September Moon

by Trina M. Lee

  “Yeah, or that.” Might as well be honest. “Kale’s not exactly the most mentally stable person I know. Anything could set him off. If he finds out about Jenner…” I trailed off, unable to finish that thought.

  Arys’s jaw clenched, and he spoke through gritted teeth. “You don’t belong to Kale.”

  “No, but he belongs to me in the same twisted way that Jenner does. I have enough shit to deal with now, Arys.”

  “Nobody belongs to you like Sinclair does,” Arys repeated, a claim I’d heard before and still hated, his tone harsh and angry. “He’s dangerous, and you need to stay away from him. I love you, sweet wolf, but it’s getting harder and harder to keep myself from getting rid of him altogether.”

  My temper went from simmer to boiling in two seconds flat. “Don’t you fucking dare. You got to call the shots in Vegas. Your city. Your business. This is my city, Arys, and Kale is mine. Back off.”

  I loved Arys in ways I couldn’t begin to describe. And at times, I loathed him just as much. It was the clash of light and dark, the constant conflict we would always face. Unless our bond was destroyed. Upon my death the darkness would claim me; the balance would shift. I didn’t really know what that meant for us. I was scared to find out.

  I held up my hand. “I don’t want to fight with you.” I touched his face, needing to absolve the tension between us. “Let’s talk later. It’s ruining the reunion bliss.”

  “Can we talk after we screw?” Arys’s wicked laughter sent a rush of heat to my loins. He pressed a kiss into my palm before teasingly dragging a fang across my sensitive skin.

  “Whatever you want, baby.” I laughed. “But seriously, can you get Jenner out of here? I don’t want any vampire drama.”

  Me and my big mouth. To accompany my words, Kale walked through the door. Right on cue. Shit.

  Chapter Seven

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered beneath my breath. There was no disguising the sudden increase in my heart rate.

  Kale didn’t pause or hesitate. He strode right over to me, ignoring Arys like he wasn’t even there.

  “Have you talked to Jez recently?” Kale asked though his gaze was quickly drawn to the newcomer among us.

  He stared at Jenner, analyzing him with a look. When Jenner suddenly looked our way, I knew Kale had felt him out. I held my breath, wondering if Kale could sense Jenner’s tie to me. God, I hoped not.

  “I’ve been calling Jez all night. She’s not answering. Why? What’s up?” Did I sound nervous? I must have reeked of fear, but having Kale and Arys in such close proximity was nerve wracking.

  “She was supposed to meet me over an hour ago. She’s not answering for me either.” Kale managed to drag his gaze back to me. He nodded toward Jenner. “Who’s your friend?”

  “He’s not my friend. He’s one of Harley’s vampires. From Vegas.” I cleared my throat and did my best to maintain eye contact. “Anyway, it’s not like Jez to bail. Do you think something is wrong?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me. I’ve been calling your phone.”

  I dug through my shoulder bag to find my phone buried in the bottom. There were several missed calls from Kale but still no return call or text from Jez. That wasn’t like her.

  “Sorry. I didn’t hear it. We should probably look for her.”

  “We?” Arys interrupted, unable to stay quiet any longer. “You’re not going off with him.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “Really? Jez could be in trouble, and you want to start round two already? Give me a break, Arys.”

  The two vampires exchanged a dark look. I had to give them some credit. They had done a good job of avoiding a confrontation since their last one. I had no desire to witness another.

  “Kale can look for Jez without you,” Arys insisted. “You and I need to talk. We should head home.”

  “You take Jenner home. I’ll meet you later. Jez has been on a reckless streak, and I’m afraid it’s catching up to her.” I was prepared to stand my ground. Jez needed me.

  Arys shook his head. He had a determined set to his jaw. “I’m not letting you go anywhere alone with him.”

  “What are you so afraid of, Arys?” Kale asked, a challenge in his words. “I’m not the one destined to kill her. She’s safer with me than she is with you.”

  Arys didn’t hold back. He threw a punch that knocked Kale back a few steps. I gasped and covered my mouth in shock, expecting the worst.

