Moon Crossed (Werewolf Hunter Series): Season 1 (Episodes 1-6) (Crescent Hunter) (71 page)

“Okay, will you
eat dinner tonight?” There's little hope in his tone, which
breaks my heart. “With me?”

“Yeah, I'd love
to. Do you want me to cook?” I ask cautiously.

“Nope, I got
this. You go shower and I'll get dinner ready.” There's more of
a pop in his step.

My legs are tired and
I'm feeling the fact that I haven't been eating well lately. At the
top of the second flight of stairs, Cole's scent is strong. Searching
within myself to see if I can feel him yields nothing. That doesn't
mean I'm not on alert. As I push through my bedroom door, a flash of
white on the floor catches my eye. A note.

A jolt of excitement
goes through me; Cole was here, in my house. Then, I feel a sickened
worry at his boldness to come in here at all. I unfold the note.

Watch the sunrise
with me?

Cole

My emotions blow off
the charts. I want to run to the clearing right now and demand that
the sun rise early so that I can be with Cole, feel him, smell him,
taste him. Worry peaks, reminding me that Cole doesn't love me. He
never did; that was a one way street that I was driving down blindly,
so there has to be some ulterior motive. It has to be a trap, a lie,
just like our whole time together. Nothing but a big stripy lie to
get what he wants.

Anger is setting in,
yet I'm still not sure that I'm not going to go and meet him in the
morning. What the hell is wrong with me? After all that he's done,
how could I feel one soft, sweet thing for him? How is it that I
can't hate him? He makes me wish that I could cut my own heart out
and feed it to him. Then he'd feel something for my heart, at least
once.

I toss the note on the
bed and get into the shower.

With a slight spring in
my step, I come down the stairs fresh and clean. Zane meets me at the
bottom.

“Hmm, I'm not
sure if I prefer the five day stench or the zestfully clean?”
He laughs.

“Funny.” I
stick my tongue out at him and start for the kitchen.

“Hold up there.”
He takes my hand.

Looking down at him as
he holds my hand changes my expression. “Um.”

He lets go. “I
have a surprise for you.”

“Oh, I love
surprises.” After taking a second to think about, I say “Well,
most surprises.”

“Close your
eyes.” He takes my hand again. “Just trust me.”

“I do.” I
let him lead me with my eyes closed. I can feel us going through the
doorway.

“Okay, step down
three times.” He's still guiding me, and then we walk ten paces
or so. He turns me around. “Open.”

When I open my eyes, I
let out a gasp. “Oh, Zane.” I have to struggle to push
the tears back, seeing that he's decorated the outside of the house.
He strung up as many lights as my father used to. “Thank you.”
I turn and hug him.

He puts his hand on the
back of my head, pulling me to him. It feels warm and nice, this
contact. I've missed having this.

“Merry
Christmas.” His tone is low and sincere.

I pull back. “Merry
Christmas to you, too.”

We stare at each other
for a minute until it gets uncomfortable; it's like neither of us
knows what to do. “I'm hungry. Is dinner ready?”

“Yeah, let's
eat.” He offers a consoling smile.

We get inside and serve
ourselves stew. I sit at the table, stirring my food around.

“You're awfully
quiet,” Zane points out, taking a bite.

“Sorry, just lost
in thought.” I poke at my food. “What kind of stew is
this?”

“Rabbit, caught
it myself,” he says with pride and an edge of mischief in his
voice.

My stomach turns a bit
at the thought, then the melancholy sets in as I think about Rabbit.
“Oh, um.”

“I'm kidding,
it's beef stew.” He laughs and I'm trying to find the humor in
it.

“Oh good, that's
better than rabbit stew.” I give him a sideways look.

“So what do you
want to do tonight?”

“I was going to
get back to work.” I haven't decided whether I'm going to go
and see Cole. I shouldn't, but I'm curious as to what he has to say.
There's no way Zane can know what I'm doing if I go.

“Oh, okay. Don't
forget that Hayden is coming over for a bit to discuss the council
meeting.” He sops up gravy with his bread.

“Did he say what
time?” It's already getting late and I still have some
preparations to make.

“Around nine.”
He looks at my bowl that's still mostly full. “Do you not like
it?”

“I do, I'm just
–”

“Yeah, lost in
thought.” He finishes my sentence.

“Sorry, I just
want to get back to work.” I push myself away from the table.

“Claire, did
something happen in the shower?” His tone is laden with
concern.

“No, I'm just
focused.” That was only a little bit of a lie.

“Okay, I'll let
you know when Hayden gets here.” He sits on the couch with a
book.

“Sounds good.”
Downstairs in the lab, the last formula needs to be checked. Nothing
has given me any sort of indication of working long term. There have
been a couple of my formulas that have killed the blood cells
completely, which is not good. I've used those findings to tweak the
formula.

Getting another slide,
I pull another blood sample out and get it ready. The computer
monitor comes on. My entire being fills with an intense elation and a
cold sweat coats my skin at what I'm seeing. The blood cells looks
almost normal.
Almost
.

I look in the
microscope to make sure that I'm looking at the right thing on the
screen. It's confirmed; this formula is working. I immediately start
making notes on my tablet. Then I replay the video of the last two
hours from the microscope to watch the metamorphosis. The formula is
slowly attacking the moon-touched blood and normalizing it.

After an hour or so of
watching and making notes, I check the slide again. There's been very
little change in the cell since I last looked at it. There's
something that's just not completing the mitosis.

“Claire?”
Hayden's voice comes from my office.

“In here,”
I say without looking away from the screen.

“Hey, there.
How's it going?” he asks cautiously.

“I'm on to
something.” I look up at him with wide eyes. “Getting
really close.”

“Really?”
He comes to the computer screen.

