Moonlight Heart: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 4)

by K. R. Alexander

  “Should’ve thought of that,” Kage told him. “Skipping it this morning.”

  “What’s that one?”

  “Empty. It’s for Cassia’s coffee.”

  Voices out the door, door slamming shut, boots running on gravel and fading.

  There now. Wasn’t that better?

  I settled back with my phone. No … I was aching to answer. Better go ahead and get myself out the door as well. Reply to all of these, then get my nap.

  Same outfit: one more time. It was so cool this morning, I pulled the hoodie on instead of the blouse. I could shower this afternoon after the nap and the return of my bag. Another excellent thing to look forward to.

  This day was turning up roses.

  Until I walked to the workshop, ten minutes after Kage and Jason had been through the door, so I could have a moment with my old pal, the Internet, and I began to hear the yelling.

  Chapter 25

  After the rewarding efforts to get them out the door, Kage and Jason were still there. Jason had his bike pulled out, another one beside it, and Kage beside him. But they weren’t on his bike. Even more odd, they weren’t the ones causing trouble. They were apparently waiting for Peter, both of them facing a growing group at the rows of parked motorcycles in the shelter in front of the main workshop.

  “What is it you think we’re going to do? We’re not prisoners here! If you want someone to go with us, send them!”

  The one doing the shouting … was Zar.

  A big guy, tall as Isaac, with a dark ponytail and wearing a leather jacket and boots, faced Zar with his hands open. An older male with a graying beard and a limp was just walking up. I knew the tall one, Peter, by sight. And the older, Zacharias, from my meetings with the silvers.

  A mix of several others stood around at some distance, only watching, besides one young female who was close. Who they stood close to were Zar, hand on his bike, and Jed, who stood stiffly beside him, looking like a coiled spring.

  “We’ll discuss the situation and work together this weekend,” Peter was saying, his voice clear, ringing, but not a shout or angry. More like he was giving an order. “I may be able to go with you myself tomorrow—”

  “There’s no kir reason we can’t go now!” Zar yelled back. “You’re acting like we’re taking off to rob a bank!”

  “Zar, listen,” the female said, someone in his own age group who’d been in a singing circle with us. “This is important to all of us. But you’ve got to listen to Peter. None of us can go running off on our own right now.”

  “Does this look alone?” Jerking his hand back and forth between himself and Jed.

  Peter turned to meet the elder as he limped up, both nodding to each other.

  “What’s happened?” Zacharias asked Peter in a quiet, yet carrying voice.

  “We’re going to London, elder,” Zar snapped.

  Peter held up his hand like a stop sign and Zar quit, chest heaving on fast breaths.

  Both brothers watched the two older males with narrowed eyes.

  I’d walked up to Kage and Jason by then. They also watched with interest. Jason even looked amused, a smile curving his mouth without reaching his eyes.

  Peter addressed Zacharias as if they sat around a dinner table. “While they were in London last night with the witch, Eleazar believes they found Gabriel’s scent.”

  “Yes,” Zacharias also spoke mildly. “Keziah told me. I pray to Moon it’s true and we might find him again. Who found the trail?”

  “Jason.” Peter looked around.

  In a flash, all eyes seemed spotlighted in our direction. Jason’s smile vanished, expression turned to one of gravity so fast it was like a light switch. Yet, I just as quickly got the feeling they weren’t looking at him. Instead, everyone was noticing my presence. No one made mention of it, however.

  “You’re sure it was him?” Zacharias asked.

  “Yes, elder.” Jason inclined his head. “Until six years ago, I’d known him all my life. I wouldn’t forget. And the trail in and out of the hotel was fresh. He’d walked in there last night.”

  “Thank you, Jason. As an aside, may I ask what you were doing in fur in London streets teaming with mundanes?”

  Jason hesitated. To his credit, though, he didn’t look at me.

  I stepped forward. “Zacharias? I asked him to change. We were after the vampire again last night. Jason found him for us. Jason is relatively small and solid black. We take every precaution about keeping a low-profile with him.”

