Charity Moon (17 page)

“Yes, but once I’m cracked, I’m worth all the effort.”

“You really shouldn’t talk like that to me.”

“Oh please, you don’t scare me. Not in this form anyway.”

He laughed. “You don’t have to be scared of me in my wolf form either. I won’t hurt you.”

“Well, you almost did in the forest, remember?”

“I lost control, yes—but I wouldn’t have hurt you, Charity. You ran remember? Besides, I’m not some mindless monster. Okay, technically I am a monster, but I’m not mindless. I love you too much to ever hurt you.”

“Okay, I believe you, but I still don’t want to see you like that, and I want you to promise me you’ll never try to heal me either.”

“Fine, I promise. Unless you ask me to I won’t try to heal you.”

“Good. Thank you.” I knew I was acting childish, but didn’t really care.

“Wow, Levi, this is a pretty house,” I acknowledged as we pulled into the driveway.

“Thank you. I have some good memories in this home. I came here often as a child with my parents.”

Levi got out of the car and came around and opened my door for me. As we walked to the front door of the house I asked, “So, if you and Wesley don’t have jobs, how is it that you both have such nice cars?”

“Well, hopefully you won’t think this is weird, but all of the pack members who live at the Drake House, which is what we call our facility, combine their resources in order to support our way of life.” He opened the door and we stepped inside. “For example, Doc makes good money at the Windrake Clinic. He puts fifty percent of his earnings into the Drake House fund and keeps the other half to use as he pleases, to buy nice cars or other houses in town, etc. But all of his needs are taken care of at the facility. Everyone else does the same. We have people assigned to the funds, and they take care of the food and supplies. The people who don’t work offer their services in other ways. We have our own carpenters, lawyers, accountants, plumbers and electricians. We even have a professional chef. Everyone sort of does their part.”

“Actually, that doesn’t sound so weird. It makes more sense than anything else you’ve told me. But you still haven’t exactly answered my question.”

He took me through the entryway and led me into the den. The house was decorated very modestly and simply, but still had a cozy feeling about it. I shivered.

“Are you cold?”

“Just a little chilly.”

“Have a seat on the sofa while I’ll make us a fire.”

“That would be great.”

“But, to answer your question, that’s the weird part,” he said as he piled the logs into place. “The alpha doesn’t work. All of his, and his immediate family’s needs are met completely. All he has to do is lead the pack and oversee the facility. Wesley and I will never have a normal paying job.”

“Wow, that is a little weird, but it makes perfect sense to me. I mean you have the full responsibility of the pack on your shoulders. In order for the pack to run smoothly you have to always be on your game. If you worked a normal job and then had to come home and run the facility, and all that entails, the pack would suffer, and so would its alpha.”

“I know you’re right, but I’ve always felt weird about it. Even when I was a small child and they were grooming me for this position, I still felt weird about it. I guess I’m just sensitive, but I believe that’s another one of the qualities you require.” He smiled at me, wiggling his eyebrows up and down, causing me to laugh. “But about the cars, my parents bought my car as a present when I became alpha. I’ve always loved Mustangs. Wesley, on the other hand, bought his Corvette with the pack’s funds.”  

“Can he do that?”

“Yes. The alpha can use the pack’s funds for whatever he chooses. No one ever questions it. We have lots of money available to us. I said the pack members were required to give fifty percent back to the pack, but a lot of them give it all. Think about it, if all of your needs are met, what do you need money for? I mean they keep some out to have fun, of course. But it’s always been that way, so our money has accumulated over the years. We have vaults we keep it in. And we have our accountants manage it for us. Oh, and did you know we even have our own medical clinic?”

“Really?”

“Well, it would be hard for a werewolf to go to a regular hospital, for one thing, we heal fast so that would be hard to explain, and second, the cells in our blood are slightly different. The women even have their babies there.”

“Maybe I can work there someday, once I pass all my classes, that is. Is it against the rules for your mate to work?”

“I don’t think so. My grandmother didn’t work, and I’m sure the others before her didn’t, but times are different now. The only concern would be that, unless you work at our facility, I couldn’t protect you when you’re at work. If my enemies wanted to get to me they might try to get to you. I would always have to have someone watching you. Actually, I’m looking for someone to do that anyway.”

The word ‘enemies’ caught my attention and I swallowed hard. “Enemies?” I asked nervously, coming to sit down on the carpet in front of the fire.

“Vampires are our only real enemy. It’s possible the vampires might want to take out the alphas. They succeeded with my grandfather.”

I gasped. “And how would a vampire go about killing me?”

“Well, they could drain you, of course, but if they really wanted to hurt me they would turn you into one of them. Then I would be forced to kill you myself. But they would most likely rip your throat out like they did my grandfather. That seems to be their favorite. That, or snapping your neck.”

“Gee, I feel much better now. This career choice of mine just keeps getting better and better. So, let me just recap. I’ll be risking my life and reputation on a pack I don’t know for a husband who not only is a werewolf but who might possibly have to pick another bride someday, and in the end may die and pass me off to another werewolf to do with me as he pleases for the rest of my life. Did I miss anything?”

“Gosh, Charity, you make it sound so awful.”

“It is awful, Levi. Remind me why I’m doing this again.” A feeling of despair began to pour over every inch of me.

“Okay.” As if sensing my distress, he came over and sat with me, cupping my face in his hands and pressing his lips gently to mine. Our lips parted and the kiss deepened. After a minute he pulled away and began trailing kisses down my neck.

