Luna Junction 1 Feasts with Wolves (W) Read online

  Not knowing where to try first, I headed to the brick-colored barn on the edge of the woods. It was weather beaten and boxy and looked about two hundred years old. I hadn’t seen any animals wandering around but presumably the building served some sort of purpose. Crossing my arms in front of my numb breasts, I crossed the distance rapidly. My hand was reaching for the splintered latch when I heard rhythmic thumps and pleasure moans. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know who was all bumping uglies on the other side of that door so I gingerly backed away. My boot heel caught on a stick, snapping it in half. I didn’t think the sound was that loud but the thumping promptly ceased and a low growl scared the crap out me. I had been bitten by a wicked Pomeranian when I was three and ever since then tended to keep the furry things at a safe distance.

  The growl died and I heard the hiss of whispers. It seemed like a good idea to sprint for the house and I was all set to do just that when the barn door opened. Claire’s peaches and cream complexion was flushed and her red sweater was incriminatingly askew. “Tatum!”

  “Hey Claire. I was just out for a walk.” I pretended to have a sudden and very grave interest in the weather. “You know, I’m sure that’s snow sky.”

  Claire rapidly regained her composure and after tossing a swift glance backwards stepped out and closed that barn door behind her. She smiled. “You startled me.” Before she shut the door I fearfully tried to peer around her for a glimpse of a vicious animal within but saw only the cavernous interior of a typical barn.

  Claire took my arm, not looking back. “Come on, it’s kind of cold out here for you. Let’s get in the house.”

  “Great,” I muttered. Just before we crossed the threshold of the Landon residence, I glanced back again. Matthew Landon was exiting the barn. He closed his jeans and darted away.

  The guest room was pleasant. It had been decorated in light blue and cream tones. A pair of twin beds occupied opposite walls. My lonely backpack had already been deposited on one of the beds. Another, more elaborate rolling suitcase, presumably Claire’s, was on the other bed. She unzipped it and began looking for something as she hummed. As I began to rifle through the pathetically meager contents of my own backpack, something occurred to me.

  “You said your brothers still live around here? So how come you’re staying with the Landons?”

  Claire tensed. “My oldest brother and I don’t really get along.”

  “Oh.”

  She seemed to have heaps of belongings stuffed into that little suitcase, sort of like Mary Poppins. “He’s a douchebag.”

  “Douchebag, huh? I think we’ve met.”

  Claire laughed. Then she spied the lacy birthday corset where I had casually tossed it on the patchwork quilt and her face darkened. “Um, Tatum. About me and Matt-“

  “Please.” I held up a hand. “I get it, okay? You guys are like soul mates or something.” If I’d had any doubts then nearly walking in on the recent barn festivities had eliminated them.

  Claire seemed relieved. She returned to sorting through her carefully folded belongings. I tried to think of a way to smoothly broach the next subject. “So, about Mr. Landon…”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Cade? What about him?”

  I felt my face blushing furiously. It was my curse. “Nothing. Was just curious about him. He’s really really…”

  “Sexy as shit?” Claire finished with a wink.

  There was no point in denying it. “Sexy, yes. He is that.” I began folding a pair of lacy black underwear with manic precision.

  She sighed and sat primly on the edge of the bed. “Well, he and Matt butt heads sometimes but he loves his boys. His wife, Anna, was a Hoffman so she was quite the beauty.” She waved a hand. “Ah, but I forget, you wouldn’t know about the Hoffmans.”

  I tried to picture Cade Landon happily married to some backwoods beauty queen. The vision came quite easily. “What happened to her?”

  “Killed by hunters.”

  I was startled. “Hunters?”

  She grew agitated. “Yes, fucking assholes. Always too close and interfering when they shouldn’t. It was a big thing around here for a while. The packs all got together and decided to obliterate them.” Her face softened. “But my father was sheriff then and he managed to change their minds. Good thing too because there would have been hell to pay.”

  I was trying to keep up and failing miserably. “Claire, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  She stared at me. A look of pity passed over her pretty features. “I’m sorry, Tatum. None of that shit would make any sense to you.”