  Zacharias nodded and offered me the same, “Thank you, Cassia. I understand. Jason was a wise choice.”

  Yet I knew by his tone and his asking the question of Jason in the first place that something was amiss. Such as it being against their private laws to change around mundanes—humans not of the magical world and ignorant of their existence. Now that I thought of it, perhaps my reports to the elders had never spelled out we’d been doing such a thing. I supposed no one else had mentioned how much we’d been running around London with wolves in fur, both Jason and Andrew.

  How had they thought we were searching? Or maybe the elders did guess but they’d been turning a blind eye in light of their own dire circumstances.

  I felt I owed them an apology. Yet I didn’t know their laws.

  Zacharias returned attention to Peter, who went on explaining.

  “Of course, we all want to find Gabriel, as you say, Zacharias. But Eleazar and Jedediah intent to go this morning for the train and spend the day there trying to find him. I explained that it’s not possible. It’s a work day for both. Then there is Jedediah’s lockdown, and we cannot let Eleazar go alone in the current climate. I can make arrangements to be able to go with them myself tomorrow or Sunday if that sounds agreeable to you, elder.”

  Zar cut in before Zacharias could answer. “Gabriel is there now. For all we know, he’s already checked out. The faster we get there, the better chance we can find him.”

  “I agree with you, Eleazar,” Zacharias said. “It does sound like the chance could slip away if we don’t act fast. I also agree with Peter that you cannot go alone, nor can Jedediah go as your companion. Not without a silver to vouch. Peter has business elsewhere at the moment. Let him go. I will speak with Hannah. It’s possible we can find someone well-suited to accompany you. You’ll want someone with strong liaison skills.”

  “What we want, elder, is to go now.” Zar’s voice was still loud, but he sounded pleading more than angry, begging. “We can go together. Jed’s not going to do anything. Please. This is an emergency. We can’t just wait here until the right person has a few free hours. We need to be able to go there all morning. We need to be prepared to wait and watch for him, to ask … I don’t know what all. Jed and I can do that. Please, elder.”

  “I’m sorry for the difficult situation, for both of you, for your whole family.” Zacharias spoke calmly. “We’ll see what we can do.”

  Jed’s knuckles were pale on his helmet.

  Zar kicked gravel, cursing it.

  Peter was starting to his bike beside us.

  I passed him, heading for Zacharias, who looked around from the brothers. Everyone else, including Peter, looked at me as well.

  I didn’t mind public speaking. Not in small groups. Teaching was one of my favorite things.

  Yet, stepping out there in the dirt to Zacharias with dozens of stares aimed at me, more wolves walking up then, heading for bikes, presumably needing to get to work, I felt like I walked out onto a stage with a roof about to fall in.

  Mouth parched, I tried to swallow. “Excuse me, Zacharias?”

  He inclined his head and I did the same.

  Zar and Jed stared at me like the rest.

  I faced the silver. “I’ll vouch for Jed. And I’ll go with them to liaison with the mundanes. It’s a huge hotel. We can sit in the lobby and front café and watch for him to come in or out if he really is staying there. Later tonight, we’ll meet with others as well and continue with our
other mission—meeting the vampire.”

  Silence.

  When Zacharias looked as uncomprehending as if I’d waved a squid in his face, I turned.

  “Zar, will you please get Max and leave him at Kage and Jason’s place? They can bring him later in case we end up being in the city all day. Then we’ll all meet up.”

  It wasn’t quite a pin-drop moment, not with morning birds in the willows. Yet it felt like one.

  “I’m sorry, Cassia,” Zacharias said quietly, though I knew the watching Sables heard him. “You are not a pack silver. An outsider cannot vouch for a wolf in lockdown. There is no precedent. I must consult elders as to a response.”

  “With all due respect,” I said. “I thought you were responsible for disciplinary terms? At least in Jed—Jedediah’s case right now.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Then you have the authority to make the decisions.”

  Again, he hesitated. “If you were acting silver, if you were even a wolf…” Slowly, gravely, he shook his head. “You cannot understand dangers and complexities of this situation. If Jedediah were to change, and you cannot, there is nothing you could do.”

