Children of the Moon: Book Four Read online

  “Seriously,” Leo perked up, “You want to give me a job?”

  “I am very serious, I could really use an extra pair of hands for at least the next few months. It doesn’t pay much, but it will be enough to help you get back on your feet and you will both have free room and board with Bree and Nate for now. Later on, you may be able to stay here for a while if we clean it up a bit, at least until someone buys or rents it.”

  “Thank you, I would love it and I won’t let you down, I promise,” Leo said, sticking out his hand for her to shake.

  “I know you won’t, Leo.” she smiled and clasped his hand firmly in hers.

  They packed up the rest of his and Cassie’s meager belongings in a small box and he followed Bree out to his truck to put it in beside the rest.

  Kandis stayed back for a moment and looked around the small cabin, a kernel of an idea already forming in her mind. She pulled out her notebook to locate the detailed notes for this cabin and smiled to herself before she closed the door again and jumped into the passenger seat beside Bree. India was riding shotgun with Leo in his old boneshaker and he followed them back down the mountain toward the townhouse.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Nate

  He heard Leo’s old truck coming around the back and parking in front of the garage. If the kid was going to be riding around in that he was going to need a mechanic to at least make sure it was safe. He was also much too young to be driving, but at least he could get a learner’s permit on his birthday and hopefully Cassie would pull through and be able to drive them around when she was well enough. He picked up his cell phone and went into the office for some privacy to make his calls.

  When he came back Bree had made coffee and was urging Leo to eat some brownies that she put on the table with some chocolate chip cookies and a lemon drizzle cake. She was doing her best to fatten him up and Nate suppressed a grin, Bree would win this one or die trying. She was pedantic for such a tiny little package.

  “Leo, we can’t have you driving around town illegally, at least not when there is still a fairly large human population living on the mountain. One of us will need to be with you from now on, the last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves.”

  “I can walk up and down the mountain, it’s no big deal, I was doing it most days, taking pictures anyway.” he shrugged. “Cassie was driving until recently and then she became too weak.”

  “Stay with Cassie for now and when she is feeling better I can drop you off at the top of the mountain each day and you can work your way back down again until you are old enough to get your learners permit.”

  Leo seemed to be happy with the arrangement and he took a soda and went back upstairs to sit with his sister. The others were outside on the patio laughing at something Liam said.

  “I’m going into Bear Falls for a couple of hours with India and Kandis. Hope and Rylee have some errands to run and Rafe is going to take over again sitting with Cassie now that he is awake. Leo and Cassie still need some things and we want to make them as comfortable as possible.” Bree said kissing him firmly on the lips.

  “I can’t wait until we have the house back to ourselves, darlin.” Nate pulled her against him and she snuggled into his arms, loving his scent and the warmth and comfort of his arms around her. Reluctantly she pulled away when Kandis and India came back inside.

  “Ready, Bree?” India asked with a smirk.

  “How about we bring in some takeout for dinner and have everyone come here tonight?” Bree suggested and everyone agreed.

  “There is a really good Chinese restaurant in Bear Falls if that suits everyone, I have eaten there several times in the past. Just get a selection of dishes and we can lay them out buffet style.” Nate added.

  “We will do that on the way home, ask the others to be here by seven.” Bree kissed him again and took his truck keys from the countertop. “I need the space in the truck.”

  He watched them pull out onto the street and went back inside to join Garrett, Liam and Jay and try to get some work done on the move.

  The final plans were delivered to him an hour ago and they cleared the dining table and rolled them out. There was one of the entire mountain with the property lines, cabins and parcels of land marked out and another of the homes and businesses in the small town. He had asked for several copies of each and he rolled the spares together and put them aside for now.

  “I will pin these two on the wall of Rylee’s new office. They will be out of sight of everyone else and Kandis will have a base to work from when she is here. Rylee can share my office, for now, it’s fairly quiet at this time of year and both of us don’t need to be here at the same time.”

  They gathered around as Nate took small green peelable stickers and stuck one on each cabin or home that they had acquired already, a pink one for the ones in process and a red for the ones that didn’t want to sell. He used blue for the ones they had no decision on yet. He repeated the process with the businesses and homes in town and spread them out side by side for a visual comparison.

  There are only two reds on the whole of the mountain but we still have six blues that we need to follow up with. There are more reds in the town but that’s not such a problem as long as the mountain is secure.” Nate continued. “We knew that this would take a little time and we just need to be patient.”

  “Kandis is meeting with the daughter of one of the mountain cabin owners tomorrow. Her father owns the cabin and doesn’t want to sell but she does, so let's see what happens there. The other one is a hard no at the moment but Kandis can be very persuasive, give her time to do the job.” Liam could barely hide his pride when he spoke of his mate.

  “I think she has done an amazing job so far.” Jay added, “I have every confidence that she will get the others too, as Nate says, we just have to be patient. There is no reason why the cabins can’t be occupied or built on the vacant lots, we just need to be careful not to get complacent as long as there are humans around.”

