Vanilla Moon: Acrimony

by Airiel Hawkins

  Ceres looked around. Her eyes were wide and amber. Her body still knew that she was Lycan, even if her mind didn't. "What the hell happened here?" she asked.

  Sophia sighed. "Come on, Sweetie," she said. "We need to have a chat."

  Sophia and Luke helped her to her feet and guided her away. I watched her go, feeling helpless. My mate didn't know me? How was that possible?

  Riley pulled me up to my feet. "Come on, Volsunga," he said. "Let's get the damage report. Soph will update you when she can."

  I stayed rooted to the spot. I shook my head. "I can't…" I whispered.

  "You have to," Riley said. "You need to make everyone believe that everything is okay."

  I was reluctant, but I let him drag me back to the stairs. I felt numb as I walked down them, back to the main floor where the fires no longer burned. People poured out of the basement and began cleaning up the mess.

  I stared at the front door and didn't move. Victory should have been ours. Instead, we had more loss.

  "Wolfgang?"

  "I have to find Mira," I whispered. That was my new task. My new purpose. We killed them, most of them. There were so few left to kill on the other side, but we had to move fast as possible because if we left them alone for too long, they would amass again, and we'd be left facing hundreds instead of only a dozen.

  "What are you talking about?" Riley asked.

  I looked at him but felt as if I didn't really see him. "She's gone," I said.

  Riley grabbed my arm in alarm. "What the fuck do you mean? She's gone?" he demanded.

  "Her rabbit is hanging from the window," I said. "Brenda has her."

  Riley stared at me as the realization of what I said washed over him. I saw the color drain from his face as his eyes bled to amber. He gaped at me with his mouth hanging open.

  How did Brenda even know Mira existed?

  Chapter 15 ~Ceres~

  Whatever destroyed the rest of the house we were in didn't touch the room Sophia took me too. The window wasn't broken, the door was solid, and nothing was overturned. I sat down on the bed while Sophia gave me another quick exam to make sure I wasn't suffering from anything more severe than my apparent case of amnesia.

  They still hadn't given me any information, and the looks she shared with the blonde guy began to worry me.

  I slapped her hand away as she looked at the side of my head again. "What's going on?" I demanded.

  Sophia sighed and sat down next to me. She looked at Blondie again. "Can you get Lena for me?" she asked. He nodded and left the room without a word. Sophia turned to me again. "Sweetie, this isn't going to be easy," she said. She only called me Sweetie when there was a problem. The fact that she'd used it more than once meant that the problem was huge.

  "Soph, don't sugar-coat this for me," I said. "I can tell that you think it's going to make me freak out, but I need you to give it to me straight, okay?" I asked. "I need to be able to deal with it all."

  "Good," Selena said as she entered the room and closed the door behind her. "Here's the gist. You're a werewolf, you're mated to Wolfgang, who is next in line to lead the pack. His parents are in the hospital right now because our former teacher, Brenda Caulfield, decided to come here and kick all our asses in revenge for killing Alan, his wife, and their daughter. Does that sum it up for you?"

  I laughed at the absurdity of the statement. I expected the twins to join in, but they didn't. Selena's face was serious. I looked at Sophia. There was no hint of laughter in her eyes either. This wasn't a joke. "Oh my god, you're serious," I whispered.

  Sophia nodded. "She's right," she said. I noticed that she didn't call me Sweetie again.

  I felt a tremor pass through me. "Oh my god," I whispered. I ran my hands through my hair and felt blood, sticky and coagulated. No wonder she kept checking my head. Nothing hurt. It was obvious that I was injured, but there was no pain.

  I looked between them. "Okay… give me the long version?"

  They did, and it felt like something out of a horror movie. Apparently, I came to Adamsville on an innocent mission to help my mother's ex-husband, met Wolfgang, and then everything turned chaotic. He brought out the wolf in me, in a very literal sense, and Alan didn't appreciate that. He tried to kill me, more than once, and ended up killing my baby.

  "Baby?" I interrupted.

