Hyena Moon (7 page)

Cormac and Finn came over, fur brindled silver and grey and brown beneath the crescent moon. There was no sign of Rafe, but Kess didn't worry about it too much. He had a pretty strong scent so they'd be able to track him easily if it came to that.

They tucked into her kill, ripping off huge chunks of muscle and flesh. It was weird to be eating on the ground. Kess, like all leopards, preferred to take her kill up high before beginning to eat so that she wasn't disturbed in her meal. But Cormac and Finn couldn't climb trees, so dinner on terra firma was the order of the night.

Kess saw Cormac's head come up, followed by Finn's. Then she scented it: several strong scents reminiscent of Rafe's. She could hear the crashing of bodies pushing through the underbrush without thought for who or what might hear. Hyenas. On her territory.

She looked over at Cormac. He and Finn were communicating in that wolf style they had, all eyes and muzzles and ears. Kess had no idea what they were saying. She turned away from the carcass, putting her back to it and facing the direction of the noise. She had no interest in running. Her animal half wanted the fight; her human half knew that if she ran and left the hyenas to her territory here, they would become bolder. She needed to teach them a lesson.

She felt Cormac and Finn form on either side of her, forming a wedge. Where the hell was Rafe? A thought flashed in the human part of her mind--did he set them up? It seemed mighty convenient that he was nowhere to be found when his brethren just happened to show up on the night they'd be out. She pushed that unpleasant thought aside and focused on the bodies that were now pushing through the brush and entering the clearing. She could worry about Rafe and his motives after they'd gotten out rid of these intruders.

There were four hyenas, each not quite as large as she was. Still, they outnumbered her group of three. None of the four were Rafe, which was a small comfort. They stopped in front of her party, then let loose with their weird-ass howling laugh that made her ears flatten against her skull. She saw the hackles on Cormac and Finn raise up. Kess roared loudly, a warning for the hyenas to back off.

They began to move, slowly circling both wolves and the kill. Kess tracked them, trying to read when they would strike. Her brother had always said that hyenas were cowards, that they wouldn't risk direct attack unless assured of a victory. This hadn't struck her as cowardly, more as good practice. She knew that she had to show them that she and her wolf companions weren't going to be easy pickings.

She leapt at the nearest one, raking its hind end with her sharp claws. It skittered away, making some half-laugh, half-chitter sounds. Another lunged at her and she met it, trying to get a hold on it with her jaws. She used her superior leverage to roll it over, trying to maneuver her way to a better position. She heard the sounds of fighting behind her and knew that Cormac and Finn had engaged the other two.

Kess broke away from the hyena she was fighting. The one she had clawed joined it and the two faced off with her. She snarled, flashing her long canines. She was only mildly worried. If she needed to, she could climb one of the nearby trees to buy herself some time. She didn't want to leave Cormac or Finn's flank unprotected though. She roared again, the sound shattering the night.

One came in low, aiming for her front legs. Kess bounded out of the way, heading for the one that was wounded. She landed half on top of it and dug in with both sets of claws. She bit down hard on the back of its thickly muscled neck and it made that disturbing pain cry again. It tried to buck her off. She had her claws in good, so she wasn't going anywhere.

But the second one was coming for her now and she was vulnerable. She couldn't let this one go, which meant she couldn't protect herself. She bit down harder, trying to sever the thing's spine before the second one was on them.

One instant Rafe wasn't there, the next he was. He dove between the second hyena and Kess, which allowed her finish off the one who's back she was riding. Rafe snapped at the other hyena, driving it back. The two of them went around and around, hackles high, jaws biting and snapping on air. The hyena lunged at Rafe, and he got caught with its claws in his side, but he didn't give up his ground.

Kess slunk behind it, trying to flank the animal while Rafe distracted it. When it left itself open after trying to latch onto Rafe, Kess was there. She bowled into it, knocking it down. Then she lunged forward, her strong jaws grabbing at the thing's throat and pulling back. Blood sprayed, coating her muzzle. She backed away, spitting out foul tasting flesh and tendon.

