I’m chasing after her without thinking, half running, half skipping to keep up with her furious pace. “Wait, you can’t do that. They’ll just detain you until who even knows when. Come on, Rayne, will you wait for a second?”
“Wait?” She stops dead, sharp enough that I end up running into her back. “Wait? Do you have any sense of how long I’ve been waiting? No, I’m done with waiting. If you trust that werewolf stranger more than me—me!—then I’m not going to wait for the rest of my life. And I know my life is a really long time, but I’d rather not spend it pining over you.”
“Rayne, come on.”
She’s at the main door to the garage now, shoving past a startled Spannah to hit the switch that raises the shuttered door. “I can handle you being scared of me, Danika. You should be. I’m rather afraid of myself at times. But I won’t sit around and wait for you to make up your mind while first test-driving each edane you come across.”
Her words are a punch to the gut. I actually feel my breath catch, forcing me to take a moment to recover. “What? No, it’s not like that. This isn’t what you think.”
“Then what is it?”
“I…uh…”
She growls. “I thought so. Please get out of my way, Danika.”
“No.”
“Move or I will move you.”
“Wait, Rayne, please.”
She puts out a hand and gently, but inexorably shoves me to one side. Her next steps take her straight into Noel who appears on the other side of the door with a stack of papers and folders tucked under his arm.
“Ah. Ladies, so good of you to meet me. I have so much news for you.”
Rayne snarls, loud and vicious enough that Noel actually leaps back a step. The stack of stationery slips from his grip and fans across the floor.
“Guau, Rayne, what is this?”
“Move aside.”
He does so immediately and stares with a bemused frown as Rayne marches up the drive and left along the street.
“Rayne, come back.”
She doesn’t. Instead she increases her pace. She’s not running, but as I follow I’m aware that my pace is well above my usual walking one, even with my longer legs and stride. I trot along at her side, half skipping sideways to keep up. “Rayne, would you just give me a moment to explain? Please? It honestly isn’t what you think, and we need to settle this once and for all. You need to understand that—”
Again that sharp stop, only this time, she’s far enough ahead that I have space to avoid another collision.
“I understand, Danika. I understand that your prejudices against vampires are never quite going to leave. I understand that you don’t trust me. I understand that every other little thing up to this point has been more important than us sitting down to talk about your problems.”
“But I didn’t kiss her. I didn’t want this. This is all a misunderstanding.”
She glares at me. “You honestly think this is about something as stupid as a kiss?”
“I…well, I did. Until you said that.”
Rayne rubs her temples with her fingertips. “I’m not a fool, Danika. I know full well you don’t feel anything for Jadzia. She’s been stalking you like deer since we met, but I know you’re not interested. But do you have any idea how it feels, seeing her, a stranger, get close to you when I can’t even hold your hand? You swore a blood oath to her, let her lick blood off your palm, but the last time we shared a kiss, you all but leapt out of my arms. Duo, Solo, Willow, Erkyan, even Shakka, they all get closer to you than I have in the last few weeks, but I’m ‘the one you want.’ I’m ‘the one you trust.’” A tear catches in the corner of her eye. “You say it, but you don’t show it. I…I can’t believe you anymore.”
I think about the past few hours; my hand on Spannah’s shoulder, Jadz’s tongue against my skin, Shakka’s warty hand in mine as he shook it. Even the flimsy flutter of Hawk’s wings as he carried me through the night sky.
Oh, fuck, she’s right. She’s totally right.
“Rayne, I…” Words catch in my throat. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize. I didn’t know. I didn’t see that’s what I’d done. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Perhaps you are.” She shakes her head. “But that’s not good enough anymore.” Rayne turns and continues her walk along the street.
I step to follow, pulled up short at the sound of my name from further behind.
It’s Noel. He’s running full pelt, followed closely by Jadz with a dejected looking Spannah bringing up the rear.
“Dee-Dee, there is a problem.”
“Yes, there is and I need to deal with it first.”
