Riley's Redemption (A Moon's Glow Novel) (4 page)

By the time I left for
the day, I was exhausted.

“Hey Meg,” Nate called
from the kitchen when I got home. He was stirring something in a large pot that
smelled like tomato sauce. I hoped he was making pasta. I was in the mood for
something hearty and comforting. He glanced up at me and the small smile on his
face faded. “Hard day?” he asked.

I tossed my bag on the
couch and fell into the soft cushions. “It started out fine, but the damn stove
got the better of me.”

He set the lid back on
the pot and poured broad noodles into a smaller one. The water bubbled and
steam floated up into the air. “Did it show up?”

“Finally,” I answered
with a tired sigh.

He opened the fridge,
pulling out a soda and walked toward me. He handed me the cold can and sat down
on the couch next to me. Setting his hands on my shoulders he began to rub.
“Ahhh…” I almost purred, his hands felt so good. All the tension from my busy
day floated away.

“I tried to call you a
while ago to ask if you were on your way, but it just went to voicemail.”

Damn,
my phone.
“The battery is dead and it’s charging in my office. I forgot about it.”
Oh,
crap. I forgot to return my calls.
After the stove was out of the way, I
had a few more disasters to smooth out. One of the residents kids had gotten
into a fight at school and his mother was having a fit. He had a black eye and
a bloody nose and he wouldn’t speak. His mother kept asking, very emotionally,
what had happened and he just shut down. In order to smooth things over I took
him to the bathroom in my office and cleaned his face. While I wiped the
sticky, dried blood I told him how my parents used to ignore me and that he was
lucky to have a mother that cared about him. He then spat out that yes she cared,
but he would give anything to be rich like me. That’s when I knew what had
started the fight. A stupid kid was teasing him because he and his mother were
poor. I told him about waking up almost every Christmas morning with lots of
toys, but no parents. I told him all the sad stories I could think of. Then I
added that his mother loved him and she was working hard to make his life
better. He might not have been smiling when he left, but at least the scowl he
had come in with was nowhere in sight.

Letting my thoughts
slip away, I allowed myself to enjoy the healing hands of my new husband as he
kneaded and rubbed the kinks from my shoulders. When the pasta pot started to
boil over, he jumped up. The couch suddenly felt empty from his quick
departure.

“
Crap
,” he
mumbled as he patted a towel on the stove’s surface trying to soak up the water
that had spilled over. “If we want to eat tonight, I better stay away from
you.” He winked at me from his position in the kitchen. “You’re very
distracting.”

I grinned before
opening my soda. Brown fizz floated up and I sipped it from the top of the can.

Once dinner was ready
and we had sat down to eat I remembered the notebook I found this morning.
“Um…Nate,” I began nervously. He had the book hidden and I was worried of how
he would react when he heard that I had looked through it.

He was shoveling a big
forkful of pasta into his mouth and his eyes looked up through his lashes.
“Hmm?” was all he managed with his mouth full.

I swished my fork
through the noodles on my plate feeling anxious of his reaction. “I found your
notebook in under the mattress. Why didn’t you tell me you were looking for
Isaiah?” Now that the words were out, I felt better about what I had done. He
didn’t need to hide things and he knew I hated it when he lied to me.

He gulped his food down
and sat up in his chair. His face washed in what appeared to be guilt. “Until I
know what his name even means I didn’t want to mention it to anyone.”

I understood that, but
still felt a pang of hurt that he hadn’t discussed it with me. I was his wife,
his werewolf mate for life. We were supposed to share everything. But Nate had
this problem of taking on the weight of the world alone in order to protect the
people he loved. When would he learn that I was his partner now and he didn’t
have to carry everything alone? “Why are you even looking? You can’t trust
anything Charlotte said.” Finally, I stopped playing with my food and began to
eat it.

Nate nodded. “I know,
but I can’t help but feel it’s important. It is not interfering in our life.”

“Nate, you don’t have
to defend what you’re doing. I’m your wife, not your mother.”

