Read In the Light of the Moon (Dark War Chronicles) Online
Authors: A.L. Kessler
He could have sworn that Lucius said something under his breath as Jax
walked out, but it didn’t matter. He would be free to mate Kass as long as they
could find the stone. Though his mind wandered to where she could have possibly
been the night before. There had been no news of a dead human or an animal
attack. Worry settled in the pit of his stomach as he resumed his search for
her.
She licked her muzzle at the thought of human flesh being torn from the
bone. Again her human self tried to take over, but the thought of blood and
food kept her back. Jumping off the ground she tried to knock down the door
again. It didn’t budge and the feeling of being trapped grew. She roared in
anger and tried again. Each attempted failed. She dragged her claws down the
walls, but no matter what she did she went back to pacing. The want to eat
human flesh still filled her, but it faded as the night went on.
Kass’ human mind swam to the surface and her thoughts turned from blood
and flesh to thoughts of Jax and getting out of the room. She knew the dawn was
coming as her panther form retreated with the painful sounds of flesh and bone shifting.
Laying on her side in the room, she held her breath as she hoped for someone to
let her out of the room. Her eyes drifted closed as exhaustion and sleep
claimed her.
The squeak of the door woke her. Her vision had cleared during her
sleep but her body still shook. Coran and Derrik both walked in with a couple
bags for food. Her stomach growled and she barely kept herself from attacking
them for the fast food. She clenched her fists as Coran threw a blanket at her.
“How do you feel?” Derrik asked as he sat down and spread the food out
in front of her
She wrapped the blanket around her and sighed. Reaching out for the
food, she didn’t meet the gaze of either of the men. “Like I completely forgot
what it’s like to shift. I don’t understand. I had more control than this the
day Lucius removed the block.”
“He gave you back only part of your control. Your cat is out for blood
and is used to being in complete control on a full moon, so in a way you are a
new shifter.”
She took a few bites of the breakfast burrito he brought her. “I don’t
like this feeling.”
“Understandable. I want you to return next full moon, until you can get
her back under control.” Derrik glanced at Coran and then back to Kass. “We
both want to help.”
She stood and stumbled. Coran caught her with his hands on her
shoulders. “You haven’t eaten enough yet.”
“I can’t come back. I have to run with Jax next full moon. He’s my
mate, I can’t abandon him every full moon.” She pulled away from Coran.
Derrik stood and pushed her over so she fell on her ass. She glared up
at him and huffed as he laughed at her. “Sit down and eat. We’ll talk about the
next full moon later.”
“I’m sure Jaxon is looking for you. Eat up and get dressed. There are
clothes outside the room for you. Just no lovely dovey stuff upstairs.” Coran
laughed and sat to eat.
She sighed and went to eat more. Her panther stayed content tired from
fighting against her all night.
“I looked for you all night. I wanted to run with you under the full
moon.” He brushed a hand down her cheek. “And here I find you in a club.” He
nuzzled her neck and froze. “Smelling like wolves.”
She closed her eyes taking a deep breath. “Derrik and Coran. They
were…helping me with something. I’m sorry, next full moon we can run together.”
She leaned in to kiss him.
He pulled away and looked into her eyes. “You were with them last
night? What’s going on, Kass?”
“It’s not a big deal. Nothing went on, like I said they were helping me
with something.” She ran a hand through her hair and watched him. “I know that
their scent is all over me, but you have to trust me.”
“I can’t just trust you when you smell like two other males. Wolves
nonetheless.” He took a couple steps back. “You get permission to mate and
suddenly you’re in the bed of two other men?”
“I wasn’t in their bed, last night was the full moon, I was in a room
for the night. They helped me out afterwards. I told you I had to learn control
again.” Her heart slammed against her chest. He had to believe her. She needed
him to believe her.
Jax shook his head and turned tail to run.
“Jax-“ Before she could finish her sentence he disappeared out the door
of the club. She banged her head back on the wall.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid-“
“You’re going to give yourself a concussion doing that.” Coran’s voice
was soft as he came out of the basement. “I’m surprised that you and Jax aren’t
up here snuggling.”
She snorted and shook her head. “He thinks I slept with you and
Derrik.”
“Seriously?” He made a face. “No offense, but I’m not into kitties. He
jumped to that conclusion way too fast.” Coran shrugged. “So what are you going
to do?”
Kass shrugged and pushed away from the wall. “I’m going to continue my
mission and let him figure it out. There’s nothing I can do.” She paused as
those words hit her. “Other than beg, but I refuse to do that for anyone. I
didn’t screw up, if anything I was trying to help my situation.” But it hurt.
She wanted to run after him to chase him and beg him until he understood what
was going on.
“And he’s too blind to see that. Right now. So go on your mission, see
if you can concentrate.” A strange smile crossed Coran’s face.
Kass rolled her eyes. “I’m going to swipe that all knowing smirk off
your face.” She snapped. As she walked out her heart sank as she remembered the
way Jax stormed out of the empty club. She had no way of telling if he’d come
back to her or not. She tried to focus on finding a starting spot for the
stone, but as she climbed into the car all she could see was the anger in Jax’s
eyes. She pulled her knees up to her chest and sobbed.
