“Eat your fill, my brothers.”
The three surviving wolves from Dean’s protection detail slunk around him. There was a bare pause before they threw themselves at his prone form.
“The rest of you will submit!” MacTavish turned to face the room of quiet onlookers. His supporters turned to watch the gathered pack. First one, then another of Ruri’s packmates went to their knees. Half the pack had submitted before MacTavish’s wolves moved toward them. Raquel, one of Brittney’s close friends in the pack, was still on her feet when Brittney stepped up next to her.
“You will kneel,” Brittney said.
Raquel shook her head, chin raised proudly. Tradition allowed those who chose the time to leave; Raquel was clearly asserting her rights. Ruri was surprised so many of Dean’s pack had chosen to stay, given the way MacTavish had beaten their Alpha. Her heart swelled with gladness that Raquel wasn’t among them.
Brittney slapped Raquel across the face. Blood sprayed from the four deep scratches her claws ripped into her friend.
“Brittney!” Raquel held a hand to her face and stared at Brittney in disbelief. “We’re friends!”
“Kneel or die,” Brittney said, unmoved by her friend’s pleas. She grabbed hold of a hank of Raquel’s hair and yanked her head back.
Something happened to Britt, Ruri thought. That can’t be her. She looked like her lover, but the warm fun-loving wolven was gone as if she’d never existed. Maybe the whole thing was a horrible dream. None of it felt real.
Another MacTavish supporter stepped up next to Raquel. With casual brutality, he closed his teeth over Raquel’s exposed throat and tore it out. Pandemonium erupted in the ballroom. Wolven whirled and made for the exits, while others cowered on their knees, bent in half at the waist, faces pressed almost to the floor.
Ruri howled, her anger and frustration finally given voice. She needed to help. She had to do something. Her wolf demanded it as did she. Not far from the stage, one of MacTavish’s wolves backed a pair of mated wolven into a corner. Mouse and Skippy were no threat to MacTavish. They were the gentlest pair Ruri knew, often stepping in to watch the pack’s few cubs. Skippy stepped between their stalker and his mate. Mouse’s frightened eyes met Ruri’s eyes around Skippy’s shoulder.
“Ruri!” she cried. “Help us!”
Ruri snarled and lunged forward, grabbing the back leg of the nearest wolf and twisting. Her wickedly sharp teeth shredded the skin around his hock. He yipped and whirled around, snapping back with teeth as sharp as hers. She’d been expecting the move and dodged out of the way. Ruri struck and fastened her teeth around his throat. A quick shake of her head and his neck was laid open. Blood fountained and she skipped back.
“Kill her,” MacTavish roared, pointing at her. The two wolves turned away from Dean’s bleeding form and advanced on her. There was so much blood. Even with a wolven’s rapid healing and heightened metabolism, she was certain Dean couldn’t survive the damage that had been done, but she had to give him as much of a chance as she could. Satisfied she had their attention, Ruri whirled on hind legs and hopped down from the stage. By the time she’d gone three steps, she was at a full sprint. The two wolves were right on her tail. Both were males—Francisco and Jamieson—from the smell. Both were solid, if new, members of the pack, or so she’d thought. Their betrayal hurt as badly as anything else she’d seen that afternoon.
She needed to get as many of MacTavish’s wolves to follow her as she could. The others would have the chance to escape while she was being taken care of. The wolven chasing her were big and strong, but she was faster and had no doubt that she could outrun them. As she wove her way through the fracas on the dance floor, she nipped and bit at those who were attacking Dean’s supporters. They joined the chase.
Ruri launched herself shoulder-first at the ballroom’s swinging doors. They gave way beneath her weight and swung back into the path of her pursuers. She glanced over her shoulder to see that the wolves had paused to avoid the doors in their way. She whuffed a little in satisfaction and turned down a long hallway. Her claws scrabbled on the hardwood floor, and she cursed that they’d removed all the carpeting in the place. She was able to catch herself before she went over and bunched her legs under her, heading toward the back of the building.
