Hunter Moon (The Moon Series) (13 page)

“You killed it,” his brother whispered, dropping back with a weak groan. Lukas put bloody fingers to Peter’s neck. It was thready and fast. He was probably going to go into shock soon. Lukas stripped off his jacket and draped it over his brother to keep him warm.

“Yeah,” Lukas said absently, his mind on other things. He pulled out his cell phone. No service this deep in the woods. He ripped off some more makeshift bandages from the sack and packed them over the wound. “Hold these down as best you can.”

“Okay,” Peter whispered. His face was pale and sweating, his lips grey. Not good.

Lukas ran through the copse of trees, looking for tree limbs that he could use to fashion a litter. It wasn’t ideal, but he needed to be able to move Peter and it was obvious his brother was not up to moving himself. He’d have to drag him until he reached someplace that had signal; failing that he’d need to drag him back to the car if he could manage it.

He gathered everything in his arms that he would need and dumped them next to his brother. He took off his overshirt and began to cut it into strips that he could use to bind the whole thing together. It wouldn’t be the most beautiful thing in the world, but it would have to do. As he worked, Lukas would check on Peter, talking to him, taking his pulse. His brother was growing weaker by the second.

Lukas managed to get him situated on the makeshift litter with a minimum of screaming, then hoisted it up. It was going to hurt, jarring Peter and his torn up leg all over the trail, but it couldn’t be helped. He could only hope his brother lost consciousness soon. He left Peter’s rifle behind, but had his slung across his back.

Everything was getting hazy by the time he’d managed to get a signal and call a medic. Lukas kept going, only able to put one foot in front of the other. He’d made it his goal to get to where they parked—that’s where he’d told the dispatcher they’d be. He didn’t even try checking on Peter anymore; if he stopped, he didn’t think he would have it in him to get started again.

Lukas nearly fainted with relief when he saw Peter’s car. He dropped his end of the litter and went to check on Peter, but when he went to feel for a pulse all he saw was blood…

“Peter!” Lukas woke up shouting, thrashing out of the bedclothes. He looked around wildly, the dream still having hold of him. He finally registered the dresser and mirror and bed, the walls and pictures posted to them. He sagged back onto the bed, his hands over his mouth as he tried not to vomit. Then he saw the dried blood beneath his fingernails, blood that didn’t belong to an animal, but to his older brother.

He barely made it to the bathroom in time.

Chapter Seventeen

Laila blew through the door of the house before Finn even knew she was in town, intent on murdering Kess. The call to tell her that Mebis was missing and presumed stuffed had not gone well, not that he’d expected it to. When he told her that Mebis might be in trouble, she’d gone quiet. Deathly so. He’d explained their suspicions about the hunter, but all Laila had said was “Okay.”

It was nearly one in the morning when Laila burst in. She must have taken the last flight out—or possibly teleported, Finn wouldn’t put it past her with all the weird stuff she knew—to get to Miami from New Orleans so quickly. Finn tried to derail her on her way down the hall to Kess’ bedroom, but the werejackal assassin was having none of it.

“Out of the way, Finn,” she snarled. “Don’t make me move you.”

From anyone else, Finn would have laughed at the threat. Laila was only a little over five feet tall, so Finn towered over her by almost an entire foot. But Finn had seen his girlfriend in action on several occasions and he knew just how capable of inflicting grievous bodily injury she was. Laila could probably put him through a wall without even breaking a sweat. It was one of the things he loved most about her.

Finn stepped aside, but matched pace with her. “Laila, I know you’re mad but you need to rein it in. We’ve got this under control, but going off on Kess is not going to help things.”

Laila ignored him, stalking down the hallway until she stopped before Kess’ door. Before she got a chance to pound on it, the door swung open. Kess stood there, fully clothed, obviously expecting Laila and her temper. She gestured them inside and closed the door.

Finn could feel the tension in the air; it was thick enough to bite through. He looked between Laila and Kess, positioning himself close to Laila. She was his girlfriend, after all, and maybe he could grab her before she mauled the wereleopard.

“Where’s Mebis?” Laila asked in a calm voice. Finn tensed. A calm Laila was never a good thing. It was like standing in the eye of a hurricane.

Kess looked like Laila was the least of her worries, and it was probably true. Finn knew Kess hadn’t been sleeping—she’d been up trying to think of a way to safeguard all of the people depending on her. Thinking that she had failed Mebis—and Finn knew Kess well enough to know the way her mind worked—was making the job that much harder.

“I believe he’s been killed.” Kess said it matter-of-factly, something that Finn hadn’t been expecting. He thought she’d lead into the news a little more gently.

He looked at Laila. Her brown eyes had narrowed, but that was her only reaction to the news. Finn should have realized that a slow preparation of bad news would be wasted on Laila; she was a ‘rip the bandage off all at once’ kind of girl.

Suddenly, Laila swung a fist at Kess’ head. Kess was ready for it though. The wereleopard dodged, throwing her upper body back and out of the way, then popping back up in a fighting stance. Her fists were protecting her face, and her elbows were in tight against her ribs. Finn wondered where she’d learned that, but he had a feeling he already knew. Mebis had been busy during his months of recovery. Those weekly sparring sessions might just get put to good use.

“You had one job,” Laila growled. “Look after my brother. And you couldn’t even do that!” She lashed out with a kick, which Kess deflected with a low block.

“I have more than just one person to look out for,” Kess said, her voice icy calm. “And what, are you telling me that you didn’t think Mebis could take care of himself?”

Finn nodded in agreement. He knew Laila had always thought that Mebis could tackle anything and come out on top—the idea of her thinking he needed protection was laughable. Even though, in some ways, Laila was a better fighter than her brother, Finn knew she still had her brother up on a pedestal. Finn suspected that Mebis knew it too.

