Hunter's Moon

by Angela Colsin

  But in contrast to his mechanics, he wondered if Emily was upset by the scantly clad Miss August.

  Yet she questionably reached up to cover her mouth, and he could've sworn he saw her lips curling into a surprised smile right before she hid it. What the—

  “Caleb?” Conner asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Did you hear a word I just said?”

  “Um,” he drew out. “Something about Josh giving you a picture while I was out getting food.”

  Conner groaned, repeating his explanation about the way Emily's video proved last night's B&E was tied to the string of murders, and added, “So we think it's a good idea if Emily stays with you for a while longer in case this asshole comes back.”

  At that, Caleb's mind blanked. “Wait, what?”

  “You never know, Caleb. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but if not, she'd be better off staying with someone while Joslyn and I bunk at Sara's.”

  “Oh … ,” Caleb drew out, looking between them uncertainly.

  At his hesitation, Emily lowered her hand and sighed, mentioning, “If you don't want me there, that's fine. I can stay somewhere else.”

  “I uh,” Caleb started, then shrugged as casually as possible. “Whatever.”

  “Whatever?” she inquired uncertainly.

  “It's cool.”

  “Then I can stay?”

  Caleb started nodding dumbly, unsure how to get out of this without sounding like an asshole—and he wasn't oblivious to the look Conner was giving him either.

  “Caleb, you're crushing the carton.”

  At that, he looked down, realizing he'd squeezed his container of food so hard his fingers were now covered in sauce.

  Grabbing a napkin to clean up the mess, he heard Emily sigh and looked up to see her turning to the door.

  “Don't worry about it, I'll find somewhere else to stay.”

  “Wait, Emily,” Conner interjected, and when she glanced at him, he requested, “Just give us a second to talk, okay? I need to tell him something personal anyway.”

  Quietly, she nodded in agreement, then exited the office.

  As soon as the twins were alone, Conner gave his brother a confused look. “What the hell's wrong with you all of a sudden?”

  Caleb shrugged, pulling his legs off the desk to sit up straight in his chair. “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit. You're acting really weird, and … are you sweating?”

  Reaching up, he swiped a hand across his forehead, and indeed, his fingers turned up damp.

  Seeing the perspiration, Caleb groaned, deciding he should give his twin the truth if only because he knew Conner wouldn't stop pushing for it.

  “Okay, fine. I'm gonna admit something, but I don't want you telling anyone about it.”

  Nodding, Conner waved a hand for him to continue, and Caleb took a deep breath.

  “Emily's getting my instinct's going. Her scent's driving me crazy.”

  A look of surprise overcame Conner's face—until he recalled Caleb's refusal to hook up with humans. Then he groaned and shook his head. “Okay, so she's got your interests. But she's not Fiona, Caleb.”

  “No one's Fiona,” Caleb countered, “but that doesn't matter.”

  “I know, and I get it. You don't want another human leaving you, and I wouldn't either,” Conner conceded. “Still, this situation is pretty serious, and Emily is Joslyn's best friend. They grew up together.”

  Ignoring Conner's remark about how serious the situation was for the time being, Caleb asked, “So?”

  “So it's not like you're the only person Emily knows in the pack. Besides, who's to say how deep your interests will end up going? You might feel drawn to her now, but then find out you guys just don't mesh.”

  Though the statement was true, Caleb grumbled under his breath when he recalled thinking the same thing about Fiona. It took more than a scent to get a lupine to bond with someone, so there was a chance he'd develop a passing interest in Emily and nothing more.

  Still, it seemed too risky to take that chance. Lifeless, accusing eyes, all my fault.

  “There's gotta be someone else she can stay with,” he insisted. “Why not just take her to Sara's?”

  “First of all, we thought the commute to work would be easier for her if she stayed at your place. But second, you shouldn't be alone right now either. I didn't tell Emily that part because she doesn't know the victims are lupines, but it works better this way.”

  His brother made good points, and Caleb knew that making a fuss would only get his twin asking more questions about his discomfort.

