Moon Chilled (8 page)

He smiled at me, his rotting teeth showing me even more about his lack of attention to his own health. "Shae. Darling. Won't you call me Dad?" He moved to take a step toward me, but I bared my teeth at him. It wasn't as impressive as it would have been if I'd still been a wolf, but the action meant the same thing, and it stopped him where words might not have.

"Where's Maiki?" I demanded, ignoring his request as I stared up into his glassy glaze. He paid no attention to my nudity, but then I really didn't think he would. If he was still the man I remembered, he preferred his bed partners unwilling and a lot younger than I was now. I reminded myself that I was an adult, a powerful wolf, and that I had nothing to fear from him. If only my wildly racing heart believed me.

He frowned at me. "Shae, there will be time enough for that. Come in, let's have a chat." He reached for me, tried to touch me and might have even succeeded, but I stepped to the side. I didn't move back. That was weakness. But I didn't have to let him touch me either. Not anymore.

"No. And you aren't my father. You took me in when he died, but you are not him," I hissed through my teeth. He was not my father or my alpha. He was just an old man. A hateful, mean old man, and he didn't have any more power over me. Realizing that freed something inside of me. He'd hurt me once. He wouldn't be able to do it again.

"Take me to Maiki. I will not ask you again," I demanded, my voice strong and clear across the morning air. I squared my shoulders and lifted my gaze the few inches I needed to be able to look into his eyes. I stared back at him, unblinkingly challenging him.
Not my alpha
, I reminded myself. It was a lot easier to stand up to him now that I was an adult. He wasn't a looming giant anymore. He wasn't the monster that had kept me up at night as I'd cried into my pillow, my body broken from the inside out. He was simply a man who was currently in my way and taking up my time.

His smile turned cruel, and I reached for my wolf, holding onto that bond for strength. She hadn't left me as was her usual practice when we traded off. She was still right there, ready to help if and when I needed her. I thanked her, mentally stroking my fingers through her dark fur as we waited for him to either get out of our way or to attack us.

"Seer!" Ray bellowed, sending a ripple of emotion through the gathered crowd. The humans behind me trembled, the force of his dominance spurring them into action even if they had no idea what it was that they were supposed to be doing.

As for me, I tilted my head to the side and looked up at him, wondering why it was that he no longer had any control over me. A decade away from him and every other alpha had made a great difference to me. I'd survived, living as my wolf and hunting for my meals, even as a scrawny little girl of only thirteen. It hadn't been the life of a normal teenage girl, but then again I wasn't normal. I was a wolf, and the animal and I had grown close in those years that I had given up control of my body to the beast as a matter of survival.

"Seer!" he yelled again. This time his impatience made a few of the younger and weaker wolves behind me whimper. I felt no such urge, but as he saw this, his face showing his surprise at my lack of a reaction, I smiled at him.

I took a chance and went further, baring my teeth as my wolf crouched inside my mind, ready to strike and recognizing my display for what it was and what it meant to us both. I was apparently dominant too and much more so than I'd ever believed before. The realization took me off guard, stealing my breath. He didn't control me because I wasn't weaker than him. He was a pathetic, worthless old man, and I didn't have to listen to him ever again.

Chapter Seven

Maiki

I heard his call and took off running, my legs stretching over the soft grass of the backyard as quickly as I could manage. I rounded the side of the house as his second call sent waves of urgency through my small frame. Ignoring everyone else, I landed heavily on the front porch at his feet, my breath coming in uneven gasps as I tried to fill my lungs.

His hand landed in my short hair, and I forced myself to hold still, to accept his touch without shrinking back. He was my alpha; this was what he demanded. I repeated the old mantra until I believed it. Only then did my breathing slow and my heart along with it. I pulled my legs under myself and knelt comfortably beside him, his boot touching my calf as I pressed myself against his leg.

"So, now that you've seen her, let's you and I get down to business."

I looked up, realizing quickly that he wasn't talking to me. My wolf recognized the woman in front of us first and the animal clawed at my mind, begging to be let out as my mouth fell open and I openly stared at the not-quite-stranger less than two feet away.

