The Moon Rises (20 page)

Before Gigi and Sara were expected at work, Finn
called Silas to let him know what was happening. Silas didn’t shift, yet
sounded more wolf than man when he responded with his litany of growling
profanity. After Silas hung up on him, Finn dialed Michael and left a message
about where he and Gigi were. It was all busy work, but Finn felt on edge.

Gigi whimpered in her sleep, calling for Sara and
Mamma Celeste. Her hands would reach out and touch Finn’s face or chest, as if
she could see with her eyes closed. When her fingers touched his skin, she sighed
and quieted down.

Just after midnight, Finn felt a chill and
wondered if Gigi’s ghost was nearby. The chill lingered and Finn couldn’t shake
a growing fear in his chest. Something ugly in the Circle was hunting girls
from the club. Somehow without any hint of irrational panic, Finn knew the evil
would find Gigi next.

Anton was starving after his brunch with Mira and
her clan. Those tiny sandwiches weren’t very filling and he was dying to get a
real meal, something hearty with lots of meat. He first needed to stop by his office
to change.

Mira wanted something from Anton. Yet even after
two hours of small talk, he wasn’t sure what it was. She mentioned Estelle a
lot which made him think there was trouble brewing between the two witch clans.
Estelle possibly thought Mira tipped the balance of power by having an alliance
with his pack. Whatever it was, Mira talked around the subject and Anton missed
her point.

The only car in the parking lot belonged to
Melanie, but Anton doubted she was doing much work. Assuming she would be
sitting with her feet up while watching television, he wasn’t disappointed. On
the other hand, Melanie needn’t worry about getting her work done when she had
Gigi around.

“You have some messages on your desk,” Melanie
said, chewing on licorice. “The guys are dealing with those squatters on 8
^th
Street. Oh and Gigi is helping out again.”

Melanie glanced back at Gigi who was focused on
filing. When his assistant’s gaze returned to Anton, she mouthed “you’re
welcome” before returning her attention to the television. Gigi smiled at Anton
and her eyes studied his attire. Feeling awkward like a boy caught in his Sunday
best, he grinned tightly and headed to his office.

Anton switched into jeans and a blue tee. He felt
silly trying to impress Gigi who seemed to like everyone. Her ability to endure
those creepy ghoul kids meant it took a lot to put her off. Anton still replaced
the blue tee when he noticed a stain. Settling on the cleanest shirt of the bunch,
he emerged in a brown tee to find Melanie gone.

“She went to pick you up some food,” Gigi said
while filing.

“You really shouldn’t do her work.”

Gigi swallowed and looked around nervously.
“Should I go?”

“No,” Anton said too quickly then added a bit
calmer, “Melanie takes advantage of you, but you’re always welcome to hang out
here.”

Nodding, Gigi looked unhappy even as she returned
to filing. Feeling guilty for upsetting her, Anton leaned against a desk.

“I’m sorry about Sara,” he said quietly.

Anton had to say the words, but once they left
his mouth, Gigi began to cry. Unsure if hugging her was appropriate, he eased into
an embrace and let her see an exit if she wasn’t interested. Gigi instead grabbed
hold of him and buried her face against his chest.

On a date several years earlier, when Anton said
good night to the woman, she had hugged him. It was a really good hug and he
returned it in kind. She had looked up at him with a smile and said, “No one
gives good hugs anymore.”

Anton hadn’t seen the woman again, but he often
thought to her comment. He didn’t remember receiving a good hug before hers and
until that moment with Gigi, he hadn’t enjoyed one since.

Gigi didn’t cry long, but even after the tears
ended, she didn’t let go of him. By the time they separated, he could barely
keep himself from kissing her. Her lips were right there and the look in her
eyes was as much of a green light as any female had ever given him. Instead he
only ran his thumb over her cheek and wiped away a tear.

“Sara was my friend and she’s gone. I feel like
people want to forget her already.”

