Hunter Moon: A Grazi Kelly Novel #2 (5 page)

“Why would I worry after her?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you went
back to the dance and spent the night making out with her!” He
looked at me with his emerald eyes and frowned slightly. He nodded
once and turned away.
Ouch.
We had separate classes first
period anyway. I didn’t watch him go.
Much.

I am such a weirdo
. I don’t know why I
lashed out like that at him. I mean what did I care if he dated my
cousin? We were nothing to each other.

I mean, yeah, we’re both Werewolves and have
to train together. He had my back which was cool, but I didn’t even
like him! Not like that. Right?
Ugh
. Sometimes being a
teenager was really tough.

After homeroom the teachers herded us into
the cafeteria and broke the news about Ms. Vorax’s death and Mr.
Gundy’s condition. He was still unconscious and in St. Anne’s
Hospital. The doctors had to operate and he lost his right leg from
the knee down. We prayed for his speedy recovery and for Ms.
Vorax’s family.

A uniformed police officer and a plainclothes
detective were in the audience. The detective, a short spunky woman
with dark Bettie Page style hair and sharp brown eyes watched the
crowd as Sr. Diane led us all in a prayer for both teachers.
Afterwards the choir sang a round of
On Eagle’s Wings
and
most of the students broke down crying. My cheeks remained dry.

The detective’s sharp eyes landed on me. Her
sculpted brows knit together. Oh no, she looked interested. I
immediately dropped my gaze, afraid I would give something away. My
heart started to pound a little. I could feel heat rising in my
cheeks. Another minute of this and I’d turn right there.

It took some effort to calm myself back down.
Uncle Sean had warned me my Wolf would want to meet any challenges
head on. I had to learn to control her. I hadn’t had a problem so
far, but I’d rather err on the side of caution.

By lunch I was back into the swing of things.
I hadn’t pictured Ms. Vorax’s face more than seventeen times that
whole morning. Progress since Friday night. There was a small
shrine outside the library, Vases full of flowers, a framed picture
of Ms. Vorax and a large crucifix. Some students wrote little
letters and pinned them to the bulletin board. The flowers made me
sneeze when I walked by. Sr. Diane saw me in the hallway and
nodded. She probably assumed we were close and didn’t know what to
say.

Ronan was seated at our usual table with
Angela and Sebastian in the cafeteria. Ironically, the entire cheer
squad and boys varsity soccer team were now sitting with us. I
suppose that made this the most popular table in school.
Whoopee.

There was a time when I would’ve loved to
belong to that group. Just a year ago it would have meant
everything. Now, I wanted to walk away with my tray of food. Too
late, though. Sebby saw me.

“Hey, Grazi. Let me help you.” He pulled out
my chair and took my tray from my hands. I felt Ronan’s eyes on me,
but couldn’t read him. Was he angry at me for snapping at him? I
should probably apologize. But I knew I wouldn’t.

“So how’ve you been?” Sebastian patted my
shoulder a little awkwardly and let his hand fall away. His
beautiful brown eyes were watching me intently and I smiled at him.
It was the least I could do.

“Good, thanks. I feel much better.” It was
true, I felt great. The full moon had sort of recharged me. Sure, I
had been tired after our hunt, but
good
tired. I felt strong
and my senses were sharp. That’s how I knew that the female
detective from the auditorium was now in the cafeteria. Ronan shook
his head slightly when she approached. Like he knew I wanted to get
up and leave.

“
Hola,
Tia
.” Sebby jumped up
and kissed the detective on the cheek. Apparently, she was his
aunt.
Great, just great.

“
Hola, mijo.
You look great. When’s
the next big game, eh?”

“Indoor soccer starts in two weeks. I’m
psyched!”

“I bet, Mr. All-Star! Who’s your pretty
friend here?” Her eyes were on me and I tried not to react. This
woman was dangerous. My Wolf sensed that too.

“Oh let me introduce you,
Tia
. This is
Grazi.” I nodded and smiled.
Just Grazi, no girlfriend or
anything. Hmm.
I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or
relieved
.

“Hi. Grazi, is it? Strange name.”

