Five Moons Rising

by Lise MacTague

  “It is.” Mary Alice closed her eyes against the despair that threatened to drown her. This was the worst Cassidy had been yet. Every day, she drifted further from humanity, and she didn’t know how to bring her back. “Your old pack did this to her. It’s a message for me to back off.”

  “I can believe that.” The female flashed her a bitter smile that never touched its eyes. “MacTavish is as big a bastard as you’ll meet. This sounds like his style completely.”

  “You need to fix her.” The command came out more distressed than Mary Alice had intended. She was grasping at straws and she knew it.

  “Fix her? She isn’t broken.”

  “You saw her. She’s out of control. I can’t let her out like that. She’ll kill someone. Then I’ll have to kill her.”

  The look the female gave her brimmed with compassion. Mary Alice looked away. Her emotions were too close to the surface and desperation threatened to bubble over with the slightest hint of sympathy. She needed to be on an even keel if this had the remotest chance of working.

  “Why should I do anything for you?” The female cocked its head in question. “You pretty much kidnapped me. I don’t remember much, but some of it is coming back. You chased me through the hotel, didn’t you?” It wasn’t a question so much as a statement, and Mary Alice couldn’t help but bridle at it.

  “You’ll help her because you’re not leaving here until she’s better.”

  The female laughed. “Once the wolfsbane wears off, you can’t stop me from doing anything.”

  “Guess again. You know that bracelet you’re so pissed off about? It has enough C-4 in it to blow your leg off. If you wander away from the building, it goes off. If I don’t deactivate the automatic arming sequence every twelve hours, it goes off. If you try to take it off—”

  “It goes off.” The female finished the sentence for her with a bitter twist to its mouth.

  Mary Alice smiled. “And don’t even think about shifting to escape the bracelet. The gel on the band will make sure it stays put.” The lycan reached down and gently fingered the band before bringing its fingers up to its nose and inhaling. “Satisfied?”

  The female turned golden eyes on Mary Alice, piercing through its curtain of hair.

  “Satisfied? Not hardly.” It got up and walked out of the kitchen.

  “Don’t go too far or else…”

  “I know, I know. It goes off!”

  Mary Alice hoped the female would take her at her word. It wouldn’t do to lose it right away. Tracking it down had been relatively easy, but who knew when she would get another opportunity like this one. If the golden-eyed female died, Cassidy was likely as good as dead, too.

  The microwave beeped and Mary Alice removed the plate. It was barely warm to the touch. She poked at the meat with one finger. It was lukewarm and the iron tang of meat and blood rose from it to fill her nose. Red juices covered the plate on either side of the hunk. She stared at the meat, a little disturbed by how hungry she was getting. She hadn’t eaten meat for years, and yet she couldn’t completely escape the craving. It felt like a part of her, and the more vegetables she ate, the more she denied the darker parts of herself. Or so she hoped.

  Since their modifications, at least a couple of her unit preferred meat almost exclusively. Most of the rest of them were more omnivorous, though most liked their meat on the rare side. She was the only one who’d gone completely veggie, and she didn’t lack for temptation.

  With a start, Mary Alice realized she’d been standing there for a long time, spacing out over a chunk of nearly raw meat. The strain was starting to get to her. She walked out of the kitchen, heading back to the box. Enough was enough. The female could start as soon as Cassidy finished eating.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ruri hesitated in front of the metal door and stared at it. It wouldn’t have been out of place on a bank vault. Where had the Hunter found it? The whole box was beyond comprehension. She was acutely aware of Malice’s presence behind her. Her captor’s motives were easy enough to decipher; she’d come right out and told her. Ruri had no reason to believe she was hiding anything. Her desperation was obvious; her body practically screamed it. However, she wasn’t sure exactly what Malice expected of her. The transition from human to wolven wasn’t an easy one even in the best situation. Even with the best pack support structure, many still didn’t survive. The circumstances here were far from ideal, and she was fairly certain her life was forfeit if she couldn’t deliver.

