Harvest Moon (22 page)

He growled against my lips. “Not for food.”

I caught his lower lip with my teeth, whispering into the kiss, “We could order room service.”

“Probably safer to stay inside.” He hummed against my lips.

Oh, he was preaching to the choir.

We both grinned. Jason grabbed my hand and hustled back to the hotel.

I
woke in a cold sweat. Jason still slept peacefully beside me. I sat up, rubbing my ankle over my
honu
tattoo. The sea turtle came to me in my dream. Through his eyes, I saw my grandmother. Her face was in shadows, a bonfire blazing behind her as she danced. Her hands told me a story. A warning.

The men in gray were back. They were on Maui asking about her. She left her home, the one I shared with her so long ago. The turtle turned, offering me a view of the rainforest and the waterfall. The cabin. Grandma Nani was staying in her spiritual getaway. When I was little, I’d go with her, watching her work. The skills of a true Kahuna were passed down to family. No outsiders.

But I left home before she could teach me. Had she taken in another apprentice in my place?

My
honu
let me see my grandmother one last time. Her dance had changed, slowed. Fire flickered in her dark eyes, her skin gleaming with sweat. I struggled to concentrate, to hold onto the dream. Using her body, she wove an urgent message.

Stay away.

I pulled my knees into my chest. Could she have any idea that we were already on the islands? My grandmother didn’t have visions like I did. She gained information from the winds, the waves, the animals and rocks. Our ancestors lived in these islands, and a Kahuna could sense their presence, receive their messages.

Jason stirred beside me. “Something wrong?”

“My grandmother contacted me in my dream. She wants us to stay away.”

He sat up, running his hand slowly up and down my spine. “She’s trying to protect you.”

“Or I’m not welcome here.”

“No way.” He kissed my shoulder. “I don’t believe that for a second.”

“I wish I shared your conviction.” I grabbed a rubber band from the nightstand and put my hair up. “The Nero team is on Maui. She isn’t at her house.”

“She told you where she was?” He glanced at the turtle on my ankle. “How does this
honu
thing work exactly?”

“Nothing exact about it.” I shrugged. “He guards my family line, and when we summon him, sometimes he can connect with our bloodline across the miles through dreams and meditations. That’s how I warned her that they were looking for me a few weeks ago.”

“And she got the message?”

“As far as I know. It’s not like sending an email. The meaning isn’t always clear in dreams, and other times it never comes through at all.”

“Gareth has something like that.”

“Really?”

Jason nodded, peering over at the clock. “His mom was part of the Paiute tribe, and while Nadya was fighting for her life, he found out he was a dream walker.”

“Wow. So he doesn’t need a go-between?”

He shrugged. “I’m not clear on how it works, but according to Nadya, he entered her dreams and helped her. He could connect with her wolf, hold her spirit on this side.”

“Our
honu
delivers warnings and messages. I’m not sure he could physically help us.”

“Getting the message that they’re already on Maui and the location of your grandmother is help enough.” He got out of bed, naked, still bruised but strong. “We should get out of here. The sooner we find her, the sooner we can get back to the Pack.”

“Harvest moon is tomorrow night.”

He nodded and pulled on a pair of underwear. “Yeah.”

“Her cabin is tough to get to. There’s no way we’ll get her and get back to Reno in time.”

“I figured.” He picked up his shirt. “Sounds remote enough that I should be able to shift up there without being seen, right?”

I used to play in the forest while my grandmother held her spiritual retreats. There were places where the vegetation was impenetrable and you couldn’t see farther than a few feet ahead, let alone blaze a trail. What if he wandered off as a wolf and couldn’t find his way back?

“There aren’t many people up there, but it’s not like the woods in Lake Tahoe. The forest on Maui is thick. Hikers get lost all the time.”

He came and sat next to me on the bed. His gaze drifted over my face. “You’re my mate. My other half. Whether you’re ready to believe it or not, it doesn’t change that it’s true. My wolf can track you anywhere. If you stay at your grandmother’s cabin, I’ll find my way back, no matter what.” He ran his fingers along the edge of my jaw. “You’re my north star, Kilani. Being near you makes my heart, my soul, and my wolf whole for the first time in my life.”