  I swallowed. “Claire, is Cade Landon dangerous?”

  She smiled vaguely. “No, not dangerous, not for you.” She bit the corner of her lip, considering. “Tatum, there’s a lot you don’t know about the Landons.” Her wide blue eyes were solemn. “And me. And all of Luna Junction really.”

  There was that feeling again, a wisp of worry in the pit of my stomach which was slowly mushrooming into a sonic cloud. As if there were either something really spectacular or really frightening lurking beneath the surface of everything and everyone in this strangle little corner of the world. “Yeah, I’m beginning to get that impression.”

  Claire opened her mouth to speak again but a shadow fell across the doorway. Cade Landon was staring at me but he spoke to Claire. “The boys are getting the pits prepared for tomorrow, Claire. They could use a hand.”

  Claire threw me an uncertain glance but took the hint, scurrying out of the room. Cade leaned against the doorframe, as I tried desperately to keep my eyes trained to his face and not the other hard and delicious features of his body. Visions of our brief kitchen tryst came flooding back. I still wasn’t completely convinced it wasn’t all a byproduct of hunger delirium but my senses seemed to feel otherwise. My face grew hot. I didn’t need a mirror to know my skin was bright red. Cade’s finger was at his lips. He seemed to be thinking.

  “Tatum, I told Matt it would be all right if he wanted to drive you back to the valley.”

  The disappointment was just about crushing. I could hear the quaver in my voice. “I thought you wanted me to stay.” I knew I sounded girlish and pouty. But even with all the weirdness of Luna Junction the thought of returning to a lonely campus and putting several hundred miles between me and that looming pile of male perfection in the doorway was unendurable.

  Cade seemed to choose his words carefully. “I do want you to stay.”

  I lowered my head. “You know, there’s nothing between me and Matt, not really.”

  “I know it.”

  “It’s because of the kitchen thing, isn’t it?”

  “No. Well, yes.” He looked at me seriously. “If you remain here you’re going to see some things you’ve never seen before.”

  My heart pounded and I was afraid I would begin panting and then clawing at the rough denim which separated my wanton little soul from those wonderful things I had never seen before. “I can deal with that.”

  Cade was silent for a moment. Then he eased closer, one step at a time. Startled, I backed into a wall as his chest grazed the alert tips of my breasts. He placed a hand on the wall on either side of me and stared into my eyes. “Good,” he said.

  A split second later he backed away and I almost moaned with frustration. Was this a game to him? He glanced around the room and I realized I had left the corset peeking out of my backpack. I hoped it would give him some ideas. But when he spoke his voice was merely curious. “Why didn’t you go home for the holidays?”

  “Home, yeah, I don’t really have one of those anymore.”

  “No family?”

  “None that cares about seeing me for the holidays.” I had a sudden flash of long ago happy days of childhood, full of pleasant smells and happy expectancy. The memory made me lonely. “You’re lucky,” I said softly.

  “Pardon?”

  I took a deep breath. “You have one. A family.” Then I remembered something. “I’m sorry, this time of year is
probably hard for you with the terrible loss of your wife and all.”

  Cade sighed. “Yes, Anna is missed. But it was a long time ago and I’m grateful every day for my boys.”

  “I miss being part of a family.” It was an admission I had never spoken aloud. Of course, my parents were still alive but those precious concepts of home and unconditional love seemed increasingly lost to me.

  Cade Landon’s dark sympathetic eyes seemed to stroke the depths of my soul. “Tatum, there’s nothing on earth more important.”

  We stared at one another for a long moment. I heard the happy bustle of the boys out in the yard doing whatever what was involved in pit-making. Cade seemed to be waiting for me to do or say something but I’d be damned if I knew what. Finally he took a deep breath and headed for the door. He paused before exiting and spoke briskly. “Lots of prep to do outside before the Yule tomorrow. Help is appreciated but not required. I see you didn’t bring a coat so you can have mine. It was a gift from someone who didn’t know any better but it’s pretty much unused. I’ll leave it in the foyer.”

  “Won’t you be cold?”

  Cade grinned sardonically. “We don’t get cold.”

