Moon Crossed (Werewolf Hunter Series): Season 1 (Episodes 1-6) (Crescent Hunter) (74 page)

“You should be.”

Through hooded eyes and
with a sardonic smile, I ask, “Do you smell fear on me?”

He inhales deeply,
taking in my scent. His expression falls as he looks at me with
surprise. “No.”

“Exactly” I
take a step toward him, causing him to back up. “I'm not afraid
of you or the council. Every kill I've ever made was justified and
sanctioned. All but this one.” I surprise him by drawing my
dagger across his belly, spilling his intestines onto the ground. He
tries to shift, but is unable. I draw my sword while he writhes in
pain. “This is for my boys who you infected with the disease,
my father who you killed in cold blood, for Cole who you have abused
and damaged his whole life, and finally, for me. Because of you, my
heart will never beat again in happiness.” With that, I jab the
sword into his chest.

My hands are wrapped
tightly around the hilt as I watch with glee the look of shock on his
face as the light goes out in his eyes. The ramifications start to
sink in with a tickle of panic.

Pushing all other
feeling aside, I go back to each of the boys and say goodbye.
Allowing the grief to fill me, letting the memory sink in so that I
feel it every minute as a punishment for what I've done.

The sensation of a
wolf-borne brings me out of my self-pity. Locke enters the clearing.
His menacing growl puts me on edge. Part of
me wants to let him kill me. My future is dark, it won't feel like
living without my boys. His voice sounds in my head, but it shouldn't
be possible since he's moon-touched. But he shouldn't be moon-touched
at all. He's a hybrid.
You know what must be done. I'm going to
fight you, but you have to kill me.

“No, Locke,
please. I don't want to hurt you. Please don't make me do this.”
Tears cascade down my cheeks, blurring my vision. There's not one
ounce of strength left in my spirit.

He lunges at me and I
let him take me down, but hold his neck at just enough of a distance
that he can't bite my face. There's blood and foaming drool dripping
on my face. The sound of his attack moves through me like a river,
tugging at the sadness I'll feel every moment I have left in my life.

“Please, Locke, I
don't want to do this. Please.” I plead with him, looking into
his wild eyes. He's not there. He's lost his humanity, and the memory
of his words waft through my mind. “Don't let me live as a
rabid animal.”

The thought of his
pleading infuses me with enough strength to push him off and draw
another dagger. He takes me down again, but this time I fight back,
grappling on the ground to get a clean shot at his heart. This has to
be perfect.

With a pained screech,
I tug him closer to me and stab the dagger into his heart. His eyes
take on calm quality and serenity moves over his being as he goes
limp, falling to the ground. His voice in my head says all I needed
to hear.
Thank you
.

The light goes out in
his eyes.

There is no sound, only
silence, yet I'm screaming, “No, no, no.” I lay across
his lifeless body, wishing I could feel him move or bring him back,
wishing the dagger had gone into my heart instead. It would have hurt
less.

With all the strength
left in me, I drag his body onto my lap and try to rationalize the
pain of how he left me. My heart feels a stabbing anguish that he's
gone; my soul is dying. This is what it feels like to be dead, but
still draw breath.

Through watery eyes,
I'm drawn to the horizon. It's starting to lighten with purples and
pinks. Cole's presence sends a shiver up my spine. He stalks toward
me in wolf form, his brilliant blue eyes shining through the
darkness. There should be fear in me, but there is nothing.

He looks from wolf to
wolf with grief in his eyes, then he glances back at me. His voice
sounds in my head.
Watch the sunrise with me.

I look to the horizon,
then back to Cole. I roll Locke's body off of me and go to the
clearing. The place where Cole and I made love so many times, where
we first kissed, where my father would bring me to help me feel calm.
My knees pull into my chest to staunch the pain. He sits next to me,
never shifting to human form.

We watch the sky
change, flooding with brilliant pinks, reds, and oranges until the
sun is completely visible above the horizon. I try to feel anything
that my father taught me, but can only feel his last breath on my
cheek.

Sadness from everything
I've done has washed me out, leaving me a vacant husk. There's only
one thing I have left to do. Cole and I exchange a knowing look.
Drawing my sword as I stand, there isn't much fight in me. He could
kill me right now. I wish he would.

I raise my chin in
defiance as he looks upon me. His beautiful eyes touching me so
deeply reminds me how my love only meant something to me. That I
never meant anything to him. He never loved me. He only lied to me.
He only used me.

Lowering my head, the
words come out a mere whisper. “I thought I was feeling your
pain all these months, and that you missed me, loved me. But it was
only an echo of my own pain.” A slow, steady breath fills my
lungs in preparation for the fight of my life. He's big, he's strong,
and he's my enemy.

There may not be enough
strength left in me to best him. Biting the inside of my cheek holds
back the tears threatening at the corners of my eyes.

“I'm ready,”
I whisper through gritted teeth.

He takes two steps
toward me, centering himself in the clearing, and lays on his side,
exposing his chest.

Knowing comes over me;
he wants me to kill him, finish him. Cautiously, I approach him with
my sword ready.

“This is what you
want?”

He squeezes his eyes
shut to hide his emotion. Even though I know that neither of us will
be free until one of us is dead, it doesn't make it easier. The
set-up, the lies, the betrayals, him using me: none of that makes me
want to do this.

Even though I feel the
words profoundly, my voice lacks emotion. “I love you.”

As I bring the sword
down into his heart, his eyes open one last time, expressing what I
always perceived as love from him. This time there's something
different: regret. When the sword pierces his heart, mine ceases to
beat. I feel nothing. I’m numb, empty.

I leave the sword in
his chest and do what he did to me so many times: walk away like he
was nothing.

