Hunter Moon (The Moon Series) (17 page)

Kess ignored the tone, but responded to the question. “Not at all. And I think I have a solution to your problem that will allow you to remain in Miami and satisfy your parents.”

“I’m listening.”

The wereleopard took a breath, then plunged in. “We need you on this one, Laila. I propose I call your parents and tell them that we need your help with our investigation of this hunter. I request that you be allowed to stay, but that you’ll be housed with me—in the guest house—and you’ll be in contact with them as often as they wish until the matter is resolved.” She broke off a corner of a chip and popped it into her mouth. “Does that work for you?”

“And what about after?”

“After what?” Something flickered in Kess’ eyes.

“After we catch this guy. What about then?” She locked eyes with Kess.

The wereleopard lowered hers delicately. “If you still feel we have business, we’ll deal with it then.”

Rafe spoke. Laila sometimes forgot the kid was even around, so good was he at fading into the background. Laila reminded herself that she should study him to see if she could pick up how he did it, but she had a feeling it came from being raised by a mother like Samara and was something she couldn’t be taught without the, ah, proper motivation. She eyed his scars carefully.

“You’ll have business with all of us then.” His voice had gotten deeper, Laila observed.

She raised her eyebrows at him, but otherwise said nothing. She didn’t have to. Kess did it for her. “Rafe,” the wereleopard began, but he shook his head.

“No, Kess. It’s not fair.” Laila nearly snorted when he said that. Life wasn’t fair and to expect it to be was insane. Was it fair that Mebis had his hand crushed in the jaws of a werehyena fighting Kess’ battle? Was it fair that he’d been hunted and killed while in her city? Was it fair that Kess was still drawing breath while he was stuffed like some museum piece, unable to find proper rest?

Rafe continued. “If you’ve got a problem with the way things are handled, you’ve got a problem with the council. And that’s all of us.” He nodded his head at Finn and Kess, then gestured to himself. “Kess had nothing to do with what happened to your brother, but if you want to hold her responsible, then you have to hold the rest of the council responsible too.”

She saw Kess drop her head into her hand. Laila leaned forward, across the table, as far as she could. “You eager for me to finish what your sister started?” She smiled as Rafe paled.

“Laila,” Finn hissed from his seat next to her.

She ignored him. “You think I won’t come after all of you because my boyfriend is in the line of fire?” Her grin grew colder, as did her eyes. She felt made of ice, like frost would burst out and lace her skin any moment. “Then you don’t know Keepers at ALL.”

She stood, turning her attention back to Kess. There wereleopard’s eyes were hard, like peridots and her face was a cold mask. “I’ll send you my parents’ number in New Orleans. You can have Finn let me know what they say.” Without another word, she stalked away from the table.

“Damn it,” Finn muttered, getting up to follow her. He cuffed Rafe on the back of the head as he left.

“What?” Rafe asked, rubbing his head. His confused eyes sought out Kess’. “What did I do?”

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“Laila!” She heard Finn shout as soon as he hit the street.

She didn’t turn or slow, just continued walking. She really didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. What she really wanted to do was…well, she didn’t know actually. There was too much running through her and she couldn’t figure out what she wanted, other than the impossible.

She wanted her brother back.

But that wasn’t going to happen and Laila knew it. Death was a part of life. It was nothing to be feared. So why did she feel so horrible?

And the one person who would have understood all of this, who would have been able to help her work it out in her head was dead. She wanted to walk back inside and smack Rafe all over again. Not fair. What did he know about unfair? What did any of them?

She was working herself up into a spitting froth, and she knew it, but she had no real urge to stop it. Let it come. At least it was better than feeling this gaping emptiness where her brother used to be.

“Hold up a second,” Finn said, catching up with her at a run. “Will you just stop!”

Laila whirled on him, her hands on her hips. “What, Finn?”

“We’re not the bad guys here, L.” He tried to put his hand on her shoulder but she stepped away from him. She didn’t want him touching her. He sighed, his brown eyes sad. “I’m on your side.” When he smiled, it was sad as well. “Even if you’d kill me just as soon as look at me if it came to it.”

She’d hurt him. She knew she had. Most people would say it wasn’t actually possible to hurt Finn, but Laila knew that wasn’t the case at all. He just didn’t let people see it. But he was letting her see it, and it made her feel things she didn’t want to think about. She was full of too many feelings already; she was drowning in them.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said, the closest she could come to an apology.

“Then don’t.” He took a step toward her, his arms down at his sides. “It’s pretty simple.”

Laila took another step back. It wasn’t simple—that was the entire problem. Laila liked simple, she was good at simple. This was beyond complicated. It was like a maze and all Laila wanted to do was smash her way through it so she could kill whatever lay on the other side. Bloodshed was simple.

She turned and began to walk away. “I can’t do this. Not right now. Just give me some space, okay?”

“Sure,” he called.

He didn’t come after her. Laila didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“We’ve got to hunt,” Kess argued, knowing that the guys weren’t going to like it.

“Are you crazy?” Cormac asked, with Finn nodding emphatically beside him. “No way.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“I’m being ridiculous? Me?” Cormac looked to Finn for support. “I’m not the one with a were-obsessed hunter stalking me!”

Kess frowned. “He could be though. We don’t know that he’s done collecting wolves.”

Finn smirked. “That’s not exactly helping your hunting argument there, Kestrel.”

She glared at him. “So says the king of debate and argumentation,” she mocked.

Cormac interrupted. “Don’t try to change the subject, Kess. The Everglades are the last place you should be.”

