Moonshadows

I had gotten dressed quickly, throwing on some warm clothes carelessly, save to make sure they covered the disturbingly old-looking wounds on my neck. I also ran a brush through my hair, but only because in catching my reflection in my wardrobe mirror, I realized that the wan, disheveled look might attract unwanted attention. I a quick note for Cara on the kitchen table, informing her of where I'd be that night, but neither Rafe nor I had spoken as I got ready and that silence had followed us into his car. It made me a little uncomfortable, and more than a little sad since this oppressive lack of conversation was such a rude contrast to our companionable quiet of times before Cassian. Then again, I was also glad to not have to talk about anything difficult.

I'd almost come to expect we would spend the rest of the ride unspeaking when he cleared his throat and glanced at me.

"There are a couple of things you should probably know before you meet everyone."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," he said. "About us. Werewolves. How we live."

"Go on," I encouraged. I was intensely interested, even if the thrilling edge had been taken off my curiosity from my knowledge about some of the other denizens of this secret world.

He didn't respond immediately, frowning at the road as he composed his thoughts. "How much do you know about regular wolves?"

"Not a lot. Just some basic stuff." At his look, I expanded, "Like, they live in packs. They hunt together. And they follow an alpha, their leader. That's about all I could tell you off the top of my head though."

Rafe was nodding. "That's right. We work pretty much the same way. We all live together, or close. Except in smallish family groups instead of a giant commune or whatever. Most of us actually

are

related somehow, except for the odd loner we adopted, or members of other packs who've joined ours."

"Other packs?"

"Yeah." He glanced at me again, I guess assessing my reaction. "We don't have a newsletter or anything, but there are packs of different sizes pretty much all over. Mostly in more rural parts since we need room to run when we change."

This kept getting more and more interesting. It was, I thought, a conversation we should have had a while ago, when he'd first revealed himself. Or once I'd mellowed out from the shock at least.

"You mean when you shape-shift?"

I caught a hint of amusement at the eagerness of my tone. "We don't call it that, but yeah. Like you saw when I, uh, showed you a while back, we can change at will -well, once we get old enough to be able to control ourselves. Except on the full moon. Then it happens whether we want to or not. And I think you can probably imagine why it wouldn't be such a hot idea for a bunch of big-ass wolves to be running around all over downtown."

"Makes sense." I acknowledged, trying to picture it.

"Anyway," he said, then paused a while. As the silence stretched out, I studied him, waiting for more, until he cleared his throat again and began slowly.

"Every pack has an alpha, like with wolves. The alpha's the leader, or, I dunno. The family patriarch, kind of. He -or she, I guess, since I have heard of the occasional lady alpha- watches out for the pack. He's the final say in big decisions, keeps the peace within the pack families, oversees things when it comes to interacting with outside packs. He doesn't just rule over everything like a mob boss or whatever. But it's his responsibility to look out for the well-being of the pack, and to make the decisions that will take care of everybody the best way possible, and people respect that and do what he says.

"My dad was the last alpha," he said quietly, his eyes fixed on the road. "He took care of the pack for thirty years, and because of him we were bigger and happier than we'd ever been."

He paused again then said, "When he died five years ago, that changed."

My eyes widened and my heart twinged sympathetically. I was all-too familiar with the loss of a parent. "I'm so sorry, Rafe."

He shrugged. "It happens."

"What... do you mind if I ask what happened? He couldn't have been very old."

"He wasn't."

"Oh. Okay." I felt guilty for prying into an obviously still-painful subject and lowered my eyes to fiddle with the zipper on my jacket.

"Truth is, Selene, we still don't know exactly what happened." The sudden surge of his voice made me jump. "We found him face-down in the river beaten all to hell. Now, I guess it's possible that he could have gotten that way from falling down the gulley and from washing down the river a ways... But you can understand why we didn't want the human police looking too closely at things, so we just reported it as an accident.

"Oh, my god."

His hand tightened on the steering wheel and he shook his head angrily. "It's just, my dad was a careful guy. I couldn't ever see him taking a spill like that. But if he

was

murdered, then who does that leave for suspects? Who'd be able to take out a fifty-five year-old werewolf at pretty much the peak of his strength? Who'd want to? Everybody in the pack loved him."