"Shae ..." I whispered on a breathy sigh. My hands balled into fists on my thighs. I could not touch her. I wouldn't. I squeezed my hands tightly together, my short nails pressing into my palms as my fingers threatened to disobey my demands.

My alpha's hands tightened in my hair, and I shrank back, my shoulders rounding as I dropped my gaze back to his boots. I had spoken out of turn. That wasn't allowed.

"Get inside," he demanded, releasing my hair.

I scrambled to my feet, desperate to obey him as I darted into the kitchen. I should make breakfast. That would keep me busy, I reasoned. But when I got to the fridge, my trembling fingers wouldn't open it. Tears splashed onto the old linoleum floor.

"Be strong," I whispered to myself. "Please." My gentle words were a desperate plea. I couldn't cry. Not now.

"Mommy. I'm hungry."

Roughly wiping at my cheeks, I turned and knelt down, opening my arms for Gavin as he stepped into the small room. He came easily, his bare feet padding across the floor and bringing him into my arms. I lifted him and sat him on the counter to better see him. "Hey, baby," I whispered, pushing his messy blond hair back from his face. "How'd you sleep?"

He shrugged and gave me a little yawn. "I heard noises again. Like—"

"I know, honey," I said, quickly cutting him off before he could voice the horrible things he'd likely heard in the night. "Daddy was working again." It was a poor excuse and hardly adequate even for a six year old. But it would have to do, because I could hardly tell him the truth.

Footsteps behind me spurred her into action, and I grabbed a juice box from the fridge and quickly handed it to him. I expected my alpha to come closer, to inspect Gavin, to tell me that he had overslept, that he needed to get dressed. But when the footsteps stopped I waited, breathing deeply and trying to calm myself.

"Oh God. Maiki ..."

My shoulders shook and I nearly lost my balance at the sound of Shae's voice. A moment later my efforts were in vain, and I crumpled to the floor, my wide gaze searching Shae's as I brought my knees to my chest and huddled against the cabinets, Gavin's bare feet swaying above me.

Shae stepped closer, her expression turning hard as she looked between us.

"Don't judge him," I whispered, hoping Shae could hear me but no one else could. I knew the others were still close. If they could hear me say that, if word got back to him ... I fiercely shook my head. That couldn't happen.

Shae's careful movements brought her in front of us, and I stared up at her, wondering what she must be thinking. After another few minutes of silence, I managed to shakily get to my feet.

"Who's that?" Gavin asked, setting his juice box aside.

I helped him down from the counter and put the box in the trash. "Mommy's friend. Hey, tell you what, go get dressed and I'll make you some breakfast. Hurry now, love."

He flashed me a smile and took off the way he'd come. When he was safely out of earshot, I turned back to Shae. "You shouldn't have come," I whispered. I didn't know how she'd got into the house, if Ray had heard her come in, or if he'd come storming in after her at any minute. People were not allowed in without his permission, and I didn't think Shae qualified for that.

Shae lifted her hand to my face. I leaned into her touch until I felt her thumb brush against a mostly healed bruise on my cheek. I pulled back instantly, but Shae boxed me in, pinning me to the counter with a hand on either side of my hips.

"Tell me he's not the father," she hissed, her voice dangerously soft. "Tell me you fell in love. That you're married. Anything but how that child has the same eyes as that man."

I shuddered and crossed my arms over my chest. I couldn't. I wouldn't lie to Shae. "My son's name is Gavin. He's mine. Mine," I repeated, hoping Shae understood. "I love him."

"And how could she not?" a cold voice called as my alpha joined us in the kitchen.

I watched as Shae appeared to shudder before she stepped away from me. I wanted to grab her hand, to pull her close, to put her between me and my alpha. But I couldn't. I didn't have the right to touch her. I was far too low to be given that gift.

"Where's breakfast?" he asked me, pulling out a chair and having a seat at the small breakfast table beside the window. Shae stepped back again, putting even more space between us. But it didn't matter. The years had already put miles between Shae and I, and a few more feet in the old house wouldn't really matter at this point. I'd lost my charcoal wolf one horrible night so many years ago, and I didn't have the right to want her back. Not anymore. Not after all that I'd done.

