Page 52 of A Wolf in the Garden

I could mull over the moralities of it all day, going in circles and getting nowhere, and it’s almost a relief when I round the final bend before Lost Moon and find myself having to slow due to traffic, simply because it’s a distraction. “What the hell?” I mutter, shocked by the huge line of cars parked on both sides of the road as I approach the vineyard. A car pulls out of the entrance, only to drive along and park at the next available spot on the street, and I cautiously turn onto the driveway.

The carpark is full, as is the reserve carpark, a paddock of land that Van has told me would only ever need to be used if the vineyard hosted a big event, which I’m certain he said wasn’t happening until the start of the corporate Christmas parties mid-December. There’s a young woman in high-vis gear that approaches my car, waving, and I wind down the window.

“Sorry, the carparks are both completely full, you’ll have to park on the road!”

“Oh, no,” I reply, “I’m heading down that drive.” I point to the coned-off driveway that leads to Van’s house.

“No, you can’t, that’s private property. You have to park on the road.” I feel for this girl and can forgive the snappy tone she takes with me; she can’t be older than eighteen, and has no doubt been given the shittiest job of the day, redirecting traffic rather than waitressing. A car drives in behind me, and a moment later it honks rudely.

“I’m Evander’s girlfriend,” I tell the girl. She blinks, looking confused, and I sigh. “Mr Livingston? The new owner? I need to get to his house. Please let me drive down there.”

“You’re Ellie.”

“I’m Ellie, yes.”

“They said to let you through.”

“Great!” I wonder who the hell‘they’is, and what this means, given the fact that I’m currently a paid contractor to Lost Moon. Probably that there will be a shit-ton of workplace gossip about me fucking the boss.Just wonderful.“I’ll move the cone myself and put it back,” I tell the girl just as the car behind me honks again. “Good luck dealing with those guys,” I gesture with my thumb.

“Thanks,” the girl pouts.

* * *

Van isn’t at his house, and the place is locked, so I trudge up the hill in search of him, cutting through the fields of grapevines. The crowd here today is insane, people spilling out of the grove of olive trees surrounding the outdoor bar and into the vines themselves. I weave through group after group of people picnicking on the lawn, and climb the stairs up onto the deck, finally spotting Van’s profile. He’s looking delicious as always in his tailored pants and well-cut shirt, the sleeves rolled up to just above his elbows. No tie, and the top few buttons are undone, showing off his deeply tanned skin. He’s clean-shaven today, dark hair styled back, and a Rolex on his wrist. Sexy, sexy man.

Even from across the deck I see the way his nostrils suddenly flare, his head whipping around, gold eyes narrowing in on me in an instant from where he stands under the shade of the overhanging vines that climb over the deck’s awning.Predator,my mind registers, even as my body reacts, desire coursing through my veins.

I’m drawn to him like a moth to a flame, ignoring all the patrons around us. He excuses himself from the table he’s been talking to, setting down the bottle of wine he’s been holding, and I realise I’m interrupting a wine tasting. “Sorry, I didn’t realise you were in the middle of —”

“It’s fine. It’s fucking insane here today.” There’s an element of aggravation in his voice, spoken low in my ear, that surprises me. I thought he’d be happy with the crazy amount of business, but his frown says otherwise, and I allow him to guide me through the restaurant and down the hall, aware of the unusually curious stares, all focused on Van, as we pass by. Entering his office, he closes the door after us, running his hands through his hair as he paces.

“Are you okay?”

“No.” He takes a deep breath, his brows drawn down in a deep frown. “They’re all human, this crowd today. Every single one of them. I should have just closed the whole place for the day, but I didn’t anticipate there being this many nosey fools.”

“What’s wrong with being human?” I can’t help the immediate defensiveness that rears its ugly head; Van’s never spoken this way before, but I’ve heard that kind of disdain before in the voices of some non-humans I’ve met over the past two years.

Van’s shoulders slump, the look on his face one of disbelief. “Nothing.Nothing, except that they’re all here to see themonster.” He gestures to himself with a jab of his thumb.

“The full moon. Oh my god.”

“Yes, the fucking full moon. Word has definitely travelled fast about me, it seems. Everyone wants to see a wolf on the day of the full moon, and because they’re customers, I have to put on my best smile and serve them all even though I currently feel like I’mcrawling out of my own skin.” The last half of his sentence is spoken with a growl that makes my knees weak, and he groans, tipping his head back. “Ellie,I can smell your cunt from here and it’s not helping.” I see the way the bulge in his pants thickens as he stands there, uncomfortably trapped beneath the fabric of his pants, and I can barely repress the urge to fall to my knees and free that beautiful cock of his.

Well, fuck me.“Why are you out there working?” I ask. “I thought you had the day off, and even then, you’re not usually front of house. I know you’re super qualified to do wine tastings and customers get a kick from having the owner run them but…” I trail off, feeling weird about the point I was about to make. I was about to say he didn’t have to do that, the wholeyou can pay other people to do that for you, you’re rich enoughschtick. Which he can, obviously. My mind practically shut down the other day when he told me he now has over a hundred million USD invested in commercial properties worldwide — that’s how he’s used the twenty million dollar trust fund his mother gifted him when he was twenty-one, investing and selling and investing again, advised by Cam, choosing carefully and maximising profits each time. It puts all of this at Lost Moon into perspective, because this little vineyard really is justchild’s playfor him, a ‘passion project’ as he says, even though the size and scale of this business is far, far larger than I could ever dream to own.

Me telling Van that he doesn’t have to serve customers himself just because he’s a wealthy, successful man… the temptation to sayyou’re above that… that would make me a total hypocrite, going against all my values.

Van seems to pick up on at least some of my sudden internal dilemma. “Ilikebeing a working part of the vineyard. I like running the wine tastings, usually. I did have the day off today, because working publicly on the full moon, without glamour keeping my body controlled, is a bad idea. I just didn’t anticipate havingfour timesthe amount of patrons than on any other given Saturday, and I just bought the place, so I can’t go turning people away, not when there’s outdoor space they can enjoy. It’s not like I can say to them that we’ve run out of wine, we’re avineyard, we have an endless supply. Besides, ninety percent of the crowd here today are locals from the island. Their opinion matters.”

He’s right, but it feels like all these people are taking advantage of the situation. Van’s a person, not a spectacle. He’s not the entertainment here; the wine is. “What time are you set to close this afternoon?”

“Four.”

“And the moon rises at eight tonight, right?”

“Just after eight.” He takes a seat on the couch that lines the back wall of the small office, elbows on his knees, massaging his head. Cam told me this morning that for a lot of werewolves, the last half of the day before the rise of the full moon is excruciating, their senses working on overdrive despite their bodies not yet transforming; things are too loud, scents too strong, movement around them too triggering. The crowd outside is too much even for me, and I’m not about to grow a tail and an extra two feet in height.

“I’ll work. I’ve done waitressing before, back when I was a student. I can’t do wine tastings because I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I can do the rest. You stay here in the office. Don’t go back out there.”

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