Cascades of Moonlight (The Parker Harris Series: Book #1)

  It was almost time for the full moon again. Quinn would take me to the cave under the waterfall to spend my shifting time. Mitchell would meet us there each night so we could all patrol. It took some coaxing, but finally, I convinced Quinn to let me help. The catch being he has limitations on what he will let me do. He has to lead me everywhere and I'm not allowed to attack the vampire unless we make sure she's unarmed.

  It would be impossible to use Jackie as an excuse this time seeing as how we aren’t speaking. If they were to call her she would blow my cover in an instant. We came up with the idea that I was going on a short romantic trip with Quinn. Convincing my parents to let me go was easier than I ever anticipated it would be. They gave me rules about staying in a separate hotel room that they would pay for, and made me promise that I would be careful.

  Both were difficult to agree on, but I did so anyway. I would give them the money back somehow so it didn’t seem too dishonest. Mitchell came to pick me up while Quinn was picking up some supplies. Luckily my parents had gone out for dinner or they would've thought it was strange who my chauffeur was. We picked Quinn up and headed to the waterfall site. Mitchell dropped us off and Quinn said he would text him once I had shifted and it was safe to return.

  We set up in a cave and Quinn handed me a sheet and then left the room so I could change. It seemed weird since he has seen me naked, but it was very gentlemanly of him…very Quinn. When he came back in, I was wrapped in a sheet and motioned for him to come to me. He grinned as he moved his lips to mine. He ran his hands over my back and his fingers through my hair and then he stopped suddenly. “I have to leave for a little bit,” he said. “The sun is setting and you'll be shifting soon. I wish we had time, but we don’t. I'm going to be right outside and will come in once you're in wolf form. I love you.” I was disappointed but knew he was right and I was more concerned with his safety. He kissed me once more and walked out of the cave. I sat on the ground and waited for the pain to begin.

  It had taken about an hour before my change occurred. I recalled screaming out in pain and I heard something hitting the walls around the cave. Not too far away from me, I could hear someone else crying out. My body contorted and I thrashed around in agony. This is supposed to get easier with time, but to this point I haven't noticed a reduction in pain. Once I was fully shifted, I sat there gathering up my strength and then walked toward the entrance. Quinn stood there looking distressed. He had been crying and his hands had dried blood on them. There were chunks of debris around him. My head cocked up curiously. He smiled, a bit sadly, and said everything was okay and not to worry about him. I whimpered and he knelt down beside me, wrapped his arm around my neck, and patted my head. It must've been hard on him to hear me in such pain and not be able to help.

  We ran off into the woods, stopping at every noise and movement. There was another wolf howling in the distance and Quinn and I looked at each other for a second before running toward the sound. Quinn was faster than me by, well a lot actually, but I'm faster as a wolf so I can keep up a little easier. He also slows down so that he can protect me by staying close. We were closing in on the wolf and all I could think about was that it was Will and we were finally going to catch up with him and have proof he is alive. We came to a clearing and there it was…it wasn’t Will though, it was a female wolf.

  She growled and her teeth gleamed white in a snarl. I stepped forward, in front of Quinn, and bared my teeth at her. We were facing each other down when I saw Mitchell step out in the clearing behind her. He had come from the other direction. She turned and her paws thumped the ground as she moved toward him. I ran and pounced on her. We wrestled with each other, nipping at the other's fur. Mitchell grabbed the scruff of my neck and pulled me loose while the other wolf took off in Quinn’s direction. As soon as my feet hit the ground again I ran toward Quinn and saw the wolf yelp and fall back.

  Flashes of Will’s death ran through my mind and I yowled with sorrow as I cowered and laid my head on the ground in fear. Quinn held a rifle, a tranquilizer gun. I didn’t know that was part of the plan. He came over and patted my head saying he was sorry he frightened me. I continued to whine as I kept reliving Will’s death; the noise the gun made, the sound of his body smacking against the cold hard ground and the stillness of his body.

  My body was firmly planted to the ground shaking and trying to remove those memories. Quinn tried to talk me back to reality and after a few minutes he gave up and lifted me up in his arms. He then motioned to Mitchell, who picked the other wolf up. He carried her back to the cave with us and they left her inside covered with a sheet. I watched her while Mitchell and Quinn were right outside.

