In the Light of the Moon (Dark War Chronicles) (4 page)

She bobbed her head, doubling over as the painful pressure built in
her, as if her panther was pushing her way out. Stumbling outside, the first
gasp of cold air helped her panther start to settle.
 
Kass leaned against the wall, closing
her eyes and forcing her body to breathe, with each breath the panther receded.

Jaxon fought his way through the sea of people playing pool trying to
get to the bar where he knew Kass would be. The panther counter part pushed him
forward, it wanted to be near her and acted as if something had happened to
her, and he wasn’t one to argue with his beast. He approached just in time to
see another female take Kass to the back door.

‘Does she work for Lucius as
well, does she know about his wishes?’
He shook the thoughts from his head and started weaving through the
crowd, determined to get to Kass. Nodding to the other bartender, he made his
way out the back door and tried not to make a scene.

He looked to his left and saw his gorgeous red head doing some deep
breathing routine. Kass’ breath hitched and she hunched over, grasping at her
chest.

“You stupid cat,” she screamed, her eyes widened as she spotted Jax.
“No, no you can’t be here, we can’t be seen together.” Her face was coated in a
thin shimmer of sweat and when she tried to scoot away she doubled over in pain
again.

Jax went to her. Laying a hand on her shoulder, he tried not to jerk as
a shock went through him. His beast stirred, curious as to what was bothering
the female. Jax took a breath and calmed, coaxed his beast into staying in.
“Your beast?”

“Can’t control it.” She scrubbed at her face as she calmed. “What did
you do?”

“My touch calms you because our beasts call out to each other.”

She jerked away from him but doubled over again. “Not possible.”

Jax grabbed her arm and slammed her up against the wall, crushing his
lips to hers. He forced her lips to part with his tongue and coaxed her to
return the kiss. With a swirl of grace, Kass quit pushing against him and
wrapped a hand around his neck, holding him to her.

When he pulled back she was trying to catch her breath. “What the hell,
she liked that. She never likes being pushed.”

“She wants my beast.” He laughed and nuzzled her neck. “Lucius is going
to have a hell of a time keeping us apart.” He felt her tense under him and her
scent changed to fear. He cocked his head at her. “You fear him, but your
panther respects him. There are two different emotions going on in you.”

“Welcome to the ongoing battle.” She whispered. “Until I admit that he
is my master, and I am his killer, I will be separate from the panther. Two
different halves, one soul, two forms. It’s like being a new shifter all over
again. I hate it.” She fisted her hands in his shirt.

He brushed a hand down her cheek, backing away so she wasn’t up against
the wall. “How long?”

“Two years.” She closed her eyes. “I’m not happy about it either, but
it’s better than-“ She shook her head. “I can’t tell you this. I have to go.”
Kass let go of him and tried to move pass him, but he caught her with an arm
around her waist.

“Kass, don’t fight this. You don’t need another battle in your life.”
He whispered against her ear and rubbed his cheek against her. “Lucius isn’t
your master.”

She took a deep breath to speak, but a female voice caught her off.

“Yes, he is, and he’s here for closing.” She crossed her arms over her
slender stomach and raised a brow at the two. “Kassity, come on. I’m not
cleaning up alone.”

Kass pulled away from Jax and started towards the door. “Thanks for the
heads up, Mae.” She walked back into the bar, but Mae stayed in the doorway her
eyes on Jax.

“You need something, vampire?” He growled.

She shrugged. “No, just trying to protect her. I’ve seen what Lucius
does to her, now I’m trying to imagine what the punishment is for disobeying
him. You’re right, Kass doesn’t need any more battles in her life. So stay
away, okay kitty? I’d hate to see her dead.”

“You think Lucius would kill her?”

The vampire’s eyes flashed black for a moment and she bared her fangs
at him. “I know he will, I’ve seen it first hand.” She walked back into the
bar, letting the door slam shut behind her.

Kass watched as Lucius locked up for the
night and turned to her and Mae. “Finish cleaning, I have matters that need to
be attended to. Back on the property by dawn.” He disappeared leaving the women
staring at the empty space.

“Ugh, demands, demand, demands. Do you ever get used to it?” Mae asked,
grabbing the broom from against the wall.

Kass rolled her eyes. Before, Mae always operated on the outside, not
part of the supernatural world, but a supernatural investigator for the
government. “Eventually, after a few hundred years I suppose.” Kass wiped the
bar down with easy circles of a wet rag.

“You seem to obey pretty well for being with him such a short time.”
Mae swept the floor, moving chairs to the tops of tables as she went.

Kass snarled to herself. “Doesn’t mean I’m used to it. You forget, I
spend most of my time in a nearly empty room or in a silver cage.” She shivered
at the mere thought. “I also obeyed for Josh’s safety, but seeing as you got
him killed I guess that doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It wasn’t completely my fault.”

“He went to you because you sought him out. You couldn’t leave it alone
and now he’s dead.” Kass threw the rag down on the wood. “You couldn’t let
anything lie, you had to come searching and screw everything up.”

Mae blinked at her. “Josh would have sought me out eventually, because
of our history together.”

“No, he wouldn’t have. He was content with where he was, with what he
was doing.” Kass clenched her fists, her body shaking. “He took care of me and
now he is gone, leaving you in his place.”

Mae shook her head and continued to move around the floor. “You think I
have it so easy? Lucius is infatuated with me, I’m his little-“

“Yeah, I know, fuck toy, we’ve all been there before.” Kass’ voice had
softened a little. “Everyone except the one person that should be.”

Mae shook her head. “I hear his human has been with him plenty of
times.”

