Omega Moon Rising (Toke Lobo & The Pack) (21 page)

“Yuck.” Libby said. “I can’t eat it, either.”

Luke laughed. “Okay. How about a steak? You can get yours as cooked as you like and I can have mine extra rare. Think about it. Now out with you, or we’re all going to be late for our appointments.”

“Don’t want to see no doctor,” Libby muttered as she climbed out of the truck.

“It’s this once, and it won’t take long,” Luke promised.

Abby noticed he waited to leave until he was certain they were inside the building. She couldn’t figure him out at all.

Chapter 18

Luke drove to the FBI meeting point. He couldn’t be seen entering the field office, so Mitchell Jasper had set up a clandestine meeting reminding Luke of a bad 1960’s Cold War movie.

Luke drove to a park, then followed the lazy road as it twisted its way through nature. He followed the signs to the swimming pool, now closed for the season. The service area behind the pool house was secluded; deserted except for a black Lexus SUV with windows so darkly tinted Luke thought they might not be legal.

Jasper climbed out of the vehicle. “Any problems finding the place?”

Luke stared at him. Humans, not lycans, had problems with directions.

“Where are the Grant sisters?”

“My wife and her sister are at Doctor Holster’s office, as ordered. Neither one of them is very happy about this.”

Abby was going to go through the roof when she learned the truth. If last night had been any indication of how fragile her self-control was, he was in for a couple of long days and nights. He might not ever get laid again.

“No one likes this,” Jasper said. “Using little girls to get your rocks off is as perverse as it comes. You sure you can handle going underground there?”

Luke clenched his jaw. “I’m an old hand at surfing the DeepNet.”

Jasper handed him a laptop case. “There’s a folder in the bag with your on-line persona. Make sure you stick to it.”

“Oh, I’m careful.”

“You can’t let this get too personal.”

“It’s already personal. And that’s what’s going to make me more careful than usual, because I want these guys. You have no idea how much I want these guys, and they are not going to get off on a technicality or anything else. If that happens, it won’t be my doing, and you’ll have a bloody mess to clean up.”

Jasper stepped back. Why they ever put someone who was afraid of werewolves in charge of treaty fulfillment was baffling to every werewolf who’d ever dealt with Jasper.

“DNA ID,” Jasper said. “I remember.”

Luke gripped the faux leather handles on the computer case. “You won’t be sorry you put me on this investigation.”

“I never thought I would be. Word is you’re as good on the computer as anyone else we have.”

“Believe it.”

“You can
get dressed now, Libby,” Doctor Holster said as she snapped off her Latex gloves. "We’re all done.”

All done. Libby had had her first pelvic exam before Abby.

“That’s it?” Abby asked.

“That’s it.” The doctor smiled. She was a kind woman. She’d have to be, given her line of work. “I’ll forward my report to the agency. Have you been in touch with your local rape crisis center?”

Abby glanced toward Libby, who was busy with a colorful toy of some sort and not paying attention to the doctor.

“You said she wasn’t raped.”
Neither was I
. “That there was no sign of penetration.” Abby nearly choked on the word.

“Rape Crisis has other services for survivors of sexual abuse.”

There was that word again. Luke had said the same thing. She and Libby were not victims; they were survivors.

The doctor consulted the paperwork Abby filled out when she first arrived at the office. “Your mother was sickly and your biological father died when Elizabeth was five.”

Abby nodded.

“Sometimes when there is a bad home situation, a young child doesn’t understand what’s happening and can form an attachment to her abuser. Someone as young as Elizabeth was when your stepfather came on the scene might not realize what is happening is bad. She might even think it’s normal. And sexual stimulation feels good.”

“Our home situation wasn’t bad. My parents considered Libby a miracle and treated her like one.”

“But that changed when your father died. Elizabeth went from being idolized to being abandoned. Even though she was five, she might not have understood why the man who adored her deserted her. So when your stepfather introduced a new man to adore her, a new father figure, you sister may have bonded to him.”