“No, no, not jealous spats, my friend, it is the Dire Wolf alpha.”
I’m bristling. “This is not a jealous spat, Noel. Rayne and I have to—wait, what?”
“Wensleydale Gordon. He is gone.”
Oh. Great.
* * *
“What do you mean ‘gone’?”
Noel pauses long enough to direct a furious glare at Spannah. “This little one, he tells me the alpha decided to leave during the day. He crept out while you were sleeping.”
I drag a hand back through my hair.
Far in the distance, Rayne is becoming a smaller and smaller speck. Soon she’ll be wholly out of sight.
“I can’t deal with this right now, I—”
“He went to gather his pack.” This from Jadz. Her voice is firm and clear, though with a vague hint of what I hope is discomfort. Does she have any idea what she’s done to Rayne and me? Maybe, maybe not, but when she looks at me, her gaze flicks down rather than holding true to my own.
Good.
Spannah clears his throat. “I’m sorry. I know what you said, I know what we agreed, but he’s my alpha, I have to do what he says.”
“I know, I know. Just tell me what happened.”
“While you were sleeping Wensleydale decided to retrieve our pack. He said he couldn’t wait for more news, and that he had to make sure everyone was all right.”
“But his oath…he agreed to stay.”
“I don’t know about that. But he did say the night was over and that as soon as the sun rose, he could do what he liked. I didn’t think to question it at the time.”
Aaah. Smart little mongrel.
I’d told him he couldn’t leave tonight. Sure it was a technical loophole, but it was big enough for him to slip through and keep his word to me under his pledge. The night must have been over by the time he left.
Spannah goes on. “He had me make up a bed to look like he was sleeping and carry one of his coats through the house to settle his scent here.”
I sigh. “Then how did we even know he was gone?”
“I asked.” Jadz shrugs.
Of course. The Gray Tail ability to scent lies would make it impossible to hide the truth from her. The crazy plan might have worked if Spannah had been able to keep himself out of sight.
I’d applaud the plan, but now isn’t the time. Now I need to figure out how to fix it.
Once again, I look over my shoulder. Empty streets. Fuck.
“Um, okay…we need to find him and get him back. Noel, what did you find out?”
He glances back at the house. “Much, but we can talk about it as we drive. None of it is good and we must catch up with the alpha as quickly as possible. He is in terrible danger.” He starts walking, pausing only when it becomes plain that I’m not moving. “Dee-Dee, please. He is your friend, yes?”
“Of course he is.”
“Then we must stop him.”
I find myself staring at the empty street. Rayne hasn’t gone far, she can’t have. If I follow now, I might be able to track her down. I have to explain all this. She has to know that I never meant to avoid her touch. I have to make her see—
“Dee-Dee.” Noel’s voice cuts through it all. “Your sister tells me the alpha is weak. The chemical affects blood chemistry. I don’t understand it all, but the wolf is not himself. Do you
want to save him or not?”
All three of them stand halfway back to the house, watching, waiting.
Noel’s words have brought a look of horror and fear to Spannah’s face. He is clearly regretting the decision to help his alpha leave, and now his whole demeanour seems to beg for aid.
I have no choice.
I turn aside from the empty street and join the others in a quick sprint back to the house.
Chapter Twenty-three
I drum my fingers against the dashboard urging the car to further speed. Despite my urge to bounce up and down in my seat, Noel keeps the car at a relatively safe but wholly illegal forty miles per hour as we make our way back into the city.
As he mentioned, the streets are largely abandoned, sparse pockets of people milling about outside shops. The usual hustle and bustle of the West End is replaced by clean-up crews and obvious SPEAR agents, working together to remove evidence of the werewolf rampage from the night before. Drones still fly overhead, blue and red lights blinking as they patrol the streets. Military trucks and the occasional tank are still obvious, as are the soldiers marching the streets with rifles and shotguns angled over their shoulders.
