Moon Crossed (Werewolf Hunter Series): Season 1 (Episodes 1-6) (Crescent Hunter) (54 page)

Brent appears at the
tree line and Zane stands, drawing his dagger. “Go get them.”

I stand to go in the
house. “Hey, Claire.”

“Ben?” I
look at him standing at the bottom step.

“Hey, man.”
Zane sheathes his dagger.

“Can I come up?”
he asks.

“Sure.” I
sit back in my chair, knowing that Ben is safe. “What's going
on?”

“I just wanted to
stop by and check in on you, see if you needed anything before
tomorrow.” He takes a seat.

“We were just
about to go to my training grounds.” I nod at Zane. “Need
to loosen up.”

“Yeah, you've
been cooped up for way too long.” He shakes his head at the
thought. “I don't know how you haven't gone mad.”

I make crazy eyes. “Who
says I haven't?”

We all laugh; it feels
good, even though there is a blanket of sadness that will likely hang
over me forever.

“Do you mind some
company?” he asks, looking from me to Zane.

“I don't care.
Might be nice to do some grappling with a wolf; it's one of my weaker
skills.” Zane looks to me for approval.

“Yeah, I don't
care.” I shrug.

“Cool, I'll get
my backpack.” Ben heads back down the stairs.

“I've got to get
my gear out of the car.” Zane follows Ben.

I get ready to go,
filling water bottles and packing towels. This feels decent,
like more than just breathing. But not
much more.

They come back to the
porch, and I tighten the laces on my boots. “Ready?”

“Yeah, Zane, do
you mind?” Ben unzips his pants and I turn away.

“No problem.”
Zane packs Ben's clothes.

I check my weapons and
sling the pack over my shoulder, securing it. I hop over the railing,
landing on the ground and looking back at them with a sly smile. “You
boys try to keep up now!” I take off.

We dart and dash
through the trails; I don't run at full speed. They don't know where
we're going and I don’t want to lose them, just beat them.

Rounding the final
corner to the training grounds, I stop short when I see the
destruction. Anger and sorrow fill my heart as I look at all of the
broken equipment. “Trevor.” It rides out on a hateful
whisper.

“Whoa, what
happened?” Zane asks, walking forward slowly toward the center
of the training area.

Ben shifts, staying
behind me. “When was the last time you were here?”

“It's been a
while, but I can smell Trevor. He's the only lingering scent. He had
to have done this.” I'm so pissed off.

Zane lifts broken
pieces of wood from the ground that used to be a climbing wall.
“Why?”

“Because he wants
to hurt me.” My head hangs in sadness that it's come to this.

“But it's not
like you can't train without this stuff.” Ben's tone is
cautionary. “There has to be something more to it.”

“There is,”
Zane says, picking up one of the wolf-shaped targets. It's been
spray-painted and has a dagger sticking out of it. “Brogan.”

I go to one of the
human targets that's been knocked down. It's also spray -painted
“Claire” and has a painted bullet hole in the forehead.

Ben puts his hand on my
shoulder. “It doesn't matter. We'll fix this, and it will be
better than ever.”

“Thanks, Ben.”
I put my hand on his and discreetly brush it off my shoulder. I don't
like being touched. “I know we will.” I inhale a
cleansing breath, trying to think of how to make the best of this.

“I guess we'll be
exercising by cleaning up today.” Zane smiles optimistically,
tossing his pack to Ben.

“Yup, let's get
to it.” I move forward to figure out what's first, and start
picking up all of the broken pieces. If only it were this easy with
my heart.

While getting all of
this cleaned up has been a good way to work out some of my
frustration, I'm still seething with anger. Zane and Ben have tried
to lighten my mood, but it's not easy. Trevor is going off the rails;
this is way out of line.

Ben puts the last of
the salvageable wood in a pile in the center of the area.
“We've got a good amount of wood
left to work with.”

“That's good.
I'll need to make a list of what we need to fix it all.” I sit
on a stump, since the benches have been split in two.

“We can make a
lumber yard run tomorrow,” Ben says, and Zane shoots him a
look.

Ben looks at me and
then Zane, unsure of what he said wrong. I put him at ease. “It's
cool. I think we can get everything we need at the hardware store.”

“We should get
back.” Zane notes the darkening sky.

“Yeah, I could
cook,” Ben offers.

“You any good?”
I ask.

“I'm okay,”
he says, blushing.

“I could cook,”
Zane says defensively.

Ben sidles up next to
me and says in a mock whisper, “And by cook, he means ordering
pizza.”

We all laugh. Zane
throws a pine cone at Ben. “Hey, food is food.”

“Thanks, guys,
but I don't really think I'm that hungry. But we'll see when we get
back.” I slide my backpack onto my shoulders. “You guys
ready?”

“Yeah,” Ben
says from behind me, probably taking his pants off to shift.

“Let's do it.
Last one home is a rotten dinosaur egg.” I take off through the
woods.

I beat them back to the
house by a solid twenty minutes. I'm sitting on the porch smoking
when they arrive, completely winded.

Zane stops at the
bottom of the steps. “Damn, girl, you're fast.”

“I am.” Ben
trots up the steps and puts his head in my lap. This is making me
feel very uncomfortable. Part of me wants to scratch behind his ears,
but I'm not going to. “Go get dressed.” I force a smile.

He and Zane go into the
house. Zane comes back out and sits in Cole's chair. “You
okay?” There's concern in his voice.

“I'm fine.”
I don't look him in the eye.

“You just
seem...” He can't put his finger on it.

