The devil Moondancer

Help making plans

*Jack*

With the fog swirling around me, I walk along the quiet street. I had taken a hansom cab to the Silverpine residence. I can find another to take me back to my place, only I no longer need it. I have a carriage and horses. I have a residence and servants and doubts. With misgivings, I signed the document Beck laid before me. In spite of my attempts to question and convince myself otherwise, I knew from the moment Beck read the terms of the will that I would not walk away from everything I have been given.

I didn’t expect the Luna to be gracious when I told her I accepted the terms. Surprising me, she simply nodded at Mr. Beck and said, “The servants will need to be informed.”

She called them into the foyer. With me standing at the bottom of the stairs, she stood partway up, with all the regal bearing of a queen. I think I now know what a warrior looks like at the end of the day when the hard-fought battle has not gone his way, when he has to look into the eyes of those he had sent onto the battlefield and convince them that honor is to be found in simply surviving. She was elegant and eloquent as she explained that the residence is now mine and that they all serve at my pleasure.

Not one word was uttered by the staff. I imagine they will have questions aplenty once the shock wears off. But I’m content to leave them and the Luna while I adjust to my change in fortune in solitude.

While I admit that I don’t consider myself the best choice to serve as guardian to her beloved and overprotected son, I can certainly think of worse. Perhaps the Alpha himself had fallen into that category.

I often walk along streets with grand houses, trying to remember what I thought I would never forget. The first fancy house in which I lived… I was five. The man had promised my mother he would take good care of me. She seemed to know him and trust him. Maybe he was one of her customers.

All I remember is that the man fed me and bathed me and put me to bed. Crawled beneath the covers with me… did things…

I quicken my steps as though I am five again, running away.

The man wept afterward, said he was sorry, and promised to never do it again…

I detour by a towering elm and pound my fist into the trunk, relishing the bite of the hard bark, feeling the pain ricochet up my arm. I don’t want to go there again, I don't want to return to being frightened and hurting. And ashamed.

Although I had run away, a terrified cadence to my steps, I thought I would always remember where that house had been. But Blackrock city has changed in twenty-eight years. I can’t even remember what the man looked like. I hadn’t thought about him in ages, but now I wonder…

What would guilt cause a man to do? Would he seek out and leave everything to a boy he had abused? Was Silverpine the man who had bought me? What does it matter now? He is dead. He has left me a fortune. What does it matter if it’s a fortune steeped in guilt and regret? I have only ever cared about accumulating the coins that ensure no one would ever buy me again. Now, no one ever will.

*****

“Tell me what you know of the Alpha of Silverpine,” I demand. I was desperate for the taste of whiskey on my tongue, and since I was in the neighborhood, I stopped at Luc’s residence. It’s only been a week since Luc’s hastily arranged marriage, and the couple does not seem inclined to take a wedding trip.

Sitting across from me, near the window that looks out on an impressive garden when it isn’t draped in darkness, Luc takes a sip of whiskey. He has dispensed with his jacket, and his shirt is unbuttoned at his throat. His dark hair appears to have been fingered recently, and I suspect it isn’t Luc who has done the fingering. Yet, in spite of his dishevelment, he has the look of a man in control, a man who knows his place in the world and is finally comfortable with it. I don’t like to admit it, but Lucian Langdon wears the title of Alpha well.

“He was well respected in the House of Alphas,” Luc says solemnly. “When he spoke, people listened. His passing leaves shoes that will be difficult to fill.”

“So you think he was a decent enough chap?” I ask.

Luc shrugs. “Seemed to be. I only spoke to him on a few occasions. Politics mostly. He advises me that I always need to know why I feel the way I do about certain issues. He was prone to asking why of the younger Alphas. Insists we not be sheep.”

“What of his Luna?”

Luc shakes his head. “We should probably ask Evangeline. She’s much more familiar with the she-wolves of the high packs than I am. Until recently, I didn’t walk in their circles.”

Evangeline, his mate and Luna, is the daughter of the Alpha of Greywind. He passed away recently, and her brother… who had been absent during her father’s long illness… has returned to Blackrock city and inherited the titles. It seems of late the Alphas are dropping like flies. I wonder if Evangeline’s father would have approved of her marrying the ‘Devil Alpha.’

“Evangeline doesn’t fancy me. She won’t help,” I say.

“Evangeline has a generous heart. She will always help someone in need.” Luc leans forward. “What’s going on, Jack? From the moment you left at nineteen, you have always avoided coming to my residence unless absolutely necessary… as though you feared you would catch the wolf-pox… and yet here you are, just as I was retiring for the evening.”

Reaching for the decanter on the table between us, I pour more whiskey into my glass. I down the contents in one long swallow, relishing the burning sensation along my throat that eventually swirls through my blood. The problem with erecting walls is that climbing over them when I need help is so difficult. “Silverpine left all his non-entailed properties and assets to me.”

Luc stares at me as though I have stood and removed my clothing.

“My reaction was quite similar,” I say laconically. If the widow hadn’t turned to stone as well at the news, I might have thought I had misunderstood the conditions of the will.

“Why would he do that?” Luc asks.

I shake my head. “That seems to be the question of the evening, and I haven’t the foggiest idea as to the answer.”