I was speechless, watching him with wide eyes.

"Anyway," He said again, "When he died, the pack kind of fell apart. Some bad things were said. Family groups who'd been with us for two or more generations moved away, and of course the loners who'd joined us for the safety of our numbers were some of the first to bail. For a while it was just my family and a few others left."

He took a deep breath, relaxing back into his seat. I unwound slightly as well, but still listened avidly. "We're doing better now. There's a new alpha, and we're starting to grow again."

"So," I ventured at last when no more information was forthcoming. "Am I going to meet this new alpha then?"

I thought I heard Rafe sigh very quietly. "You've already met him, Selene."

He kept his eyes on the road now as I looked at him sharply. His profile was calm and as attractive as always. But not just attractive; there was a quality to his features, his bearing that commanded more than just attention. Even when I first met him I'd seen how he had that innate kind of charisma that inspired respect. He wore leadership like a second skin.

It made sense on other levels too: who but the alpha would have the nerve to bring his human girlfriend to a pack gathering? Who else could get away with such a thing? Maybe I was making too much of the situation and no one would care that I was an outsider, but I didn't think so. Besides, there had been all these allusions to his family responsibilities, those times that he had been called away to lead his pack. And I had always felt like he was out of my league.

Ultimately, I realized that this information didn't really surprise me and merely nodded my understanding and returned to looking out my window. I could tell he was checking me out for my reaction covertly, but I didn't know what else to say so just remained silent.

We arrived at a multi-storied, craftsman style house shortly after that. The location, I noted, was pretty ideal. It was just far enough out of the city proper and outlying suburbs to make a trip into town a simple thing, but also far enough away from the hub of buildings to afford some privacy. Not to mention the proximity to the healthy woodlands that gave the place a much more rural atmosphere. The house itself was solid and straightforward, and though I'm no architectural expert, it looked like it was about forty or so years old, built to last, not necessarily to impress. I liked it.

Rafe parked in the gravel, multi-car driveway and we climbed out to head across the vaguely unkempt front lawn and up to the door, painted in a lovely, rich red. He reached for the handle, but the door opened quickly before he even touched it. I blinked as I took in the figure in front of me.

In the door frame stood easily the biggest man I had ever seen. Even Rafe's significant six foot three seemed a shade diminutive in comparison. Broadly muscled limbs somehow managed to fit -barely- into the plain jeans and t-shirt he wore, and a dark brown head of loose curls was likewise only just contained in a low queue at the nape of his neck, allowing golden-brown eyes to peer from beneath serious brows. I noted with fascination the similarity in color to Rafe's more pronounced topaz, as well as the more subtly familiar things about the rest of his features.

"Hi, Rafe," he rumbled; I wondered with the size of his chest cavity if he could do anything

but

rumble.

"Hey, Erich," Rafe returned easily. "Is Aaron here yet?"

"Said he'd be here in about an hour. He needed someone to take over his shift before he could bail."

He spoke to Rafe, but as he finished, his eyes rested on me again and Rafe followed his gaze. I felt more than saw him shift his weight fractionally closer to me as he said, "This is Selene." He nodded his head at the giant. "Selene, this is my cousin Erich."

Erich surprised me with a kindly smile that softened the rest of his stern features and strengthened the underly family resemblance. He extended his hand. "It's good to finally meet you."

I surprised myself that I smiled back and let him shake my hand in his massive one; he held it very carefully and the sheer size of it reminded me of when I was a kid shaking with an adult. I also didn't miss the implication of the word "finally," and gave Rafe a sidelong glance even as I told Erich, "It's good to meet you too."

Rafe was watching me closely and spoke up at my look, "Erich is my best friend, besides being my cousin. Even before all...

this

started, I talked with him about you. He understands and he knows what's going on. He'll look out for you."

I frowned as a vague unease filled me. "I need looking out for here?"

Rafe's expression darkened and his tone left no room for argument. "No. You're safe under my roof."