There was no way she would be able to open the door that led out of the building. To do so, she’d have to shift back to human form and she definitely didn’t have the time for that. There was just one way out in her current form. It was going to hurt, but she had no choice.
Two of the wolves were close enough behind her that she could hear their breathing and occasionally feel the heat of their breath on the back of her legs as one or the other tried to get close enough to hamstring her. Others followed close behind, unable to get past the wolves and close the distance because of the narrow hall. Ruri dug deep and put on an extra burst of speed she didn’t know she had in her.
The hall opened into a brightly lit recreation area littered with exercise equipment. She slowed to dodge around an elliptical machine before vaulting over a treadmill. The far wall was glass with floor-to-ceiling windows. Ruri leaped over a set of barbells and landed on top of a weight bench. Her nails dug into the leather of the bench and she pushed off, leading with her shoulder.
Glass shattered around her, coming down in a crackling rain as she burst through the large pane. Agony bloomed along her body, and she stumbled when she hit the ground, rolling forward in a hail of glass shards. Smaller pains shot through her body as glass sliced cruelly into her skin, but she couldn’t let it slow her down. Riding the crest of adrenaline and pushing the pain down, she surged back to her feet without missing a beat.
The wooded lot behind the old hotel promised shelter and safety. She would lose Jamieson, Francisco and the others in there. Then she would figure out how to take the Alpha’s death out of MacTavish’s hide. Slowly. Very, very slowly. Before this was over, he would suffer.
Her tongue lolled from her mouth in a canine grin that went away as she disappeared under the trees. Wolven still chased after her, but not enough to take the pressure off her people. She’d just abandoned dozens of her pack members to a rabid dog and his followers.
Chapter Four
“How’s the pasta?” Mary Alice looked up from her plate at her younger sister’s amused question. “Wouldn’t it be better with real meatballs?”
Chewing busily on a mouthful of quinoa, Mary Alice swallowed before answering. “It’s great. You should try some.”
Cassidy shuddered dramatically. “No thanks, I’ll stick to real meat.” She attacked the steak on her plate with renewed vigor. She preferred her meat rare. Mary Alice had to suppress her own shiver of disgust at the red liquid seeping out of the hunk of meat. Her sister still gave her a hard time for going vegetarian, though it was going on five years now. How could she tell Cassidy she’d had no choice?
If Cassidy knew that her work involved hunting down those who viewed humans as food, she might think differently about the meat on her plate, too. Confronting beings higher on the food chain than she had forced her to take a long, hard look at her own eating habits. For all the energy that went into farming meat animals, they could have fed half the people starving in Africa. Not to mention the inhumane practices of factory farming. When she thought about it closely, she was always vaguely ashamed about humanity’s treatment of the animals that sustained them.
“Leave your sister alone,” the table’s third occupant said to Cassidy, gesturing with the meatball at the end of her fork. “You could stand to put a little thought into what you eat. You won’t have that figure forever, you know.”
“Mom!” The sisters stared aghast at their mother.
“I didn’t go vegetarian because I’m worried about my figure!” Mary Alice said for what felt like the thousandth time.
“What are you saying about my figure?” Cassidy demanded on top of her.
“Girls, don’t yell at your mother.” Sophia Nola
n popped the meatball in her mouth and eyed them both critically as she chewed and swallowed. “If you didn’t stop eating meat because of your looks, then why did you bother? And you look lovely, Cassidy, dear. But you won’t always if you keep tucking it away like that.” Cassidy sat straight up in her chair and opened her mouth to reply. When Sophia showed no sign of letting her get a word in edgewise, she shut it again. “I’m only telling the truth. After all, look at me.” She put a hand to her temple before gesturing down to include the rest of her body.