  “Right,” I muttered. I remembered Claire’s earlier remark about being thick-skinned or whatever. Must be something in the dense blood of these country people.

  Chapter 5

  The temperature had grown even colder and I was glad to be wrapped in Cade’s warm jacket. The younger boys were dutifully shoveling up dirt to form a series of shallow pits about fifty yards away from the house. Matthew and Claire were sorting through large piles of stones and lining the fresh pits. Their companionable ease and playful touches illustrated their affection for one another and I wasn’t resentful, only slightly sad. Cade himself was nowhere to be seen.

  I pulled the jacket closer and shivered. No one else wore so much as a pair of gloves. They were out there all happy and comfortable as if it were the middle of May instead of a frigid twenty Fahrenheit winter afternoon. Claire noticed me and nudged Matthew. He glanced at her and sighed, dropping a pair of rocks.

  He approached me with almost pained slowness and I realized he was dreading speaking to me. I had every right to be hurt and angry. But I wasn’t. “Hey,” I nodded to him.

  “Hey.” His face showed his relief that I wasn’t apt to create a blubbering scene. “Look, I’m sorry, Tatum. Not just about Claire but because I knew it wouldn’t be right bringing you up here. I guess I did it to make him see…ah shit, it doesn’t matter. My dad said you don’t want to go back to Phoenix but it’s really no trouble to take you.” He coughed. “I wouldn’t expect that you’d want to stay.” Claire pretended to continue lining the pits but I knew she listened to every word.

  I shook my head. “It’s all right, Matt. And I’d like to stay. If it’s okay with you.”

  He looked away. Was enduring my presence really that painful? I was starting to get annoyed. After all, with one phone call Matthew Landon had torn me out of my comfortable cocoon where I’d been content to wallow in my own jingle bell rock misery and get privately drunk off of Julia From New York’s secret stash of Everclear. Okay, maybe ‘content’ was the wrong word, but at least I was resigned to a dreary holiday season.

  Matthew gazed at me with sudden intensity. He spoke in a very low voice. “Not everything is what it appears to be.”

  But I’d had enough. “Okay, what’s with you people? Your mysterious comments and veiled suggestions. Your affection for nearly raw meat and apparent immunity to winter. Seriously Matt, what the hell?” I hadn’t realized I’d begun shouting until I stopped and saw the uneasy faces of Claire, Benji and Zane all trained on me. Matt closed his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it quickly, shaking his head and looking at the ground.

  This time I hadn’t felt his approach but the resonance of his voice sent tremors through my body. “What’s with us people, Tatum, is that we’re not people.”

  Cade’s shirt was off and the sight of his magnificent bare chest lived up to every fantasy of our very brief acquaintance. So focused was I on the sight of his skin that it took a moment for his words to register. “Come again?”

  Cade Landon nodded to his oldest son. “Show her, Matt.”

  Matthew’s eyes flashed angrily but he gritted his teeth and didn’t argue. He looked down at the ground and a low rumble issued from his chest. Even before he raised his changed face I realized I was looking at the creature which had growled at my unexpected approach earlier. Matthew’s eyes had the yellow glow of animal sight. His face had elongated and fur sprouted from every pore. This was no rabid demon flickering on a television screen. This was real. I screamed. Instinct ordered me to run, run, run but my booted feet tripped over themselves and I sprawled on the cold ground, whimpering.

  Then Cade’s broad arms were cradling me, pinning my arms. His voice was calm. “Tatum. Hush now. You’re not in any danger.”

  Matthew knelt beside us, suddenly no more an animal. I began to doubt my sanity. Had someone slipped hallucinogens into those Eggs Florentine? Matthew’s face was pitying as I hyperventilated in his father’s embrace. “Don’t eat me,” I sniveled and shrunk into Cade’s chest.

  The Landons laughed. Claire hunkered down and touched my arm. “Don’t be ridiculous, Tatum. We don’t eat people we like.” She winked and they all laughed again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Benji and Zane doubled over with mirth as if I were the subject in a comedy club skit. Well, that sort of pissed me off. If we were plucking a page from Grimm’s Fairy Tales I stood little chance against a whole pack of them anyway.