Abby didn’t know what to say. Dr. Holster was a professional who dealt with child sexual abuse on a daily basis. She must know what she was talking about.

“You both would benefit from counseling,” the doctor continued. “Sexual molestation is difficult for everyone in the family.”

So Luke hadn’t told the doctor about her own situation. Of course, Abby was an adult. She knew exactly what Gary had done to her.

“Thanks for the tip,” Abby said.

Abby and Libby waited for Luke in the lobby of the doctor’s office building. There were so many questions Abby wanted to ask Libby, but she didn’t know how to broach the topic. She never wanted Libby to be hesitant about talking to her, but this was something so . . . shameful. They hadn’t done anything wrong, but the shame belonged to them.

She draped her arm around Libby, who burrowed into her side.

“I didn’t like that,” Libby said. “The doctor touching me like that.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“Why did Luke want me to do that?”

“Because of what you told him and Toke Lobo about your Uncle Dougie. Grown up men aren’t supposed to touch little girls. It’s wrong.”

“Did I do something wrong?” Libby asked.

“Not at all.”

“Uncle Dougie told me not to tell anyone. Will I get into trouble for telling Luke and Toke Lobo?”

Abby’s control was slipping. She had no reserves left. “Nope, but your Uncle Dougie friend is.”

“I don’t want him to be in trouble.”

“He’s a naughty man, Libby. He took advantage of your being so young.”

“I don’t want him to go to jail.”

He will if there’s any justice in this world.
“He may be the person who killed Gary.”

“Oh. I thought Luke killed Gary.”

“Luke wanted to kill him.”

“Will Luke get in trouble?”

Please. No.
“I don’t think so.”

“Do you like Luke? Do you like being married to him? He’s really nice. So are his mom and dad.”

“I don’t know,” Abby carefully replied. “Life hasn’t been exactly normal since we got married. Luke went on tour—”

“But he came right back.”

“Yeah. He came right back. And Gary was murdered.”

“It’s a good thing we weren’t there at home. We could have been murdered, too. That’s why I like staying with Colette and Marcus. I feel safe there. They told me no one can get to me.”

“Oh. I thought maybe you could live with me and Luke at Granny’s house.”

“I don’t know,” Libby said. “Did you know Marcus has wolves guarding his house?”

Abby chose her words carefully. “No, I didn’t know that. But I think there are a lot more wolves around Loup Garou than there are in Oak Moon.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

Libby might be slow, but she wasn’t stupid.

Abby felt exposed standing in the lobby with its acres of glass sucking in the sunlight. She drew Libby away from the door. Out of the light. Into the shadows. There were so many windows she wouldn’t have any problem watching for Luke.

Who arrived a few minutes later, although it felt as if they’d waited for hours.

“How did everything go?” he asked once Abby and Libby were in the truck and buckled in.

“I didn’t like it,” Libby declared. “The doctor asked too many questions.”

Luke shot Abby a sideways glance.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” she said. “The results could have been a lot worse.”

Luke narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“How about you? Did your meeting go all right?” Abby changed the subject. Thinking about what Dr. Holster had said about Libby’s attitude toward Uncle Dougie, that Libby might like being with him made Abby dizzy and nauseated.

“Yeah. I start my new job tonight.”

“Delilah said . . . guys tend to be nocturnal. So you have a new job?”

Luke laughed. “That’s us. Fans of the moon. And yeah. A new job doing the thing I told you about at the lake.”

Working for the feds. Putting his disgusting hobby to good use. After the fact.

“Like ‘Full Moon Lady’,” Libby said from the back seat. “I love that song.”

“It’s everybody’s favorite Toke Lobo song,” Luke said. “He wrote it for Delilah.”

Abby knew the song. It was really popular. The band’s breakout hit. The lyrics sounded simple, but were more complex and clever than the average drunk crooning along would realize. More compelling than anything she would ever be able to write.

Why had she ever thought she could sell her inept rhymes to someone like Toke Lobo?

