Free Silver Moon (A Women of Wolf's Point Novel) by Catherine Lundoff Page A

say something, then looked over Becca’s shoulder and shut her mouth. Her face changed, her expression shifting in a weird way, like it was doing something it wasn’t meant to do. Her eyes glowed for a minute, then she shoved her chair back and stood. “You’ll pay for what happened here. And for my parents. We’ll be back,” she snarled as she stomped out.
    Becca wondered what Oya had seen in her face that made her leave and she couldn’t resist a glance around Millie’s. Everyone to either side of her was eating their lunch and appeared oblivious, but behind her was a different story. Erin, Molly, Shelly, Gladys, Mrs. Hui and all the other women of a certain age from the Wolf’s Point Women’s Club stood behind her, watching the aspiring slayer get into her van and drive away.
    It was a sight that Becca found both profoundly creepy and infinitely comforting. Shelly leaned over and squeezed her shoulder. “Welcome back.” Then she and the others walked out together, all of them, except Erin who sat down in the recently vacated chair.
    “Just one question,” Becca said. “What are you doing when your cast comes off?”

Chapter 8
    ~
    Everything started out differently in her head. Becca meant to talk to Erin about the whole whitewater rafting trip idea. She knew that she wanted to say that. Then she remembered that Erin had known what was going to happen to her and hadn’t said a thing to warn her ahead of time. A real friend would have done that much.
    So what rolled out of her mouth was, “Why the hell didn’t you tell me? Why me anyway? Don’t give me any more of the whole ‘the magic picks its own’ crap, either.” She blushed the minute the words were out of her mouth; Ed always hated it when she got angry and used words like “hell.” She had rolled it around in her mouth before she said it, too, savoring it like it was a chocolate or something.
    Erin flinched and studied her hands. “What exactly,” she said finally, “was I supposed to say? ‘Guess what, neighbor? I’m not sure, but we all think you might turn into a lady werewolf on the full moon, seeing as menopause is kicking in and this is Wolf’s Point and you’ve got a wolfy sort of vibe. It just works that way around here for some of us. But then again, maybe you won’t.’ You’d have really believed that story, wouldn’t you?” She scowled back at Becca.
    They stared at each other across the table like strange dogs until Erin slapped her palm on the table and looked away with a frustrated sigh. “Look, I know this is all hard to take in. But I thought that since you came back—”
    “That I’m okay with turning into a monster once a month? Plus an extra night, which believe me, came as a terrific bonus. That I’m okay with hurting and killing people? Okay with something like me killing some woman’s parents? Yeah, it all sounds hunky dory to me. Anything else I just need to roll with?” Becca crossed her arms and battled a new hot flash.
    She tried not to remember the mountains and the man with his knife, tried not to feel the bloodlust that was humming along just under her skin. She could control this, she knew she could, if she only tried hard enough. A moment later, a bead of sweat trickled down her overheated forehead.
    Erin looked stunned. “Huh? Who got killed? Those guys the other night had guns, Becca. They shot me, remember?” She gestured at the sling that held her injured arm with her good hand. “They would have killed all of us. And what do you mean by ‘an extra night’?”
    Becca took a deep breath. “What about Oya’s parents? We’ll get back to me in a minute.”
    “Who’s Oya? The one who just stormed out?” Erin frowned at Becca’s nod. “First of all, why do you believe her? It’s not like she or the other Nesters have a corner on truth. She’s new this time around but her buddies lied about us the last time they came through, tried to rile up the sheriff and a bunch of the local