Edge of Moonlight (2 page)

She should have looked like a boy. John had no doubt she was all woman. His body yearned for her. But every time he dreamed of her, he never got to actually kiss her.

He wanted to kiss her with a passion that was becoming obsessive.

“Hey, John. Where’d you go?”

His gaze snapped back to his sister, now holding a cup of steaming coffee in her hand. Damn, he must have blanked for at least a minute while Evie stood there, staring at him with worry in her eyes.

No way did he want her to worry.

“Just thinking about the interview.”

For a job he didn’t want.

“John?”

Evie cocked her head to the side, wide gray eyes watching his every movement. His wild-child, fuck-authority, leap-first baby sister had become a timid mouse since the kidnapping.

She’d given him no hassle about dying her hair back to its natural light brown, losing the midnight black with blue streaks that would make her too noticeable.

She’d had it cut too, in a chin-length bob that made her look so much younger than her twenty-two years. She still had the multiple piercings in her ears, though the multitude of different earrings had been replaced with tiny silver hoops and balls. She’d removed the tiny diamond stud in her nose though the hoop remained in her bellybutton.

And now she jumped at shadows.

John had moved her out of her former apartment the day after they’d escaped. He’d considered moving them out of state but figured whoever had kidnapped them wouldn’t expect them to stay in the area. They wouldn’t look so close to home, if they looked at all.

As off-the-wall as it sounded, John had come to the conclusion that the kidnappers must have been organ harvesters. He could explain the testing no other way. He must not have had whatever they were looking for, but Evie…

Would they return for Evie? Common sense said they wouldn’t but he wasn’t taking chances.

He and Evie had stayed a few nights in a hotel before he’d found this apartment for them. Located in a decent neighborhood on Eleventh Street in Reading only a block from City Park, the apartment occupied the entire top floor of a townhouse.

From the front window, they looked down into the garden of the house on the other side of the street. From the back, they looked up onto Mt. Penn where the Pagoda, a bright red replica of a Japanese temple, lit the night with its vivid lights.

The building’s owners, a middle-aged couple with no children, lived on the two floors beneath.

John had turned on the Navy charm to impress the couple, yes-ma’amed and no-sirred until they’d finally agreed to let them move in immediately. Of course, no one could resist Evie when she turned her imp smile on them. Adam and Beth Schultz had fallen under her spell immediately.

He’d used an alias to sign the lease, one only Uncle Sam would know was him. Evie hadn’t batted an eye at the false name. Just as she hadn’t cared when she’d called her boss at the preschool where she’d worked and was told she’d been fired for not showing up.

John had thought she’d loved that job.

“John, are
you
okay?”

He nodded, not trying to a force a smile. She’d know it was fake and then she’d worry even more. “Mostly, yeah. What about you, Evie? How are you? We…haven’t talked about what happened.”

Because every time he broached the subject, her expression wiped clean. He hadn’t known she could do that. She must have learned it from him. And she had her response down perfectly.

“I’m fine. Honestly. They didn’t hurt me, didn’t do anything except take some blood and hair samples.” Then she dropped his gaze with the pretense of grabbing a box of donuts from the counter and setting them on the table.

She pulled out a powdered-sugar fat bomb and took a huge bite then nearly choked on it when he asked, “What about the police? Do you want to go to the cops?” Her eyes widened again and John cursed himself for putting the fear there.

“Do you think we need to? I thought you said they wouldn’t come after us again.

That they were long gone and would think we were too. I don’t want to go to the cops.

No cops, John, you promised.”

Yes, they’d agreed. John would take care of everything. He’d hide them in plain sight and deal with the bastards who’d kidnapped them.

He even had a lead, one he’d been following the past couple of days. Nothing to get too excited about yet but it was a name, something to go on.

“We can’t go to the cops,” she said, shaking her head.

Evie had been adamant about the no-cops thing and he couldn’t—

Two lightbulbs burst in the ceiling fan in the living room showering tiny bits of glass over the couch and chair.