I've
been on the run for two weeks.

Zane cracked the code
in the note I left for him. He got to the rendezvous point long
before I had. There was no real expectation that he would show, or if
he was even alive. Having him and Ben here was the first time I'd
felt hope in a long time. They risked everything to be here with me
and are now on the wanted list, too.

Killing Pike was
necessary. But Lenny was right: there was someone in line behind Pike
who’s just as bad, if not worse.

What was previously a
local dispute has now spread in all of the southern states between
hunters and wolves. The human population is becoming more aware, and
there are news reports all over about the new rabid super-wolves
roaming the forests of the southeast. Some are blaming GMO's and
others are saying that it is from experiments; either way, it's bad
that they know werewolves are out there.

We haven't been in
contact with anyone from home since I left; it's too dangerous. That
means we have no idea what's going on. I have no idea if the cure
worked.

At night I dream of
Cole, see his eyes, sometimes smell him on the wind. It's not him. It
never really was. He never loved me. I was nothing more than a pawn
in his game, something to be conquered. He knew his plan to destroy
me from the moment we met, making the hunter the hunted. It sounds
cliché. But it would seem that he got what he was looking for
and then some.

Whether he ever cared
or not doesn't matter. My feelings for him were real; my heart aches
in his absence and the light within me will never shine as brightly
as it once did. There are many things in this world we can change,
but a man's cold, dead heart isn't one of them.

I was always honest
with him, never lied or held back my feelings. It's hard enough to
find solid ground in life, and I refuse to stand on the crumbling
pedestal of ceremony and fear to express my true feelings. My only
real regret is ever having met him, and having my heart broken over
and over again by his self-loathing. He was never worthy of love, and
certainly not worthy of me. If he had given our friendship a chance,
perhaps he could have known the true touch of love. Or what it feels
like to bask in the unconditional care that had only one expectation:
love.

We never could have
been together, regardless that we were both hybrids, but that doesn't
mean we couldn't have been the friends that he made me believe we
were.

I am ashamed that I
love him. If I could scrub his memory from my soul with a Brillo Pad
I would. But I can't. Not having him in my life didn't make me
forget. If it was designed to make me stop feeling for him, then he
failed. He only made me wish that I could stop feeling. The broken
place that will forever live within me is a constant reminder that he
never cared. He never had the capacity for any kind of love that I
could offer him.

Hunters and wolf-borne
have a long way to go as a society, and I don't know if I'll see the
light of day tomorrow with the bounty on my head. But I'll watch the
sunrise every morning, hoping to feel something. That's when I’ll
know that he's come home to my heart, and I will once again bask in
the light.

To Be Continued...

Thank you for taking the time to read Crescent Hunter, Moon Crossed.
Please consider leaving an honest review at your point of purchase and Goodreads.

This story popped out
of my heart like an alien on a space station! When I strapped into
this emotional roller coaster with Claire, I had no idea what I was
getting myself into. I hope you enjoyed the story.

Part of this story
involves some of the most awesome personalities from my own life. The
magic porch really does exist!

The Bros, House of
Brotus, my boys, (my pack) really are an incredibly important part of
my life. They keep me from delving too deep into the darkness that
threatens to pull me under fairly constantly.

I don't know what I
would do if they ever left me like they left Claire. I think a part
of me would die forever.

Locke and Tor, truly
are my real life numbers one and two. They are almost always here for
me and I wouldn't have survived the winter without them.

Rabbit, Kyle, Brogan,
Lenny, Trevor and many of the other wolves are amalgamations of the
bros and my boys.

Cole was conjured from
a dark place in my soul. Nothing more than a figment of my
imagination that never really existed. So no, he's not based on any
of the boys that are near and dear to me. I mean, nobody's that much
of an asshole, right?

Sarra Cannon, my grown
up besty! I would NEVER have gotten through this book without you!

Bolle – for being
you, always checking on me and letting me see that awesome smile when
everyone else thinks it doesn't exist.

Bailey, Patrick, Houser
(Mentsy – I swear to God I'll kick his ass next time I see
him), Dale, Lobster, Spicy Meatball, Squid, Cain, Derrick, Joey,
Tyler, Justin (my #3), Tim, Joe, and Lenny (previously known as
Randy).

Not House of Brotus,
but still my boys: Jermiah, Harrison, Brennan, Dillon (previously
known as Zack), Ki, and Garrett.

My girls: Melissa,
Liss, Amanda, Page, Micheldon, Ivy and Lili – you ladies are
way too kick ass!

Misha, my stalwart
friend that looks just like the wolf on the cover, she doesn't even
mind when I roll over her tail.

You
have all been the best part of what I believe family is. I would die
for any one of you and love you all, you guys are my heart. Thank you
so much for inspiring me, spending time with me and on occasion (the
really great ones) bringing me coffee, cigarettes, chocolate, booze
and other stuff. You all rock and keep me going even when I don't
want to!

Thank you for reading the Moon Crossed (Season 1) really hope you enjoyed it! Please
consider leaving a review at your point of purchase, Goodreads and anywhere else where folks like to hear about
books.

Please sign up for my mailing list to get the latest news on all of my releases and
announcements!

Sign Up here

The INK: Series

• INK: Sketches (Book 0)
  
• INK: Fine Lines (Book 1)
  
• INK: Vanishing Point (Book 2)
  
• INK: Abstraction (Book 3)
  
• INK: Darken (Book 4)
  
• INK: Bold Strokes (Book 5)
  Coming 2015
  

•  
  

• Freebie Shorts From The INK: Series
  
• INK: Christmas Past
  
• INK: Fourth of July Past