  He thought I couldn’t handle Jed. Like everyone else around here, he thought Jed a brute, a killer, a great white shark. If you were even a wolf.

  I pressed a hand to my chest against the purple and pink hoodie, then drew out the blueish white glow. As I pulled my hand from my chest, I turned it up to cup the quivering glow in my palm.

  A ripple, a gasp, ran around the crowd, even those farthest away. I felt it in the air more than heard or saw it as I faced Zacharias.

  I spoke as calmly as he had. “I think I can figure out something.”

  Zacharias stepped back, staring at the magic in my hand.

  I continued. “But it doesn’t matter. He won’t change. Not on my watch.” I closed my hand on the light and it vanished.

  Off to my left, Kage spoke, strong and commanding as Peter had been, stepping forward as he did. “Anyway, elder, she is silver. She is in our pack.”

  As I looked at him, Kage met my eyes and did the vow—first two fingers of his left hand to temples and chest, and a nod heavenward.

  I grant my will. I grant my power. Given freely in love to Moon and pack.

  The only times I’d seen a wolf do this to another wolf had been when they faced Diana, their matriarch, their real cataja, and from Zar in quick respect to another true silver yesterday.

  As Kage did it, Jason stepped forward from his bike and did the same.

  I looked around instinctively as a shiver went down my spine.

  Zar and Jed both took a step, lifted their left hands, and, looking into my eyes, performed the silent vow.

  Among wolves now gathered by the bikes stood Andrew as well. He walked up beside the brothers as they moved their hands, met my eyes as I looked at him, and offered the vow.

  My ears were ringing, my eyes burning, and I couldn’t hear the birds anymore, as I again turned to Zacharias.

  His eyes were wide. So were those of the few others I could see beyond him—staring at us, from my pack to me. To a wolf, they looked far more shocked, and more scared, than they had at the magic.

  My chest felt tight. I said nothing. I only faced the elder male and waited.

  After a moment of deathly hush, in which even the birds seemed to hold their breaths, Zacharias said, “I will inform the council.” He looked past me to Jed and Zar, back to my face. “And … good luck. We all hope you find Gabriel.”

  Chapter 26

  No nap. No receiving my bag and moving in with Atarah. No cleaning or meditation. No efforts to commune with the faie. But, much worse than all of this combined, no Gabriel.

  In prime traffic and commotion we took the train into the city, then a bus to the hotel with Oyster cards.

  The place was called The Abyssinian, its doors flanked in eight-foot Egyptian cat statues. Although slightly gaudy inside for my tastes—gold and black, chandeliers, more statues—it was also sleek, elegant, a far posher hotel than I’d ever stayed at in my life. The downtown location near Oxford and Regent Streets also made it ideal for both tourist and business travelers. There was a café out front and a five-star restaurant at the side of the ground floor.

  Plenty of bustle around the place—coming, going, in out, people eating, drinking, meeting up, sitting with their laptops or phones, doormen hailing black cabs. An easy place to look like you belonged. Although being dressed better would have helped. The brothers at least had a habit of wearing black.

  We didn’t want to ask and raise suspicions if we could help it. So we sat in the lobby as if we owned the place, visited the café, wandered outside, then repeated these steps more or less for twelve hours. Always watching the door, always staying in sight.

  I answered emails, including Richard, drank enough lattes to keep an elephant awake, then needed bathroom breaks as a result and generally wasn’t much use in the stakeout. Not that it mattered. I wouldn’t be able to spot our target regardless.

  Same height as Jed, black and curly hair, like them, in between the two brothers when it came to overall build. That was according to Zar and from six years ago. I mentally added handsome, strong-jawed, dark-complexioned, and ripped to the list to stick with family resemblance. However, for all we knew Gabriel had bleached his hair, grown a beard, and would be walking around with a wife and kids. Unlikely, but I remembered that female we’d tracked to a flat and her human family. It was entirely possible Gabriel could walk past his own brothers without being spotted.

