Riley's Torment, A Moon's Glow Novel #2

A Moon’s Glow
Novel #2

Christina
Smith

Published by
Christina Smith

Smashwords
edition

Copyright ©2013
Christina Smith

Cover art © by
Stephanie Mooney. All rights reserved.

http://mooneydesigns.net/

Edited by
Christina Hickey at Ensconced in YA.

http://cahreviews.blogspot.com

Fated Dreams
(Book one in the Affinity Series)

Delusions (Book
two in the Affinity Series)

Riley’s Curse,
A Moon’s Glow Prequel

Riley’s
Secret #1, A Moon’s Glow Novel

Finding
Abigail- an adult suspense romance for ages 18 and up

This
ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may
not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to
share this book with another person, please purchase an additional
copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not
purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please
return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the
hard work of this author.

This book is a
work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or
places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters
are productions of the author’s imagination and used
fictitiously

For Brad, my
loving husband, friend, and sounding board.

The wind
was crisp and cool as he watched the young woman on the porch. It
was past nightfall, and the shadows had slithered their way over
the horizon, sucking all the light from
the sky. But he could see her perfectly through
the branches that gave him cover. Her eyes darted around, scanning
the night. Was the darkness making her anxious? Or was it the
immense forest that loomed at the edge of the yard before
her?

She gazed
toward the tall trees as though she was considering entering the
lush woodland. At the sound of an eerie howl, she looked away.
Instead, she picked up the book she had discarded minutes before
and began to read by the light that shone from the porch lamp. Her
long, silky hair hung like a veil around the book, hiding her face
from view. He longed to brush it back, so he could see those
beautiful green eyes and the freckles that dotted her soft skin.
Thankfully, the words didn’t hold her attention for very long,
because her gaze continued to roam towards the forest.

She stood up,
leaving the book on the bench, and wandered to the railing, leaning
over to get a better view of the woods. She squinted in the
direction of the trees and bushes. The branches swayed gently in a
gust of wind that blew strands of hair into her face. She stepped
down from the porch and crept cautiously to the edge of the
woods.

A crow cawed
from an oak tree above her, and she jumped, spinning in its
direction. There were lots of noises out in the woods. Was she
going to jump at every sound? The crickets and frogs croaked
noisily. A splash in the lake behind her had her spinning around in
time to see a bird dive in the water. Her strawberry colored hair
flew around her face.

At night, the
darkness took on an infinite, inky blackness. The shadows turned
simple trees and animals into sinister creatures. Since he was one
of those creatures, he understood her fear.

Holding her
hand to her heart, she took a deep breath and peered into the trees
at the path where he had entered earlier. Once again, she was
startled by the simplest of sounds. This time it was a squirrel and
a chipmunk scurrying through the underbrush. Giving up, she turned
around to head back into the house.

The sound of
his deep growl behind her had her freezing in place. She whirled
around and saw him. He sat at the edge of the trees on his hind
legs, watching her. His body was large; he was probably the biggest
wolf the girl had ever seen. His paws were the size of human hands
with long sharp claws. He growled, and his glassy eyes focused only
on her as he took a step forward.

The young woman
was about to back away when she noticed the blood that was dripping
from his long pointed teeth.

“Damn it, Nate,
did you eat?” Her face clouded with annoyance, and she spun on her
heels, away from the wolf, storming off into the direction of the
cottage.

A hand rested
on the girl’s shoulder, stopping her just as she reached the steps.
“It was just a little bunny,” Nate explained, wearing the t-shirt
and jeans she had left out for him.

“Well, you
better not have spoiled your appetite. I made you dinner,” Megan
replied with a smirk.

He grinned as
he leaned down to kiss her.

I was having
the dream again. I hadn’t had it since I was in grade school. It
always began the same way, with my parents and me at the breakfast
table, eating. My father’s nose was in a legal brief, and my mother
was engrossed in a fashion magazine. I had asked my father for a
ride to school, and he never looked up. I asked again and still
nothing. I gave up on him and turned to my mother, telling her that
I needed a permission slip signed for a field trip at school.
Instead of answering, she licked her fingers and used them to turn
the pages, her long platinum tresses draping around her face. I
yelled at her to answer, and yet she continually ignored me. I
gazed at my parents, fighting back the tears that burned in my
eyes, and as I looked down at my hands, they began to fade away. A
panicked inspection over the rest of my body showed me why they
were ignoring me. I was disappearing from view. My voice had
suddenly stopped, and when I tried to scream out for help, nothing
came. I had actually become as my parents always thought of
me—invisible.

Light kisses on
each fingertip woke me from the disturbing dream, and I instantly
felt relief. I was with the man that would always see me. With
Nate, I would feel loved and cherished forever. It brought a smile
to my face as I opened my heavy eyelids. His intense blue eyes
looked down at me as he hovered above the bed. He was already
dressed for work, and he bent over, holding my hand.

“Good morning,”
he said softly, with a breathtaking smile.

I grinned
sleepily at him and sat up. “Are you leaving already?” I asked,
tucking a few stray strands of hair behind my ear.

He let go of my
hand and stood up. His charcoal gray suit was creased at the top of
his legs. His bright red tie was a pop of color that brightened his
face.

“Yes, we have
an early meeting. But I’ll be home in plenty of time for our
dinner.”

