Leopard Moon

by Jeanette Battista

  "Happy Christmas," she said, handing him the package.

  He took it from her, weighing it in his hands. "It’s obviously a book," he said, examining the wrapping and size of it. He loved to try and guess presents before he actually unwrapped them. It drove his mother crazy and now she never put his gifts out until Christmas morning so he couldn’t guess what they were in advance.

  He saw Kess roll her eyes. "Are you going to commune with it or open it?"

  "Hang on a sec." He got up, heading to his room to retrieve the small gift box he had for her. He hadn’t been sure if she would have accepted the gift which was why he had waited until now—Kess, he’d found, was funny about receiving certain kinds of gifts—but now that she’d given him something, it seemed only fitting. He flopped back down on the sofa and handed it to her.

  "Happy New Year."

  He looked at her, then tore into his present. From the shredded green paper he took out a large coffee table book. He turned it over—it was a book on modern architecture. He began flipping through the pages, noting all of the different houses, including a photograph of a Frank Lloyd Wright. He closed it after a few moments and turned to Kess who still hadn’t opened hers. "Thank you. It’s great."

  "You like it?" She was looking at him nervously. "I kept the receipt so you can take it back and get something better, if you want." He put a hand on hers to stop her babbling.

  "It’s great," he said again, meaning it. "You got me an awesome gift. Thank you." He smiled at her. "Your turn."

  She took a deep breath and began unwrapping the box. She removed the lid to find a simple silver crescent moon on a chain nestled in white cotton. Cormac had seen it and immediately thought of her; its grace, clean lines, and unadorned beauty. And the crescent moon split the difference between them: he was full moon, she was no moon. They could meet in the middle beneath the crescent moon like they’d done tonight. Made perfect sense to him.

  "It’s gorgeous," she whispered, pulling it out of the box to hold it up against the firelight. He pulled her hair up so she could fasten it. "Thank you!"

  It fell to just below her collar bones. He let her hair down, pressing a kiss between her neck and shoulder. "I’m glad you like it." He picked a pine needle out of her dark hair.

  She turned in his arms, kissing him lightly. Cormac didn't pull away and didn't push forward, letting her set the pace. He let her explore, the feel and taste and scent of him, staying as still as possible. She moved over him like water, hands skimming over his shoulders, back, chest. He closed his eyes, balling his hands into fists to resist the urge to reciprocate in kind. She needed to feel in control. He could be patient and wait while she came to terms with her brother and what he'd done.

  He leaned back against the cushions and she flowed like smoke, following him, her hair tickling his face as her lips grazed across his available skin. He let her remove his shirt, lifting his arms to help, still not touching her. This was her show to direct. Her hands were cool against his skin, despite the warmth of the fire and he shivered involuntarily. Her mouth was back on his and Cormac shifted a bit--a corner of his book was digging into his back—and she stopped, immediately pulling away. Damn.

  He sat up and removed the book, placing it gently on the coffee table. Kess was carding her fingers through her hair, face flushed. "I'm sorry," she said.

  "I'm not," he responded lightly. "That was quite enjoyable from where I was sitting."

  She shook her head angrily. "I just wanted to show you how much I liked the gift. I wish I wasn't so stupid!"

  "Whoa whoa whoa." Cormac caught her eyes to make sure she was listening. "First off, a gift with strings is not a gift worth having. I didn't expect anything when I gave you that necklace." When it looked like she didn't believe him, he said, "Did you expect something from me when you bought that book?"

  "No!" She sounded shocked and hurt. "I bought it because I wanted you to have it!"

  "So why would I be any different?"

  She looked at him ruefully. "Because you're a guy?"

  "Thanks for noticing. But I'm not that kind of guy. I don't expect sex for jewelry." Kess blushed but didn't turn away. He wondered what kind of crowd she ran with back in Miami if this was what her expectations of men were. "As for the stupid part, where'd that come from?"