My mouth went dry. I cleared my throat, struggling to dislodge the lump of emotion choking me. I leaned in and brushed my lips to his, wishing for the millionth time that we could just hide away. I opened my eyes, losing myself in the intensity of his stare.

“I can’t figure out how to open my heart. I want to, but I’m so terrified that if I did and then I lost you, I’d never recover. It’d probably be easier if you weren’t everything I ever dreamed about. You’re smart, sexy, and a little rough around the edges…”

The corner of his mouth pulled up into a crooked, boyish grin that melted the heart I was so desperate to protect. “You don’t have a monopoly on fear. Until we kick Nero’s asses out of Reno—and trust me, I have every intention of doing that—you’re a target. If anything happened to you…” He shook his head, breaking eye contact. “Can’t even think about it.”

I covered his tight fist and kissed his cheek. “If you make me a wolf like you, I’d be stronger and more help in the ass-kicking department.”

Jason got up from the bed and stalked over to pick up the duffel bag. “You still don’t seem to get it. There’s no turning back. I won’t trap you into loving me. Right now, you still have a choice. You can still walk away. I hate the shit out of the thought, but I care about you, and I’d never want you with me, wondering if it was all a mistake.”

We packed up the room in silence. I chewed on his words. He made it clear, he wanted to change me, to make me his, but this wasn’t a traditional relationship. This was mate for life. Two halves of one soul. The romantic dream I’d carried around most of my life.

But my mother and two different men snubbed out that flame, crushing it into ashes, and I didn’t know how to believe again.

We caught a cab to the airport to grab the flight over to Maui. Jason held my hand, but he kept to himself. Normally silences made me nervous, worried someone was disappointed or angry with me, but with Jason, I could think. He was giving me space.

Giving me a chance to decide what I really wanted. It shouldn’t be that difficult, but this wasn’t deciding between a banana and a pineapple. The only thing that was certain was my desire to keep my vision from coming true. Jason would not end up shot, lying in a pool of his own blood. Not while I was still alive.

Was that love? Maybe.

I had today to figure it out. Tomorrow night was the full moon.

Chapter Twenty-One

J
ASON

W
hile Kilani sat at the gate, I gave Adam a call. He answered on the first ring. “Everything all right?”

“For now. We’re waiting for our flight over to Maui.” I lowered my voice. “I figured something out last night and it involves your family.”

His tone sobered. “I’m listening.”

I took a deep breath. “Sebastian’s motives for stopping his brother have been bothering me.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

I nodded even though he’d never see me. “I think Damian is hoping to win favor with their father, maybe bump Sebastian out of line to inherit the company.”

“You could be on to something.”

I clenched my fist. Adam wasn’t going to be as calm about the next part. I cleared my throat. “This affects us because ever since Damian came at me with a knife, something about him seemed familiar, and yesterday when Sebastian got pissy about Damian’s age, it confirmed the last piece of this puzzle.”

“You lost me.”

“When Lana smiled last night, I realized why Damian looked so familiar.” I paused, but he didn’t reply. “Adam, I think Damian is Lana’s fraternal twin.”

“Holy shit.” Adam groaned under his breath.

“Yeah.” I glanced over at Kilani. “I think that’s why Sebastian never took Lana to his father. He brought me a flash drive with the breeding experiment data but no mention of the father’s identity. Because he realized he’s Lana’s older brother and that makes Severino—”

“Fuck,” Adam interrupted, his breath puffing into the phone. “You’re telling me that my kids have Nero blood.”

“Yeah.”

“Their grandfather is the lunatic who ordered the hit on your mate.”

“And I’m guessing Sebastian hasn’t told him or they’d have a much bigger force beating on our back door.”

“Damian must not know…”

“I have no idea, but you and your family need to have backup at all times until we can nail Sebastian down on this.”

“And you need to grab Kilani’s grandmother and get your ass home. We need to circle the wagons. Splitting up the Pack leaves us vulnerable.”

“I know. We’ll be back soon.”

“Thanks for the information. Not what I wanted to hear, but I’ll protect them.”

Our flight number blasted across the PA system. Kilani got up.

“Gotta go. Talk to you soon.”

I dropped my phone in my pocket and jogged over. Kilani glanced up at me as we got in line to board. “How’d he take it?”