  Kale merely chuckled and rubbed his jaw. The bastard was definitely crazy. I didn’t trust him, not for a moment. But we both loved Jez, and we had to find her.

  “Arys, keep your hands to yourself,” I said, stepping between them. “Kale, you shut up. All that matters right now is that Jez is ok. Until I know that, I don’t give a damn about anything else.”

  Almost as if he knew it was the last thing I needed, Jenner chose that moment to saunter over. I did my best to shoot him down with a dirty look. He looked right through me.

  His frozen gaze slid from Arys to Kale, then to me. There was a sliminess to his actions that struck me as snake-like. What was this bastard up to?

  “Is there a problem?” Jenner asked. “Anything I can help with? I am here to serve my queen after all.”

  The sarcastic venom that dripped from his words brought forth a dark part of me. I was immediately pissed. Before I could tell him off, he grabbed my hand so the power flashed between us.

  My power recognized him instantly as mine. It linked us, burning with the heady rush of our bloodline. I turned quickly to look at him, finding a devilish smirk plastered on his face.

  The shock and disgust on Kale’s face said it all. Jenner, ever the showman, was putting on this little display for Kale’s benefit. Evidently Arys had been sharing some of our personal business while he was away.

  I jerked my hand away, and with a snap of my fingers, I flung Jenner across the room. He landed on one of my new tables and rolled onto the floor. Kale spun on a heel and headed for the door.

  “Get Jenner out of my club,” I snarled at Arys. “I don’t know what kind of crap the two of you are trying to pull, but I don’t need it. Tell Shaz to catch a ride home with you. I’m going to look for Jez.”

  Arys caught my arm, stopping me from following Kale. “I didn’t know he was going to do that. I’m sorry.”

  “You told him about Kale. That’s none of his damn business. Is Jenner just here to make my final days miserable?”

  “No, I promise you, he’s not. We need him.”

  I pulled away, and this time Arys let me go. I cast an angry glare Jenner’s way. “I don’t need him. I have more than enough haters in this city already. Until he can prove useful, I don’t want to see him.”

  “I’ll be at your place when you get home. We need to talk,” Arys called after me as I sprinted for the exit.

  I ran through the parking lot, making a beeline for Kale’s car. The honk of a horn startled me as a car screeched to a stop to avoid hitting me. I waved in apology and continued on.

  “Kale, wait,” I shouted. “I’m coming with you.”

  He paused at his car and pulled keys from a pocket. “Don’t bother. I can find her on my own.”

  “She’s our friend and our partner. I’m coming with you,” I insisted, stepping in front of the door before he could slide the key in.

  Kale stepped back to avoid touching me. I took the opportunity to swipe the keys from his hand.

  “Alexa, cut it out. Go back inside.”

  “It’s not how Jenner made it look. He’s not quite my biggest fan. Please, let me explain.”

  “So you’ve enslaved another vampire. What’s to explain?” He grabbed for the keys, but I deftly avoided his grab.

  “It isn’t like that. Jenner made a lot of trouble for us in Las Vegas. Binding him to me was Arys’s way of punishing him for that. He’s only here to help. Then he goes back.” I unlocked the car door and slid across the driver’s seat to the passenger side. “Get in
. Jez needs us.”

  Kale stood there looking conflicted. Finally he uttered a curse and got into the car. I handed over the keys, which he took carefully so our hands wouldn’t touch.

  It had been quite some time since I’d been in Kale’s car. It smelled like him. Leather and subtle cologne brought forth a flood of memories. I took a deep breath and stifled a sigh.

  “You’re taking a big risk by being so close, you know,” he said. After starting the engine, Kale eased out of his parking spot. If he was hoping I would change my mind and jump out, he was going to be disappointed.

  “Well, you’re not the one who’s going to kill me, remember? So what’s the problem? Afraid you’ll regret what you said last night?”

  Kale slid a sidelong glance my way. His blue and brown eyes glittered with a mischievous light, one I recognized from every tense encounter we’d ever had. “I meant every word. It’s better for both of us if we keep our distance. You can’t argue that, and you know it.” He maneuvered the Camaro into traffic, heading south toward Jez’s side of the city.

