In the Light of the Moon (Dark War Chronicles) (19 page)

"Unless The Circle gets that stone. If they get it they can take
over the territory easily. We know they already have people in our territory
and that they are close to the stone. We just don't know where it is." She
pulled her knees up to her chest. "It's not like The Circle to play such
games though, to mind rape a human of another vampire is a serious crime. Why
would they risk it?"

Kass shrugged. "Who knows, apparently they are a very mysterious
bunch. Some say that they are made up of the Originals."

"That's as far as your knowledge goes, isn't it?" Tegan
stood.

"Yeah it is, but I'm learning more and more as time goes on. Don't
worry, we'll find the stone. You just worry about keeping Lucius happy and out
of our way."

Tegan snorted. "Don't worry, he's got his new vampire to keep him
distracted from you."

"Mae." Kass stated. "Josh's girl."

"Shame about Josh, but you know deep down in your heart he
deserved it. He was planning on betraying Lucius, he was using you Kass. I know
you feel you owe Josh for saving your life, but you don't deserve to be used
liked that." She walked out.

Kass shook her head and wondered what world Tegan lived in, it was as
if the girl had never opened her eyes and seen what Lucius was doing to
everyone. He was using each person in his territory, black mailing them to work
for him. Kass stretched, of course, maybe Tegan had a point? Lucius had
protected Kass for a while and yes he asked for her to work for him, but it
wasn't like he was using her to control someone anymore. She headed towards the
door. "Time to see if I can't stop the war from growing."

Jax sat at the bar waiting for Derrik to show
his face. The immortal piece of crap, Coran, already left for the night after
settling Jax with his drink and laughing at the lovesick panther. A few drinks
in and Jax replayed the scene in his head. Kass looked so shaken, so weak from
the night before that he started to question what had happened. The worst-case
scenarios ran through his mind, but he needed to talk to Derrik first.

“What the hell had you been doing here, Kassity?” He muttered to
himself as he down another drink. Nothing was really making sense to him. She
should have been running during the full moon, and with him. His beast paced in
him. Wanting his mate. Wanting Kass safe with them. The wolves, they were a
threat to her safety.

He motioned to the bartender to fix him another shot as the music
clanged against him. The rolling beat of the techno helped drowned out the
memory of Kass’ voice asking to trust him.

“I think you’ve had enough, cat.” Derrik’s voice broke through the
thumping noise clear enough. Jax raised his eyes to the wolf. “I don’t think
so. I want another shot.”

“You can’t drown yourself in my bar. Go find another one.” Derrik
picked up the shot glass, meeting Jax’s gaze. “You’re drunk. If Kass saw you
like this she’d be even more of a mess.”

Kassity. Jax could see her red hair, her blue eyes and then he saw
clearly the wolf that she might have slept with. A growl rumbled from his chest.
“You touched her last night.”

“Back down cat, I did no such thing. Coran-“

“You were both with her. I smelt you both on her.” He stood, the bar
stool clattering behind him, snarling at the wolf. “You touched my mate.”

A few humans turned their heads towards Jax, but he ignored them only
having attention for the wolf in front of him. “Why else would she smell like
you?”

“Because we were helping her. She didn’t explain to you what was going
on?” Derrik raised a brow. “Why don’t you and I go talk in the office. Better
yet, why don’t I show you where and how Kass spent her night, before you decide
to shift and eat me.” He moved from behind the bar and motioned towards the
door that led to the basement.

Jax hesitated, but he needed to know what happened last night. He moved
in front of Derrik, heading towards the door. When they got there Derrik opened
it and then continued down the stairs. Jax glared into the dark wondering what
kind of twisted things happened to Kass. When Derrik led him to rows of
concrete rooms Jax understood.

“You locked her up for the full moon.” He swallowed. “Why? She wouldn’t
do this willingly. Lucius said that she had spent time in one of those…places
for new shifters. The government run ones.”

Derrik nodded. “She did, but she knew this was the only way she’d gain
more control.”

“Lucius just needs to surrender control to her.” He shook his head. “So
she stayed here last night, but that doesn’t explain why she smelt like you
two.”

“Have you ever fought with your beast for a full night?” Derrik crossed
his arms. “Think way back when you were just a kitten.”

He nodded. “When I first changed, it’s instinct to fight it.”

“Remember how weak and shaken you were after?”

He didn’t have to say any more. Jax remembered how pale Kass looked,
how she leaned against the wall when he approached her, and how frail she felt
in his arms. “Shit.”

“Yep, way to overreact, asshole, good luck fixing this one.” Derrik
laughed a little. “Go find her, she’s on a mission for Lucius.”

Jax spun around, stumbling a little.

“Might I suggest you sober up a little first?” Derrik asked and picked
up a jacket that was on the couch behind him. “And give this back to Kass.” He
threw the jacket at Jax who caught it and raised his brows at the wolf. “Just
trust me.”

Jax grasped the jacket and then headed up the stairs. He knew where to
go and already started forming a plan to talk to her and get her to understand.
Driving to her regular bar, he mentally went over everything he needed to say
to her.

Jax waited at the bar tapping his fingers,
refusing another drink from Tegan while he waited for Kass to show up. Tegan
had told him that Kass worked the late shift, but she still hadn’t shown up
yet. He wondered if she wasn't avoiding him or if she ran into trouble. He
looked up as the back door flung open and Kass in came behind the bar,
snarling.

"It's snowing."

"Where's your jacket?" Tegan asked in terms of greeting, “did
you not realize that there was snow in the forecast, didn't smell it in the
air?"