He exhaled quietly and amended in a more moderate voice, "But while I deal with things with the pack, I'm not gonna necessarily be available. So if you need anything, Erich will take care of it for you."

The big man nodded in agreement.

I can't say I was too pleased with the idea of being isolated from Rafe, however politely or marginally, but I recognized the necessity as well as the consideration that had gone into the arrangement. Besides, there was something about Erich that I liked. Maybe it was the similarities to Rafe, or the fact that Rafe apparently trusted him, but I felt more at ease around him, so I wasn't going to argue.

"Okay."

Rafe looked relieved and Erich gave me another friendly smile as he stepped back to allow us entry. He closed the door quietly behind us and followed with a curiously light tread as Rafe led us down a hallway to the kitchen. The decoration of the house was simple: some landscape pictures on the walls, muted area rugs on the hardwood floor, and what I thought were probably family photos in between the artwork. The big windows let in a lot of the afternoon light, warming and illuminating, and the house was filled with a mellow, woodsy kind of scent, like an aged lodge.

"Food's in the fridge," Rafe said, gesturing to a massive appliance covered with magnets and notes. "Or some milk and stuff if you're thirsty. I need to make some calls while Erich shows you around."

I nodded as I observed the way he moved through the large room. He was clearly comfortable in the slightly-cluttered space, and even as he seemed more relaxed, there was a surety to his movements that implied ownership and command. I knew without being told that while others of the pack might live here, it was definitely

his

house.

He turned and was about to exit through another door when he paused and met my eyes. "You okay with that?"

I glanced at Erich who had been watching the two of us silently and nodded again. "Yeah."

The corner of Rafe's mouth turned up in another of those heart-hitching, bittersweet smiles. "I'll be in the office," he told Erich then left the room. Erich cleared his throat thoughtfully.

"Well, you wanna look around?" It was apparent he wanted to be helpful but wasn't quite sure how to approach things. That made me feel a little better somehow.

"Sure."

There wasn't much chit-chat as Erich gave me the tour of the place. Part of it was that I don't think Erich was much of a talker under normal circumstances, but mostly it was that without Rafe there, I was very tired again and things that would normally have fascinated me -such as photos of Rafe and Erich with they were kids- only inspired a moderate interest. I knew I'd definitely want to take a second pass to check things out when I wasn't so enervated, but Erich seemed to notice the drop in my energy, and after showing me the rest of the first floor, he asked if I wanted to lay down for a while, which I agreed would be a good idea.

We had heard Rafe's voice coming through one of the doors off the living room that Erich had identified as the office, but where Erich led me next was to what looked like the master bedroom, up on the second floor. It was simply, almost spartanly furnished, with a vast, unmade bed, side tables, a dresser, and an old chest at the foot of the bed. An armchair and foot rest sat next to a rather poorly-stocked bookshelf near the bay windows. It was lived in, in the sense that you could see the marks of an inhabitant in the messy bedding and the clothes that were carelessly tossed into a hamper in the corner, but there was no real sense of personality, as though the person whose room it was didn't spend much time there.

"This is Rafe's room," Erich told me as he held the door open for me. "You can rest here without anyone bothering you."

I looked around again as I nodded absently. For some reason, it made me a little sad that the only room in the house that didn't feel like a home was Rafe's. It seemed wrong. Lonely.

Remembering my manners, I managed a wan smile for my kindly guide. "Thanks, Erich. You're a sweet guy."

The big man smiled back at me. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

I pretty much went straight to bed after he'd gone. I was feeling cold again, and the clear afternoon light was making my head start to throb. So I kicked off my shoes and burrowed under the covers on the massive bed, inhaling deeply to catch a faint breath of Rafe's scent. Thankfully, sleep wasn't long in coming.

When I woke again, it was early evening and the light was streaming golden through the windows. A medley of raised voices was coming from downstairs; the living room, I estimated from my memory of the afternoon tour. Sitting up, I scrubbed my hands over my face and ran them through my hair, trying to neaten it some. I could spot a mirror over the sink in the adjoining bathroom but didn't feel up to a close examination of how awful I must look, so I just tugged my shoes back on and shifted my clothes back into place as best as I could. So much for looking my best when meeting the family, but I guess it couldn't be helped. I wasn't really sure what my best was anymore anyway.