Evie jumped about a foot off the ground, gasping and trembling.

John stood, reaching for her to draw her into his arms and gather her against him.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s all right. It’s just a couple of bulbs. A power surge. You’re fine. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll clean it up before I go.” He hated that it took a full minute before she finally drew a deep breath and began to control the shakes. And he didn’t try to restrain her when she pulled away from him.

“No. It’s okay. I’m okay.” She nodded as if trying to convince herself. “I’ll clean it up. You better get moving. Don’t want to be late for your interview.” Actually, yes, he did. He didn’t want the damn job but they needed to eat and pay bills. He’d rather be out finding the bastards who’d stolen the light from his sister’s eyes.

While he’d run wild after their dad’s death when John was sixteen and Evie was eight, Evie had fallen into depression. He’d left his mom to deal with most of it when he’d chosen to enlist in the Navy right out of high school.

While he’d been straightening his life out in the Navy, Evie had gotten into drugs and alcohol as a teenager, which led to therapy and rehab at nineteen.

Then their mom had died two years ago in that fucking car accident. And John had thought he might lose Evie to the depression and the drugs again.

But she’d pulled through. She’d made a life for herself these past two years.

Until those kidnappers had done something to her.

He looked up at the now-dark light fixture.

Something strange.

Something John couldn’t explain.

And was afraid he didn’t want to.

Shivering in the cool April morning, Kaine knelt on the patch of soft green moss in the woods behind her home and prayed to the Great Mother Goddess for a miracle.

“Blessed Uni, I’m begging here. Please, I’m just asking for a little help.” Closing her eyes, she turned her thoughts inward and called to her wolf.

She listened, strained to hear the answering howl in her head.

And heard only the birdsong in the trees around her.

Fear began to rise up but she forced it back with an effort of will and tried again.

She longed to feel the sharp prick of magic as it shot through her body, changing her very cells into those of a wolf. Longed for those milliseconds of sheer agony when her body shifted.

She was
versipellis lucani
. A wolf skin-shifter bred with magic in her blood and the ability to transform her body into that of a sleek gray wolf.

Only…she couldn’t do it.

Her lips parted to draw in much needed air, even as she tried to control the impulse to hyperventilate.

She couldn’t shift. Hadn’t been able to for two months.

Not since John—

With a frustrated groan, she let herself curl into a ball, her naked body cushioned by the moss. Arms wrapped around her legs drawn up against her chest, she stared into the forest floor reawakening from its winter nap.

Spring in southeastern Pennsylvania was in full swing. The redbuds had already burst into vibrant violet blooms. The mayapples and dutchman’s pipes were just beginning their show on the forest floor.

Kaine typically loved spring. She loved to run through the forest, the scents and sights enticing her to stop and sniff or chase and catch.

In her pelt.

Goddess, she wanted her pelt. Her human skin chilled and pebbled in the slight breeze. Her pelt would keep her warm. It’d—

She froze, catching the scent too late to sit and pretend everything was okay.

“Kaine.”

Her fellow
sicari
, Duke Ducati, stepped into the private little hollow.

Together with Nic and their commanding officer, Kyle, she and Duke formed an elite branch of the
lucani
legion. They were the special ops force of the Etruscan military.

They did the wet work. They were
sicarii
, assassins.

They didn’t lie down and cry when the going got tough. They were the ones the
lucani
king turned to when things
got
tough.

Sitting up, Kaine considered ignoring him. But damn it, she wasn’t a coward.

She looked up into Duke’s dark eyes. “I can’t shift. I haven’t been able to for two months.”

Surprise flashed through his normally hard-edged expression for a brief second before he lowered himself to sit next to her and handed her the clothes she’d stacked in a pile next to the tree for her to dress. He stretched out long legs covered in black tactical pants, the pockets filled with at least two blades and maybe a garotte.

A dark gray t-shirt stretched over a multitude of muscles that would make any sane
eteri
, those regular humans with no magic, steer well clear of him.