  The next morning, I woke up to find an empty sheet beside me. My t-shirt and jeans were next to me. I dressed and ran outside to check on Quinn and Mitchell. They weren’t there. Panic rose in my chest. I ran back in the cave and dialed Quinn’s cell phone, it rang inside the cave. My chest heaved, I could feel a panic attack coming on and I had to stay composed. They had to be safe. Running through the woods barefoot was not the best idea, but I was too scared to care. Behind me, I heard someone else running. I slowed down and turned, whoever it was couldn’t be far behind, I hid behind the closest tree until they passed.

  “Mitchell!!” I shrieked. He turned quickly and came to a stop, I ran and hugged him. “Where's Quinn? What's going on?” I asked breathing hard.

  He pulled back and had his hands on my face, he looked so serious. “There's something you need to know,” he started.

  Hearing these words, I started to think the absolute worse and freaked out, “What happened to Quinn?” I insisted he tell me as I grabbed his shirt.

  He held my face still trying to keep me steady. “Quinn's fine. He's trying to find the wolf. She shifted back and ran off,” Mitchell replied.

  “What? She could be unsteady, she could shift, I have to get to him,” I yelled as I tore away from him and ran in the direction Mitchell had been going.

  Two seconds later, I was on the ground with Mitchell on top of me. “Sorry, kid. Quinn doesn’t want you to get hurt, I can’t let you go after them,” he said, holding me down. My feet were kicking against his shins and I screamed as I tried to get out from under him. He was too strong. Finally, I gave up and lay there motionless.

  From a few feet away I hear, “See, they can’t stay away from each other. You guys could at least get a room. How trashy to do it in the dirt. Can you not control yourselves at all? Geez.” Quinn had Jackie by the arm, leading her toward us. She wore his shirt and nothing else. Mitchell jumped off of me and Quinn rolled his eyes at Jackie’s comments. Jackie tried to pull away from Quinn, but he wouldn’t ease up.

  “Jackie, what are you doing here?” I asked.

  She sneered, “Disappointed to see me because I'm taking some of the attention away from you? I mean really, Park, how many men can you juggle?” That hurt, Jackie has never acted like this before and I didn’t understand where it was coming from. Quinn let her go and Jackie crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance.

  “Can someone tell me what's going on please?” I begged. Jackie rolled her eyes. Mitchell walked toward her and tried to reach out to her, but she slapped his hand away.

  Quinn stepped forward, “Jackie's the other wolf. We aren’t sure how it happened so we tracked her down so she could tell us.”

  Jackie smiled at me, “See, you aren’t the only special one now.” That flew all over me.

  “Being a wolf doesn’t make you unique, Jackie! We've been over this, it's a curse and it's painful. How did it happen to you? When did it happen?” I asked her.

  “This was my first full moon shift. I was turned during the last cycle. Remember, the one where no one was protecting me and everyone was watching you instead? Well, guess what? While you guys were doing God knows what together, I was being attacked at my own house by a wolf.”

>   Mitchell’s face dropped in shock. He still loved Jackie so much this had to be killing him. He tried to touch her again and she turned to him this time with tears in her eyes. “You should've been there to protect me, Mishy. You promised you always would be there. I guess now you found someone who means more to you than I do.”

  Mitchell shook his head and said, “Parker's my friend, Jackie that’s all. But, more importantly she's like a sister to you and that's why I've been so protective of her, because I knew what she meant to you. I don’t have feelings for her other than friendship. No one is more important to me than you are. You insisted we take care of Parker. I'm so sorry I wasn’t there for you, we all thought you would be safe…”

  Jackie interrupted, “Well, I wasn’t safe! And it’s your fault. You were supposed to protect me and you weren’t there.“ She ran off and Mitchell went after her. I was still shocked by what just happened. Quinn appeared deeply saddened, this must remind him of his best friend Elizabeth, the one he should've protected when she was turned into a vampire.

  In the same spot I stood, I sat down on the ground unsure what to do next. Quinn came over and sat next to me, put his arm across my shoulders and leaned his head against mine. “It’s not your fault, Parker. It’s none of our faults. There's no way we could've known that anyone would go after Jackie. We didn’t even know there were any other wolves, other than you and Will.” As Quinn finished, something dawned on him. His face became pensive, making his forehead scrunch and his eyes narrow. “Will disappeared for a while the night of the full moon…do you think he's the one that changed Jackie?” Quinn questioned.

  “He told me he didn’t remember much about what happened that night, which is common for newer wolves. I still lose pieces of those nights myself. It's possible, but if he did it was because he couldn’t control himself,” I replied.

