Moonstruck (Crossbreed Series Book 7)

by Dannika Dark

  Even now as she sat before Niko, a man she considered a friend, she felt intimidated by his power and knowledge. She always had.

  “Do you hate me?” Gem’s voice quavered as she reached out and held his wrist.

  Niko immediately loosened her grip and held her hand between his. “No, braveheart. You did what you thought was right, and for that, there is no fault. My sensei taught me an important lesson: choices are not about results; they’re about intentions. Perhaps my choices worked for a long time, but now I can no longer avoid making different ones. My intention has always been to protect the book, but if it comes at the cost of your life or someone else’s, I have failed.”

  She stood up and tugged on his arm. “Well, the first thing we’re going to do is get that bracelet of doom off your ankle. Cyrus is making good on that promise.”

  Niko rose to his feet. He was naturally more than a half a foot taller than her, but Gem’s shoes gave her extra height.

  “What’s your plan?” he inquired.

  Gem liked that Niko trusted her even if she didn’t have all the answers. “My plan is to convince Cyrus that he needs me. The more time I can spend with that book, the better.”

  “Gem, you should go. If there’s an opportunity for you to leave—”

  “Then I would be a fool to take it. I’m not leaving you here, not with that insidious monster.” She waved her hand in front of his face. “Niko, can you see my light?”

  He shook his head. “My world is dark again. Even in an empty room, I’ve always been able to see my own energy. Stones and fire give off light. The stars and moon shine. But now I’m alone in the dark.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. If Cyrus didn’t make good on his promise to remove the ankle cuff, Gem would make his life a living hell. “How many are still out there, Niko? Who’s the threat?”

  “Kallisto.”

  Only one. As long as the others remained here, she would only have to worry about the one. “Raven’s father and all his Shifter friends are guarding the mansion. I don’t see how one man could get past all those wolves, and even if he did, there are so many rooms in the mansion to hide in. Switch is keeping a close watch on Hunter. This Kallisto person wouldn’t act without permission, would he?”

  “Cyrus speaks with him every three hours. Knowing Cyrus, if Kallisto doesn’t hear from him, he’ll execute whatever order he was given.”

  Gem seethed at the idea. “Even if Cyrus is dead? He’ll be free to do what he wants. Why would he have any desire to remain loyal?”

  “They were once Tengrists but did away with religion when Cyrus became their god. That’s what an evil genius does. He doesn’t just become a leader; he becomes a deity over his followers until they no longer question him or allow anything external to influence them. They doubt everyone’s word but that of their leader. That’s why Plato follows him even in death. They weren’t always like this, but I recognized the turning point. And when Cyrus discovered the power in this book, I knew my only choice was to steal it. You’ve given him more than a book, Gem. You’ve given him true power.”

  “Power that I promise he’ll never understand how to use,” she said firmly. “We just have to figure out a way to find Kallisto. That’s the only wild card.”

  “And if we cannot?”

  Gem shifted her stance and gripped the cuffs of her black sweater. “Then I guess we have to figure out a way to outsmart him.”

  Niko drew closer. “You’re a young Mage full of optimism, but before you make this choice, I want you to consider what’s at stake. You could die. Your immortal life will end along with your knowledge, and he will cast you into the fire without a second thought. This isn’t your battle to fight. You can walk away, and Keystone will go on without me. I might find a way out of this, or I might not, but this is my burden to bear. Gem, you could die,” he said, his voice cracking.

  Gem’s heart clenched when she felt the raw emotion in Niko’s tone. She had never known the feeling of someone caring about her. Even her own Creator had taught her that death was inevitable for most, so it was better to avoid emotional attachment. Gem had broken that rule with Hooper, and to some degree, she had allowed herself to care for Keystone. Enough that she was willing to die for them.

  Gem sprang into his arms and hugged him tight even though he barely touched her back. “Oh, Niko. Don’t you see? Keystone is the only family I’ll ever have, and I’ll never leave you behind. Never. If that means we die together, then at least we won’t be alone.”