  "When two Lycans mate, the woman always gets pregnant," Sophia said. "It ensures that the lines are carried on. You'd still be pregnant if they hadn't poisoned you."

  I nodded and let out a long, slow breath. "Oh," I whispered.

  They continued with the story. The night they killed my baby was also the same night we killed them. And by we, I don't mean me. Wolfgang and his father had to rush me to the clinic—a converted warehouse that Lycans went to when they needed medical attention. They patched me up and told me that I wasn't going to be a mother after all. According to the twins, I didn't take it well and became a shell for three days. During that time, Wolfgang felt insignificant because there was nothing he could do for me and had no one to help him with his own grief. The only person he wanted to take comfort from was the one person who wouldn't acknowledge his existence. Me.

  I stared at the ring on my finger while they talked. I absorbed as much information as they could give and part of me couldn't believe it. I couldn't be a werewolf because werewolves didn't exist, and yet, I had this presence in my head that made me think of wolves, gleaming amber eyes, and hunting on full moon nights. It was that part of me that always knew. I knew they told me the truth. I knew Wolfgang was important to me. I knew that the fight we faced was personal.

  I knew….

  A knock on the door sounded. I looked as it opened, and Wolfgang poked his head in. His gaze lingered on me. I gave him an attempt at a smile as I nodded. "Do you remember anything?" he asked.

  I shook my head. "No," I said. His face fell. "I just have this overwhelming feeling that this whole thing is personal and that there's some sort of message I should know, but I can't remember what it is."

  He gave me a pained smile. "You are the message, Babe," he said. "We just have to figure out how to fix you so that we can give her a message too."

  "How?" I asked. "From what I'm understanding, only a Witch can do magic and we don't have any of those here."

  "They're not the only ones who can do magic," Wolfgang said. He stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. He pulled a chair over and sat in front of me. "All three species have magic; it's just different. Witches are the only ones who can use magic in the traditional sense. Our shifting, our mating, and everything else that comes with being Lycan is magic too. It's very different and requires more sacrifice than theirs does, but it's still magic."

  "What about mating?" Selena asked. She looked from me to Wolfgang. "I mean, if you think about it, mating makes you stronger and connects you, right?" she asked. "I know it can heal someone if they're injured at the time of the mating. There's that moment where you both become one person. Wouldn't that negate whatever Brenda did?"

  We looked at Sophia because she was the doctor in the room. She nodded. "It could work," she agreed.

  Wolfgang looked at me with an intensity in his eyes that made me feel like he was looking through me. "I'll leave it up to you," he said. "We can do it now or wait…. It's your choice."

  I bit my lip and looked from him to the twins. "Do you all think it'll work?" I asked.

  The twins nodded. I looked at Wolfgang and knew that I really did want to climb into bed with him. I just didn't want to do it right now while I was still freaked out about everything.

  "Can I have a little bit to think about it?" I asked.

  Wolfgang nodded. "Let's get you cleaned up," he said. He held his hand out to me. I stood and walked to him. The moment my hand nestled into his, I couldn't breathe because of the jolt that went through me. I jerked my hand away and he stared at me in shock. "What?" he asked.

  I rubbed my hand. "That hurt," I mumbled.

 
; I watched his eyes turn from blue to amber. "What?" he whispered.

  "What?" the twins echoed.

  He looked like he was about to cry because I couldn't touch him. I reached out to him again and he stepped back away from me. "I don't want to hurt you," he said.

  "I know," I said. "You're not."

  "Ceres, if touching me hurts you, I'd rather never touch you again; no matter how much it would kill me.

  I met his eyes. "Not touching me is hurting you more."

  "I'll survive," he said with a rough voice.

  I met his eyes and I knew he was lying. "I won't," I whispered, and I knew it was the truth.

  He stared at me for a moment before he sighed and took my hand. At first, I couldn't breathe, but in just a few seconds, it dissipated. Whatever it was that wanted to keep me from touching him couldn't keep me away for long. I took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. "I'm okay," I said.

