Leopard Moon

by Jeanette Battista

  She walked over to it, eyes narrowed for the slightest sign of something off. It was Cormac's jacket, but there weren't any other clothes lying around and no wolf prints to indicate someone had pulled a change. So where was he hiding?

  Kess felt the hair back on her neck standing on end and her instincts told her someone was near. She was halfway through turning around when she got a faceful of snow. She goggled at Cormac as he came completely out of the drift, shedding snow in all directions.

  "Tag!"

  Kess wiped the melting snow from her face. She hadn't even noticed the huge drift next to the rocks. She'd walked right past it, focused on the jacket and a possible attack from the tree line. It was an inventive strategy, hiding himself in the snow. "That was impressive. Is that how you got Burke?"

  Cormac stepped out of the snowbank and snagged his jacket. "Nah. I'm having to be more creative since I can't change. I actually thought I 'd get Finn with this." Cormac's punishment for breaking pack law was that he wasn't allowed to change into wolf form for the next month. Kess knew how hard that was for him--it was like having half of yourself locked away just out of reach.

  "He's back at the Lodge." She brushed some snow out of her hair.

  "You got him?" She nodded. "Cool! How'd you do it?"

  "Jumped out of a tree on him and smashed his face in the snow."

  "Nice."

  "That's what he said." She began to walk back, the cold getting to her now that the game was over. "What do you get since you won?"

  Cormac took her hand. "Just bragging rights until the next snow. They'll be gunning for me next time."

  Kess glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He seemed so relaxed right now and very pleased with himself. She realized she had enjoyed herself—the game had been fun. She was actually hoping that she might get the chance to play it again.

  "Thanks for bringing me along," she told him. "I had fun."

  He dropped a kiss on her head and didn't say anything.

  *********

  It was almost full dark when they got back to Cormac's cabin. Kess was tired from the running around and fresh air and worn out from the cold. They'd gone back out after lunch for a real snowball fight. Cormac's sister, Lenore, joined them, so they tried to keep it relatively low key. It still degenerated into a free-for-all with everyone chucking snow wildly at anyone who moved. They mostly just got wet since the snowballs tended to break apart before they even hit anybody, so it looked like a low level blizzard was occurring in the Lodge's front yard.

  All she wanted to do was lie down. Her belly was full of Emmeline's stellar potpie and apple cobbler. She just needed a blazing fire and the couch and then she expected she would be unconscious before she even got her shoes off.

  She made a nest of blankets on the couch while Cormac got to work on the fire. Kess liked watching him set it up—it almost seemed like a kind of ritual to her. It only took a few minutes before flames were licking at the kindling and he came to join her. She moved so he could spread out and get comfortable, then let him pull her down on his chest.

  "What did you think of your first snow?" His voice rumbled against her ear.

  "Cold. But fun." She bit back a yawn. She heard his laughter in his chest.

  "You're going to have to get over this whole cold thing if you're going to stay." She tensed and she knew he could feel it. He raised his head up to look at her. "You are going to stay, right?"

  Kess burrowed the side of her face against him. She hadn't thought about it. Things were going so well with her life right now. She had friends, a job she liked, and him. She hadn't wanted to spoil the time she had here thinking of anything else. In the back of her head though, she'd always had the countdown clock going, ticking off the days on a calendar until she would need to put her back to this place and these people and find someplace new. It was a habit, ingrained in her, like brushing her teeth before bed.

  But now that he put the question to her, Kess did want to stay. She was tired of running. She'd found a good place here, even if it did suffer from cold winters. For the first time in a long time she felt happy. She didn't want to give that up.

  "Kess?"

  She met his eyes and saw fear there. Sitting up, she gathered the blanket around her shoulders and answered him honestly. "I don't know. I want to stay here—stupid cold weather or not—but I don't know if I can. My father and brother are probably still looking for me." If she could just figure out a way around the investigators, she might be able to stay.

  Cormac lifted his hand and brushed a stray hair away from her face. "But you do want to stay?" His voice was soft, unsure.

  She looked at him then, full on so he could see she meant what she said. "More than anything."

  He pulled her down to him, eyes bright. Her lips met his in a frenzy of longing and impatience. Kess gave herself over to the sensations of his hands on her body, of his own beneath hers and to the exhilarating pleasure of his kisses. Cormac drove thoughts of running and cold and fear from her head until she could think of nothing but his mouth and his touch and, damn it, reality could just wait until she was ready for it to begin again….

  **********

  Kess awoke slowly. The fire had died, leaving the living room in darkness. They were sprawled on the sofa: Kess rested on top of him, held tight in one of his arms. His other arm hung over the edge, resting palm up against the floor. She sat up, looking at him like she never would if he were aware. His face, so expressive when awake, was smooth as he slept, the strong bones of his cheek and jaw and brow more visible to her somehow now that his eyes weren’t distracting her. Kess ghosted a finger along his cheekbone, following it up to his temple. He looked younger in his sleep and unguarded. She had always thought he was very open, but here he looked positively vulnerable. She almost felt the leopard part of her raise its head as though scenting quarry and she shushed it.

