Moon Crossed (Werewolf Hunter Series): Season 1 (Episodes 1-6) (Crescent Hunter) (42 page)

When I finally relax, I
see that the sun is well over the horizon at this point. Cole didn't
show. My first thought is that he encountered the pack and got hurt.
I pull my phone out and text him.

You okay? ~Claire

I sit down in the
clearing to wait for him. Part of me wants to search for him, but I
don't want to run into that pack. I'm torn between wanting to know
that he's okay and not wanting to come off as desperate or needy. I
hate all of these stupid texting rules.

After waiting
forty-five minutes, I text him again. As a hunter, I don't have the
luxury of waiting around and letting life meander slowly. My life
span is limited, and I don't have time to stand on ceremony or worry
about who loves more than who. If I love him more, I'm okay with
that. I just want to know that he's okay.

Cole, please let me
know that you're okay. There was just an incident and I'm worried
about you. ~Claire

I start back for the
house, staying alert. It's hard not letting my irritation show
through when I enter the house and all of the boys are there with a
big mess in the kitchen.

“Hey.”
Brogan waves.

“Hey, babe.”
I want to walk straight through to the stairs and go to bed. “Did
y'all have fun?”

“It was a blast,”
Kyle says, smiling.

“Where are Locke
and Rabbit?” I ask, noticing that they aren't here.

They all exchange a
weird glance. “They'll be home soon.”

“What's with the
look?” I pin Tor with a stare.

“No look. They
were just cutting up,” he answers.

Rabbit comes in the
front door, laughing. “I really can't believe that shit.”

“I know! I wish I
had balls like that.” Trevor comes into the kitchen and stops
short when he sees me.

“Who's balls?”
I already know they are probably talking about Cole.

Locke comes in. “Hey,
Claire. How was patrol?”

“Quiet. How was
the party?” I decide to sit at the table instead of heading to
bed. There's a story here that I think I may want to hear.

“It was good, but
we all missed you.” He goes to the fridge.

“Good to know.”
I look back at Trevor. “So what did Cole do?” More
directness seems to be in order.

Trevor giggles some
more. “So Cole bet us that he could get any girl at the party,
while
he was in wolf form.”

“Oh.” I
swallow hard.

“Yeah, so he
shifts, then starts going around and trying to get the girls to
shift,” Trevor recalls. “When Meghan finally did, he
chased her around, sniffing her ass.”

“That's, um...”
My eyes pinch closed at the thought. “Yeah.”

“I couldn't
believe it worked.” Rabbit's tone is astounded.

“Well, good for
him.” I want to throw the table across the room. “What
time did he leave?”

“He was still
there when we left,” Locke tells me, sitting at the table with
a yogurt.

Kyle can see right
through my fake smile. “I'm not sure he could drive.”

“I'll see you
guys later. I'm going to get some rest,” I say, heading up to
my room.

I sit hard on my bed,
just wanting to sulk. I don't actually care about the other girls,
but I do care about him not showing up for the sunrise when he said
that he would.

I'm not going to text
him; it wouldn't serve any real purpose. I know that he's okay and
not hurt, so what's the point?

Full
moon tonight; to clear my head, I go for a run before nightfall. I'm
hoping that maybe Cole is out here. He's been a no-show for the
sunrise since before the night I was on patrol. Inhaling deeply, I
search the air for his scent. It's faint. Why would he be out here
last night without me? I was here and didn't sense nor smell him. The
sunrise just isn't the same without him.

I climb one of my
favorite trees to sit in and watch nature go by. Focusing on tonight
is proving to be difficult, trying to reconcile all of my thoughts. I
push away the thought that Cole isn't calling because we had sex.
That now that he's “conquered” me, he's not going to come
around anymore. That couldn't possibly be true. I mean, do guys
really do that?

I'm so socially and
emotionally stunted from growing up a hunter. We rarely pair off
because of our nature. All of these rules and coy-playing are so lost
on me, it just hurts.

The initial sensation
of a wolf-borne nearby comes over me, and a grin spreads across my
lips. It fades slightly when I realize that it's Locke.

“Claire?” he calls out.

Playing hide and seek
with him is one of my favorite games; I remain very still and quiet.

“I can smell you.
I know you're here.” He shakes his head in frustration. He
looks up and scans the surrounding branches until he finds me. “Hey,
you.”

I wave.

“What are you
doing?” he asks, looking at me with curiosity.

“Getting ready
for tonight, emotionally.” I don't let him see the sadness in
my eyes. Every full moon is a gamble.

“Come on down.”

“Why don't you
come up?” I counter.

“Because you know
I don't care for heights.” He blows out a breath, studying the
branches in case he does have to climb.

“I'll come down.”
I jump down from my perch.

He regards me for a
long moment and tilts his chin down. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing that
isn't wrong every full moon?” Not even my lowered head can hide
my grimace.

“Liar,” he
accuses.

“I'm fine.”
I start toward the house. “Just a little tired; I was up late
working last night. Trying to figure some stuff out with what
happened to Brogan.”

“Ah, yeah, it
would be nice if your theory is correct and we could use it.”
He keeps looking straight ahead in silence for a moment. “There's
something else, though. I can tell.” The disapproval in his
voice that I would keep anything from him kills me.

“I'm also worried
about Cole. I haven't heard from him.” I
cannot
believe I just said that. Having Locke worry about my attachment to
Cole is the worst idea.

“Cole's fine. I
saw him last night.” His words burn. He bends over a patch of
wild flowers and picks a few.

“Oh, okay, cool.
So he's not like...dead or anything.” Okay, so yeah I want more
information.

“No, he was in
true Cole form. He ended up going home with Susan Keene.” He
laughs at the memory, and I completely die inside.