  Mitchell came back looking like he had lost his best friend in the world. “She wouldn’t listen to me. She kept insisting I don’t care about her. I don’t understand where all this is coming from.” He yelled and beat his fists against a tree. “It’s not like her to act this way. That's not my Jackie. It’s almost like someone has convinced her that the three of us are the bad guys. Who would do that though?” Mitchell asked.

  Quinn looked at me and I went off, “Why are you looking at me? I don’t have a reason to turn her against everyone…she hates me too!”

  Quinn put his hand on my shoulder to stop me, “Of course it wasn’t you, I looked at you because…well…what if it was Will?”

  This was getting ridiculous to me, “Will's dead, you said there was no way he could be alive. So why is he still being blamed for everything? What reason would he have to turn Jackie against all of us? He was my friend, the last night we were together…” I paused as the emotions welled up inside me, “He was my friend, we had a bond and he'd never hurt me this way.”

  Quinn wrapped his arms around me and said, “I’m sorry…”

  I pushed him away before he could say more and stated, “You're not sorry, you've hated Will since day one. I don’t understand why either, is it just because he was a wolf or because he and I had a bond? Tell me it wasn’t just jealousy Quinn, tell me it was the wolf in him and the vampire in you…something you couldn’t control.”

  Quinn’s face dropped in shame. That answered my question, this whole time it was pure jealousy driving him to hate Will. Turning around, I started back to the cave. I had one more night of the full moon to get through. When I got back to the cave, I undressed and slid into the sleeping bag. I only had a few hours before shifting would start so I needed a little sleep. Rolling over, at one point, I realized someone was there with me.

  Quinn lay beside me and he smiled when our eyes met. That smile works wonders, I wanted to be mad at him, but couldn’t. I moved closer and snuggled up against him and kissed his chest. He kissed my head and whispered those three little words.

  “I love you…I’m glad you were here when I woke up, I hate arguing with you,” I said, and then I turned my face up to look at him and he pressed his smooth lips against mine.

  Someone cleared their throat and I jumped and grabbed at the sleeping bag, it was Mitchell. “Sorry guys, the sun is about to set and I was going to let you know that I'm going to patrol. I saw something moving in the woods a little while ago and think it might have been her. We need to watch out for Jackie tonight too, not sure where she is doing her shifting.”

  “I'd like to shift with Parker tonight, if that’s alright,” Jackie said as she came into view. I couldn’t help but beam up at her. I asked the guys to leave so Jackie could change into a sheet. Quinn and Mitchell went outside. As they were leaving, Jackie stopped Mitchell and gave him a kiss on the cheek and a warm smile. He looked so happy at that moment; I hope it lasts. The guys stepped outside and Jackie and I got ready to shift.

  As she changed out of her clothes, I said to her, “I'm glad you're here. I've missed you.” When I turned to look at her, we both had tears in our eyes. We walked to each other and embraced. It felt like I had my best friend back and I was hopeful it would last this time and that whatever drove Jackie away in the first place was no longer a problem.

  The guys came in and Quinn said, “Two hot girls in sheets hugging? This is our lucky day, Mitchell.” We all laughed and it felt like old times for a few minutes. Jackie and Mitchell even kissed and resembled a couple again.

  Mitchell held onto Jackie and gazed at her with such happiness. Then, Jackie pushed him away and bent forward screaming in anguish. “Get out! Now! Both of you” I screamed in terror as I shoved Mitchell and Quinn out the door. Mitchell looked horror-struck at the sound of the screams coming from Jackie. Quinn had to use his power to keep Mitchell from going to her. He fought back with all the strength he could muster and screamed her name. Frantically, I pushed them both out of the cave and barely made it back inside to Jackie before my shifting began.

  Afterwards, I gasped for air, looked up and saw Jackie across the room, whimpering against the wall of the cave. I went over to her and touched her with my head. She nudged back to let me know she was alright. Mitchell and Quinn were both gone when we came out of the cave which was good because I was afraid of what she might do to them. Jackie understood to follow me as I motioned forward with my head. It would be easier if we could speak as wolves, be able to hear other wolves thoughts the way they did in books and movies, but alas, that doesn’t happen for us. Jackie and I took off toward a noise we heard and as we got closer, I smelled another wolf nearby.

  Jackie caught up to me, when I came to a stop, and she tilted her head to the side in confusion. She was still confused when I sniffed at her and walked forward and sniffed the air again. There was definitely another wolf that had been through that spot. It must be the one that bit Jackie, the only explanation that made sense. For all I knew, it could be the wolf that bit me, or Will for that matter. We slowly moved ahead, both of us sniffed at the ground and tried to track the other wolf. Now there was vampire smell mingled with it. I needed to find that wolf, but I didn’t want to put Jackie in danger, she is still new at this. Quinn was ahead, he turned and saw me draw near. In that same instance, I saw the other wolf that was quickly approaching behind him.