  With a sigh, she rested her cheek against the crook of his neck, her head on his shoulder. He smelled like moonlit woods and coffee. She breathed him in, wishing they could stay like this forever, where her brother could never touch them. Cormac's arms wrapped around her and he shifted in his sleep, so that his back was on the outside and she was nestled between him and the couch's back cushions.

  She listened to the metronome of his heartbeat, his breathing steady and slow. He was like earth, solid and unbending and strong. Kess felt safe here, and grounded like she'd never been before. He'd given her that. She had been honest when she said she wanted more than anything to stay. The where was immaterial, so long as she was with him.

  Kess closed her eyes, listening to his heart beat in the darkness for a long time before sleep claimed her again. And when she dreamed, it wasn't of a nightmare house on the water in Miami. It was of laughter in the winter woods and a snowball catching her in the face.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Sek stared out the window of the large mountain house he'd rented. Snow was melting but it was still bitterly cold out. How on earth Kess could stand it up here was beyond him. It was wet and cold and very, very brown. He suspected that was exactly why his sister had stopped in this shitty little town far from anything resembling reasonable society; it would be the last place he'd think to look for her.

  It had only taken him a few days to put everything in order: securing the mountain house, arranging plane tickets and rental cars, choosing the wereleopards who could be trusted to accompany him. Throughout that time he'd worried that she would take off again for parts unknown. He knew he shouldn’t have been too concerned--he’d had the investigator stick a tracking device on her car--but his sister had proven remarkably adept at eluding him. He’d tried to keep her from the less savory side of the clan’s business dealings, but perhaps something had rubbed off on her anyway. If it hadn’t infuriated him so much, he’d have been proud of her.

  His mood vacillated between relief and anger and excitement. He was so close to bringing her home now, so close to seeing her that it made h
im impatient. Then he would remember the morning he’d found her gone, the betrayal and hurt he’d felt, and the anger would roil his insides. He fought it down, but it was simmering beneath the calm façade he carefully maintained. Bomani watched him cautiously, making it clear that he had to remain in control of himself.

  That infuriated him too, but for a different reason. He hated feeling like he was being managed, but that was exactly what he thought Bomani was trying to do. The clan counselor had advised him to wait, but Sek had ignored him. He'd left the territory in good hands, even if it meant he wasn't traveling with as large a contingent as he would have liked. Sek could feel Bomani watching him while they were up here, constantly appearing out of thin air to check on him when Sek wanted to be most alone. There were times Sek thought he’d grind his teeth to nubs fighting off the need to lash out at Bomani to leave the counselor bloody or worse.

  He'd been laying low since he and his people had driven up the mountain, trying to scope out the town and surrounding areas. Sek's investigators had tracked her to this area and had informed him of her routines. He'd wanted to immediately confront Kess when he arrived, but had been afraid that he would act too rashly and she'd elude him again.

  Anger flared in him again, at the possibility of her continued defiance. He wasn’t a monster, but her continued running away from him pushed him past the bounds of patience and there was a part inside him that wanted to punish her--to hurt her in the same way she’d hurt him. The way she continued to hurt him. It warred with the side that wanted to be kind and understanding of her fear, and he managed to throttle it down somewhat, but it was still there, waiting. He had indulged in some of those darker impulses with Zahra over the past weeks in an effort to check those desires when he saw Kess and he could only hope it was enough.

  At the thought of Zahra, he frowned. He hadn’t been gentle with his toy before he left. He had let his anger at Kess cloud his judgment and had pushed the girl, who had been high on gods alone knew what, past her own endurance of pain and pleasure at once. It both pleased and repelled him that he had broken her irrevocably, but he thought it for the best in the long run. With Kess returning with him, he wouldn’t have need of such playthings again.

  He grabbed a jacket and let himself out into the frigid air. He wanted to see her, just catch a glimpse of her. He needed to get an idea of her movements for himself, so that he could approach her when she would be alone and willing to listen to him. The town wasn't that big; he was fairly sure that with what he knew of her routine, he'd be able to find her and observe her for a time.

  He pulled the black H-2 into a parking lot a few blocks away from the restaurant where she worked and walked the rest of way. The car was not what anyone would call inconspicuous, and he didn't want to tip his hand too early. He walked slowly, wondering what Kess saw in this place. He wasn't sure if she'd be working--the investigators said that she didn't work a set schedule--but it wouldn't hurt to check.

  He was crossing the front parking lot when he saw Kess. She was walking a tall young man out the front door of the restaurant. Sek felt every muscle in his body tense and he crouched down next to a nearby car. He saw them walk around the side of the building, heading towards another parking lot around the back of the property. They were close to each other, too close, and Sek saw that they held hands.

  The breath froze in his throat. He watched in horror as the kid leaned down and kissed his sister--his Kess--on the mouth. Kess wrapped her arms around his neck, returning his kiss and Sekhmet had to fight not to rush out and eviscerate the two of them right then. He dropped against the side of the car and squeezed his eyes shut until he saw white spots dance against the blackness of his eyelids. When he opened them again, both Kess and that boy were gone.

