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CHAPTER SIX: HUNTER'S MOON - PART ONE
Russ punched the pack’s couch cushions. It’d taken him four hours to walk from his apartment to the pack’s territory on the dockside of the neighboring city. Which had been fine — Lord knew, he’d needed the time and space to think — but it’d meant it’d been too late to do much more than curl up on the couch in the alpha’s house. Russ knew there were often spare rooms here and there among the many houses on the pack’s property, but it wasn’t as if he knew which were empty and which weren’t. And he damned well knew he wasn’t in the mood to wake anyone up to find out.
No. The couch in the main house was fine. He stared up at the dark ceiling, hearing the shuffling and snoring of other wolves in the house and the shifting sound of the water outside, and sighed. Even in his own home, he would have been sleeping on his couch anyway.
He shut his eyes as he tried to block out the mental image of the cause of his current sleeping arrangement. Dawn. In his bed. His throat clenched as he choked back a sad, longing howl. He shouldn’t think about that. The idea of her sweet body tangled in his sheets as she sunk into the giving mattress, her soft skin warming the bed as her pretty, parted lips panted in peaceful sleep on his pillow…
He huffed and turned on the lumpy cushions, hearing their springs creak under his tense form. He needed to sleep. It’d been a helluva day and he doubted tomorrow — today, by now, he supposed — would be much better. He needed to figure out what to do, not waste thoughts on fantasies he had no business dreaming about. For Dawn, he needed to focus on how to fix things. And, to do that, he really needed a good night’s rest.
But, try as he might, he never managed to do more than drift into the lightest doze before helpless frustration shook him back into consciousness. Hearing sounds of other people waking, Russ groaned and got up. He clearly wasn’t going to get any sleep; he might as well get some coffee.
As he started to ready the coffee machine, he heard footsteps approach. “Thought that was you we heard come in last night.”
Russ turned to see Willem and Harold step into the kitchen. Admittedly, Russ didn’t know all that many names or faces in the pack, but it was hard to forget the yeti and his werewolf partner, Willem. Especially after that bad business with the kid a while ago. Billy Parson, if Russ remembered the news stories and gossip right. Billy, after seeing the yeti, had run terrified into the street and was hit by a car. It’d been a terrible accident and had made the pack seriously consider moving, thrusting Russ into the real possibility of either leaving the life he’d built here to follow the pack or being left behind and unprotected.
As miserable as he’d been at the prospect at the time, maybe it would have been better for everyone if they had left.
Willem grabbed mugs for Harold, Russ, and himself. “I see Alpha House has a new inmate.” After Russ’s attack, Garrett had taken to having… troubled members of the pack stay in the main house for safety. For their own and, more importantly, the pack’s. Willem and Harold had been living here for almost a year, after the Parson incident. Handing out the mugs, Willem raised an eyebrow at Russ. “I thought everything had been sorted out at the station.”
Russ held the mug in hands and frowned. “As far as I know, all charges were dropped.”
Harold looked down at him through the shaggy fur-like hair covering his face and frowned. “Then why are you here?” He looked around. “Is your mate here?”
Willem shook his head. “I only heard one person come in last night and there are no new scents in the house.” Willem gave him a knowing smirk. “Trouble in paradise already? So much for the honeymoon period.”
Russ scowled. This was why he’d moved out. He hated that everyone knew his business. Hated people talking to him like they knew him. “We’re not mates.”
Willem shook his head. “That’s not what I heard.”
Russ turned away from the man and glared at the percolating coffee. “We’re not together.”
Harold laid a comforting hand on Russ’s shoulder, only flinching slightly when Russ arched a sharp look up at the seven-foot man. Sympathy gleamed in the yeti’s ice blue eyes. “That’s not really how that works.”
***
Dawn jumped at a loud knock. She looked up from her huddled place on Russ’s couch at the door with a frown. It hadn’t sounded like it’d come from there. She turned at the second knock to the patio windows. Staring at the dark, thick curtains she’d shut tight after Russ had left, she worried her lip. Who could be knocking on his patio door? What if it was Tucker? Would Tucker even bother knocking? She knew that apartment caretakers had keys to get into everything; the thought that it must include other caretakers’ apartments had kept her up all night.
“Dawn Meadows?”
Her ears twitched at the familiar voice, but she couldn’t place it without a face.
“It’s Garrett Wright. Can we talk?”
Dawn frowned but stood up, still clutching the comforter she’d tugged off Russ’s bed around her shoulders. Careful not to trip over it as she walked to the windows, she wondered what Russ’s alpha wanted. She peeked through the curtains and saw him standing patiently behind the glass. “Russ isn’t here; I don’t know where he went.”
Garrett smiled sympathetically and nodded. “I know where he is. I came to check on you.” He tilted his head and looked deep into her eyes. “How are you?”
Dawn’s brow furrowed. She was standing alone in her maybe-boyfriend’s empty apartment, wrapped up in his comforter and was terrified of knocks. How was she? “I’m… fine.”
Garrett nodded, the sympathy in his eyes deepening as he read between her words. “I was hoping we could talk.”
She frowned. “Why didn’t you use the door?” She turned to look at it.
Garrett shrugged. “I worried you might not want to answer the door, given last night, much less let anyone in, which I would completely understand. And, this way, I can see for myself how you’re doing.”
Pursing her lips, she wanted to ask why he cared. He didn’t know her. But then she remembered; she was part of his pack now. He was her leader, her alpha, now. It was his job to care. She opened the curtains a bit more, so he could see her more fully. Crossing her arms over her chest, she bundled the blankets closer. “I’m okay.”
He looked her up and down. “You didn’t sleep well.” It wasn’t a question. “Have you eaten yet?”
Her stomach churned at the thought of food, the wave of nausea making her head a little light. She shook her head. “I’m not really all that hungry.”
He nodded. “If you let me in, we can talk while I make you something simple.”
She shook her head. “You don’t need to do that; I know how to cook.”
Garrett smiled. “So I’ve heard, but I find food easier to eat — and harder to turn down — when someone else makes it for me.” He raised an eyebrow. “What do you say?”
Dawn bit her lip. “Am I allowed to say no?” She didn’t really know how all this alpha stuff worked.
Garrett nodded. “You’re always allowed to say no.”
Dawn’s nose wrinkled. “It didn’t seem like we could last night.” The whole mating thing happened so quickly and out of nowhere and no one had really asked her anything.
Garrett’s smile faltered and his gaze seemed to narrow. “Did you want to say no last night?”
“No.” Dawn put a hand to her aching head. “I don’t know.” She sighed. She knew that, by becoming Russ’s mate, she’d somehow gotten Russ out of trouble. And she was more than happy about that. She couldn’t stand the thought that they would have locked him away last night. But she still had no idea what all of this meant. “I feel like I have no idea what I’m saying yes or no to.”
Garrett made an understanding murmur. “I’d like to help answer that for you.” He nodded toward the sliding door’s lock. “But that kind of discussion is best had without a wall between us.”
She supposed he was right. “Okay.” She reached for the latch and let him in.
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