The Waning Moon Read online

  I heard a car door open and shut, and after a bit more conversation, the man left. I sat up, stretched, and got dressed before heading out to find coffee.

  By the time I filled my mug, I was feeling uncharacteristically grumpy. Today seemed like a good day to stay in, curl up under a blanket—maybe not a blanket; it was already almost eighty degrees—drink cocoa, and watch geeky television.

  “What’s going on, Princess?” Isaac asked. “Is everything okay?”

  “I don’t wanna be a princess today,” I grumped. “I want to stay in and watch old Monty Python episodes in my pajamas.”

  “C’mon, today is the day we meet the local pack!”

  “Because that worked out the last couple of times.”

  Isaac stiffened, but didn’t give up on trying to jolly me out of my bad mood. “Joseph and Candace were not pack,” he said. I could hear the sharp edge in his voice and knew I was on thin ice. I grimaced. I hated mixed metaphors, even when they were only in my head.

  I turned up the corners of my mouth and took a drink of coffee. “Let’s go find some wolves!”

  “That was a valiant effort,” Florence said.

  “What’s wrong?” Isaac asked.

  “I don’t know. I feel out of sorts and bitchy. I don’t want to meet the pack. I don’t want to think about gates. I don’t want to worry about vampires and witches and werewolves, oh my. I want spiked cocoa, a misty greenish-gray morning, a blanket, and a BBC marathon.”

  “How did you sleep last night?” Florence asked.

  “Okay, why?”

  “You had some fairly intense dreams, and I wasn’t sure if they disturbed your sleep.”

  “You can see my dreams?” I was shocked and a little embarrassed. I’d had some spectacular dreams since meeting Isaac.

  “Only if they’re particularly intense. That’s one of the reasons I prefer to sleep alone.”

  “But if you’re in a hotel, don’t you get everyone’s dreams? How do you sleep?”

  “If there are a lot, it’s easier to tune them all out—like background noise. But if I’m close to someone, or in an isolated area, or both it’s harder to ignore. I usually don’t catch anything coherent.”

  I mulled that over while sipping my coffee. “I don’t remember anything particularly disturbing last night.”

  “You probably need a day off,” Florence said. “We could go shopping.”

  I looked at her, lowered my shields a smidge, and said with as much fake sincerity as I could muster, “That sounds delightful, Florence.” I hated shopping. From the evil glint in her eyes, she knew.

  “The pack Alpha probably has a television.” That was much better than shopping.

  “Okay. I’m still grumpy, though.”

  “What if we stop for breakfast on our way?” Isaac asked.

  Ahhh…the recipe for instant cheer. “Will there be eggs?”

  “And pancakes.”

  I beamed. “You’re the best, Isaac Walker.”

  “Because I know food is the way to a better mood?”

  “Even better—you know which foods. That’s the key.”

  After breakfast, we dropped Florence downtown for some mysterious errand she wouldn’t share. Everyone had too many secrets for my liking. It was almost enough to bring back my grumpiness. I practiced brooding in the passenger seat until Isaac flipped on the blinker and turned into a driveway. “We’re here.”

  Isaac stopped where the driveway ended. We got out of the car and he waited for me to take his arm before striding purposefully towards the door. I tripped over my feet and broke into a light jog to keep up.

  “Wait,” I said. Isaac paused, hand on the doorknob. “Shouldn’t we like, you know, knock?”

  “They know we’re here.”

  He opened the door, took my hand, and we walked in.

  The house opened up to a large, airy foyer. Two men stood in the middle of the space and nearly a dozen more ringed the edges of the room.

  Isaac and I approached the couple in the middle.

  “I am Isaac Walker, second in the Pacific Northwest pack. I am passing through your territory and request permission to stay in the area until after Samhain. I am not seeking new lands, nor am I interested in testing your dominance. I come to you on the recommendation of Rebecca Driver, newly instated Alpha of the Black Hills pack.” Isaac pulled me forward. “This is Eleanor Morgan, my mate.”