  Still, he insisted, “Just to be positive there's no where else, what about Hobbs?”

  “He's out of town until next week.”

  “Shit, forgot about that. Mike and Nicole?”

  “They don't have room.”

  “Brandon and Marie?”

  “Parents are visiting.”

  “Damn it.”

  His reactions baffled Conner. “You seriously can't handle Emily staying with you for a while? Would you rather risk being alone?”

  Caleb wanted to ask what do you think? But the only person who knew the truth of Fiona's fate was his father—who'd passed away nearly two years ago—and he had no intentions of telling anyone what really happened in Atlanta. So it seemed the only way he could get out of this without raising suspicion was to let Emily stay.

  “Okay, fine,” he muttered. “I just needed to make sure.”

  Conner didn't look entirely convinced, but he surprised Caleb by letting it go. Instead, he seemed more interested in showing him the picture in his hand, mentioning, “You need to see this, anyway.”

  Caleb took the image as his brother explained, “It's from Emily's video. They enhanced one of the frames, and that's what showed up. Everything that lupine from Augusta described about the culprit wearing a suit with silver plating can be seen in that image, and it gets worse.”

  “How?”

  Caleb turned his gaze up to Conner's as his twin informed him, “Josh didn't catch a single scent last night that shouldn't have been there. Not a trace was leading to or from the duplex. So that suit is definitely designed to block it.”

  “Holy shit,” Caleb muttered. This was serious, and it was hard to say what was worse; this intruder's presence in Arkin City, his suit designed to block scent, or the fact that he'd broken into Conner's home last night.

  All three were equally unnerving, and knowing they couldn't track this asshole made Caleb especially uneasy.

  Lupines had an advantage over humans when it came to identifying suspects—they could use their noses in addition to their eyes, and relied on them pretty heavily in their own justice system. The police officers who'd checked out Conner's apartment last night were human, and would've looked for physical evidence, like fingerprints. But with his sense of smell, Josh might've been able to identify the intruder later just by passing him on the street.

  So removing that ability was extremely crippling.

  Still, this information did reveal that whoever the culprits were, they knew enough about lupines to keep themselves hidden, meaning Cade was right to want everyone to travel in groups and stay in touch. He was also right to ask them to watch over friends of the pack, particularly unwitting friends.

  Like Emily.

  She'd only just arrived in town, but the fact that she was living next door to a lupine couple and had been attacked meant she could be in this guy's cross hairs now, and if she was taken, or anyone else, what would they do? Several lupines had already turned up dead, one human ally, and another only narrowly escaped abduction.

  “What the hell do these guys want, anyway?” Caleb muttered.

  “There's no telling, but if the information Josh just gave us says anything, it's that they already know our strengths and weaknesses. So there has to be more to it.”

  “Yeah,” Caleb muttered, “and at least we're not completely in the dark anymore.”

  “Right, and Josh we
nt to tell Cade about it, so he'll get word out ASAP. The only question is whether or not he'll have another meeting. Anyway,” he went on, turning to the office door when the phone at the reception desk outside started ringing. “I'll answer that, and send Emily back in so you can talk to her.”

  Caleb nodded, letting him leave without argument, then took a pensive breath while waiting for Emily to return.

  As soon as the blonde was through the door, she shut it and asked, “So, did you decide?”

  “Yeah,” he started, lifting his legs up onto the desk in an attempt at relaxing—or just giving off the impression that he was fine—and apologized.

  “Look, I'm sorry if I made you think I was uncomfortable, Emily. I'm just not used to having anyone stay at my place, but this police case is pretty fucked up. So I'm not gonna tell you it's cool if you stay with me. Instead, I'm gonna ask; please stay. I don't want you getting hurt, and I care a lot more about that than my personal comfort.”

  He hoped his phrasing would appeal to her in a rational sense, but he must've made it sound more flattering than he'd intended because she smiled sweetly. That damned smile.

  “Okay,” she agreed, “and yes, I'll stay for a while, because I'm honestly freaked out by everything Conner told me.”