  He wandered back to his car, his mind full of the image of Kess kissing a stranger. Sek had been killing himself trying to find her, driving himself crazy with thoughts of her in his head day and night. He'd killed his father because of her. And here she was, making out and being pawed by some random guy like she was some kind of whore.

  His hands shook as he started the car, making it difficult to drive back to the cabin. Sek pulled the car back into the drive and sat for a moment in the silence. He had originally planned to bring her home with a minimum of fuss, but after what he'd just witnessed, he thought that his sister might need a reminder of what constituted proper behavior. It was time to teach her a very harsh lesson.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  It had been a very slow night at the Barn so far. It was January now, the month when everyone stayed inside, recuperating from the holidays and waiting for spring. Kess also blamed the lack of customers on the weather, a wet drearily cold night that nobody in their right mind would want to be out in. She had gone to the back to get some window cleaner and towels, thinking she could get a head start on wiping down all of the glass surfaces, when the hostess found her.

  "I just sat a two-top in your section. Table sixteen."

  Kess checked her watch. It was close to 9:30. Her boyfriend--she still had to resist the urge to laugh with delight when she thought of getting to have a boyfriend like Cormac--would be coming to wait for her soon, but with the kitchen this slow she figured she could have them out of here in an hour, unless they decided to camp. She put back the cleaning supplies and headed to the dining room. She grabbed a couple of waters for them and headed over to table sixteen.

  It was a round table, set back from the noise and bustle of the rest of the restaurant. It was one of the more private tables, and it was usually reserved for couples on a date or the odd person dining alone who wanted some quiet. She was halfway to the table when she faltered. She could see the men sitting there. One was broad-shouldered and tall, his face the dark tan of a man who lived in the tropics. He was dressed in a black suit, custom tailored, and worth a small fortune. He was Bomani, advisor to the wereleopard clan leader.

  The second man was her brother.

  Sek looked as he always did: sleek, well-fed, and very dangerous. He had her bone structure and the same dark hair, but his eyes were the almost black of their father. He was handsome in the way a sword was—well-made and deadly and not something you wanted to find yourself on the wrong end of.

  They hadn't seen her yet and she backed away quickly. Her pulse was pounding at her temples, as if she'd just run a race, and she felt like she was going to throw up. She managed to put the water glasses down before she dropped them, then she leaned against the kitchen wall and tried not to slide down it. She was out of sight for now, but the voice in her head was screaming at her to run, to get away, to hide again before Sek found her. But she couldn't seem to do any more than shake so hard she had to wrap her arms around herself to try and keep from falling apart. She heard a clacking sound and realized it was her teeth chattering.

  Kess remembered the last time she had seen her brother. She'd been in her room, looking through college brochures, trying to decide where her future would take her. She was ready to be out on her own, to gain a little distance from her family. She'd been home schooled for the past two years and she missed the freedom of going somewhere other than her house for school. Her tutors had been excellent, but she was sixteen now and wanted the chance to stretch her legs. And she wanted to be away from her brother's attempts to control her life.

  She felt the bed dip with the weight of someone sitting on it. Sek sat there, having come in from the French doors that led out to the pool. He had closed them behind him, cutting off the breeze. She frowned as she looked at her older brother. He’d been moody a lot lately, switching between highly infectious good humor and violent rages followed by bouts of sullen depression. She wasn’t sure what to expect.

  "Don’t you knock?" she asked, rolling back over to continue sifting through the information packets.

  He lay down on his stomach next to her, picking up forms and glossy flyers idly and tossing them aside. "I can’t believe you’re thinking of leaving me."

&nb
sp; "It’s just college, Sek." She rolled her eyes. Over-dramatic was the order of the day. "I’ll be back."

  "I’ve told Father you should attend U of M. He’s told me he can make some arrangements."

  "That’s great, except I don’t know if I want to stay here for school." She was irritated. He'd gotten increasingly weirder in the last couple of years, more possessive and strange. He’d gotten more erratic since his own change hit, but now Sek was always trying to make decisions for her and it was driving her nuts. She wasn’t his toy to move around like he wanted. He’d been worse about it recently, especially since her own change happened. She was pretty sure it had been his suggestion to their father that she be homeschooled. He kept tabs on her when she went out with friends, sometimes showing up to take her home well before she was ready to go. She knew he loved her and worried about her safety, but he was smothering her. On the few times she had snuck out without him knowing, he’d been furious.

  "What have you been up to all day?" Kess decided changing the subject to something Sek was interested in would derail any further talk of school. "More meetings?"

  Sek grinned, eyes glinting in the light from her reading lamp. "Research actually."

  "More leopard stuff?" Her brother had been fixated of late on finding out where their clan of wereleopards might have originated. It seemed a little weird and unnecessary to Kess, but it was keeping him busy and sort of out of her hair.

  He nodded. "Egypt is looking more and more likely. Maybe even descended from the followers of Bast." He grinned at her. "How'd you like to be a goddess, little sister?"