  I didn’t say anything as all eyes turned towards me.

  “She’s human,” someone whispered. The man found himself the center of attention. His cheeks flushed and then turned an ashy gray. If he’d been near an open doorway, he probably would’ve fled. For some reason, someone else’s gaffe cheered me up immensely.

  I turned back to the shifters in front of me.

  “I am Christopher Driver, Alpha of the Mississippi Valley pack. This is my mate Luis Rodriguez. You are welcome to visit our territory for as long as you wish. Please, consider our home your home and do us the honor of running with us at the full moon.”

  Christopher held out his hand to me. “It’s nice to meet you, Eleanor.” I shook his hand, and then exchanged shy smiles with Luis.

  “Thank you, Christopher. Your lands are beautiful, as is your mate. Anyone would be lucky to count you among their friends. I am honored to be welcomed and I look forward to spending the full moon with you.”

  The ceremony finished, the ring of shifters split up and left the room. I heard some good-natured teasing directed at the guy who’d interrupted the greeting to point out I was human to a room full of people who could smell another wolf a mile away.

  “I have one more request,” Isaac said once it was the four of us.

  “I’ll grant you almost anything if you’ll tell me how Rebecca is doing and give us the story of her ascension,” Christopher said.

  “As long as that pendejo she married is dead,” Luis added.

  “He’s dead. And I would love to tell you the tale.”

  “First, tell us the favor you’d like granted,” Christopher said.

  Isaac glanced at me and Christopher followed his gaze. He really looked at me for the first time—more than the cursory glance he’d given during the introductions. “You’re the world breaker.”

  I tried to shrink into myself, but that was not part of my magical repertoire. Then I remembered I was a queen—or at least that I could be.

  “Some have called me that.” I stood up, put some steel into my backbone, and looked him in the eye. “I will bring the magic back. I will restore the balance.”

  “You will break our world.”

  “It will not be broken; it will be changed.”

  “You opened a gate in the Black Hills, didn’t you? You caused that.”

  “Yes. The first gate was opened in Portland, the second on the Autumnal Equinox, and the third will be opened at Samhain.”

  “And the reason you’ll be in this region until then?”

  “The gate is here.”

  “You will destroy St. Louis.”

  I couldn’t really deny it. St. Louis would fall.

  “We’ll give you the knowledge to prepare, to protect yourselves and your pack, and to survive successfully after,” Isaac said.

  “Is it inevitable?” Christopher asked Isaac.

  Nice. Direct the question at the man, even though I was the one with the fancy world-breaking power. I didn’t give Isaac a chance to reply. “If I don’t open the gates in a controlled manner, they may implode and that would be much, much worse.”

  Christopher sighed. “I never thought I’d be around to see the world changed like this.”

  “Do you rescind your welcome?” Isaac asked.

  “No, of course he doesn’t,” Luis said. “Let us know what you need, and we’ll help.”

  “Will you perform the mate bond for us at the full moon?”

  “You would bond with a non-shifter?”

  “Yes.”

  “We would be happy to,” Luis sai
d. “Eleanor, if you have any questions about the ceremony at all, I’d be glad to help out. I’ve been through it.”

  “That would be nice.”

  “We will withdraw from your immediate territory now,” Isaac said. “But tomorrow, I would like to talk.”

  “Come over mid-morning. You and I can discuss the future and Luis can entertain Ms. Morgan.”

  “Are there any good running trails in the area you can recommend?” Isaac asked.

  “For two-legged running or four?”

  “Two.”

  Christopher gave a few recommendations with directions, then we took our leave and went back to the car.

  “That wasn’t terrible,” I said.

  “Could’ve gone worse,” Isaac agreed.

  “Why does everyone calls me the world breaker?”

  “Because of the prophecy, of course.”

  “It’s weird being the subject of so many prophecies,” I said. We were back on the highway and headed towards one of the running trails Christopher had recommended. “Not only do a lot of people seem to know more about me than I do, Florence popped out with another new prophecy a few days ago, too.”

