Ghost Moon (37 page)
Authors: Rebecca York
“How long would it take?”
“A few days. But it will take me several weeks to get ready.”
“And there’s some risk?” Quinn pressed.
“Something could go wrong, yes.”
Quinn reached for his hand and held on tightly.
Caleb swallowed. “Can I let you know what I want to do?”
“Of course.”
They were about to walk back into the house when a scream made them freeze. Then Caleb leaped toward the door.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The women were
right behind him as he rushed back into the house to find everybody in the living room. A large, dark-haired man dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and leather sandalsstrode toward Zarah and caught her in his arms.
right behind him as he rushed back into the house to find everybody in the living room. A large, dark-haired man dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and leather sandalsstrode toward Zarah and caught her in his arms.
“It’s Griffin,” Quinn said to the room in general. “Her husband.”
She rushed toward the couple, then stopped, not wanting to interrupt.
“How did you get here?” Zarah whispered.
He looked apologetic. “I put a psychic tracer into Quinn’s clothing. She left the clothing at this house, and it gave out a signal.”
Logan stepped forward. “You gave us all a shock. But welcome to our home.”
“You have been sheltering my wife?” he asked, his voice thick with emotion.
“I have. I’m Logan and this is Rinna.”
Rinna also stepped toward Griffin. When he hesitated, she hugged him. And he hugged her back.
“Thank you so much,” he said, his deep emotion obvious.
After Logan had introduced Griffin to the others in the room, Zarah asked in a shaky voice, “Why did you come here? Did you have to flee?”
“No. Things are much better.” He looked at Quinn and Caleb. “They were getting better when you were there last, but I was afraid to take any chances, so I kept the city well guarded. But we’ve had a breakthrough since you came back. I’ve actually shown the members of the council the advantagesof working together.”
He laughed. “I mean I pointed out they might like getting to live their lives without someone trying to knock them off. And I’ve sent delegations to some of the nearby cities. I’m trying to get them to see the wisdom of signing a mutual defensepact. So far, White Flint and Eden Brook have sounded positive.”
Zarah stared at him. “That’s wonderful.”
“I left a guard at the portal. But I’m feeling good enough about conditions in Sun Acres to bring you home.”
“Thank the Great Mother,” Zarah breathed.
Griffin turned to Quinn. “And you—if you want to come.”
“I . . . don’t know.” She glanced at Caleb. “It depends on what he wants to do.”
“I was hoping he would join my household.”
“As what?” Caleb asked, wondering if he was being offeredsome kind of charity.
“I’m trying to modernize our world. And you were able to repair that clock. As I told you, we have lots of equipment we don’t know how to run. If you could get some of it workingand maintain it for me, that would be of great help. Have you worked with steam engines?”
“Only for fun,” Caleb answered, feeling his throat clog. “I made myself a steam-driven motorcycle when I was a teenager.”
“Fantastic. We have an old steam car that I’d like to get operational. I hope you’ll bring us your talent for fixing things.”
Caleb swallowed and gestured toward Megan. “Dr. Marshalloffered me a treatment that might restore my ability to change to wolf form. If I went to your world, could I come back here for treatment?”
“Of course.”
“What do you want to do?” he asked Quinn.
Her eyes met his. “I want to be with you. Whichever place you choose.”
His chest tightened as he stared at her. He wanted that, too. “Yes,” he managed to say.
“You’re going to leave the portal open?” Rinna asked.
“Yes. But we’ll keep it hidden,” Griffin answered, then looked around at the modern conveniences. “I’d love to take some equipment from this world, but I think that would be a mistake. If people start wondering where we got it, there might be too much temptation to traffic back and forth.”
“Yes,” Ross agreed.
“But I was thinking that if we could find some old books on manufacturing processes, we could get some small factoriesgoing.” He looked at Caleb. “And maybe we can set you up as an inventor. You might come up with some actual inventions.But you could also duplicate what other men have done in this world . . . well, at a more primitive level.”
“Men and women,” Rinna said.
“Pardon.” He grinned at her. “Men and women.”
