The Moon and the Stars Box Set (Werewolf Shifter Romance)

Chapter 5

5

"I feel like I need a good, hard drink after talking with an asshole like that," Una commented.

It was a few minutes after their unexpected meeting with Al, and the girls were several blocks down the street in a residential district. The tall, brick apartment buildings were old, but well kept, and the stoops were clean. There were a few dark alleys between some of the buildings and one or two streetlights were out, but overall the neighborhoods were safe.

Lilly smiled at her shorter friend. "He wasn't that bad."

Una snorted. "He sounded just like an insurance salesman, but without the benefit of their honesty." Lilly raised the card in her hand and studied the contents. Una looked from her friend's face to the card and back. Her eyebrows crashed down. "You're not seriously gonna call that guy up, are you?"

Lilly shrugged. "I don't know yet."

Una grabbed her friend's arm and stopped them. She clasped their hands together and looked into Lilly's eyes. "Listen, Lilly, there's something weird about that guy and the limo. I got one of my bad vibes from them, and you know my bad vibes haven't led me wrong yet."

Lilly's face fell. "That bad?"

Una wrinkled her nose. "Well, not as bad as that one guy that turned out to be an aspiring serial killer, but I just got the feeling they were hiding something, and that something wasn't good." Lilly's shoulders slumped and she turned her face away. Una furrowed her brow and leaned her head to one side to catch her friend's eyes. "What'd you see in that car?"

A small, sad smile slipped onto Lilly's face and she shrugged. "I... I guess I saw a lonely guy in there."

Una pursed her lips and sighed. She looped her arm through that of her friend and tugged her down the sidewalk. "I guess that settles it. When you've found a poor, pathetic creature to nurture there's no stopping you from helping it."

Lilly smiled at her friend. This time there was warmth in it. "I wouldn't put it quite like-" She jerked to a stop and whipped her head to the right.

Una frowned and followed her gaze. Lilly stared into the darkness of one of the deeper alleys. The shadows of garbage cans and crates stared back. Una glanced between the garbage and her friend. "What? What is it?"

Lilly shook herself and furrowed her brow. "I... I'm not really sure. I thought I saw-" There was a loud clanging noise from the depths of the alley.

Something rolled towards them. Both women jumped back and watched a round, narrow shadow roll out of the darkness and tumble to a stop at their feet. It was the lid to a garbage can.

Una sighed and clutched her heart. "And I think that's just about enough excitement for one night."

Lilly nodded. "Agreed."

They spun on their heels and marched the two blocks to their apartment building. Their arms were wrapped around the other and their eyes flickered to the deep shadows all around them.

Una looked up at her companion and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I ever tell you the stories about the beast that's supposed to hang out around the apartment district?"

Lilly swallowed the lump in her throat. "You told me all of them."

Una gripped her friend's arm tighter as they passed another alley. Her wide eyes flitted over the deep shadows. "Well, misery loves company."

Lilly sighed. "Thanks."

Una licked her parched lips. "You know, it's supposed to be as big as an elephant, and furry all over."

Lilly frowned at her friend. "I don't think now's the time-"

"And it's got rows of sharp teeth that could rip a man in two."

"Una, I really don't-"

"And its long, sharp claws are known to take a man and throw him a hundred feet."

"Una!"

Una looked up at her and blinked. "Yeah?"

Lilly sighed. "You're not-" She stopped so quickly Una nearly fell on her face.

Una caught herself and glared at her friend. "What's the big idea?"

Lilly glanced around them. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. She slowly shook her head. "I-I don't know. I just feel like we're not alone. Like someone's watching us."

Una whipped her head left and right. Their unscheduled appointment with the manager had made them later to dinner than everyone else, so the streets were empty but for them. "Watching where?"

Lilly shook her head. "I don't know."

Una grabbed her hand and pulled her down the street. "Then let's not find out!"

Hand-in-hand, the pair sprinted the last block to home. They reached their stoop and caught their breath. Lilly looked over her shoulder at the empty block. She started when Una patted her on the shoulder.

"I'm glad... you were... wrong," Una huffed.

Lilly nodded but didn't agree. She still felt like somebody was watching them.

The pair went up the stairs and into their building. Their roomy quarters lay on the third floor. The windows on the wall opposite the front door looked out on the fire escape and a vacant lot most of the residents used as their personal dumping ground. A few scraggly weeds and grass grew up among the asphalt and dumped furniture and trash.

Their apartment was small, but comfortable. Between the front door and windows were the dining space and living room. On the left was the kitchen and the short hallway to their separate rooms with a shared bathroom.

Una tossed her coat onto the floor beside a small table and walked over to the couch. She flopped onto a cushion, put her feet up on the coffee table, and sighed. "For the next forty-eight hours I don't want to hear one god damn thing about coffee, and most especially that one word."

Lilly picked up her friend's coat and hung them both on the hooks to the left of the door. "You mean grande?"

Una sunk deeper into the couch and groaned. "I said not to say that word."

Lilly smiled and walked over to the kitchen. "If you're so tired how about I cook dinner tonight?"

Una leapt to her feet and hurried over to the kitchen. "Oh no, you get out." She put her hands on Lilly's back and pushed her out of the kitchen.

"I can't be that bad if I work at a bakery!" Lilly argued.

Una snorted. "I've seen you cook at that bakery. If it wasn't for that guy-"

"Mr. Baxter."

