Blue Moon Rising (The Patroness) (28 page)

“Think again.” Kylian snarled. Okay, maybe he wasn’t.

The spirits ignored him completely and a muscle began to tick in his jaw. Oops, I really hoped he could hold it a few more minutes. “Well, I thought more of it as a favor to me, rather than business, especially after what happened with the wolf,” I said to the ladies.

With a sharp hiss they stepped away from Kylian. “We apologize, Maiwenn. Continue your way.” Then they were gone, disappearing into the thick, green foliage above us.

Kylian stayed silent for a while, frowning, then he shook his head. “I don’t even know where to start.” He looked at me. “Why the hell did they ignore me but kept staring at me as if I were a purchasable sex toy?”

“’Cause it’s their philosophy.”

“Philosophy? Care to elaborate?”

“It’s their way of live, and love. Men are sex toys. Grab them, use them properly, and if you get bored or want a new shiny one, then get rid of them. They’re like Amazons, independent, and proudly so, and strong.”

He cocked his head. “Use them properly, you said? Could you lay out what you mean by that, I think there might be a translation error here.”

I had to grin. “Not falling for it.”

“Had to try. How strong are they, then?”

“Well, you see this forest is not only their home but also their body and their weapon. They are one. How strong they are? Take the word ‘tree hugger’ and imagine it the other way around. Imagine a tree hugging an enemy until the ribs crack and he bursts like a ripe fruit. It’s really not a pretty sight to behold.”

“I’m probably repeating myself, but you’ve got strange friends.”

“I wouldn’t go that far as to call them friends, they’re rather a strong ally,” I said, which turned out to be a waste of breath since Kylian had already moved on.

I caught up with him as the bushes and trees suddenly thinned out and gave way to a moonlit clearing. After coming to stand by his side, he turned to me, locking his gaze with mine. His eyes were that icy crystalline blue and the pupils were vertical slits, pointed at the ends. The eyes of a cat. Then he began to undress. He took off his jacket, pulled his shirt off over his head; both dropped to the ground and were soon followed by his shoes and pants.

In a blink of an eye he was standing gloriously naked in front of me, wearing only a wicked smile, and then with a mischievous wink at me he began to change. His bones melted, reformed and rearrange, a ripple went through his body and his skin was covered by fur. And suddenly it was not a man but a Maltese tiger with the clearest blue eyes I’ve ever seen looking at me. He was huge, easily reaching above my waist. Before, while fighting, I’ve never really gotten a good look at him, so now I made up for it, and couldn’t take my eyes off him. His thick, generous fur was a silvery blue, interrupted by dark gray stripes. The head and paws seemed massive but somehow he radiated nothing but majestic elegance.

Kylian turned around and strolled out onto the clearing. I bit my lip to keep myself from gasping. Bathed in shimmering moonlight he was a vision of lethal grace and power. He motioned for me to follow him, so I grabbed his clothes and went over to him.

I took out the sleeping bag I’d kept in my shoulder bag, rolled it out and told Kylian, “Go ahead and hunt, I’ll wait here.”

I sat down, and stared at the sky, but then he nudged my knee with his nose. I frowned. “I know you want to, so go. I’ll be fine.”

He didn’t budge.

“You do understand what I say, right?” I asked, a little unsure all of a sudden.

Kylian rolled his eyes; he actually rolled his eyes at me. Grrr.

Reaching out I stroked the cold and silky softness of his fur, surprised that even in his beast form the tingle between us didn’t die. He purred. “You don’t want to leave me alone here, is that it?”

He nodded with his big head, snapping once with his teeth, which could have easily swallowed me. Sensing his dominant I-want-you-do, I pointed a finger at him. “Okay, listen Tomcat, we’ve got two options here. One, I’ll stay here and you’ll hunt, or two, I’ll come with you on the hunt. It would be painful, but I’d do it. Your choice.”

He fletched his fangs and growled deep down in his throat.

“Uh, how scary.”

