A Werewolf's Moon (The Council) (16 page)

I woke up to bright, warm light filtering through the windows next to the bed. The tall buildings around afforded me no view of the sky, but I knew it would be a beautiful blue with puffy clouds. I lifted my head, thinking I’d get a better glimpse, but warm breath brushed my cheek and I looked down. I was in Quinn’s bed…lying on top of him.
He was stretched out beneath me, his face relaxed and serene. One of his arms flung over his head, while the other held me close.

I propped my chin in my hand to study his face. The scar, hideous and unsettling as it was, I coul
d never imagine him without it.

Very slowly, I reached out the tip of my finger to touch it, trace the jagged line down the side of his face. A wolfish growl slipped from between his lips, sending my heart slamming into my ribs.

What
if he didn’t realize it was me?

No he had to know. He was always so alert, and I didn’t get the feeling he was as deeply asleep as he appeared to be. So I traced the line again, and he growled, lower, it was almost a rumble of approval. He had to be awake to do that.

“How did this happen?” I asked softly, just curious.

He didn’t open his eyes, “I was a stupid kid.”

I frowned, “Come on, I really want to know.”

“I got in a fight.”

“How come it didn’t heal?”

“I was too young, only ten. The other kid was a werewolf too. He was a couple years older, knew about the effects of silver. He knew it would leave a mark.”

My throat went tight; someone had deliberately done this to him? “So he brought something silver with him, planning to disfigure part of you?”

“Yeah, it was a pen.”

I gasped, and his eyes flashed open. “Like a pen you’d write with?”

“Yup, silver plated.”

“But why would someone do that to you?”

“I got picked on because I was the prince. He called me a runt, and then I insulted his mother. We decided to settle it after school like the big kids.”

“But he fought dirty?”

“I didn’t see it coming, and I was beating his ass too. He only brought out the pen when he realized he was losi
ng to the scrawny kid.”

I looked him up and down, trying to imagine my werewolf as a scrawny kid. “You know, I just don’t see it.”

“Yeah, I shot up once I hit my teens.” He tugged on a lock of my hair and brought me closer. “Unfortunately, I haven’t got any scars from gang fights.”

“Oh,” I felt my face go pink. “I can’t believe she said that!”

“Yeah, your mom is a trip. I’m going to go for a run.
Wanna
come?”

“Eh, no.
But you have fun.” I felt too weak to go running. My change was close, and I’d put that out of my mind this morning.

“What?”

“Nothing,” I glanced away, pulling back.

“
Pepper
, you will be fine.” He rubbed his nose against mine.

“I-I’m just a little nervous. My dad will want to see me. What if I can’t see him?”

“We’ll figure it out. If you have to call him and tell him you can’t make it till tomorrow, you will.”

I nodded, “Yeah, okay. I can make up some sort of excuse.”

He pushed up from the bed and went into the bathroom.

“Going for your run?” I asked, hating the feeling of the space increasing between us. I had a major human crush on him, the biggest one ever. That was for sure. I wasn’t in love. It was too soon for that. But I liked Quinn
more than anyone I’d ever met.

“Yeah,”

“Okay,” I mumbled, watching him grab his sneakers and head for the door.

“
Pepper
,”

“Hmm?”

“It’ll be okay,” he smiled.

With a nod and a heavy sigh, I headed for the shower, hoping he was right.

I didn’t bother packing. Quinn could just phase back to his place and get my things later. We wanted to beat my dad to the house. As soon as I was ready, it took me extra time since I felt like I was going in slow motion, we phased into my living room.

It looked exactly the same. The backdoor was just like as it always had been, even down to the little chips of paint missing around the window. My dad would never know that it had been demolished. He would never know that Quinn had his men replace it with a very convincing replica.

“You guys could go into the design and staging business,” I glanced around, noting the glass that had shattered and covered the floor was gone too. “Who cleaned?”

“The crew,” he sat on the couch and reached for the remote. “When does your dad get in?”

“He texted me while you were running. He should be home by noon.” I let out a breath and sank back onto the couch. “I’m beat.”

“Take a nap. I’ll wake you up when he gets close.”

My eyebrows went up at his offer. “You’ll hear him coming?”

“Smell him too.”

“And what will you do for an hour?”

“TV,” he smiled. “I’m going to call Dmitri…I’ll be occupied.”

At his insistence I kicked off my shoes and hunkered down into the pillows. I listed to the TV, to his rumbling laugh as he spoke to Dmitri on the phone. My eyes fluttered closed, and I slipped into a peaceful sleep
.

Chapter 17

Quinn

“Hey,” I closed the backdoor quietly so I didn’t wake up
Pepper
and moved across the porch to Dmitri and Zane. They’d phased in when Dmitri said the Council wanted to have a quick meeting. Zane would keep an eye on things while I was gone. “How’s it going?”

Zane shrugged, smiling. “It’s going. I just left Venna and
Henry
. They are making me sick with all the lovey shit. Flora decided to stay with her brother for a couple days, so now I’m looking for someone else to annoy.”

“Hey, don’t annoy
Pepper
. She doesn’t feel good. If she wakes up before I’m back, don’t let her go anywhere. Call me.” I gave Zane a serious look before phasing with Dmitri to North Dakota. The Council Headquarters was a massive compound miles away from humans and prying eyes. We could act naturally within the property, knowing that it was a safe haven for us.

