Lori Handeland - Blue Moon

Slowly I faced him. "And you believed him?"

He shrugged. "I was raised Ojibwe. Just because I’ve had to play that down to get where I am doesn’t mean I don’t believe in the legends. I’ve seen things…" He shook his head. "Let’s just say werewolves are the least of them."

I couldn’t quite get my mind around the fact that my boss believed in the unbelievable. Had everyone gone over to the dark side?

I set my rifle against the wall. The weapon was getting too heavy to cart up and down the hallway. "So you know about the blue moon? The werewolf army? The wolf god?"

"Everything." He held out his hand. "Why don’t you give me that totem for safekeeping?"

I stared at his palm, then lifted my gaze to his face. "I don’t have it."

Anger flickered in his eyes. "Jessie, you’re playing with something you don’t understand."

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that Will had taken the stone, but he grabbed me by the upper arms and shook me. My teeth rattled, and I decided to keep the information to myself. I didn’t care for the way he was acting.

"I don’t have the totem, Clyde. I swear."

"Only one way to find out."

He spun me around and patted me down. I was tempted to fight back, but Clyde was a lot bigger than I was. Besides, he wasn’t going to find anything, thanks to Cadotte.

My boss released me with a little shove and a mutter of annoyance. I stepped out of his reach and nearer to my rifle. My fingers rested on the butt of my pistol.

Clyde ran a hand over his face and sighed. "He’s been keeping an eye on you. Discovering what you know. Putting you off balance. If he’s got you in his bed, then you aren’t out doing your job, are you?"

"I’ve been doing my job," I snapped.

"You’ve been doing him." Clyde bit off a stub of chew and chomped ferociously for a few seconds. "I like you, Jessie, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings."

"Why stop now?" I muttered.

Clyde ignored me. "I’ve seen the women Cadotte fucks. You don’t fit in."

What else was new? I never had. But I’d started to think that I might, with him.

"Cadotte’s up to something," Clyde continued. "I just can’t figure out what."

I wanted to say Cadotte loved me. He thought I was beautiful. Funny, sexy, special. Everything I’d ever wanted to be, I was to him. But I wasn’t so sure anymore.

He had taken the totem. To protect me? Or to ruin me? Until I knew, I was keeping my mouth shut.

"Did he tell you anything about the ceremony?"

"No."

He hadn’t told me. I’d read it in a book.

I frowned. But not all of the ceremony. There’d been a page missing. Which was more troublesome now than ever before.

"What do you know?" I asked.

"Blue moon. Werewolf army. Matchi-auwishuk totem."

Clyde knew about as much as I did.

"Blood of the one who loves you."

I blinked. "The what of the who?"

"Blood of the one who loves you," he repeated slowly. "It’s needed for the ceremony."

I turned and headed for the door.

"Jessie? Where you going?"

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t very well tell the sheriff that I was going to kill someone.

I tossed my rifle into the Crown Victoria and climbed in after. Clyde raced out of my apartment building just as I left the parking lot. He tried to flag me down, shouted something, but I was on a mission. I didn’t need any company while I kicked Cadotte’s ass.

Could I kill him? I wasn’t sure. But I could beat him bloody. He’d made me believe in love right along with the werewolves.

I’d wondered why love had come along so soon. I’d wondered why me? The answer was crystal clear. He’d needed someone to love him fast, and what better patsy than a woman who’d never been loved before? I must have been so easy.

My hands ached from clenching them on the steering wheel. I welcomed the pain. It made me forget the one in my chest, the bubbling agony in my belly, the burn of tears in my eyes and my throat.

I’d been such an idiot.

I reached the turnoff to his place and left my car next to his. The sun was almost down; the moon was not yet up. Usually all this woo-woo shit took place at midnight anyway. If so, I had plenty of time.

I paused at the edge of the clearing. Lights yellowed the window/panes of his cabin. Either he was home or he liked to waste electricity.

I braced myself to cross the yard and walk inside. I didn’t plan on knocking. I wasn’t a complete moron. Or maybe I was. I took one step and someone grabbed me from behind.

My rifle flew into the underbrush. Strong arms pinned mine to my side. I struggled, kicked backward, tried to flip my assailant over my shoulder. Nothing worked.

I took a deep breath, and I smelled him. "Will?"

He nuzzled my shoulder; then his mouth latched on to my neck and his teeth grazed my skin. I shuddered. "Let me go."

He lifted his head; his breath brushed my hair. My body went limp with wanting him. I was pathetic.

And suddenly I was free. My hand went to my gun, but it was gone.

I spun around. Cadotte had my pistol. He’d also managed to retrieve my rifle. He looked a little silly holding two guns while stark naked.

Well, he wasn’t completely naked. He wore the totem around his neck. I guess he wasn’t going to deny stealing it.

"You need to go home, Jessie."

"Ha. I don’t think so."

"Please. I don’t want you hurt."

"Too late."

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I know about the ceremony. I know what you need to become the wolf god."

"Me? I’m not going to become the wolf god."

"Then what’s that for?" I pointed to the totem.

"I’m trying to stop it."

"How?"

"I discovered a ritual." His hands clenched on the weapons. His gaze shifted behind me. His agitation was evident. "It’s too complicated to explain right now. I need to finish before the blue moon rises."

"How do I know you aren’t raising the wolf god?"

He sighed. "You don’t. You’re going to have to trust me."

"I don’t think that I can."

Hurt flickered over his face and for a minute I felt bad. Then my gaze lowered to the totem, and I remembered one of Zee’s favorite sayings that didn’t involve a curse word.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

"Shame on me," I muttered.

He shook his head. "Sarcastic to the end. That’s my girl."

"I am not your girl."

His lips tightened; his eyes narrowed. I’d managed to annoy him, and that wasn’t easy.

"I don’t have time to argue. Are you going to behave, or do I have to tie and gag you?"

There was no way I was going to let him tie and gag me, not even for fun. "I’ll behave."

He grunted and took a wide berth around me, then headed for a cairn of rocks at the far side of the clearing. Since he had my guns, there wasn’t a whole helluva lot I could do about it—yet.

Besides, according to Clyde he needed my blood to do the deed. When he came to get it, I’d be ready.

I sat on the porch steps. Cadotte lit a fire in the center of the rocks. Sprinkled what appeared to be dirt on top, except the flame turned green, then purple, then blood-red. No dirt I’d ever seen could do that.

I couldn’t take my eyes from the fire, from him. The colors of the flames played over his skin. His muscles flexed and released—across his stomach, down his thighs, up his arms. He was so beautiful he made me yearn.

He began to chant in Ojibwe. The words ebbed and flowed, a beautiful song in a language I could not understand. As the fire burned higher, hotter, he danced around the stone circle.

The oddity of a naked man dancing in the forest snapped me out of my trance. I began to get nervous. I glanced at the eastern horizon, but the sky was still pink. Not a sliver of silver to be found.