Moonlight

Chapter 8

With the setting of the sun, Merissa and Adley ventured out for their afternoon rituals. It was Friday so for Merissa, it was breakfast with her friends. Adley said goodbye at the cafe and took off for his jog. It was a long path through his favourite areas. In his journey today, he'd be on the prowl for the perfect house.

Merissa walked into the cafe that also doubled as a cold brew bar. They catered to all with both warm and cold blood drinks. Merissa ordered hers to be warm. The afternoon was starting to cool down so she needed to warm up.

Sleeping all day in the heated room had put Merissa in a good mood. Waking to the werewolf snuggled into her, ready for an afternoon of fun, it certainly put a smile on her face.

"That looks like a woman in love." Vicki hummed.

Nora nodded as she sat down.

"Yep, maybe we need to hit wolf town and search out our own bit of furry fun."

The three of them were silent until they couldn't take it any longer and burst out laughing.

"God, you're so evil Nora."

A wicked smile slicked across the blood-red lips.

"That's me. So, how have we been?"

"Great." Vicki offered instantly.

The two of them looked to Merissa. She offered a cheesy grin.

"Pregnant."

Her friends stared then broke into squeals of pure happiness that made everyone in the cafe turned to look at them.

"Oh my god. How many did that bastard put in you?"

"Three."

Vicki chuckled.

"Told you that you should have run a mile."

"As if I could ever do that."

"So, how far along are you?"

"About a month. The doctor said in four moons."

The waiter appeared with their drinks, Nora tilted back to watch the handsome creature walk away.

"Mmh-hmm. I do love coming here."

"You're such a tart."

"Says the jealous one. No more picking and choosing from the world now. You've landed yourself a life mater."

"Pfft," Vicki scoffed.

Her friends turned to her with confusion.

"You know that she's watched him since the minute he walked into the club. As if she didn't want this."

Merissa tried not to smile but it was true. She'd been at the club with her father, barely eighteen and eager to learn everything about the world. Gamichee was not impressed, trying to play it cool while not appearing to be the freaked out father that he really was. When Lennon and Adley appeared, Gamichee introduced his daughter to them with the hope that she'd find friends who were not always partying.

For the most part, Gamichee had succeeded with the hope he had for his daughter. Lennon and Adley liked to socialise but were not a part of the club scene. They mingled through the crowd, had fun and enjoyed their nights but they would often go for many days without returning.

"But absolutely on that life thing. I hope you don't get bored easily."

"With Adley? That's hardly an issue."

Vicky and Nora exchanged glances, both respectively thinking that they had to find themselves a werewolf.

"Hey, you're a pureblood, right?"

Nora looked at her friend, warily nodding.

"Why?"

"I've just been thinking about Lennon's parents, that's all."

"Wasn't that a murder-suicide?" Vicky asked quietly.

Merissa shook her head.

"Dad said that Karl turned up with Lennon just after he was born. Left him in dad's care so that he could go back to Maryanne. We managed to get the postmortem, they were both dead when they were strung up."

"Duh," Nora said dryly. "You need to learn how to kill a pureblood if you're going to start sniffing around this one. Hanging won't do it, that's for sure. Killing a pureblood is crazy hard. No one in this city who knows how they supposedly died believes that big fat lie. I'm surprised that no one ever said anything to Lennon."

"To be fair, he has his head in the clouds a lot," Vicky interjected.

Nora leaned on the table, moving closer to Merissa.

"You want to start digging around? Start in your own backyard first. There's no way that your father would have been blinded to what was going on in his city."

"Yeah," Merissa murmured softly. "Lyla thought along those lines too."

"Speaking of Lyla, when is she coming for breakfast?"

Merissa shrugged, turning her gaze to Vicky.

"Still? That poor woman. I'm not even a mother and it kills me to think what it would be like in that kind of situation."

Nora nodded in agreement.

"How's the baby?"

"Doing good. He's looking a little chubbier now. I don't think they were starving him but they might have been a little clueless. He's healthy and with people who love him so that's all that matters."

She didn't believe her own words but Merissa couldn't say it out loud. Sammy needed so much more. Right now though, the most important thing to do was to improve Lyla's outlook on life. Merissa noted that Lennon was doing a lot for the kid. She didn't want to say anything about it because Merissa believed that Lennon would always go out of his way to be helpful but she wondered if Lyla was moping in her sadness and neglecting her duty to her grandchild.

This kid was her flesh and blood. He was a living memory of her lost daughter. Merissa understood that Lyla was in pain but she had to step up and accept that life was not always fair.