  Wolfgang nodded and led me out of the room. We went downstairs to another bedroom that had an adjacent bathroom. That's where Wolfgang's destination was. He led me through the bathroom door and lifted me onto the counter. As he stepped away to grab a washcloth, I turned to look at myself in the mirror.

  I gasped. Either the last two years had done a number on me, or the night was cruel. The woman looking back at me in the mirror wasn't one I recognized. I knew that it was still me, but it was a different me.

  My hair was streaked with blood. I could see a scar on my cheek that wasn't there before. And another one on my neck. They were faint, but I knew they were new. My eyes turned amber while I looked in the mirror, which was so different from my normal chocolate brown that it captivated me.

  "Look at me," Wolfgang said.

  I tore my gaze from the mirror and turned to him. He raised the wet washcloth to the side of my face and started to work away at the dried blood. This time, it didn't hurt when he touched me. Whatever it was that caused me pain must have worn off.

  His hands were warm, and his touch was gentle. I closed my eyes and relaxed into the feeling of his hands on me.

  "How did we meet?" I asked.

  "You walked into the diner my family owns and I was the server on the bar that day," he replied. "I knew the moment I saw you that I loved you. When you left, you started going the wrong way and there was a blizzard coming in. I offered to give you a ride back to your motel room and we agreed that I'd stay with you until the roads were clear. We spent five days in your motel room with no one else around."

  "That sounds romantic," I said with a chuckle.

  Wolfgang smiled. "It was," he replied. The look in his eyes saddened. "You really don't remember any of it?" he asked. The pain in his voice made me want to cry.

  I shook my head. "I get impressions of feelings, but no; I don't have any actual memory."

  Wolfgang's cell phone rang as he rinsed out the washcloth. He dried his hands off before he answered it. "This is Wolfgang," he said.

  "This is Brenda." I was surprised that I could hear her. "By now, you should know that for every move you make, I have a counter. If you want your sister back in one piece, you will meet me at the old mill in three days' time and surrender your life."

  "What about Ceres?" he asked with a rough voice.

  "She'll get her memory back the moment you die. That way, she can watch in agony as your body cools and know that there's nothing she can do to prevent her own death. Once the two of you are gone, dispatching the rest of your pitiful pack will be quite simple. After all, you two are the only big powerhouses in Adamsville. Everyone else is weak by comparison."

  He met my eyes. "Fine," he said, his voice breaking. My eyes widened. I couldn't believe he would seriously be considering meeting her demands. On her terms? She would have the upper hand. "I'll bring her with me," he promised. "What time?"

  "High noon in three days," Brenda said. "And if you even think of sending anyone to find Mira in the meantime, I will snap her neck like a twig."

  "I need a guarantee that you won't kill her before we meet," Wolfgang said.

  "We'll just have to trust each other," Brenda said. "You promise that you won't go hunting for your sister, I promise not to kill her before I kill you."

  "You didn't keep your last promise. Why should I trust you now?"

  "Because, little prince, you've wiped out my entire coven. You've proven that you're a force to be reckoned with. Now that I know what kind of player you are, I know not to break my word again. Like I said, we're just going to have to trust each other."

  "Break your word again and I'll make sure you die a slow and agonizing death," Wolfgang promised before he ended the call and put his phone back in his pocket. I gaped at him as he picked up the washcloth and started cleaning me up again. I grabbed his wrist. "You can't be serious," I whispered. "You're going?"

  Wolfgang nodded. "I am," he said.

  I shook my head. "No," I whispered.

  Wolfgang put the washcloth back down on the counter. He reached up and held my face in his warm hands. He met my eyes. "I have no intentions of dying," he promised me. "You and I have far too much to live for and I'm going to be there to see it happen. Don't think for a second that I'm going in there alone. I'll have backup, but I have no choice. I have to get Mira back. Your memories are gone because you tried to protect her. If anything else happens to her, it'll kill my mother. Mira is her miracle child."

  "What do you mean?" I asked, wondering if there was a piece of information that I'd forgotten or just never knew.