“Good ideas,” Ross answered. “If he sells the equipment in your world, he can get rich.”
Caleb’s mind was spinning. He hadn’t counted on anythinglike that. But he could see the possibilities. Maybe starting with telegraph or radio. A reliable means of communicationover long distances was something the other universecould use. And something faster than horses for travel. In this world that had been the railroad.
But that required a large industrial base. Maybe steam cars and trucks would be more practical in Quinn’s world.
Griffin looked at Zarah. “If you are well enough, I’d like to take you back now.”
“Yes,” she breathed. “I’ve longed to be with you.”
He turned to Caleb. “And if you wanted to come with us, I’ve taken the liberty of setting aside rooms for you.”
“They’ve had a lot to deal with,” Zarah said. “Not just them—the whole family. They just stopped a madman from setting off a deadly bomb in the capital city. It might have made the cable news channels by now.”
She picked up the remote from the coffee table and pointed it at the television.
Griffin jumped when the picture came on.
A reporter on CNN was excitedly describing a plot to blow up the U.S. Capitol. Then the picture switched to Flagstaff Farm, where they saw the blackened wreck of the van—and then a picture of the crate that held the bomb.
Rinna sucked in a sharp breath and looked at her husband.“
That’s
what you were doing?”
That’s
what you were doing?”
“Yeah. We got the bomb out of the van before it blew up and spewed radiation all over us.”
“Radiation. I assume that’s bad,” Griffin said.
“Very bad,” Ross answered. “You can’t taste it or feel it or smell it, but it will kill you—either quickly or slowly, dependingon how close you are to the source, and how much you absorb.”
Caleb saw Quinn shudder.
Griffin gestured to the television set. “How do they do that?”
Ross laughed. “Nobody here has the technical knowledge to explain how it works. But we watch it. Sometimes it’s an advantage to know what’s going on all over the world. And sometimes it’s too much information.” He picked up the remotethat Zarah had put down and switched to several other stations.
“From all over the world?” Griffin asked.
“Most of it’s recorded. But a few programs, like that newscast are live. I mean it’s happening right now.”
He handed Griffin the remote, and while he ran through the channels, Zarah went to get her things.
She was back quickly, with a small rolling suitcase. “One thing I’m going to hate is the maternity clothes back home. What they have here is a lot more comfortable.”
“Maybe you can start a new fashion,” her husband said.
“If I don’t scandalize half the city.”
She thanked Logan and Rinna profusely.
Griffin pulled a pouch of antique coins and jewelry from his carry bag. “I hope you’ll take this in payment for letting Zarah stay here.”
“There’s no need to pay us.”
“I want to. Don’t deprive me of that pleasure.”
Logan nodded.
“So I will expect you in a few days?” Griffin asked Caleb.
He looked at Quinn. When she nodded, he answered, “Yes.”
After they had said their good-byes, Caleb took Quinn out into the woods. To a secluded glen he remembered from when he’d been a ghost.
That seemed like a thousand years ago. The memories of a different man. And in reality, that was actually true. He had been very different. More primitive in his thinking and focusedon the wrong thing.
When he turned to face Quinn, he could see she was nervous.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Are you getting ready to say good-bye?” she asked.
“Lord no! How could you think that?”
“I . . .” She didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence, becausehe swept her into his arms and covered her mouth with his for a long, greedy kiss.
When he lifted his head, they stared into each other’s eyes.
“I love you. I want to spend my life with you,” he told her, his voice strong and sure.
She clasped her arms around his back, holding on tightly. “Even if that treatment Megan talked about doesn’t work?”
“Even if it doesn’t.”
“You were so . . . upset when you found out you couldn’t change.”
“Yes.” He heaved a deep sigh. “All I could think of was what I’d lost. I still hadn’t realized what a precious gift I’d been given.” He swallowed hard. “Two gifts—actually. My life and you.”
“Oh, Caleb.”
“You are the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Yes. I feel that way, too.”
He hitched in a breath. “Our children. They won’t be Caleb Marshall’s.”
“They will be—if you’re a good father to them.”
