“Where’s Kass?”
Lucius put unnecessary pressure on the wrist. “She’s on a hunt, won’t be back until morning, plenty of time to get you patched up and out of the way.”
“Of course she is, off being your little killer.” Jax whispered and closed his eyes. “Why does her family want her? One of the brothers said power.”
“She’s special, her mother was special. Originally her family wanted her killed, but now I think because of the war, they have realized that she could be an asset to them.” Lucius tugged on the bandage.
Jax gave a lazy smile. “Yeah, she really is special.” His eyes drifted shut as his body told him sleep would help him heal.
“And you’re going to stay away from her.” Lucius reminded him.
Jax opened his eyes. “Yeah, and I’m going to stay away from her. You going to be able to take care of the clan?”
“Yes, as long as Kass listens to me, I can protect her.” He started out of the room. “Be somewhere else come sunrise, Jax.”
She listened to the sound of feet against the concrete as she crouched by the bush, hidden in the shadows. Kass and her panther both agreed that they needed to wait. The woman needed to be a little bit closer before they tore out her throat. Kass wiggled her hind further down. Her tail twitched back and forth as the shadow of the human came closer. Just two more steps. One more step. Kassity pounced and took the screaming human out. The human side tried to hesitate, but her panther counterpart decided it was time to strike and tore out the woman’s throat.
The blood felt warm as it slid down her throat, leaving a burning in her stomach, but it helped calm her panther. Kass looked down at her kill and lapped up the blood around the woman’s neck. Fighting a losing battle, Kass couldn’t control her panther’s thoughts of eating the rest of the human. A scream made her ears twitch and her eyes left her prey. A child stood on the side of the road watching her. She pushed away from the body, her eyes meeting the wide frightened eyes of the little human. The smell of fear filled her senses as her nostrils flared. Her panther wanted to pursue the scared human, but Kass managed to squash that feeling down and run to the alley, using trash cans to help her over a wooden fence at the end and disappear into the night.
Kass stumbled into the mansion, her vision blurry and motions shaking. A familiar smell hit her nose, but she ignored it. She couldn’t believe Jax would come back here, not after he disappeared right after they…she shook her head and forced her door open. The content beast in her entertained the idea of following the scent, but exhaustion won out. Collapsing on the bed she closed her eyes praying for sleep to take her before she thought about her kill. She groaned as she recalled the way that the flesh tore and the blood splattered. Worse of all she remembered the wide, frightened eyes of the male child as he took in the horror. He couldn’t have been more than five. Faster than she thought was possible she was in her bathroom, hunched over the toilet emptying the contents of her stomach. After a while the vomiting turned to dry heaves. Wiping the sweet from her forehead she found her way back to the bed. She curled up and let the silence take her.
Quinn tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair. His three children were standing in front of him, each of them looking guilty. Sarah’s hands were clenched as she tried not to at scratch the silver collar at her neck, but her eyes never left the ground. He called his experiment with her a failure because she acted more like a changed shifter than a born one. Something he hadn’t expected. His sons on the other hand he expected more of. Garrett and Stephan were both nursing wounds from another panther.
“So he mated her.”
“So he says.” Garrett muttered. “He returned the money to us and claims that he’s done.”
Thinking, Quinn drummed his fingers more. “We need her so we can deliver her to The Circle. She is the strongest of our kind.”
Stephan growled. “Well, what do you want us to do? The mercenary has gone soft and Kassity is under Lucius’ protection.”
“We’ll have to go get her ourselves. She knows that we’re after her. She’ll panic and screw up. Especially if she’s lost touch with her panther.”
Garrett’s eyes widened just a touch. “We’re talking about kidnapping Lucius’ prized cat. That’s different than Jaxon coaxing her out.”
“I didn’t expect the mercenary to actually accomplish that. Once The Circle has Kassity we will be protected. Lucius won’t be able to touch us.”
Stephan bounced on the balls of his feet. “So what? We just go in and drag her out of the territory?”
“Silver cage and drugs boys. Just wait for her to fuck up.” Quinn leaned back in his chair. “In the meanwhile, I’ll continue working with Sarah.” He saw his daughter stiffen at his words and he chuckled. “We’ll make a warrior out of you yet.”
Chapter Ten
“Kassity.”
Kass groaned and rolled over, pulling the blanket over her head trying to ignore Lucius’ voice.
“Kassity.” He nudged her in the back with his foot. “Get up.”
“I don’t want to. Late night. Don’t feel good. Go away.” She grumbled from under the blanket. “And I’m still naked.”
He chuckled. “Not like I haven’t seen it before. Now get up.”
She uncovered her head and rolled over to look at him. “What part of ‘I don’t want to’ don’t you get?”
“You are due at work tonight and I need you to start searching for that stone.” He snapped at her. “Now get up.”
She sat up and rubbed her eyes, holding the blanket to her with her elbows. “Okay, I’m up.”
“How did your kill go last night?”
She froze at his words. Her mind flashed back to the boy on the street screaming at her. “It was successful.”
“What made you hesitate in that answer?” He squatted down to look at her. “Don’t lie. Is she dead?”
