Moon Crossed (Werewolf Hunter Series): Season 1 (Episodes 1-6) (Crescent Hunter) (24 page)

I shake my head at
coming up empty, which leaves me with the mystery of why Hayden would
tell me that.

My phone dings,
bringing me out of my thoughts.

Occupational hazard
~Cole.
There's a picture attached of him missing the four fingers
on his left hand.

LOL, guess that
means you get the rest of the day off. ~Claire

No, it's just moving
up the heart to heart the 'rents apparently want to have with me. :\
~Cole

Sounds exciting.
~Claire

Not likely, probably
figuring out new ways to make me miserable. ~Cole

Good Luck! ~Claire

Yeah, I'll need it.
~Cole

I hope you can still
come see me :) ~Claire

Nothing will ever
stop me from coming to see you. XD ~Cole

Good to know.
~Claire

<3 ~Cole

Beaming, I sit back
while reading the messages. How can he make me feel so light?

After logging and
storing the samples from my two kills, I get to work on adding their
tribute to my wrist. I set up all my tattoo stuff and get to work.
Lamenting the lost lives of those two wolves while I tattoo the
crescents on my wrist.

“Claire!”
Lili's voice bounces down the stairs ahead of her. I just want to be
left alone; I know that she doesn't understand.

“Hey, Lili,
what's up?” There's no enthusiasm in my voice.

“I ran out to get
lunch and picked up some tacos for us.” She puts the bag of
food on my desk and studies me for a moment. “What are you
doing?”

“I'm playing
tiddlywinks with manhole covers.” Duh.

“Huh?”
She's perplexed.

“It's something
my dad used to say when I would ask him a silly question.” I
glower at her without moving my head.

“Oh.” She
sits in the chair in front of my desk, deflated. “You do all
those yourself?”

“Yup.”

“Why?”
She's way too cheery.

This new level of her
intrusion into what has been the most secretive and protected part of
my life is going to take some getting used to. I inhale a breath.
“They're a tribute to the wolf-borne I've had to put down.”

Her expression falls.
“Oh.”

I glare at her through
my lashes. “Yeah.”

She fidgets in the
chair for a solid minute. “Does it hurt?”

“Yes, it does,
but I heal fast.” Well, except for the wounds from Brogan; they
still hurt like hell.

“Is it the keeper
thing?” she asks.

“Yeah, I have
some of their healing power. But I don't heal as fast.”

“Whoa, that's
awesome.” Her eyes widen. “You have their same powers?”

“Actually, when
I'm with them I have more power, in some ways,” I explain.

“Even cooler.
Like what?”

“I'm kind of
trying to concentrate.” I don't want to talk about it.

She leans on the desk,
watching me. “So why don't you get a tattoo machine instead of
using that...whatever that contraption is?”

My motions stops while
I glare at her again; my irritation is apparent. “It's called
stick and poke, and it's kind of a ritual.”

“Oh.” She
shifts in her chair. “How many did you have to kill last
night?”

“Two.”

“Oh.”

She remains quiet,
watching me, intently fascinated, until I'm finished with the second
crescent. As soon as I'm done, she starts talking again. “I
wanted to know if maybe you wanted to go to a party tonight?”

“No, I'm really
not in the partying mood. Besides, I haven't slept in like forever. I
was going to finish this and get some rest.” I start packing up
the tattoo supplies.

“Oh, well do you
think it will be cool if I ask Brogan and Locke to come with me?”
She asks fast, hoping that I just say yes.

“Um, no.” I
give her a stern look.

“But Claire,
Brogan's so amazing and Locke smells like candy.” She inhales
deeply. “Like that.” She has a bewildered look on her
face.

“Yeah.”
Locke had been standing behind her and is quite amused.

“Oh my God.”
Her cheeks redden as she spins around and sees him. “Hey,
Locke.”

“Hello, Lili.”
He smiles, then turns to me. “I wanted to make sure you ate
something.”

“Yeah, I'm good,”
I lie.

“What was the
last thing you ate?” He eyes the unopened bag of tacos on the
desk.

“Um, I had some
jerky.” Not a lie.

“When?”

“I'm fine. I'll
eat when I'm hungry.” Time for a subject change. “Have
you heard from Brogan since he went home?”

“He checked in
this morning. He says he's feeling fine now, just tired.” Locke
takes the seat next to Lili.

“Cool.”

“Do you know what
went wrong?” he asks.

“I haven't had
time to do an analysis.” Remorse rules my tone.

“What are you
talking about?” Lili asks.

“Claire's trying
to come up with a cure for our problem.” Locke is getting used
to Lili being in the know.

“Oh.” She
purses her lips.

“Unsuccessfully,
so far. But I have hope.” I look to Locke lovingly, thinking
that I just want to help him.

“I have faith in
her.” Locke's admiration is apparent in his smile.

“I will. I have
to.” I pause for a minute, thinking about the worst. “I
don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you.”

Locke reaches across my
desk, taking my hand. “I'm not going anywhere. We're going to
conquer this together.”

Lili studies us for a
moment too long. “So, like, have you guys...”

“Gross, Lili, no
way.” I answer quickly. “He's like my brother.”

Locke's grimace borders
on offensive. “Yeah, I love Claire, but I'm of the same mind,
gross.”

“Sorry, it's just
you guys are so close, I didn't know if like...” She's trying
to figure out how to stop the vocal bleeding.

“Just stop.”
I look at her wide-eyed.