“Death makes people uncomfortable. Even though
it’s possible Sara is alive, no one knows how to find her. I heard Estelle
tried to do a locator spell for Monica because the witches liked her, but it
didn’t work. Since everyone feels like they can’t do anything and the
possibility of the girls being dead is upsetting, they choose to ignore the
problem. Just because they act like that doesn’t mean you have to.”

Gigi stared at him with her wet eyes and Anton
almost stepped back under her gaze, feeling unworthy somehow.

“I want to help Melanie because it gives me
something to do instead of sitting alone in my apartment and thinking about
Sara. If I just came in here and did nothing, I would get bored.”

Anton nodded with a slight smile. “You are always
welcome here.”

“Why?”

Smile gone, Anton again felt uneasy under her
gaze. “Because we enjoy having you around.”

Gigi nodded then reached for the files. “Melanie
says when she has her baby she’ll let me hold it. I’ve never held a baby before.”

“Better watch out, Gigi. It’ll start with you
holding the baby. Next thing you know she’ll start dropping the baby off at
your apartment for long periods of time. Pretty soon you’ll be her free
babysitter. Melanie’s sneaky that way.”

Gigi grinned. “I’ll be careful.”

Anton started to step aside and return to his
office, just needing a moment to shake off his desire for Gigi.

“You looked handsome in your suit,” she said,
filing again.

“I don’t really like wearing a tie.”

“Because it’s like a leash?”

Anton laughed when he remembered how Gigi thought
shifters were dogs. “Yes, something like that.”

Gigi was smiling brightly as she worked and he
was glad her mood had improved. Back in his office, Anton thought about how the
added patrols hadn’t kept Sara safe. He suspected they weren’t enough to keep
Gigi safe either.

Calling Silas, Anton offered his pack to act as
escorts for the girls to and from their shifts. Silas grumbled something about Declan
already offering the same thing, implying Anton was a day late and a dollar
short. The older Were knew his girls were being hunted though. No matter his
grumpy response, Silas was grateful for whatever help the Circle offered. Three
girls in as many weeks wasn’t a trend anyone wanted to continue.

Ella was humming behind Gigi as they walked up
the stairs to Michael’s apartment. The Were didn’t think Michael would let her
join the poker game, but Gigi knew Ella wanted to play. She seemed irritated by
how Sara was allowed to come, but she wasn’t. Sara was missing though and Gigi
needed people around to keep her from crying so much she fell asleep all the
time.

Michael didn’t answer his door, just grunted as
he watched a game. Even before Ella entered, he growled and pointed for the
door.

“Please?” Gigi said. “I get lonely since Sara
disappeared.”

Michael’s expression shifted and he rolled his
eyes. He didn’t feel sorry for Gigi as much as guilty for not finding Sara.
Finn said Michael returned to Sara’s apartment to look for clues, but he kept
coming up empty.

“Fine, but she keeps her mouth shut all night.”

“Fuck that,” Ella snapped as she joined him on
the couch. “Watcha watching, ding dong?”

“Get out.”

Ella leaned her head on his shoulder. “Gigi’s
sad. She’ll cry, Mikey. Cry all over you. Snot and tears and probably a little
bit of slobber too.”

Michael stared hard at the television and his
silence was all the answer they received. Gigi felt awkward with Michael
ignoring them and Ella talking about how she didn’t know anything about sports
except that guys who watched them were usually sexually repressed. By the time
Finn arrived, Gigi was happy to see him for a reason besides always being happy
to see him.

Gigi leaned against Finn, enjoying his scent, and
whispered. “I think it was a mistake to bring Ella.”

“Hey, I heard that.”

While Gigi frowned at Ella, Finn took her hand
and led her into the kitchen. “Weres have good hearing.”

“Oh,” Gigi said as she watched Finn get a drink
for them both. “Thank you for helping me the night Sara disappeared.”