It was all a play for compliments and Mary Alice knew it. She was pretty sure Cassidy knew it as well. Their mother looked fantastic for being just south of fifty. Many people mistook her for being at least ten years younger than she was, and not only salesmen. There wasn’t a hair out of place on her head and not a gray hair to be found either. Sophia didn’t have a whole lot of discretionary income. Their father’s pension kept her in the rent-controlled New York apartment where Mary Alice and Cassidy had grown up, though the neighborhood had improved by leaps and bounds. Her work as a translator and workplace language trainer barely kept the rest of her expenses covered, but somehow she managed to get her hair done. Heaven forbid she should look her age.
“You look great, Mom.” Mary Alice could hear the eye-roll in her sister’s voice, though there was no sign of it on her face. “Dad was a lucky guy. I’m sure you have to beat the guys off with a stick.”
“God rest his soul,” Sophia said as she always did when anyone mentioned their father. “I have no interest in any other man.”
“Too bad.” Cassidy was quiet enough that only Mary Alice sitting next to her could hear. She only smiled sweetly at their mother’s raised eyebrow and snuck a look over at Mary Alice.
Wondering what her sister was up to but refusing to give her the satisfaction of asking, Mary Alice wound a long strand of pasta around her fork and popped it in her mouth. The flavor of tomato and herbs exploded against her tongue and she closed her eyes, savoring it closely. Even though it had already been a week since she’d almost been taken out by her target, food still tasted really damn good. It was amazing what a brush with death could do to increase your appreciation of the simpler things in life.
“So did you break things off with that Ann chick who was stalking you?” Cassidy’s eyes glittered as she leaned forward to get the latest piece of gossip from her sister.
Mary Alice sighed. It had been a mistake to tell Cassidy about the woman, but it was hard not to tell her things. The fact that she concealed major parts of her life from her only remaining family members was hard enough. There was no way she could share a hard day at work with them, so when there was something she could tell her family, she usually did.
“No, I just changed my number.” She felt a little ashamed for her cowardice, but it was one confrontation she didn’t have to get into.
Cassidy rolled her eyes. “I wondered if that was why you were sending me yet another number change.” She pointed her fork at Mary Alice for emphasis. “You really need to tell her. She found you once. What’s to say she won’t do it again?”
“Oh come on, Cass!” Her sister had a point, though she wasn’t going to admit it. “I don’t like hurting people. And besides, we had a good time while it lasted, but it was never going to be long term.”
That Ann had been able to track her down still bothered her. She’d gone down to the gallery that showed her work in a fit of righteous rage which had dissipated quickly when she found out it was an intern who’d been talked into giving out the number. The poor young man felt terrible about it, and his dismay had been obvious as he stuttered and fell over himself trying to explain what had happened to Mary Alice and the gallery owner. While Missy had been prepared to fire him over the error, Mary Alice had relented. Whatever sob story Ann had given the poor guy must have been very convincing.
“If you don’t settle down soon, I’m never going to get grandchildren,” their mother said.
“I don’t think kids are in the cards for me anyway, Mom.”
It was an old argument, one she barely had to devote any energy to. Children would be a huge mistake in her line of work. Then there was her complete lack of anything resembling maternal instinct. If Mary Alice had kids, it would definitely be to their detriment. Some people weren’t meant to reproduce, and she was just glad she hadn’t found that fact out the hard way. Of course, there was no telling if she even could have kids. With whatever the government scientists had done to augment her, she had no idea how messed up her genes were.
“They never will be if you don’t stop bouncing from one woman to the next,” Sophia said. “You’d been out with her a few times, right? I thought maybe you two had something going. How long had it been since the last one? Six months? A year? You’re such a pretty girl.” She reached over and cupped the edge of Mary Alice’s jaw. “If you wore even a little bit of makeup, you’d have women crawling all over you. And then I’d have some grandchildren.”
Mary Alice shot Cassidy a glare. She hadn’t told their mother any details about Ann or anybody else she’d dated. The only way Sophia would know anything was because her sister had narked on her.
“I just think it’s kind of shitty.” The offhanded tone of Cassidy’s voice contrasted sharply with her words, and Mary Alice bridled slightly.