“About how I expected him to. If I’m right and the twins are Severino’s biological grandchildren, we’re never going to get that bastard to leave us alone.”

“But he doesn’t know, right?”

“We won’t know for sure until we find Sebastian again.”

T
o call Maui beautiful did it a disservice. The stunning views of the ocean on one side and the lush jungle on the other made driving perilous. Kilani contacted one of her cousins who loaned us his Jeep, saving us from paying for a rental and potentially alerting Damian and his team that we were on the island. Having the wind in my hair, the clean scent of the air, and Kilani’s tan legs bared in a pair of cut-off shorts beside me, shit, it was tough to remember we were in danger.

Last night, I’d said the words.
I love you
. Out loud. Never before had I said that to anyone who wasn’t a relative. I glanced over at Kilani as she pulled her long hair around her shoulder, containing it with one hand. Shifting my gaze back on the road, a smile tugged at my lips. Last night she’d coaxed me into dancing, and later I fed her grapes while we basked in the afterglow of making love with the balcony door open and the roar of the ocean blotting out the rest of the world.

I wanted more nights like that. More time to hold her in my arms, to hear her laugh and make her smile. I loved her.

She didn’t return the sentiment. It probably would’ve stung, but her kiss was answer enough. I’d meant what I said about waiting for her. Unlike me, she’d spoken those words to two men before me, and they’d both broken her heart and her trust.

I’d have to be patient, but she was worth every minute.

She glanced my way. “Hopefully Nero is still sniffing around Grandma Nani’s house down by the beach. My cousin said they came by his surf shop yesterday, but he told them he thought she took the ferry to Molokai to treat a sick girl who couldn’t travel.”

“I hope they bought it.”

She nodded. “At least it’ll slow them down a little. Either way, the cabin is off the grid, so even if someone mentions it to them, there’s no address to enter into their GPS.”

She directed me up winding roads with switchbacks and sudden drop-offs that had me tightening my grip on the wheel. The road to Hana was only about fifty-two miles on the map, but between the hairpin turns, sheer cliffs, and narrow bridges, we’d been driving for more than an hour and, according to the mile markers, we were only halfway there.

After another twenty minutes, Kilani pointed to a turnout filled with tourists, Hawaiian artisans, and a cart full of fresh fruit. I parked the Jeep and turned toward her. For a second, I couldn’t speak. She stared at the jungle, the wind sliding through her silky hair. I memorized her profile, wishing I had my charcoal and a drawing pad handy. Every part of her, from the gentle slope of her nose, to her full lips, to the curve of her chin, called to me.

I shifted in my seat. Memories of making love to her the night before crept into my mind. How in the hell did I ever get so damned lucky? Kilani was beautiful, strong, wild, and…mine.

“Everything okay?”

She glanced my way and forced a smile. “We hike from here.”

“All right.” I climbed out of the Jeep, wishing I could lift the burden from her shoulders. What if her grandmother was still angry with her? There was no way that could be true. But why hadn’t she visited or called Kilani? It didn’t make sense.

That uncertainty hurt my mate, which in turn agitated the wolf inside of me. It didn’t help that the full moon was so close. I took a deep breath, searching for any sign of Damian’s scent. Fruit, sunblock, Doritos, and humans. No hint of a jaguar shifter. Yet.

I’d stay alert. They could be anywhere.

I handed Kilani her backpack and she took off down a barely marked trail. I followed, ducking underneath branches and brushing past ferns. A light drizzle blanketed us. Not enough to wash the sweat from my skin but just enough to make my shirt even wetter. After we’d hiked about a mile, she slowed.

“We’re almost there.”

“Good.” Did she sense my discomfort? “How did your grandmother make it out here alone? This isn’t a beginner’s trail.”

“Grandma Nani knows this island better than anyone. She could make this hike in the middle of the night without moonlight overhead.”

We crossed through a thicket of trees and Kilani pointed. “There it is.”

I narrowed my eyes in that direction. Trees, vines, ferns, a waterfall, but no cabin. “I don’t see it.”

“You will.”

Her grin stunned me for a second. She hadn’t smiled since we’d been in bed last night. I jogged a couple of steps to catch up to her.