He smiled, his vivid
blue eyes lighting up. “I know, but I felt guilty, doing it without discussing
it with you.”
Good
, I thought selfishly.

I dropped my fork onto
the oak table and gazed at him. “You know you can tell me anything.” I reached
out and covered his hand with mine. “I’ll help if you want.”

His smile widened and
he opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when the portable phone
started to ring. Since I was closer I leaned over to reach the end table,
picked it up and hit the talk button. “Hello?”

“Meg! Why the hell
haven’t you returned my call?” Adrian’s voice was filled with frustration.

Guilt washed over me,
at the sound of his voice. “I’m sorry. I’ve had quite a day; I forgot. What’s
wrong?”

“I need you. Can you
come out here?”

Arrangements

I glanced at Nate
unsure what to do. I really wanted to help Adrian. He was my friend and he had
been there for me when I first turned into a werewolf. He helped me at a time
when I felt lost and alone and I desperately wanted to return the favor. I knew
how important it was for him to find his sister and had offered to help every
time he called me, but now was not a good time. I was right in the middle of
the construction and I had just gotten back from our honeymoon. On top of all
of that, our reception was a week and a half away. “Why, what’s going on?”

“I’m in a small nowhere
town called Marksville, outside of Sacramento. I tracked Marisa here and once
again she disappeared. But now I know she’s being intentionally kept from me.”

“How?”

“I found a picture from
her old school in Philadelphia and have been passing it around. Yesterday a man
in a deli recognized it. He told me that he often saw her coming and going into
the apartment complex across the street. I sat down to watch for her through
the window, showing her picture to other patrons in the restaurant. A few hours
later I found another lead. Someone mentioned that the girl went to a nearby
school. I left for an hour or so to check it out and when I came back I smelled
Marisa’s scent in the street. I had just missed her. I followed it into the
building and broke into an apartment. It was empty. They were gone.”

“Did you smell any
other scents with your sisters?”

“Yes, there was one,
but I don’t recognize it. There was something strange about it.”

His voice sounded odd,
like he was hiding something from me, but I didn’t push him. “I’m so sorry
about all of that. How can I help?”

He sighed into the
phone and the line crackled in my ear. “I’m thinking that two noses will be
better than just mine. That way if I leave to go look at another lead you could
stay with the first one.”

I was silent as I
glared at Nate, mouthing the words, “What should I do?” Nate might have heard
what Adrian had said, but he looked confused with what I was saying. “Can I
call you back? I’ll talk to Nate and get back to you.”

Adrian sighed again,
his frustration loud and clear through the phone line. “Yes, but I’m getting
tired of the constant, almost. I am so fed up with nearly finding her.” The
pain in his voice broke my heart and I knew before I hung up what I was going
to do. He needed me and I couldn’t let him down. I just didn’t know how to make
it happen.

“You’re leaving aren’t
you?” Nate asked, once I sat the phone down. He pushed his empty plate away
from him and leaned his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his hand.

I smiled
apologetically. “Do you want to come with me?”

“Of course I do, but I
don’t think I can get away.”

I tapped my finger on
the edge of my plate, creating a clinking sound. “I’m not sure I can either,
we’re right in the middle of the renovation and I just got back from a week
away. I’m not sure Julia will be happy about this. I can’t keep shoving all the
work onto her.” I grimaced, the idea of leaving right now seemed impossible.
But, I couldn’t say no to Adrian either what he was doing was too important.

“That’s why we hired
Evie. Besides, I’ll still be here if Julia has any issues she can’t handle.” He
sat back in his chair, his arm resting on his knee. “I miss it there and this
will give me a chance to see some of the residents, if I recognize anyone.” He
volunteered when he could, but the store took up a lot of his time.

I blew out a breath and
closed my eyes. I wasn’t sure what to do. Guilt over my constant disappearances
flowed over me like a tsunami. I couldn’t ask Julia to take over again, but I
needed to help Adrian. He was a very good friend and I had offered my help many
times. I couldn’t turn him down when he finally decided to take me up on it.
Besides, I knew that if I needed help he’d drop everything to come to my aid.
The answer was clear. I knew what I had to do.