  “I agree,” Garrett said. “We live fairly close to the town at the compound and we have always managed to keep to ourselves. We now own the farmhouse and all the surrounding land and forest. If this man refuses to sell we will just have to monitor his whereabouts and post guards when the pack is running, until we can eventually persuade him to sell up.”

  “It’s actually a woman, Kandis thinks she is about thirty years old and she also owns a small herbalist store in town. She will be the toughest nut to crack but everyone has a price so we will carry on without her for now and revisit it at a later date.” Nate stood back to view the plans again.

  “There is a lot of green on there, much more than there was a month ago.” Jay smiled.

  “Have you managed to get any more information on the police station, Jay?”

  “Yes, as soon as we add another few hundred to the town population I can officially become the new chief. There are three officers here already but through my network, I will find new positions for each of them, one at a time. I have a young shifter cousin who has a few years’ experience in the military police who would love to join us and I will have to find another two suitable candidates, maybe he will know of others. I would also like to train a few rookies from among the young people in the compound.”

  Rafe came downstairs and poured some coffee and took a seat.

  “How is Cassie?” Nate asked.

  “No visible change yet, but her heart is strong and her blood smells cleaner, it will just take time. I am more confident than I was yesterday that she will pull through.”

  They brought him up to speed on the house and land purchases and the problems they were having and Jay asked if he had given any more thought to where he wanted the clinic to be.

  “Initially we were going to site it out on the farm but I think this might be a better option for us in the long run.” he pointed to a building on the town plan that was on the other end of the block from Nate’s office and townhouse.

  “Tha
t used to be a doctor’s office but it closed last year. I have been in there snooping around and it’s a fair size. There wasn’t enough business to keep them open but I think it would be perfect for you if you can make it viable.” Nate said.

  “For me, it’s not about making a ton of money, it’s about providing a service to the pack and we can also accommodate shifters from neighboring packs too,” Rafe added.

  “You would run the risk of the human population from neighboring towns coming to the practice too for treatment,” Garrett said.

  “I have no problem treating humans, I am qualified, or if we wanted to discourage them, we would just have to say ‘Not accepting new patients’ at this time. However, I think the other businesses will reap the benefits from the people in the neighboring towns, this is no different, we just have to keep them off the mountain.” Rafe added.

  “I agree with Rafe on this. We want the human population spending their money in the town, we just don’t need them living here. Especially in the summer, the businesses could make enough to keep them afloat for the rest of the year. The pack is used to hiding their true nature from the rest of the population and the little kids' school will be out at the farm, a human-free zone like the mountain.” Liam stood up and walked around. “We could have a curfew on closing times which would get them out of the area before sundown, giving us a little more freedom.”

  “That sounds like something we could work with,” Jay said. Most of the shops would close at sixish anyway but the diner and grocery store may want to stay open later. We need to talk to all of the potential business owners and get their thoughts on that.”

  Rafe stood up to go back to his patient when Leo came running downstairs, his face flushed.

  “Cassie is awake!”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Bree

  They had three carts, overflowing with basic household items, new bedding and towels and some more clothes for Cassie and Leo. Bree knew he would be embarrassed that they were doing this for them, it’s why she didn’t tell him what they were doing. Anyway, it was all Kandis’ idea, she smirked to herself.

  They packed everything in the back and put the cover on the bed of the truck before they went to pick up their Chinese food. Bree had called in their order a little earlier so it should be ready for them.

  “You must be feeding thirty people with this amount of food,” the young girl said as she took Bree’s credit card and she just smiled and nodded. It was less than half of that but she could hardly explain that to her without raising some eyebrows.

  She pulled into the rear of the townhouse and the light was on and the back door was open already. Liam and Garrett came outside and carried the bags of food in and Nate had set drinks, plates and silverware along the length of the countertops.

  Leo couldn’t wait to tell them that his sister had woken up briefly but was now asleep again as Rafe had given her a mild sedative to last through until morning. He said that the more she slept the quicker she would heal. Bree ordered him to sit down and eat before he went back upstairs to sit with Cassie again. She hoped this was a good sign that she was truly on the mend.

  Hope and Rylee were also back at the townhouse and a little nod from her sister told Bree that she and Rylee had also completed their tasks and that they could all finish their plans for the cabin in the morning.

  They washed their hands and opened the dishes and helped themselves to the selection of noodles, rice, chicken, shrimp and beef dishes laid out before them. A huge pile of egg rolls, crab rangoons and dipping sauces were in the middle of the table and everyone tucked in.

  “Where are the babies?” Bree asked looking around.

  “Anjelica didn't want Chinese food so the little ones are asleep and she and Kali are having pizza again and watching Disney movies at the cabin. I was going to stay with them but Garret and Liam insisted I come and eat with you first” Roisin smiled.