Luke drove to the mall. Libby was out-of-her-mind excited when she realized where they were headed. There was a small mall outside Oak Moon, and like most teenage girls, Libby loved it. The mall in Fort Collins was easily three times the size of their home mall. All the usual suspects were in residence, but there were a few specialty shops. Luke checked the directory, while Abby did her best to contain Libby.

“It’s not as if we have any money to buy anything,” she whispered to Libby.

“Luke will buy us stuff,” Libby whispered back. “Marcus asked him if he needed any cash, and Luke said no.”

“When did Marcus see Luke?”

“Last night, after the wolves went crazy howling.”

Right. Someone had tried to get to Libby. Abby sidled closer to Luke. “Do you think it’s safe here?”

Luke kept his gaze on the directory as if searching for something specific. “We’re over one hundred miles from Oak Moon. No one followed us.”

“You checked?”

“Constantly.” He finally looked at her. She never before realized how clear a blue his eyes were, not the same shade as her own, but more like crystals. Like the sky on a cloudless May morning. And his dimples. A woman could fall into the dimples in his cheeks and never come out. Looking at him standing in a shaft of sunlight from the overhead skylight it was hard to remember that only last night she’d seen him morph into a four-legged fanged creature with a terrifying sneer. He looked like someone whose poster a teenage girl would hang in her room. Luke Omega was
cute
. And hot. And married to her.

He casually looped his arm through hers. “Let’s go. Anything in particular you want or need?”

Libby started babbling a list of things, including getting her ears pierced. “Now that Gary isn’t around to tell me no. Please, Abby? I want to wear little gold hoops to school. I’m the only girl in my class who doesn’t have pierced ears. If I had pierced ears, I’ll bet Madison and Isabella would let me sit with them at lunch.”

Luke scowled. Since he was paying, Abby wasn’t going to undermine him.

“You have pretty earlobes. If they were meant to have holes in them, you’d be born with holes in them.”

“If I was meant to wear clothes, I would have been born in them,” Libby retorted.

Abby recognized the tone of voice. That inflection never meant anything good.

“Well, I don’t like women with pierced ears and since you’re now my sister, I get some say so. Especially since you’re going to be living with me and Abby.”

“I’m staying with Marcus and Colette.” Libby’s lower lip protruded ever so slightly as her eyes narrowed.

Abby dreaded that expression and tried to derail the usual outcome. “Maybe another time. Let’s look around before we decide on anything.”

“I. Want. My. Ears. Pierced.” Libby’s voice turned shrill.

“We can always turn around and go back to Loup Garou,” Luke suggested. “I was hoping to have a nice time with a couple of nice girls, but hey. Abby and I can always come back alone another time.”

Abby held her breath. Libby had been extremely well-behaved since their mother died, which meant she was overdue for one of her ‘spells.’ Gary called them tantrums. All Abby knew was that they were dreadful. And if in public, embarrassing.

Libby’s eyes were mere slits as she engaged in a staring match with Luke. Maybe he was the lowest of all in the pack, but a barely teenaged girl was no match for him. Her chest hitched once or twice, as if getting ready to bellow out a sob.

Abby held her breath.

Libby’s scowl remained, but she nodded.

Wow.
Luke was good. Their kid wasn’t going to get away with anything.

“Now,” Luke said, “instead of earrings, want to look at necklaces, bracelets or rings for your fingers?”

“No.”

Luke had averted a scene, but Libby was definitely pouting.

After seeing Luke in action, Abby wondered how many of Libby’s alleged issues were from being spoiled. Abby was ten years older than Libby, and remembered when things were normal. When their father had been alive they’d done normal family things. Mama had been pregnant a lot, but that didn’t stop her from trying to give Abby and later on Libby wonderful childhoods. Several miscarriages and two stillbirths between Abby and Libby made her parents treat Libby like a miracle. She’d been denied nothing. Even after their father had been killed, Mama had continued to coddle Libby. But like the chicken and the egg, which came first: spoilage or issues?