Finn smiled softly, but he looked unhappy at the
mention of Sara’s name. Gigi thought about how safe she had felt with Finn that
night and how she hadn’t changed her sheets because his scent was still on
them. She needed him to be close with her again.

When they all sat down for a game, Gigi tried to
stay focused, but her mind was on males - Finn and Anton to be specific. Anton
was so gentle with her when she cried over Sara and his hug felt really good.
She even thought he might kiss her, but he didn’t. Finn was gentle too and
always looked ready to kiss her, but didn’t. Both males were beautiful and
gentle and seemed to like her, yet she was still alone. After losing Sara, the loneliness
hurt more.

“So, Michael, since Finn’s not gay, which is a
huge surprise by the way,” Ella said to Finn who rolled his eyes, “I’m thinking
maybe you’re the gay one in this relationship.”

“I do chicks.”

“Oh, really? Cause I never heard of you having
any girlfriends. Well except for Finn, of course.”

Finn laughed, but Michael just snorted. “I don’t
do girlfriends. There’s no one good enough for me.”

Ella balked. “You’re fucking kidding, right?”

Finn continued to laugh and Gigi covered her
mouth to hide her smile. Michael seemed irritated to be the center of
attention.

“Tell her,” Michael said to Finn.

When the younger Were stopped laughing, he
sighed. “Michael’s mother was a saint.”

“Perfection she was,” Michael added.

“So no one can live up to her,” Finn said. “There
was one female who he thought was his mom’s clone, but she turned out to be
less than perfection.”

“Nagging, cheating whore who cooked for shit, ate
all my Twinkies, and probably crapped on my floor. She blamed her dog, but I’m not
buying that little fluffball took such a huge dump.”

Finn laughed then nudged Ella. “Aren’t you glad
you asked?”

Ella nodded with a grin. “Yeah, oddly I am. I had
only suspected Mikey was nuts, but now it’s been confirmed.”

While Gigi laughed with the others, she was a bit
surprised by how Michael didn’t seem the slightest bit lonely. Finn was his
only friend. He tolerated Gigi and clearly disliked Ella. While he had been
fond of Sara, she was gone. Yet with so few friends in his life, Michael was content.
Gigi wished she might ask him how he could endure hours, even days alone, but
she knew he wouldn’t answer her.

Michael kept secrets, not because he was scared to
share them, but because his secrets were his fucking business. Gigi knew his
views on the subject because Michael once screamed this information at the
pizza delivery kid who promptly ran away and almost fell down the stairs. No,
Michael wasn’t going to share his secrets to a content life alone.

Gigi knew Dave had a wife, but he was a Were. Whenever
he looked at her, his eyes tended to miss her face and focus solely on her
boobs. This fact didn’t bother Gigi since on the pack floor, few males ever
made eye contact. The Alphas were good about never getting caught looking from
the neck down and a few of the other “whipped” married males behaved.

Gigi spent a lot of time being leered at, but Dave
was Declan’s right hand guy and he wasn’t supposed to leer at the boss’s object
of lust. Instead of just not leering, Dave acted like Gigi was always doing something
stupid.

“Stand outside and wait for me. Don’t try walking
off,” Dave growled after announcing he had to pee.

Gigi wasn’t sure why she had to wait outside. She
then noticed Vamps near the lobby entrance who were crotch dancing without
music. While Dave used the restroom, Gigi stepped outside and looked up at the
dark night.

Nighttime felt especially lonely without Sara and
Gigi often wondered if her friend was somewhere looking up at the same dark
sky. Her mind then wandered to Mamma Celeste. She remembered sitting on the
porch with her mamma and they would talk about the moon. Those memories were
soothing, even though they caused an ache in Gigi’s chest. She wanted her mamma
back, just as much as she wanted to find Sara.

A tingle in her hands distracted her from staring
at the moon and Gigi rubbed her palms against her jeans. Her hands had started
tingling towards the end of her shift and now they were almost painful.