Moon Tortured (Sky Brooks Series Book 1) (14 page)

Josh stood so uncomfortably close that I had to take a couple steps back. When I moved, he stepped even closer. “May I?” he asked as he touched my face before I could respond. His finger brushed along my temples before his right thumb gently brushed along the edge of my jaw.

“So you’re the little lady who’s been causing the big uproar,” he remarked amused.

“Are you getting anything?” Ethan finally asked impatiently as Josh continued to fidget with my face for an unusually long time.

Josh rolled his eyes, sighed and shook his head slowly. “How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t get visions from touch? They come to me in my dreams. I was just taking this opportunity to play with the beauty from my dreams,” he stated, returning his attention back to me. He winked at me, and I took several big steps away from him.

Ethan huffed out something that I missed before heading out of the room.

Hey, don’t leave me with this touchy freak.

Before Ethan could make it to the door, “Stay,” Josh demanded as he moved his lips slowly, his eyes moved slightly down and to the right. The door slammed close in front of Ethan. Ethan looked more annoyed than impressed. “Oh look, cute magic tricks. I didn’t realize the circus was in town,” he responded aloofly.

“I probably can make a clown appear. Would you like that?” he asked in a light, amused voice.

“Well, if that’s the best you can do, I think I will have to pass. Perhaps Skylar will find your performance amusing,” he griped back before he left, slamming the door behind him.

Josh chuckled as he directed his attention back to me. “Please excuse my brother; although our parents went through great lengths to raise us well, he still behaves as though he had been raised by a pack of natural wolves,” he stated with a grin.

Brother? If the similarities went further than the good looks, I was not looking forward to talking to the pack’s source.

Josh turned to face me, smiled and took a seat on one of the oversized sofas. He patted the area next to him, motioning for me have a seat. Hesitating for a long while, I eventually sat at the far end. With an impish smile, he inched closer to me.

I looked up at him, scrutinizing his every move, trying to figure out what skills he possessed that warranted the pack’s unwavering trust. “What are you?” I asked directly.

He continued to smile but never offered an answer. “Are you psychic?”

He shook his head.

“Mage? Fae? Elf?” I asked, remembering that when I looked up werewolves and vampires, they seemed to come up quite a bit as well. Where there were werewolves, vampires were somewhere in the picture, and whenever there was chaos and magic, there seemed to be mages, faes and elves present.

“No to all three. Do you really want to play the guessing game? We could be here all day, not that I would mind.”

Tilting my head, I continued to study him. He was quite nice-looking, which made me think he was possibly something not so nice. “Are you some type of demon?” I asked. That would explain his magic and psychic ability.

“Do I look like a demon to you?” he asked with an amused grin.

“I don’t know. Ethan doesn’t look like a wolf, and the people who attacked us didn’t look like vampires. I’m just fishing for ideas at this point,” I stated getting a little annoyed with the guessing game. “I don’t believe demons exist.”

“Really, the werewolf doesn’t believe demons are real. I assure you they are quite real as well as their variant subspecies, but I am not one,” he stated. He seemed to be enjoying this little game of questions. He was right; we could be here all day, which I didn’t want.

“Honestly, until a couple of days ago, I couldn’t imagine there were more than just a few werewolves in the world, let alone were-animals. And the mere fact there are enough to create a pack is still inconceivable. So, at the risk of maintaining a certain level of naivety in my life, I’m limiting the supernatural world to were-animals and vampires. But I am sure you are about to shatter that misconception,” I stated. “What are you?”

He stood, pulling me up and into him. His eyes paled along with his coloring, and for a brief moment, we were outside in the yard and then back in the house in the same spots. My hands clamped onto my head as I took a seat and waited for the room to stop spinning.

“Sorry. Just showing off. I’m a warlock.”

“A guy witch?” I blurted incredulously as the room eventually mellowed to a slow turn.

“Yeah, a guy witch,” he repeated with chuckle.

“Are you a were-animal as well?”

He shook his head.

“But Ethan’s your brother?”

He nodded. “He’s my half-brother. His father was a werewolf. My father was just human. Our mother was a witch.”

“You’re the one who notified the Midwest Pack about me and the vampires. Are you going to tell me why they are suddenly interested in me?”

“Several months ago, a fae gave me dream.”

“Excuse me?”

“I was given a dream,” he stated with a hint of a smile. I couldn’t quite figure this Josh guy out. He was awfully forthcoming with information, but I wasn’t sure how reliable it was. His face stayed fixed between a boyish grin and a smirk, making me wonder if he were having fun at my expense.

“In a gift bag or a box?” I asked.

He laughed but ended it abruptly. “Neither. Faes typically keep their distance from were-animals and vampires. They don’t particularly like them. The magic that allows vampires and were-animals to exist makes them wary. Through the years, the were-animals have managed to gain favor with some, but they still keep their distance if at all possible. She approached me, concerned about your existence. ‘A lone wolf will stir the vampires and damage the pack,’ she informed me. She wouldn’t offer anything more than that. Eventually, I persuaded her to give me the dream, relieving her of the nightmares that haunted her to the point that she sought me out. I received them as they were relayed to her in bits and pieces. It was enough information to cause alarm but not enough to provide adequate answers.”