Neither one of us moved. To show him I really meant it I stared directly into his eyes, and without blinking once I started to get up - only to land on my ass again as he pushed me back down. Damn. I looked up at him and saw him cocking his head, his expression rather bored in a you-really-wanna-do-this kind of way.

Okay, Maiwenn think this through. Let’s face it, I was wounded and therefore a fight with a tiger that had a couple of hundred pounds on me would be rather foolish. So I just shrugged, “Suit yourself!”, and snuggled into my sleeping bag to just lie there under the moonlit sky. I sensed Kylian move, and as a hard wall of heat hit my legs I got up on my elbows to find Kylian lying beside me. With a sigh I laid back down, enjoying the warmth sipping into my body.

I must have dozed off, then the next time I opened my eyes the moon had moved on, meanwhile well hidden behind the trees and Kylian was standing beside me, in human form and getting dressed.

“You aren’t furry anymore. How come? And what time is it, anyway?” I asked through a yawn.

His jaw was dusted with whiskers and his chest was still bare, showing off his rock-hard abs. He knelt down and gave me a slow, sexy smile. “Nearly two in the morning. It’s enough for me to just change for a few hours. How are you feeling?”

“Maiwenn?” someone screamed and we both got immediately to our feet, looking around. Philippe was standing at the side of the clearing, his searching eyes wide and wild from fear.

“Philippe, over here.”

He moved towards us in ghost teleporting style. One moment he was over there, the next he stood in front of us. His shape flickered, a mirror of his inner turmoil.

“They attacked him. They attacked Mathieu.”

My blood ran cold. My heart stopped a beat. My little brother was out there somewhere and hurting. Everything inside me stopped. Then my brain took over.

“Who, Philippe? Who attacked Mathieu?” I asked, trying to stay calm and to get as much information as possible out of him.

“A wolf, a shapeshifter. You have to go help him.”

“Where, Philippe?”

He began to ramble, “We just came from your apartment, checked on Pauline, and he wanted to grab a beer before going home, to relax. He’d been so worried-”

“Philippe, where is he?” I asked again, my voice gaining on volume and edge since I couldn’t shake him out of it.

“Err, Rue Traversier.”

“Okay, listen to me Philippe. Go to Viviane, tell her Mathieu is hurt and that she needs to go there. Maybe she can get there sooner than us. Tell her we’re on our way. Now, go!”

Kylian had already grabbed our stuff so now we were running as fast as we could through the dark woods and back towards the car. My knee screamed, but I just didn’t give a damn.

“Give me the keys! I’m driving,” Kylian ordered.

No time for arguing, so I tossed him the keys and Kylian got in behind the wheel and I beside him, slamming my door shut; the only outwards sign of the emotional hell I was going through, again. And we drove off, through fortunately nearly empty streets.

With screeching tires we stopped beside the sidewalk, where Viviane was already kneeing in a pool of blood besides Mathieu’s motionless body.

She looked up as we got out. “He’s lost too much blood. And his body doesn’t react well to the bite.”

A mean tight fist clamped down on my heart, whispering that I was too late, that I had failed to protect him.

“He has to be fully turned,” Kylian said.

His voice pulled me out of it, and I knew I had to get a grip. It seemed so hard. Kylian was right. A wolf, a shapeshifter, had bitten Mathieu and so he needed to be fully turned now, no way back. It was the only way to safe Mathieu, the only way for him to survive at all.

“Can you do it? Can you turn him, please?” I asked turning to Kylian, my eyes pleading, my voice begging him.

The hurt and sympathy in his eyes could have been answer enough. “I’m sorry. I can’t do it. He needs an alpha.”

There seemed to be too much inside of me, anger and so much pain and so many questions, and I exploded, “You’re such a dominant ass all the time, and now you telling me that you can’t do it? You’re supposed to be so strong. What the hell is wrong with you? Why don’t you help him?”

Kylian grabbed me by the shoulders gently shaking me. “You know I would do it. But look at him, his other magic, a magic we have no idea about is fighting the bite. You know he needs an alpha if he wants to survive this. His chances are higher with the help of an alpha and a whole pack behind him. And you want him to survive, don’t you?” He shook me one more time, a little harder.