“Really, I'm
fine.” I get up and go to the railing, noticing that Rabbit's
garden is falling all to shit.

“Okay, if you
need to talk, just let me know.” He joins me at the railing.

“I will. It's not
you.” I try to reassure him, and tick my head toward the house.
“I'm having some trust issues.”

A look of knowing
crosses his features. “Ah, I can see that.”

I nod, pulling my lips
to the side. “I mean, he's really sweet...”

“But he's a
wolf,” Zane finishes.

“Exactly.”

“You guys talking
about me?” Ben asks, appearing in the doorway.

“Yup,” I
answer honestly, and Zane looks at me with concern.

“All good, I
hope.” He crosses over and sits in the chair next to mine.

I smile sweetly; it
doesn't matter how nice he is or how badly I want to trust him, I
don't trust anyone. Hell, I don't even really trust Zane, but at
least he's not a wolf. “You haven't given me anything bad to
say yet.” Ha, that was diplomatic.

A tight smile forms on
his lips. He gives Zane an awkward look. “So what do you want
for dinner?”

“I'm really not
hungry.” What I really want to do is go back out into the
woods. I want to visit Red Top.

Ben gives me a curious
look. “Still feeling restless, huh?”

I hang my head. “Yeah,
a little.” I look closer at him. “You are a perceptive
lupine, aren't you?”

“Yes, I see
things that other wolves don't. Part of my
specialized
skill
set.”

I'm not sure what he
means by that, maybe the hybrid thing. I've always thought of my
intuition as part of being a hunter. We're all supposed to be that
way, but Zane didn't pick up on my restlessness.

“What do you want
to do?” Zane asks, emptying his water bottle.

I want to level with
him, tell him that I want to go to Red Top, but I know he'll never go
for it. He may even be tempted to tell his dad so they'll keep an
extra vigilant watch on me to make sure I'm not escaping. I shrug. “I
might just kick you guys out and head down to the lab.”

Ben gives me a quick
sideways look; he knows I'm lying. “Sounds good.”

“Okay.”
Zane gives up pretty easily. “Tomorrow, do you want to work on
the training area? I mean, we're going to be on patrol together.”

“You're going
with me?” I ask.

“Yeah, Dad wants
me to stay close.” He looks toward the wood line.

“Sorry you're
getting saddled with babysitting duty.” I'm not sure whether or
not I should be offended.

“Not at all. I
want
to go with you,” he says emphatically.

“Well, I'm going
to head to the lab and then get some rest.” I stand from my
chair as a cue for these guys to clear out. I have to figure out how
I'm getting past the guards.

“Okay.” Ben
stands up. “Obviously, I'll be indisposed tomorrow night.”
He lowers his eyes.

“Yeah, better
that way,” I agree.

“I'll be back
tomorrow.” He comes to hug me and I stiffen, but let him.

“Me too.”
Zane comes for a hug.

“Yeah, sounds
great. What time do you want to head out?” I ask.

“How about we
head out around five. That way we can coordinate with Corey, Casey,
and Andrew.” He rattles off the names.

“Seriously, we
don't need that many hunters out there. Red Top is a small area,”
I complain.

“Yes, but there's
too much at stake.” Zane pins me down with a stare.

“We need you to
be okay, Claire. What you're doing is important to a lot of people,”
Ben adds.

“Thanks, guys.”
A soft smile blooms across my lips. It's almost genuine.

Now that there are
fewer guards around the house, getting out is much easier. I couldn't
take my car, they would have noticed that. I made it over to Aunt
Rain's and took her Jeep. She won't be back until tomorrow night.

I'm not officially on
patrol, just hanging out and enjoying the night. Walking along a
popular camping area, I feel the presence of wolves. Time to get
invisible

Taking to the trees, I
move closer to where I can now hear and smell wolf-borne. Cole's
presence shoots through me like lightning, and immediately a smile
rises to my lips, but quickly fades. There's more here than just
Cole. I can feel Locke, Tor, Kyle, and some others I don't recognize.
They've got a campfire going, some tents, and a keg. I guess they are
pulling an all-nighter.

Locke's off to the
side, making out with Serena. I knew it! I'm happy for him, but I
just don't know why he wouldn't tell me about her. I really like her;
she's sweet.

Tor and Trevor are
talking to some wolf-borne I've never met. My anger about what Trevor
did to the training grounds is renewed, and I want to jump down and
beat his ass. But it wouldn't be the best
idea, considering there are about twenty
or so wolves here.

Cole is nowhere to be
found, even though I can feel his presence. I move in closer to the
party, being very careful to remain quiet.

“Shut up.”
Two giddy girls are chatting. “Cole Jackson?”

Oh yeah, my ears perk
up, and I look to see if I can get closer to hear what they are
saying.

“Yes,” the
blond says, throwing her head back. “He's so hot.”

“I know he is.
He's like that dark, brooding bad boy who everyone wants to tame.”
The brunette's eyes widen as she speaks.

Yeah, that's my bad
boy; bitches better back off. At listening to my own internal
dialogue, I have to remind myself that he's not mine. That I have no
right to be jealous. If he can find some sort of happiness with a
she-wolf, I should be happy for him.

Then there's the whole
issue of our family histories that I wish I had been privy to before
I let him into my house. I shake my head at my stupidity.

“He was quoting
The Notebook
by Nicholas Sparks, which is my favorite book.
Apparently, it's his favorite too,” she squeals.

Huh, I thought
Inferno
was his favorite book. I'm feeling disgusted that I fell for
something so trite. The question is, how did he find out it was my
favorite?