Harvest Moon (26 page)

“It’s the mate bond. We become one and the wound turns into a scar. You should be fully healed within an hour.”

“But I won’t change into a wolf?”

He shook his head. “Not until next month.”

“When will I have the heightened senses?”

He shrugged. “It’s different for everyone. Some people notice their hearing is better right away, and some have an enhanced sense of smell. Most of the time your strength and speed is increased within the first twenty-four hours.”

I stared into the darkness, waiting for X-ray vision to kick in. Would I be able to tell that I could see farther than before? I opened and closed my hand, marveling at how quickly the wound was healing.

“I hope it kicks in fast for me. Tomorrow is going to be tricky with those guys watching for us at the airport.”

Jason took my hand. “I didn’t claim you and change you so you could protect me from one of your visions.” His gaze searched mine. “I’m serious. Just because you’re a werewolf now doesn’t make you indestructible. A bullet or a stab wound will kill one of us just like any human. I need you to be safe.”

“And I need that for you, too.” I broke eye contact, staring at the moonlight sparkling on the water. “Maybe we should just stay here? We could try to wait them out.”

Jason tossed a pebble into the pond, sending out ripples of light. “We need the Pack if we’re going to keep you and your grandmother away from Nero. If we stay and hide out here, they’ll just send a larger team and we’d be outnumbered.”

I hadn’t thought of that angle. I rolled my head, hoping to get the buzzing in my ears to stop. “Have you warmed up to Grandma Nani’s scented-oil plan?”

“No. If I can’t track him, he could sneak up on us without warning.”

I sighed, staring up at the stars like they might have the answer. “Do you have a different plan to get through the airport without them spotting us?”

“I do, but you’re not going to like it.”

Every muscle in my body tensed. I crossed my arms over my chest. “What did you have in mind?”

“Damian is a jaguar shifter. He’s familiar with our scent, but he doesn’t know you’re a wolf now. He and his team will be after me. If I’m out of the picture, getting to you should be simple. They don’t know you’re more than human. That’s our ace in the hole. I can distract him and get him chasing my scent, while you and your grandmother get on the plane. Tell the gate agents she needs early boarding, and I’ll meet you guys on the flight.”

“Split up?” My brain short-circuited for a second. I shook my head, stuttering. “N-No. No, there’s no way… No. He’ll kill you. I’ve seen it.”

“He won’t. I’ll be ready for that. I won’t let him get close enough. As long as he chases me, you and Nani can get on that plane.”

“There’s got to be a better way.”

He raised a brow. “I’m listening.”

I got up and dusted off my backside.

“Where are you going?”

“My hand is healed. I’m going back to the cabin. Grandma Nani might be able to help.”

He stood, but he looked less than convinced.

“I’m serious. She knew what you were without us telling her anything, right? She’s a strong Kahuna. Don’t doubt the power of our ancestors on these islands. They protect her.”

C
andles flickered in the tiny living room. Grandma Nani sat on a woven bamboo mat with her legs crossed. Her eyes opened the moment I stepped inside. “What have you done, mynah bird?”

I frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She was on her feet much faster than I expected, biting into her lower lip. Without a word, she grabbed my hands, quickly running her finger along my new scar.

“Maybe I should be asking Jason.”

She let go of me and muscled past to get into Jason’s personal space. He was so much taller than her, she had to tip her head all the way back. She looked like she was trying to see into space. I gnawed at the inside of my cheek. This seemed like a really bad time for inappropriate giggles.

“What did you do to my granddaughter?”

He raised a brow. “Your granddaughter is my mate, but I think you already knew that when we arrived.”

“Kilani was still human, Kahuna magic in her bloodstream. You’ve tainted her.” She swatted his arm, clearly not intimidated by his size or the fact he was a huge wolf less than an hour ago. “I never got to train her. She doesn’t understand the powers she possessed. Now she will
never
know.”

He ground his teeth together, his nostrils flaring, but he kept his voice even and controlled. “Becoming a werewolf, and being my mate, has
not
tainted her. Kilani is stronger now, her senses heightened. Our bite doesn’t change who she was, it just adds to her abilities.”

She narrowed her eyes and spun around to face me. Clutching my wrist, she pulled me into the modest kitchen area. A pot bubbled on her two-burner stovetop.

