Hunter's Moon (The Witch Who Sang with Wolves Book 1)

by Kat Bostick

  Just as the man noticed her, Mari opened her mouth in song. It was a short nasally song that she sang to baby plants in the spring to encourage growth and strength. The dark haired man sprang up and stood defensively, his eyes wide in surprise. This guy wasn’t nearly as tall as Henrick but he still had a good thirty pounds on Mari. If he got close enough to knock her weapon away and grab her, he could definitely restrain her.

  “Hello, Mariella. We’ve been looking for you. Have you come to meet with the luminary? How did you find us?”

  Mari ignored him, her attention wholly on the undulation of magic coming from her throat. When he took a step toward her, she raised the bolt cutters and swung them threateningly. He lifted appeasing hands. Then, catching her off guard, he lunged for the desk where, Mari noticed too late, Henrick had apparently set his gun down.

  He never made it that far. With a grunt the other wizard landed face first on the concrete. Behind him, dandelions wiggled and writhed, reshaping themselves into thick vines that wrapped around his ankles and calves.

  “I had no idea I could do that.” Her surprised gaping quickly turned into a brief victory dance. Being a true witch was freakin’ awesome.

  Blood trickled from the wizard’s nose and a spot on his forehead where it smacked the concrete. Mari almost apologized for hurting him but Jasper’s snarling reminded her that she had nothing to be sorry for. This man could have been the one to burn down her house. He could have hurt Gran.

  Instead of apologizing, she kicked him as hard as she could in the ribs. Unfortunately she forgot that she was barefoot. The kick probably hurt them equally.

  “Wait, Sowka!” He begged when Mari reached for the gun on the desk. “Hear us out. You’re powerful. You need a coven. My luminary wants to teach you.”

  “Is that why you burned down my house?”

  “Why would we burn down your house if our intention is to win your favor?”

  “You tell me.” Mari took the grip of the gun with her fingertips. She’d never touched a gun before. It was much heavier and much scarier than she thought it would be. “Is this thing loaded?”

  “Yes, with one dose. Please, it’s for a large animal. You could kill me with a dose that big.” He attempted to lift his hands up in surrender but the vines made their way to his arms, trapping them at his side.

  “A tranquilizer gun?” Okay that wasn’t a big of deal. Just don’t point it at herself or Jasper and she’d be fine.

  Mari turned her back to him and was about to crouch beside the cage when he said “She’s like you. Our luminary is the only one like you. Don’t you want to know more about your power? No one else can teach you.”

  For all that it offended Mari when Gran suggested she would be manipulated by the ambitions of power hungry coven sisters, she realized in that moment her grandmother’s wariness was not without reason. A lifetime of ravening want for knowledge became a living creature inside of her and it nearly took the reins with those three simple words: “She’s like you.” No one was like Mari and that was why she belonged with no one, to no one. None had accepted her and this luminary would without even knowing her?

  Tricky wizard almost got her. He might have caused Gran’s death, burned down her house, and without doubt, kidnapped Jasper and yet, Mari still considered his words. Then she remembered the feel of losing control to someone else. She remembered lying in the grass, kicking uselessly as arms pinned her there. Henrick might not have touched her but his magic left the same slimy residue on her soul.

  “I will never join a luminary who would steal the will of others.”

  The wizard continued pleading his case but Mari blocked out the sound and knelt to study the cage. Thick steel bars surrounded Jasper and a heavy chain wound around his neck. The chain stretched out of the cage to attach to a metal platform that was bolted to the ground.

  “Are you okay?” She wanted nothing more than to reach her hand through the bars and run fingers through fur to prove to herself that he was alive, that her earlier grief for him was premature, but she could do that much better if he was free and Henrick wasn’t due back any second.

  Jasper jerked his snout in the direction of the latch on the cage where another padlock blocked the channel for the latch.

  “Alexander, did you forget the lock on the door again?” Henrick’s voice boomed from the back room.

