Disclaimer: All the characters that you recognize belong to Laurell K Hamilton. Those that you don’t would belong to me so back off. :oP And if you don’t like the story that’s okay the back button is right up there ^^^^^^. Thanks for your patronage.
Rating: R, however there maybe some parts that require an NC-17 rating but I’ll let you know when that happens.
Back at the car Anita
unlocked the doors and we got in. The
silence in the car, while it wasn’t totally uncomfortable, wasn’t really
relaxed either. Not being able to take
the strain any longer, I asked her if I had done something to upset her. Anita said that she didn’t wish to discuss
this right now. Which I interpreted to
mean that I had screwed up big time. I
never seem to be able to do anything right. I sighed at that thought. I left her alone. We continued the rest of the trip to her house in uncomfortable
silence.
When she
pulled up in front of her house, I was a basket case. I suddenly didn’t want to get out of the car. I just sat there,
staring at the house while she got out of the Jeep. Anita turned and looked at me just sitting there. I returned her
look. Maybe it would have been better
if we had stayed at the Circus. Finally
I asked, “Is Elizabeth in there,” my voice soft, I was afraid. As if understanding the problem, even though
I know she had no idea what was really bothering me, Anita shook her head. I didn’t want to face a room full of people
that I had thought were fictional. I asked her again if I would need my gym
bag, this time she nodded. Realizing I
could no longer delay the inevitable, I took the seatbelt off and turned to retrieve
my bag from the back seat. I opened the
door and got out, dreading the coming introduction. I knew that they wouldn’t hurt me physically, Anita would kill
them. That didn’t mean that they
couldn’t make my staying with them difficult.
With me dragging my feet, we trudged up to the front door. We were about three steps from the door; a young man who looked no older than seventeen opened it. He had long auburn hair and lavender eyes, Nathaniel. He looked pleased to see Anita but was puzzled by my presence with her. He took in the shirt and a smile appeared on his face. He greeted Anita and she went in. I walked by him he said, “nice shirt.” I thanked him and followed Anita into the house.
There in the living room sat Micah, Cherry, Zane, Merle, and Caleb. Well at least it wasn’t the whole pard I thought to myself. I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. I dropped my gym bag behind the white couch I was using as a shield. Micah was looking at me like he already knew who I was. The others were wearing the same puzzled expression that Nathaniel had worn, well all except Merle, he looked at me like I was some sort of threat. I laughed softly, some threat I am, I thought. I don’t even know my own personal history. That thought sobered me up quickly, the smile I had been wearing only moments before was gone. Anita walked over to the matching love seat where Micah was and sat down next to him, he wrapped an arm around her. I stood there not knowing what to do.
I quickly scanned the room. There was a white recliner in which Caleb was. Merle was standing behind Micah. Cherry and Zane were sitting close on the couch where there was enough room for maybe one more person. I figured that that was where Nathaniel had been sitting, so I stood there fidgeting.
My fear was back now and with a vengeance. I was close to panicking, when I felt someone come up behind me and turned around quickly. I knew my eyes had to be wide with fear, but couldn’t help it, it was Nathaniel. He reached out to touch me and I jerked back. He looked as if I had struck him. Caleb seemed to think that was funny. I turned angry eyes to him, “What do you find so funny,” I asked in a low voice.
“You,” he said with a laugh. “Your afraid of our
weakest member,” he continued like what he had said was the funniest thing
ever. I turned to Nathaniel; he looked
like he was ready to cry. If there is
one thing I can’t stand, it’s for someone to be mean on purpose. I glared at Caleb and growled low in my
throat, it sounded strange, almost as if it should hurt but didn’t. Caleb was mugging like he was afraid. His
demeanor clearly played for a lie. I
took a quick couple of steps in his direction, he stood. Before either of us could do anything Anita
asked if I would like to sit down.
Glaring at Caleb I sat on the couch with Cherry and Zane. It was as far as I could get away from Caleb
without actually leaving the room.