She turned to see how the others were doing. Cormac was standing over the dead body of a hyena, his own snout and jaws ribboned with red. Finn was still trading blows with his. Kess and Cormac began to slowly move to support Finn, closing in on the remaining hyena from either side. She saw the hyena notice the reinforcements. Its eyes shone eerily in the moonlight.

It bolted.

Chapter Nine

Cormac took off after the hyena without a moment's thought. When he saw something run, it was second nature to chase. He bounded along, letting his nose and ears lead him just as surely as his eyes. The hyena was making quite the racket as it crashed along with its weird, rolling gait. It was surprisingly fast considering how off-kilter it looked. Cormac wasn't worried; he'd catch it eventually.

Finn followed, a twin that ran beside him. Kess had stayed behind; he knew that leopards weren't built for long, drawn out chases. She'd only slow them down if this dragged out. He knew she trusted them to handle it. Cormac communicated with his cousin via subtle changes in his facial muscles. They both knew the drill. They'd been hunting together since their first change. The wolves tracked each turn and juke of their quarry. They raced behind the hyena, gaining ground in great strides.

Cormac put on a burst of speed.
Gotcha
! His teeth dug into the hyena's back leg, close to where it joined its body. He pulled a face; Finn hadn't been exaggerating when he’d said they tasted awful. The hyena gave a yip of distress, jerking away. It was limping now, moving slower. Finn came in closer as Cormac dropped back, biting at the other flank and scoring a hit. The two wolves worked in tandem to bring the hyena to a standstill.

The beast was panting, tired and hurt. Cormac kept herding it, moving it slowly towards the water. Every time it tried to bolt again, Finn snapped at it. Cormac didn't want the hyena escaping to go back and tell Samara of their fight in the swamp. Better to let her wonder what had happened to her team and better to remove these threats while they had the chance.

They were nearly at the water's edge now. The hyena was trying to break through, making little runs at the two of them. It bared its teeth in a hateful rictus, trying to intimidate, but Cormac and Finn had dealt with bigger and more dangerous weres before this one. Cormac snapped at it, growling.

The hyena's back feet touched the water. Cormac signaled to Finn that he would handle the kill on this one; that Finn would be back up in case anything unexpected happened. He flattened his ears back to his skull and readied himself for a killing lunge at the thing's throat when the water exploded into motion.

An enormous alligator erupted from its hiding place along the banks and latched onto the hyena’s leg. Cormac cut short his lunge and jumped out of the way, his heart thundering in his chest. The hyena let loose a high-pitched sound of pain and fear, struggling to free itself. Cormac backed up, checking to make sure Finn was doing the same. The alligator began moving back into the water, taking the hyena with it. Then with a quick flip, both gator and hyena disappeared below the black surface as the alligator took its prey down to the bottom for a death roll.

Cormac waited with Finn for a while, the two of them watching to see if there was any sign of the hyena surfacing. There was nothing. Cormac barked softly at Finn, signaling that it was time for them to get back to the others. He turned and let his nose lead him back to Kess and Rafe.

When he returned to the scene of the fight, he found Kess taking care of the remaining carcasses. She and Rafe were dragging the dead animals to the nearest body of water, dumping them into it and leaving them for the denizens of the swamp. The alligators were going to be well fed in the coming days.

Cormac watched as Kess finished with the last animal, careful to stay well out of the way of any surprise alligator jaws that might explode out of the stillness. She had great reflexes, but he was glad to see she was being careful. After what he'd seen with the hyena, he didn't want her taking any chances.

She walked towards him, sleek muscles working beneath the thick, black fur. He marveled at how beautiful she was in her leopard form, and how deadly. Kess brushed against him, as if she was assuring herself that he was still in one piece. Her head butted against his, a sign of affection. He chuffed out a sigh at her, reassuring her he was fine.

Cormac took a moment to find where Rafe was. The hyena sat, watching the glades. There was a tension in his stillness. Cormac couldn't tell if it was nervousness that there were more hyenas out there or something else, something more sinister. He found it very interesting that a group of hyenas just happened to be out in the glades on the same night that they'd all decided to risk a change. It could have been coincidence, but Cormac wasn't inclined to believe in those.