As I made my way down the steps and to the living room, I could hear the conversation more clearly. Or maybe "argument" would be a better word since just as I reached the corner of the hall before it opened into the sprawling living space, someone interjected loudly, "I'm sorry, but I just don't understand what this has to do with us. It's shitty that your girl was the one to be bitten, Rafe, but she's not one of us. Besides, it didn't kill her, right?"

"Jesus, Edmund," someone else said scornfully.

"What?" The one called Edmund asked defensively. "I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking."

"What you're doing is being an ass, and completely missing the point." Erich's distinctive bass rumble retorted. "It's more than likely that the girl was targeted specifically, as a way to get at Rafe. Could be just a shot in the dark, but if this vampire knows who he is, he knows that threatening him is threatening the pack. And in case that still isn't clear enough for you, Ed, that means he's threatening you too."

I paused where I was while Edmund grumbled. Another voice spoke up a little hesitantly.

"But what kind of dumbass would try to take on a whole pack? Vampires aren't... They aren't that powerful, right?"

"No," a fifth speaker said. This one sounded a little older, and his tone was gentle. "Depending on how old it is, it would only be able to take on one -maybe two of us in a direct fight. A really old one could maybe handle three or four. But they don't fight direct when they can help it. The cowards prefer to sneak around and get others to do their dirty work for them. Only when their enemy is weakened will they come out and finish him off."

An uncomfortable silence greeted this speech until the same man continued. "Which is why I think there's probably more going on than we're seeing. Kaleb's right. No vampire with half a brain would risk pissing off the whole pack. Not by himself. So we need to consider that he's probably working with somebody else."

The listeners broke into a susurrus of anxious murmurs that I could only catch pieces of.

"Does anyone else think that this sounds like a bit of a stretch?" A woman's alto voice, sultry and disdainful broke through the conversation. "I'm with Edmund on this. I'm sorry about what happened to the girl, but what reason do we have to think that she was 'targeted' at all, and that this is some sort of big conspiracy to screw with us? Did anyone consider that maybe it was just bad luck?"

Silence returned, though this time it was expectant. I could hear people shifting around, increasingly awkward as the quiet stretched out until Rafe spoke at last.

"This wasn't the only time the vampire harassed Selene. He'd talked to her several times before he attacked, and apparently he made it clear he knew I'm part of a pack, even if he didn't know I lead this one."

Given the intensity of the rage he had struggled to control earlier that day, I was impressed to hear how restrained Rafe sounded now, though it was clear he was still much tenser than usual. I wondered if having had some time to think through things a bit had helped, or if it was just part of his alpha persona. He continued.

"That's a big risk to take for a meal, even I wasn't an alpha, since he also knows Selene is mine." My stomach fluttered as I heard him claim me in front of his family. "So I think it's fair to assume there's more to it, like Aaron said."

"But why?" The hesitant voice from before asked. "Why would someone or... someone

s

want to pick a fight with us?"

"That's what we need to... Rafe?" The older speaker -Aaron I concluded he was called- trailed off questioningly.

"I'll be right back." Rafe's voice was getting closer until he appeared suddenly around the corner. I started a little guiltily at being caught eavesdropping.

"Why don't you come sit down," he suggested seriously. "I'll introduce you."

I followed him back into the living room where more than twenty people were waiting, crammed into what I'd thought of as a big room. Maybe I was still numb from everything that had been happening, but, as I watched the expressions of surprise and disapproval cross nearly all the faces in the room, I wasn't nervous at all. Admittedly, I was keenly aware of how much I didn't belong there, but these people didn't intimidate me the way they would have only a few days ago. I did note with interest which few faces showed only curiosity or sympathy though. If anyone was potentially my friend there outside of Rafe and Erich, it would be those individuals.

"Everybody, this is Selene." Rafe announced with preamble. He began pointing to different people in turn, naming them. "Selene, this is Edmund and Beth. Michael, Gabriella, you already know Erich..."