bark.
She burst out of the woods into a patch of bright light, seeing Darcy first, then Sally.
Squinting, she held an arm over her face.
“Sally, I told you not to leave my line of sight. I’ve been worried sick.” She realized she sounded angry, and tried to moderate her tone, not wanting to upset the young girl. “I’ve been looking for you for ages.”
She turned to check that Kat was okay, and gave a squeak of surprise. Standing next to Kat was a tall, broad man.
“It’s okay, Rebecca.” Sally dimpled at her. “We’re with Josh.”
Josh? Who the hell was Josh?
“Sorry if we worried you.” The man with the girls spoke, and his voice was deep and rumbling. She hadn’t looked at him properly because the sunlight was making it impossible, but she got an impression of height and strength.
“Who are you?” she demanded, putting as much command into her tone as she could.
“He’s my brother,” Kat said.
Oh, her brother. Well, then, that was different.
For a moment, she’d believed the girls were with some stranger.
Darcy snuffled her hand and she patted his head, trying not to be annoyed at his total lack of use as a guard dog. He should have barked when Josh approached, Kat’s brother or no, and alerted her, but he’d probably greeted the man, tail thumping.
She really ought to get a better guard dog. Not that she’d ever let Darcy go, she loved him far too much, but she could get another dog, too. Maybe a German shepherd?
“Why are you so deep into the woods?” she asked.
“We’re not.” Sally frowned. “We’re only a few minutes from your home. Look, I’ll show you.”
Sally walked out of the clearing and back into the cool air of the woods, and Rebecca followed her, as did Darcy, Kat, and her hulking brother.
Sure enough, after about three minutes of walking, they once more stepped into sunlight, only this time, it was to the sight of her cabin, in front of her. This was the side of her house though, and she’d entered the woods from the back, almost at the other end of the cabin. She must have walked in one big-ass circle without realizing it.
The breeze that had been blowing all day whipped her hair and she shivered. She only wore a T-shirt and now that she’d stopped panicking and racing around, she was cold.
“Are you okay?”
She turned to the man…Josh, and saw him properly for the first time.
Oh, wow.
Rebecca didn’t often get her head turned by a man these days, she’d kind of sworn them off for life after Nigel, but this man was…gorgeous. He was hot enough to make a girl change her mind on the idea of no more men for life. That’s how good looking the guy was.
He was tall, broad, with thick, dark hair, and a healthy tan. Wearing a T-shirt cut high on his arms, the guy clearly worked out.
She swallowed and forced herself to smile, and nod. “Yes, thank you. I jut panicked. Thought I’d lost the girls.”
“Totally my fault, sorry,” Kat said. “I scented my bro
ther in the woods and ran to find him.”
“Why didn’t you hear me call?” she asked. They had fantastic hearing, didn’t they, even in human form?
“Not sure,” Josh answered. “Winds were blowing away from where we were, though, so if you were shouting at us from this side of the woods, it would have carried the sound the other way. We were talking, too, and the girls can be pretty loud.”
Oh, she knew what girls could be like when they were playing and laughing. Thank God, they were okay. The alternative was too awful to contemplate.
“Are you okay?” Josh looked at her with concern.
“I think Rebecca needs a drink,” Sally said, her voice serious. “I think we scared her.”
“Come on.” Sally took her arm and guided Rebecca back to the steps leading to her wooden front door.
“Thank you, Sally. I’m fine now though. I promise.” Rebecca stopped by her steps.
For some reason she didn’t want Mr. Handsome-pants in her space, but Sally ignored her and pushed the door open.
“You’ve gone very pale,” she said, her voice wobbling a little. “I think you need a drink. Maybe tea with sugar? That’s what my Grandma always gives for shock.”
“I’m not in shock,” Rebecca insisted as Sally gently guided her into her own home.
She wasn’t, either. Just a wee bit of panic. Nothing to worry about. She’d be fine.
One moment, she was standing in her kitchen, the next she found herself gently ushered into a chair as Sally filled a glass. Josh walked into the kitchen and seemed to fill most of the space.
He came over to her, hunkered down so he could look at her, took in a deep breath, and…froze.
He frowned, shook his head as if he had something in his ear, and looked at her again.
His eyes were so striking. How hadn’t she noticed them first? Such a deep blue, like a lake under a summer sky. His lashes should be illegal too. Why did guys always get the best lashes? So unfair.
Her heart was beating way too fast. Why did she feel so…strange? This wasn’t her usual anxiety. She was anxious, yes, but it was mixed with something else, something she couldn’t decipher or understand.
“Can you get that glass of water?” Josh asked Sally as he continued to look at her with such a strange expression on his face.
Dark Moon Falls: Volume 2 Page 109