But he had no proof that Rafe had set them up. And Kess was determined to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. He knew he couldn't push much more than he was already doing without risking her withdrawing from him further. Finn was already watching the kid. He'd have to trust that that would be enough.

Kess stepped away from him, flicking her tail in a gesture that Cormac recognized as follow me. He waited for Rafe to pass him, then he and Finn brought up the rear. Wordlessly he told his cousin his suspicions. Then the two wolves turned their considerable attention to the retreating form of the young werehyena.

Cormac didn't intend to give Rafe the opportunity to betray them.

Chapter Ten

Cormac dialed the number for the Lodge on his cell phone. Once the mystery of Sekhmet's death had been resolved, calls to his father had been reduced to every couple of days. With the immediate danger past, twice daily calls seemed like overkill. He and Finn were supposed to taking a vacation of sorts, although whether or not the threat of being hunted and attacked by werehyenas qualified as a vacation was open for debate.

His mother, Emmeline, picked up the phone after three rings. "Hello?"

"Hey Mom," Cormac replied, surprisingly relieved to hear her voice. It was always easier to talk to his mother than his father.

"Hey sweetie. How's Miami?"

"Hot. But good." He left out the encounter with the werehyenas from the previous evening. He didn't want to worry her. "How're things up there?"

"The usual." Her voice was dry. "A lot of work to be done up on the mountain." Cormac's father owned a company that built custom mountain homes for those who could afford them. Summer was the busy building season. "Lenore is bored. Typical summer."

"She driving you crazy?" Cormac's little sister was a going to be a junior in high school in the fall and probably hated the relative sameness of summer in the Appalachians.

"Not yet..." The sound of the other extension being picked up cut her off.

"MOM?!" Lenore's voice boomed on the other end of the line and Cormac winced. His sister could be extraordinarily loud when she wanted to be. "Is that Mac on the phone?"

"Hey, sis."

"Oh my God, Mac you have to save me from this place. I am about to die from boredom. Please tell Mom and Dad I can come for a visit. PLEASE!"

"Lenore!" His mother sounded like she'd had enough. "Get off the phone."

"Mo-om!" Cormac was always amused by how his sister was able to put so much inflection into a one syllable word.

He took pity on her, trying to let her hopes down easy. "Look kiddo, it's not a good idea. Things are a little tense down here. Maybe when it calms down some."

Lenore slammed the phone down and Cormac pulled the phone away from his ear. He rubbed the back of his neck. He felt like he had gotten put in the middle of something and he wasn't sure exactly how. And it wasn't a good idea for his non-shifting sister to come down to Miami when they still weren't sure if they were in a war or not. He put the phone back to his ear. "That went well."

He heard his mother sigh. "You have no idea."

Cormac laughed at the exasperated tone in his mom's voice. "That bad, huh?"

"She's been impossible. It hasn't helped that she can't see Wyatt." Cormac remembered his dad mentioning that Lenore's best friend turned out to be a werebear. "She's been frustrated and bored."

"Not a good combination for a fifteen year old."

"Or her parents." Cormac heard the frustration in his mother's voice.

He decided it was best not to pursue that loaded line of conversation. "Is Dad around?"

"In his study. I'll get him for you."

"Love you, Mom."

He could hear her smile through the phone. "Love you too, sweetie."

Cormac heard her knock on a door, her muffled words, and then she passed the phone off to his father.

"Mac? How are things there?" His father's voice was deep and powerful. It was the voice of the pack Alpha. Even in casual conversations, the authority was there. It made conversations with him difficult.

"Good so far." He debated about whether to tell his father about Kess' idea and decided against it. "Kess has got everything pretty well in hand down here. We've only had to deal with one incursion and that was out in the Everglades."

"Anyone get hurt?" His voice sounded tense.

"No. Kess got two, I got one, and a gator got the other. We're all fine." Cormac tried to sound nonchalant. He didn't want to worry his dad or make him think he couldn't handle things down there.