Kaine knew just how strong the man was. And how dedicated he was to his friends.

“Did something happen?” he asked. “Are you injured?”

She shook her head. “Not that I know of.” But she had her suspicions. “And… Well, it’s probably better if I just show you. But you have to promise not to tell anyone. Not until I figure out what’s going on. Please Duke. You have to promise me.” She watched as he considered her request, knowing he’d agree. Still, she waited until he gave his word. As well as she knew him, he also knew her. He knew she would hold him to his promise.

“All right, Kaine. I promise.”

Holding her trembling hand over the ground at her side, she closed her eyes and envisioned the heat of her body entering the soil, calling to the still-dormant seeds, forcing them to break through the earth with their tiny stalks.

It didn’t require much energy. Not as much as she would expend to call forth her pelt. If she could.

Gods damn it.

Opening her eyes, she saw a mat of green, new growth.

She’d caused that. She’d coaxed seeds to life that shouldn’t have germinated for at least a month.

Turning, she saw Duke staring at her own little patch of the world.

“Well, shit,” he finally said before turning back to her with stunned amazement in his eyes.

Yeah, that had been her reaction the first time she’d done it. Except she’d used a lot more obscenities.

She’d been sitting in the forest, pretty much exactly as she was now, trying to shift and having no luck. She’d curled up her fist and pounded at the earth. And watched as a thousand tiny little seedlings sprung from the soil.

She’d been shocked speechless then. Now, she didn’t
want
to talk about it. She didn’t want to know what was going on. She only wanted it to go away.

What if this was the reason she couldn’t shift? What if something had happened to her and she’d never be able to shift again? What if she lost her wolf forever?

“Have you noticed anything else unusual?”

Duke had finally thought through all possible angles and figured this was the best one to approach the problem. Duke was good like that. If it’d been Nic who’d found her, they would’ve played Twenty Questions for hours.

“Except the fact that I can’t call my wolf, no.”

If she couldn’t call her wolf, what would she do? She’d been born and bred to be a
lucani
soldier. It was all she wanted, all she’d
ever
wanted to be.

And she was a damn good
sicari
.

Duke fell silent again, his gaze glued to the tiny patch of green seedlings. After another minute or so, he stood. “Let’s go. We’re going to talk to Sal.”

* * * * *

John walked through the front door of Lacey’s Stay-A-While a few minutes after seven p.m. on that Thursday night, did a quick visual then headed straight for the bar to his left.

He’d already ripped off the tie he was forced to wear for work. He’d stuffed that in the pocket of his ridiculous blue jacket seconds after he’d gotten in his car. Then he’d tossed the jacket in the backseat.

You’d think a multimillion dollar financial firm wouldn’t hesitate to shell out money for decent uniforms to outfit their private security force, especially since there were only four of them.

John’s immediate superior was a former Army Ranger. The other two guys had been police officers, one from New York City, the other Atlanta.

Good guys. Guys he understood.

The executives they were paid to keep safe? Assholes in thousand-dollar suits with no common sense or common courtesy.

Damn, he missed his SEAL team.

With a sigh, he slid onto one of the barstools, rolling up the sleeves on his white button-down and tearing open the top two buttons.

Evie was working the late shift at the restaurant and had said she wouldn’t be home until after two. She’d just started the job a week ago and this was her first late night.

He’d offered to pick her up after her shift. Hell, he’d wanted to insist.

She’d merely lifted her eyebrows at him and told him
she
didn’t need a bodyguard.

He still wasn’t so sure of that. They’d had no trouble at all since their escape but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone still out there looking for her. Or him.

No way would he say that to her, though. She was finally starting to come back to life.

So instead of sitting at home worrying about her, he figured he’d at least get out of the apartment, drink a few beers… Okay, more than a few beers.

Maybe a couple pitchers of draft and several shots of Jack. Hell, he wasn’t driving.

He only had to walk a block or so back to the apartment.