  “Come on lock, please break!” Mari squeezed the bolt cutter handles together as hard as she could. The metal finally gave and she quickly shimmied the broken padlock out.

  “How did you—Oh! Mari! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Henrick came running up behind her. “I’m afraid I can’t let you open that cage.”

  Mari dropped the bolt cutters and clumsily grabbed the gun. She whipped around and pointed it at the advancing wizard. “Stop or I’ll shoot you.”

  He slowed and put his hands up but didn’t stop. “Listen, little bird. We want to help you.”

  “I said stop!” She barked. “Did you really think that burning down my house was going to convince me to join your coven? I want nothing to do with you or any luminary that does this to anyone.” Mari motioned to the cage with her chin.

  Henrick rolled on the soles of his feet and came to a halt about thirty feet from her. “You don’t know the fully history of our kind—of your kind. There is a reason you are drawn to that creature and it’s not because it cares for. Lyse can explain. She’ll be here soon.”

  Distantly, Mari could feel the magic that she sang to life in the plants fading. Soon Alexander would be free and she would be outnumbered. The fear from earlier rose up in her chest like a big fat panic balloon. Was she really going to shoot someone with a potentially fatal dose?

  “I know enough.”

  “It’s not what it seems, fledgling. Let us teach you. Let Lyse tell you how she plans to make us strong again.” Henrick purred.

  Mari was interested in learning how he managed to cast without speaking a spell aloud, especially while focusing on a conversation. The excessive sweetness from whatever magic he used to charm her before permeated the air. Unfortunately for him, the spell didn’t seem to have the impact it was supposed to. Instead of feeling that giggly, girlish attraction toward Henrick, she felt it drawing her toward Jasper again.

  Mari cocked her head and smiled foolishly at the red wolf.

  In a flash, Henrick lunged forward, snapping her out of her stupor. He didn’t advance forward like Mari anticipated, darting to the side instead. She almost pulled the trigger before she caught his trick. She also noticed his lips moving with a murmured incantation. Mari had no idea what other magic he was capable of and didn’t want to find out.

  Henrick bobbed from side to side, moving ever closer. Jasper snarled and pushed against the cage door. Mari reached behind her with one hand and tried to pull the latch back but it was stuck. And even if she did release him, Jasper was still chained to the floor and obviously suffering the effects of drugs. Mari did the only thing she could do; aimed at Henrick’s chest and fired. At first she thought she missed until she noticed the fluffy feather at the end of a syringe dangling from his side.

  “You’re making this unnecessarily difficult!” Henrick yelled.

  Mari expected him to abruptly collapse but clearly she’d been watching too many movies. Henrick yanked the dart from his side and barreled towards her. It was probably too much to hope that he would simply keel over instantly, anyway. At least he’d given up on the spell and gone for the brute force method. The guy might be big but big would be slow.

  Mari jumped to her feet with bolt cutters in hand. Concentration drowned out the angry sound of a caged wolf trying to break free. This time, she would defend herself, even if it meant killing someone. When Henrick was close, she decided the best place to hit him and danced right into his reach.

  He swept his arms out to lock around her. They were very long arms and if Mari hadn’t executed the perfect duck—thank you kickboxing videos— he definitely woul
d have caught her. But she positioned her right foot forward, bent her knees, and ducked low beneath his left arm. Then, still crouching, she swung the bolt cutters at his knee cap. A painful shockwave hit her wrists but she clung to the tool for dear life.

  Henrick crumpled with a cry. Mari never wanted to hear the sound of metal hitting bone again. Though he was obviously in agonizing pain and flagging from the tranquilizer dart, he dragged his body upward to grip her ankles. For one panicked moment, Mari stared at the man restraining her and saw only Jacob’s face. A full blown anxiety attacked roiled in her belly like storm clouds off a raging sea. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe.

  She heard her own voice chastising her. How had she let herself become one of those girls? How had she let her guard down so thoroughly for someone she barely knew? Though she struggled against his hold, it was feeble and lacking the strength she knew she possessed because deep down, Mari had resigned herself to what was happening. There was no escaping that cruel boy with his false smile.