  “She did? I don’t remember you telling me about it.”

  “I was going to, but then we were attacked by vamps, and then I killed Rasputin, and then...” I let my sentence trail off. “I kind of forgot.”

  “Tell me now.”

  “I don’t remember it exactly, but Florence wrote it down afterward. It was more specific than the one from when we first met. That one said I was going to be the instrument of destruction and salvation or something. And that I would experience loss. At the time, I thought it meant losing my friendship with Finn.”

  “And this one?” Isaac’s prompting interrupted my musings.

  “This one happened after we talked about the mating bond. I was talking to her about how I felt about my dragon. She suggested I talk to you about your link with your wolf. My shifting is probably different than yours, but since I don’t know any Fae shifters, I’m hoping you can help answer some questions.”

  “I can, of course, try to answer any questions you have. The prophecy?”

  “She said the easy days were over—which, since we’ve been attacked by witches and vampires since then has proven accurate. We haven’t been attacked by shifters yet, but apparently that’s coming. Yay!” I twirled my finger in the air. “She said we should complete the bond. The dragon and the wolf need to be united and my biggest loss will come before my final triumph.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Yes. A vampire will be the cause of my greatest sorrow and my greatest joy.”

  Isaac went still. I probably should’ve left out that last part.

  “What does Florence think it means?”

  “She only would talk about the first part—the part about being attacked by every supernatural that comes around. She really pushed for completing the mating bond, too. She’s explained that even if we’re moving fast, it’s the right decision.” I cringed internally hoping he wouldn’t ask how I felt about it.

  “You’ll still bond with me, even knowing a vampire is to be your greatest joy?”

  “Maybe I didn’t say it right,” I said. “I’ll need to ask Florence. But short answer is yes. Who am I to argue with the fates?” I didn’t reveal my private fear that he would be the great loss the prophecies talked about and that we might not have the rest of our unnaturally long lifespans to spend together.

  Isaac pulled into a makeshift parking lot at a trail head. I slipped into the back seat and changed into my running gear while Isaac changed on the other side of the car.

  “How far do you want to go?” He was clearly not ready to move on to regular conversation.

  “How hard do you want to work?” I asked.

  “Hard.” He locked the doors.

  “Let’s run an hour in at an easy pace and then return in less than forty-five minutes,” I said.

  “Done.” He took off before I could do anything. “Dammit.” I started my watch and took off after him.

  I never quite caught up to him, but I held my own. This was not an easy pace. When we hit the hour mark, I called ahead to let him know I was turning around. I didn’t get an answer. I turned around anyway and started back to the car, pushing the pace until I reached that place where everything was hard but I wanted to keep running forever. The trail was as challenging as anything I was used to in Portland, and although it wasn’t as pretty—I was biased towards the Pacific Northwest—it was reminiscent enough of the trail runs I did before everything changed that I was able to shed the stresses and worries of my new life and fall into the meditative rhythm of my feet.

  Running had always been my peaceful place. The place I went to relax, to work through whatever problems I was having, to get away from it all. It’d been a long time since I’d been alone on a trail—and even though Isaac was out there somewhere, he wasn’t close enough for me to hear.

  The knots in my shoulders loosened and my gait smoothed out. The ups and downs over the rutted single track no longer felt challenging. I felt like I was flying over the dirt. Now that I knew what it was like to fly, I was comfortable comparing the exhilaration of flying as a dragon to a trail runner’s high.

  I was smiling, arms and legs pumping, when something hit my right side and knocked me down. With the extra momentum from running, I tucked and rolled and came up into a crouch with a knife in each hand. There was a large wolf in front of me. Its teeth were bared, although its mouth was closed. The eyes were almost glowing a yellowish color, and its dark gray and brown coat blended well with the undergrowth.

  For a second I thought Isaac was fucking with me, and then I recalled the glimpses I’d had of him in his wolf form showed a much lighter coat. Saliva dripped from the teeth of the wolf in front of me.

