Hunter Moon: A Grazi Kelly Novel #2 (19 page)

This was not a peck on the mouth. I’ve seen
kisses like this in movies. With actors and special effects. They
always looked spectacular. But I never truly understood the
fireworks and the swelling music that accompanied those scenes.

But now, with
him
. I was on fire. All
of my tension, my confusion and grief, gone. Slipped through my
fingers like water. They no longer existed. Nothing did, just
us
.

A knock on the door broke us apart. He held
onto me, as if he feared I’d disappear. I knew how he felt. I tried
to slow my breathing.
Think, Grazi, think.
Our hearts were
beating in time. As one.

I had never felt so complete and so
conflicted all at once. Like I was losing myself to something
bigger than me. Bigger than my Wolf. Bigger than my teenage mind
could grasp.

“Yeah. What is it?” His voice was harsh.
Unsteady.

“Is Grazi in there?” I knew my uncle’s
question was born of politeness. He was a Werewolf. He
knew
I was there.

“Yes, Uncle Sean?”

“Meet me in the study, five minutes. We’ve
something to discuss.” I nodded and looked down.
Now what?
Ronan turned away from me and started throwing his dirty clothes
into the hamper.

“I guess I should go.”

“Guess so.” He didn’t look at me.
Ah, here
comes the anger and embarrassment. For a second, I forgot I was a
teenager and a weirdo too.
I left his room quietly and tried
not to wince when I heard a loud
bang
come from behind the
door.

Monday started a new week for me. I had gone
back home the night before and both of my uncles had managed to
clear out all the broken glass from the bathroom. They cleaned up
the mess I had made. I was ashamed of myself and vowed to do the
rest of the yard work myself after school. Just a few leaves to
rake and then winter would officially settle in.

“Great work on your research paper, Grazi.”
Mrs. Theodore said to me as she started handing out grade
assessments to the class. I got an A.
Cool.

“Freak girl got an A, like whoop dee doo!”
Lizette’s faux whisper was heard by all. It was followed by the
usual snickers and whispers.
Thank you, supernatural hearing.
Really, thanks

Ronan didn’t show up at lunch. I waited for
him, I was even late to my next class. I really wanted to see
him.

I didn’t even know if he was at school. I had
music next and knew if he was anywhere, he would show up there. He
could hardly stay away from a piano.

“Hey.” Sebby looked around tentatively. I
moved my things over.

“Want to sit?”

“Oh, yeah, thanks. I was wondering if I was
still welcome.” He looked pale and a little sheepish.

“Sure. Why wouldn’t you be? By the way how
are you feeling?” We chatted a bit about nothing really and I only
half answered his questions when I felt eyes on me.

I looked around and saw a boy with long,
dark, curly hair pulled into a low ponytail staring at me from
across the cafeteria. He had golden skin and dark brown eyes. He
smiled. He had straight white teeth. I could see an earring in each
ear and a piercing in his nose too.
Hmm. Sr. Diane must be
remiss in her duties regarding uniform.

“Who is that?” Sebby squinted in the
direction where I was pointing and his lips formed a frown.

“That’s Alessio. He’s visiting today from
Christ is the Savior. It’s an athlete exchange. Tomorrow I’m going
over there.” That was a rival school of ours. The dark haired
Alessio walked over to our table.

“There you are De La Cruz. I’m shadowing
you
, remember.”

“Yup, how could I forget,” Murmured Sebby.
Something was off about Alessio. My nose told me that
immediately.

His eyes laughed as he held out his hand to
me.

“And who is this beauty? Please tell me she’s
your sister.”

“Um no, this is my girlfriend.”
Okay, now
I’m really stumped. Girlfriend? Since when?

“Does she have a name?”

“Hi, I’m Grazi.”

“Alessio Kristos.”

The boy with the dark eyes sat down right
between me and Sebby. He leaned in and sniffed the air next to my
neck making me scoot back a little.

“You smell good.”

“Ookay. Thanks. I guess.”

“Let’s go, Alessio.” Sebastian looked annoyed
and stood up clearing his tray. Alessio leaned over again. I was
seriously going to smack this creep.

“Meet me by the bleachers after school,
Dreamwalker
. I’ve got things to tell you.”