“Did you even know the man?” He looks at me.

“Barely. I met him once in the garden here. I think he was visiting your grandfather. He came into the club a time or two.” I tell.

He looks thoughtful, “Did he owe you a gambling debt?”

I pour more whiskey and take another long swallow. “As far as I know, he never gambled, drank, or w****d. He simply observed. Some people are like that: voyeurs of sin. I never thought anything of it.”

Luc holds up his hands. “Just like that, he left you everything?”

“Well, he did include one minor stipulation, hardly worth mentioning. I’m to serve as guardian of his five-year-old son.”

Luc’s eyes widen as he drops back in the chair. “Why in Goddess’ name would he entrust the care of his son to you?”

“I appreciate the faith. Sorry to have delayed your retiring for the evening.” I come to my feet. My friendship with Luc has been strained of late. Where once we trusted each other with our very lives, now distance brought on by regret and secrets revealed separates us. I shouldn’t have bothered to come, but the streets have made us brothers. As loath as I am to admit I need anyone, I’m suddenly desperate to have someone believe in me.

“No, you misunderstood. I have every confidence you would serve as a fine guardian. The Goddess knows, when we were boys, you saved my arse often enough. But why would Silverpine leave the care of his son to a man he doesn’t know other than in passing?” He ponders.

I slowly shake my head. “I’m as baffled as you are.”

“How did his widow take the news?” He asks.

I rub my cheek, remembering the sting of her slap. “Not well, not well at all, I’m afraid.” I hear a light footfall and turn toward the door.

Evangeline stands inside the doorway. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. I didn’t realize you had company. I was simply wondering what was keeping you.”

‘From my bed’ are the words I think are left unspoken. Evangeline Langdon, Luna of Claybourne, is a beautiful she-wolf. Her hair, the color of moonbeams, has already been let down for the night. For some reason, it makes me wonder what the widow’s hair looks like when it’s loosened, what it might feel like to comb my fingers through it.

“Please join us,” Luc says now. “Jack has some questions he would like to ask you.”

No, I don’t, I think irritably. You have some questions you want me to ask her.

But I stay as I am because to leave would give the impression I’m unsettled by her, and while that assessment might be true, I have no desire for her to realize it. She has too much influence over Luc as it is. No reason to give her leave to think she can control another man.

I watch as she floats gracefully into the room and sits in the chair Luc has vacated. Luc perches himself on its arm, his fingers immediately going to Evangeline’s tresses as though he can’t be near her without touching her. It’s a strange thing to watch my friend fall under her spell. Luc would do anything for her… kill if need be. I can’t imagine loving a she-wolf that much, can’t imagine loving a she-wolf at all. Love makes a person vulnerable, and I have no intention of ever being placed in a position such as that again.

“Jack has encountered an unusual situation here,” Luc begins. “It seems Alpha Silverpine has bequeathed to him all his non-entailed properties, in exchange for which Jack is to serve as guardian of his son.”

To her credit, the Luna does little more than look up at her husband, a frown between her delicate arched brows, before turning her attention to me. “How might I help?”

Taking my seat again at her unexpected offer, I clear my throat, hardly knowing where to begin. In dealing with the young widow, the more I know about her, the more advantage I have during any future encounters. My interest is as simple as that. Nothing more. “I was wondering what you could tell me about his Luna.”

“Olivia?” She mumbles.

“Has he another?” I ask.

“No, of course not. I don’t know her well. Her father was the former Alpha of Riverdale. I believe she was nineteen when she married Silverpine. To be blunt, I think we were all a bit surprised that she would marry someone considerably older. I don’t believe she was wanting for suitors. I suspect the marriage had more to do with her father’s wishes than hers.” She affectionately pats her husband’s thigh. “We’re not all fortunate to love the one we marry.” She tilts her head thoughtfully. “Are you going to serve as the lad’s guardian?”

I nod, “Of course.”

“He can offer you nothing you can possibly need,” Luc says.

“Need has nothing to do with my decision. As you’re well aware, I never turn my back on the opportunity to be wealthier than I am. Besides, now we will be neighbors. I have inherited his Blackrock city residence.”

“But serving as guardian is a great deal of responsibility, Mr. Moondancer,” Evangeline says.

I shrug, “I don’t think it will be as bad as all that. Besides, I’m only obligated until the widow marries, and then the duty will fall to her new mate.”

“I know the Luna well enough to recognize she places duty above all else and adheres to the strictures of pack society religiously. She will honor her mate for the full two-year mourning period.” Evangeline says.

I grin, “Then in two years and one day, I will have a bloke waiting for her on bended knee.”

“You are going to arrange a marriage for her?” Evangeline looks positively aghast at the notion.

I shrug, knowing no matter what I do, Evangeline will find fault with my plans. “I don’t see any reason not to. I’m not in mourning.”

Besides, how difficult could it be to find the Luna a new husband? And money can purchase a good many things, including forgiveness for violating the rules of etiquette. Pack society might require that a widow mourn for two years, but I don’t see the need for her to mourn for more than a couple of weeks, if that.

A quiet ceremony and off to the country the happy little family could go. And I would have my lovely new residence all to myself.