  "This," she said angrily, flapping her hand at herself. "Me and my hang-ups. I like you. A lot. And I want to be with you. A lot. But I can't seem to get past being scared and then I end up thinking about things I don't want to and...it's really damn frustrating!" He might have laughed if she wasn't so serious.

  "Are you on some kind of timetable?" She quirked a brow at him, confusion clear on her face. "I'm in no hurry. You've been through some stuff and you need to work through it. I'm okay with that. We can work on it together. You can tell me when to stop and I'll listen, okay? We'll just take it one step at a time."

  He got up and pulled her with him. Slowly he walked back to his bedroom, not dropping her hand. She didn't let go, even though she hesitated at the doorway. He pulled his hand from hers, planning on going back out to the couch, when she caught it up again. "Stay with me? Just to sleep?" she whispered.

  "You sure?" He knew it was a big deal for her to even consider sleeping in the same bed with him and he didn't want her to rush anything.

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm taking a step."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Sek stretched slowly. He hadn't been sleeping well lately, uncomfortable with his memories, plagued by dreams. He had been tormented by thoughts of Kess lately, and oddly enough, their father. He wasn't sure why he was remembering his father now of all times.

  The clan was doing well. He stabilized their territory and was cementing old alliances. Now he just needed to find Kess and he'd be able to relax, to enjoy the product of his efforts. His sister belonged here, with him. He missed her beside him like he would miss a limb, she had become so much a part of him. He couldn't just wait until she was ready to return home—if ever—as his father had counseled.

  A beautiful woman slid beside him. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Zahra. One of his playthings. She had on a black leather collar adorned with a silver circle from which was attached a heavy chain. Her hands slid across his back. "Not now," he said, walking towards his office. "Business first."

  He buttoned up his shirt and tucked it into the black linen pants he wore. Time to look presentable. The werejaguars were in town from South America to check out their operation and introduce themselves properly to him. He'd known most of these men all of his life, but it was a mark of respect that they came to meet with him. But it was also a sizing up. His clan was responsible for moving and distributing what their South American cousins smuggled into the country and they would want to ensure that their cartel operations would not be disturbed by a change in leadership. He'd been overseeing most of the clan decisions for years, but they needed to see that nothing would change.

  Sek planned to prove to them that they had nothing to worry about. The rooms were set up for them after the meeting, and food, entertainment, and whatever else they might require had been provided for them. He was confident they would be happy and leave tomorrow with their concerns assuaged.

  He was flipping through an appointment book when Masud entered. Masud was one of his lieutenants, still young, but bound to Sek and his ideas to protect and strengthen the clan. Bomani was the clan leader's advisor, but when he was ready to step down, Sek planned for Masud to take his place. Sek waved for him to speak.

  "The jaguar contingent just pulled up, Sek." He paused, as if there was more he had to say.

  "What else?"

  "The investigators. They've found your sister."

  Sek sat down, taking in the words that he'd just heard. The investigators had picked up his sister’s trail in California and that had taken several months of searching. To find her this quickly again was surprising. His father had always argued that Kes
s should be free to make her own way, but Sek was never swayed by it. And now here she was again and he could finally bring her home.

  "Where?"

  "Some place in North Carolina." Masud made a vague gesture, as if the where wasn't important because it wasn't in their territory.

  He steepled his fingers and leaned them against his chin. This couldn't be attended to now. Sek knew he had matters in Miami that needed his immediate attention. But once he had those in hand, he would go and find her and bring her back to take her place at his side. Whether she wanted it or not.

  "Make sure they keep track of her." There was an edge of excitement in his voice that he had to fight to contain. "I don't want her running again without my knowing where she ends up." He had waited years for her. He could wait a few days more.

  He stood up and slapped Masud on the back. "Let's go greet our guests," he said, keeping his hand on the back of Masud's neck and leading him from the room. He felt better than he had in months.