  Pushing myself as hard as I could, I headed straight for the other wolf and cut him off before he could attack Quinn. We both hurled at each other and struggled on the ground together growling and biting.

  Quinn yelled my name and shouted at Jackie telling her to help me. All of a sudden, I let out a howl. The wolf took a chunk out of my shoulder. Rolling away and whimpering, I looked up and saw Quinn racing toward me.

  Inside, I screamed, “NO!!” The wolf ran toward him and they collided and fell to the ground. The pain in my shoulder was the worst I had experienced and I couldn’t get up to help him. He wrestled with the wolf and I heard a shot before the wolf took off in the ot
her direction. Quinn lay motionlessly on the ground. I let out terrified howl.

  Mitchell moved to Quinn to check on him and at the same time he sat up and looked over at me. I breathed a sigh of relief that he was okay. Quinn ran over and checked my shoulder, which was bleeding pretty badly. He lifted me, still whimpering, into his arms and whispered that everything would be fine. Mitchell and Jackie followed behind us.

  Back at the cave, Quinn grabbed my sheet and held it against my wound. This one would take a while to heal. The wolf literally took a chunk out of me. Jackie came over and butted her head against mine to show her concern. My arm throbbed; I’ve had injuries before, but this was the worst one. I’d never been bitten by another wolf though, I wondered if that made a difference in the healing or the pain. One thing I knew for sure is that I had to find out who that wolf is before it could kill Mitchell or Quinn.

  The next morning, I woke up wrapped in a sleeping bag. I glanced around the cave and no one was there. As I tried to stand up, I screamed out, the wound on my shoulder had hardly healed and felt like it was on fire. Tears rolled down my face. The one thing I loved about my time as a wolf is that I could get hurt and be fine within a few hours, but somehow this time was different. My wound had been doctored, it had bandages on it, but I could still feel a hole there. I tried to sit up, but the pain was excruciating. Where was everyone? I can’t believe they left me here like this all night. Or did they? What if something happened to them? I grabbed my cell phone from next to me and tried to call Quinn first, then Jackie, then Mitchell, no one answered.

  This was not good, something is wrong. Standing up was a challenge because I couldn’t put any weight on my right arm due to the bite. After getting to my feet, I felt dizzy and fell backwards. I went to brace myself on the wall, but used my right arm without thinking. I screamed at the pain taking over my body. After regaining my composure, I stood straight up, took a few deep breaths, and walked toward the front of the cave. It was darker than usual, which was strange. I was human again so it should be daylight and there would be sun shining through the opening. I tried to feel my way, but couldn’t find the doorway.

  There was a flashlight in my bag so I retraced my steps back to where I woke up. The second time, I knew I had gone the right way. The reason there was no light, and I couldn’t find the door, is that it was closed over with rocks. Why did they close me in? Were they afraid I would be dangerous? My phone was only on 35%, I needed to conserve the battery. Plus, the signal was terrible now. It must have been pure luck that allowed me to dial before.

  As I stood there, I began to push on the rocks but it was hard using only my left arm. My head was so jumbled, thinking I must have forgotten something that happened. Did I attack someone, so they locked me in here? What's going on?

  Then I began to freak out a little. “Help! Help me, please! Someone! I'm trapped in here! Please! Quinn!!! Jackie! Anybody!” I screamed. The only response was the sound of my voice reverberating in the cave behind me.

  I gave up and went back to where my stuff was to check my bag. I barely had enough food to make it more than a day or two. This was supposed to be the morning I left and went home. A slew of different scenarios began running through my head of what could have happened; I prayed none of them came true. I picked up my phone and saw a faint signal was there so I texted Quinn.

  Me: I’m trapped in the cave, what happened last night? I’m really scared, please come get me. I love you.

  No response. My phone beeped a minute later and I grabbed it up excitedly, but it was just an error message telling me that my text could not go through and to try again later.

  There was very little light coming in and the walls felt like they were closing in around me. Small spaces have never been a problem for me before, but I was beginning to understand what claustrophobia felt like. My breathing became rapid, fear rose up inside me, and I felt like I was trapped with no way out. I curled up in a sleeping bag and cried. This is the most terrified I have felt in my life. Quinn would never leave me here like this, whether I attacked someone or not. He may have closed me in, but he would have stayed with me. He would have risked his own life to make sure I was safe, I knew that for certain. Something must have happened to him.