Una grabbed a pan and the eggs from the fridge. "If it wasn't for him being so nice, you'd be up front managing the till. That's where I'd put you and leave you there."

Lilly walked over to one of the windows and leaned her left shoulder against the frame. She looked out on the tiny lot and sighed. "I suppose." She paused and furrowed her brow. A shadow in the lot shifted, but there wasn't any breeze.

"Food'll be ready in a jiffy. Think you can get out the plates and stuff?" Una called from the kitchen.

Lilly nodded her head. "Yeah, sure."

She pulled herself away from the window, but her thoughts remained with the shadow in the lot. The pair ate dinner and retired to their bedrooms for some R&R. Una's bedroom lay at the end of the hall and Lilly's was on the right, on the wall that faced the lot. She walked over to her window and brushed aside the curtain to look out. The fire escape blocked some of her view, but she could see where the shadow had moved. Now there wasn't even a shadow.

Lilly pursed her lips and half-turned away when something in the lot caught her eye. She glanced over her shoulder and squinted her eyes. Something moved in the lot again. She opened her window, placed her palms on the sill, and leaned out. Whatever it was kept to the shadows behind the rusted cars and soiled wheels. She couldn't get a good look.

Lilly swept her eyes over the fire escape. She'd never seen it used, but now was as good a time as ever. She eased herself onto the grate that made up her landing. The metal creaked and groaned under her weight. She stepped gingerly over to the low railing and leaned over.

Lilly frowned. The shadow was gone. She leaned over further, and her soft whisper disturbed the silence of the night. "Where did it go?"

A horrible groaning sound came from the wall behind her. She whipped her head over her shoulder. Her eyes widened and her pulse quickened as she beheld the bolts connecting the fire escape to the brick building wiggle out of their holes. The whole structure leaned away from the apartment building. Every inch pulled the bolts farther from the wall.

Lilly grasped the railing and shuffled along the perimeter towards her window. The metal framework rattled and leaned at a severe angle. The platform pulled away from the window and left a foot-wide gap.

Lilly slid away from the wall and her back hit the railing. She clung to the railing and screamed. Lights flicked on at several of the other rooms. People stuck their heads out their windows and gasped. A few seconds later Una arrived at her window.

Una's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "Oh my god, Lilly! Don't move!"

"I-I don't have a choice," Lilly stuttered.

The framework shuddered and leaned further away from the wall. Una looked from her left to right. "Wait a sec! I'm gonna go get a rope!" She disappeared from the window.

Lilly pursed her lips again. The wall was only five feet away. There was a long hop to her window, but she could make it. She shuffled her feet towards the wall while keeping a solid hold on the railing.

The framework gave up the ghost. Lilly's eyes widened as the bolts that connected the fire escape to the brick wall pulled completely from their holes. The whole structure fell away from the building. Wind whipped at her hair as she fell backwards with the fire escape. She and the platform hurtled towards the hard, unforgiving ground of the rust-filled lot.

A dark shadow leapt out of the lot and high into the air. A pair of strong, furry arms wrapped around Lilly and swept her into a tight hold against a warm body. She was spirited out of the falling metal frame by her rescuer and she dropped with ease to the ground at the base of the apartment building. Behind them the fire escape framework crashed into the empty lot, obliterating the ruined cars and trash in a mess of twisted metal and ruin.

Lilly looked up into the face of her rescuer. Her heart stopped. The thing that held her was a monster. Its face had a long snout full of sharp teeth, and fur covered most of its body except for strands of tattered clothes. The hands in which she was held ended in long claws. Its terrible yellow eyes looked into her own.

The creature tilted his head to one side. A low, almost purr-like growl rumbled from its lips. Lilly blinked at it. The deep, almost kittenish sound swept aside her fear. She leaned upward and searched those beautiful yellow eyes. There was something familiar about them.

"Lilly!" The scream came from Una.

The creature growled and set her on her feet. It backed away into the darkness that lay beside the building where once stood the fire escape.

Lilly reached out her hand towards the creature. "Wait. Don't go."

The front door to the apartment building burst open, and Lilly looked away from the creature to the doors. Una rushed down the stoop with Lilly's coat in her hands, and behind her came many of the other occupants. Sirens in the distance warned them that someone had called the police and fire departments.

Una raced over to her friend and enveloped her in a big hug. "Thank god you're okay!" She pulled her to arm's length and set her coat over Lilly's shoulders before she looked her over. "And I can't believe you were able to jump out of there! When'd you learn to do that?"

Lilly shook her head. "It wasn't me; it was-" She looked over to the creature. The thing was gone. Lilly took a few steps and swept her eyes over the area. "Where'd it go?"

Una blinked at her. "Where'd what go?"

Lilly spun around to face her friend. "The thing that saved me. The big hairy thing."

Una furrowed her brow and shook her head. "I didn't see anything. There was just you jumping out of the fire escape."

Lilly looked back at the alley and the wreckage. Her eyes fell on the remains of the fire escape. Amid the ruin of the lot stood a single, short flower. The yellow petals were like a sun among so much gray and destruction.

Una walked over and set her hand on Lilly's shoulder. "Come on, let's get you on the stoop and check you out."

Una led Lilly away from the ruins. A large shadow watched them from a nearby rooftop before it drew back and disappeared into the night.