Kiss of Moonlight (18 page)

She knew that. She knew he’d take a bullet for her if he needed to.

Which was why she was leaving.

Tears formed and she blinked them back before they could escape and Kyle would notice.

And wonder what was wrong.

Leaving him is wrong.

But leaving him would ensure his safety.

And that was more important to her than anything.

She’d managed to keep out of the clutches of whoever had been searching for her, even before she knew they’d been looking for her.

Surely she’d be able to keep one step ahead of them until Kyle caught them.

And he would catch them.

She just hoped he’d forgive her for running when this was all over.

Chapter Seven

“Is your fucking phone off?”

Kyle’s head snapped up as Dan stormed out of the lodge the second he and Tam hit the steps.

“What are you
do
— What’s wrong?”

Dan’s face tightened into a tight mask that made Kyle’s balls want to crawl up into his stomach.

“We’ve got trouble.” Dan slid one, quick glance at Tam. “
Tamra
, would you please give us a minute?”

Kyle’s hand tightened on her arm as she started to pull away.

“What kind of trouble? What the fuck—”

“Something I can’t talk about in front of her.” Dan shook his head.
“That kind of trouble.”

Kyle felt a growl start low in this throat. “She goes nowhere—”

“This isn’t my call.
Vaffanculo
, Kyle. You don’t know what’s going on.”

Dan’s raised voice, almost as much as the look on his face, made Kyle realize whatever was going on was legion business.

“Dan, stop shouting.” Margie stepped out onto the porch, her worried expression shutting Kyle up faster than Dan’s raised voice. “Cat can hear you and
she’s
already scared enough.”

Why the hell was Margie here? And Cat?

Kyle caught and held Dan’s gaze. And smelled his best friend’s rising anxiety.

No, not anxiety.
Fear.

He and Dan didn’t feel fear. It’d been bred out of them long ago.

Shit
. Whatever was going on was big.
And bad.

He slipped into soldier mode without a second thought.

“Tam, go with Margie.
Now.
You can’t be here.”

He made it an order and knew the second the words left his
mouth,
he never should have spoken to her like that.

Tam wasn’t fast enough to cover her expression of shocked hurt. Hadn’t he just promised her they’d deal with whatever happened together? And now he was sending her away.

“I can’t leave.” Margie shook her head. “Neither can
Cat
. Maybe Tam could wait out here on the porch for a little.”

Margie tried to smile but it didn’t reach her eyes.

And he knew that whatever had happened wasn’t just bad. It was catastrophic.

He looked at Tam. “I need you to go to the room we were in earlier and stay there. Don’t come out. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He tried to soften his tone this time but the damage had already been done. He watched her expression go blank as she nodded. He could feel her pulling away.

He wanted to howl but Dan’s anxiety made his skin crawl. He wanted to pull Tam into his arms but was afraid she’d pull away, and he knew if she tried to, he’d hold on.

And that would make her pull away harder.

Torn, he did the only thing he could.

He bent and kissed her, hard, trying to convey what he couldn’t put into words. “Go now. And don’t come out until I come for you.”

He watched her hesitate for a brief second then felt a small measure of relief when she walked up the stairs and into the room to the right of the front door.

“I know what you’re
gonna
say.” Kyle held up one hand as Dan opened his mouth as soon as she closed the door. “I know I shouldn’t have brought her here. I know how much fucking trouble this could cause. And I don’t fucking care. She’s safer here with me. I’ll deal with the other shit later. Just tell me what the fuck’s going on.”

Dan took a deep breath and shook his head. “Cole took a silver bullet to the leg. He was nearly dead by the time he got here. Doc was hit too. Margie, Cat and
Nica
are here.
Nica’s
got the bleeding controlled and Margie and Cat can deal with any infection.”

Holy shit.
Cole and Doc. Catastrophic might be too tame.

Still,
Nica
Donato
was the
boschetta
’s
healer. Cole should be safe in her hands.

Kyle followed Dan and Margie into the house. “Where the hell were his
praetorians
?” Cole never went anywhere without the
p
raetorian
guard
.

Dan shook his head, taking the stairs to the second floor two at a time. “No idea. We need to talk to Doc. He’s conscious and he won’t let
Nica
put him under until he talks to you.”

“Then let’s go talk to him.
Fast.”

* * * * *

Now or never.

Tam had the keys to Kyle’s Jeep in her hand. He’d left them on the desk, in plain sight.
Practically taunting her with their accessibility.

But her feet felt like ten-ton weights and the tears she’d held back outside began to stream down her cheeks.

Now.
You have to go now.

She had no idea how long Kyle would be. She didn’t want to face him if he caught her, couldn’t bear to look in his eyes and see the hurt, the disappointment.

He’d never understand that she was doing this for him. He’d think she was being foolish.

She’d left him a note, told him she’d be careful. She trusted him to find whoever was chasing her and that she would stay out of sight until whoever was after her was caught. She’d left her email address so he could contact her when it was safe, when they’d caught the person who was after her.

He had to realize how much trust she was putting in him and his people to take care of this.

And if he didn’t understand
,
if he washed his hands of her… Well, people survived with broken hearts all the time.

And now that she had a plan and the opportunity, she wanted to get this over with.

Turning the knob, she opened the door just enough to be able see the surrounding hall and the stairs leading up.

No one there.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped out and headed for the front door. She never looked back, just opened it, closed it and sprinted for the Jeep.

She was nearly there when someone fell out of the tree above the Jeep and landed on his feet as if he’d jumped from only a few feet above the ground.
Instead of twenty.

Tam drew in a deep breath and caught herself just before she screamed.

Her heart knocked against her ribs like a bird trying to escape a cage, and she froze as the boy—no, not a boy.
A girl.