  “Are you sure about this? There’s no going back.”

  She rested her head on his chest. “I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life. I don’t want to die, but I also don’t want to live if it means someone else dying in my place.”

  He cradled her head in his hands. “As you wish, little flower. As you wish.”

  Chapter 27

  Shepherd walked ahead of me and bent a branch, which thwacked me in the face when it snapped back.

  “Thanks for that,” I grumbled.

  It had been a long hike, and my boots were getting toasty. The temperature was easily in the sixties, so the kids had taken off their jackets and tied them around their waists. My jacket was weighing down my pack, and I started pondering the worth of a well-packed bag. Viktor was a smart man, and this test had taught me a valuable lesson. Next time we had to pack for a mystery trip, I’d leave behind the heavy leather and invest in a good pair of thermals and a windbreaker.

  “How much longer?” Eve whined.

  “Who wants gum?” Shepherd reached in his pocket and flourished a pack of mint gum.

  “Ooh, me! Me!” Eve turned around and cupped her hands while Shepherd gave her a piece.

  I chuckled and nudged Christian. “He’s good at diversion. My dad used to do stuff like that.”

  Christian propped his foot on a rock, his sunglasses shading his sensitive eyes. “I figured your da gave you everything you ever asked for.”

  “Dads who love you don’t do that.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because kids don’t always know what’s best for them.”

  “Aye, but parents do?”

  I gripped the shoulder straps of my backpack. “Did your father give you everything you ever asked for?”

  Christian ran a hand through his scruffy hair, which hadn’t seen a comb in days. “The only thing my da ever gave me was a pickaxe, a plow, and callused hands.”

  Eve tossed her wrapper on the ground, and I caught Christian staring at the shiny foil. The bright sun was clearly agitating Christian, because his temper was as short as my list of past boyfriends. I once had my eyes dilated for a vision test, but that wasn’t anywhere near as uncomfortable as it must have been for a Vampire in daylight.

  “Good thing you never married,” I remarked, still staring at the gum wrapper.

  “And why is that?”

  “I’m imagining what you would do if everyone started throwing rice or confetti.”

  “It doesn’t bother me.”

  A gust of wind blew the wrapper.

  I smiled. “Is that so?”

  Christian glanced down at the buttons on his Henley and did them all up as if he weren’t bothered by the sound of that paper tumbling through the woods. “I’m only annoyed by the inconsideration for others.”

  “Good thing nobody’s out here to notice.”

  It had been an uneventful morning with no sign of the last remaining lion. We had walked a good seven hours without incident, but the journey was arduous and the hills steep.

  I wiped my brow and searched the woods. “I feel bad for leaving Blue.”

  Christian looked over his shoulder. “I fear that Blue’s in more danger than we are. His brothers are dead, so if he wants revenge, he’ll go for the weakest in our group. With his family gone, he doesn’t have use for the children. General was their leader.”

  “Do me a favor, and never be the one who gives our team a pep talk. You suck at it.” />
  “I’m only calling it like I see it.”

  I glanced up the hill, relieved that it leveled out. “We better catch up.”

  As we headed toward the incline, Christian fell back a step. “I need to water the flowers.”

  I chortled. “Nice try, Vamp, but I don’t think I’ve seen you drink any water since we left the city.”

  “Nature calls!” he said, hurrying into the woods.

  “I hope you never find it!” I yelled back, tickled to death that he couldn’t let that tiny wrapper go.

  Christian would walk by trash in the street and didn’t go around cleaning everything up. But it was a different story when he actually saw someone tossing litter on the ground. That was a button pusher for him.

  I guess everyone has their thing.

  Eve shrieked, and I hauled ass up the steep hill until I reached the top.

  With my dagger in hand, I closed in on the group and scoured the area for the lion.

  Claude stood by a large tree with Eve sandwiched between him and the trunk. Her eyes darted around, but Claude had her head in a protective grasp.