Closing my eyes to keep back the tears, I turned and opened the door of the fridge, wondering what I could possibly make for my alpha from the few scraps of food he'd remembered to get at the store. They had eggs, which were always better than nothing, I supposed.

"Are you staying for breakfast?" I asked Shae as I leaned my head further into the fridge. There had to be more than eggs in there. I just wasn't looking hard enough.

"Don't see that I have much of a choice. You asked me to come and so I'm here. Can't really leave until I know what's going on," Shae replied, her tone harsh. "But don't fix me anything. I won't be eating with him."

I tried not to let Shae's anger bother me. Logically I knew that her anger was completely valid. She had every right to be mad at the person that had taken her childhood away. But still there was something inside of me, something that said I should argue with her, to defend my alpha even though I had no real love for him.

"Now don't be like that, Shae. You always were such an uptight child."

I crouched in front of the open fridge, the carton of eggs trembling in my hands as a new woman joined us.

Chapter Eight

Shae

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, needing that desperate moment as the familiar scent of mint and lavender came up behind me. After I centered myself, I turned, refusing to give the older woman my back as she entered the kitchen. "Diane," I greeted her, giving her no more than that as she made her way across the floor and found a seat across from Ray.

"Well, I guess it's a miracle that you're even saying that much to your poor old mother. Come. Give Mommy a kiss."

I didn't move toward her. After a moment, her wrinkled face dropped along with her outstretched arms. She hadn't changed much in the years since I'd last seen her. She'd aged, as had everyone else that was familiar in the pack. But her deceptively sweet smile hadn't.

Diane reached across the table and laid her hand on Ray's wrist. Her gold ring lit up in the morning sun. It was new and I wondered, briefly, how long it had taken her to replace the one my father had given her. She never deserved my father, and I'd hated her long before I'd come to fully realize the extent of her evil. "Ray, darling, I think I'll go pick out some clothes for my daughter. It's not right for such a pretty girl to be nude in front of all those men."

"Don't bother," I bit out, crossing one leg over the other and resting my arms behind me on the counter. If my nakedness bothered her, that was her problem. I lived alone and had become far too happy not having to listen to others to start caring about what they wanted. "I won't be wearing skin that long. As soon as Maiki tells me what she needs I'll take care of it and then I'll be gone."

She pouted, her full bottom lip sticking out so far that I could see the bright red lipstick that had been smeared onto her bottom teeth. "But you can't. I was so hoping you and I could have some mother-daughter time together. We could catch up. Talk about your life. Have you met a man?"

I laughed without warmth, and it felt good to be so spiteful as her face crumbled and her cheeks lost some of their unnatural color. "Let's stop pretending, shall we? You aren't my mother any more than that man is my father. Mothers don't force their daughters into the bed of a man four times their age. You two are strangers to me, distant memories from a past I'd like to forget. And that's all you've been for me since the day I left here."

Ray rose from the table, his chair sliding back loudly across the floor. "There's no need to be such a vicious bitch, Shae. Now, you apologize to your mother, you little brat."

I lowered my head and grinned at him, my wolf inside of me crouching against my skull and begging to be let out. "Fuck you, asshole."

He was on me quickly, his large hand grabbing my upper arm as the other made a fist at his side. I saw him raise his arm, push his shoulder back, and get ready as if each movement happened on its own, as if the act was halted halfway through and never fully realized. I pushed him back before he could strike me, unwilling to let him do so again.

The gasp that came from Diane didn't matter to the predator as my wolf looked out through my eyes, sizing up Ray advancing toward us. I rounded my shoulders, arched my back, and called to my wolf, giving her permission to be as she wanted to.

A shrill cry broke through the house, hurting her ears as her bones broke and her soft charcoal fur cascaded over my human skin. Four paws landed on the chipped linoleum where before there had only been my pale feet. The wolf shook herself, feeling right in her fur, and I smiled into her mind as I settled back to watch. Ray stopped coming at us, and his mouth fell open. Diane stared as well. The wolf licked her lips and stepped closer to him. Unafraid, her big paws brought her right up to him.