Chapter 147

That Saturday, I volunteered at the werewolf homeless shelter. Dennis thought that it would help bolster Andrew’s ratings if I were seen aiding the public. Since I strongly supported the shelter’s mission, I jumped at the chance to help them—and to get away from the manor.

I spent most of the day doing menial chores: cleaning the cots, sweeping the floors, and packing essentials to hand out to each person who came into the shelter. The other volunteers were very cheerful and energetic, and they helped me to forget about the troubles at the manor earlier in the week. It was a welcomed break from the drama of my everyday life.

With the shelter opening its doors for the night, my final task was to pass out essentials to newcomers until the end of my shift. I greeted each person with a smile and handed them a pack with a blanket, pillow, a pair of socks, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a brush, and peanut butter crackers. Their faces lit up at the little bit of kindness shown in this act, and my heart filled with a mix of warmth and sadness over that fact.

Near sunset, a woman and her daughter came to my station. Their clothes were dirty and wrinkled, and their hair had not been brushed in days. The daughter’s eyes drooped, and I could tell that the mother was barely holding up any better than she was.

I could smell that the woman was a human but that the daughter was a hybrid. The shelter was meant to be strictly for werewolves only; hybrids were allowed, but humans were always turned away.

“Hello,” the woman said in a meek voice, “is there any room in the shelter?”

I turned to look back at the cots. There were plenty of cots left, but I knew the shelter’s policy. The daughter would be allowed to stay, but I was not sure about her mother.

“I know the shelter’s rules,” the woman continued, drawing my attention back to her, “and wouldn’t ask you to make any exceptions, but we have nowhere else to go. The human shelter won’t let us in, and I don’t want to leave my daughter alone.”

The woman sniffled, and I could tell that she was trying to hold herself together for her daughter.

“My werewolf partner—my daughter’s father—just left us, and I don’t have a job yet…”

I thought about my own mother. She had been a single human mother raising a hybrid daughter after her werewolf partner left as well. I could not imagine what would have happened to us if we had not been from an affluent family.

I grabbed a bag for mother and daughter and handed one to each of them.

“I think that there’s enough room for you,” I said with a smile.

Tears streamed down the woman’s face.

“Bless you! May the Moon Goddess bless you!” she said as she hugged me tightly.

I hugged her back, a broad grin on my face.

“Don’t mention it,” I said.

I felt a tugging on my dress, and I looked down to see the daughter—no older than six—staring up at me with big, round, innocent eyes.

“Excuse me,” she said, “are you Crystal Blanchard?”

I laughed and pulled away from her mother.

“Yes, yes, I am.”

“You’re Mommy’s favorite Luna.”

This time, I laughed nervously.

“Well, I’m not one of Andrew’s Lunas yet.”

The little girl cocked her head curiously.

“You’re not? But you’re so pretty!”

I blushed.

“Well, thank you—”

“Sapphire,” she said.

“Thank you, Sapphire, but there’s a lot to being someone’s Luna. You need to make sure that you’re ready for it.”

“Are you ready?”

Her question caught me off guard.

“Uh…not yet, but maybe someday.”

“All right, Sapphire, that’s enough questions for Ms. Blanchard,” Sapphire’s mother said, probably worried that I would take back her invitation to enter the shelter.

“Please, call me Crystal,” I said, trying to put the woman at ease.

She smiled, though it wavered.

“Thank you again, Crystal.”

“No problem, though you should probably get in there before all the good cots are taken.”

“Wait!”

Sapphire suddenly held out a tiny white stuffed wolf to me. I stared at it in confusion.

“Her name is Crystal,” Sapphire said, as though that would explain everything, “like you. Will you sign her? Please?”

I looked up at Sapphire’s mother, silently asking for permission. She seemed surprised, but she nodded her acquiescence.

I grabbed a blue Sharpie from my purse, gingerly took Sapphire’s wolf, and signed my name on the wolf’s side.

“I honestly can’t believe that she’s having you do this,” Sapphire’s mother said. “That wolf is the only possession that she has left, besides the clothes on her back. It was the last gift that her father gave her before he left.”

After I finished signing my name, I blew on the ink to help it dry. Then I handed the wolf back to Sapphire, who hugged it tightly to herself.

“Well then, I’m very honored that she has my name,” I said with a small smile. “Now really, you two should head in now.”

The woman nodded, took Sapphire’s hand, and led her into the shelter. I watched them as they settled in, fighting back the tears that wanted to trickle from the corners of my eyes. It saddened me to see a pair so young needing to hunker down at a homeless shelter, but hopefully, the mother would be able to get a job soon, and this wouldn’t be a problem for them long.

A man cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to the task at hand.

I was almost startled by his appearance. His long, dark hair and beard were tangled and unkempt, and dirt had caked on to every inch of his exposed skin. The scraping of his untrimmed, cracked nails against his own calloused skin grated on my nerves, and his bloodshot eyes stared right into my soul.

In his right hand, he gripped a pistol.

I swallowed against the hard knot in my throat. Hoping to buy myself some time while Jeffrey came to my rescue, I decided to act as though nothing were wrong and proceed as though he were any other newcomer.

“Hello, sir,” I said as I attempted to give him a pack, “welcome to Moonlit Homeless Shelter.”

He did not take the pack.

My hands shook as I set the pack back down on the table beside me.

“Is there something that I can help you with today?”

“You found a bomb in your car earlier this week,” he stated.

Not a question, a statement. He knew this for a fact.

Chills ran down my spine.

“How do you know that?” I asked, slowly stepping away from the man.

He raised his gun at me, and I froze.

Susan growled deep within me, crying out for dominance, but I stopped her. Shifting prematurely would only cause him to shoot me sooner, and I had no idea if those were silver bullets or not.

“I am the one who planted the bomb in your car,” the man declared, “and now I’m here to finish the job.”