I froze.
Dreamwalker?
How did he
know? What was he?
He did smell off. He was definitely
something more than just a teenage boy. My Wolf came forward and I
closed my eyes fearing someone would see.

By the time I opened them, Alessio was gone
and the lunch bell rang. I jogged over to music class.
No
Ronan
. Where the heck was he? I sat in the back and ignored
everyone. I even missed a question. I don’t think that has ever
happened to me before. I shook it off. There were bigger things at
stake here. What’s a little minus in class participation
anyway?

At the end of the day I waited behind the
bleachers. It was too cold for outdoor practices. Dark gray clouds
hung in the sky. Smelled like rain. It would be the first time in
months since we’d seen rain. Too late to save the crops. Even if it
did fall. Which was unlikely.

No one was around. The bitter air filled my
lungs. It was too cold for this time of year.
Unnatural.
My
Wolf agreed. The deciduous trees were bare of leaves, the
evergreens having lost so many needles during the cruel summer
where scrawny and off in their color. The grass was barely there
anymore. What remained were nothing more than a few scraggly frozen
clumps on the hard brown earth.

The school decoration committee, mainly
Julianna and her clones, planted hardy mums outside every year
during Halloween and they usually lasted through Thanksgiving. Not
this year. They were all frozen and dead. The landscape was almost
hard to look at. Especially now that I knew why it looked this
way.

I always loved living in New Jersey because I
got to experience the awesome change of the seasons. Nature always
interested me. I don’t know if I could live somewhere where it was
always cold or always tropical. I looked forward to the changes,
but since last summer nothing has been right. The color and
vitality seemed to be leeching away. Nature was definitely out of
balance.

It was the dark Witches I knew. I was making
the distinction now. Sherry was a Witch, but she was good. A White
Witch. She had always been kind to me. And at least she told me
real things. Uncle Sean always hinted, but never explained. I was
getting awfully tired of that.

I was beginning to sweat under my coat. I
should have taken my sweater off before putting it on, but there
were too many people in the hall when I was packing up. I didn’t
want to draw unnecessary attention to myself by taking off layers
when everyone else was bundled up like it was a blizzard or
something.
Fifteen minutes more, then I’m outta here.

I closed my eyes and focused.
Use your
senses, little one
. I breathed and noted a slightly irregular
scent. There was a change in the breeze coming from my right. I
moved my right hand instinctively. When I opened my eyes I held a
dagger inches from my face.

A few yards behind it stood Alessio, poised
after his throw. He was smiling.
I’ll kill him.
I crouched
down ready to attack when he raised his hands in surrender.

“No, it’s okay. Now I know. You
are
what he said you are.”

“Are you freaking nuts?” I yelled at him and
turned just in time to see Ronan leap and tackle Alessio. He threw
them both a few feet off the ground before landing back down. His
long fingered hands wrapped tight around Alessio’s throat.

The strange boy was turning an unhealthy
shade of purple when I reached them. I put my hand on Ronan’s
shoulder. I couldn’t let him kill the guy.
Hurt him a little.
Maybe.
That
was
a nasty trick with the knife.

“Ronan. It’s okay, let him go.” He eased up a
bit. Alessio choked and grasped at his neck. Once he caught his
breath, he laughed again. The boy was a lunatic!

“Hot damn, son! Real live Werewolves!
Unbelievable!”

I stood there arms crossed. Ronan tilted his
head towards me.

“Is this one daft?”

“I don’t know? Where were you all day?” He
ignored me and stood up off the ground in one graceful movement.
Boy, he really was beautiful to watch.
I shook my head. No
time for that.

“And you! What the heck were you trying to
do?”

“Answer her, boyo, or you’re dead meat.”

“Hey, I always got answers for a pretty lady.
Which one do you want to hear?” Ronan lifted Alessio off the ground
easily and shook him hard.

“What’s that you said? I don’t think I heard
you?”

“Okay, okay. My teeth! Jeez, you are strong!
All the makings of an Alpha with this one, huh babe? I can’t wait
to catch you guys on the full moon!” Ronan growled and Alessio
turned a shade paler.

“Okay, enough of this. You called me
Dreamwalker
before. What information do you have? And who
sent you?”