  His attention was on the road, allowing me a moment to enjoy looking at him. Kale held himself with the self-assurance of one who had survived many centuries. He was poised, regal in a way, and undeniably handsome.

  “I miss you, Kale,” I said before I could decide not to. “I miss what we used to have. Our friendship. We made a great team.”

  When he didn’t respond right away, I dug my phone out and tried Jez again. No use. My next call was to Juliet who I begged to help me out with a trace on Jez’s phone. She promised to do what she could and call me back if she found anything.

  We left the downtown core bound for Jez’s trendy neighborhood. Her behavior had been wild lately. Grief was a bitch.

  “I miss you, too.” Kale’s admittance was uttered with bitterness. “More than you’ll ever really know.”

  I wanted to insist we could get our friendship back. I didn’t though, because it would be a lie. Even as I tried to deny it, I was painfully aware of the dangers of our proximity.

  “Ok, so what’s the plan?” I asked, redirecting the conversation. If I could get him talking about something other than us, maybe we would both relax.

  “I guess we start at Jez’s apartment. Hopefully your sister can trace her phone. It’s not like Jez to skip out on a hunt. Whatever she’s up to, it can’t be good.”

  I nodded, already fearing the worst. “She’s on a mission to dull the pain. That never ends well for anyone. It doesn’t work.”

  Kale laughed, a scornful sound. “No, but it sure feels good to try.”

  “Yeah, I know.” So much for keeping the topic off of us.

  We fell quiet, but it was awkward and strained. The uneasy conversation had been less obvious.

  “So tell me about Jenner,” Kale said, regarding me with a sly smile. “What could he have done to warrant such a punishment?”

  It bothered me to hear him refer to being bound to me as a punishment even though I’d said it myself. It had been punishment for Jenner as well as a way of keeping him loyal to his bloodline. But that had never been my intention when I made Kale mine.

  “Really? You want to talk about this?” With a raised brow I gave him a critical once over. He motioned for me to continue. “Ok, fine. Jenner is the star of his own show. He screws and bleeds victims on stage in front of an audience. When Arys lost the poker game they played, Jenner made us take the stage. He wanted to watch us together. So we turned the tables on him and made him part of the act.”

  Kale’s hands tightened visibly on the steering wheel. His expression never changed. His attention was on the road. Yet the telltale vibe of jealous anger seeping from him spoke loud and clear.

  I swallowed hard and added, “Nothing happened with Jenner. I manipulated him into taking my blood. We didn’t…it wasn’t physical.”

  The quiet that fell was nerve wracking. I wished that he would say something, anything. His eerie silence was freaking me out.

  “So you mind-fucked him,” he said at last. “And now he’s yours. He’s going to crave you like a drug that never leaves his system, and he’ll never find relief. Definitely a hell of a good way to torture a guy.”

  I knew what he was doing. Still, it wasn’t in my nature to keep my mouth shut when being judged. “He had it coming, and I’m not sorry,” I spat the words with more force than necessary. “But you, Kale, I will never stop being sorry for what I did to you.”

  We stopped at a red light, and our eyes met. I willed him to see the truth. Hurting him had never been my intent. The hardness in him felt foreign. The walls he had formed between us were built from pain, betrayal, and love. A deadly combination.

  The rest of the drive to Jez’s was spent with only the sound of the radio to fill the void. I stared out the window, watching the city streets fly by. As we passed restaurants and bars filled with humans going about their lives in blissful ignorance, I felt a longing I hadn’t known in a very long time.

  The commercial area gave way to residential. We pulled up in front of Jez’s building to find the windows of her second floor apartment dark. Because of the underground parking, we couldn’t know for sure if she was there.

  “It doesn’t look like she’s home,” I commented, refusing to go about this night in strained silence. “You said she was supposed to meet you? Could she have run into some kind of trouble on the way?”

  “We were supposed to hunt a new vampire with a taste for kids. She was eager to tag him. I can’t imagine what would keep her from doing that.”