I adjust my belt and the various tools hanging off it, from my gun to various chains, bolts, magazines, phials, and knick-knacks. Oh, and the additional silver tools Rayne was smart enough to grab when we restocked.
How could this happen so fast? How could things go so wrong?
“Noel, baby, I still don’t get it. How can this sedative change the Dire alpha’s brain?” Jadz yawns from her space in the back seat. “It’s just a drug.”
He drums his fingers against the steering wheel. “I don’t fully understand myself, but that is what Phillipa said and she is the Foundation’s most celebrated researcher. She told me the sedative affects blood chemistry. It makes basic changes to a wolf’s mind.”
Spannah kicks out behind me, drumming his heels against the back of my chair. “But how? How does this affect Wensleydale?”
“How do men and women become wolves on a whim or at the turn of a lunar cycle?” Noel lifts his hands briefly from the wheel in a gesture of exasperation. “Science? Voodoo? Higher powers? We just don’t know, young wolf. But this is the truth I know.”
I grit my teeth. “So you’re saying as long as this drug is in Wendy’s bloodstream, he’ll be less than himself?”
Noel fishes into the gap between our seats. There are papers there, the same ones he brought back, and he shuffles through them one-handed before stopping on a slim red folder. “If you know more than me about the biology and the chemistry, then please, read these. I only share the simple version your sister gave.”
Even though it’s pointless, I skim through the tightly typed pages within the folder. Huge chemical names I can’t pronounce and parts of the nervous system I can just about identify by comparing them to my own working knowledge of first aid. But blood chemistry and neurology is well beyond my knowledge when it comes to humans let alone in edanes.
“How long does it last?”
Noel guides the car around a corner. “The brain stuff? We don’t know. The physical things, perhaps they last for one day. Perhaps four. Maybe two weeks. There is not enough research and results to be sure.”
“Well, at least I know now why Pip was so against it. Nobody knows anything.”
Again Spannah kicks out at my chair. “Faster. We need to go faster.”
The car speeds on.
Despite myself, I find myself scouring the streets for Rayne, hoping, praying to catch sight of her on the way. Of course there’s nothing and my heart sinks a little deeper into the toes of my boots.
What have I done? How could I let this happen? Just what the hell is wrong with me anyway? Rayne is unlike any other vampire I’ve ever met; I knew that right at the start. She wouldn’t hurt me or anybody else, so why? Why has it become so hard to let her touch me? It’s not like she’d ever hurt me, not like the beast who killed—
Jadz slams her hands into the back of my seat, jarring my neck and cutting off my train of thought. She snarls and leans forward between the front seats to point at two figures standing up ahead. “Not military,” she hisses.
Several seconds pass before I figure out what she’s talking about.
The two figures standing in the road before us certainly look like military. They have a rifle and a shot gun between them and the same green/black clothing. Their caps are drawn down across their faces to cast thick shadows on their features, but there’s nothing about them that says “danger” to me.
And yet…“Noel, stop.”
He eyes me warily, but obeys, letting the car idle a few feet back from the matched pair of soldiers.
I open the door and step out onto the road.
* * *
The air is still thick with the remnants of the weaponized gas used by the drones. It clearly isn’t enough to cause werewolves discomfort because both Jadz and Spannah leave the car with no problems and position themselves to flank me.
The first of the two soldiers steps forward. “You need to turn back, miss. You can’t travel this way.”
I run my hand across my hip to pick up my ID lanyard. “I’m Agent Danika Karson. Why can’t we go through?”
“It’s not safe.”
“Why? What’s out there?”
At my side, Spannah twitches and grasps at my elbow. He doesn’t speak, but his grip is crushing, and I fight back a wince of pain.
“Not sure, Agent. We had some reports of a little trouble further up the road, so we’re stopping all vehicles traveling through until further help arrives.”
Jadz growls. It’s all the confirmation I need.
“Who are you really? You’re clearly not soldiers. SPEAR? Actually, no, we’re smarter than that, and not one of my colleagues would pull what you’re trying so give it up and start talking.”