“Julia will
understand,” Nate said quietly, as if he knew the struggle going through my
mind. I opened my eyes to see a comforting grin on his face. His image was like
looking at the sun. It filled me with warmth and I was awed by it. His love and
understanding was never ending and at times I was overwhelmed.

I shoved my chair back
with a
squawk
against the linoleum and headed into the bedroom. I wanted
privacy to make my next call. Not that I didn’t trust Nate, I did with all my
heart. I just didn’t want an audience while I once again threw all of the work
onto my friends. I dialed Julia’s personal number which I had used many times.
“Hello?”

“Hey, Julia. Are you
busy?” My voice wavered a tiny bit. I just hoped she didn’t notice. I paced the
carpeted floor and stood in front of the patio doors looking out at the gray
overcast evening. The sun had slipped behind the horizon, leaving the sky dull
and dreary. It wasn’t raining yet, but I had heard on the drive home that it
was in the forecast.

“No, just doing the
dishes. Is there something wrong? Did Evie not show up?” Julia had left the
shelter before I did. And
I
only did once Evie relieved me.

“No, as far as I know,
everything is fine at the shelter.”

She breathed a sigh of
relief as a dog barked in the background. “Good. So what’s up?”

I sighed. “Adrian
called.”

“Did he finally take
you up on your offer?” She knew he was searching for his sister, she just
didn’t know the werewolf aspect of it. I had fibbed a tiny bit by telling her
that the police were looking into it also.

“He did. He needs an extra
pair of eyes. But I’m not sure if I should go.”

“Why? He’s your friend
and you’ve been telling him for months that you wanted to help.”

“Because, I hate that I
keep leaving the shelter and piling everything into your hands.”

She was quiet for a few
seconds and there was a muffled noise over the phone like she was moving
around. “Megan, I know how much you love the shelter and for the last six
months you’ve thrown yourself into it. Besides your honeymoon, you’ve worked
constantly. I was the one who bailed on you in February.” By ‘bailed’ she meant
got sick. Her doctors had discovered tumors on her ovaries and they had to be
removed. She was off for six weeks.

I turned away from the
patio door and sat down on the edge of the bed, the springs groaned with my
added weight. “I don’t think recovering from surgery constitutes as bailing on
us.”

“Whatever.” She
responded dismissively. “Things happen in life that you can’t predict. It’s
fine. Evie and Lilly can help. Besides, I heard that Eddie was on break from
school and was going to put in some hours.” Eddie was an old volunteer I had
become friends with when I first started at the shelter and later he became
Lilly’s boyfriend.

Although I felt some
relief from her words the guilt would not leave my mind. “Are you sure?” I
asked hesitantly but also feeling relieved. I needed to do this and it was a
comfort that there would be no hard feelings that I was leaving again.

“Of course and if I
need you I’ll call.”

I crossed a leg up over
my knee and leaned back on the bed. “Definitely, and call Nate as well, he’s
not coming with me.”

“He’s not?” The shock
in her voice was obvious. We had been inseparable before our marriage. You’d
think it would be even more so now. I didn’t want to leave him, but if he
couldn’t come, I wouldn’t force him. It wasn’t for long anyway. I hoped with my
extra werewolf senses that we would find Adrian’s sister in no time. And if
not, Nate could join us when he had the time.

“No, he can’t get away
from work right now. But hopefully I won’t be long.”

“When are you leaving?”

“I’m not sure, but as
soon as I can. Can you call Anna back and tell her we have no rooms right now?
She called yesterday and left a message.” A thought popped in my head. “Damn,
my phone. I left it at the office today. I’ll have to pick it up.”

“Well, come by on your
way out of town. I’ll see you if I’m there, if not, I hope you find her.”

“Thanks Julia, for
everything.” My heart warmed as I thought of all she had done for me and the
shelter. She really was a great person.