  Wolfgang sighed. "My mother wasn't supposed to have her," he said. "There's more than 20 years between us. Even for Lycans, that's extreme. The part that no one else knows about are the five miscarriages between me and Mira. Nothing can happen to her."

  "How do we get her back?" I whispered. I couldn't fathom losing five children. I couldn't even imagine losing the one that I lost.

  "Play by the rules," he whispered, his eyes darting to my lips before returning to meet mine. "There are a lot of things I've had to do that we haven't been happy about. This one saves my sister's life and will give you your memories back. Please, don't make it harder than it already is."

  I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to take the pain away from him. I could see in his eyes how much it hurt him to keep his distance from me. "How can we get my memories back?" I whispered.

  Wolfgang sighed as he shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered. "You're not injured, so I don't really think that mating could work. The most you would get are my memories and that isn't what we're after. I've never heard of mating breaking a spell before, but I've also never heard of a Witch taking away someone's memories either. Moments like this, I wish we never left that motel room."

  "What if we go back there?" I asked. "Recreate the night we met? Maybe it'll jog something. It's a tactic used a lot when patients have amnesia. It's used in criminal cases as well. Taking the victim back to a place of significance often triggers the memories."

  "You think that might work?" he asked.

  I shrugged. "Worth a shot, right?" I asked.

  Wolfgang nodded. "It is," he said. He sighed. "Take a shower," he said. "I'll get some of your clothes for you. Let me go talk to a couple of people and let them know what's going on and we'll head over to the motel."

  I nodded and waited for him to leave the bathroom before I slipped off the counter. I looked in the mirror again. There was still a lot of blood on the side of my head, but no actual injury. I picked up the washcloth and tried my best to get some of it off, but it was too stuck on now. Once Wolfgang returned with some of my clothes, I stepped into the open shower.

  The hot water felt amazing on my body. I had more knots in my shoulders than I'd ever had before, which only served as evidence that I'd been under a lot of stress for a while now. The water swirling around the drain was red. I had a strong feeling of déjà vu, but of course I couldn't place it.

  I stared at my hands as I stood under the water. I tried to picture them as paws, but my imag
ination just couldn't stretch that far.

  Once I finished showering, I reached for a towel and dried off. Wolfgang had given me a few options for me to change into. One of the options was an over-large, soft sweater. I put on a tank top and that sweater with a pair of black jeans. I loved that he'd given me options that weren't revealing or sure to incite a sexual reaction. I wanted to jump his bones right here and now, but that didn't mean that I wanted to tease him with something I might not give him.

  My stomach rumbled. How long had it been since the last time I ate anything?

  I walked into the bedroom once I was dressed and saw him sitting on the bed. He stared at the phone in his hands. "Everything okay?" I asked.

  He turned to me with a forced smile. "Yes," he said. "We can't do anything tonight, especially given how late it is." I looked at the alarm clock next to the bed. It was almost two in the morning. "But when the hotel office opens in the morning, we can go."

  I nodded. "Sounds like a plan," I said. "What do you guys do around here for food?" I asked.

  He looked shocked for a moment. "Oh god, you're probably starving," he whispered. "Let's go to the kitchen. I'll fix you something."

  "You don't even know what I want," I said.

  He smirked. "I know what you want," he said.

  I followed him to the kitchen. It wasn't far from the room we obviously slept in. He had me sit down at the small breakfast table while he hunted through the cupboards for something edible. A few minutes later, he had a pot of water boiling on the stove for alfredo and the sauce made my mouth water.

  "You like to cook?" I asked.

  I caught his smile before he focused on the sauce bubbling on the stove. "It's my hidden talent," he said with a chuckle. "I actually manage the diner for my family," he explained. "Most of the time, I'm in the kitchen. Occasionally, if we're short staffed or something, I'll be out on the dining floor. You met me on a day we were short."

  When he put the plate down in front of me, I couldn't wait to dig in. "Are you eating?" I asked as he sat down opposite me without a plate.