The Mountain's Shadow by Cecilia Dominic

had a solution somewhere that could be found by breaking the problem into little manageable bits. In the world of emotions and people, things were never simple.
    “Full moon tonight,” commented Gabriel as he returned and poured the wine. I jumped and opened my eyes. The sky had darkened, and the first few stars—planets, I guess—shone forth.
    “I guess the boys will have to run.” I had known that for some reason, but my memory wouldn’t tell me why it was important beyond the significance to the werewolves.
    “They already have.”
    “Oh.” A pang of disappointment stabbed my chest. “I’ll see if Lonna wants to join us.”
    The upstairs hallway was dark, but the light in Andy’s— I mean Lonna’s —room was on, the door cracked.
    “Knock knock,” I called.
    “Come in.”
    Steam from Lonna’s recent shower made the air feel warm and moist, and I smelled the citrus-coconut scent of her shampoo. I walked through the room to the bathroom door, which was ajar. She stood by the sink and toweled off her long, luxurious dark brown hair.
    “The guys—Ron and Leo—left.”
    “Good. I can come down to eat.”
    “Why didn’t you want to before?”
    “New people. I’ve had enough of strange men today.”
    I raised my eyebrows but resisted the retort that came to mind. Instead I asked, “Was Peter able to give you any insight into the missing children?”
    “No, but he did fill me in on the families that were here, specifically which ones fought the development.”
    “Does he think the two are connected?”
    “He doesn’t know. But at this point, everyone is a suspect.”
    “Even him?”
    She ran a comb through her hair. “Even him. You know the saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
    I bit my tongue over the reply that she seemed to have kept him close enough that afternoon.
    “I’ll let you get dressed.”
    I made my way down the stairs and paused by the front door. I don’t know what I was hoping to hear, but I could only make out the typical night sounds. I imagined what it would be like to shed human responsibilities for a few hours, to run under the moon and stars through the wild hills with the pack. I shivered. Would it all fall away, the grief over my grandfather’s strange disappearance, the guilt that blossomed at the thought of Louise going missing that morning, and the bitterness and anger over Robert’s betrayal? I could feel all of these things whirling around in my head, a miserable fog that weighed heavily on my heart. Ah, to be shed of that for even a few moments. A tear slid down my cheek and I took a deep breath so sadness wouldn’t overwhelm me. Even with two guardians in the house, I felt so very alone.
     
     
    I swirled the red wine around in my glass as Lonna recounted what she’d learned from Peter. The alcohol warmed me from the center out and loosened some of the tension in my chest. A good fruity Merlot, it paired well with the rabbit-leek stew and the crusty French bread, which Gabriel had somehow found out I loved and which he had picked up at the bakery in town that afternoon.
    Most of the settlers of Piney Mountain were of German and Scandinavian stock, and not much had changed due to the community’s isolation until the weekend commuters had discovered the joys of clean air and mountain living. The town’s resistance to being incorporated into Crystal Pines had been led by three families: the Van Dorens, the Schmidts and the Jorgens. Louise’s daughter had been Honey Jorgen, and it was her son—Louise’s grandson Johnny—who’d been the second to disappear. Eleven-year-old Simon Van Doren had been the first.
    “How did the developers explain that one?” I asked. “It seems the connection is obvious.”
    “It snuffed the resistance, that’s certain.” Gabriel used tongs to refill the bread basket with fresh, hot bread slices. “Suddenly the families who’d been here for generations were more willing to sell their land and get