I rewind the video and
explain what he's looking at. “Here's the moon-touched blood
cells, the introduction of the formula, and the slow reversal of
metaplasia.”

“English?”
Hayden squints at me.

“The moon-touched
cells are starting to return to normal.” I cock my head to the
side, awaiting his understanding.

“Oh.” He
inhales and I can see the wheels turning. “So a cure.”

“If not the cure,
then the closest thing to it yet.” I pull my shoulders to my
ears.

“This is huge.”
He picks me up and spins me around.

We laugh and Zane joins
us. “What's with all the laughing? Didn't you know Claire
outlawed it in the house?”

“Shut up.”
I swat his shoulder.

“Claire's close
to a cure.” Hayden puts me down and points to the computer
screen.

“The only problem
is that it hasn't progressed beyond this, but it still is further
than I've ever gotten before.” I want so badly for this to be
it, to finally be the cure we've been looking for.

“Is there
anything else you need to do? We can talk about the meeting later if
you need to keep on this,” Hayden says while still studying the
computer screen.

“No, I think I'm
going to leave this and see if it progresses.” I start for the
door and they follow behind.

The coffee is not fresh
so a new pot is necessary. After putting it on, I sit at the table
with Hayden and Zane. “So, this meeting. I have a feeling this
is more than just us pleading our case for intervention.”

Hayden gives me forced
smile. “You've always been perceptive.”

“So what's up?”
The coffee maker needs to hurry up.

“The wolves that
you life-pierced are bringing charges against you.” He says it
in a heavy tone. “So is Susan Keene.”

Zane throws his head
back. “You've got to be kidding me.”

“They were
attacking
us
; it was justified.” A strange calm comes
over me.

“We know that,
but Pike is starting to feel some heat and he's coming at you from
every angle,” Hayden warns.

“I have no
problem going in front of the council, pleading our case for Pike's
war, and defending myself when they were all on
my
territory
and attacking
my
people.” My demeanor has taken on a
stoic quality to it. This is not the time to fight.

“It's not right.”
Zane stands from the table and goes to the coffee maker. “She's
done nothing wrong.”

“Yes, she has.”
Hayden presses his lips into a thin line of a smile. “She stole
Pike's son's heart.”

“No.”
Knowing the lack of truth in that statement sends a dull ache through
my chest. “He never cared.”

“Is that so?”
Hayden says, as if he knows different.

“Yes, he only
wanted to get information and to get in my pants.” I hang my
head, trying to push the hurt out of my heart. “He got both.”

“You really don't
know about what's been happening with Amicalola?” His tone is
quick.

“No.” I pin
him with a harsh look. “Especially since someone has been
keeping me in the dark about a lot of things.” Coretta comes to
mind.

“Cole made a move
to unseat Pike as alpha.” Hayden raises his eyebrows. “When
he was unsuccessful, he left the pack again.”

“What do you mean
by again?” I didn't know he had ever left.

“He's left many
times. He's never agreed with Pike's methods or beliefs.” He
leans into me.

“So you're saying
that Cole was actually sincere?” I huff. “Just no. He's
not capable.”

“He may not be
sincere, but he isn't under Pike's control.” He gets up to get
a cup of coffee. “None of the boys are.”

“What?” It
comes out as a gasp.

He shakes his head.
“They never were.” He turns back, looking at me from
beneath hooded eyes. “They left to protect you.”

“Protect me?”
Oh, I need to hear this. “How do you figure?”

“Pike was
targeting all hunter/wolf families.” He sits back at the table.

“Seriously?”
Zane is astounded.

“The point was to
separate us, take away our most powerful weapon, which is unity.”
Hayden shakes his head. “At this point, there are very few
wolves that aren't afraid of the repercussions of a hunter/wolf
alliance.”

“You being a
hybrid makes you very dangerous to him.” Zane makes the
realization.

“He has no idea
just how dangerous I really am.” My thoughts are racing; I have
so much to bring to the council. “I've had enough.”

“When is the
meeting?” Zane asks, dreading the answer.

“Two weeks.”
Hayden watches me with worry in his eyes. “The other
problem...”

“Oh great,
there's more.” I want to throw my arms up in frustration, but I
let the calm move me instead.

“They want you
brought in now.” Hayden regrets being the bearer of bad news.

“Wait, what?”
I stop in my tracks.

“Yeah, they want
you to turn yourself in.” Hayden watches for my reaction.

Zane shifts
uncomfortably in his chair. “So they are making this an
official action?”

“Yes.”
Hayden shakes his head.

“Whoa, hold on.
If you're saying what I think you're saying, then I'm not going to
testify to the council. What am I getting myself into here?”

“I'm afraid not.
You are being brought up on charges.” Hayden looks away.

“But I'm so close
to the cure.” Hope ekes from my veins.

“I'm sorry,
Claire, but I have to bring you in tomorrow. Ben and I will be here
around ten a.m.”

“But it's
Christmas.” Zane looks from me to Hayden.

My first inclination is
to protest, jump up and down and have a tantrum, then tell him that I
just won't go. But something maintains the calm feeling throughout my
body. No one is more surprised by my answer than I am. “Okay.
I'll be ready.”

Zane looks at me as
though I've lost my mind. “Claire, you can't do this.”

“I have to.”
For the first time in months, my voice is muted by strength.

Zane looks at me
questioningly. “So you think handing yourself over to the
council, which Pike is in control of, is the only option?”

With guile and
confidence, I answer, “I'll be fine.”

“We're all going
to support you; we have to. It could be any of us in there.”
Hayden's tone is defeated.

“I know.”
Hayden and Zane watch in amazement as I walk to the door. “I'm
going back down to my lab.”

“Claire, we're
all going to support you.” Hayden starts after me.