“Look. I’ll tell you anything you want to
know with those beautiful brown eyes of yours, my bae, but is there
anywhere we could go for a bite?”

“I could use a meal.” Ronan looked at me and
shrugged. I rolled my eyes completely exasperated.
Well, of
course you could. Boys. Ugh!

We headed over to CyberSodas and sat at a
booth. Derek, my favorite waiter, came over grinning. He frowned
when he saw who I was with and I realized he didn’t see Angela.
Oooh, I so have to tell her he was looking for her!

“Hi there! Today’s special is a vanilla cola
fro-yo explosion and an order of bacon chocolate fries with an
organic cilantro strawberry chutney for $8.99. What can I get you
guys?”

“Double bacon burger with broccoli slaw and
those fries that were on the special, yeah? Okay good, and an Oreo
shake with two shots of protein.” Ronan shrugged at the look I gave
him.

“Wow, sounds good. I’ll have a grilled
chicken BLT on rye with apple potato salad ooh, and, a coffee soda
fizz.” Alessio was practically drooling.

“And for you?” Derek asked me and smiled. I
scanned the menu. I
could
eat.

“I’ll have the organic turkey wrap with
avocado and a water.” Sure, I have fast metabolism, but last time I
was at the house, my uncle showed me a picture of my cousin
Gertrude. She was huge. Six foot five and about three hundred and
fifty pounds,
not
all muscle. I was so not taking my
supernatural metabolism for granted.

Derek left with our order and I waited for
Alessio to begin. He just kept looking around, a big goofy grin on
his face while Ronan watched him speculatively.

“You’re Romani?”

“Yeah, that’s right?”

“What’s that like a Gypsy?” I asked. Alessio
glared at me, but quickly averted his eyes.

“Hey, that’s really not so PC anymore. People
hate Gypsies. We prefer Romani.”

“Sorry. I didn’t know. For the record I don’t
hate anyone without reason. Look, just tell me what you know.”

“Well, for one thing
SilverWolf
is one
freakish dude. I mean he’s been coming to visit my grandmother
since my father was a boy and he never, ever ages! So freaking
weird!”

Ronan narrowed his eyebrows then looked at
me. Okay so the guy knew
SilverWolf
. Maybe he sent him to
us? I tried asking but, he was distracted by the computer at our
table and went to type into the keyboard. I interrupted him.

“We didn’t order a WiFi connection. It won’t
work.”

“Oh yeah? Well, lookee here. Access granted,
baby! I don’t always do things by the book, you know.” He said a
few words under his breath I didn’t quite catch, possibly because
they weren’t quite English. Then he clicked the mouse a few
times.

His hands were long, shorter than Ronan’s but
that was an unfair comparison. He moved them elegantly over the
keyboard. For a moment I pictured Ronan when he played.

The flat screen monitor lit up and I snapped
out of my reverie. Thinking about Ronan must have distracted me.
I have got to get my head on straight.

Alessio brought up a screen with Native
American art and he clicked on a picture I was actually familiar
with.

“So do you know what this is?”

“Can’t say that I do.” Ronan looked closer at
the object. It was circular, made of bent wood, thread was woven in
the middle making an intricate pattern. Like a spider’s web.
Feathers and beads dangled from the bottom of the hoop from thin,
hand woven strings. This one was particularly beautiful. I
sighed.

“It’s a dreamcatcher. I used to have one when
I was little.”

“Looks like you should have kept it.” He
clicked on the description and gave Ronan a chance to glance it
over.

“All caught up, big guy?” Ronan narrowed his
eyes and Alessio turned his head down.

Even people who aren’t Werewolves knew enough
to not make eye contact with a dominant. And Ronan’s Wolf was
getting more and more dominant. I guess that came with the
maturation process.

“Okay, look, no disrespect. So, the
Dreamcatcher
is a snare, a trap. Here I made one during
geography for you.” He held out a small dreamcatcher about the size
of my palm. The handiwork was quickly, put together and the thread
was plain, but it was still handsome. The web he wove was as
intricate as the one on the screen before us.

“I don’t understand? Aren’t you a Gypsy?” I
cringed at my faux pas.
Oops. My bad.