  Metal groaned under the strain of muscle smashing into it and she snapped her head up, ripped from the panic the way Jacob was ripped from her body that night. Jasper didn’t have room to gain momentum but he was trying to throw his body against the side of the cage. If he continued that way, he would bend the latch and make it impossible for her to open that door.

  She did escape that night and she would again.

  “Take your hands off me.” She ordered.

  “You should be with your kind, not running around with animals. They exist to serve us.” Henrick groaned.

  Mari wrenched her right leg away when she felt his grip weaken and propelled her heel into his face. Henrick slumped down, releasing her. Streaks of red rimmed the whites around his cobalt irises as they silently pleaded with her. He was unmoving but for the slightest rise and fall of his chest, his struggle against the drug lost. She forced her gaze upward, unable to stomach the sight of his death.

  “Jasper, stop!” she shouted, leaping over the prone man and hurrying back to the cage.

  The latch took two hands to pull back and even then, she scraped her palms bloody tugging on the bent metal. Jasper tumbled out of the cage, knocking both of them to the ground. He frantically snuffled around her but she pushed him back. They would have time to take stock of each other later.

  “Hold still, I need to get this chain off.”

  That proved an impossible task. She squeezed the bolt cutters in the middle of the chain as hard as she could but no amount of pressure would break it. She tried again further down with no success. Finally she managed to pry the U-shaped hook out of its steel nest instead.

  “I’ll get it off as soon as we’re somewhere safe.” Mari promised.

  Jasper blinked at her, clearly woozy. When she took off running with the long end of the chain in her hands, she nearly yanked him off his feet. They switched to a slower pace, causing her adrenaline to spike again. She had to get Jasper out of the building and all the way to her car parked at the other end of the strip and at this speed, it felt like it would take hours. Behind her, Alexander continued shouting and struggling. Mari knew that any second he’d be untethered and coming after them.

  No one pursued them when they charged through the swinging doors and raced to the loading dock. Though Mari was sure she could feel the heat of breath on her nape and hear the pounding of feet behind them, they were alone.

  In her haste she forgot her flip flops. The concrete was littered with gravel and broken glass that sliced into her soles but she didn’t slow. She ran as fast as Jasper could keep up with until the Corolla was in sight. Mari shoved him into the back. The tires shrieked beneath the car when she slammed into reverse and flew into the parking lot.

  The cell phone perched in the cup holder was ringing. The tinkling music stopped only for a brief second before starting again. A glance at the screen showed Dad’s stern face glaring up at her. How many times had he called in the last hour? She couldn’t answer now. They had to get away from this Lyse and her coven before Mari could quell his worries. Hers were currently far greater.

  She turned the opposite direction that she’d driven from, down the forested road leading away from northeast Klein. Ideally she would take the highway but for all she knew, the police were searching for her after she fled this morning. Until she was outside of Klein city limits, Mari would stick to back roads and do her best to lay low.

  “Jasper?” His name left her mouth in meek exhale, barely audible.

  All energy and bravery drained from her body and she wanted reassurance that he couldn’t give her. They were those same lost souls as the day they met, only now they were adrift with no guaranteed sanctuary on the horizon. It occurred to Mari more than once that she was in over her head but the funny thing about drowning was that you didn’t know you were until suddenly your lungs couldn’t draw in air. It was too late to claw her way back to the surface. She was in too deep to even know which way was up.

  Jasper heaved his head onto the center console and licked her elbow. Such a silly, small gesture, yet she had to press her lips together to hold back the sob that wanted to escape. The time for crying would come later. The time to call Dad would come later too. Everything was on hold but escape and survival. With tears burning her eyes, Mari gulped down her dread, her fear, her throbbing grief, and any other useless emotion until anger was all that remained.

  “What did you think you were doing, growling at me like that?” She pinched Jasper’s ear. “I told you I was coming back for you. I keep my promises.”

