Moon Crossed (Werewolf Hunter Series): Season 1 (Episodes 1-6) (Crescent Hunter) (47 page)

I continue inside,
looking for everyone. Aunt Rain is getting her sword and daggers.
Hayden secures his scabbard around his waist.

“So, looks like
they found you,” he says with warning.

“Looks like.”
I look around the house and realize that I can't feel any wolves.
“Did Locke come back?”

“No, honey, I
thought he was with you.” Aunt Rain looks at me with concern.

“Okay, let's do
this.” I go back to the porch as Pike and his pack come into
the yard. There are about twenty of them, and I'm wondering if we
wouldn't have been better off if we had kept running. “Disable,
not kill,” I yell out.

Cole's presence runs
through me like fire; I push it aside and get ready to jump into the
melee of gnashing teeth and daggers. The sound is deafening to the
point where I really can't hear anything. Zane fights off two large
wolves. I throw one of them off of him. I try to do both, but I don't
have the strength. Zane throws the other toward the woods and he
lands with a thud.

Rosalee catches my eye;
she's fighting off three wolves, keeping two of them frozen while
she's fighting with one. She's slashing at him to slow him down, to
keep him off of her. He gets a good swipe in and her arm opens up. I
rush to her side. “Let them go. Let's do this.”

“You got it!”
They come at us, and I go for the tendons in the legs to drop them.
It hurts to see them writhing on the ground in pain.

Some of the less
experienced hunters are only using magic to restrain the wolves. They
don't realize that will only give them time to recoup from injuries
and they will just keep coming back at them. Also, it can render us
useless if we use it too much. It's a natural progression that you
learn. It's rare that we have to fight a healthy wolf, so fighting to
only disable is a challenge.

More wolves keep coming
at us, and I can feel the exhaustion taking its toll.

The sorrow of what I
had to do takes hold of my focus until I feel a slicing pain across
my shoulders. I scream out in agony and spin around, jabbing my
dagger directly into the heart of the wolf that attacked me. He drops
to the ground, and everyone's attention is on me: hunter and wolf
alike. Adrenaline takes over, and I pull my dagger out of the wolf
and move forward, doing the same to every wolf I can reach. My
motions are not my own; something else is moving my hands. I have
drawn both of my normal daggers. With vicious resolve, I drop twelve
wolves. Many others run for the tree line before I can reach them.

The sound of the last
wolf left within my reach hitting the grass pulls me out of the
killing trance. The hunters still able to stand are looking on in
stunned silence, their weapons hanging in their hands at their sides.

“This had to
end.” My voice is filled with authority.

Hayden comes to me with
his eyes averted. “Claire, let's go in the house.” He
puts his hand on my arm, pulling me toward the house.

“No.” I
pull away. “Everyone, if you are able, let's tend to the
wounded, bring them into the house.”

“Zane, Corey,
please move all of the furniture in the parlor to the walls.” I
look around to see who else is standing that I recognize. “Rosalee,
on the second floor there's a linen closet. Bring all of the blankets
down.”

I inhale a breath,
watching them stare at me with fear in their eyes. “Let's get
moving. No more deaths today.” I wave my hands toward the
wolves lying motionless on the ground. “They aren't going to be
down for long, so let's get the wounded to safety.” Everyone
snaps into action; those able to walk on their own hobble up the
stairs, and the wounded are being carried into the house.

Hayden puts his hand on
my arm again. “Claire, are you okay?”

“I'm fine,”
I snap, pulling my arm away again. I don't want to be touched.

“You went a
little off the rails there.” He's surveying the bodies.

“It had to end.”
I shake my head. I can't believe the disapproval in his eyes.

“Claire, you
killed them.” He tilts his head, hoping that I grasp his
meaning.

“My daggers
aren't silver. They are going to be okay.” My fingers are still
tightly wrapped around the knives dripping with wolf blood.

Hayden wraps his hand
around my wrist and lifts one of the daggers, studying it. “Why
aren't they moving?”

“I don't know,
but these were not killing blows. We had to stop pussyfooting around.
There is too much blood on the ground.” The blood and dirt mix,
making the earth unnaturally red. I gaze at the creek that winds
through my backyard. “I never want to see that creek run red
with the blood of the innocent.” My father's words come from me
in a haunting memory.

Hayden starts moving
through the bodies of the wolves littering the yard. “Claire,
none of them are healing.” His tone is filled with
apprehension.

The wolf that sliced my
shoulders open begins to shift to human form. I go to him, kneeling
down beside him. “Someone get me a blanket.”

Aunt Rain limps over to
us with a blanket. I cover him and push the blond hair from his face.
I know him. We go to school together, we've been in study groups. A
breath forces its way from my lungs, and I shake my head at the
madness of all of this. With my hand over his wound, I focus on my
healing energy; it closes slowly. He inhales a deep, urgent gasp,
trying to sit up. “Hold on there, Tyler. You need to take it
easy.”

Confusion clouds his
eyes as he looks at me with recognition. He throws his head back, and
I know that he's trying to shift. “Oh no. None of that right
now.”

“I've got to –”
I don't let him finish.

“We've got to get
you in the house and make sure you're okay. You can go back to hating
me later.” I pick him up. His discomfort in being carried by a
girl is apparent. For his pride I hand him off to Hayden.

Addressing the hunters
still in the yard, I say, “Everyone, we need to get the wolves
into triage. Make the game room and the library ready.” I turn
to Hayden. “Please take him up to one of the guest rooms.”

Hunters are now
carrying the wolf-borne into the house. Some are struggling. Once
inside, I clear my throat. “Hey, guys, we only have a limited
amount of time. If you have free hands, please let's start healing
the wolf-borne. I'm putting a suppression spell on the house, but you
know that it's not one hundred percent. So let's get them healed and
on their way before they become a danger
to us again.”