"I had a lot on my mind, and no I haven't found it yet. I'm hoping
it's still in state. I hate traveling." Kass stuck her tongue out at the
other girl. Jax watched wondering what changed between the two, normally Kass
hated anything to do with Lucius.

Jax cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt-"

Kass spun to look at him, the glare in her eyes cutting him off.
"What are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize for being an asshole, but if you don't want
that, then I'll just leave." He stood. "But I have your jacket."

He could tell by the look in her eyes that she wanted that jacket.
"Come outside and talk to me?"

"I just-"

Tegan nudged her. "Go talk him. I'll be fine here."

Kass sighed and motioned to the back door. She stepped outside, cursing
the cold of the snow, but it was cut off when the warmth of her leather jacket
wrapped around her.

"Look, I talked to Derrik about what happened. I didn't know that
you were there for the full moon. I couldn't fathom that you would do that to
yourself, not after staying in the government place."
 

She cringed. “I have no other choice, Lucius isn’t just going to hand
back all my control.”

“So what now?”

“You have to accept the fact that I need help and this is how I’m going
to accomplish that.” She brushed a hand down his cheek. “You have to trust me on
this. You know our beasts will never truly mate without me bonding to my cat.”

He turned and kissed her hand. “I’m behind you all the way.” He bent
down and captured her lips. “I love you, Kass.” There was no choice but to
trust her, especially since she had been so willing to forgive him and his
original intentions.

She beamed at those words and her panther preened. “I love you
too.”
 
He wrapped an arm around her
and led her inside.

“Any luck with the stone?” He asked as the door shut behind them.

“No, I have an address and Tegan can’t really help more than that. The
address makes no sense to me. There’s 1/2 in it and very few cities have half
numbers in their house numbers.”

Jax ordered himself a drink and motioned for her to sit down, smiling
at Tegan. She nodded to him as she served him his drink and went to busy
herself. “Have you thought about taking the half out? Maybe it was just put on
the address to throw searchers off. Vampires are smart like that.”

“I hadn’t thought of it. I was thinking a college student or something,
but maybe I’ll check it out without the half and see if you’re on to anything.”

Jax played with his glass. “What happens after you find the stone?”

“We get to mate, as long as I still work for Lucius.” She glanced over
at him, watching as he tilted the glass from one side to the other. “It’s not
ideal, but it’s how Lucius works.”

“Not ideal at all, but you’re right.” He kissed her cheek. “Let me know
when you find the stone.”

Kass parked her car around the corner of the
address, not wanting anyone to be able to recognize
 
her car just in case. She hated the idea
of searching in the city with too many bystanders to count, but at least here
she wouldn’t seem so out of place. Getting out of the car she pulled a backpack
on to blend in with the many collage students roaming the streets.

Strolling along the streets she looked over every passing human and
sniffed the air for anything that wasn’t human and anything that smelt like it
didn’t belong in Lucius’ territory. Nothing. She stopped in front of the house
and looked up the walkway to the door.

White paint flecked off the siding and the shutters of the window.
Cracks littered the walk and two cars made their home in the driveway. When the
front door opened Kass knelt down to tie her shoe and watched the woman bound
down the stairs and pass by. Standing, Kass observed the woman run down the
street, pulling on a heavy jacket while balancing a backpack, a small package
tucked in the side. The woman disappeared into the crowd of students while Kass
tried to take in the woman’s appearance. Bobbed brown hair, glasses, taller and
then she disappeared. Kass cursed as she realized she might have missed the
only chance she had to approach the human.

With a sigh she rubbed her eyes, realized what human meant. Innocent.

“Well this complicates things.” Kass muttered as she headed back to her
car. As she drove thoughts of the innocent human getting mixed up with the
supernatural world kept crossing her mind. Would Lucius kill her? Would he
bring her under his so called protection? She swallowed as she pulled up to the
mansion and got out of the car.

She stormed into Lucius’ foyer, arms crossed and grim. “We have an
issue.”

“What?” He snapped, looking up from the papers he was looking at.

She raised a brow. “Who the hell shit in your wheaties?”

“Kassity,” his voice was a low warning that made her cat stand on edge.

“I think I found the stone, I haven’t confirmed it, just saw a package
tucked in a backpack of a woman.”

He waved a hand. “So steal the bag and check the package.” He returned
to his papers.

“She’s human.”

His eyes shot up. “Fuck.”

She tried not to laugh at the surprise on his face. “Yep, means I can’t
touch her. So what do we do?”

He rubbed his eyes. “We’re going to have to wait it out. She’s
innocent, I’m sure and that’s exactly where they want the stone.” That was
better than any of the scenarios she had ran through her mind.

“Do you know who did this?” Kass uncrossed her arms and took a few
steps forward until he held out his hand to stop her.

He sighed and dropped his hand. “I might have an idea of who’s behind
it, but not who touched Tegan. We’re all screwed if I’m right and the war is
about to get bigger. As for you, you are to continue to monitor this girl and
see if she does truly have the stone, but you are free to mate Jax per our
deal.”

She nodded, hiding the smile on her face. “Thank you.” She turned to
leave.

“Oh and Kass?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t think this is complete freedom for you.”

Her heart sank a little. “Of course.” Nothing could ever be simple with
this vampire. She walked out of the room.

Kass ran down the hall and came to a halt
when she ran into Jax. He grabbed her shoulders and looked at her.

"What's wrong?"

She kissed him and pushed him into the wall. Her lips placed a fury of
kisses on his. She pulled back, but only for a moment. "We're free to
mate."