“Hey, who’s the big sister here?” She sat up straight and mock-glared at her younger sister. “I’m the one who’s supposed to give you crap for your poor choices, not the other way around. So spill, what questionable decisions have you made lately?”
“What makes you think I’ve made any questionable decisions?” Cassidy carved another strip off her steak and glanced at Mary Alice from the corner of her eye.
“Wait just a minute!” Her sister was being a little too coy. “You have done something. That’s why you’re giving me crap about Ann.”
“No.” Cassidy looked back down at her plate. “Of course not.”
A waiter appeared out of nowhere before Mary Alice could get to the bottom of her sister’s evasions.
“More wine, ladies?” He held up the bottle of red from which they’d already each had a glass. Cassidy grabbed her glass and polished off the last little bit at the bottom. Their mother nodded gravely.
“Yes, please,” she said.
Mary Alice didn’t say anything, instead holding her hand over her glass when he moved to pour her another. She drank very little, preferring not to have her senses or reflexes dulled. The weekly meals she shared with her sister were the only exceptions to her rule. A number of the members of her old unit had drinking problems and she didn’t want to follow them into the bottle.
The waiter left and Sophia looked over her raised wineglass at Cassidy. “Don’t think he saved you on this one. What have you been up to? You’re avoiding your sister’s questions a little too well.”
“It’s not that bad really, Mom. I promise.” Despite her reassuring words, Cassidy took a deep drink of wine before placing the glass on the table. “I changed my major.”
“Cass, really?” Mary Alice slumped back in the booth. “You said you were going to graduate next spring.”
“I know, I know. But I just wasn’t feeling it.”
“This is the third time you’ve changed your major. You can’t keep doing this. The money we got from the settlement won’t last forever.”
Part of the settlement from their father’s car accident had gone to pay for Cassidy’s college. The money was already gone, but her family didn’t know that. Mary Alice was paying for Cassidy’s classes using her GI Bill money. Because of the nature of her assignment, Mary Alice was never going to use the money herself. Her superiors had seen fit to make an exception and allowed her to apply the funds to her sister’s tuition, but even that wouldn’t last forever. It was too bad Cassidy seemed determined never to graduate.
“I won’t change it again, I promise. I think this is actually what I’m meant to be doing.”
“What is? W
hat’s your major now?”
“Finance.”
Dumbfounded, Mary Alice stared at her sister. She’d enrolled at Northwestern University to pursue a degree in French literature and then had abruptly switched to fashion design. Now she was going for a degree in finance?
“Don’t just stare at me,” Cassidy said, her voice huffy. “Say something.” An edge of warning lay beneath her words and Mary Alice knew better than to push her too hard. She kept her mouth firmly shut instead.
“Is that what you want to do?” Sophia asked. Her voice was carefully neutral, not condemning Cassidy’s decision but not approving it either.
“It is.” Cassidy’s face lit up with excitement. “It’s really interesting, and there’s a chance for me to make some real money.”
“If it’s just about the money, you don’t need to worry,” Mary Alice said. “Things aren’t that bad.” They weren’t yet, and she could always put the squeeze on her superiors. They wanted to keep her happy, and they couldn’t afford to lose her. There were only so many of her compatriots left. The supranormal problem couldn’t be properly handled by ordinary humans, not if they wanted to keep the public in the dark. If the voters found out what their government was conspiring to keep from them, a lot of legislators would be out of a job.
“Mom, it’s exciting. So far, I really like my classes. All my core course credits will transfer, so I’m only pushing back graduation by three semesters. If I take courses this summer, I can graduate in December next year.”
“If you say so,” Sophia said. “You know there are lots of jobs in finance back home. You could move back after graduation.”
Cassidy shrugged. “There are a lot of jobs here, too. I’ll have to see what my options are, but there are a hell, I mean heck, of a lot more jobs in finance than in French or fashion.”
She seemed genuinely enthusiastic, and Mary Alice forced herself to relax. “If it’ll make you happy, then I’m happy.”
Five Moons Rising Page 4
