Hyena Moon (11 page)

"Wow, don't hold back or anything, Mebis." She couldn't keep the anger out of her voice.

"Don't be dim," he snapped. "What makes for an effective con?"

Kess sat in silence, trying to make sense of the change in subject. She thought for a moment. "I guess for it to be believable. Nobody would fall for it if they thought it was fake."

He nodded. "Precisely. The more real something seems, the easier it is to catch the mark." He stared at her, his eyes emphasizing his point.

Kess understood what Mebis was trying to tell her, but she felt she needed to argue her position. "You were there when Samara dumped Rafe in my lap. Could you fake that kind of hurt and surprise?"

"That's exactly my point. He may not even have been aware of it himself at that point. So that the shock would have been real, and designed to draw you in." He paused, bending closer to Kess. "Tell me, has there ever been a point where Rafe has been out of your sight? Where he could have been contacted by his mother or another pack member?"

When Kess didn't answer, the werejackal smiled. "I thought as much."

Kess rubbed the bridge of her nose. She could feel a headache coming on. "So do I take him out to the Everglades and feed him to alligators?"

Mebis shook his head. "No, you little idiot." At her frown, he grinned. "I'm merely trying to illustrate the danger you face if you don't stop looking at Rafe through blinders of your own making and start seeing him as he truly is."

Kess sat back in her chair, going over in her head everything Mebis had said. Then she thought about the past conversations with Cormac and even Finn's throw away comments. She may not see Rafe as a threat, but she was being careless if she didn't plan for that eventuality. It was more than just her safety at stake; she had others she cared for whose lives were also on the line. "I can put guards on him to watch where he goes and who he sees."

"Good."

"I can pull his phone records to see who he's been in contact with." She hadn't been doing that because she felt it was a breach of trust.

"Better." Mebis waved at her to go on.

Kess took a moment to think. "I can watch him myself and see if what he says and what he does jives."

Mebis nodded in approval. "Much better. Now you're thinking like the head of a clan of deadly beasts."

"Thanks, I guess." She took a sip of her tea, her mind already working on who would be the best guards for Rafe.

Mebis leaned forward, his voice pitched low. "Are you still planning to return to North Carolina?"

Kess pulled her hair forward, then realized what she was doing and forced herself to pick up her cup again. She couldn’t hide from this. The subject of whether she would stay was still a sore one. When she'd first found out about her brother's death, she'd only thought to come down and arrange the funeral and then return to the place she now considered home. But things had escalated with Samara and her werehyenas, to the point that the woman had practically declared open war. Kess knew she couldn't leave if Samara was still a threat. She wasn't sure she'd be able to leave even if the threat was neutralized.

It angered her. She didn't want to be here, stuck with the clan and all of its responsibilities. She wanted to live her own life, to not have an entire group looking to her for their continued survival. She didn't want to lead anyone. But she had to take it, at least for now. There was no one else in the clan that she could give over leadership to; she'd already suggested it to Bomani and he had shot her down. It was, in part, why the idea of a ruling council was so appealing. If she could get it set up and running properly, there was the chance that she could leave to pursue her own interests.

"Kess?" Mebis prompted her and she realized he'd been waiting for her answer while she was lost in thought.

"I don't know yet." She sighed, picking at a fingernail. "I would like to, but only if the territory is stable. And for that to happen, the hyenas need to be removed as a threat."

"Agreed." His eyes flashed toward the door and back to her. "And you may not be able to return even then. Understand?"

Kess nodded, unhappy. She knew that the Keepers would put someone of their choosing in her place if they didn't think she could do the job. What that would mean for her clan was anybody's guess. She may not have wanted it, but she had the job now and she knew she couldn't just abandon it. She couldn't abandon them. She'd left Miami, yes, but it wasn't because she disliked her people. She had left because she had no other choice.

"I do. And I know why you are still in town. You're spying on me." She let a little of the anger she was feeling come through in her voice.

Mebis smiled slyly. "I wouldn't put it that way. I'm here to watch you, yes, but I can also help."

Kess cut her eyes at him, surprised. "Help?"

It was his turn to sigh. "Fine. I'll lay a few more cards on the table for you. I want you to succeed. Me, personally." He leaned in closer, eyes burning. "I think you are the right person for this territory--so long as you keep your head in the game--and to that end, I'll help you however I can. You just have to ask."

Kess looked at him, definitely wary. "Isn't that a conflict of interest or something?"

He grinned at her, pulling back to give her space. "My orders were to observe you and to use my own discretion. There were no orders specifying non-interference."

Kess found herself smiling back. If anyone had told her six months ago that she would be back in Miami of her own free will and sharing coffee with a werejackal assassin, she'd have called the authorities to have that person committed. "Okay, fine. I'm asking."

**********

She knocked on the door of Bomani's home and waited for the older wereleopard to open the door. It was late evening, but she had called a last minute meeting of her clan after meeting with Mebis. Most of the clan would be able to make it, with the few that were unable to attend to be updated later.