“I will be. Better than my father ever was to me. Ross and the others have shown me what family can mean to each other. I never thought it was possible for werewolves to . . . help each other. Too bad Aden couldn’t have seen it.”
“You forgive him?”
“Yes. Because he made it possible for me to find you. Maybe that was why I hung around for all that time.”
“Or maybe to save the world.” She brought her mouth back to his for a long, deep kiss. And as he kissed her, he rolled up her T-shirt, unsnapped her jeans, and lowered the zipper.
She wasn’t wearing a bra. And with a glad exclamation, he lowered his head to her breasts, pressing his cheeks against the inner curves, then claiming first one distended nipple and then the other with his mouth. At the same time, he slipped his hand into the pants he’d opened and found her pussy. She was slick and swollen for him.
“You’re working pretty fast,” she panted.
“Yeah. Because I’m going to explode if I don’t get inside you. Open these damn jeans for me.”
She did as he asked, pulled them down his hips and freed him from his undershorts. Because his pants still trapped his legs, he pulled her down on top of him.
She quickly shucked out of her own jeans, then straddled his body and brought his cock inside her. They both exclaimedat the joy of their joining. And when she squeezed her inner muscles around him, he clasped her hips.
“What?”
“Hold still for a minute.”
She took a breath and did as he asked.
“I love you. I was crazy to think I could give you up. I want to tell you that now.”
“Oh, Caleb.” Her eyes turned misty. “I love you so much.”
He held her still for as long as he could stand it—another few seconds. Then he slid his hand to her clit and she began to move with quick, jerky motions.
They both came in a firestorm of release. And when she collapsed on top of him, he held her tightly.
“I have so much,” he whispered. “More than I ever dreamed possible.”
“Yes,” she answered. “That’s true for me. I never imaginedbeing this happy. Not in my most vivid dreams.”
He held her to him, knowing how lucky he was. And knowing that whatever happened in the future, he would have this woman at his side.
Turn the page for a special preview
of the next book in the series,
of the next book in the series,
ETERNAL MOON
BY REBECCA YORK
Available soon from Berkley Sensation!
“
YOU ARE NOT
crazy.” Renata Cordona said the words aloud to the empty house because she needed to hear them. In the next second, she wanted to smack herself for being such a wuss.
YOU ARE NOT
crazy.” Renata Cordona said the words aloud to the empty house because she needed to hear them. In the next second, she wanted to smack herself for being such a wuss.
She might be nervous about this assignment. But she’d been trained by the best PI in the business. She was armed with a Glock Model 28, designed for concealed carrying and with less recoil than the bigger models. And she was an excellentshot.
Still, as she stood without moving, listening to the sound of the wind blowing the branches of the trees outside the window, she couldn’t stop a shiver from traveling down her spine.
She heard the wind like that sometimes when she woke up and found herself barefoot in the backyard of her rented Ellicott City, Maryland, house. Or in the living room, surroundedby natural objects she didn’t remember gathering.
She’d been sleepwalking.
But sleepwalking wasn’t crazy!
“Stop it!” she ordered herself. “You’re not going to sleep now. It only happens after you’ve gone to bed for the night.”
But why was it happening at all?
She didn’t know. And she wouldn’t discuss it with her boss, Barry Caldwell. Or the police liaison detective, Greg Newcastle, of the Howard County, Maryland, PD.
Newcastle was already acting like a pain in the ass, and she wasn’t going to give him a valid reason to pull her off this assignment.
It was too important to let her own doubts stop her.
Three women agents, who all worked for Star Realty, had been murdered in the past nine months while showing houses to clients. And Renata was going to make sure it didn’t happen again—to her or to anyone else.
She walked to the front of the house and looked out the window. But she saw no cars coming up the long driveway that led to the wooded property she was supposed to be showingto a man named . . . She pulled out the slip of paper again.
Kurt Langana. He’d contacted Star Realty a few days ago, asking to see properties with several acres of land around them. Because that fit the MO of the murderer, Dick Trainer, the owner of the company, had given her the job— with the proviso that if she actually did end up selling anything,the money would come to him.
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