  Taking some time with earbuds and nature soundtracks in an armchair in the lobby, I tried scrying for him. One of those helpful/not helpful things. It seemed I could see him—a well-dressed man matching the description—in the lobby, in a luxurious room watching TV, walking through the hotel’s hallways. And … what? We already knew from Jason he’d at least been here, if not still here now. Conformation. But not useful. Also not a clear enough visual to allow me to feel I could also recognize him if I saw him in the flesh.

  By the time the sun was setting, I felt a disturbing combination of dead on my feet along with a hyper buzz to get up and do something. Plus, I felt like a crazy person after having to spend all day with Jed and Zar in London. I had never before properly appreciated how passionately the brothers did not get along. At least it didn’t matter about taking them into the café and still being able to blend in with our manners. Neither would eat anything.

  Both tense and edgy trying to cope with over-stimulation of the city, they didn’t speak much to me, but completely ignored each other—aside from a few scathing looks from Jed if Zar crossed his path, and a slight tendency for Zar to go out of his way to avoid Jed. Unless they chatted while I was on bathroom breaks, the brothers exchanged not one word together all day. Not one.

  Jed was never usually a chatter box. Now it was only, “Back to the café? Want another drink, Cass?” every few hours even from Zar.

  I’d tried at first to ask about Gabriel, what had he been like when they’d last known him, could they hazard a guess as to what he might be doing in a posh London hotel? I’d been answered with a description from Zar to help me watch with them, then monosyllables until I quit. They were so jumpy about London in the middle of a sunny day, it was like reasoning with a dog in a thunder storm.

  I wanted to ask more. What had happened that morning? I thought I understood some of the significance of what they’d done in offering the vow to me. But I had no idea why everyone, including the implacable Zacharias, had seemed not just shocked by my pack granting this to me, but rather … terrified.

  The huge eyes of the young female behind Zar. Everyone moving back, even the likes of Peter, as his gaze darted from Kage and Jason to myself.

  I didn’t ask, and I followed their lead of mostly silence all day. More emails, and I read snatches from a book on the history of London I’d just downloaded, often watching the doors with Jed and Zar.


  We stayed right through dinner, myself getting a sandwich before the café closed, then waiting more long hours.

  At 10:00 p.m., and sure we really had attracted suspicion by then, I had to break the trance and insist it was time we meet up with the rest for another vampire visit. I’d been texting with Isaac and they were just parking a few blocks away.

  We were outside already, watching the door along the sidewalk and out of the way. The sky was indigo, the city alive and vibrant with night life and lights. Double-decker scarlet buses and black cabs dominated the streets. Pedestrians also crowded the sidewalks as they did not at 3:00 a.m.

  Zar blinked at my voice and glanced around. He watched a bus go past as if dazed by the sight.

  “Zar?” I touched his face, close, worried about him. “We’ll come back. We’ll do all we can. Now … it’s time to move on.”

  He nodded uncertainly and cast a last look at the door as if this moment would be his golden ticket.

  I hugged him, pulling his face down against my shoulder. “Let’s go.”

  He nodded again as I stepped back and I turned to Jed.

  Jed still watched. “We’ll stay until you’re all done looking for the vampire and ready to go on. Meet you then.”

  “They’ve noticed us in the hotel, Jed. We can’t stay now.”

  “Someone else could,” Zar said with a bit more energy. “Someone who hasn’t been here. We don’t need all six of us to hunt the vampire.”

  “Come on.” I also hugged Jed, making him jump, but he didn’t shove me away and it finally broke his gaze. “We can’t meet them all out here anyway and look like this is as much of a conspiracy as it is. Does everyone in our pack also know Gabriel?”

  “All besides Isaac,” Zar said.

  They came with me, at last, and we met the other four at a corner of the park.

  Kage gave Zar the bag, then Kage and Jason returned to sit in the lobby.

  The rest of us crossed the street and started north and east. As soon as we passed a busy pub, I went in with Andrew to get the brothers a couple of burgers and basket of chips each. They claimed disinterest, but it had been probably twenty-eight hours since they’d had a bite and I asked if they’d please just have one burger out of the paper bags I returned.