Moon Crossed (Werewolf Hunter Series): Season 1 (Episodes 1-6) (Crescent Hunter) (55 page)

“Really? That's
his favorite book?” the blond questions.

“He has a
sensitive side, too,” the brunette adds.

Yeah, of course he's
sensitive. You can't be that tortured and not be sensitive; get a
clue, you vapid –. I'm drawn out of my thought by something
small pelting me in the head. I look in the direction it must have
come from.

Rosalee. She waves me
over to where she is. I've totally been busted because I let my guard
down. Shit.

As I'm about to head in
that direction, Cole comes out of one of the tents with a girl. He
has a cat that ate the canary smile on his face. “Better?”

“Oh, yes.”
She nods and sits on a log in front of the fire.

Cole moves toward where
I am and sees the girls under the tree. I'm not exactly sure why, but
he opts to sit at the campfire next to Trevor.

A sadness overcomes me.
I'm not really jealous, just hurt and angry with myself. It has to be
this way. He scans the tree line, and I hold my breath to remain
completely still. He's looking right in my direction, but I'm sure he
can't see me.

If I can feel you,
I'm sure he can, too.
Locke's voice sounds in my mind.

I don't answer. I just
move toward Rosalee when Cole stops looking in my direction. I want
to curl up and die, just stop breathing.
I move past Rosalee, hoping to avoid some
sort of lecture of whatever it is that I'm going to get for being out
here.

I'm far enough away
from the campsite that I can be on the ground again.

Rosalee catches up with
me. “What are you doing out here?”

“I just needed to
get out. I wanted to check everything out for tomorrow,” I
explain, while I keep walking at a fast pace.

“Does Hayden know
you're out here?” she asks cautiously.

“No, and I'd like
to keep it that way.” I pin her down with a look.

“We're all just
trying to keep you safe,” she tries to explain.

“I'm going home.”
I keep walking.

“Okay, I'll see
you tomorrow.” She stops walking, and watches me as I continue.

The whole drive home,
my knuckles are white on the steering wheel. I'm so freakin' mad. I
come in the house and slam the door so hard that it rocks the house.

“I am an idiot,”
I yell it out in frustration.

I go back outside,
sit hard in my chair, and light a
cigarette. The feeling of a wolf-borne prickles at me, and I'm
immediately agitated. I don't want to see any of them. They are all
nothing but liars.

“You okay?”
Ben walks slowly up the stairs.

“No,” I
snap.

“Sorry.” He
sits in Cole's chair. “I'm here if you need anything.”

“What are you
doing here? It's two in the morning.” My tone is anything but
kind.

“I know you need
a friend right now,” he says without emotion.

“Really?” I
bore into him with a hard look. “I don't really have any
friends, because I made the mistake of trusting wolves.”

“Ooh, that hit me
right in the snout.” He tries to make light.

“Ben, I'm sorry,
but I really want to be alone right now.” I don't look at him.

“I can't do
that.” He's still smiling.

“You can, it's
easy. Walk your happy ass down the stairs, get into your car, and
leave.” I widen my eyes.

“No, I won't
leave you.” His tone is quiet, as though he's trying to calm
me.

“Why?” I
spit.

“Because you need
a friend.” He leans back in his chair. “You don't have to
talk. I'm just going to sit here in case you want to.”

I snarl my lip, wanting
to throw him off the porch, but I know that Hayden wouldn't approve.
The last thing I need is everyone thinking that I can't control
myself. Usually it's not a problem, but there are extenuating
circumstances right now. “It's not like you can help. I totally
screwed myself over by trusting the wrong wolf. Trust me, it won't
happen again.”

He pushes out a laugh.
“This is about Cole. He knew you were upset.”

“What?” He
has my attention.

“You were out at
Red Top,” he challenges.

“Yeah, so?”
I shrug, looking away, ashamed at having been there. “What were
you doing there?”

“I was invited.”
He nods.