  Kess would soon be back where she belonged: with him. And that was all that mattered.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Kess had never seen snow before. It fell past the window in Cormac's living room, where she sat safely ensconced on the sofa with a cup of tea. She had to say, she was less than thrilled by it. It looked cold. And wet. As far as she was concerned, this was as close as she wanted to get to it.

  Cormac came to sit with her, eyes still sleepy. Seeing the snow, he perked up. "Awesome!"

  "What's awesome? The snow?" Kess couldn't understand his excitement.

  He was pulling her up off the couch. "Come on, we've got to get to the Lodge."

  There went her idea of just staying inside all day. "What? Why?"

  "You'll see." He stopped and looked at her critically. "You're going to need some better clothes. We can borrow some ski gear from my sister when we get there."

  "We're going skiing?" The only skiing Kess had ever done had been the water kind.

  "I didn't say that. Get dressed in whatever's warm—Burke and Finn are probably on their way." He was smiling slyly.

  Kess debated about asking more questions, then shrugged it off. Cormac wanted to be all secretive so trying to get something out of him was going to be useless. She went back into the bedroom to find something warm to wear.

  **********

  She stood in the snow with her arms crossed over her chest. Cormac had given her a pair of his sister's old ski pants to wear over her jeans and a waterproof jacket. Kess had squeezed her feet into a pair of his mother's hiking boots, made more uncomfortable by the wool socks he'd thrust at her. At least she had her own fleece hat pulled low over her ears to keep the wind out, but otherwise, she felt ridiculous. And cold.

  Burke and Finn had arrived shortly after they did. When they saw Cormac, they all whooped and hollered and did other manly greeting things. Emmeline seemed to know what was going on and she gave Kess a brief smile before she went back to assembling a row of pot pies that were presumably going to be lunch.

  Cormac trooped over to her, leaving wide tracks in the powdery snow. It was still coming down in thick waves of flakes, but it wasn't wet, which surprised her. She ran her gloved fingers through a drift, watching the snow fly away in the slight breeze.

  "It's not the best for packing, but we're going to try this anyway." He gestured over to his cousins who seemed to be conferring about something.

  "You dragged me out here for a snowball fight?"

  "Now that would be lame. This is so much better." His grin was manic. "It's part hide and seek, part tag, and part assassin. The idea is that we all head out into the woods and then we try to take each other out. With snowballs. When you're eliminated, you head back to the Lodge."

  "So we're hunting each other?" Cormac nodded. "And then we throw snowballs?"

  "Kind of. The idea is that you track somebody and try and tag them out without letting the other players know where you are. And you can use anything at your disposal to win. The only rule is no blood, no foul."

  "You guys are insane." But she smiled. The game reminded her a little of what she and Sek and some of the other clan members did to test their hunting abilities. Weekend long games of hunting and evading. Hide and seek in the Everglades.

  "Ready? We take off and count to one hundred before we start."

  They walked over to Finn and Burke. At Burke's cue they all began their countdown, scattering into the forest. Kess ran, taking a wide path to the left, using the trees for cover. There was less snow here which made it easier to walk and left less tracks. She pulled a low pine branch loose and used it to obscure the tracks she made.

  When she reached one hundred, she stopped and took a look around. Kess had an idea of where she was in relation to the Lodge, but had no idea where any of the others might be. She tentatively sniffed the air, but all she found was cold air and the scent of pine and moist earth. That didn't mean anything; her sense of smell wasn't nearly as keen as it was when she was a leopard.

  The thought made her hesitate. Cormac did say anything at their disposal and that the only rule was not to draw blood. Did that mean that the guys would all shift into wolf form as soon as they were out of sight? She walked on a bit, working her way to the right, basically making a huge V from where she started.

  She wondered briefly what her presence was doing to the game. People liked patterns, but she was a new player; she didn't know how that would throw off the way they usually played. And she wondered if they'd gang up on her to tag her out first since she was the newbie.