Of course, a few month
s
ago it’d been under attack by the Resistance. Craven’s followers had done a number on the outside. A devastating fire had demolished the gardens. Half the walls around the property were crumbling. The outside looked as if a tornado had gone through, but the inside remained intact. Our enemies had been beaten back and defeated, for now. I knew they’d try again. Some asshole would pick up where Craven left off and try to boot the Council out of power.

We phased into a long marble hallway and walked the length of it. The door at the end was open, and voices carried out of
the
dark interior. For the most part, everyone sounded relatively cheery. So this wasn’t one of those meetings I had to worry about, and I was sure it would be over soon.

“Ah, they are here,” The king of the Vampires, Vladislav, clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

We took our respective seats around the table. I sat next to my father, King Andrew. My mother was absent, along with the rest of the women. They didn’t come to meetings usually, though they were more than welcome to.
Henry
had brought Venna with him. I figured this was because she was new to the Council. I’d give her a few hundred years, and she’d be hanging back like the rest of them. They probably had their own meeting of sorts, and it was probably to talk about all of us.

“Hey Quinn,” Venna was seated across from me. “How’s
Pepper
doing?”

I glanced sideways at my father, hoping he didn’t overhear and figure things out before I had the chance to tell him. “Oh, she’s good.”

I glared, mouth
ing
something to stop her, but Venna didn’t take the hint. “And I still can’t believe you turned my best friend into a werewolf.”

The room went silent.

All eyes were on me.

Venna sank down in her seat, smiling sheepishly. “I mean…whoops.”

Henry
laughed. “It’s alright.”

There was a hard glare on my right, and I turned to meet the gold eyes of my father. He looked more perturbed than the rest of the group, who were more surprised and intrigued. “You turned a human?”

I nodded. “Not on purpose.”

“Oh,” he said. “So it was on accident. How do you accidently turn a human?
Hmm?”

Several chairs scraped the floor and suddenly everyone vanished from their places at the table. Green, blue, white, and grey lights flashed as they phased out. I was left alone with my father to give him an explanation.

Hell, it would have to happen sooner or later. I did want to tell him, but I’d hoped to do it without the rest of the Council as witnesses.

“Quinn, we had this problem with your mother’s creator, if you don’t recall.” My mother and her brother had been human. They were dying of the plague when they were turned. The werewolf who did it was on the crazy side, trying to save people who didn’t need saving. We were forbidden to intervene when fate was involved. We couldn’t save people just to save them. But he did. And while valiant and selfless his acts seemed to others, humans started to question how men came back from the brink of death, returning to perfect health when hours before they’d been at deaths door.

People began to notice. Eventually the Council stepped in. Though he was grateful to have my mother, and even thanked the werewolf for saving her life, my father still had to exile the man for his actions. And when he didn’t comply, he was imprisoned.

“We cannot risk being found out.” My father frowned. “Quinn, I know you would never do anything to put us in jeopardy, but we must make sure the girl you turn understands our laws and is kept silent.”

My dad was a
hardass
.
Most of the time he had a grimace on his face.
Pepper
would call him a grouchy werewolf, and I wasn’t that much different from him. But I liked to think I was more sociable with a better sense of humor that I got from my mother.

“Dad,
Pepper
isn’t just some girl I turned on accident. She’s my mate.”

He ran a hand through his dark hair and leaned on the table. “Quinn, are you sure? You’ve only got one shot. You don’t have to say that to make up for turning her.”

“I couldn’t sleep after I met her. Everything changed. It was like my life changed and I began living for her. Not for me, not for my family. The only thing that mattered to me was her. It feels crazy. It sounds crazy. But I…I love her.”

Holy shit.

I did.

“I love
Pepper
.” I smiled wide. “She’s just the right person for me.”

My dad hugged me, thwacking my back. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, dad.”
I hugged him back. “She also has a father who works for the Navy. He’s a Captain.”

He really was interested now, “Really?”

“And she wants to tell him what’s happened to her.” He started to object but I stopped him. “Just hear me out. She’s all he has. He’s all she has. I can’t take
Pepper
away from her father. It would kill her.”

“His memory will be wiped if he cannot keep our secrets. He works for the Government. He could hurt us.” I could see the wheels going in his head. He was worried, but if we could make this work, having a government contact was an asset we wouldn’t soon pass up. My dad was known for keeping people he liked around, and taking very good care of them. If
Pepper
’s father impressed mine, he could find himself in a very comfortable position. It’d happened before. Hell, the
captain
might even find my father offering to turn him at some point to keep a trustworthy man that
knew the inner workings of the N
avy in our company. “This could work out for all
of us, in more ways than one.”

I knew it. “Great.”

“Let me know if you need any help.”

“I
will,
thanks.” I said. “So what was this meeting about?”

“Oh,” he waved his hand.
“Nothing special.
Just throwing around the idea of moving the compound.
There was so much attention drawn to us that some of the humans have come onto our property to investigate.
Yesterday it was a sheriff. No
telling who will come next.”

I liked North Dakota, but I wouldn’t mind where we went.
“Any ideas?”

“Well, Vladislav suggested we buy a resort.”

If I didn’t have super hearing, I would have asked him to repeat that. “What? Does he want to rent out rooms too?”

“No. It’s an island.
Remote and very exotic.
A big change from what we’re used to. I like the idea. All these cars and technology make it hard for us to hide.”