Her mind wandered away from the address and back to the reason that she
was trying to hunt this stone down. Jax’s smile and the way he held her came to
her memory and she sighed while she folded and unfolded the paper. She ran the
scene over and over in her head and wondered if there was any thing else that
she could have done, other than tell him. She couldn’t fathom the idea of him
still wanting her when she had no control over her beast, when she had
willingly been locked up for the full moon.
Kass sipped her coffee and glared at it when she realized that it had
gone cold from sitting there during her musing. She shoved the paper back in
her pocket and headed out the door, leaving the coffee untouched. Her day had
been wasted, there was nothing more that she could do at this point. Except
maybe talk to Tegan again. Driving back to the property she tried to keep all
lingering thoughts of Jax away. She should have been the one mad, not him. When
she pulled up to the property she tried to force herself to calm down and focus
on the task at hand.
Kass walked into the room where Tegan was getting ready for work. Her
white hair was pulled away from her neck, leather cased her body like it had been
painted on. When she turned around she had her ever present sunglasses on,
which made it hard for Kass to read her. Kass gave her a smile. "You look
like you're feeling better."
"I am, Lucius is going to let me work at the bar for a little bit
tonight."
"Good, I'll be there a little bit later, I have the late shift
tonight. I wanted to talk to you a little more about that stone."
Tegan's face fell, her gaze went to the ground and she clasped her
hands. "Sent it away."
"I know that, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I
wanted to know what it is. Some say that it's a gift from the gods, is that
true?" Kass sat down in an armchair that was near the mirror.
Tegan shook her head. "No, not really. It's a soul stone."
"Lucius said that, but I researched it. It’s impossible, the magic
to trap a soul hasn't been around since the beginning of time." Kass
raised her brows and watched the girl in front of her. "There isn't a
creature that old."
Tegan laughed, and sat Indian style on the floor. "Is that what
you think because I can tell you differently. I've been around for a long time,
that soul stone belongs to the Father of Vampires." She leaned back.
"My brother was charged with the protection of that stone."
She gave more details than Lucius, but Kass hoped for more information
than Lucius gave. "Where is your brother now?"
"He is sleeping." Her voice sounded mournful and her body
tensed up. "He has been sleeping for a very long time. Since the Circle
left Europe."
Kass crossed her arms. "Your brother is a vampire then?"
"Yes. He was changed a few years before I was...bonded to Lucius.
The Circle feared him." She said it as if it explained everything.
Kass knew little about how The Circle worked, but she at least knew
that it was the unofficial head of the vampires. "So that's how you got
the stone."
"Yes, it was passed down to me from my brother while he slept. If
The Circle gets their hands on it then they could bring back the Father and we
don't want that. He'll change everything, ruin everything."
"How do you know that?"
"It is his will, he wants things to go back to the old ways where
the supernatural creatures ruled the world and the humans were the minority
that lived in fear. He wants to rule over it all like he once did."
Kass rubbed her eyes. "But he can't because he is what? Sleeping?
Since his soul is trapped? I didn't think vampires had souls."
"The old ones weren't cursed to lose their soul, they were blessed
by the gods, it was after the Father lost favor with the gods that vampirism
became a curse and the souls left the body upon death. Only the Originals have
their souls still." Tegan's mouth turned up in a quirky smile.
"Thought you studied your history?"
Kass laughed. "Apparently not well enough. So we have to get the
stone back or we're going to be taken back to the olden days."
"Something like that. There are others looking for the stone as
well. Some to use it and some to destroy it. There are those in our world who
want us known completely to the human race. Not just to the government that
tries to hide us."
Kass made a face. "And what good would that do all of us?"
She shivered. "Human kind would either try to lock us all up or kill us.
There are creatures that not even the government knows about. Is that what this
war is all about?”
Tegan nodded. "Gives you a different view on things, doesn't
it?"
"Makes me want to fight a little more. I know that Lucius doesn't
want us completely known and I don't want to do that. I've seen how the
government treats lycans, I can't imagine how they would treat vampires,
witches, anything else." Tegan went awfully still. "You'd be safe,
you still appear human to everyone."
"Yes, but imagine if they did blood tests? How many creatures who
appeared to be human would be revealed? Shifters, more lycans that have hidden
themselves for years, fae, other creatures of myth."
Kass frowned. "Shit. You're right, humans would go into a panic
knowing how much is out there. They'd start shooting people on site. How many
of them are in our clubs, how many of us in their clubs. Things work out just
fine as they are."
"Well, except when a panther eats them." Tegan joked and Kass
couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah, except then, but come on, it's not like I eat random
victims, not any more." She stuck her tongue out. "So this stone
could cause our war to grow."
Tegan nodded. "And spill more out into the human world. We really
don't want that. Lucius has worked hard for this territory, he has worked hard
to protect all his people. As harsh as he may be, he does everything for the
good of his people."
Kass didn't agree so she kept her opinion to herself. "Lucius is
strong enough to keep the territory under control. He has everyone under his
thumb to help him out." Kass nodded. "He'll be fine, the territory
will be fine."