Finn also knew that Laila wasn’t fighting to win. Neither was Kess. He knew enough about the two young women to know that they weren’t exactly serious in trying to hurt one another. If Kess had been, she’d have turned into a leopard by now. If Laila had been, Kess would never have seen her coming. Finn grinned—the women in his life made sure he was never bored.

“Don’t try using logic on me!” Laila shouted, going for a chop at Kess’ throat. Again Kess dodged, but made no move to retaliate. “You’re responsible. You’re the head of this territory. His death is on you!”

“Laila!” Finn yelled, knowing that she wasn’t being fair.

“Stay out of this, Finn,” Laila warned. Kess nodded in agreement.

“You’re both nuts, you know that?” He’d had enough. This wasn’t getting them any closer to catching the hunter who’d killed Mebis. “Laila, if you really wanted to hurt Kess, you’d have done it by now, and Kess, stop trying to be a martyr by letting Laila beat the crap out of you!”

The two girls froze. Kess dropped her arms. “When did you get to be so smart?” she asked.

“About the time you both started losing your freakin’ minds.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Can we get back on topic now? We need to figure out what we’re going to do about this hunter.”

Laila eyed Finn curiously. “Fine,” she finally said. “Just one thing.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

Laila hauled off and punched Kess, a hard cross to the jaw. Kess staggered backwards, but righted herself quickly, her hand pressed against her cheek. “Feel better?” the wereleopard managed to get out.

“No,” Laila said. Finn rolled his eyes.

“Me neither.”

“You let him die.” Laila said it as a statement and not an accusation.

Kess nodded sadly. “I didn’t know.” Laila didn’t say anything, just glared at Kess.

“I swear, I will never understand women,” Finn said, shaking his head. He should definitely invest in a yurt. He had a feeling he’d be using it a lot in the coming years.

Laila walked past him, barely acknowledging him. When she was at the door, she turned back to Kess. When she spoke, her voice was like ice. “After you’re done getting some ice for your jaw, you and Finn here are going to tell me everything I need to know about this hunter of yours.” She smiled, and there was no mirth in it, only the promise of pain.

Chapter Eighteen

Kess heard the doorbell ring. She looked up, startled. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Rafe and Finn were out on patrol, Laila had already disappeared, and none of Kess’ wereleopards were due to report for a day or two. She got up from her spot in the library and made her way to the door.

Pausing for a moment in the hallway, Kess felt her heart speed up. She didn’t like to admit it, but she was frightened, perhaps more than she’d ever been. What if it was Lukas on the other side of the door? What if he’d tracked her to her home? The hunter had managed to kill Mebis, and the werejackal had been one of the Keepers of Divine Order. He’d been trained since practically birth to kill people—if Mebis could be killed, what chance did she have? She reined in her thoughts quickly; there was no point in letting fear rule her. If she was afraid to open her own front door, how could she even hope to fight Lukas?

She continued down the hall as the doorbell rang again. Kess looked through the sidelight, and froze in shock. Standing on the front steps, holding a large suitcase, was Cormac. Her heartbeat quickened in that good way it did whenever she saw him. Suddenly an empty place that she hadn’t even been aware of felt filled. But what was he doing here?

Kess opened the door slowly. Cormac smiled down at her. “Hi,” he said.

He was even more gorgeous than she remembered. She opened the door wider. “Hi.” She took a moment and just stared at him, rememorizing his face.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment, until Cormac asked, “Can I come in? It’s a little hot out here.”

“Oh, God, sorry. Come on in.” She pulled the door open wider and beckoned him inside.

“Thanks.”

As he stepped inside, hoisting the suitcase over the threshold, Kess took another look at him to catalogue the changes in him. He was still the same tall, dark, handsome guy she’d fallen in love with. His hair was a little longer in the back than he usually wore it, but his eyes were the same piercing grey that always made her a little weak-kneed when he looked at her. She smiled at him as he turned back around as she closed the door.

“Can I get a hug?” Cormac said, opening his arms.

“Of course,” Kess answered, coming gratefully into the harbor of his embrace. His arms tightened around her and she felt safer than she had in months. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. “I’m so glad you’re here. But why?”

“Finn filled me in on what’s going on,” Cormac whispered against her ear. “I came as soon as I could get away.”

“What about school?”

Cormac shrugged off her question. “Finn said you needed me. School can wait.”

“I’m glad you came,” Kess said again, a tightness in her throat. She couldn’t believe he was here. She would never have called him—and she had never thought Finn would do so. It felt like a dream. She’d been able to put aside thoughts of Cormac to focus on her clan and territory, but now that he was here, she never wanted to be without him again. Their fight from his visit in the summer was forgotten. He was here now, that was what mattered.

Cormac pulled back so he could look her in the face. “Are you?”

Kess nodded. “Yes.” She smiled at him, running a hand through his hair. “I am so happy to see you.”

“I know when I left…”

Kess placed a finger over his lips, silencing his words. They could deal with that later. “I don’t want to talk about that right now, okay?” She just wanted a few hours to enjoy his arrival before she had to go back to work on the problems the hunter presented.

She wanted a few hours with him.

Cormac took her hand in his and raised it to his lips. “Okay, Kess.”

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered.

He leaned forward and kissed her, just a light brush of his lips against hers. “Same here,” he murmured.

She tilted her face to his, memorizing the lines of his face that had somehow become fuzzy in her recollection over the last months. He was still everything she had ever wanted, had ever hoped for. And he was here when she needed him most. He always was.

It just took him going away for her to realize it.

Kess took his hand, leading him deeper into the house. “Let’s see about getting you settled.”

He pulled against her hand, stopping her. “Kess, I came because I love you. Finn told me about this hunter—and how you might be next. I don’t want to just assume…”