  Chapter 21

  Mari

  They drove for over half an hour before Mari was forced to stop for gas. After that she continued at the fastest possible pace without breaking speed limits until they were safely coasting down the two lane road into Chippewa National Forest. Once inside the national forest boundary, Mari turned into the first recreation area she spied.

  Though there were caravans of cars and RVs on the main road, the tiny picnic area at the end of the two mile turn off was empty. Mari positioned the Corolla as far out of view as she could, making sure the woods lined up with the passenger side so she and Jasper could hide behind the car when they got out.

  Whatever sedative Henrick used was either not enough for a wolf Jasper’s size or didn’t last nearly as long as Mari anticipated. The second the car was in park, Jasper scrambled over the seat and onto Mari. She yelped when claws left red trails on her bare arm. He licked the scrape apologetically then proceeded to rain wolf kisses across her face.

  “I know, I know, but can we please get out of the car first?” Mari slipped out of her door and hurried to open his.

  Once they were no longer cramped in the front seat, she wrapped her arms around his neck as tight as she could without strangling him. Actually, a loud hacking sound let her know that she had been strangling him, just a little.

  “I’m so sorry I left you. We should have stayed together. I won’t leave you again.” She promised herself she wasn’t going to cry but her eyes were moist as she huddled on the ground next to him.

  For a shattered moment, she genuinely believed him to be dead. Until she felt the chasm that opened in her chest, threatening to swallow her heart and with it all of the light left in her devastated world, Mari hadn’t realized just how much she’d come to care about Jasper.

  There was a new type of terror taking root in her psyche with that realization, one that loudly insisted it was foolish to give her love to anyone. It grew from a quiet seed that burrowed deep inside the mind of a lonely, motherless girl, only now given the right conditions to germinate.

  Jasper felt like all she had left. She might never be able to return to Klein, not permanently. Even if she did, Dad had no interest in her beyond avoiding his own guilt. The rift between her and Aubrey was growing ever wider and Samuel was gone. Her big brother was building his own life with a new family, just as Dad did when they were children. Without Gran, what reason did Mari have to
continue living the way she was before? Why would she ever go back and try to be that person again?

  But what would she do if she lost Jasper too? The ache of that emptiness already burdened her and it hadn’t even happened. Suddenly Mari was dizzy with fear and uncertainty. The only option she had now was to seek out Jasper’s pack, solidifying her uncomfortable need for him.

  Jasper wiggled his neck out of her chokehold and rubbed his jaw along her cheek. When he got to her chin he nipped it swiftly, drawing her out of her rapid spiral into emotional turmoil.

  “Are you serious?” She pouted at him, teary eyed apologies forgotten. He gave her a stern look and curled his lip on one side. Mari understood admonishment when she was receiving it. “I think what you meant to say was ‘thank you, Mari, for saving my hairy hiney.’ Oh, you’re welcome. You’re right, I did kick wizard ass.”

  He huffed and impatiently pawed at the chain. Right, that probably wasn’t the most comfortable piece of jewelry. Mari leaned back into the car to retrieve the bolt cutters then looked for a good spot on his neck to try them.

  Two minutes later, she was cursing under her breath and trying to shake the pain out of her already bloodied hands. She’d squeeze the bolt cutters so hard that her palms cramped and still, nothing. It had been nearly impossible to get the cutters on the length around his neck without hurting him but even when she did, they wouldn’t give. After several failed attempts, Mari tried to cut the end of the chain, wondering if perhaps her bolt cutters had become dull.

  It wasn’t an exceptionally thick chain. In fact, it was thinner than what she would have used on a werewolf. Frustrated, she chucked the bolt cutters aside and began running her fingers along the links. There had to be clasp or something. How did they get it on him in the first place? It was far too tight to have slipped over his head. The chain connected directly under Jasper’s throat as if someone fused it together with heat. No way had they done that while it was on him without burning a single strand of fur.