Nathaniel came to sit by me, don’t ask me why because I couldn’t have
told you. However with Nathaniel so
near it had a calming effect on me, a warm presence at my legs. I stroked his hair. He seemed to take that
as approval and laid his head on my knee. I continued to stroke his hair. Just the repetitive action seemed to keep me
centered. I turned my gaze to Anita and Micah.
They looked like proud parents. I didn’t understand what was going on and to
top it all off I was beginning to feel tired again. I yawned widely showing everyone just how tired I was. I was hoping something would happen soon.
Otherwise I was going to be asleep. I
told the assembled group as much too. They laughed at that. All except
Nathaniel, he rolled his eyes up at me and asked if he could sleep with
me. I told him he could as long as he
didn’t get fresh. He smiled at me.
Caleb asked if he could sleep with us.
I told him, he could sleep outside naked in a blizzard before I’d let
him sleep with me. Now it was his turn
to glare. Into the exchange Anita
interjected that they had business to handle.
I
turned my attention back to Anita. She
told the group about my attack. That they didn’t know who had attacked me, the
investigation was still on going. She
introduced me as Aluna. Luna I told
them. They all nodded politely but
Merle and Caleb. Somehow I knew I was
going to have problem with Micah’s pard. I sighed. They began to throw questions at me and I fielded them as best as
I was able. Some of the answers I gave
made Merle even more suspicious, that was too bad, but there wasn’t much I
could do about that. Finally, either
sensing my fatigue or needing to go back to Jean-Claude, Anita called an end to
the inquisition. I could have kissed
her, but didn’t. Anita turned to Micah
and was talking softly to him. If I had wanted to, I bet I could have heard
every word. But she had lowered her voice, so I gave her the illusion that she
had her privacy. A few minutes later
Micah kissed her and she left shortly after.
When Anita was gone, I turned to Cherry, remembering that she had, at one point, been a nurse. I asked her if it was normal to feel this tired. She smiled at me and said everyone handled things differently. It would only be a problem if I was sleeping all the time and even that might be something residual from the attack. She said she wouldn’t be able to tell me for sure unless I was willing to see Dr. Lillian. I must have paled a bit at that because she chuckled, told me she would keep an eye on me and would only insist on a visit to the good doctor if it looked like I was having major problems. I sighed, at least she wouldn’t be signing me up for a office visit tomorrow.
Merle had
to go and ruin the good mood we were all feeling. “How did you know that Cherry
used to be a nurse? Anita didn’t mention any of us to you,” he said in a
suspicious voice. I groaned, I so
didn’t want to tell them the truth. They would think I was as nuts as I
felt.
So, I did
the next best thing. I wouldn’t lie to them, they would smell a lie. “I just know things,” I stated simply.
“Like what things?” Merle demanded.
“Just things,” I said again. I didn’t like the way this was going.
“Are you psychic?” he asked. I just shook my head. “Then how did you know these things?” he pressed.
“Look, it’s hard to explain. Just trust me when I say I know these things, okay?” there was a note of pleading in my voice.
He looked at me and said, “The problem is that I don’t trust you, and so I can’t just except your explanations.”
“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way, because that is the only answer your going to get. So, stop pestering me, okay?” Anger was beginning to creep into my voice. “I have done nothing to warrant such distrust. Now, if I had, I would certainly understand the animosity you seem to feel towards me, I have offered no violence, no challenge or done anything to provoke this kind of response. So, unless you truly wish to alienate me. Leave. Me. Alone.” My voice held all the pent up frustration I had felt since I had woke up this morning in the hospital. And now I could feel the threat of tears coming.
Of all the people I
expected to come to my rescue, nothing could have prepared me for what happened
next. Caleb said, “Just leave her
alone, Merle, she looks like she’s had a hard day. Remember what it was like when you found out you were
infected? Now, not only does she have
that to deal with but now she has to meet and greet a pard. It’s never easy to be the new guy, or in
this case gal, and your making it harder than it needs to be.” I was immeasurable grateful for the save and
shot Caleb a watery smile.