His charming grin disappeared. “You started playing starring roles in my dreams where your fear-stricken face would pop up and all I could feel was your pain. When Demetrius made his grand appearance, it was then I knew things could only get worse from there. That is when I contacted Sebastian to watch you. Once Demetrius sent members of his Legion to your house, we actively intervened. I doubt we would have been successful in retrieving you if we had just showed up at your house and said ‘Hey, we have reason to believe that vampires are after you. Come stay with us until we find out why.’ I hear you were reluctant to agree to our help, even after the attack.”

“Can the fae help?”

He frowned. “She made it very clear that her hands are washed of this. I was told to count myself lucky that a debt wasn’t incurred.”

“Some gift—cryptic messages and puzzle-like images,” I muttered with an irritated sigh. “So the vampires want me, and somehow it will lead to hurting the pack,” I responded disbelievingly.
How could the vampires use me to hurt the pack?

He took in several slow, controlled breaths, choosing his words very carefully. “No, whatever it is, it will adversely affect the pack. That could entail numerous things.”

“Like what?”

He leaned against the wall, withdrawing into himself. An uncomfortable silence filled the air. There goes that damn censorship.

Walking over to the window, I stared out into the thick woods behind the house as I subdued the rising fear in my stomach. He wasn’t nearly as much help as I had wished.

“If this is all you have, then why did they keep you so protected? With the limited information you gave me, you could have put in on a post-it and placed it on my door,” I stated flustered. I snapped my mouth closed before anything else rude came out. I turned to face the warlock, who still managed to maintain a pleasant smile, despite my impoliteness. I sighed heavily, “I apologize for being so rude. I’ve been in this house for five days waiting for you, and I don’t have any more information regarding the vampires’ interest in me. I’m frustrated.”

“Any other time I would have had more information. I’ve spent the last month gathering the little that I do have. Whether out of fear or obligation, the vampires have many who are committed to protecting their interests. Getting the limited information that I do have was a chore, and I assure you, I can be quite persuasive when necessary,” he smiled mischievously. I didn’t doubt that one bit. With his relaxed demeanor, good looks and welcoming smile, I was sure that when needed, he was quite charming and persuasive. The fact that he was Ethan’s brother and closely linked to the Midwest Pack, meant he was probably quite dangerous as well. It didn’t seem like a weak, genteel person would last long around here.

“Sebastian wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea for me to meet you until I was better informed. From what I hear, you are not the most trusting person and prone to reckless behavior. He thought you would run again,” he glanced up in my direction and raised a brow. “You don’t plan on running again?”

“I have a feeling if I did, I wouldn’t get far,” I admitted.

“That’s not a ‘no.’”

“No.” I hoped he couldn’t detect a lie. Truthfully, if I thought I could run and stay hidden from the were-animals and the vamps, I probably would.

He stood next to me and stared until I looked in his direction. “Now that you are here, getting information will be much easier,” he assured me. I wasn’t sure why, but I trusted him. Perhaps it was because he was my last hope. The pack inexplicably trusted him, and I felt compelled to do so as well.

Josh worked pretty fast. The next day we were on a plane headed south to meet with a source. We flew into the Savannah airport and drove eighty miles to our destination. I sat in the back seat of a rental car behind a coyote and next to a warlock, with a Beta wolf driving who had control issues that extended further than the pack’s domain. The snarky, mean-spirited exchanges between the brothers kept me aptly entertained as I experienced the ugly side of siblinghood that they didn’t show on television during prime-time hours. I’m sure they loved each other; after all, they were brothers. But whether they liked each other was in question. The two opposite personalities may complement each other in certain aspects, but on a road trip, it did nothing of the sort. By the end of the trip, I had had my fill of Josh complaining about Ethan’s speeding and treatment of speed limits as a mere suggestion and Ethan threatening to leave Josh on the side of the road because he kept using magic to control the car’s speed. We pulled up in front of a white ranch-style house surrounded by a wraparound porch. A slender man with cocoa-colored hair and large dark-brown eyes walked toward the car, his lips curled into the most welcoming smile: genial, warm, exposing perfect white teeth. He was pleasant and the very epitome of Southern charm. As he sauntered down the driveway to meet us, he seemed relaxed until Ethan stepped out of the car. The smile vanished, the muscles along his neck and face became rigid cords as his lips pressed firmly together. Hesitating briefly, he ushered a fake smile and continued toward us.

“Ethan,” he greeted in a neutral voice.

“Owen,” Ethan responded in a cool, distilled voice.

Owen opened my door. “Welcome, Skylar. I’m Owen, the pack’s host,” he stated with a distinctive Southern drawl. His smile was contagious; I couldn’t help but return it as he helped me out of the car. He quickly shook my hand before taking my bag. He acknowledged Josh and Steven with a quick nod and handshake and directed us into his home.

We followed him into the house. Ethan walking slowly behind us, assessing the surrounding area almost compulsively. It must be annoying to feel the need to neurotically study everything for threats, even when the probability of any was less than zero. We were in Joan’s territory; she had set up the host, made all the arrangements, and yet Ethan walked through the modest ranch house looking for potential threats. He looked through the large bay windows to the back—only to find a small vegetable garden, a solitary peach tree in the far-off distance and acres and acres of unused land. He continued walking through, opening doors and checking windows as he performed a thorough security sweep. When he was finished, Owen tried—unconvincingly—not to look annoyed.

“I didn’t realize there were going to be so many,” Owen said as his gaze swept over each of us and landed on Ethan. “Perhaps you can wolf it tonight,” he suggested to Ethan.