She blinked at him. “Of course she’s dead. It was just…strange being conscious for it and not having to guess about the kill.”
“Your human emotions didn’t get the best of you then?”
She shook her head, "No, it didn't. I managed to work through it."
"What did it feel like, Kass?"
"Like I was fighting against myself, almost as if I was a new shifter. I had enough control not to go after a bystander." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
Lucius stood, "What do you mean bystander, who saw you?"
She swallowed. "It was a young boy, couldn't have been any older than five. I don't know what he was doing out so late without-" She looked up at him eyes wide. "His mother. I killed his mother in front of him."
"I'm surprised you didn't scent him before you killed her." Lucius pressed his lips together. "Not ideal that he saw her killed. It'll have to be dealt with, I wouldn't have wanted a child to see that."
"You sent me to take away his mother, but you don't want him traumatized by seeing it? What kind of sick fuck are you? The boy is going to be scarred for life no matter if he saw it or not." She held her head down and took deep breaths as the nausea crept up on her. "Fuck, I think I'm going to be sick."
He shook his head. "Seeing something like that happen is different than just being told. Yes, both will harm his mind, but now he's going to forever have the image of a panther taking out his mother burned into his mind."
"Great, let the man hunt begin." She muttered. "One other thing I wanted to talk to you about." Standing she brought the blanket up with her and met his gaze. "I thought I smelled Jax's blood when I came home last night. What happened?"
He shook his head. "Nothing happened, don't worry about it."
"Lucius, that's not fair, what happened? I know I smelt his blood, I can still smell a faint trace of it on you." She snapped. "You expect honesty from me, and yet you won't grant me anything."
He snarled at her. "Because I own you Kass, how easily you forget that."
"You're right, I'm a pet panther, I get that. But you sm
ell of the man you told me that I could mate."
"Don't worry about it. He's alive and that's what should matter. If you run into him you can ask him yourself and he can tell you." He held his hand up when it looked like she was going to protest. "It is not my story to tell, and I wouldn't want to ruin anything he has worked for or accomplished with you."
Kass frowned. What a weird way to word a sentence, what had Jax done? "Okay fine, but you promise me he’s alright?"
"I did not harm him, if that is what you are worried about, and I promise you that he is able to heal from whatever happened. Now you have places to be and people to see. Tegan is in her room resting, I'm afraid she won't be any help, but you might want to start with her."
"She’s not at her apartment? She normally fights tooth and nail to stay there." Kass laughed.
He shook his head. "It's not safe for her to be there right now, not until we know who has messed with her mind and what their intentions were. I can't risk her safety and I hate the fact that I gave into her whim to have a place of her own. I don't care if it's above the bar or not. This is proof that she is not safe anywhere but under my watch."
Kass shook her head. "You know something, she is human, just as I am-kind of, but she deserves to be treated more like one. I know she's been at your side for years, and I know she is something special to you. Note how you make sure that her hair stays white and that her eyes are always covered up like you're hiding her. But seriously, if you want her to actually work with you instead of against you, treat her better." She turned to get dressed.
"If I give her more freedom than she's in more danger, I cannot risk her being taken from me. There are those out there that would do anything for someone like Tegan, and it would ruin everything." He sighed.
The look in his eyes caught Kass’ attention, but she knew better than to mention it. Concern and compassion reflected in his dark eyes as he spoke about Tegan. “She's more than human then." Kass assumed as she dropped the blanket and went to the closet for clothes. Over a bra, she pulled on a tight black shirt, and a loose pair of black pants so that she would be comfortable as she worked at the bar. "You must really be fond of collecting things than. A rare panther, Tegan, what else do you have that you collect?"
“Get going.” He left and let the door slam behind him.
Kass knocked gently on Tegan's door and walked in when she heard a soft, "Come in." She smiled at the sight of the girl sitting in an over-sized chair, reading her book. Her white hair was pulled up in a bun, and her ever-present sunglasses covered her eyes. After the conversation with Lucius Kass wanted to ask Tegan what she was, but refrained.
"Hey, I wanted to talk to you." Kass sat on the ottoman in front of the chair. "About the stone."
Tegan’s hands clenched the book, every muscle in her body went tense. "Sent it away.”
“Yes, I know that. Where did you send it?” Kass tried to move the book out of the way so she could at least see Tegan’s full face.
The woman shook her head. “Sent it away!”
“Okay, so you can’t tell me where.” Kass leaned back and thought for a minute. “Was it a place you knew?”
The shaking of the head slowed, but Tegan lowered her book. “No.”
“Was it to an enemy?”
“No.”
“Was it to an ally?”
“No.”
Kass frowned, “Then where the hell did you send it to?”
“Away.” Tegan pulled the book back up to read. With a sigh Kass stood and paced the large room. In the corner a desk was covered in paper and pens. She went and picked a piece of paper up and grabbed a pen. She gently pulled the book from Tegan’s hand. “We’re supposed to be talking, remember?”
Tegan huffed. “Obviously it isn’t working. Lucius sent you in here because I screwed up and sent the stone away. He wants you to try and force the information out of me, regardless of if it hurts or not.”
