Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
My lips quirk. “I think so, but we’d have to let Kellan in. He’s been feeding and watering me. Like a plant.”
“He’s good at that.” A grin flashes across her face. “Though the food is always delivered.”
“Still, he orders it.”
“Always remembers that I hate mushrooms.”
“And olives.”
“Oh, and adds extra bacon!”
I grin. “Sounds like you aren’t too unhappy with how things have turned out, then.”
The happiness on her face disappears abruptly. “No. What the fuck, Ava. You don’t understand. I was just standing there, and then this giant wolf comes out of nowhere growling and ready to tear us apart. All the other wolves don’t even fight him, and thenugh. Anyway, when he shifts I finally realize it’s Kellan, but then he-“
Lisa glances around, even though we’re the only ones in the room, and lowers her voice to hiss, “He kissed me, Ava. Not a peck. Not a smooch. He just grabbed me like this-” she moves her arms in the air around an imaginary figure, “-and just swooped in.”
I lean forward, resting my chin on my hand. “Was it good, though?”
“No.” She avoids my eyes. “Okay, yes. It was mindblowing. Like sex, but with only mouths. But everyone was watching. And then he picked me up and refused to put me down. And he was naked.”
“Yes, I saw that.” Trying desperately to hide my amusement, I ask, “Did he tell you anything?”
“Just that he would beat me within an inch of my life if I was ever kidnapped again. Oh, and then he threatened to cut off all my hair and turn me into a monk if I ever hide behind another naked man again.”
I blink. “That’s… extreme.”
She snaps her fingers at me. “That’s what I said. He’s lost his damn mind, Ava.”
“That’s because he’s your mate, Lisa.”
She stares at me “No”
“He is, though.”
“Ava. I’m human. I can’t be his mate.”
I nod. “It is unusual. I guess he didn’t realize it until he could smell your blood. It’s a thing, I guess.”
“But I’ve bled from a thousand different cuts when he’s around.”
Scratching my cheek, I shrug. “I didn’t make the rules. Maybe you didn’t bleed enough?”
Lisa recoils. “That sounds barbaric. How much do they expect someone to bleed to verify their mate status?”
I can’t help but laugh at Lisa’s horrified expression. Her eyes are wide, her mouth hanging open in a perfect ‘O’ of shock. It’s such a quintessentially Lisa reaction that, for a moment, I can almost forget everything we’ve been through.
We lapse into a comfortable silence, the kind only possible between best friends. It feels like old times, before vampires and shifters and mates complicated everything. I close my eyes, savoring the moment.
“I miss my parents.”
Lisa’s voice, small and fragile, shatters the peace. My eyes snap open to find her staring at her hands, twisting them in her lap.
“I’m sorry, Lisa. The cell phones aren’t working right now. We can’t—“
“I know,” she sighs, her shoulders slumping: “Just wishing I could tell them I’m okay. They’re worried sick, I’m sure.”
I reach out, squeezing her hand. There’s nothing I can say to make this better, so I don’t try. Suddenly, Lisa jerks upright. Her eyes, when they meet mine, are bright and intense. “Ava, Chloe and Mia… they’re not very good people.”
The abrupt change in topic throws me. “What? Who?”
Her gaze darts around the room, landing on the walls, the ceiling, the floor. “Are they listening?” she whispers, leaning in close. “The guards, I mean.”
My face goes blank as I nod, careful to keep my expression neutral. “There’s a place we can go to talk, if we need to.”
Lisa’s on her feet in an instant. “Can my friends come too?”
I blink, startled by her urgency. “Um… I guess so? We’d have to check-“
“Great,” she interrupts, already heading for the door. “Let’s go.”
Bewildered, I follow her. When I open the door, Kellan’s there, his posture tense. I can see the longing in his eyes as he looks past me to Lisa.
“We need to go to the conference room. Can you escort us? And bring Lisa’s friends?”
He frowns, his gaze finally shifting to me. “It would be better to wait a few hours. Ryder’s debriefing Dr. Blackwell right now.”
“That’s okay” Lisa pipes up from behind me. “We can wait.”
Kellan’s eyes snap back to her, filled with a yearning so intense it makes my chest ache. I shut the door, guilt twisting in my gut as his face disappears from view.
Turning back to Lisa, I find her rummaging through cabinets. “What are you doing?” “Looking for paper.”
Ah.
Vanessa left her notebook, so I grab that, flipping to an empty page and handing Lisa the pen. “Here you go.”
Snatching it out of my hands, she rushes to the table, scribbling across the paper and then turning to face the notebook in my direction.
The words are simple.
Chloe and Mia are traitors. Brought vampires to attack. Party = them too???
My eyes dart to the door, heart pounding. I lean in close to Lisa, my voice barely above a whisper. “Are you sure?”
Lisa’s pen flies across the page, her hand shaking slightly. When she turns the notebook back to me, I see POSITIVE!, underlined several times.
Damn.
It took a while for the names to click in my head. Lisa knew everyone’s names more than I did, but I remember now the two girls at the party, with their intrusive questions and their clear disdain for me. I’d figured they had crushes on Lucas; I never would have guessed them to be traitors.
And why?
They were wellregarded among their peers. Why would they betray Lucas?
It doesn’t make sense.
“Do you want me to have Kellan come in-“
Lisa’s glare in my direction has me snapping my mouth closed, teeth clicking with the force of it. I purse my lips in thought. “Or not. Okay. Why don’t I see if I can figure out the coffee situation without him?”
***
After a couple hours and two cups of coffee, Kellan brings us to the conference room, leaving us alone and promising to bring Lisa’s friends.
Once the door is closed, Lisa launches into everything that’s happened to her since the party, shuddering as she talks about the vampire’s visit to her cell and how it took forever until her cravings for him faded, and about a girl named Marisol.
Marisol must be one of his thralls.
It’s disturbing to know their minds can be so affected by their bond with a vampire, and I wonder if Sister Miriam’s thralls are in a similar situation. It makes my mouth taste like dirt to think about it.
The gnomes are the true surprise of her story. Sister Miriam had refused to elaborate over the details of Lisa’s rescue; of all people, I never expected the gnomes to be her saviors.
The only ones I’ve met are more like secretaries, not ninjas with gadgets and gizmos.
Though, Tinker’s wings prove that the technology is out there, even in the Fae Ward.
Interesting.
“None of the shifters seem to realize they’re gnomes,” Lisa adds. “It’s like it’s a secret.”
Scratching at my neck, I nod. “They keep things pretty secretive, it seems. I didn’t know they existed until I entered the Fae Ward. I only met two of them.”