“It’s Maria, actually. Maria Graziana. Grazi
is a nickname.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Hi, Detective De La Cruz, I’m Julianna.
Sebastian and I are in the same class and student council
together.” I tried not to watch as Julianna inserted herself next
to Sebby, essentially pushing me out of the way and played up to
his aunt. She chatted with the detective about cheering, soccer,
even how important self-defense is for a woman to learn. My cousin
tossed her perfect blonde hair over her slender shoulder and
effectively cut herself off from me in the process.

“You know I think it is great that you have
come so far in your career and at such a young age! I was wondering
if maybe you’d come to speak to the school during career week?”

“Well I have to check my schedule, but I’ll
try and make time. Thank you, Julianna. Sebby, why don’t you email
me when it gets closer to career week?”

“OMG! Thank you so much! It is so important
for young girls to see women in strong jobs. You are like, such a
huge role model for me personally!” I snorted. I couldn’t help it.
As if Julianna had ever cared about police work or the community.
Whatever.

“Listen, Sebby you and your friends need to
be careful when you’re outside, okay? What happened here was a
freak accident because the windows were open and the animal
wandered inside. But wild animals that are about to hibernate can
be very dangerous even if you just pass one. There may even be
evidence that the bear was rabid. So if you guys see a bear or
something else call me or dial 911, okay?” She dropped some
business cards on the table. After a quick hug for her nephew she
nodded at me and left the cafeteria.

“You know I saw something the other day, a
huge dog or something, maybe I should tell her?” Sebby was only
joking, but I almost choked on my bite of chef salad. Ronan raised
his eyebrows. I ignored him.

“Why would she want to know about a dog?” I
tried playing it off and took a sip of iced tea I brought from
home. It was delicious.
No more Wolfsbane, thank you very
much.

A few weeks ago before my first change, Nonna
had attempted to stop it by adding aconitum, or as it is better
known, Wolfsbane, to all of my drinks and food. It hadn’t affected
me the way it should have. No one knows why. All it did was taste
grossly bitter and make me irritable. I think I was just
hungry.

“It was one super-sized dog, Grazi. Like a
giant sled dog, but with darker fur and like a patch of yellow down
its face.”

“Were you scared of the pup then?” Ronan
asked.
Jerk.

“No, I wasn’t scared. I’m just saying the
thing was huge.” Sebby was embarrassed. I could smell it coming off
of him and it was sort of like burnt rubber.
I am so
weird.

When the bell rang we parted ways and I
walked to the library. The shrine had been moved inside. Great. I
sneezed and went to the desk for a tissue. There I was greeted by
the familiar smell of tea and Sr. Marcia bent over a book in her
long gray nun’s habit. She held a tissue out with one hand. I took
it from her and wiped my nose.

“Good afternoon, dear!” There was a sparkling
silver walker next to her along with a new looking cell phone and a
box of mints.

“Hello, Sr. Marcia. How do you feel?”

“Oh lovely, child! Thanks for asking. I need
to keep off my feet though, so I hope you are up to helping out
around here. Oh, and I am sorry for your loss, dear, I understand
you were close with the substitute librarian.”

“I talked to her a little, thank you, Sister.
I’m most sorry for her family’s loss.” They had lost her months
before her death, to the Demon that had possessed her. They just
didn’t know it. Still, I felt heavy with guilt and I didn’t know
quite how to shake it off.

“That’s nice of you, dear. I continue to pray
for her family as well. Hope they catch that bear. Such a shame.
Well, since I am laid up here, I asked Sr. Diane for another
helper. We had quite a few volunteers, and from the cheerleaders
and soccer team too! I could only pick one though.”

Fear and excitement filled me at the same
time. Could it be Sebby? No, he had, Spanish this period.
OMG,
not Julianna please, not her
. Imagine my surprise ad relief
when a head full of bouncy red curls and a familiar face strolled
in.

“Hi Grazi! Hello Sr. Marcia, you probably
don’t remember me, I’m Angela Tanner. I’ll be helping you and Grazi
during this period.”

“Sure dear, good, good. Grazi’ll show you the
ropes while I finish up here.” We smiled and I pulled Angela
towards the shelves with a cart full of returned books.

“Why didn’t you tell me at lunch you were
going to be helping out, Ang?”