Throughout this entire exchange, Micah had said nothing. I looked at him. He seemed to be studying me. I waited to see what he would say. The silence in the room was thick. Zane and Cherry looked at me like I had just walked in and were trying to decide if I was a threat to them or not. Nathaniel had taken his head off my knee and I took my hand back. Now, the tears were a very real possibility. I could feel my eyes water with them. Merle still looked suspicious. Caleb looked bored. Micah was still silent. I couldn’t take it anymore. I stood up and all eyes followed me. I grabbed the cigarettes and matches out of my purse and threw it angrily back down. I was walking toward the sliding glass door when Caleb grabbed my wrist, it didn’t hurt, more like he was doing it to get my attention. “Where are you going?” he asked softly.
“Outside, to have a cigarette, I doubt that Anita would be pleased to have me smoking in her house. Wanna come?” I offered. He nodded and stood up. We went outside. He opened the door for me. I thanked him on my way out. We sat on the steps of the patio. I gave Caleb a cigarette and the matches and then took one for myself he had his lit and was holding the match out to me I lit mine off of it. We sat there for a while just enjoying the night, and not really feeling the need to talk.
“You know, you shouldn’t let Merle get to you. He’s like that with everyone.” He said simply.
“Well, you’ll excuse me if I’m still a little pissed. He acted like I was here to personally inflict harm on the pard. When that is so not the case. And it just irks me that he has made it his personal mission to make me feel unwelcome,” I said a huff.
“Well, you know that you are right,” Caleb asked.
“What, unwelcome?” I asked taken aback.
“No stupid, your welcome. If you weren’t, then Anita would have made damn sure you got nowhere near the pard,” he said with quiet amusement.
“Well, I thought I was welcome, but when Merle started
in with his questions, everyone acted as if I had contracted some incurable
disease,” I said still pissed.
“I didn’t,” he said.
“No you didn’t and I thank you for that,” I said thankfully. I flipped my cigarette out into the yard and watched Caleb do the same.
“So, now do I get to sleep with you?” he asked teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows at me.
I laughed and hit him playfully. “I guess so. Since I don’t think anyone else is going to want to now,” I said sadly.
“Well thanks a lot, by the way, did I mention that I slept naked threw a blizzard yesterday?” Caleb said playfully.
I laughed at that, what else could I do? “That’s not what I meant and you know it ya dork,” I replied. He just nodded his head and said that it was probably time to stop hiding out here. I was surprised I didn’t think I had been that obvious. I guess he knew what I was doing and had only let it go on long enough to make me feel better. It made me rethink my earlier dislike of him. We stood up and he threw an arm around my shoulders. I barely came up to his shoulders, which meant he was about six foot tall. However I reserve the right to be wrong. I slid my arm around his waist and walked back into the house.
As we came into the house, I told him I had one condition. He cocked an eyebrow at me and I told he had to wear underwear to bed. He laughed and the others just looked at us like we had just lost our minds. Micah was just watching me stand there with Caleb and didn’t say anything. What I wanted to do was ask him if he ever talked or if his vocal cords were damaged some how. I didn’t, I thought I should get major kudos for that.
Like he knew what I had been thinking, Micah said, “I
have some more questions for you, however, you look like you really need to get
some sleep so, I’ll leave them for tomorrow.”
I thanked him and asked where the bedroom was. I felt as if I hadn’t
slept in years. My eyes burned with the
need for sleep, and I yawned again for good measure. Caleb guided me using the arm around my shoulders down the hall
to the room that we would be sleeping in.