“Oh, now I remember,” I breathed.

I pushed him back and looked intently into his eyes as tears filled my own. “I’m scared, Levi. I’m really scared.”

He pulled me into his arms. “I know, baby. I’m so selfish. I should’ve never asked this of you. Tell me what to do? We can postpone the wedding to give you more time to adjust. We’ll figure out a way to keep you safe.”

“No, no, I’ll be fine. We need to do this fast for the pack. I’m just a little overwhelmed. I’m scared to do this, but I’m even more scared not to.”

“I’m sorry. I wish I could change things, but it’s too late for me. I would die without you. You see my heart is connected with yours now.”

I looked up at him in astonishment. “What?”

“My dad told me this once. He said it’s rare, but it has happened when a werewolf finds his soul mate and their hearts connect somehow, not literally of course, but if one dies, the other will soon follow. It happened with my grandmother. The reason we think it doesn’t happen often is because so many werewolves pick other pack members out of convenience and not always for love. They grow to love each other, but it’s not fate like with us.”

“How do you know it’s happened to you?”

“Well, for one thing, because I can feel it. When I’m away from you my heart hurts, not just like someone in love, but something deeper, more severe. Just the idea of taking you home tonight is torturing me.” He paused. “And for another—” He gently took my left hand in his and turned it over. There—on the palm of my hand, was a tiny blue line that was forming before my eyes. It almost looked like a vein.

I gasped. “ Levi, what does this mean?”

He turned his right palm toward me, exposing the same mark already formed in the exact place as mine.

“This mark is a symbol of our connection. Mine started forming the first day I met you, but I couldn’t tell anybody, and I wasn’t sure what it meant at first.”

“Why is mine just now forming? Why not at the same time as yours?”

“They say that the female’s doesn’t start forming until the connection is acknowledged and accepted. I guess you just accepted it, whether you knew it or not.”

“Hmm. What will it be? Will it ever stop growing?”

“It will grow slowly for the length of our life together. We won’t know what design it will form for years to come. But if one of us dies, or the connection is broken for any reason, the other’s mark will slowly turn black, and soon after we will die. This is why I didn’t really stress too much over the pack accepting you as my mate. Because it was either accept you or lose me. I felt like I knew the choice they would make, and they made it without even knowing about our heart connection.”

“Well, I guess it’s too late to call off the wedding, huh?”

He laughed. “No. It’s not too late. But once we’re mated and you carry my scent—then it’s binding.” He took my hand in his and turned the intensity of his gaze on me. “But I don’t think I could live without you now, and I’ll do anything to protect you. It’s my fault that you’re in danger. Wesley wants you because I want you. It’s a competition to him. I’m sorry, Charity. If only I could’ve kept my feelings for you hidden from Wesley that night at the football game, but I was struggling with my emotions that night. And when he came near you I just wanted to snap him in half. I’m really sorry. I wish it were different.”

“Don’t say that,” I said, touching my fingers to his lips. “I’m glad I’m with you. At first, I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to love you, but I couldn’t deny it for long. I love you so much, Levi, and I do accept you and your mark—forever, or for however much time we have together. And I do want to be your wife, really I do. It’s just that all of this is happening so fast, but I’m sure I can handle it.”

“I know you can.” He smiled a reassuring smile as he slid his hand into my hair, leaning in and kissing me gently on the lips. “Would you like to hear a good story to cheer you up?”

“Oh—a story? Do you know one?”

“Are you kidding me? I know lots of stories, and they’re all true.”

“You know, I think a story is exactly what I need to hear.”

“Good. Well, I’m not exactly the first alpha to have fallen in love with a human girl. Though it’s rare, our history books tell us of at least one other instance. There was once a great alpha, one so great that legends have been written about him. His name was Micah, and he was one of my greatest ancestors. He lived many centuries ago, in England. This took place before our law against our alphas choosing a human bride. I guess it never occurred to us before then that an alpha would fall in love with a human, but that’s what Micah did. He was very brave and honest and that honesty almost cost him the love of his life.

“One night the pack was routinely patrolling the forest when they came upon a group of orc-like creatures who had kidnapped a beautiful, young maiden.”

“Wait,” I interrupted, “didn’t you say this was a true story?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Well how can there be orc-like creatures? That’s stuff of fantasy, isn’t it?”

 “Yes, and so am I if you remember.”

“Oh, right. Continue.”

“Thanks. Well—”

“Wait!” I said, grabbing his arm. “Are there still creatures like that today?”

He laughed. “Not here in America. Over the years the werewolves have destroyed most of them. I wish I could say the same for other fairytale creatures, but no worries—I’ll protect you.”

I was suddenly sure I didn’t want to know what fairytale creatures he was referring to.

“Now can I get back to my story?”

“Oh, yes of course.”

“Thanks. Well the orc-like creatures began to argue amongst themselves about killing the girl and eating her flesh, but the one in charge insisted that she was to arrive unharmed or their master would be very angry. When it looked as if he was about to lose his argument the pack shifted into their wolf forms and attacked the creatures, destroying them all. They took the girl to their underground facility where she explained that she was the niece of the King of a nearby kingdom and had been kidnapped as a means of leverage against the King. Her name was Mia, and she was so beautiful that Micah instantly fell deeply in love with her. He was twenty years old, at the time.