Moon Crossed (Werewolf Hunter Series): Season 1 (Episodes 1-6) (Crescent Hunter) (12 page)

Once at half strength I
pull the dagger out, wipe it off on my tactical pants, and sheathe
it. “Asshole.” My foul mood incites a plethora of
expletives rattling through my brain as I limp back to the campsite.

Corey and Casey are
sitting with the troop. Brennan is in one of the troop leader’s
laps. Judging from the matching red hair, I'd say he's Brennan's dad.
Hobbling up on the circle, I breathe the words, “Everyone
okay?”
A horrified hush falls over the circle; everyone's
staring at me with mouths agape. “What?”

Casey jumps up and
grabs the cloak I dropped before giving chase to Brennan and wraps it
around me. “Sweetheart, perhaps we need to get you to the
doctor.”

I give her a doubtful
look. “You know we don't go to the doctor.”

With her hand around my
shoulders, she directs me away from the campers while she's
whispering. “You have a gaping hole in your side and a
flap of skin falling off your head. We need to get you out of here.”

“Oh,” I
answer flatly. “I didn't realize it was that bad.”

“Um, yeah.”
She presses her lips together in a thin line. “It's actually
worse.” She looks over her shoulder nervously.

“Okay,” I
say with resolve, pulling my hood over my head. “Is that
better?”

She looks at me in
disbelief, her blue eyes blinking fast. “No.”

“I need to finish
this up.” I shake my head and try to wiggle out of her grasp.

“No, you need to
go heal.” She smiles over my shoulder at the troop leaders,
then turns back to me. “Did you drive?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, let’s
get you to your car,” she insists.

“But Brennan, the
little boy. He saw one of them shift.” I try to point back
towards the circle.

“We've got it.
I'm going to take you to your car and make sure you're good to drive.
Corey can handle this.” She starts ushering me away.

“Oh no, Corey is
not equipped for this.” I shake my head, planting my feet.

“Then he'll take
you to your car,” she offers.

My shoulders slump and
now I have to decide whether I'm going to subject these poor campers
to Corey to save myself. “Fine. You handle this. Corey can take
me to my car.”

“Okay.” She
hesitates. “Do you have a wolf? You know, to help you heal?
Otherwise you're going to be down for a while.”

“What?” I'm
confused; everyone knows I live with the boys. Everyone in the area
anyway.

She leans in closer and
whispers, “My best friend is a wolf if you need healing help.
Just call Hayden; he knows how to get hold of me.”

“Okay,” I
agree.

“Corey,”
Casey calls out.

Corey meets us at the
tree line and Casey gives him the orders. “Take Claire back to
her car. If she's not okay to drive, take her home.”

“Sure thing.”
Corey actually seems to be decent right now. Not a jerk, but we'll
see if he tries to grab my ass while we're going to my car. “Which
lot are you in?”

“East forty-one.”
He nods and puts my arm over his shoulder to help me. “Corey?”

“Yeah?” he
asks while moving us out of view of the campers so that he can lift
me up and carry me.

“Don't touch my
ass.” I slur a little from the exhaustion and blood loss.

“I won't.”
He swallows a laugh.

“Or I'll tell
Locke and he'll kill you.” I'm delirious and feeling like I'm
going to pass out.

“Locke doesn't
concern me,” he says flatly.

“What about Cole
Jackson?” My head tilts downward, awaiting his answer.

“Cole concerns
me. Always play the ace first, sweetheart.”

The
sun is nearly over the horizon as I stagger to the clearing. That
beautiful feeling when Cole is nearby energizes me, giving me the
strength to make the last few steps.

“You're late.”
Cole slowly turns toward me. Alarm riddles his expression when he
sees me. “What the hell happened to you?” He gets up and
comes to me, trying to put his arm around me.

Backing away to avoid
his touch, I huff out, helping myself down to the ground, “Boy
Scouts.” Most of my wounds have stopped bleeding.

“What?” He
pulls a half smile into his cheek in disbelief and sits down.

“I had to handle
an issue with some Boy Scouts.” I nod and move my head around
to pop my neck.

“Jesus, were they
mercenary Boy Scouts?” His face still carries a look of
disgust.

“They were
somethin.'” My eyes widen and I hope he just drops it.

“No, seriously.
Who did this to you, Claire?” he demands.

“What did you do yesterday?” Maybe my subject change will
work.

“No, we're not
done with this. Who?” He's nearly yelling, causing me to shrink
back.

“Cole, it's
hunter business.” My tone is dismissive; he needs to get the
point.

“Looks like wolf
business to me.” He pulls at the slashes in my shirt.

“Yes, and we
shouldn't discuss it.” I inhale, noticing that my ribs are
starting to feel more normal.

“Why?”

“Because I
handled it,” I say with finality.

“You handled it?
Was this a moon-touched wolf?” He just won't let it go.

I pull my knees up to
my chest and wrap my arms around them. “I wanted to spend time
with you. But I can see that was a bad idea.”

“No, Claire. I'm
just...” He runs his fingers through his hair, exhaling.
“You're my friend and I can't stand to see you like this.”
His tone is apologetic.

“Seriously, I'm
going to be fine by nightfall.” I roll over onto my knees to
push myself up to my feet. “I'm going home to lay down.”

“Do you need
help?” he asks cautiously.

“No, I'm fine.”
I stop mid-step. “I'm sorry I was late.”

“It's okay, I was
just worried about you.” His tone is hesitant. “Locke
told me you were on patrol. I worry that you're going to...”