“Smell this, mynah bird.”

I leaned closer, took a deep breath, and coughed, stumbling backward. The room tilted as I slid down the wall.

“Are you insane?” Jason yelled somewhere in the distance. “What did you do to her?”

He was beside me. I couldn’t see him, but…I recognized his scent. My sense of smell was heightened. Whatever Grandma Nani had in her pot, the effect must have intensified with my new werewolf blood changing me.

I floated, weightless somehow, struggling to identify the scents that assaulted me. Seaweed…rainbow eucalyptus bark…and…popolo, Black nightshade.

“Popolo.” I opened my eyes, squinting at the candlelight. Apparently my vision was now enhanced, too, and thanks to my grandmother’s concoction, my pupils had to be the size of quarters. “Seaweed, rainbow eucalyptus, and nightshade. You knew it would knock me out.”

“Only if you still had my blood in your veins.” Grandma Nani knelt down, examining my eyes. “I didn’t realize your new abilities would increase the potency. It should have made you dizzy, not leave you knocked out on my floor.”

Jason scooped me up and carried me around my grandmother over to the loveseat. He held me in his arms even after he sat down, but his gaze was locked on Grandma Nani.

“You could have hurt her with your little test.”

She took her favorite chair. “Only if I had used the green nightshade berries. They were ripe. There was no real danger.” She sighed, staring at her hands. “I owe you an apology. It surprised me when the wind whispered that Kilani was changed. I thought she was lost to me.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been lost for more than ten years.” Part of me wanted to reel the words back in, but Grandma Nani didn’t seem fazed. Apparently it was going to take some time for the abandoned girl inside of me to heal.

She lifted her head. “I always believed you’d come back when you were ready and I would teach you our ways. You are my only grandchild with gifts. The last of my line. Every generation there are fewer of us left. If we don’t pass down our legacy, the Kahuna magic will be lost.”

“But you just proved she’s still got it, right?” Jason loosened his hold on me so I could sit beside him.

“Yes.” The candlelight flickered in Grandma Nani’s dark eyes. “And I will need her magic to help us get to the mainland.”

Jason and I glanced at each other and back to her. “You have a way to get us into the airport without being spotted?”

She smiled and nodded. “We will make it rain.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

J
ASON

“R
ain?” I raked my hands through my hair. “How exactly is that going to help?”

Nani scooted forward, perched on the edge of her chair. “They can’t get weapons past the security checkpoint, so they must wait for us outside the airport. If we make a downpour, the water will keep your scent from traveling and alerting them, and everyone will be covered with umbrellas.”

I sat back, pondering her idea. “That could work.”

I wished we could just fly from Maui into the Honolulu airport and switch planes, but no doubt Nero had connections to check the manifest. They’d be waiting for us to land. We’d be sitting ducks. But our plan to fly into a smaller airport and drive over to the Honolulu International Airport was far from perfect. The lesser of two evils.

Kilani popped her bare foot out from under her and leaned in. “We could stay together under umbrellas. They’d never spot us.”

“Maybe not outside, but we’d be vulnerable inside waiting in the security line. We can’t wander around a busy airport with our umbrellas open.”

“If they come in, they risk being caught on security cameras or by the TSA officers.” Kilani kneaded the tension building in my shoulder. “It could work.”

Fear blew through my gut like a bitter tempest. I was fucking sick of not having any control over my life. Putting my trust for our safety on a Hawaiian rain spell did nothing to ease the frustration.

“You can bring Kilani up to speed on Kahuna magic by tomorrow morning?”

“Yes.” Nani winked at my mate. “She has the power. I will show her how to tap into it.”

I gave Kilani’s thigh a squeeze. “I need to check in with Adam.”

“Will he be…able to answer his cell phone yet?”

“They’re three hours ahead of us. He should be home by now.” I stood and headed out the door before anyone else said anything to me. Pressure pounded in my head. I should be reveling in my new mate, teaching her about her new abilities, not stomping around outside, aching to pick a fight.

Didn’t change a goddamn thing.

My cell buzzed in my pocket. Adam’s name flashed on my screen. “You beat me to it.”

“What the hell happened last night? When were you going to tell me?”

I frowned. “Tell you what? I was about to call you to make arrangements for our arrival at home tomorrow.”