Kass hadn’t realized that this could have been painful for Tegan and silently cursed the vampire. “I just want to help.” She slid the paper and pen to Tegan. “You sent it away, and that’s all you can remember with your mind.”
Tegan took the pen and frowned. Having laid her arm against the paper and she took a deep breath while shutting her eyes. Kass smiled. “You sent the stone away, you must have put an address on there.”
“Sent it away,” Tegan’s hand moved, “Sent it away,” another movement, more lines with the pen. “Sent it away!” She shoved the pen and paper away and it went flying to the floor as Tegan cradled her head. “Hurts. Damn this sucks.”
Kass left the pen and paper for the moment and placed her hands over Tegan’s. “It’s okay now. Don’t worry about it.”
Tegan moved her hands away with little grace and glanced at the paper on the floor. “Lucius is pissed at me.”
“Yeah well, I’m not too happy with him right now, so we’re all just a giant pissed off family.” Kass went and gathered the fallen items and looked at it. “But it looks like you gave me an address. I’ll look into it, you rest up and don’t worry about it.” Kass tucked the paper in her pocket before returning the pen back to the desk.
Tegan nodded and picked her book back up. “Thank you. Be careful whoever wanted that stone was powerful.” She shivered. “I don’t want to run into them again.”
“Lucius said that a lot of vampires would take you if they had the chance. Why do you think this guy didn’t?” Kass asked.
“I don’t know. I know he had complete control over me, so he would know why I was valuable. It doesn’t make much sense does it?” Tegan leaned back into her chair and opened her book. “I urge you not to talk about it.”
Kass nodded and headed out the door. Her stomach still churned at the thought of last night and the meal her panther enjoyed. The beast was content for now and Kass could feel it again like a second soul. She still needed to gain complete control again or she could have an incident on her hands where she murdered an innocent. She rubbed her eyes and jumped into the car, heading into town as the moon rose above her.
Jax woke to a swift pain in his ribs, the blow seemed to echo through his body. His eyes shot opened as his hands went straight to the sore spot. He glared up at Lucius. “What the hell?”
“You were supposed to be gone by sun rise.” He crossed his arms and glared down at the cat. “You distracted Kassity from her report to me about her mission. She was more concerned about the smell of your blood.”
Jax rubbed his rib and looked down at his body. “Yeah, well, it took a little longer to heal than I thought. Sorry. Is Kass still here.”
“Nope, and I told you to stay away from her.” Lucius leaned against the wall. "Which is why you were supposed to be out by dawn."
Jax growled, "She get back alright?" His panther needed to know, especially after last night. The brothers would regroup and find another way to her. He couldn’t let that happen.
"None of your concern. Now get up." Lucius nudged him with his foot again. "Don't you have something to worry about? Like how her family is still after her, after you made a half hearted attempt to quit your job. They are still going to expect her delivered to their door step."
"No, they won't, I made it pretty clear that I was done." Jaxon stood up and stretched, testing out where the sore muscles were and what injuries needed to be healed still. "Right. So Kass is working?"
Lucius shook his head. "She's working, but not at either of the clubs, she's doing a special mission for me and that' s all you need to know. You will stay away from her."
"You can't keep us apart." Jax pulled on the torn jeans from the night before. "We're meant to be mated."
Lucius gave a low laugh. "Meant to be mated, of course you think that. She's one of two female panthers alive in the U.S. Fate hasn't mated you, there has been no proof yet."
"Is that why you mauled her after we had sex?" Jax asked as he buttoned his pants.
"No. I was looking for something much more
important, something that would have gotten her family off her back." He snapped. "But it didn't appear so it doesn't matter. You stay away from her or I will tell her exactly what you were doing when you were looking for her, who you work for, and that you planned on giving her over to them."
Jax swallowed, knowing the kind of reaction that she would have to that information. "Fine, you want to play that way, I won't go anywhere near her." He snapped. "But once we find out that we're fated, then you're going to have to deal with it." He walked out and slammed the door to the room. He made his way through the mansion, trying to push off any scent of Kass that he passed.
A girl stood in the doorway, one that he had seen acting as a bartender in Lucius' bar. Her white hair looked too pristine and her eyes were covered as always. "You look like shit."
"Thanks, human, you look prim and proper." He snapped back and moved past her.
Tegan stepped forward as if to stop him, when he hesitated she continued talking. "Kass is with the wolves tonight. She asked Lucius about you before and was denied an answer. I think you are right."
"Do you know everything that Lucius and I talked about?" Maybe she could help him out.
Tegan nodded and then looked down the hall. "Kass has issues that only you can tame, but Lucius is right, she is less likely to trust you if you are working for her family."
"I didn't know what they wanted from her."
"Then you should talk to her about it, before he tells her or she finds out another way.” She smiled at him. "Kass and I used to get along until Lucius started using her against Josh."
"Josh?"
"The vampire that saved her from her family, and used her to gain access to Lucius’ Kiss. Lucius killed Josh a few weeks ago." Tegan turned away like she wasn't talking about killing an innocent person. "Good night, Jaxon, I look forward to seeing you around more."
In the Light of the Moon (Dark War Chronicles) Page 9