Without looking back at
him, I choke back a laugh. “I don't die.”

“Yes, Claire,
someday you will. Probably long before me.” There's a tremble
in his voice.

“Nah.” I
take another step, noticing that one of the stab wounds on my side
has opened up, and dizziness returns to the point of me needing to
brace myself on the tree.

“That's it. I'm
taking you home.” He doesn't give me time to protest before
sweeping me into his arms like I'm nothing. To hold on, I lock my
fingers behind his neck and bury my face in his chest. God, that
musk. I breathe him in like he
is
oxygen.

“Claire!”
The sound of Cole's voice yelling for me outside the door startles me
awake. My eyes open to Aunt Rain's worried expression.

“How are you
feeling?” she asks in a sweet tone.

“Like I've been
hit by a train.” I push my palms into my eyes.

“Claire! Let me
in,” Cole yells from the other side of the door.

“That boy has
been standing outside your door for twenty-six hours.” She
tilts her head down with warning. “He's rather tenacious.”

“He's something.”
No matter how hard I try, there's no stifling the smile that rises to
my lips. “Wait, twenty-six hours? Is that how long I've been
sleeping?”

“Yes, you're not
healing like you should. But it looks like everything's closed up.”
She lifts my shirt and checks my side. “What happened out
there?”

It takes a moment of
searching my memory to recall. “Oh, yeah. There's a problem at
Red Top.”

“Apparently.”
She widens her eyes.

“Claire!”
Cole calls out again.

“You'd better go
see him or he's going to come right through the protections.”
She smiles.

I shift my weight in
the bed. “I'm okay, just give me a second.”

Aunt Rain goes to the
door and opens it. “You can't come in, but you can
look
at her again.”

“Hey, Claire.”
His cheeks redden.

“Hey, Cole.”
I check under the covers to make sure I'm decent.

“I was worried
about you.” His eyes drop down to the floor. I'm not sure if
he's embarrassed about caring or if he's trying to lend me some
modesty.

“I appreciate
that.” My eyes soften at how sweet he looks. “I'm fine,
though. I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes.”

“Okay.” He
watches me for a moment before turning away.

I use the restroom and
look at the matted ball of hair on the back
of my head and groan. Aunt Rain appears in the doorway. “Are
you okay?”

“Yeah, my hair
though.” I widen my eyes, trying to lift my arms to start
trying to drag a brush through it. “Screw it.”

Aunt Rain studies me
for a minute as I walk through the bedroom and pull on a hoodie.
“What?”

“Well, I can't
decide whether I'm more concerned or relieved that you don't care
that there's a rat’s nest taking over your head with a
gentleman waiting for you downstairs.” She tilts her head,
awaiting my response.

“Who's
downstairs?” I head back for the bathroom to start brushing.

She pulls her lips to
the side. “Cole?”

I laugh a little.
“Cole's not a gentleman, and it's not like that. We're just
friends.”

She exhales audibly.
“That's a relief. I really didn't think I would have to have
the talk with you, but I wanted to be sure.”

“No, we're just
good friends. He doesn't feel
that
way.” I roll my eyes,
starting for the door.

She watches me closely
as I walk out, then follows me down the stairs. I turn to her,
feeling scrutinized. “What?”

“Nothing. I'm
more worried about what you didn't say.” She brushes past me
when she sees that I'm able to walk on my own.

I'm way too tired and
wrung out to play guessing games right now, so I blow it off. I come
into the kitchen and Cole has a cup of coffee on the table waiting
for me.

“Thanks.” I
sit down gingerly.

Locke, Rabbit, and Tor
come into the kitchen. Locke wraps his arms around me while I'm still
sitting down. “They really did a number on you out there. Corey
told me there were at least thirty-five wolves.”

My eyes widen at the
memory. “That seems like a fair estimation.”

“No idea where
they came from?” Rabbit asks, stroking the peach fuzz on his
chin.

“Nope, I don't
know of any packs in the area that big,” I answer, trying to
think of the largest pack I know.

“Well, what they
did wasn't cool. I mean, attacking that camp...” Tor trails
off. “Then, of course, whooping your ass.”

“Yeah, most of
the damage was done by just one wolf though. I'm a little
embarrassed.” I force a smile past the tightness.

“Really?”
Cole says with surprise. “I took you for more of a bad ass.”

“There were
extenuating circumstances.” I purse my lips; this conversation
needs to end.

“And no
moon-touched?” Locke asks.

“No, not at all.”
I turn to Cole. “That's one of the reasons why I got my ass
kicked. There shouldn't have been a fight.”

Aunt Rain sits at the
table with coffee. “So now, what happened?”

My glance shifts
between her and Cole, then back again. “I just ran into some
trouble, that’s all.” I hope
she catches on to my reluctance to discuss this in front of Cole.
“Hey, when was the last time you slept?” I address Cole
directly.

“I'm fine.”
He closes his eyes when he says it, not wanting to make eye contact.

“So am I. Why
don't you go home?” I don't mean it.

“Are you trying
to get rid of me?” He holds my gaze.

“No, I really
want to go back up and lie down. I won't as long as you're here.”
Ha! I know he can't resist leaving now.

He contemplates what I
said for a solid minute. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm
positive.” I nod to him. “Get some rest.” I get up
from the table and start toward the door to usher him out.

“You, too.”

“Hey, Cole.”
He stops and turns toward me, holding the door frame. I say it
quietly, hoping that Aunt Rain won't hear me. “Watch the
sunrise with me?”