  I shoved Cade aside and rolled onto the ground, trying to muster some small dignity as I rose to my full and imposing five feet three inches (in boot heels). I tried to keep my voice level. “I’d appreciate a ride back to Phoenix now, please.” I was grasping at a sudden, brilliant idea. Perhaps I could fool them into thinking I hadn’t seen anything or even better that I thought it was all a big joke. “That was an awesome trick Matt. And thanks for inviting me. But I’m really not liking this freezing weather. So if it’s really no trouble-”

  Cade was shaking his head. He stood up straight and took a step closer to where I shivered from cold and terror. In spite of the fact that they were all some sort of legendary creature things (werewolves, my mind furtively whispered) he still looked damn fine standing there half naked as the first flakes of snow dropped onto his bare shoulders. “I’m afraid the storm will make the roads out of Luna Junction difficult, Tatum. You’ll be staying here until I say otherwise.” He motioned to Claire. “Bring Tatum back to the house. She needs some rest. I’ll answer her questions later.” And with that Cade Landon dismissed me and wandered off to shovel some smoke pits.

  Claire firmly took my elbow, ignoring my flimsy protests. Finally I allowed her to propel me back to the house. Just before she closed the front door behind us I kicked my boot into the opening and flung it wide, shouting. “And what the FUCK kind of steak was it you fed me today?”

  Claire’s pretty rosebud lips were pursed as she evaded my peppery onslaught of questions.

  “What are they?”

  “Is it like a disease? Is it contagious?”

  “You’re one of them, right?”

  “Wait, am I dead???”

  She smiled at that last one. “No, you’re not dead. But Cade made it pretty clear he doesn’t want me talking to you about it.” She rolled back the bed quilt and patted the smooth sheet, indicating I ought to lie down on it.

  “I’m not tired.” Even as I said it my mouth cracked into a wide yawn. My body sure had a strange way of reacting to extreme terror.

  Claire was gazing at me with such sisterly concern it was difficult to feel alarm, despite recent confessions. “Just trust me. Take a rest and you’ll feel better later. I’m sure Cade will explain everything.”

  The cozy little bed did look awfully inviting. I was suddenly real keen on the prospect of closing my eyes for a f
ew hours and unseeing the traumatic vision of Matthew Landon’s horror movie transmogrification. There surely must be some explanation. I comforted myself with images of Cade’s muscled chest as my mind drifted hazily toward sleep. Just before Dream Cade began unzipping his delightfully tight jeans, I felt Claire kiss me lightly on the forehead and sigh.

  Chapter 6

  The howl was primeval. I pulled the blanket over my head and hazily figured Julia From New York had acquired one of her boisterous one night entertainments and had brought him home to our room. A second howl sounded and a dim part of my consciousness recalled being a little girl curled around a flashlight and large book filled with impossible stories of magic and princesses, of witches and werewolves.

  WEREWOLVES!

  My body jackknifed upright and I was gasping, now fully awake. The blue and cream décor of the guest bedroom were muted in the silvery glow of the rising moon. I knew where I was.

  There was no sign of Claire. Or anyone else. The distant howls receded further and I uneasily assured myself they were only coyotes. Though I had heard enough real coyote yips in my life to contradict my delusion.

  As I gingerly rose from the bed, I realized my pants were undone. Blushing, I recalled the context of my dreams and guessed my own hands were guided by unconscious lust. Cade Landon’s dark smirk flashed before my eyes and a wave of moist warmth rolled between my legs.

  Someone had placed a lush robe over my sleeping form and I gratefully picked up the warm garment. I pushed my jeans down guiltily, as if they had somehow been responsible for my dreamy transgressions with Landon Senior. I also removed my shirt but left my bra as I covered my cold skin with the robe. The room was so cold I could see the fog of my own breath.

  Though it was dark outside a strange light emanated from the room’s only window. I peered beyond the eyelet curtain and saw a blanket of untouched white stretching in all directions. At least several inches of snow had fallen as I slept. The moonlight bounced off the snow and rendered the world surrounding the Landon home achingly beautiful.