Charity Moon (29 page)

“No way. We’re a team now remember? Even top-secret-werewolf-stuff. I’m coming with you. Put it this way—if you try to stop me you better install heat in your doghouse.”

He sighed in defeat. “Okay then hurry up.”

I smiled and got dressed quickly, grabbing a handful of my hair and braiding a loose braid over my left shoulder as we scurried out the door.

“What did you find out, Father?” Levi asked as we entered his office.

“Well, Selena is the alpha female of a pack named the Domingo pack. The alpha, Jessie Domingo, and the rest of the pack were reportedly slaughtered by a coven of vampires. Rumor has it that the Western Carolina Coven, led by the infamous Raven Vanderberg, is seeking to avenge the destruction of a coven ten years ago.

“Could that be the coven that your pack, along with the east pack destroyed?” I asked.

“Yes, it most likely is,” said Joseph, putting his hand on my shoulder as a reassuring gesture. “But I just don’t get how six women could escape such a powerful coven.”

“Well, maybe Raven allowed them to escape as a warning to us,” Levi added.

“But that’s not how the vampires operate. They like surprise, since the werewolves outnumber them, it’s the only way they can count on an advantage. And this Raven is not one to ever show mercy.”

“I have an idea,” I piped in, “maybe this woman isn’t really Selena at all. I mean do we really have a way of knowing that she is who she says she is?”

  “You’ve got a point, Charity,” Joseph said, “I can’t sense her lying, so if she is she’s quite skilled at it. All we can do right now is keep a close eye on her. If she asks you, Levi, about joining us again, just delay her until we can determine her motives.”

“But Joseph, what if we can’t prove she’s wrong? What then?”

“Well, we might just have to take them into our family.”

“No we can’t! That would mean she would become Levi’s second wife!”

“Charity, just because she becomes my wife in name doesn’t mean I have to have a relationship with her.”

“Levi, I know you’re trying to help—but don’t.”

He smirked. “You’re so adorable when you’re jealous.”

“Need I remind you of what almost happened to you the last time you made me jealous.”

“Well actually, you never told me.”

“And trust me, it’s better that way.”

“I’m going to go talk to her, see if I can get any information about the coven from her, and also see if I can detect her lying.” He turned to leave—with me so tight on his heels that I stumbled into him when he stopped unexpectedly.

“A little room please,” he barked in mock agitation.

“Not on your bloody life. And I mean that literally.”

By the smirk on his face he was definitely enjoying my discomfort.

“Hello, Selena,” Levi greeted her as we entered the dining room. Though most everyone had cleared out, she and her friends still remained.

“Oh hello, Levi. It’s so nice to see you again so soon.”

“If you don’t mind I have a few questions for you.”

“Of course not,” she responded, eyeing me curiously, “but does your wife have to be here? She makes me nervous.”

“Oh, you have good reason to be nervous,” I chided.

“Charity,” Levi snapped.

“Fine,” I said in surrender, feeling like a reprimanded child.

“Yes, I’m afraid she does have to be here. But I’m just curious, when you told me about your husband’s death, you didn’t seem all that upset—why?”

She excused the other girls to leave. When they were gone from the room she answered, “You see, it was our wedding night, and we weren’t in love. He was killed before we could consummate. So I guess that’s another plus if you take us in.” She smirked at me.

“No she didn’t,” I said boldly, standing up. In my peripheral, I noticed Hector stepping closer.

“Charity, I’ll handle this,” Levi demanded.

“Well, you don’t seem to be doing such a great job,” I retorted as I sat back down, crossing my arms angrily over my chest.

“Levi, if I may say so, you don’t deserve this petulance. I would be very obedient to you, obeying every order. This one, on the other hand, seems to have a problem submitting to your authority.”

“Oh yeah, well your face is about to submit to my fist!” I jumped up and rushed at her.

“Hector!” Levi called.

Hector’s giant hands clamped down on me as he lifted me off my feet, flinging me over his shoulder with no effort at all.

“Take her to our room, and keep her there,” Levi demanded.

“No! Hector put me down! Levi! Tell him to put me down! No! Selena, or whoever you are, you might have the werewolves fooled, but you don’t fool me! I’m a human, and I’m onto you! Levi you’re in deep dung! Don’t agree to anything, Levi! Levi!” I kicked and screamed as Hector carried me down the hall.

“I apologize for my wife’s behavior. She gets a little worked up sometimes.”

“I heard that! Werewolves aren’t the only ones around here with good hearing! Levi, I’m gonna kick your canine butt! You’re in the doghouse, Mister! Do you hear me?!” I felt Hector laugh under me. “What? If I could, I’d kick your canine butt right now too! Don’t sleep tonight is all I’m gonna say.”

Hector took me in my room and dumped me on the bed. He studied me and recognized tears. “Mrs. Charity, why are you crying? Are you going to let that little girl upset you like that?”

“She’s trying to steal my husband, Hector. And in case you haven’t noticed, she seems to have the upper hand. Look where she is, and look where I am. Not to mention she’s beautiful, and on top of that, it appears she’s playing the virgin card. She’s trying to entice him with all that obedient bull. And for your information, I am
not
disobedient to his authority.”