“We can talk about that later.” Even through the phone, the Alpha command colored the sound of his voice. “You shifted alone, and you bit someone.”

My grip on the phone tightened. “How could you possibly know that?”

“I’ve told you before, since I ascended to Alpha, I sense things about the Pack.” His tone darkened. “Including our Pack numbers growing.”

“Shit. Did Gareth get this kind of reception when he changed Nadya?”

“I wasn’t happy that he didn’t warn me first, but we had already accepted her into our Pack before he bit her.”

I cracked my neck, my weight shifting between my feet. Punching something would’ve been amazing right about now. “Are you saying Kilani’s not welcome?”

A pregnant pause and Adam sighed. “Thank God.”

I ran my free hand down my face. “Please tell me what the hell is going on?”

“You shifted alone on an island with no native wolves. When I sensed you’d bitten someone, I didn’t know who it was. I didn’t know if your wolf attacked someone and now we had a rogue wolf in our Pack or what.”

“Give me some credit. I’m not stupid.”

“You’ve also never shifted away from the Pack.”

True. I took a breath.

“Sorry, man.” Adam’s voice lost the Alpha undercurrent. He was back to being my lifelong friend and Pack brother. “How’s she doing?”

“She handled it really well. Nothing like what happened to Nadya.”

“Good. We should plan a welcoming party for her when you get back. You’re still coming home tomorrow, right? Any sign of Nero?”

I nodded. “Yeah, we’re flying out as early as possible. Sebastian sent Kilani a text that Damian moved his team to the Honolulu airport. They know that’s our only way to the mainland.”

“Shit.”

“Exactly. Kilani’s grandmother has a plan. She’s a Kahuna.”

“She surfs?”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “No a true Hawaiian priestess, a Kahuna. She’s pretty amazing. But assuming her idea works, we still need to keep her out of Nero’s hands. Since they’re well aware of the location of the ranch, and my place, and Gareth’s garage…we’re running out of places to hide her.”

“We can put her up at a hotel and have her lay low.”

I stared up at the stars. “I was actually thinking of having her stay on the Paiute reservation with Chloe, Gareth’s godmother. Nero has no clue about Gareth’s ties to her. There would be no reason for them to be sniffing around by Pyramid Lake.”

“You want me to talk to Gareth.”

“Yeah. If he could get Chloe onboard, we could meet someplace public and pass Nani over to her. Nero would never find her, and they’d lose their bargaining chip with Kilani.”

I waited.

“I’ll see what I can do. Call me from Honolulu before you get on the plane and I’ll lay the final plan out for you.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Adam.”

“Jason?”

“Yeah?”

“Congratulations, man.” The smile was plain in his voice. “You found your mate even though you didn’t believe they existed.”

I chuckled in spite of my worry. “Now I just need to get us home without being captured, shot, or both. Piece of cake, right?”

“Be careful.”

“Will do.”

When I opened the door to the cabin, Kilani and Nani stared up at me from bamboo mats on the floor.

“Everything okay?” Kilani moved to stand, but Nani grabbed her arm.

“Not yet. We still have work to do.”

“Didn’t mean to interrupt. How’s the rain-making coming?”

Kilani glanced at her grandmother and back up to me. “Still dry, but we’re getting closer.”

Her scent had intrigued me before, but now that her inner wolf had awakened, the attraction was even more intense. I clenched my fists to keep myself from grabbing her off the mat, tossing her over my shoulder, and carrying her to the futon in the bedroom.

“I’m going to try and get a little rest so I’m sharp tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She nodded, her cheeks flushed with color, her eyes sparkling with desire. Blood pumped through my veins, hitting me square in the groin. Never in my life had I wanted anyone so urgently.

“You should…sleep, too.” I shoved a hand in the pocket of my shorts, hopefully masking my raging erection.

Nani turned her head, gazing at each of us and shaking her head. “I do not think she can concentrate much longer with you so close by.”

I chuckled and forced myself to walk away. In the bedroom, I stripped down and dropped onto the bed, wishing there was a cold shower handy. I’d have to go back to the waterfall. Instead, I laid on the futon, a sheet draped over me, hard enough to pound nails, and prayed the Kahuna lesson would be over soon.