Moonlight

Chapter 12

Adley was laying on the lounge room floor making cutesy growl noises at Sammy. The baby stared at the odd person that he could barely see but on occasions, Adley would earn himself a smile.

"Why didn't you tell your father what Kegan said?" Lennon grumped.

"Because I want more information. Something is missing."

The nurse walked in with a bottle, offering it to Adley. The werewolf gladly accepted, picking Sammy up and moving into a comfortable position on the lounge.

"So, what does Lyla think about having a helper?"

"She thinks it's great."

Uneasily, Lennon scratched his fingers through his scalp.

"It's probably for the best. Lyla's not coping and I don't know what I'm doing."

"You never know what you're doing." The nurse offered. "I've known you all your life and I can safely say that you, Lennon Webster are too easy going."

"Just floated from one day to the next?" Ris asked with a knowing smile.

The nurse nodded.

"I remember you too, young lady."

Adley perked up, eager to hear about the young and wild Merissa.

"You almost cost Gamichee his entire nursing staff. At least, that's what the community was made to think."

Merissa was stunned. Was her past nothing but lie upon lie?

"What do you know?"

"That you were a quiet and lost little child, crying for her parents and siblings. We spent days and nights with you, comforting you as best we could. When the heat died off, the lie about your past and your time at Fielding Hall was created and you were adopted. Bet you're wondering why you were adopted but not Lennon."

All three were silent.

"We all asked that same question but we had to assume the answer. Protect the kid, protect all of them. Each of those children lost their parents because of that monster. His goons swept through this city, taking down adults but not the children."

"But why hide Lennon? Everyone would have assumed that Gamichee would take you in because he was friends with your parents. Instead, he creates the lie about you having a sister."

"To hide me, we know this already."

"With the same name and a file that says you're an only child? Come on Len, this is not adding up."

Behind them, the stairs creaked. Everyone turned to see a sleepy Lyla walking down the stairs.

"Were we being too loud?"

"Nah. It was time to get up anyway."

Lyla flopped onto the lounge and snuggled into Lennon. On the other side of the room, Adley was making faces at Sammy while feeding on his bottle. It made her smile to hear him giggle.

"So, what's the deal with the goons roaming my garden?"

"Yeah, that's my fault, sorry. I was asking questions about the past and one of my friends is a dirty snitch, so there we have it."

"You mean the friends that you wanted me to meet?"

Grimly, Merissa nodded. She'd gone to school with them, been their friend throughout their teen years and this is what it had come to.

There was little she could say about it until her father returned to her with the hard facts about the situation. How he obtained those facts would be ignored by Merissa, she didn't want to know.

Pulling the property pamphlet out, Merissa handed it to Lyla. She quickly skimmed through it then looked up at her friends.

"Are you buying this place?"

"Maybe. The agent couldn't get through to the owners. Well, that's what she said. They're probably thinking about it because I dropped them on the figure. Nine-eighty."

"No wonder. Look at those countertops."

Merissa snorted a laugh, then looked at Adley. He rolled his eyes, saying nothing.

"Aren't you pregnant with three babies? You're going to run out of room really fast."

"That's the temporary house. We're going to build a bigger and better house next to it and that will become a guest house. We'll build a deck to connect the two buildings, try to match them as best as we can."

Lennon pulled out his phone, looking at the map of the area. He was quietly impressed with the property.

Merissa's phone rang. Her heart skipped a beat, wondering if it was the agent or her father. Pulling it out of her bag, she began to worry. It was her father.

"Hey, dad,"

"Merissa, you will be pleased to know that your friends are not involved."

"Oh, good."

"Yes, I agree. I would be most unimpressed if they had done something like this. Anyway, Carson got hold of the security footage of the cafe and recognised the man from the van. He was seated at the next table. When we questioned him, he admitted that he overheard the conversation and reported it to the council. It is, of course, expected that they would have spies in this town. With the current climate settling, the border patrols have been relaxed. That has changed."

"Did you call Saskia?"

Adley's attention lifted, hearing the name of his leader.

"I did. She was accommodating as always. The alerts will come out soon, travel bans are back in place. If you notice any suspicious activity then you call me. No matter what Merissa, you call me. I don't care what time of the day it is. I'd rather not walk out into the sun to find you dead when you could have called me."

"I would have thought that the meathead standing at the front door would have been enough for you."

"Merissa," Gamichee chided.

"Yes, alright. I'll call."

"Thank you, my dear. Don't make me call you home because I will do it."

"I know. Later old man."

Gamichee chuckled then said goodbye.

Merissa could barely contain the frustrated sigh or rolling her eyes.

"Okay, so it wasn't my friends. The jerk in the truck was sitting next to us in the cafe and told the council. Dad's tightened the borders again, no travelling and the wolves will be picking up the monitoring and security. If we notice something suspicious, we have to call him. So, I guess if a leaf falls the wrong way, you guys will need to ring him."

Adley narrowed his eyes at Merissa, completely unimpressed at her disregard for the serious situation.