  This wasn’t going to get any easier. The faster she got in with the poor woman, the faster Ruri could see if she was salvageable.

  “Open the door.”

  Malice moved around her without a word or a glance. She produced a key on a chain from around her neck. The large padlock on the outer door had confused Ruri at first. There was no way the woman—Cassidy was it?—would be able to get the door open, not with the bar across it. As Ruri thought about it some more, realization dawned on her. The lock wasn’t for Cassidy’s sake; it was for Ruri’s. Not that Malice had anything to worry about, Ruri thought bitterly. The Hunter had her in a bind. No matter how she turned around the situation in her mind, Ruri couldn’t figure a way out of the explosive ankle bracelet.

  With a metallic clank and the squeal of metal being forced over the concrete floor, Malice muscled the door open. Ruri was confronted by the dark opening. The outline of Cassidy’s body was barely visible in her nest. Ruri was doubting the wisdom of starting now. If only she’d been content with waiting until the wolfsbane wore off completely. She edged into the box and tried not to jump when Malice shoved the door closed behind her.

  Rather than intruding on Cassidy’s space, Ruri hunkered down by the door and waited for the tormented wolven to register her presence. Her form was completely still under the tattered scraps of blanket, and Ruri was sure Malice’s sister knew she was there. Ruri was too dominant to expose her belly to appease another wolf, but she didn’t need to provoke her either.

  “What are you waiting for?” Malice hissed the question through the slot in the door.

  “You’re not helping,” Ruri murmured back. “Leave me alone and let me deal with your mess.”

  Cassidy stirred at the sound of her voice, though Ruri had pitched it low to keep from disturbing her. She lifted her head and sniffed the air before turning to watch her. Ice-blue eyes glowed at her from the dark and Ruri had to work to keep from gasping. Her eyes had been red the last time Ruri had seen her. Wolven eye color didn’t change. What was going on here? And that blue. She knew the blue of those eyes as well—better—than she knew the golden of her own. Britt.

  Mostly bare shoulders were revealed as she shifted further. Cassidy had been wearing a shirt at one time, but by the looks of it, she’d done her best to claw it off of her. Interesting. It looked like she probably hadn’t managed a complete transformation yet. The shirt would have been little more than a memory if that had been the case.

  Cassidy slowly emerged from her cocoon. She never took her eyes from Ruri’s face. Ruri was careful not to look at her directly. This was no time to provoke an attack. Cassidy didn’t seem threatening, merely wary to the point of skittishness. Ruri settled herself into a sitting position, her legs crossed. She was more vulnerable like that, but less threatening. Would Cassidy be able to smell her wolf?

  The loose pants Cassidy had once been wearing were just as ravaged as the shirt. They hung from her in long strips. Ruri caught a glimpse of a long crescent-shaped wound on her upper thigh. The relative darkness inside the box made it hard to tell without Cassidy holding still, but Ruri thought there were at least two more bite marks. No wonder the woman had so many issues.

  The scent of wolf rolled off Cassidy as she ventured closer, but it was muddled. There was nothing clean about the smell. It was layered, not just with different smells of wolf, but with pain and despair. There was no sense of focus or purpose; Cassidy was losing herself.

  She dropped to her knees in front of
Ruri and leaned in, taking a deep whiff right next to Ruri’s left ear. She whuffed a couple of times, tasting the air. There was nothing threatening about her now, a far cry from the aggressive and tortured thing that had snapped at her and Malice when they’d observed her through the door. For long heartbeats, Cassidy hovered over Ruri. Abruptly, with only a tired whine as warning, Cassidy lay down on the floor and put her head in Ruri’s lap. Apparently her wolf had recognized Ruri’s. With great caution, Ruri put her hand on Cassidy’s head, smoothing greasy hair back from her face. Malice’s sister moved with her hand, leaning into the contact, but not for very long. Her breathing grew more and more regular. Bare minutes after she curled up, Cassidy fell asleep.

