Leopard Moon (14 page)

She wasn’t in her car. He took a quick look at it and didn’t see anything wrong with it--no flat tires, no leaking oil. He tried the doors and found them locked, then placed his hand on the hood. It was cold. With the temperature dropping so fast now that full night had fallen, that didn’t tell him much except that she could have been out here for a while. That was a deeply stupid idea in early December, especially when you didn’t know the area really well--or, like, at all.

Cormac opened up his senses a bit more, letting his wolf-self come further to the fore, and the first thing he caught was smell. He let his nose lead him across the road and into the underbrush, then followed her scent as it beckoned him deeper into the woods. As he walked he noticed that her scent remained constant. He didn’t pick up the acrid undertone of fear that would indicate she had been coerced out here. He didn’t see broken branches or anything that indicated she was panicked or lost when she came through here. Cormac kept going, walking at a steady pace in the darkness, following where his nose led. He knew almost every stretch of forested land on this side of the mountain.

When he came to some rocks that bordered a stream, he stopped. The scent was stronger here so he leaned over to see if she may have rested. With his heightened vision, he found her clothes and shoes folded neatly in a pile behind one of the larger boulders. He sat down for a second. He’d run into some of the New Age wiccans that liked to get back to nature and preferred to practice outdoors. Some chose to do it naked. Granted, it wasn’t usually in December, but he didn’t make it his business to know wiccan worship. A lot of strange people came up to these mountains, but he never would have picked Kess for a skyclad. She was way too uptight. Still, she did come from California….

He wasn’t sure what to do now. Keep going to make sure everything was okay? Leave her to it--whatever it was--and maybe read about a frozen naked wiccan that died of exposure in the paper in a week? Cormac took another look at the neat pile of clothes, running a hand through his hair and rubbing his neck. It was a nervous habit.

The wind shifted, and Cormac made his decision. He'd continue tracking her, just to make sure she was okay, then he'd head back. He didn't want to startle her and certainly didn't want to intrude, so he made another decision--things would go much better if he happened upon her as a wolf. He could always run away, acting the scared wild animal and that wouldn't make things awkward between them if he happened upon her naked, as a human. With that resolved, he began to quickly strip down himself, placing his clothes off to the side of the trail. And focused on all things wolf within him.

The change was quick, like it always was, but more painful. The night held no moon, the phase time when wolves were at their weakest. The full moon was when he and his pack raced through the woods, the light from its fullness singing through their veins. Like all werewolves, he could change at any time, but not without a physical cost. He shook as the change finished, anxious to be gone.

The smell was more intense as a wolf. The sweet, spicy smell of Kess was intoxicating; it made him think of beaches and suntan lotion and snickerdoodle cookies. He filled his nose with her scent. Cormac took off, nose low, padding quickly through the forest. After a few hundred yards, he stopped. Kess' scent faded out, leaving him with no idea where she went. It was possible she had doubled back, but then why were her clothes still there? Cormac decided to continue on, to be sure Kess was okay. It was possible he'd pick her scent back up.

He’d been loping through the trees for quite awhile, intent on trying to find the girl, when a new scent overpowered everything else: blood. The meaty red smell blotted out everything. Cormac ghosted ahead, ears pricked forward, listening for anything that would give away Kess' presence. Maybe something had found her way out here, although he was most likely the only predator—aside from the odd black bear—in these woods. But she still could have gotten hurt. He feared he was too late to help her if she had gotten into trouble, astounded at the gulf of feeling that opened up within him at the thought of her injured--or worse. He told himself that he had only met the girl a couple of times, it wasn’t like he had any special bond to her. It didn’t help.

He stopped near a pine tree, where the scent was strongest and looked up. A low growl of warning sounded from a black shape perched up in the branches with a half-eaten deer. His lips curled back in a snarl, hackles rising to the challenge. He answered the growl with one of his own. He saw the creature shift, pulling its feet under itself, and he howled out a challenge.

The head of the beast turned toward him and he was held by the sight of green-gold eyes like the ones that had become so familiar in the last few weeks. Kess? he thought incredulously. Then the cat was springing past him, a little piece of night cut loose from the larger fabric around them.

He gave chase. Wolves were built for the chase, sometimes following prey for miles. Wolves hunted in a pack or alone, taking down much larger animals by tearing at their hindquarters, weakening the animal until it could be pulled down. He had no intention of killing the cat, but that didn't mean he was just going to let it go. He bounded after it.

The cat was fast--which surprised him considering how heavily built it looked--strafing through low brush and pushing off tree trunks, changing direction on a dime. He pounded on, not as agile as the cat, but fast enough and he knew these woods, knew where they’d end up and wasn’t worried. It was exhilarating, the chase, the hunt, racing through ink-dark woods in pursuit of something new and he reveled in it. Kess or not, it was the some of the most fun he’d had in weeks.

The cat was taking him deeper into the woods, towards Crystal Peak Falls. It was pretty tame as far as falls went, maybe three stories high, but hikers and climbers loved to climb it and jump off. Cormac could already smell the water as they closed and he put on a burst of speed to bring himself closer to his quarry. The cat’s hind feet hit a patch of pine needles, causing it to scrabble off balance, giving Cormac the opening he needed. His teeth bit into its left flank, scoring a hit. The cat roared and turned back around, ears plastered to its blunt skull, lips pulled back to reveal impressive canines. It was about as big as he was, but he felt confident that he could take it in a fight.

But the eyes. Those were Kess’ eyes, he would lay money on it. It would certainly explain her hesitation to start anything up with him.

He sat down.

The cat still snarled, growling low in the back of its throat. It was backing away a little. He waited a second, pulling a back leg up to scratch at the back of his neck. He watched it to see what it would do. He saw the ears pull forward a little bit, heard the growling pause. And then, with a great leap, it disappeared into the trees and was over across the water.