  We got out of the car and entered the lobby. After pressing the buzzer and receiving no response, I manipulated the door lock with little effort, and we were inside.

  “You’ve gotten so good at those little things. I bet you can pull off some pretty impressive shit now.” Kale’s observation was accompanied by a smirk.

  “Let’s hope so,” I quipped. “I have a feeling I might have to in the not so distant future.”

  I paused to allow him to ascend the stairs first. I knew better than to allow Kale at my back. He swept by me with a knowing look and a snicker.

  Jez wasn’t home. Standing outside her apartment door, I could feel the absence of her lively Were essence.

  “What now?” I asked. My phone rang as Juliet came through for me. She read an address to me that sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. “Thank you, Juliet. I appreciate your help. Don’t tell Briggs, or he’ll think I owe you guys another favor.”

  “Little sister isn’t so bad after all,” Kale said after I’d hung up. “Good to know.”

  I typed the address into the map on my phone. It was The Spirit Room, a rock bar I’d been to a time or two. It wasn’t a place I knew Jez to go. What could be going on there that would keep her from meeting Kale or answering her phone?

  “I know this place,” I said, showing Kale the map. “I went there with Brogan to find Gabriel the night Falon swiped him and took him to Shya. Can’t imagine why Jez would be there.”

  “Well, let’s go get her.”

  The drive to The Spirit Room wasn’t nearly as awkward. Now we had a purpose, a goal that united us once again as a team regardless of our personal issues.

  My mind raced, concocting a series of possible scenarios we might encounter. None of them were good. I feared that Jez’s heartbreak was driving her into a place that might not be so easy to come back from.

  “Is this the place?” Kale slowed the car down as we approached the rock bar.

  A group of black leather-clad guys and girls stood outside, smoking cigarettes and marijuana. Loud music poured out the front entry onto the street. Jez’s golden locks were not visible in the small crowd.

  “Yeah, this is it.”

  We parked across the street and surveyed the building for a few minutes. I didn’t see Jez’s Jeep anywhere.

  “Alright, let’s go find our leopard.” Kale reached for the door handle, and I stopped him with a hand on his arm
.

  “Remember, this place is primarily human. We have to blend in. No vamping out.”

  My warning was met with an eye roll. Kale shoved the car door open and got out. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m the only one with control issues.”

  He slammed the door before I could snark back at him. I followed, pausing to ensure my dagger was hidden by my jacket. Then we crossed the street and slipped inside the busy nightclub. Kale’s comment ate at me. I had lost control in The Spirit Room the last time I’d come here. Maybe I was the weaker link here.

  The club was dimly lit and smelled mostly like the fog from a fog machine. Waitresses hurried about with trays piled with drinks while a live band rocked the stage. The place was packed.

  I scanned the busy bar for Jez. “Do you see her?” I shouted over the music.

  Kale shook his head, his gaze on a group of women clustered around a table. I recognized them as the ladies from Crimson Sin, the werewolf led band that regularly played The Wicked Kiss.

  “Let’s ask the werewolf. She’s the only Were I see, other than you.” Kale leaned in close to be heard. His sudden nearness sent a small adrenaline shot through me.

  “You go ahead,” I said. “I’m going to check the ladies room and take a look around.”

  I didn’t wait for a reply. Putting distance between us before he picked up on my nerves was essential. I couldn’t help but be jumpy around him. After all, he had tried to kill me.

  Kale approached the Crimson Sin girls while I ducked into the ladies room. As I’d suspected, there was no sign of Jez.

  When I emerged, I almost collided with Gabriel. The tall, lanky Goth kid held his hands up to avoid touching me. His eyes were wide with surprise, but the expression quickly faded, replaced with one of wary scrutiny.

  “Geez, Gabriel, why don’t you just wear gloves? Wouldn’t that make your life easier?”

  “What are you doing here, Alexa?” He was uneasy, holding himself as if he were about to run.

  “Settle down.” I took a moment to enjoy his discomfort. “I’m not here for you. I’m looking for my friend, Jez. The leopard. Have you seen her?”