She presses her lips
closed as if to keep the words in. “Sorry.”

“It's fine.”
Locke huffs a tiny laugh, glancing in my direction. I can tell by the
look in his eye that he has something he needs to talk to me about.

“Are you up for a
party?” she asks him point blank, and I immediately put on my
angry face.

“Lili, I said
no.” My insistence is scolding.

Locke's voice sounds in
my mind, starting with a laugh.
That's funny.

I answer,
right?

I gotta run, we'll
talk later.
He pushes himself out of the chair. “Ladies,
I'm heading back up. I think I'm going for a run later. Let me know
if you are interested.”

“Will do,”
I answer. Honestly, the only thing I'm going to be running to is
the shower.

“See you later,
Locke.” Lili blushes.

“Bye, Lili.”
He shakes his head, going up the stairs. “What time is the
party?”

Lili perks up. “Eight.”

“I'll let you
know if I can make it.”

Once the door to the
basement closes, Lili turns to me “Oh. My. God! You could have
told me he was there.”

“Lili, listen.
Rule number one, never chase a wolf. If they are interested, they'll
come after you.” My tone is full of warning. “They don't
like being the prey.”

“Really?”
She's putting way more thought into this than I'm comfortable with.

“Cole chased
you?” There's an accusatory edge to her tone.

“No.” I
close the drawer after putting the last of my supplies away. “Cole
and I are not a thing. We're just friends.”

“Uh huh.”
She purses her lips. “Well, then, if you hadn't noticed, he
looks at you like you're prime rib.”

“Prime rib?
Really?” Gross, I wouldn’t want to think of him looking
at me like I was meat. The implications are beyond her understanding.
“That's gross. And no, we don't have a thing. We're just
friends.”

“Are you saying
that for my benefit or yours?” Her accusatory tone grates on my
nerves.

“Cole and I
can't
be together.” Sleeplessness is catching up, and I
can't hide my irritation.

“Why?” she
asks.

Shit. “Because
wolves stick to wolves.” I turn off my desk lamp.

“He's never been
very discriminating, unless...” Her mind starts churning. “How
many wolves are there in this town?”

“A lot.” I
widen my eyes.

“Seriously?
Carrie Burroughs? Lisa Craft? Brittany Stathum?” She goes on,
listing more names.

“I don't think
so. I mean, I don't know all of the wolves in the area, but they
aren't wolves as far as I know.” I wonder where she's going
with this.

“He
doesn't
stick to wolves.” Her expression is as sickeningly satisfied as
her tone.

“Has he slept
with all of them?” I'm a little disgusted; okay, a lot
disgusted. I don't let her answer. “It doesn't matter. Our type
of union is forbidden.” This conversation needs to be shut
down. I start for the stairs. “I've got to get some rest.”

“Okay, I'm
heading out.” She picks up her purse and eyes the tacos on my
desk. “Will you please eat those?” She gets them off my
desk, handing them to me.

“Yeah, I'll grab
a bite.” I herd her toward the stairs.

“When are we
going to hang out?” she asks with a sad edge hitching in her
throat.

“I have a lot of
work to do. Can I call you?” I smile, knowing that I'm probably
going to be holing up in my office for a while, trying to figure out
what happened with Brogan.

“Yeah, that'd be
cool.” At the front door, she gives me a hug. “If I don't
hear from you in three days, I'm coming back.”

“Fair enough.”
I close the door behind her, go into the kitchen, and put the tacos
on the counter with a note that says “up for grabs.”

There's a note on the
floor inside my bedroom. Before picking it up, I look around
cautiously; it's the hunter in me.

Claire,

We need to talk.
Come see me when you can.

Aunt Rain

Yes, we do need to talk. If I wasn't finally feeling so weary, I would walk my ass over
there now. She's got some explaining to do.

The
clock reads eight thirty. “Damn it!” My sleep cycle is so
screwed.

After my shower, I get
dressed and pull my hair back into a ponytail.

Claire, are you up?
Locke's voice sounds in my head.

Yeah.

I made you a BLT.
You know you want it,
he teases.

I'll be right down.
Because, yes, I do want a BLT.

I walk sleepily down to
the kitchen. I'm still not rested, but I feel a little better than
before.

“Good morning,”
Locke says sarcastically while handing me a sandwich.

“Something like
that.” I sit at the table; he sits across from me.

“Listen.”
He steeples his fingers. Crap, this is not going to be good. “About
you and Cole.”

“There is no me
and Cole,” I try to reassure him, but I don't think my eye roll
impressed him.

“Yeah, okay,
Claire. I was there last night and I can see what's happening.”
Locke looks me in the eye.

“I've got this.
It's just the hunter/wolf thing. That's all it is, nothing more.”
I don't even take a breath for fear that he was going to interrupt
me.

“There's more to
it than that.” He looks down at the table.

“Like what?”
I ask, trying not to sound sharp.

“Cole is a nice
guy and all...if you're a guy.” He watches me for
understanding. “I know him, Claire.”

“I think he's a
nice guy. I mean, he's funny, sweet, and caring.” I have to
catch myself from sounding starry-eyed.

“No, that's the
problem. That's what you think, but he's notorious for using girls.
Working them until they trust him just so he can get them into bed.”
He pulls his lips into a thin line.

“Well, I'm not
going to sleep with him; it's not like that. I'm smart enough that
he's not going to 'work me.'” I take a bite of my sandwich.