He took his time going back the way he’d come, to give her plenty of time to get back to her clothes. When he padded back to his own and changed back, he gave a quick look and, sure enough, they were gone. Cormac smiled to himself and stretched widely, supremely satisfied. He had about a million questions roiling around his head, but he was happy for now. Kess certainly wasn’t dead, as he'd feared. If what he thought was true, she was more alive than he could ever have expected.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Kess had been on the edge of panic all shift. She'd been wrong that work would take her mind off of her encounter with the wolf; instead all she did was jump at every sound and flinch away from people. She'd come back from her woodland excursion last night completely exhausted and had fallen directly into bed, bloody clothes and all, and into a dark dreamless sleep. But she'd been obsessively turning over the events of last night in her head since she'd woken up this morning. And doing that was not helping her one bit.

She'd tried to order things logically in her head: she'd been out hunting, she'd run across a grey wolf, she'd run, it had chased, she'd gotten bit, she'd escaped, she'd changed and went back to the boarding house. No problems so far. Except that she'd found Cormac's scent near her clothes. Except that she'd found clothes that could have been his discarded nearby, almost as if someone had hurriedly taken them off to change. Except that it was his Jeep that had been parked next to her car.

She tried to keep calm, but her mind had been running through a thousand exit scenarios as she prepped for the lunch shift that was just about over. Kess wanted to believe that it was just a coincidence, but she knew it wasn't. Chances were good that it was a werewolf out there and that the werewolf was Cormac. The wound on her side was a confirmation; it hadn't healed up by the morning like a normal animal bite would have. Were bites healed much slower and left silvery-white scars behind. It was too soon to tell what the scar would look like, but Kess didn't think she had the time to wait and see. She needed to come to some kind of decision soon.

That was the problem. Her head told her what she should be doing: gathering up her tips, packing her stuff and putting this town in her rearview mirror as soon as she could. That's what she'd always done. Her heart was telling her something entirely different and a lot more dangerous. She wanted to stay, to see what would happen, in the dim hope that Cormac was exactly what he appeared to be—a nice, normal guy. One she wanted and who wanted her. The thought of leaving crushed a part of her that she hadn't even realized was there; the part of her that would miss the way his presence filled a room with warmth, the way his eyes crinkled when he grinned at something funny she'd said, the way he looked at her.

Kess ran through the events of the previous night again. One thing kept sticking out to her. The wolf had stopped. It hadn't chased her until it caught her. It had nicked her, almost like it was trying to get her attention, and then it had sat down. She didn't know much about wolves, were or otherwise, but she was pretty sure that wasn't normal behavior.

So if it was Cormac, what would he be doing right now? Calling the pack together? Planning her destruction for trespassing on his land? Picking out wallpaper? Her thoughts tangled together as she tried to reconcile the guy that she knew with the wolf from last night. Cormac didn't seem like the kind of person who could just kill someone for being in his territory.

She'd already decided she wouldn't fight him if it came to that. She didn't want anyone to get hurt. Especially not him.

Kess only had her own clan as a model, and if she went by that, it meant death. Most likely hers. She was on her own, solitary, with no territory of her own. Whether or not Cormac was a great guy wouldn't mean anything if his pack decided to get rid of her.

She finished her sidework with a sigh of resignation and gathered up her things. Her decision was made. She would leave. It would be better for everyone if she was gone by sunset, even if the thought of leaving made her heart clench in her chest. Working a double was out of the question. She needed to plan out where she'd be heading next, get her stuff and get out. She pulled her hair out of her chopsticks and fought off the allure of a nap. She couldn't afford to wait, no matter how tired she still was from the night before.

It was freezing outside, the temperature colder than anything she'd experienced now that it was December. Maybe she'd try heading south again. Trudging up the gravel path to the back lot, she stopped short before she reached her car. Cormac's Jeep was parked beside hers, just like last night. He sat on the ground, his back against her driver's side door. He got up when he saw her, brushing gravel from the back of his jeans. She got a thrill seeing him, equal parts pleasure and fear. She'd missed his presence--she hadn't realized how much until now. But she was also afraid for what seeing him right now meant for her.

Kess thought about running, but gave that up. He'd catch her--he was faster in human form than she was, plus she still had the bite in her side. It would slow her down. She'd have to be smart about this. She took a look around to see if she could see anyone else, but it looked like they were alone.

"Hey," he said, voice casual. "I wanted to ask you something." He hadn't tried to close the distance between them, just stayed where he was beside her car.

Do I turn into a big black cat? Why yes, I do. And do you turn into a huge wolf? You do? How marvelous! Shall we celebrate over something soft and furry? Somehow she doubted it would be that simple.

She moved closer to him, but made sure to stay out of reach. "Shoot."

"Were you out on the Parkway last night? I thought I saw your car out there."

She shook her head. "Wasn't mine." She tried to play it cool and had to resist the urge to add unnecessary details. That was a surefire way to get caught in a lie—get all intense with the additional information.

"Oh." He sounded disappointed, but he was staring at her as if he were trying to come to some kind of decision. "Thought you might have been."

"No, not me. What were you doing out there?" Kess didn't think she was off the hook for anything, but he wasn't attacking her, which was the best she could hope for right now.

Cormac shrugged. He walked a few steps away from the door of her car so he wasn't blocking it anymore. Kess realized she'd look strange if she tried to skirt around him. If she was trying to convince him that she was completely normal and harmless, she needed to stop looking like she was suspicious of him. He'd given her no reason to be.

"Here, let me help you with that." His hand went to her shoulder to take her bag from her, a gentlemanly thing to do and one he'd done for her in the past.