One of them levels his rifle at my face. “We don’t want any trouble, miss. You just need to stay back here.”
Spannah’s grip tightens on my elbow. “Listen.”
Whatever he’s hearing, it’s too faint for my human ears to catch, but Jadz certainly hears it. Her growls intensify as she takes a step forward, arms slightly outstretched.
The second of the two fake soldiers looks back over his shoulder. He tilts his head, and for the first time, I can see the wide grin stretching his lips. “It’s too late now anyway. There’s nothing you can do to stop it. It’s over. Only a matter of time.”
“What are you talking about?”
Spannah’s nails sink through my jacket and hit flesh. “There’s fighting, can’t you hear it? It’s Wensleydale, it has to be. He’s fighting. I need to be there. I need to help my alpha.”
The rifle swings toward the young wolf. “Don’t even think about it, pup. You stay right where you are. That has-been Wensleydale is just about done, and unless you want to join him, you’ll stay right here with us.”
I raise my hands. “We don’t want trouble. But we need to get into Dire Wolf territory. Please.”
“But you’re already in Dire Wolf territory.” The second fake soldier lowers his shotgun to point at me. “Didn’t you hear? When Aleksandar laid down his challenge, he extended our reach to encompass all of the West Side. We’re growing, Agent, and it’s about time. We’re growing and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
A little whimper from Spannah forces me to pause and remove his hand from my arm. Small shreds of denim dangle from his lengthening, sharpening claws.
“West Side is neutral,” Jadz snaps. “Every idiot knows that. Not even a clown like Aleksandar would risk destroying pack truces to extend out here. He’s not insane.”
“No, he’s not. He’s a visionary with more ideas and strength to pursue them than some elderly weakling like Wensleydale could ever hope for. He’s going to draw us out of the darkness and make our pack strong again. Starting with clearing those Blood Moon freaks.”
I lift my hands to
shoulder height, palm out and well within view. “Blood Moon? I’ve never heard of that pack.”
The two men steady their grips on their guns. “No? You’re slipping, Agent Karson. That’s what those new wolves call themselves. The ones with the weird smell and the pack power that makes everybody sick, as if that wasn’t bad enough.”
“Yeah.” The second spits at the ground. “They slither in here all snake-like and sneaky and then, the ultimate disrespect, they name themselves after our biggest and most sacred festival. Vermin. All of them. It’s that woman’s fault. It has to be. They were the first ones Blood Moon went to.”
The first growls low in the back of his throat. “As if any self-respecting pack would allow a woman to lead them.”
My head is spinning. After so long trying to learn about this new pack, I finally have some information, something new that I can use.
I risk a step forward, but Jadz is faster. She hooks an arm around my waist and heaves me off the road, shouting back over her shoulder as she goes. “Noel, do it. Move yourself, pup.”
I have just time to see the startled looks in the faces of the two wolves before the car guns forward with a roar and squeal of spinning tyres.
The guns fire, the roar of the shotgun followed by the harsh crack of the rifle.
Glass explodes in the front window, but the car keeps coming, bearing down on the two wolves like a huge, metal cannonball. Follow-up shots go wide as the wolves panic, but the car hits them both, sending them high into the air and away. They hit the Tarmac hard and roll several paces.
“Fuck, Noel, what the hell.”
He sits up from his slouched position in the front seat and punches out the rest of the shattered windscreen glass. “Jadzia warned me this might happen. We don’t have the time.”
“But—”
Jadz carries me back to the car with my legs dangling, tucked under her arm like a bag of potatoes. I’d be impressed with the feat if not so wholly pissed off.
“Shut up, Agent. If we want to get to your friend, we need to hurry. It sounds like he needs us.”
“But—”
Spannah rushes back to the car and leaps into the rear seat. “She’s right. I know you can’t hear it, but you have to trust us. Wensleydale is already fighting and I have to be there.”
Moon Fever Page 20