It was our
sixth month anniversary, and I wanted to do something special. I
had the whole night planned out for weeks. But all he knew was not
to eat ahead of time. “You’d better be. I don’t get a chance to
cook for you that often.”

His lips
twitched as if he wanted to laugh or make a joke, but he knew
better to start that this early in the morning. “It’s seven
o’clock; don’t you have to be at the shelter at eight?”

I jumped out of
bed. “Crap, why didn’t you wake me?”

“You looked so
peaceful, I didn’t have the heart.” He reached out for my hand and
pulled me in close, his lips touching mine.

“You might not
want to do that when you smell my morning breath,” I whispered
against his lips.

“I think I can
suffer through it,” he said with laughter in his voice. He kissed
me deeply, his hands roaming the back of the oversized t-shirt I
wore to bed. I was getting lost in his kiss until an image of two
little boys flashed in my mind. I had to get to work. I had a new
family that I was interviewing today. Anna, the social worker that
usually advised the Riley House, had sent over their pictures, and
those eyes had stayed with me. There were a few people that wanted
the room that Mr. Daniels was vacating in a week, but I really
wanted to give it to the boy’s family. But first, I had to go
through the review process. The problem was, we didn’t have enough
rooms, and I had been thinking of a solution for that. I just had
to finish up my research and run it by Julia and Nate.

I pulled away
from Nate as much as I hated to. But I had to hurry if I was going
to make my meeting. “You’d better get to work,” I whispered, out of
breath.

He nuzzled my
neck, and then stood up. “You’re right. I can’t wait until tonight
when I can have you in my arms again.”

A giggle
escaped my lips at his words. I had never felt as loved as I did
each moment I was with him.

He reluctantly
left after another kiss.

Without the
hunky werewolf to distract me, I took a deep breath to calm my
racing heart and then slipped into the shower. It didn’t take me
long. I blow-dried my hair, put it up in a messy bun, and then
slapped on some makeup. I picked out a black tight fitting
pantsuit. I wanted to look professional and older, but not too
fancy. I was meeting with families down on their luck, and I didn’t
want them to feel uncomfortable. With a quick spritz of my ginger
body spray, I was off.

I ate a granola
bar in the car while I thought about the three families I would be
seeing today. I had taken over running the charity when we
graduated high school, and Nate started working full time at
Riley's Department store. Julia had run the charity off and on for
years and could probably do it without me, but she had told me
often enough that she really appreciated my help. When we first
met, she had recognized something in me that she herself had felt
on her first day. It was the need to help others. I had been
searching for a purpose without really knowing it, and after one
day at the shelter, I had found it.

I was lost
before I met Nate. Before him, I hung out with shallow snobs that
only liked me for my money and my family’s prestige. One night my
so-called friends had started a fire by setting off fireworks, and
I was the only one who cared enough to see if the family was okay.
And for my trouble, I was accused of starting the fire and given
two hundred hours of community service at Riley House—where I ran
into Nate. We didn't hit it off immediately though. He thought I
had something to do with the fire and was continuously rude to me.
But that didn't take away from how much I loved working there.
Getting a chance to help others awakened something inside me, and I
finally felt fulfilled. So when Nate was wanted at the store, his
family’s business, I jumped at the chance to take his old job,
training the new volunteers. There was also office work involved,
and I loved it. Helping residents find work and places to live was
my favorite part. In the few months I had been working there, this
was the first time that I would have to choose between three
candidates. The people that our social worker selected had always
been easy to choose, but this time, it was between three deserving
families that were down on their luck through no fault of their
own. It was going to be the hardest decision I’d ever have to make,
and I was beginning to feel sick to my stomach.

As I stopped at
a stop light, I glanced at the rear-view mirror where a black sedan
was stopped as well. While I waited for red to turn green, I
thought over the idea I had been working on since I started the
job. I wanted to expand Riley House to add a few more rooms but was
afraid with the zoning we’d run into problems, and I was right.
Apparently, you couldn’t build too close to the property line, and
there wasn’t enough space at the back of the lot. When I had
discussed it with Nate, all he said was that we couldn’t help
everyone, even though from the look in his eyes, I knew he wanted
to.

Finally, green
shone above me, and I moved into traffic once again. I turned on
Willow in the direction of the shelter. I noticed the black sedan
make the same move. When Addison Avenue came into view, butterflies
bounced inside my stomach at the thought of what my day held.
Minutes later, I pulled into the back lot at the shelter and parked
next to Julia. Once I had climbed out, I spun around, vaguely
noticing the black sedan now parked on the street. I wondered if it
belonged to one of people I was meeting with. I doubted it though.
The car was new and shiny, and the groups I was working with
wouldn’t be able to afford it.

I started
thinking about parking space. The parking lot was large enough and
far enough from the property line to add more rooms. I’d just have
to figure out another parking situation. Although the neighborhood
was a residential zone, we were able to stay since we were a
non-profit organization. But when I started talking to officials
about expanding, they started spewing out technical words that I
didn’t understand. I sighed, thinking again about having to turn
away two families, and spun on my heels to head in. Out of the
corner of my eye, I spotted a for sale sign on the house next door.
Happiness soared through me. Were my prayers answered? I quickly
noted the name of the real estate agent and rushed inside.