In the Light of the Moon (Dark War Chronicles) (12 page)

Jax closed his own eyes, calling on the human inside him. His human
form swallowed his panther, but left him shaking from the pain of the injuries.
Stumbling to his feet, he knew he’d attract unwanted attention stumbling naked
and through the hotel, so he grabbed some discarded clothes and dressed. He
searched the ruins of his clothes and found his phone. He slid open the balcony
door and stepped out into the cold night air. and jumping to the street below him.
Jax landed with a grunt, cradling his wrist to his chest he started to stumble
down the alley, ignoring the trail of blood he left.

A shadow appeared in front of him making Jax look up. “Lucius?”

The vampire stepped out of the shadows and looked down at him. “Look
what I found, a kitty.” He snarled down at him. “What have you been up to?”

“Can we talk about this later? I’m bleeding out.” He leaned against the
alley wall. “And the cops are coming. I’d hate to have to explain all this to
humans.”

Lucius grabbed him by the shirt and flashed them back to the manor.
Throwing him to the ground once they materialized, Lucius snarled down at him.
“Explain. The scent of Kass’ family are all over you. What the hell have you
been up to?”

“I went to see them.”

“Why?”

Jax leaned his head on the floor. The cold tile against his skin helped
clear his head. He calmed his breathing, trying to work through the pain. “To
get them to leave Kass alone.”

“You’ve been working for them?” Lucius knelt in front of him. After a beat
of silence he grabbed a hand full of Jax’s hair and pulled his head up. “Answer
me.”

“Yes, I went back to tell them I didn’t want the job any longer. I
hadn’t known that they were out to hurt Kass. I thought they just wanted their
family back and you were keeping that from happening.” He glanced at the
vampire. “I need help, please, I can’t heal all these wounds.”

Lucius gave a wicked grin. “And give me a reason that I shouldn’t drain
the rest of your blood.”

“Because I didn’t know and I won’t let them hurt her. I don’t want
anything to hurt her.” His cat stirred inside him, trying to hold on. “Please.”

“You will stay away from her.” Lucius straightened and backed away.
“Agreed?”

Jax closed his eyes. The thought of staying away from Kass made a
different pain spread in his chest. “Agreed.”

The vampire disappeared and then reappeared with bandages, water and a
cloth. “Stupid to go up against two shifters of that clan.”

“Three.”

“Three?” Lucius asked as he started with the stomach wound, cleaning
the blood off and bandaging it. “Sarah was there as well then.”

Jax tried not to arch at the pain. “Yes, she didn’t have control
though, it’s almost like she was a new shifter.”

“She’s apparently being taught control, but has spent too much time in
kitty form, according to Kass.” He moved to the wound on Jax’s wrist. “Took a
bite out of you, did she?”

“Where’s Kass?”

Lucius put unnecessary pressure on the wrist. “She’s on a hunt, won’t
be back until morning, plenty of time to get you patched up and out of the
way.”

“Of course she is, off being your little killer.” Jax whispered and
closed his eyes. “Why does her family want her? One of the brothers said
power.”

“She’s special, her mother was special. Originally her family wanted
her killed, but now I think because of the war, they have realized that she
could be an asset to them.” Lucius tugged on the bandage.

Jax gave a lazy smile. “Yeah, she really is special.” His eyes drifted
shut as his body told him sleep would help him heal.

“And you’re going to stay away from her.” Lucius reminded him.

Jax opened his eyes. “Yeah, and I’m going to stay away from her. You
going to be able to take care of the clan?”

“Yes, as long as Kass listens to me, I can protect her.” He started out
of the room. “Be somewhere else come sunrise, Jax.”

She listened to the sound of feet against the
concrete as she crouched by the bush, hidden in the shadows. Kass and her
panther both agreed that they needed to wait. The woman needed to be a little
bit closer before they tore out her throat. Kass wiggled her hind further down.
Her tail twitched back and forth as the shadow of the human came closer. Just
two more steps. One more step. Kassity pounced and took the screaming human
out. The human side tried to hesitate, but her panther counterpart decided it
was time to strike and tore out the woman’s throat.

The blood felt warm as it slid down her throat, leaving a burning in
her stomach, but it helped calm her panther. Kass looked down at her kill and
lapped up the blood around the woman’s neck. Fighting a losing battle, Kass
couldn’t control her panther’s thoughts of eating the rest of the human. A
scream made her ears twitch and her eyes left her prey. A child stood on the
side of the road watching her. She pushed away from the body, her eyes meeting
the wide frightened eyes of the little human. The smell of fear filled her
senses as her nostrils flared. Her panther wanted to pursue the scared human,
but Kass managed to squash that feeling down and run to the alley, using trash
cans to help her over a wooden fence at the end and disappear into the night.

Kass stumbled into the mansion, her vision blurry and motions shaking.
A familiar smell hit her nose, but she ignored it. She couldn’t believe Jax
would come back here, not after he disappeared right after they…she shook her
head and forced her door open. The content beast in her entertained the idea of
following the scent, but exhaustion won out. Collapsing on the bed she closed
her eyes praying for sleep to take her before she thought about her kill. She
groaned as she recalled the way that the flesh tore and the blood splattered.
Worse of all she remembered the wide, frightened eyes of the male child as he
took in the horror. He couldn’t have been more than five. Faster than she
thought was possible she was in her bathroom, hunched over the toilet emptying
the contents of her stomach. After a while the vomiting turned to dry heaves.
Wiping the sweet from her forehead she found her way back to the bed. She
curled up and let the silence take her.