  Kess had gone a few hundred yards when she decided a higher vantage point was in order. Stripping off her gloves and shoes and socks, she went over to an old pine tree that would offer her a pretty good view if she could get high enough. She tied the laces of the boots together and draped them around her neck. Letting a bit of her leopard nature come through, she triggered the change in her hands and feet. Kess pulled herself up the damp bark of the tree using her arms and legs with an assist from the claws. She stretched out along a tree limb and took a look around.

  There was movement to her right, barely there out of the corner of her eye. He was still a good distance away, but Kess could tell it was Finn by his jacket. He was bent low to the ground, moving carefully, and he was coming in her direction. He must have scented her. Kess knew that as a human, she had a scent; it was only in leopard form that she didn't, which made her much more difficult to track. But Finn hadn't changed so she felt it was a little unfair to him for her to do so.

  She had an idea. The pine trees were pretty close together here. With Finn's wolf nose, he would be able to tell that she'd gone into the trees, even be able to tell which tree she'd climbed. But would he be able to track her if she jumped from tree to tree? Her scent would be faint, if he'd be able to smell it at all. Kess might be able to surprise him. Originally Kess had planned to let herself get tagged out early and head back to where it was warm, but now she realized she wanted to win.

  She leaped from one tree to another, making an oddly shaped circle, then reversed it. She stopped when she was almost across from her original tree, sequestered against the trunk of a thick pine with heavy needles. Kess doubted Finn would be able to spot her up here, but to be safe, she reversed the jacket she wore so that the dark lining was visible instead of the rather garish purple exterior. She settled in to wait.

  Finn came toward her hiding place slowly. He stopped at the tree she climbed and said, "Here kitty, kitty." He was trying to look up base of the tree, his head bobbing and weaving trying to see into the tangle of branches and needles.

  Kess needed him closer. She untied one of the boots and lobbed it high. It hit a neighboring tree with a crackling noise and Finn spun. He ran over to it, his head up so he could scan that tree for signs of movement. She waited until he was in range, then pushed off from her branch. She dropped down like an arrow, slamming into Finn and taking them both to the ground.

  Kess gathered up some snow i
n her hand, now normal, and ground it on Finn's head. "Tag!"

  Finn lay there dazed for a few seconds and Kess climbed off of him. Her feet were freezing in the snow, but she stood there, offering him a hand up. "Ugh," He took it and she pulled him up. "You hit like a truck." He gave her an impressed grin. "Nice one."

  "You okay?" She pulled on her socks before going to find her boots.

  "Fine." He helped her shake some of the low branches of the tree and her boot came down from where it had gotten stuck. "You're pretty good for a first timer."

  She ducked her head. "Thanks." No sense in telling him it wasn't her first time doing something like this. It never hurt for people to underestimate you, although she doubted Finn would make that mistake in the future.

  "See you back at the Lodge. I didn't get anybody, so Mac and Burke may still be out there." He waved and took off while Kess was still pulling on her boots.

  So that left two. Kess continued moving to the right of where she'd started, keeping eyes and ears open for anyone nearby. The woods were silent, the snow muting everything, including her footsteps. She came across some faint tracks--wolf prints--but these were almost filled up with snow. She kept going, cautious now.

  She walked another few hundred yards and squatted down. The snow here showed signs of a struggle. Bare patches of earth were showing through the accumulated snow and everything looked kind of churned up. She searched the surrounding area, but couldn't find anything else that would tell her what had happened. Obviously it had to do with Cormac and Burke, and one of them had to go back to the Lodge, but which one?

  Kess stood back up, dusting snow off of her. She did a slow sweep of the area but again found nothing. Something was prickling her senses; she felt like she was being watched, but it could also be her imagination. The quiet was getting a little freaky. Feeling exposed, she left the area, moving further along the path she'd set herself. She'd only gone a couple of yards when she saw a jacket lying against the base of some rocks.