“That's nice for
you.” I can't be nice.

“Not really, I
didn't want to go. I wanted to stay here with you. I had a feeling
you were about to do something stupid.” He offers me a grimace.

“I just needed to
get out. I didn't know they were going to be there.” I defend
myself, because that's the truth.

“I know you
didn't. Had you told me you were going, I would have warned you that
they were having a party.” He pulls his lips into a tight line.

“It's fine, it's
not even the party.” I'm back to wanting to throw things. The
feeling of Cole being nearby runs through me. Tears threaten at the
corner of my eyes. “I just can't deal with this right now.”

“Cole's here,
isn't he?” he asks.

I nod in response.

“Just try to
remember that things aren't always what they seem.” He moves to
the chair next to me.

“Yeah, I know.”
I want to scream at him about what those girls said. “Well,
what about someone being so thorough on his study of you that he
discovers what your favorite book is,
reads it, and starts quoting it. Just so they can fuck you.”

“Did Cole do
that?” The shock in his face is hard to read. He may be
astonished, or just impressed by Cole's player skill set.

“Yup, he sure
did.” The angry smile on my face should show anyone who's
watching that I'm anything but happy right now. I hope Cole can see
it from wherever he's spying on me. “Just leave me alone, you
liar.”

“Whoa.” He
holds his hands up in surrender.

“Not you.”
I shake my head, annoyed. “He's out there, nearby.”

“Really?”
He looks into the darkness.

“Yeah, really.”
I look at the planters, and they aren't lighting up. Probably because
I'm not happy that he's near. His presence just punctuates his lie
with a stabbing pain.

“I'm going to
bed.” I get up and throw my cigarette in the yard.

“Wait.” Ben
stops me by taking my hand.

“What?” I
look at him with pleading eyes, because all I want to do is get away
from my feelings.

“I don't want you
go.” He squares his feet with mine. “What if I told you
that
I
needed
you
?”

“What could you
possibly need from me?” My tone is quiet. I feel like this is
some sort of trick, just another lie from a wolf.

“I need you to be
okay.” His eyes are sympathetic, and I want nothing more than
to let my bleeding heart make him feel better.

“I'm fine. I just
need to get some rest.” I shake my head at my own lie.

“What if I told
you that Cole didn't do anything with that girl in the tent. That he
was in there helping her with a problem she was having with her
boyfriend.” He pleads with me.

“I would call
bullshit.” My lips twist in disbelief.

“It's true.”
He nods. “What if I also told you that I think he's in love
with you.”

“I would tell you
that smearing bullshit into an emotional wound has the same result as
doing it to a flesh wound. It just makes it worse.” I pull my
hand away and go into the house.

Ben follows me.
“Claire, he wasn't with that girl.” He shakes his head.

“What are you, a
closet wingman for Cole?” I narrow my eyes at him. “He
doesn't need your help. He's getting plenty of play.”

“No, he misses
you.”

“How do you
know?” I ask.

“I just do.”
He rolls his eyes.

“Have you talked
to him about me?” It dawns on me. “Are you in contact
with Cole and the boys?”

“No.” He
pinches his eyes closed. “Just please trust me. I really think
he's feeling just as bad as you are.”

“No, that would
require that he had a heart.” I storm up the stairs, feeling
bad for snapping at Ben. He was only trying to help. But I've had
enough of the lies, and I'm the biggest offender, thinking that Cole
ever cared.

I lay down on the bed
and drift off to sleep.

Twenty-eight days

Tonight is the full
moon. For the first time in years, I'm going be out on patrol. I'm
excited, but I know things are going to be quiet at Red Top. All the
action is in the Chattahoochee area.

I don't want to get out
of bed, but I desperately need a shower, and Zane's coming over to
work on the training grounds.

“Knock, knock.”
Zane's voice comes from the other side of the door.

I look down at myself,
still in my clothes from last night. “Hey, Zane, I'll be
downstairs in a few.”