  I crouched down lower, trying to get my head below the wolf’s head without losing my feet. I thought maybe showing it I recognized its dominance would help. When it kept growling that low, disturbing rumble in its throat, I decided that was a losing proposition. I really didn’t want it to feel superior to me, anyway.

  “What do you want?” I asked. I slid the knife in my left hand back into the wrist sheath on my right wrist and then grabbed two more knives from the sheaths on my thighs. I returned the knife in my right hand to a wrist sheath. Rearmed with the silver throwing knives Isaac had given me, I slowly stood.

  The wolf took a couple of steps backward before catching itself and moving forward, growling even more aggressively. I was definitely winning this dominance contest.

  “I don’t have time for this shit. Either tell me what you want or bugger off.”

  The wolf’s mouth opened and its tongue lolled out. A second later, I recognized it as a doggy grin. My stomach tightened. Soft, almost imperceptible footsteps padded behind me. I shifted my position to keep the wolf in my view and get a glimpse of what was coming. Three more wolves flanked me.

  Fuck. I shouldn’t have said we hadn’t been attacked my shifters yet. This is all my fault.

  Figuring I had little to lose by startling the wolves at this point, I took a deep breath and yelled, “Isaac!”

  I didn’t want to back up in case they misinterpreted it as submission. I met each wolf’s eyes and then moved until my back was against a tree. There wasn’t a lot of room in the clearing, but there was enough for me to shift. I’d be vulnerable for a few moments, so I’d need to take out a couple of my current opponents first, but once I shifted, they were toast.

  I readied my knives and eyed my opposition closely. They formed a half circle and slowly closed in on me. My knife-throwing skills—while not terrible—were not such that I could count on kill shots.

  I picked my first two targets: the wolf flanking me on the right and the one immediately to its left. I threw the first knife and without even checking to see if and where it hit, I threw the second. I grabbed the other two silver knives out of my thigh sheaths
and threw them at the remaining two wolves. I scoped out the enemy and prepared to shift. I’d scored four hits, but only the first one appeared lethal. I’d gotten the first right in the throat and it looked like that wolf had already bled out. I must have hit the carotid and the silver kept it from healing fast enough.

  The other three wolves I’d hit in the general chest region, but not anyplace useful. They were already getting up and shaking off the effects. They’d probably be a bit slower than before—especially the two that still had the knives stuck in them—but that wasn’t going to be terribly slow.

  I considered my options. If I was going to shift, I needed to do it now. I would be vulnerable as I changed. I’d have to kill them all. I didn’t want my enemies to know I could turn into a dragon.

  I dropped my steel knives into my hands and flipped them over to grasp the blades. I winced when my bare skin came into contact with the iron-threaded material. My sensitivity was definitely getting worse. I readied the knives, threw them, one at a time, at the two wolves who looked like they were recovering fastest and began the change. I formed the image of the dragon in my mind and pushed my essence into the picture, willing myself to hurry.

  By the time I was stretching my wings out and regretting not having taken the time to strip off my running clothes, all three wolves were on their feet and charging. I didn’t want to start a forest fire, and this place was the crackly dry of late autumn, so I held off on breathing fire at my attackers and went for brute force. I reared onto my hind legs and pulled my wings in close. I grabbed one wolf in each of my massive claws and the third with my teeth. I hadn’t meant to bite as hard as I did. I’d wanted to hold it still while I disposed of the others, but I hadn’t had a lot of practice doing that and misjudged. I’d cut the wolf nearly in half by the time I released it back to the ground. I was gagging on the taste of his blood—I like a rare steak as much as the next person, but raw werewolf was rank.

  The other two wolves shook in my grasp and one let go of its bladder. Killing shifters was gross. I’d much rather kill vampires: minimal blood, a lot of dust, and, with the exception of Grigori, easy body disposal. A vacuum and a garbage bag, and before you can say “ashes to ashes” you’ve cleaned up your crime scene.