“You’re welcome and
don’t worry about us.”

I smiled as I hung up
and stepped out of the room.

“Everything okay?” Nate
asked as he set a bowl into the sink, the dish
thumped
against the empty
stainless steel basin.

I grabbed my half eaten
plate off of the table and moved to the garbage where I began scraping my pasta
inside. My appetite had disappeared. The fork screeched with each scrape and I
cringed at the sound. “Yes. I felt so guilty though. But she reassured me that
everything would be fine and she was truly okay that I was leaving again.” I
placed my dishes into the dishwasher and turned to give him a quick peck on the
lips. “Do you mind if I head into the bedroom, to make arrangements.” I glanced
at the pots on the stove and the bread that still sat out on the table.

“Not at all, I can
handle the cleanup.”

I smiled sadly, feeling
an emptiness start to take over my insides. I was leaving him for a while and I
hated the idea of our separation.

In the bedroom, I
turned on my laptop and called Adrian. He told me where to fly to and I
promised to call back with my itinerary.

Once all the plans were
made and I had given them to Adrian, I slipped back out into the living room.
Nate was staring into his own laptop and one glance told me what I wanted to know.
His laptop was open to a social page for none other than Isaiah King. This man
was young, a student at the university of Colorado. Nate’s face was focused as
he read the man’s profile. “Not him?” I asked as I plopped down on the sofa
next to him, sinking in to the soft cushions.

He jumped, surprised to
see me sitting next to him. He was so engrossed in his task that he hadn’t
heard or scented my approach. “What did you say?”

I pointed to the screen
in front of him. “I said, I guess that is not him?”

He shrugged. “I have no
idea. Since I don’t exactly know what I’m looking for.” I could see the
frustration in his eyes. I reached out and placed my hand on his.

“If it’s that important
to you, why don’t you just ask Joe? He is her brother.”

He shook his head,
closing the web browser and then the screen. “I don’t want to tell anyone until
I know what the name means.”

I reached up and
touched his face, gazing into his vivid blue eyes. “It could mean nothing.”

“I know.” He smiled,
leaning into my touch. A few seconds later he lifted his head and my hand
dropped. “Did you iron out your plans?”

“Yes, I’m booked for
the ten o’clock flight to Sacramento in the morning. Can you drive me?”

His smile faded as he
leaned closer, his hot breath brushed my cheeks. “I’ll miss you.”

I breathed in his
scent, knowing it would be one of the last times I would smell it for a while.
My heart lurched at just the thought of leaving him. “Me too,” I whispered,
leaning my forehead against his. “But I have to do this. If someone is keeping
Marisa from Adrian, he needs all the help he can get. She is his only family.
You of all people know the importance of family.”

He nodded in agreement.
“I’ll meet you there if I can.” His voice was soft and low, filled with
emotion. We hadn’t been separated since he bit me six months ago. I had felt
his loss every second I was away from him. And since then, we’ve been
inseparable. This was different though; we weren’t fighting. I was just helping
a friend.

“You don’t need to.
I’ll be fine.”

He lifted his head and
gazed into my eyes. “I know, but I want to help too, if I can. I have a meeting
in two days that I can’t get out of. After that I’ll join you, wherever you
are.”

I smiled, feeling
excited that he would be there. I had a feeling Adrian and I would need all the
help we could get. It was surprising that after six months a werewolf still
couldn’t find what he was searching for. “Great, I’ll keep you updated on our
progress. I just hope that we find her sooner rather than later.”

He nodded. “The whole
situation is odd. As a werewolf, Adrian should have found his sister long ago,
even if someone was deliberately moving her just when he catches her scent. It
can’t be a human, how would they know he was onto them?’

“You think a werewolf
has had her all this time?”

He shrugged, standing
up and holding his hand out for me to take. “Charlotte was involved and it’s
the only explanation that makes sense.”

I placed my hand in
his, warmth enveloping my fingers. “Well, this should be an interesting trip
then.”

He didn’t answer as he
pulled me up off the sofa and into the bedroom.