“I beg your pardon, Mrs. Charity, but yes you are.”

“Oh shut up. Who asked you anyway?”

“Mrs. Charity, you don’t have to worry about this woman and Levi. He loves you, and you are much more beautiful than she is.”

“Do you really think so, Hector?”

“Absolutely.”

“Hector, listen to me, something’s wrong here. No one seems to believe me, or maybe they don’t see it, but six of them show up here and there are six of Levi’s elite, counting him
.
And they’re all widows, how convenient. She’s trying to worm her way into his bed, and I’ll kill her first. But the problem is, until after graduation, I’m not going to be here except on weekends. What if she tries something while I’m gone?” I cried.

“Mrs. Charity, I’ll be here. I’ll watch over this Selena while you’re gone. And I believe you.”

I looked up at him and my heart warmed. “Hector, thank you. I take back what I said, you can sleep tonight.”

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Charity. Now, I’m going to stand outside of your door, but please don’t cry. Everything’s going to be fine.”

But when he left, I did cry. Actually, I cried a lot. I felt shafted. And as much as I hated to admit it, at that moment, it looked like Selena had the upper hand. In my anger, I rolled over and punched my pillow once—twice. But before I could lose all hope I felt two warm arms wrap around me. I turned and embraced him tightly, crying into his chest. All of my anger dissolved instantly. All I wanted was to feel him against me, reassuring me that he loved me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he whispered in my hair. “I just didn’t want you to beat her up until I got the answers I needed.”

I pulled back and glared up into his smiling eyes. “You’re teasing me aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” he laughed.

I hit him in the chest and turned around facing the opposite direction. “Now I remember why I’m mad at you.”

“Come on, Charity. You know I can’t resist you when you’re so adorably jealous like this. You’re like a riled up little kitten. My sweet kitten,” he whispered as he pulled my hair to the side and kissed my ear, my jaw, then my neck. “I love you so much,” he murmured against my skin. He leaned across me and gently forced a kiss to my lips. And like a fool, I eagerly pulled him against me and kissed him deeply.
Oh well,
I thought
. I’m sure I’ll remember my anger tomorrow.

I turned as I woke to see Levi lying on his side staring at me, his head resting in his hand. “Good morning, lover.” He smiled.

“You think you’re so smart trying to get out of my wrath last night. Well, that only worked temporarily.”

“Oh kitten, I didn’t escape your wrath last night, and thanks for sharing my doghouse with me.”

“So you think this is funny? Some Lassie wannabe’s trying to worm her way into
my
bed with
my
husband, secure her place in
my
pack and you think I’m going to take this lying down?” 

“No, but I know of something you
can
do lying down,” he said, towering over me, his purple eyes dancing in amusement.

“Okay puppy, but we’re coming back to this later.”

“Yes ma’am. Whatever you say.”

Okay, so I never got around to being angry with him like I planned. He found a weakness in my armor, but I stayed close to him all day. He knew what I was doing, but to tell you the truth, I think he liked it.

When Sunday arrived, and I finally had to go home, Hector promised he would keep his eye on her, and that thought gave me some comfort.

  Levi had been staying at my house every night during the week, admitting it was too painful to stay away, but had said he couldn’t while Selena was around. If she was up to something, it wasn’t the time for him to be away from the pack. I felt so helpless. If I could just figure out what she was up to and stop her. I couldn’t face the idea that she was telling the truth. That would make her Levi’s second wife and my nemesis. Then she would definitely have to sleep with one eye open, that or I might have to slip some Wolfsbane juice in her drink.
Hmm.

I called Ashley when I got home and filled her in on everything. She didn’t like the idea of one of the women warming up to Josh either. So we formed a plan. Ash would go after school to see Josh and work on their papers. She would secretly spy on Selena and her friends and report back to me. I reluctantly agreed to stay away to give Selena the freedom to do whatever it was she was planning. We determined that if I were there, she would remain cautious.

Monday night I was in my room doing research on my computer when suddenly it froze. I pressed several buttons and moved the mouse around, but nothing happened. “This is why I hate technology! You never hear of text books freezing up now do ya!” I yelled, throwing my pen across the room.

Levi caught it as he came in through my window, surprising me. “Here, let me,” he said, amused, sitting my pen down on my desk and hitting a few buttons, fixing it instantly. “See, you have to be gentle, first of all.”

“Stinkin’ computer. I should’ve expected it to like you better,” I huffed, walking over to my door and shutting it. “Levi, what’s wrong? I thought you couldn’t—” His lips were on mine instantly, barely giving me a chance to breathe, moving eagerly, even painfully against mine. I almost lost all sense of coherency right then and there until he pulled back and spoke. 

“Charity, it’s killing me to stay away from you.”

“Oh puppy.” I pulled him closer and kissed him again. “I miss you too. This is driving me crazy. How do you think I feel knowing she’s there while I’m stuck here? Promise me you won’t be with her.”

His eyes widened. “Okay, stop. You know I couldn’t be with anybody but you. It’s not possible.”

“Promise.”

“I promise,” he breathed, kissing me again, this time giving in fully to his feelings. “I promise.” Then we fell down together onto the bed, losing ourselves to the moment.

When I arrived home from school the following afternoon Hector was in my room waiting for me.