  In sleep, she reverted completely back to her human form. Fingernails replaced the wicked claws on her hands and her jaw subtly reformed as canines disappeared back into her gums. Her face lightened, and as Ruri stroked her hair she realized how alike Malice and her sister were, at least in looks. It was funny, she hadn’t realized how pretty Malice was until she saw similar features in repose. They both shared a slight dusting of freckles across the nose and a stubborn jaw. Cassidy’s nose was turned up a little at the end while Malice’s was a much more aggressive Roman nose. Cassidy was cute where Malice was striking. Malice’s brown eyes were almost black and looked like they’d seen too much.

  This was not the time to be mooning over Malice’s looks. Was there even a good time? Ruri couldn’t think of one. Sleep was obviously a good idea if she was thinking about the Hunter that way. Ruri shifted onto her side. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to sleep on the floor, and she really didn’t mind it. Her wolf had no qualms about sleeping on the ground, and normally Ruri didn’t either. The metal floor of the box was a little chilly, and Ruri wished she could call up her wolf for the warmth of her pelt. Since she didn’t have that luxury right now, thanks to Malice, she curled around Cassidy.

  Having contact with another wolven lulled her to sleep far more quickly than she’d managed in days. Ruri’s last thoughts before she dropped off were of the multiple bites she’d seen. Cassidy was in a great deal of trouble, and Ruri didn’t know if she was up to the task.

  It wasn’t easy for Mary Alice to see what was going on. The female and her sister were curled up together right in front of the door. That was some progress at least. She was pretty sure Cassidy hadn’t gotten any real rest since she was turned. Mary Alice had been infusing her evening meal with sedatives, but more so she could clean out the box and get some sleep without worrying that Cassidy was somehow going to tear her way out while Mary Alice wasn’t able to watch over her.

  Not for the first time, Mary Alice considered installing a camera in the box, but she quickly discarded it. Watching her sister like that felt like crossing a line, one she wasn’t sure could be crossed back again. If she was going to do this, she needed to be there for Cassidy, and she couldn’t do that from behind a TV screen.

  Unsure what else to do, Mary Alice leaned against the door and slid down to the floor. The only sounds from the other side of the door were the occasional rustle as Cassidy or the female shifted in her slumber. She allowed her mind to wander. Eventually, her own breathing slowed and she drifted off to sleep as well.

  She came back to awareness all at once, unsure of what had woken her. As a child, she’d always woken up groggy and disoriented. Her time in the service and her training as one of the government’s guinea pigs had broken her of that habit. She was completely aware of everything around her, and she sat without moving a muscle while she worked her way through that awareness.

  The sun had moved around the side of the building and was coming in through the far side of the long loft. Hours had passed while she’d been sitting there, asleep. Stiffness in her back and neck confirmed what the sun told her. Mary Alice slowly rolled her head back and forth as she continued trying to sort out why she’d awoken.

  There was no answer in the loft, not that she could see or hear. Carefully, she stood up, her legs protesting the move after being in the same position for hours. If something were to attack her now, it would have quite the advantage. Fortunately, her advanced metabolism and rapid healing combined to pass the stiffness along with only a couple of deep knee bends.

  She glanced into the box and was gratified to see her sister and the female curled up together on the nest of torn cloth Cassidy had built. “Built” was a strong word. It implied a sense of purpose, and Cassidy seemed to be driven by little more than blind instinct. She certainly hadn’t recognized Mary Alice for a few days. That she’d taken to the female both reassured Mary Alice and sent a pang of anguish through her. It had been her idea to find a furry to help her sister, but at the same time it was killing her that she couldn’t be the one to help.

  Suddenly angry, she lifted the bar off the door and pulled it open. It squealed in protest as usual.

  “That’s enough,” she called. Both women’s faces had turned toward the door when she opened it. “You…” Mary Alice trailed off when she realized that she didn’t know the female’s name. “Come. I want to talk to you.”

  “Mary?” Cassidy’s voice was shaky and Mary Alice looked at her. For the first time in too long, her eyes weren’t glowing at her from the darkness of the box. “Don’t take her away from me. Please?”

  “Sweetie, I have to talk to her.” She spread her hands, trying to make Cassidy understand. “She’s not going far.”