  Viktor stood behind a mossy tree, his gun drawn and aimed at the woods on the left. When I spotted Shepherd dragging Adam’s unconscious body behind a thicket of bushes, I flashed to Viktor’s tree.

  “What happened?” I peered back at Shepherd, wondering why the kid wasn’t bleeding.

  Viktor fired his gun twice and shifted before the handgun even hit the ground. When his wolf took off, I picked up the gun and bolted toward the bushes to find Shepherd. There was a wall of earth on one side, and he had the kid tucked safely against it.

  “What the hell’s going on?”

  Shepherd’s hands were amazingly steady as he pulled a small bottle of liquid from his bag. “He has a motherfucking blowgun.”

  I crawled over Adam and put my finger on his pulse. “He’s still alive.”

  “Not for long. Not unless I can figure out what he used for poison.” Shepherd dropped a slim bamboo stick into the bottle and swirled it. The cotton-wrapped tip still had Adam’s blood on it, and it mixed with the liquid. Shepherd set down the bottle and unfolded a leather flap with numerous small instruments inside. He opened two separate pockets, each containing a test strip.

  “What is that?”

  “I need to find out if the poison is plant or animal based.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I only have two antidotes, and if I give him the wrong one, he’ll die.” He handed me two vials, one with a red label and the other a green. “Here, hold these.”

  Shepherd pulled out the bamboo dart and dabbed the end onto each test strip. Then he glanced at his watch and wiped beads of sweat off his brow.

  “Why don’t I suck out the poison?” I suggested.

  “Be my guest, but I don’t have enough antidotes for everyone.” He stared at those test strips as if they were going to turn into unicorns. “Humans don’t have anything like this. When I worked in the hospital, they would run elaborate blood work to find toxins.”

  “Where did you learn this?”

  “Maggie. She knew everything about human genetics and biology. Breed Relics have unique antidotes similar to these, but they only work on Breed. Maggie developed something that would work on humans, but she didn’t have the capability to create a universal antidote. It’s based on animal and plant protein or something like that. You don’t have to add saline. All I need is a vein.”

  “Don’t you need to tie off his arm?”

  “I’ve got a tool.”

  While both strips were tinged red, one was beginning to change color.

  Shepherd had the syringe in one hand, and when he saw the strip turning, he reached for the red vial in my hand and extracted the medicine. With haste, he gripped Adam’s arm and held a small plastic device over it. A laser illuminated his skin.

  “You got good veins, kid.” Shepherd slid the needle in and pressed the plunger.

  “How long till he wakes up?” I asked.

  Shepherd sat back and dropped his equipment near his bag. “I don’t know. I’ve never done this before.”

  “What do you mean, you’ve never done this before? Are you fucking kidding me?”

  He stared at the kid and pulled up one of his eyelids. “Maggie had all this knowledge but couldn’t put it out there. Humans have regulations and approved test studies. She had all the science in her head, but she couldn’t test it on anyone. She tried getting a job at a pharmaceutical company but never got that far. After her murder, her family put her things in storage. They let me collect my stuff, but I also took these. Maggie said they would save lives and change the world.”

  “Let’s hope for your sake she was right.”

  Adam’s face took on a pinkish hue, and his eyes fluttered. He still looked poorly with bluish lips and a cold sweat all over, but seeing him respond gave me hope.

  Shepherd touched his hand but wasn’t feeling for a pulse. His tactile ability allowed him to sense Adam’s emotions, his pain, and what he was experiencing in that moment. It made me consider how Sensors could be exceptional doctors.

  A tear rolled down his cheek and disappeared into his whiskery jaw. “It worked, Maggie.”

  Adam groaned and rolled to his side, just in time to retch.

  Shepherd took off his backpack and found a bottle of water. “Drink this, kid. Even if you want to puke, hold it down and drink. You need to stay hydrated for the medicine to work through you.”

  Adam reluctantly took the water and gulped it. “Eve,” he rasped.

  “She’s fine,” I said, even though I had no idea what was happening behind us.

  I looked at Shepherd in disbelief. “Do you know how to make more of that stuff?”