“Okay, I brought
breakfast.”

“You rock!”
I drag myself out of bed to get ready for the day, trying to feel
somewhat optimistic. Fail.

All fresh and clean, I
head down the stairs. I'm still reeling with what Ben told me last
night. I'm trying not to think about it. Ben is gullible; it's kind
of sweet.

Coffee has already been
made; this is truly the way to my heart. “Coffee, praise the
Lord.”

“You're welcome.”
Ben comes in from the back porch.

“You made
coffee?” I look at him curiously. “I didn't know you were
here.”

“Yeah, I stayed
the night. I didn't want you to be alone,” he says, sitting at
the table.

“Okay.” I'm
a little bewildered, but I roll with it.

“I was certainly
surprised to see him.” Zane walks in the back door with a gym
bag, eyeing Ben suspiciously. “Oh, and Hayden's here.”

“Good morning.”
I eye his bag. “Why's Hayden here?” I look to Ben.

“Not sure, he was
here when I pulled up.” Ben puts a bag of food on the counter.
“I want to make sure you eat some breakfast.”

“Well that's very
sweet of you, but – ” He cuts me off, seeing that I'm
looking at his gym bag.

“Hayden told me
they are pulling back the number of hunters on guard. If it's okay
with you, I'm going to spend the night tonight.” He squints as
he tells me the news. “We're expecting there to be a lot of
moon-touched activity from Amicalola this week.”

I shrug. “I'm not
surprised, with him trying to build his rabid army.” I think
for a minute. “They're going to turn on him. All wolves do
eventually, moon-touched or not.” You could melt the bitterness
in my tone.

Ben shifts
uncomfortably, then busies himself getting a cup of coffee. “I
wouldn't say that.”

“Sorry, Ben, I
just –“

“No, it's okay. I
understand.” He presses a tight smile into his cheek.

“No, really.”
I'm stumbling over my words.

“It's fine.”
He sits at the table where Locke used to sit, and I feel like he just
stepped on my grave. I try not to react, but he notices.

“So what's the
plan today?”
Zane sits at the table with a bag full of
breakfast biscuits.

“I have some work
to do in the lab, then I was thinking later on we can take the truck
out to the training grounds and load up what we couldn't salvage.”
There's pride in my voice for actually having a plan.

“Sounds great,”
Zane says. “That will give us some time to take care of some of
the yard work.”

It stings when he says
it. The boys used to handle that, and it's way overgrown. My head
hangs a little in shame and sadness. “Yeah, we could lose a
small child in the grass.”

“I'll let you
know if we find one.” Ben laughs through his biscuit.

I want to make a
smartass comment like I would with the boys, but I'm pretty sure
these guys aren't going to get my dark humor. I just widen my eyes,
smile, and take a bite of my sandwich.

“Don't worry. If
we do, I'll take it right to the pound if it doesn't have a collar
with the owner's number on it.” Zane gauges my reaction.

I look up from my plate
with a satisfied gleam in my eyes.

“Wait, you mean
we couldn't keep it?” Ben looks from me to Zane. “But
what if it's cute?”

I throw in my two bits
see how far they'll run with it. The boys and I always took it way
too far, surpassing all boundaries of human kindness. It became a
contest to see who could take it to the next level of offensiveness.
“Only if you promise to feed it and walk it.”

Hayden walks in the
back door. “Are you thinking of getting a dog?”

Without skipping a
beat, Ben puts his arm around me. “No, a baby.”

Hayden stops in place,
his eyes widening. I offer Ben a sideways glance, thinking,
Well
played, sir.

Wait for it, watch
him squirm.
I hear Ben's voice in my head and see the maniacal
smile on his face.

“Um, ah, a baby?”
Hayden is trying to gauge Ben's expression, then looks to me as I
cuddle into Ben. Hayden sputters out, “Of course, you know it's
forbidden.”