When we got to the room, I took off my jeans and did that nifty little trick of taking off the bra without having to take off the shirt. Clad only in my tee shirt and panties, I crawled onto the bed. Caleb just stood there like a bump on a log. I asked him if he planned on sleeping on the floor. He just shook his head and smiled. While he was removing his jeans, I crept under the covers yawning yet again. Caleb was coming towards the bed in his white boxer-briefs, Nathaniel appeared in the doorway; he looked uncertain of his welcome. I shot him a questioning glance. He asked if he would still be allowed to sleep with me. I looked at Caleb, he just shrugged his shoulders. I told him the same thing I had told Caleb earlier, he quickly agreed and stripped down to his royal blue boxers. We ended up making a Luna sandwich, Caleb spooned my back while I spooned Nathaniel’s. I didn’t even remember falling asleep.
When I woke up, it was Caleb’s chest I was staring at and I was pressed so closely to him that I knew he was happy to have me there and Nathaniel was glued to my back. He was also very happy to have me there. Nathaniel’s hand was around the front of me and under my shirt holding one of my breasts. I wasn’t angry. I had shared enough beds in my life to know that somehow men always seemed to wake up holding that particular body part like it was a security blanket. I sighed and started to shift position, when I realized I had my leg thrown over Caleb’s hip and was forcibly reminded that the only things separating us was my insistence on underwear. It was at that precise moment that my bladder let me know that it needed to be relieved. Oh well hell, I thought. I pried Nathaniel’s hand off my breast, he made a protesting sleepy sound but let go. I climbed over Caleb and was hurrying to the bathroom and heard noise coming from the kitchen.
I
stood there debating whether or not to check it out. I decided that I would investigate after my bladder had been
taken care of. I was in the bathroom, after having taken care of necessities,
washing my hands and looked up into the mirror. My blue/green hazel eyes stared back at me from an oval shaped
face that was pretty, I would never be model beautiful, but I wasn’t ugly
either. I ran my tongue over my teeth.
I knew that they needed to be brushed, so did my hair for that matter. I walked into the living room where I had
left my gym bag and was pulling my toiletries out of the outside pocket when I
heard Merle’s angry voice, “She is a danger I tell you, and I can feel
it.” He said danger like most people
said evil.
I was stunned. I stood there in the living room still bent over my gym bag frozen. Then Micah’s voice just as angry, “Will you please keep your voice down? She’s gonna hear you.” I was pretty sure that they knew that I was up and about, but were unaware of where in the house I was. I made a big production of getting my stuff, taking care to make a lot of noise and hurried back to the bathroom. I was finishing up with brushing my teeth when I felt Caleb at the door. Don’t ask me how I knew it was him but I did. He knocked on the door and asked if he could use the bathroom. I told him only if he wanted to share it.
It was beginning to sink in; Merle just didn’t trust
me. Not just because I was new, but because he thought I was evil. I wanted to cry. It was unfair to judge
someone before you knew anything about them.
I heard Caleb clearing his throat on the other side of the door. I let him in, but locked the door behind
him. He went straight for the toilet
and I went back to the mirror trying in vain to brush my hair. It was useless my mind wasn’t on the task. I
had my hair unbraided but that was about all. I was still holding the brush
loosely in my right hand. Caleb was
damn near naked and my IQ had dropped to that of the village idiot. I was watching him out of the corner of my
eye. He was taking far too long for him
not to know that I was watching. He finished
and turned to me with a smile that said he knew what I had been doing. That smile tightened things low in my body.
I turned away, blushing scarlet. He
walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. His arms rested just below my breasts. I laid my arms on top of
his and leaned back into him, he dropped a quick kiss to the top of my head and
took my hand.
He took the brush, and led me out of the bathroom and into
the living room. He sat on the couch
and motioned for me to sit in front of him. I did. He began to brush my hair, believe me I would never have expected
this. The Caleb I had read about was an
asshole, and assholes didn’t act this way.
Well, I was going to just enjoy this as long as it lasted. The repetitive motion of the brush was
soothing and soon I was falling asleep.