  He shook his head. “These are the only two in existence. Doesn’t matter anyhow.”

  “Why not?”

  He wrapped up his instruments and put them in the bag. “This is Hunter’s legacy. He knows all this shit, and when the time comes, what he does with that knowledge will be up to him. At least I can tell him it works.”

  “It would save a lot of lives.”

  “Yeah, tell that to the pharmaceutical companies. You think they want people getting their hands on cures?” He drew his gun and looked to the right. “The sicker you are, the more money they make.”

  “You should give it to a doctor or something.”

  He shook his head. “That’s your human side talking. Toss out everything you know about the world you lived in. There’s a lot of red tape. You can’t just walk up with a cure in your hand, and we have to be careful about how much attention we draw to ourselves. All shit like this does is put a target on your back.”

  I could see that. There were a lot of factions who wouldn’t like the idea of us giving cures to humans.

  Shepherd touched the boy again. “Hopefully he doesn’t have any nerve damage. I don’t feel anything.”

  I jumped when Claude crashed onto the scene with Eve. They hurtled over the bush and dropped to the ground.

  Eve crawled over to her brother. “Adam! Are you okay? What happened?”

  “Get back before I puke on you,” he said, still working on the water and struggling not to throw it all up.

  Claude was on the verge of flipping his switch, but if Matteo was right, his first instinct was to protect the children and not hunt down the person responsible.

  Speaking of…

  “Where’s Matteo?” I scanned the woods behind Claude.

  “Searching,” Claude growled. “Female, sit down.”

  Eve obediently sank to the ground after trying to peer over the bushes.

  As much as I wanted to run into the fray, Viktor and Matteo were out there, along with Christian. There was no way in hell I could abandon these kids.

  “Put your jacket on,” I said to Eve. “I don’t think poison darts can penetrate jean jackets. It’ll give you an extra layer of protection. Adam was an easy target in a short-sleeved shir
t.”

  Eve did as she was told and helped her brother into his jacket.

  Shepherd touched Adam’s hand again. “If you start to feel funny or have trouble breathing, let me know right away.”

  That put a fright on the kid’s face.

  Shepherd zipped up his bag and met eyes with me. “They waited until it got warmer so we’d start stripping out of our clothes from all the hiking. Whoever’s out there is fucking smart.”

  “Or stupid,” I countered. “We’ve got Chitahs, a Vampire, and a Shifter. They won’t get away.”

  Shepherd wiped his sweaty brow. “Maybe they don’t care. And a man who doesn’t care is more dangerous than a patient man.”

  Claude lifted the bottom of his black T-shirt and wiped his face. The adrenaline was making us all sweat as we kept our eyes on the woods. “Where’s Christian?” he asked. “Wasn’t he with you?”

  I touched the necklace beneath my shirt. “Hopefully killing a lion.”

  After Christian compulsively branched away from Raven to grab the gum wrapper, he heard two things. The first was Adam cursing before hitting the ground, followed by Eve’s scream. The second was the quickened footfalls of someone on the run.

  Knowing the team would be protecting the children, Christian pursued the runner.

  Isolating the sound took seconds. He snapped branches that stood in his way and went sailing over fallen limbs. Christian felt strong when he ran, even at human speed. Vampires didn’t tire easily.

  When he lost the sound, he skidded to a stop and sharpened his hearing. His heart was still beating at a regular pace, and he held his breath to isolate as much of the sound as possible without internal interference.

  Wood snapped in the distance. Christian took off, water splashing beneath his feet when he ran through a small stream. He weaved around fat trees and closed in on the sound. A heartbeat filled his ears, and it was strong.

  Not human.

  Animal.

  Christian’s fangs punched out. The Vampire in him behaved like a separate entity, and surrendering to that raw power was the greatest way to honor the ancient blood coursing in his veins. Seeing Raven fully give herself over to her Vampire nature when she killed the lion had roused a deep admiration within Christian. His blood might have been the push she needed to fully awaken. And she’d looked like a fecking goddess.