  “Can't say it's not bothering me, either,” Caleb muttered. “I just wish I could get my hands on the asshole who broke in your duplex last night and rip him apart.”

  “I wouldn't mind seeing that,” she returned. “So uh, if I'm staying, I guess I should let you know I'll be home late because I'm going to that cookout at Ashley's this evening. Are you going, too? I can grab some leftovers if not.”

  Caleb smirked—he hadn't forgotten about the get together. But what Emily thought was a random cookout was actually a surprise welcome party being thrown for her by Joslyn. Furthermore, Joslyn wanted everyone to come if they could make it, and Caleb had a good reason for going aside from making his sister-in-law happy.

  “Thanks, but I'll be there myself, just a little late cause of work.”

  Emily's smile brightened in amusement. “You sound so eager.”

  “Yeah, well, that's cause of my mom and Ashley.”

  “Why them?”

  With a smirk, he started, “Let me put it this way—you like good food, right?”

  Emily chuckled. “Naturally.”

  “Then if there's one thing in this town you don't wanna miss, it's their cooking. I might be partial to my mom because I grew up with her, but Ashley? One word—damn. And getting their food together in one place? Someone would be stupid to miss out, so if you haven't eaten yet, don't. You'll wanna save room.”

  Hearing this, Emily laughed. “Sounds good, and I'm a lousy chef, so it's always nice to get a home cooked meal instead of take out all the time.”

  Caleb grinned. “I usually get take out, too. But I like to grill every now and then.”

  Before Emily could respond, the office door opened again with Conner walking inside, and when he noticed their mutual silence, he asked, “You tell her?”

  “Yep, she's staying.”

  “Cool, because that's Joslyn on the phone. She wants to know the plan if you've got anything to tell her, Emily.”

  “Okay, I'll get it,” she returned, heading to the door to speak with her friend.

  But before she walked out, the human stopped as if remembering something specific, then looked at the twins. “By the way, whose calendar is that?”

  “Caleb's,” Conner remarked with ease. “I think he fancies himself in a relationship with Miss August.”

  Caleb rolled his eyes. He wasn't gunning for Emily's interests, but still muttered, “Shut up, Conner.”

  Yet Emily didn't seem at all offended, mentioning, “I only asked because I knew Miss August.”

  That was unexpected. No wonder she'd seemed surprised when she'd looked at the calendar earlier, and Caleb raised a curious eyebrow. “How did you know her?”

  Smirking, Emily answered cryptically, “Turn to December.”

  The door shut on her comment, and Caleb found himself much too interested to see why she'd directed him to flip to that month not to immediately get up and look.

  So, with his twin waiting to see what would be revealed, he turned the next four pages, and Conner suddenly let a low, surprised whistle.

  “Holy shit,” Caleb remarked. “Is that … ?”

  “Emily in a white string bikini? Yep.”

  The image was taken from above, and Emily was laying on her back in a shallow pool of water with her curly blonde hair drifting out around her head. Her sapphire eyes nearly matched the color of the pool, and her bikini? The strings were tied high around her hips with little triangles clinging to the curves of her breasts, stretched as if barely containing them.

  What's more, her nipples were straining against the wet fabric, leaving almost nothing to the imagination.

  Caleb couldn't stop staring, the primitive side of his being tensing with heavy desire as he took the image in—and he found himself thinking exactly what Conner stated aloud.

  “I hate to say it, Caleb, but you're doomed.”

  Chapter 7

  “That was your calendar?”

  Joslyn couldn't keep the surprise—or amusement—out of her voice, her eyes glued to the road while driving to Ashley's home with Emily in the passenger's seat.

  The blonde snickered. “Yeah, and I didn't expect to see it, especially not one that's outdated like Caleb has.”

  “He kept forgetting to change it, and eventually, it just stayed on August,” Joslyn explained. “But I bet he flipped when he saw December.”

  Emily shook her head, watching the scenery passing through the window. “I don't know about that.”

  “Why not?”