  The female had frozen halfway to her feet. She turned and looked at Cassidy, then whipped her head back around.

  “Close the door.” Her eyes glowed ever so slightly golden in the dark. “Now!”

  Cassidy exploded from the nest and the female moved against her, standing her up and pushing her back.

  “Close it,” she hollered, voice guttural.

  Cassidy howled and threw herself against the female, trying to reach the door. Her eyes blazed in the darkness, this time a brilliant emerald.

  For a second, Mary Alice hesitated. She needed to speak with the female to find out what if anything she’d discovered. But Cassidy’s contorted face snarling at her over the female’s shoulder as she struggled to hold her back made up her mind. With a flick of her wrist, Mary Alice slammed the door shut and jammed the bar back in its holder. A second later a heavy body hit the door and Cassidy’s barely recognizable face snapped at her from the small opening. Snarling lips revealed long teeth. Those same lips thinned and shaded toward black as she watched.

  Abruptly, Cassidy’s face disappeared from the window. All Mary Alice could hear was loud growling that gradually subsided. A low voice spoke in soothing tones. When the growls completely abated, Mary Alice looked through the window. The female and her sister were curled up on the makeshift nest in the corner.

  The female looked up at her. “We need some food.”

  Numb, Mary Alice nodded and turned to leave.

  “Cook it,” the female called out after her. “She needs to be reminded of her humanity. She’s spent too much time feral. If we’re going to have any luck with her, we have to bring her back.”

  “Got it,” Mary Alice said. The female’s words resonated in her head as she made her way back to the kitchen, her heart leaden in her chest. “If” wasn’t as promising as “when,” but it was better than nothing. She tried to believe what she was telling herself, but the reassurances rang hollowly in her mind.

  She tried to think through what needed to be done, but focus didn’t come easily. The female hadn’t said what kind of food she should make, just that it should be cooked. Cassidy hadn’t been able to tolerate vegetables of any kind, so she decided to stick with meat. Hamburgers were easy, and she’d purchased plenty of ground beef along with the steaks. It was easier to hide pills in the ground beef, though injecting steaks with sedatives had worked well when Cassidy proved too canny for the pills hidden in the meat.

  Soon the kitchen filled with the smell of cooking meat. Her stomach growled, reminding her how badly she’d been
neglecting herself. She stood in front of the stove and stared at the sizzling meat. What exactly was she going to do with the female? Whether she could fix Cassidy or not, at some point Mary Alice was going to have to deal with her. The female had done nothing wrong except to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when Mary Alice’s desperation had fixed upon her.

  A noise pulled her from her thoughts, and she jumped before placing the sound. It was her phone. Uncle Ralph’s ringtone barked at her. She’d thought it was pretty funny to set his ringer to the sound of barking dogs, but now it felt like he was hounding her. She turned back to the burgers and flipped them over to sear the other side. Screw him, and screw Uncle Sam. This was all their fault.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ruri stroked Cassidy’s hair and murmured soothing nonsense to her. She wasn’t sure how much human speech the girl understood at the moment. The interior of the box was rank. Urine and feces overlaid the scent of desperate wolven. Malice must have been doing something to clean it out; she didn’t see any sign of scat, but whatever it was wasn’t enough. The smell was enough to drive anyone around the bend.

  Her sensitive nose detected the smell of cooking beef even over the stench, which sent her stomach to growling. A slight sense of fur through her fingertips let her know the wolfsbane was wearing off. The wolf wouldn’t help her get out of the situation, but she would help her deal with Cassidy.

  She lay there, holding Cassidy, and allowed herself to drift. It was a little strange to do so when her wolf was all but gone. Usually, she used these times to connect with her wolf, but the wolfsbane had put her out of reach, if barely. Ruri could almost feel her, like she’d been lying on a patch of grass and had just gotten up, leaving only body heat behind.

  This space inside her head was even emptier for the destruction of her pack bonds. She was finally getting used to that sensation, but the absence of her packmates still felt like the loss of a limb.