“Ha, well. That's
Cole.” I want to vomit the words, throw them up with the bile
that's gathering at the back of my throat, but I don't. I'm pretty
sure that I have Locke convinced that I really don't care. I really
shouldn't. What right do I have?

“Yeah, that's
Cole.” He nods.

“So, did he
mention his plans for tonight?” I'm totally on the fence; on
one hand, I want to see him. On the other, I'd like to step on his
balls and watch him squirm. Which, if you really think about it, I
would have to see him in order to commence with the ball-stepping.

“No, we didn't
really have much of a chance to talk.” The trail spills into
our backyard. Locke takes the flowers he's been picking along the way
and puts them on Mom and Da's grave. I stand and watch
the family grave yard from outside the
low iron fence.

“Thanks.” I
force a grateful smile.

“Always.”
His sincerity touches me; that's one of the reasons why he's my best
friend.

A commotion on the back
porch catches my attention. Rabbit's sitting on the railing
eating...something. I can't tell what it is. He waves, speaking
through a full mouth. “Hey, Claire!”

I wave back. “Hey,
Rabbit, whatchya got there?”

“Block of
cheese,” he says with no emotion.

“Okay then.”
I roll my eyes and glance at Locke, who shrugs. More people fill the
porch; some I recognize, some I don't. Aunt Rain comes out, carrying
a tray of sandwiches.

“What is all of
this?” I motion my hands around.

“Full moon
party,” she says, not looking me in the eye, and puts the
sandwiches down on the table.

Brogan comes out,
carrying the giant iced tea dispenser. “Where do you want it?”

“Just over here.”
She motions to the table.

“Tor, put the
cups here.” She points next to
the tea. “Where's Trevor?”

“You gave him the
heavy job, so he's probably at home hiding in his room.” Kyle
comes out, carrying a cooler full of ice.

“Thank you,
Kyle.” Aunt Rain pats his shoulder as he puts down the ice in
front of the tea.

“Full moon
party?” I ask, tilting my head down in question.

“Yeah, a group of
hunters are going to be here tonight to keep us company.” She
smiles and darts back into the kitchen.

I flash Locke a look.
“Did you know about this?”

“I think it's a
great idea. We're all going to be locked up and even badass Claire
can't handle a bunch of wolf-borne alone. So we thought the backup
would be a good idea.” He smiles lovingly. “Don't argue,
we all need you to be safe.”

“Why wasn't I –”
Kyle cuts me off.

“Because we
didn't want to hear a bunch of crap about how you can take care of
yourself.” He stands on the top step with his hands on his
narrow hips.

I suck my bottom lip
in, knowing the truth in what he said. “I
can
take care
of myself.” I push past the strangers on the porch and go after
Aunt Rain. “You know I could have handled this.”

“Yes, but now you
don't have to.” She pulls a pan of cookies from the oven and
closes the door with her foot. “Besides, you already agreed,
remember?”

“I was hoping
you'd forget.” Blowing out a breath, I roll my eyes. “Fine.
But who's going to be on patrol?”

“Hayden called in
some favors from the last full moon, and we've got several hunters
patrolling this area as well as Amicalola.” She slides the
cookies onto a plate.

“Okay, so what's
the game plan?”

“We're going to
discuss it when Hayden gets here. But essentially, we are going to be
protecting our territory - and you - with everything we've got.”
She hurries out the door, carrying the cookies, then comes back in.

“Aunt Rain, this
is a little –”
She grabs my upper arm and leads me into
the laundry room.

With one hand on her
hip and her other finger pointing, she leans in. “Now you
listen to me, young lady.” Her brows knit together. “You
are going to quit your whining, accept this help, and do it with
grace and gratitude. Every single person who is here volunteered to
protect you and our way of life. Do you hear me?
Our way of life
.”
She pauses for only a split second. “You have to realize this
isn't about you; it's about all of us. If we don't start uniting now,
we're going to be screwed. Now do you understand?”

I rub my arm where she
grabbed me and through pouting lips agree. “Yes, ma'am.”

“Now get out
there and greet your guests,” she snaps at me.

Feeling completely
ashamed and scolded, I walk past her, trying not to cry. She has very
rarely ever yelled at me; it's hard to take.

She calls after me with
gritted teeth, “Grace and gratitude.”

I stop without turning
around and nod. With my best smile on, I go back into the kitchen and
look around for something to do. There has to be some sort of food
dish I can take outside or something, right?

You okay?
Locke's
voice sounds in my head.

Yeah, just got my
ass handed to me by Aunt Rain,
I answer.

Locke comes in the back
door as I'm wiping down the sink. He puts his hands on my shoulders.
“You've got a little tear there.”

“I was hoping no
one would notice.” I smile through it.

“I'm not no one.
When you're sad, I can feel it right here.” He puts his
balled-up fist in the center of his stomach.

I turn around and give
him a hug. “Thank you. It's just a lot to take.” I don't
want to admit it, but I'm also upset about Cole. No word from him,
and hearing that he was at the party last night just stings.

“I know.”
He smiles, pulling back. “But hey, tonight should be pretty
easy on you. You won't be babysitting alone.”

“Yeah, I think it
might be easier to be alone in most cases.” I roll my eyes.

“You'll be okay.”

“Claire, please
take the punch outside and put it by the iced tea,” Aunt Rains
asks while putting another batch of cookies in the oven.

“Dear God, how
many are we expecting?” I take the big carafe off the kitchen
island and spin around to go outside. I slam right into someone tall
and solid. My first thought is Cole, but I didn't feel him come in.
Punch goes everywhere, and I'm covered in red stickiness. So is my
poor victim.

“Oh Jesus, I'm so
sorry.” We bend down to pick it up at the same time and bump
heads. “Oh God, sorry.” I blow out a breath, still
looking down. “I'm just a mess.”