  I had to force myself to eat a granola bar to keep up my strength, then I went to sleep hopeful that when I woke up this would be a dream and Quinn would be holding me.

  No such luck. I woke up a few hours later and checked my phone and it was now at 25% power. I hit send on my text again and ended up with the same error message. I drank a bottle of water and tried standing up. My shoulder was still so tender; it seemed to be getting worse instead of better. I made my way to the cave entrance and tried to move some rocks again. I was able to get one loose enough to see some light outside. Oh, thank you! I screamed for help as I kept trying to get more rocks loose.

  There was just enough visibility to know it was daylight, but I couldn’t make out anything else. My eyes were so attuned to the darkness that it was hard to focus with the amount of light coming in a small opening.

  I screamed for help until my throat became raw and my voice was barely audible. No one answered, I never heard more than the rustle of leaves in the wind. I stayed beside the hole, cherishing the light as long as I could, until sunset. I crawled back to my sleeping bag and curled up inside it shaking, terrified of what was going to happen to me. I’m not sure how I managed to sleep that night unless it was from the exhaustion of screaming my head off. When I woke up, I could see light shining in through the cracks and knew it was daylight again.

  Eating a granola bar for breakfast, and sipping the last of my water, I pulled myself up and dragged myself to the opening again. I felt so weak, like the way you feel when you have the flu. It was a struggle just to lift my head, let alone stand. I only just got onto my knees when I tried to yell out and scarcely any noise came from my throat, it was so raw. I shrieked over and over again, calling out names for help.

  I stopped when I thought I heard someone calling out to me. Just then, I knew I heard my name. It was a man’s voice it had to be Mitchell because it didn’t sound like Quinn.

  “Help me! Please, I’m trapped in here!” I screeched. The rocks started to move and more light radiated in. I’m saved, oh thank goodness, I'm saved. My eyes needed to adjust to the light. I could see the shape and I saw a hand reach out to me, so I took it and they helped me through the open space. The rocks scraped my sore arm and I let out an agonizing scream. The man got me out of the cave and pulled me into his arms hugging me and telling me I was safe. I wrapped my arms around him and thanked him, repeatedly.

  Once my vision had cleared, I looked up at him. I pushed myself back out of his arms and my hand immediately went up to cover my mouth that was open in shock. “Will!” I exclaimed as I threw my left arm around him and hugged him close to me. “I thought you were dead, we all did, how is this possible?” I asked him.

  He smiled and said, “I thought I was dead too. It took me a little longer to heal, so I couldn’t make my way back to you guys, but I'm here now. Who locked you in there?” I shrugged my shoulders and screamed at the pain, I have to be more careful with that arm.

  Will removed the bandage to check out my sore and it looked horrible. It was purple and bloody and looked like it had an infection in it. He had a backpack that had alcohol and bandages in it. Next, he picked up a stick and told me to bite down on it while he cleaned the wound. I put the stick in my mouth and as soon as he poured the alcohol on the wound I bit down so hard that I bit the stick in half and screamed out. He kept apologizing as he bandaged me up, but I knew that he did what he had to do. When it was all done he grabbed a t-shirt from his bag and gave it to me to put on, since I was still in only a sheet.

  “Why are you carrying all this stuff and how did you know where I was?” I questioned him curiously.

&nb
sp; “This was one of the bags I had in the cave during our shifting together, I used it he last few days as well during this past cycle. I kept bandages on hand just in case. I'm still new at this and my bullet wound took longer to heal than most of my other injuries have before. I didn’t know you were here until I heard you calling out and recognized your voice. I was camped out not too far from here for the last few days and coincidentally, was headed to see you and let you know I was alive,” he explained.

  He helped me up and offered to carry me, I draped my arms around his neck and lay my head against his shoulder.

  We made it to my car which was still parked where we left it. That was not a good sign. I felt that panic inside again. Will got me to the car, opened the door and placed me in the back seat. “Lay down and rest, I am going to take you home,” he advised me.

  As he drove, I closed my eyes and tried to replay the last few hours to see if I missed anything. I must have gotten lost in thought because we made it to my house in minutes it seemed, but the waterfall is at least an hour drive. Will carried me inside. My parents weren’t home, so he took me up the stairs and laid me in the bed. Tucking me in, he kissed my head and told me to get some rest. I was in so much pain and so exhausted that it wasn’t hard to take his advice.

  Chapter Fifteen