He used this matter-of-fact voice of logic again, and it worked, it cleared my mind. And I realized that there was only one person I could go to. There was only one alpha in town. One I didn’t know I could trust anymore. An alpha, whose son had gone rough and killed innocent people. I damned the higher powers with all my being. Why now? Why him? I didn’t know how deep the alpha was involved in this matter, but I had no choice. The Chef de la Meute was our only hope to save Mathieu.

“We’ll bring him to Michel,” I finally nodded.

Gently but swiftly Kylian gathered him up, off the floor, and into his arms to lay him down on the backseats of the car. I hurried to scramble in, too, so I could rest Mathieu’s head in my lap. Kylian got behind the wheel again, and we drove off. Heading for the man I’d often and gladly thought of as my father, but now, didn’t know whether to trust. And that man would decide over Mathieu’s life.

“Where exactly are we going?” Kylian asked, while working his way through a labyrinth of small one-way streets, multi-lane traffic circles and confusing intersections, and shifting gears like a maniac.

“Turn left at the next light. Michel owns a building in the third arrondissement. He stays there most of the time. One floor has been turned into an improvised hospital, in case of attacks, accidents and so on. It’s our only chance. I hope he’s already back from the hunt.” I stroked Mathieu’s blond hair, sifting my fingers through the silk of it. I couldn’t lose him. He was my little brother, not by blood but in my heart. I couldn’t lose him.

“It’s best we won’t say a thing. If he asks about the rogue, we’ll say we killed him, that it was his son, that you wanted to come by tomorrow to deliver the bad news. No hint we’re against him or that something might be up. Act normal with him and we should be okay.”

“Turn right at the next intersection. What if he doesn’t buy it and refuses to help Mathieu?” Worry had my stomach clenching.

Our gazes collided as he looked through the rear view mirror, his expression grim and his eyes flashing a lethal blue, he answered, “He’ll have a big problem.”

There was no free parking space so Kylian just stopped at the side of the street. Fuck tickets! He opened the door on the other side and pulled Mathieu to him and up into his arms. I got out as well and we hurried towards the entrance, where I pushed in the security code I knew by heart and we went inside. At the second entrance door I gave the button besides Michel’s name a good workout and ground my teeth as we waited for someone to buzz us through. All my thoughts circled around and focused on Mathieu. Time was a bitch.

“Who is it?” Michel’s voice finally asked.

“It’s me, Maiwenn. I need your help. Please, let me up.”

There was a pause, but then the door clicked and I pushed it open. We climbed the stairs to the second floor in a heartbeat, but it felt like forever for me.

Michel already stood inside the door and frowned as he saw us. “What’s going on?”

“Mathieu was attacked. You have to turn him, Michel,” I pleaded.

“You know there’s a chance he might not survive it, don’t you?”

“I know, but it’s his only chance. Please!”

He nodded sharply. “Alright, take him upstairs to Fabienne. I’ll be right with you.”

Without another word we headed farther up the stairs, towards the fourth floor.

“Fabienne? Fabienne, are you there?” I called out as soon as we were through the door. The room held eight sick-beds and looked very sterile thanks to the white floor, walls and curtains. Though the shapeshifters rarely caught a virus I knew first-hand that Fabienne set great store by cleanliness and sterility. She saved my life a time or two.

From out another room to the right came a tall, dark-haired woman. Fabienne was about forty years old and wore a warm and radiant smile, glasses and a white lab coat in which she seemed right at home.

“Maiwenn, long time no see.” Then she saw Mathieu, dropped her smile and straightened as she quickly took in the situation.

“The room to your left. Put him on the table.”

So we went into the room to the left, which was her operating room. Kylian lowered Mathieu carefully onto the table then moved to the side, out of the way, while Fabienne pulled on white gloves. She examined her patient, her gaze drifting expertly over him, and then she frowned and asked, “An attack? What happened?”