“Well, I didn’t get a chance to speak to you
at lunch with that detective taking up all your time. Jeez, Sebby
and his aunt are so good looking, right? What, is that whole family
gorgeous? Life is so unfair.”

“Tell me about it! I am so happy you’re the
one doing this! You have no idea.” I gave her an impulsive hug and
she laughed.

“Ouch! Jeez girl, stop lifting weights!
Anyway, I can guess how happy you are and
you
owe
me
!
Seriously! I was in the office when Julianna walked in and asked
that she and Sebby be put on library duty. She gave this whole
speech about how she needed it for college applications, but I
stepped in and told Ms. Barbero that I had already volunteered and
needed the computer access for NewsFlash and she was totally fine
with it.”

Angela grabbed some books and started
shelving them in the wrong order and went on with her story. I
stood next to her listening as she stage whispered on and on about
my troublemaker cousin. While I listened, I pulled out the books
she was incorrectly shelving and put them back in their rightful
place. I didn’t mind the work. I needed a distraction from the turn
my thoughts had taken. And Angela was perfect for that.

“I’m telling you Grazi, I don’t even know how
the two of you are related! I asked for photos from people to
upload on NewsFlash and she purposely got the picture with you and
Sebby from the dance and cut you out! And that’s not all. One of
her clones has apparently initiated a ‘help our cleaning staff’
fundraiser like she’s going to get brownie points or something from
colleges if she gets the janitors like cheaper Windex or
something-”

I just shook my head and continued to put
away the books. By the time the period was over I had re-shelved
everything and Angela had apprised me of every minute detail of her
weekend. Seriously, I love the girl, but she could talk
forever.

After school I headed for the bus stop as
usual, but to my surprise a familiar black SUV was there waiting
for me. I immediately recognized the hulking figures of the
brothers, Dimitri and Sascha. They were pretty hard to miss.
Nineties techno blared from the speakers and I cringed a
little.

“Our ride’s here.” Ronan snuck up behind me
and walked on towards the SUV.

“What do you mean ‘our ride’?” I stopped in
my tracks causing him to pause with the door open.

“Rolf left instructions. You are to be
watched.” Dimitri said, at least I think it was him, and closed the
door as I got in to the spacious vehicle. The seats were
comfortable and it smelled factory new inside. A lot different from
Uncle Vito’s landscaping truck.

“Watched? Like I’m a prisoner now.” Ronan
shook his head and tried to hide his smirk at my comment. I kicked
him in the shin.

“Not a prisoner,
printzyessa.
You have
special rank in pack, therefore you must be guarded.”

“Like a prisoner.” Dimitri and Sascha both
glared at me then spoke to each other in Russian. It sounded
beautiful, but of course I couldn’t make out one word.

“What are you smirking at?”

“Nothing.” But Ronan continued to smirk. By
the time we got home he was rubbing both shins furiously.

“You didn’t have to get me twice in each leg.
What are you wearing steel toed shoes to school now?” I walked
ahead of him to my uncle’s house. It was time for our usual
lessons. Only they were anything but usual.

Uncle Sean had a huge room cleared out except
for some heavy rubber mats and weights and work out machines. After
an hour of basic cardio we began sparring. Only not just me and
Ronan and Uncle Sean. Dimitri, Sascha and another Werewolf, a woman
I had never met named Cara.

“So, I hear you can change whenever you
like?”

“I don’t know about that.”

“You don’t know much about nothing. That’s
something, I also heard.” Her accent was faint, but she sounded
like Ronan and Uncle Sean. I wonder if she grew up with my dad. I
guess she would have been younger than him. But when it comes to
Werewolves you just can’t be sure of age.

She hit me in the ribs when I wasn’t looking
and bent to sparring position. I could feel the eyes of the others
on me and my body trembled with anger. I didn’t know we had
started. My cheeks were burning and I could just imagine how red I
was.

“Let’s go, princess. Seems your reputations
all for naught.” She kicked and caught me behind the knees. This
was no easy going, show me the moves sparring like I had had
before. She meant to hurt me, maybe put me in my place. I swung
with all my might and she dodged me easily. She laughed and tapped
me in the back hard enough to make me stumble.