Under A Latent Moon (A Werewolf Tale)

Chapter 6

The week's weather turned out to be more favorable than Harley thought it would. As such, a few days later she laid a blanket out in the backyard after work and got back into the drama that was her romance book.

Dorian obviously loved Taylor, but until he was able to work past his commitment issues and realize Taylor wasn't going to leave him like his deadbeat mom did, their relationship would never flourish.

Hours passed, the sun began to set, and she'd just gotten to the part where Dorian finally realized he loved Taylor when—

"What are you doing?"

The muscles in her arms turned to liquid and the book fell straight out of her hands. "Shit!"

Next to her, Bailey clutched at her stomach, laughing. "You should've seen your face!"

"That wasn't nice." Said Harley, though it came out as more of a complaint than angry.

"Just tryin' to keep you on your toes, darlin'."

"So..."Bailey kicked back, resting on Harley's blanket with her hands behind her head. "What are you doing?"

Harley flipped through her book until she found her spot, which she then dog-eared. "Reading."

"For fun?" A grin spread across her face. "Wicked."

"Yeah. What are you doing here?" More importantly, what should you be doing instead of scaring people?

Bailey flicked short brown hair from her eyes. "I picked up patrol for Will."

Her curiosity spiked at his name. "Oh?"

Bailey's eyes danced, her grin impossibly growing. "Girl, I see you."

Harley sniffed.

The other girl jackknifed into a sitting position. "Don't worry, I'm all about girl solidarity, so I won't say anything."

"There's nothing to say. He's just been really nice to me since I've gotten here. I appreciate it."

Bailey had begun picking at the grass by her side. "You have to admit, he's pretty nice to look at."

The youngness in Bailey's face made Harley wonder about her age. She had a bit of a childlike personality—which definitely was refreshing—but that made her seem a bit young. Maybe eighteen.

Was eighteen old enough to be on patrol?

"How old are you, Bailey?"

"Just turned twenty-two last month." Wow, much older than she thought.

"Happy belated birthday."

"Thanks, Darlin'."

"Did you start patrolling after college?" That would be nice to do. Maybe Harley would be able to find another way to contribute to the pack. Not patrolling, she'd need to be able to shift for that. Babysitting? But that sounded so...miniscule.

"Naw, school was never my thing." Bailey said, grabbing full handfuls of grass now. "And that's okay. I'd rather spend my time doing something worthwhile—something that I love. That happens to be keeping the pack safe."

"What made you decide on that?"

Bailey exhaled sharply through her nose. "I have an older brother who I used to fight with a lot. He was the one who put the idea in my head. I always liked to roughhouse with the best of 'em. So in the end I decided I wanted to use those skills to help the pack. Kensington isn't huge, but our territory covers most of it and that's still a lot of ground to cover. The more the merrier."