“She hasn’t, she says she has because that is what is expected. I can
tell when she’s lying. Though she controls it well, her heart rate changes just
a bit, her breathing switches rhythms, and she plays with her dress.” Kass
laughed. “So yeah, she’s the only person that hasn’t been. Lucky her.” Kass
picked the rag back up and went back to work, thinking about Josh’s bargain
that helped Kass go from toy to killer in a matter of days. She closed her eyes
against the memory, wishing he was still here to protect her. Her panther
stirred at that thought, and an image of Jax came to mind. Kass shook her head.
No girl, he’s off limits unless you want
to be surrounded by silver again.
The beast protested against her, as if
she didn’t care about the silver, the cages or the collars.

Kass rubbed her chest as the pain and heat started to spread.

“You alright?” Mae’s voice broke Kass’ thoughts.

Kassity nodded. “Yeah, just the normal ongoing battle.”

“Promise not to shift? I don’t think I can fit your panther in your
car.” There was a light tone to Mae’s voice.

“Don’t think my panther would like the car anyways.” Kass chuckled a
little as she finished up with the bar and then went to help Mae with the
chairs.

Mae swept around the tables that Kass had cleared of chairs. “It amazes
me how you can be a panther and human, two completely different mindsets. It
makes no sense.”

“And vampires do? You little blood sucker.” Kass chided. “Not a lot of
things in the supernatural world make sense. Hell, there are different type of
shifters, some like me are born into the life, others are infected and changed.
There are some that even claim to be blessed by the gods.” She laughed. “You
should hear the werewolves talk, they think they are so much better than other
lycans. I find it strange you never set out to understand our world before you
started killing our kind.”

Mae frowned and shook her head. “I didn’t always kill my targets, some
of them I just found and gathered information on. I didn’t have an assignment
to kill you. I was just supposed to locate the creature that was eating high
class members of society.”

“And what do you think your friend would have done with that
information? Put another silver bullet in me, and let me tell you how pleasant
that is.” Kass snapped and put the broom away. While in the back room she
grabbed her coat and bag, reminding herself that to go against Mae meant going
up against Lucius. She growled as she spotted the trash by the back door.

“I’m going to take the trash out.” Without waiting for an answer she
gathered the three bags and pushed through the door.
 
The door clicked shut and a soft growl
echoed through the alley as a hand curled around Kass’ wrist. She let the bags
clatter to the ground as she turned her head to face her assailant.

Jax jumped and raised a brow when Kass ripped
her arm away from him and swiveled, one foot in front of the other, fists up
for a fight. He held his hands up. “I didn’t mean to startle you, I just wanted
to see you before you went back to the mansion.”

“Go away.” She glared at him and picked the trash back up to throw it
out. He went to help her, but she pushed him away. She didn’t want him closer
right now; not with the way her beast responded. “Don’t need your help, I need
you to go so that I don’t get in trouble.”

She saw the way his face fell when he sighed. “Okay, fine.” He muttered
and headed down the alley. She relaxed when he disappeared around the corner
and then she walked to the opposite end where the dumpsters were. Grumbling she
threw the bags in the dumpster. A gust of wind caught her hair, bringing the
familiar scent of Jax for an instant, but then a stronger scent made her
freeze, another male she recognized.
No,
no, what is he doing here.
Her beast stirred in panic, both halves of her
knowing that the only way she would survive an attack would be if she could
shift.

A large panther came from behind the dumpster, crouched low as he
stalked her. Kass shuffled backwards, keeping her eyes on the cat in front of
her. She tried to coax her panther out, but she didn’t have the control to
bring her beast over the edge and out. Her heart thudded against her chest as she
realized she needed to shift and break the barrier placed on her.

He pounced, taking her to the ground. Claws tore into her flesh as she
screamed and tried to get her knees between them. She struggled, shifting one
up, then the next and she pushed, calling on the strength of her beast and
forcing the male off her and into the middle of the alleyway.

She ignored the blood dripping down her shoulders, the pain helped feed
her beast as she worked on drawing it out. “I don’t know what you’re doing here
Garret, but you need to leave.”

Her half brother’s tail flickered as he growled. He crouched again not
hindered by how she threw him away. He stalked from side to side, keeping her
trapped where she was.
 

Panic sliced through her as he bared his teeth.
Come on stupid cat, shift.
Her panther gave her a wave of pain as
it tried to obey her but it did nothing except cause her to stumble.

Garret rushed her and slammed her into the wall before he locked his
jaw around her leg. He yanked her to the ground and tried to drag her down the
alley.

The new pain and the scent of more blood caused Kass’ panther to try
harder to escape. A strangled cry left her throat and she kicked at Garret’s
head. With each blow, his teeth tore down her leg.

“What the hell!” Mae’s voice boomed through the alley, causing the
struggling pair to freeze.

Garret roared at the vampire, letting go of Kass’ leg. She pulled
herself up, using the wall to help support her. Her vision blurred and spots
danced, distorting the images in front of her.
I will not pass out, I will not pass out.
She tried to focus her
gaze on Garret. His hind legs tensed and his tail twitched.

“Mae, run.” Kass snapped a moment before Garret pounced, but the
vampire was prepared. The glimmer of silver caught Kass’ attention, the large
panther roared as it pierced his flesh. Landing on his feet, blood dripping
from his stomach Garret turned blazing eyes towards Kass. She slid down the
wall unable to hold herself up with the injured leg, she expected Garret to
attack her again but the wounded beast ran out of the alley.
 

Kass looked at Mae, “Took you long enough.” She groaned, a wave of
nausea hitting her as she shifted her weight.

“I didn’t hear you scream until he bit you.” She walked over, pausing
at all the blood. “How hurt are you?”

Kass looked over the bite, her vision disappearing for a moment.
“Royally fucked, I’ll be lucky to be conscious by the time we get home.” She
leaned her head against the wall and then flinched when she hit a bruise.