Caleb asked me how I wanted my hair done. Just to be an ass, I said French braided, he laughed and said
okay. I could feel him actually making
the braid. I was surprised I hadn’t expected him to be able to. When he got to the nape of my neck, he said
it would look better if he left it the way it was. Whatever’s clever I told
him. He took one of the rubber bands
off the end of the brush and quickly finished the task. He patted my shoulder letting me know he was
done. I just nodded.
I picked up my purse and was pulling out my pack of cigarettes when Caleb asked, “You going out there like that.” His eyes alive with amusement motioning to my lack of pants. I stuck out my tongue out at him and was surprised to find my tongue slid out smoothly. That was wrong. I went back to the bathroom. Staring at the mirror I stuck my tongue out again. And sighed in relief. The hole for my tongue ring was still there. I went back to my gym bag and searched for a replacement for the one I’d obviously lost sometime earlier. Finding one I liked, I went back to the bathroom and put it in. It was cool for the few seconds but quickly warmed up. Making sure that I had the balls tightened enough I looked up in the mirror to see Caleb looking at me with disbelief. It was comical. “I thought something was really wrong. You scared the hell outta me,” he said grumpily. I just laughed and mumbled sorry.
I went into the bedroom and was pulling on the pair of
jeans I had left on the floor, when I heard the covers rustle on the bed. I looked up into Nathaniel’s sleepy face and
smiled. He smiled back. “Well good
morning sleepy head,” I said good-naturedly.
Nathaniel yawned and asked what time it was. I looked at my watch and
told him it was only about 9:30 am. He
nodded his head and looked as if he was going to get up, I told him he didn’t
have to. He smiled and yawned again
saying he was going to sleep for a little longer. I nodded then went over to the bed, kissed his forehead and ran a
hand over his hair. I told him I was
going to go outside for a cigarette; he nodded and rolled over.
On the way out of the house, I grabbed my cigarettes
and the book of matches. I sat on the
patio like I did last night. I lit my
cigarette and looked up to see Micah standing there looking unsure of
himself. I cocked an eyebrow at him, a
question in my eyes. “We need to talk,”
he stated.
I took a drag from my cig and motioned to the open
space next to me on the step. He came
over and sat down. He took a deep
breath and blew it out. Almost as if he were uncomfortable with what he was
going to say next. Micah looked at me
and spoke very softly, “Merle seems to think that you are here to destroy the
pard,” he held a hand up when I would have spoken. He continued, “Merle says that you are a threat and that I, I
mean, Anita and I shouldn’t offer you the protection of the pard.”
The first thing I felt was anger, who the hell was
Merle to make that kind of call, more than that I was angry with Micah because
he hadn’t even said what he thought about my being here. As if reading my thoughts, “However, I’m willing
to accept that you just know these things, and am willing to leave it at
that. If I really feel that your
becoming a threat or that your keeping secrets that could hurt the pard I will
have no choice but to take away the pard’s protection,” he stated simply.
I took another drag, looked at him and wondered what he would say if I told him how I came to know the things that I did? I turned and looked at him he was good looking there was no denying that. His hair was a wavy mass around his shoulders his green eyes piercing and lips so full and kissable. I looked away before my hormones could get the best of me. He chuckled like he knew what I had been thinking, and maybe he did. I flipped my cigarette out into the yard like I had last night. Micah put his arm around my shoulders and I rested my forehead on the hollow of his neck I breathed in his scent and then it hit me.
I was back in the hospital sitting stunned while the doctor was telling me I was a lycanthrope for the first time. I could hear him draw in breath as he realized why, I felt so stunned. It was there in the memories, to me this group of individuals had been fictional, or least I had thought them to be. I knew everything about Anita about her life and now so did Micah. He drew back slowly from me. I was terrified. Now he was going to tell Anita I was mental or worse that I was some kind of stalker. Micah walked into the house without looking back. I sat there on the patio shaking uncontrollably, and wishing I knew what the hell to do now.