Quinn tapped his fingers against the arm of
his chair. His three children were standing in front of him, each of them
looking guilty. Sarah’s hands were clenched as she tried not to at scratch the
silver collar at her neck, but her eyes never left the ground. He called his
experiment with her a failure because she acted more like a changed shifter
than a born one. Something he hadn’t expected. His sons on the other hand he
expected more of. Garrett and Stephan were both nursing wounds from another
panther.

“So he mated her.”

“So he says.” Garrett muttered. “He returned the money to us and claims
that he’s done.”

Thinking, Quinn drummed his fingers more. “We need her so we can
deliver her to The Circle. She is the strongest of our kind.”

Stephan growled. “Well, what do you want us to do? The mercenary has
gone soft and Kassity is under Lucius’ protection.”

“We’ll have to go get her ourselves. She knows that we’re after her.
She’ll panic and screw up. Especially if she’s lost touch with her panther.”

Garrett’s eyes widened just a touch. “We’re talking about kidnapping
Lucius’ prized cat. That’s different than Jaxon coaxing her out.”

“I didn’t expect the mercenary to actually accomplish that. Once The
Circle has Kassity we will be protected. Lucius won’t be able to touch us.”

Stephan bounced on the balls of his feet. “So what? We just go in and
drag her out of the territory?”

“Silver cage and drugs boys. Just wait for her to fuck up.” Quinn
leaned back in his chair. “In the meanwhile, I’ll continue working with Sarah.”
He saw his daughter stiffen at his words and he chuckled. “We’ll make a warrior
out of you yet.”

“
Kassity.”

Kass groaned and rolled over, pulling the blanket over her head trying
to ignore Lucius’ voice.

“Kassity.” He nudged her in the back with his foot. “Get up.”

“I don’t want to. Late night. Don’t feel good. Go away.” She grumbled
from under the blanket. “And I’m still naked.”

He chuckled. “Not like I haven’t seen it before. Now get up.”

She uncovered her head and rolled over to look at him. “What part of ‘I
don’t want to’ don’t you get?”

“You are due at work tonight and I need you to start searching for that
stone.” He snapped at her. “Now get up.”

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, holding the blanket to her with her
elbows. “Okay, I’m up.”

“How did your kill go last night?”

She froze at his words. Her mind flashed back to the boy on the street
screaming at her. “It was successful.”

“What made you hesitate in that answer?” He squatted down to look at
her. “Don’t lie. Is she dead?”

She blinked at him. “Of course she’s dead. It was just…strange being
conscious for it and not having to guess about the kill.”

“Your human emotions didn’t get the best of you then?”

She shook her head, "No, it didn't. I managed to work through
it."

"What did it feel like, Kass?"

"Like I was fighting against myself, almost as if I was a new
shifter. I had enough control not to go after a bystander." She sighed and
ran a hand through her hair.

Lucius stood, "What do you mean bystander, who saw you?"

She swallowed. "It was a young boy, couldn't have been any older
than five. I don't know what he was doing out so late without-" She looked
up at him eyes wide. "His mother. I killed his mother in front of
him."

"I'm surprised you didn't scent him before you killed her."
Lucius pressed his lips together. "Not ideal that he saw her killed. It'll
have to be dealt with, I wouldn't have wanted a child to see that."

"You sent me to take away his mother, but you don't want him
traumatized by seeing it? What kind of sick fuck are you? The boy is going to
be scarred for life no matter if he saw it or not." She held her head down
and took deep breaths as the nausea crept up on her. "Fuck, I think I'm
going to be sick."

He shook his head. "Seeing something like that happen is different
than just being told. Yes, both will harm his mind, but now he's going to
forever have the image of a panther taking out his mother burned into his
mind."

"Great, let the man hunt begin." She muttered. "One
other thing I wanted to talk to you about." Standing she brought the
blanket up with her and met his gaze. "I thought I smelled Jax's blood
when I came home last night. What happened?"

He shook his head. "Nothing happened, don't worry about it."

"Lucius, that's not fair, what happened? I know I smelt his blood,
I can still smell a faint trace of it on you." She snapped. "You
expect honesty from me, and yet you won't grant me anything."

He snarled at her. "Because I own you Kass, how easily you forget
that."

"You're right, I'm a pet panther, I get that. But you smell of the
man you told me that I could mate."

"Don't worry about it. He's alive and that's what should matter.
If you run into him you can ask him yourself and he can tell you." He held
his hand up when it looked like she was going to protest. "It is not my
story to tell, and I wouldn't want to ruin anything he has worked for or
accomplished with you."

Kass frowned. What a weird way to word a sentence, what had Jax done?
"Okay fine, but you promise me he’s alright?"

"I did not harm him, if that is what you are worried about, and I
promise you that he is able to heal from whatever happened. Now you have places
to be and people to see. Tegan is in her room resting, I'm afraid she won't be
any help, but you might want to start with her."

"She’s not at her apartment? She normally fights tooth and nail to
stay there." Kass laughed.

He shook his head. "It's not safe for her to be there right now,
not until we know who has messed with her mind and what their intentions were.
I can't risk her safety and I hate the fact that I gave into her whim to have a
place of her own. I don't care if it's above the bar or not. This is proof that
she is not safe anywhere but under my watch."
 

Kass shook her head. "You know something, she is human, just as I
am-kind of, but she deserves to be treated more like one. I know she's been at
your side for years, and I know she is something special to you. Note how you
make sure that her hair stays white and that her eyes are always covered up
like you're hiding her. But seriously, if you want her to actually work with
you instead of against you, treat her better." She turned to get dressed.

"If I give her more freedom than she's in more danger, I cannot
risk her being taken from me. There are those out there that would do anything
for someone like Tegan, and it would ruin everything." He sighed.