  “Anjelica is as capable as someone twice her age,” Kandis insisted and India nodded her agreement. If the babies’ mothers were comfortable with the teen looking after their kids then no one else had room to complain, she was a natural and had tons of experience looking after her nieces and nephews.

  Bree helped herself to another plateful of the mouthwatering food and scarfed it down before sitting back in her chair with a contented sigh and holding her full stomach. Everyone around the table looked as bloated as she was.

  “That was delicious, we will definitely eat their food again,” she said.

  Nate grinned at his mate.

  “We hung the plans in Rylee’s office, it is great to see everything together and shows how much work everyone has put into this already, especially Kandis,” Nate said to her. “You should all take a look while we clear away the dishes and make some coffee.”

  Bree ushered the other women down the corridor to the offices and they went inside the smaller of the two that was now officially Rylee’s workspace.

  The two large drawings had been pinned to the longest wall, side by side with the sheets of stickers pinned beside them and Kandis went closer and studied it carefully, adding another green sticker to the last cottage on the edge of town.

  “I only found out about this one today, they are keen to sell so that they can move closer to the husband's job in the city.” she smiled and stood back to have another look.

  “If Rafe is serious about his clinic being in the old doctor’s offices that would only leave two businesses on this side of the street to worry about.” Kandis peeled a blue sticker off the sheet and wrote Rafe’s name and stuck it on the sheet.

  “There aren’t too many red stickers on here Kandis,” India said.

  “It’s going much better than I ever anticipated it would, but we still need to face the fact that some people will not want to sell. If it’s a home or business in town that will be easier to handle as we will still have privacy between the farm and the mountain but I have a feeling that we may have trouble with the woman in the second cabin. The first one has to persuade her father to sell and it may take a little time, but I think she will succeed, the second is a younger woman, probably late twenties, but isn’t interested in any way.”

  “What cabin does she own?” Bree asked.

  “This one here on the lower part of the mountain facing the river.” Kandis pointed to it on the map, “It’s a lovely cabin, surrounded by trees and she has an amazing garden, I don’t wholly blame her for not wanting to sell, but we can’t have even one human on the mountain or we don’t have the privacy the pack needs to live our lives freely.”

  “Have you met her face to face yet?” India asked.

  “No, I am meeting the first one tomorrow, her name is Jane and I think she just needs a little time to get her father on board, but I thought I might just walk over to the other cabin too and introduce myself, see what we are dealing with.” Kandis sighed, twisting her long braid around her hand.

  “I could go with you, see how truthful she is.” India offered.

  “I think that would be helpful, India, better to know what we are dealing with from the start,” she said with a smile. “What still needs to be done at the small cabin for Leo and Cassie?”

  “It’s been thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom and we left the windows open to air it out and get rid of the smell of bleach. We also put a rollaway bed beneath the one in the alcove so that Leo has somewhere better than the sofa to sleep on,” Rylee said.

  “We bought two new sets of bedding for them as well as towels and a ton of other things. We will get up there first thing and get it all set up,” Bree added.

  “The sale of the cabin is going through and should be ours in a few days. The owners don’t want anything from the house so we can discard what we don’t want to keep. I thought about having a place to keep all the unwanted furniture and other things we are clearing out of the cabins, some other pack members may want or need them. We should also keep it from Leo until we know for sure it's sold,” Kandis said. />
  “Are the pack buying it or are you?” India asked her.

  “I am, or rather we are, Liam thought it was a good idea too. it is fairly cheap and it will either give them a helping hand or it will be an investment for us. I will offer Cassie and Leo the same deal that we are giving Zac and Bethany. An interest-free loan that they can pay back over time so that they can own the property eventually. Or if they are more comfortable, they can rent it from us. For now, they can live here for free until Cassie is well enough to work again and they both get back on their feet.”

  “That’s very generous and sweet of you, Kandis,” Rylee said but she shrugged it off.

  “Anyone would do the same thing,” she answered but Bree knew that they wouldn’t, Kandis had a soft spot for Leo and his sister, same as she had with the other youngsters they rescued from the hunters, she was a marshmallow inside.

  “I wonder if it would be possible to put a small mezzanine like the one in Seann’s cabin, Leo and Cassie will both need a little privacy eventually,” India added.

  “I considered that too but Liam thinks we should put an upstairs with a staircase. There is room for two small bedrooms and a bathroom up there and getting rid of the bed in the alcove would give them a little more living room downstairs. It would be cheaper than them buying a larger cabin and they wouldn’t have to move again for a while. I think that would be a lifeline to two kids who have been pushed around and been on the run most of their young lives. Roots will be important to them.”

  Bree kept her mouth closed because she couldn’t find it in her to tease Kandis about something that was so selfless and kind.

  “We will meet you up there tomorrow morning and get it all finished up. Hope and I will go to the grocery store first thing and stock the pantry with non-perishables for now.” Bree added.