Riley's Redemption (A Moon's Glow Novel) by Christina Smith Page A

to approach the girl with the gun.
“Why do you think that?” I asked a very determined Eva. Despite my proximity to
a loaded gun, I suddenly wasn’t afraid. Call me stupid, call it a gut feeling,
but I didn’t believe this girl with the messy braid and cherub like features,
could hurt a fly, let alone me or my friend. She had that chance when she had
turned into a wolf earlier and she hadn’t taken it.
    At my approach she
lowered the gun slightly, her hands beginning to shake again. We had never met
before, but despite that, I could tell that she held no anger towards me. “A
woman named Charlotte brought Marisa to me ten years ago. She was frantic. She
said the girl needed a place to stay and protection from her crazed brother who
had just killed their parents.” A wave of understanding washed over me. The
girl in front of me holding the gun was a good person. For some reason, I knew
this the first time I heard her voice, when she spoke to Marisa with love at
the motel. My only question had been, how she could keep a girl she obviously
cared for away from the only family she had left? The answer should have been
obvious, Charlotte. It had been her life’s mission, when she was alive, to
cause pain wherever she could. She’d be happy to know that even after her
death, she was still causing it. For six months Adrian had suffered through almost finding his sister, all because of a lie the evil werewolf had told Eva.
    As understanding hit
me, Adrian cursed.
    I smiled and stepped
toward Eva, the floor creaked beneath my foot and I could hear Marisa’s soft
intake of breath as I held my hand out for the gun.
    Eva gazed at me with
apprehension and then her eyes swung to the hand that I still held out. She
made no other movement.
    “You’ve been lied to.”
My voice was soft and filled with compassion. I might not have believed any
lies Charlotte had told me, but I let her into our home where she struck and
kidnapped me and Lauren.
    Eva’s hands that held
the gun, lowered slightly. “What do you mean?” she whispered. The hesitation in
her voice matched the look in her eyes.
    “Charlotte was an
evil...” At the sound of Adrian’s cough, I changed the word I was about to use.
We didn’t know how much Marisa knew, so I couldn’t use the word werewolf.
“Woman, who enjoyed ruining people’s lives. She hurt my husband, me and many
others that I know, even her own brother.”
    A line creased her
forehead. “What do you mean she was ?”
    “She was killed when
she tried to murder my best friend’s father.”
    Eva closed her eyes,
exhaustion marring her features. She dropped the gun to her side, but didn’t
let it go.
    I relaxed, letting my
hands fall. “Don’t feel foolish. She has manipulated so many people. She
probably couldn’t keep track of it all.”
    Eva’s lip quivered, her
eyes distressed. “I don’t know what to believe.”
    I moved closer and
placed a hand on her shoulder, she smelled of ginger and pineapple. “I know you
don’t know me, but believe me when I tell you that Adrian is a good person.”
    Her eyes flicked to
the man in question and a tear slid down her cheek. She brushed passed me and
moved to the brown corduroy sofa, falling into it; the aged springs groaned
with the movement. She held her head in her hands, her messy, chestnut colored
braid, falling over her shoulder. The gun lay forgotten on the cushion next to
her.
    The rest of us took
positions in the living room. I sat back on my chair, while Marisa took the
spot next to Eva, opposite the gun. Adrian leaned against the faded blue wall,
watching us. His expression was guarded as he eyed the girl and the gun next to
her.
    Everyone was silent as
Eva took in the information I had just given her.
    It was Marisa that
broke into the strained quiet. “So, are you two werewolves like Eva?” she asked
Adrian and me.
    Adrian and I exchanged
glances, unsure what to say, but Eva sat up and stared at the teenager next to
her. “What are