“I’ll call a clan hunt,” she said, trying to get them to see reason. This situation was so far from ideal as to be laughable, but they needed to change and to hunt. If they took precautions, they could be safe.

Finn threw his hands in the air. “That’s brilliant. Give him a whole bunch more leopards to shoot at—that’s a great idea.”

Kess spun, advancing on Finn in a stalk. “I’m not going to be a prisoner in my own city—in my own house! I didn’t even do this for Samara—why would I for Lukas?” She took a breath and calmed herself. Yes, definitely time to change and well past. She was not normally this quick to temper. “Look,” she began in a much more reasonable tone, “it’s a risk we’re going to have to take. We’ll have enough people out there, so no one needs to go off alone. Lukas doesn’t want to be found out, so the conditions won’t be ideal for him either.”

“She’s got a point,” Rafe said quietly from his seat on the couch.

Cormac glanced at Rafe for a moment, then nodded. “She does, doesn’t she?” Kess heard him sigh. “Okay, fine. But we’re all going with you and some of us will stay in human form. I think Lukas will be less likely to try something if there are humans present.”

“Or anyone who might be a witness,” Finn added. “Fine. I don’t like it, but I see your point.”

Kess tried hard not to smile. He was so petulant when he was outvoted; she knew that from sitting on the council with him. “We’ll take turns then. Everyone needs to hunt—I don’t want anyone weakened from NOT hunting.”

She paused, then looked warily at Finn. “Should we invite Laila?”

He shook his head. “I’m pretty sure that would be a bad idea.”

Kess was relieved to hear Finn say that. It would make the hunt go much easier. Laila had never been what Kess would term predictable, but now she was so erratic that there was no telling what she’d do from moment to moment. If Laila caught even a glimpse of the hunter while they were in the Everglades, Kess knew there would be no stopping her—and no helping her. If something went wrong they might lose the hunter for good—and they might lose Laila. Kess didn’t want to put Finn through that, even if she did want to smack the werejackal into next year on a regular basis.

Besides, she had other plans for the werejackal.

“Tonight then,” Kess said. “I’ve got some calls to make.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Her phone buzzed at her. Laila was beginning to hate the sound of it; she’d turned the ringer off, but she’d set it to vibrate so she’d at least know when someone was trying to get in touch with her. That was turning out to be a colossal mistake. Her phone never seemed to stop going off. If it wasn’t her parents calling her to come home, it was her best friend Gen asking where she was, or Kess or Finn.

She’d been avoiding calls from Finn. She’d been avoiding anything to do with Finn since their conversation outside of the restaurant. She hadn’t exactly covered herself in glory there, and it made her a little ashamed of herself. He was only trying to help her; it wasn’t his fault that the bloodthirsty side of her was in constant war with the more rational part of her mind. Laila didn’t want Finn to get hurt, not because of her.

But she missed him.

That was unexpected.

Laila didn’t know what to do with these feelings either. She felt like they made her weak, and she needed to be strong, especially now. This hunter was hers to capture—he was hers to kill. If she turned into a sniveling ball of suck now, who was going to avenge Mebis? As much as she might like to weep against Finn’s manly shoulder—insert mad eyeroll here—it didn’t feel right. She wanted Finn with her, but at the same time, she didn’t.

She shook her head. Nothing made sense anymore, most especially her.

Still, Laila wanted to hear Finn’s voice. She hit the connect button on her phone, but didn’t say anything. She just stared at the display screen, at the picture she had of Finn that popped up whenever he called her.

“Laila? You there?” His voice was strong and deep, like the current of the Big Muddy. She sighed without meaning to. She’d missed the sound of his voice.

Instead of saying anything, she hit the one button. She was afraid if she spoke she’d somehow ruin everything.

“Laila?” Finn’s voice was tentative, something she’d never heard before.

Again she pressed one.

“Not feeling much like talking, huh?”

One.

“One beep for yes, two for no, right?”

One.

“That’s fine. I always did love the sound of my own voice.” The grin was back, Laila could tell by his tone.

She hit one once more.

Finn laughed. “Fair enough. You okay?”

Laila lay back in the bed of her cheap motel room. She wasn’t sure how to answer that. Should she be honest and let her guard down a little? Or should she just hit the button once and be done with it. Laila didn’t like to lie, not really, and not to someone that mattered to her. She believed that if you respected and cared about someone, you owed them the truth. Laila only lied to people she didn’t respect.

She hit the button. Twice.

Finn was quiet on the other end, but Laila could hear him breathing. It was comforting somehow. Like she wasn’t alone, even though she was.

She heard him breathe in. “I wish there was something I could say that wouldn’t sound completely and utterly stupid.” There was a pause while she waited in silence for him to continue. She could feel that there was more coming. “This sucks.”

One.

He laughed then, but it wasn’t a happy one. “Yeah, my gift for understatement is mindblowing.” He waited, as if expecting her to do something. “You could object, you know.”

Two.

“Gee, thanks.” he chuckled. “I got Rafe really good today.”

Laila listened as Finn described the prank war that was rapidly escalating between him and Rafe. She turned her brain off, trying desperately not to think about anything, only focusing on Finn’s words and the way they made her feel. With Finn talking like there was nothing wrong, it made it easier for Laila to believe that her brother wasn’t dead, even if only for a few minutes. His voice rooted her in the here and now, grounding her in the present and drawing a veil over her past and future. With his voice as a guide, it was almost like she could exist outside of time.

She settled deeper against the pillow, letting Finn’s words—the special cadence of his sentences—wash over her. Laila threw her arm over her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose. Tightness in her shoulders that she hadn’t even been aware of now began to flow out of her. She began to breathe in and out, deep and even.