  She shrugged. “I just get the feeling he doesn't like me much.”

  “Why wouldn't he like you?”

  “You know, because he's not used to having anyone staying with him. So I think he feels like I'm invading his personal space.”

  “Wait,” Joslyn remarked. “Did he actually say that?”

  Emily glanced at her friend to see a genuinely confused look on her face, pricking her own curiosity. “Not exactly, but he did say he's not used to company. He also crushed a carton of lo mien when Conner told him about my extended stay. Why?”

  Joslyn shook her head. “I have no idea, but I've never heard him complain about having company before.”

  “Oh, great,” she muttered. “Then it's just me.”

  “Nah, trust me, he's fine with you. But I'm gonna do some digging when I see him again, find out what's what.” With that said, she snickered. “Maybe he'll change his tune after seeing that picture.”

  Emily smirked, unsure if she could believe Joslyn's assessment of her brother-in-law's opinion, but she was right about the picture—it'd never failed to garner attention in the past. Still, Emily hoped that if Caleb warmed up to her, it wasn't just because of some scantily clad image in a calendar she'd only pointed out because it was there, and she was amused.

  “Guess I should've stuck around to see his reaction,” she related, “but I didn't wanna answer the typical questions.”

  “You mean like whether you've ever done nude modeling?”

  “Yep,” she muttered. “I decided to do a bikini shoot once, just for some extra dough, and next thing you know I'm getting mail from all kinds of skeevy modeling agencies wanting me to strip.”

  Joslyn grumbled. “That's all Rob's fault. He's such a jerk.”

  “Yeah,” Emily agreed with no lack of annoyance. “I'm just glad I realized it before we got in too deep together.”

  Rob Wiles was Emily's former boss—and her boyfriend for about a year. They'd met when she was looking for opportunities to work as a photographer at a local modeling studio, and though the work he'd offered didn't pay, she took it to build a portfolio.

  Yet it soon became clear that Rob thought she'd do better in front of a camera than behind it,
and after some haggling, Emily found herself modeling clothes for small catalogs and websites. It wasn't her dream job, but on the plus side, it actually paid, and she wanted to save up the money to go to school and perhaps open her own studio one day.

  Then, after nearly two years doing various shoots, she and Rob hooked up—not that this offered more chances to do photography than before. Instead, she continued modeling, and eventually, Rob talked her into something more risque.

  Specifically, the calendar shoot.

  Emily hadn't been fully on board with the idea, but there was no nudity involved, and it paid a great deal more than her normal gigs. So she went for it, and the next thing she knew, agents were contacting her with some adult gigs in mind.

  But she absolutely refused. Not only had the calendar shoot caused some personal drama in her family, she'd also been modeling so long already that it felt as if an agreement would've been the same as kissing a career in photography goodbye altogether.

  She also learned later that the reason so many agencies were contacting her with offers was that Rob had gone behind her back and sent her picture to them.

  So Emily left him, too, and didn't look back.

  “Damned straight,” Joslyn remarked, agreeing with her assessment that getting away from Rob was a good decision. “And now, you're gonna do great at your own studio with Paula.”

  “Here's hoping,” Emily replied, then grinned. “Hey, remember when we were fourteen, and wanted to do our own magazine? You'd write the articles and I'd take pictures for it.”

  “Oh my god!” Joslyn laughed. “I totally forgot about that!”

  Emily snickered, their reminiscing continuing just that way until they pulled up to a beautiful two-story house in a wooded neighborhood and parked on the side of the street.

  “This is it!”

  “Damn,” Emily drew out. “Cade and Ashley have a nice place, too.”

  Joslyn smirked, beeping the horn three times to alert everyone of their presence before exiting the car with haste.

  “Come on! I don't wanna keep everyone waiting.”

  Her sudden rush seemed strange, but Emily didn't think on it long, too busy trying to get out of the car and keep up with her to wonder—and Joslyn didn't use the front door. Instead, the brunette moved through the driveway and around the side of the house to a set of wooden stairs leading up to an elevated deck in the back.