She looked to be around Tam’s age and physically, she was average size, average height and weight.

As the girl came closer, Tam saw bright green eyes, and hair a stunning mixture of black, gray and auburn that couldn’t be natural, no matter how very natural it looked.

The girl took her measure in seconds and must have found her unworthy of anything other than her disdain.

“Kyle’s
gonna
be pissed if you take his car.” She shrugged and leaned against the front driver’s side bumper. “But that’s no skin off my back.”

If Tam wanted to take the car, she’d have to get closer to the girl. And Tam wasn’t sure she wouldn’t get bitten, whether this girl was
lucani
or not. Still, she couldn’t stop. “I left him a note. And you can tell him I’ll leave the car for him at the Reading bus station.”

The girl shook her head slowly, looking at her as if she had three heads and snakes for hair. “It’s your funeral. I just don’t understand why the hell you’d want to leave him. I’ve never seen him with another woman, much less an
eteri
.”

That last word sounded like such a slur, Tam felt her back stiffen even as her heart broke just a little more. “Then I guess you should be happy I’m leaving.”

“Like I
said,
no skin off my teeth. I’ll let him know where to pick up the car. But,” she paused, almost as if she didn’t want to say any more but couldn’t help herself, “you’re an idiot to leave him. Kyle’s tough as nails and one of a kind.”

The girl walked off into the woods then, disappearing from sight as if she’d never been there.

She’d probably never even tell Kyle she’d caught Tam leaving.

Climbing into the Jeep, she started the engine and took off like a shot, not knowing if Kyle would hear the engine. When she got to the bus station, she’d call his
cell,
leave a message about where to pick up his car, just in case the girl didn’t relay her message.

Then she’d disappear. She’d done it after her ordeal. She was actually pretty good at it, having learned from her mom.

Kyle wouldn’t find her. Maybe he wouldn’t even want to. But she was doing this for him.

She couldn’t get the image of being sprayed with Kyle’s blood out of her head.

And she let that image give her strength as she started the Jeep and tore off down the road.

* * * * *

Three Weeks Later

“So are you going to tell me what’s eating at you?”

Cole sat in his bed at the lodge, playing cards flipping through his fingers like he was performing a magic trick. He’d been playing poker with Cat for the past hour until Kyle had stopped to give a status update.

Cat had taken one look at Kyle’s face, said goodbye to Cole and headed out the door after a brief hug for Kyle.

“We still don’t have a clue who ordered the hit. I’ve had Nic and Duke working round the clock.”

Cole nodded, his dark gaze locked onto Kyle’s. The
lucani
king wasn’t much older than Tam but wise beyond his years. Like Tam.

“That’s not what’s eating you.”

Kyle tried not to want to hit his king but the guy saw too much. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine.”

“
Kaine
told me about the
eteri
who took off in your Jeep. Have you found her yet?”

Kyle gritted his teeth but kept his expression blank.
And ignored Cole’s question.
“We’re continuing to pursue the angle that the
Mal
are involved in your shooting, due to family history.”

The
lucani
had lost their king and queen and their oldest son when Cole was seventeen. They’d been executed by
Mal
assassins, who in turn had been killed by a
stregone
who happened to be in the area. That
stregone
had saved Cole and his younger sister,
Arabella
.

And saved the precarious civility of the
lucani
.

For centuries, the
lucani
had run wild in Italy, their numbers dwindling as more and more were killed by
eteri
. When they’d immigrated to the United States in the early 1800s, they’d almost rampaged themselves to extinction.

Until Cole’s great-grandfather had given up his Sicilian kingdom to unite the American pack. He’d instilled purpose, direction and a civility the
lucani
had needed to survive. He’d reinstated the legion structure, given the
lucani
a common enemy—the
Mal
—and generally saved them from extinction.

The killing of Cole’s family had been aimed at throwing the legion into turmoil. They’d almost gotten their wish. Half the legion had wanted to declare war but cooler heads had prevailed.

Instead, Dan and Kyle had been dispatched to send the
Mal
a message. Three powerful, seemingly untouchable
Mal
had been executed, shot the exact same way as the
Luporeale
family.

The
Mal
had taken the hint and there’d been no other attempts on Cole, his sister or the
lucani
since then.

If the
Mal
were behind Cole’s shooting, the unspoken truce was dead. And the
lucani
were much more organized, much more determined to keep their young king safe.

And if it wasn’t the
Mal
…

Well, that could prove more disturbing than anything.

“Probably good not to let that angle go cold. And you’re sure your little
eteri
’s
disappearance doesn’t have anything to do with it?”

Kyle practically bit off his tongue trying to hold back the blistering words that wanted to escape, and settled for, “I’m positive.”

“But you haven’t found her yet.”

“No.”

And it was eating him alive.

The first week after she’d run had been hell. He honestly thought he’d go crazy, torn between investigating Cole’s shooting and finding Tam.

Images of her kidnapped, terrified, broken and bleeding tormented him night and day.
Only sheer force of will had kept him focused enough to maintain his sanity.

“And her disappearance isn’t affecting your judgment at all?”

Kyle’s gaze shot to Cole’s. “I’m fine.”

“Then I guess you don’t want to know I’ve had
Kaine
looking for her for the past week. She found her this morning.”

Kyle froze, his hands clenching into fists as he forced himself not to lunge at Cole and strangle him.

“Is she sure it’s Tam?”

Cole nodded.
“Positive ID.
She’s dyed her hair but it’s her. And
Kaine
said she’s hidden herself pretty well. Took her awhile to find her and you know how good
Kaine
is.”

Kaine
was one of their best trackers. Better than Kyle. Almost as good as her father had been.