The flurry of activity
increases. I walk around, surveying our wounded; it seems like
everyone is healing well, and it's good to see that some who were in
bad shape are now up and healing others.

With everything under
control down here, I want to talk to Tyler. As I put my hand on the
banister, Aunt Rain calls my name.

“I'll be back in
a few minutes.” The adrenaline is wearing off and I look at the
stairs with dread that I'm going to have to drag myself up.

“I'd like to know
what you're doing,” she says with caution.

“I'm going to
talk to Tyler.” I put my foot on the first step.

“Be careful. You
know that spell doesn't work for crap on a healthy wolf-borne, and
these guys are coming back pretty well so far,” she warns.

“I know, and I'm
glad.” I press a smile into my cheek.

My feet carry me up the
stairs to the open door. I give a polite knock. “Tyler?”
I peek in.

“Hey.” He
doesn't look me in the eye.

I come to the side of
the bed and motion for him to scoot over. “I didn't know you
were Amicalola.”

“I didn't know
you were a hunter.” He tilts his head with a sad smile.

“Yeah, well, what
now?” I ask, looking him in the eye.

“I don't know.”
He looks away from my gaze. “Why didn't you tell me you were a
hunter?”

“It never really
came up.” I shrug. “I also sort of thought that all
wolf-borne knew. I mean, I'm always hanging out with Locke, Rabbit,
Trevor, and Bro-” I stop myself, trying not to let my grief
slide through.

“Yeah, I just
thought you were a wolf whore.” He huffs a little laugh.

With an offended scowl,
I say, “No, I am not a wolf whore, thank you very much.”

“I just went by
what I saw, and no one mentioned you were a hunter. Then I heard
about you and Cole.” He lifts one shoulder in a shrug.

“What about me
and Cole?” The defensiveness in my voice is unmistakable.

“Well, we all
heard you were one of his conquests.” He smiles.

“Um, yeah. We're
just friends.” The hurt of his statement slices through me
unapologetically. “That doesn't matter. What matters is, what's
next for us? I mean, school starts up again in a few weeks. Are we
still friends?” This is so strange that I'm asking someone I
stabbed in the heart an hour ago if we're still friends.

“Claire, you are
a hunter, an enemy to my pack.” He looks down at his hands
folded in his lap.

“I'm not your
enemy. I only kill moon-touched wolves, like I'm supposed to,”
I plead with him. I don't want this to be a constant war.

Tyler puts his hand
over the bright pink scar on his sternum. “I'm going to have a
mark of weakness for the rest of my life.” He pauses, not
looking up. “You're a killer, Claire. You're dangerous.”

“Seriously?”
I roll my shoulders around for him to see. “And I was supposed
to stand by while you did this and worse to me?”

“I know that you
were defending yourself, but you have to understand. Pike has put out
the order for your head.” There's no satisfaction in his tone.
“We all want to please our alpha, and taking you out will do
that.”

“So, you
will
kill me?” I narrow my eyes at him.

“Yes, any of us
will.” He shakes his head.

“Do you want to?”
I'm trying to mask the anger in my tone, but it's very apparent.

“Most of me wants
to kill you. The part of me that wants to rise in the pack, stay
alive.” His eyes widen on that last word.

“Do you
understand why Pike wants me dead?” I ask.

“Yes, because
you've killed members of our pack,” he says with no emotion.

“They were
moon-touched.” I defend my position.

“Pike doesn't
feel as though they should be killed. They should be allowed to live
their lives in the way that it was intended. As wolves.” He
regurgitates Pike's propaganda.

“How do
you
feel? If you were moon-touched, what would you want me to do?”
I'm genuinely curious as to what his answer is.

“I would want you
to kill me. I don't want to live that way.” He looks me square
in the eye.

“Yet on Pike's
orders, you're willing to kill me?”

“You aren't a
wolf-borne. You don't understand what it's like,” he argues.

Standing out of
exasperation at how simple the solution is, I pace the floor as I
rant. “Leave the pack. Talk to everyone else who feels the way
you do. Challenge the alpha and make changes. There are so many other
solutions to this problem that don't include killing me and letting
moon-touched wolves run rampant.”

“I wish it were
that simple.” He shakes his head.

“It is.”

“Claire.”
There's a light knocking on the door as Hayden comes in.

“We need you
downstairs. The wolf-borne are healing and coming to.” He looks
at Tyler and nods with recognition.

“Okay, I'm on my
way.” I look to Tyler. “Are you okay to get up?”

“I am, but I
can't shift.” He looks at me with remorse.

“Ah, yes. Let's
get you some pants.” I'm going to have to raid the boys’
drawers. Some of the stronger wolves will be able to shift, but most
won't. I can't send them home naked.

When I come back in,
he's standing from the bed, stretching his arms. I toss a pair of
sweats to him.

“Can you get home
on your own? I'm not sure if we're going to be giving folks rides or
what's happening since you can't shift yet.” I'm trying to work
out the logistics while I'm talking.

He comes to where I'm
standing, uncomfortably close to me, and inhales my scent deeply. My
eyes sear
into him, letting him know that he needs
to back off. “What are you doing?”

A wide, sinister grin
spreads across his lips. “Now that your dagger has been in my
heart, we're connected. You'll always be able to find me, and I'll be
able to find you. The least I can do is know youre scent.”

He's right. Every wolf
whose heart felt my blade
is now connected to me. I look at him,
knowing the gravity of that.

He leans down and
whispers in my ear, “You killed me once today, and you should
have finished the job. Next time, it will be you, but you won't get
up.”

He walks past me out
the door. I'm paralyzed by his words. It's not that what I am isn't
dangerous, but it just got so much worse. All of the wolves
downstairs now have my mark on their hearts.