Kess watched the door open, but it wasn't Bomani she saw. Nyla, an older wereleopard female stood in the doorway, smiling at her. Kess returned the smile and entered. "It's always good to see you, Nyla."

"And you, Kess." Nyla's voice was a silky almost-purr. The woman was in her forties, past childbearing age, but Kess remembered her from when her father ran the clan. Nyla had always been kind to her. "Bomani's getting set up."

"Are we the only ones here so far?" Nyla's territorial run abutted Bomani's; she was his closest neighbor.

Nyla shook her head. "Masud's here too."

Kess followed her to the large, poshly appointed living room where the meeting would be held. Bomani was speaking with Masud, probably sharing some arcane bit of clan counselor knowledge with his chosen successor. She didn't object to Bomani's choice of replacement. She had doubted Masud at first, especially since he'd been close to her brother, but Kess had seen that the man was competent and loyal to the good of the clan, not to Sekhmet.

She greeted the two men and then took a seat on a sleek sectional while she waited for the rest of her clan to arrive. She tried to calm her nerves. Kess hated speaking to groups of people, but it was a necessary part of being the clan leader. She wasn't sure how her idea would be received, but it was time she got the clan's opinion on her idea about opening up Miami. She would need their buy-in, especially with the threat of Samara and her hyenas looming.

The clan members began to arrive and soon there were ten of them gathered in Bomani's living room. He made everyone welcome and then turned the floor over to her. She nodded to him as she stood before the assembled wereleopards, her people, and cleared her throat.

"Good evening, all of you and thank you for coming. I asked you here tonight because there is something that needs to be addressed." She paused, meeting each clan member's eyes in turn. She held longest on Bomani, who stood like a sentinel in the corner. "We've reached the point where we can no longer patrol and protect our territory--our numbers are simply too few. We've all known this, but no one has been able to come up with an adequate solution.

"I propose that we open up the city of Miami to all weres, led by a ruling council. Each were species would have a representative on the council to resolve conflicts and disputes. Every were would be responsible for policing their own and ensuring the safety of the territory."

"And sharing in the wealth of Miami?" This question came from Denari, a very old wereleopard. She had expected the oldest of her clan would have a problem with this change in the way things were run, so his objection was not surprising.

"Your business ventures are your own to oversee." Kess eyed the assembled ranks, being careful to sound neutral. "And they will continue on as always. There will be competition as other weres move in, but we still hold sway. And turf wars will not be allowed."

"This is a big risk," Kiri said.

Kess looked at the small woman, only a few years Nyla's senior and smiled slightly. "All change holds risk. We are at a crossroads here. We dwindle and die or are wiped out by hyenas. With this way we have a chance, slim though it may be."

"What about the hyenas?" Anum had spoken. Kess's gaze sought him out. He was about Masud's age, a contemporary of Sek's.

"I will face Samara before summer's end." Kess suppressed a shiver of fear as she said this. She still had no idea how she was going to do that, even with Mebis' offer of help.

"And if you lose?" Anum's voice was clear in the quiet room. All eyes looked to her and she saw doubt in several faces.

"It would mean all our deaths," Nyla said, speaking into the quiet like a seeress speaking prophecy. Low murmurs greeted her words.

"Which is why I will not lose." Kess' words rang out, drowning out the whispers and putting a halt to the beginnings of fearful conversations. Her gaze swept the assembled werecats. "I understand the gravity of the situation here and I will do my level best to resolve it." She tried to look strong and confident, something she most definitely did not feel at the moment. "Now, can we get back to my proposal?"

She looked over at Bomani as the room dissolved into debate. He nodded at her, his usually stoic face holding an expression of faint approval. Kess nodded back, then returned to the business of managing the meeting.

Chapter Fifteen

Rafe was watching television in the living room when he heard unfamiliar sounds coming from the front of the house. He'd settled into a routine over the past weeks: swim, run with Finn, gorge himself on food, watch television, read books, swim some more, sleep. Lather, rinse, repeat. Kess and Cormac and Finn came and went pretty quietly, and the few wereleopards that came to visit didn't call attention to themselves. Sometimes it felt like he was living with ghosts.

It meant that he hadn't been able to find out much of anything about Kess' future plans, including any of her ideas of how she might be able to tell if new weres were in the vicinity. It was frustrating him daily, but he couldn't exactly lurk around anymore than he did already.

He lowered the volume of the television to get a better listen. There was Cormac's low murmur, and the sound of something banging into the walls or floor. But loudest of all was a girlish voice, higher in pitch. He heard Kess' voice too, but couldn't make out her words.

Rafe levered himself up off the couch and walked to the doorway. He was curious, not least because this was something new, something to break up the monotony. And it didn't hurt that the voice sounded like it belonged to a girl his age. He poked his head out and caught a glimpse of a slight whip of a girl disappearing around a corner in a cloud of honey-blonde hair. She looked to be about his age, maybe a little younger.

Then her scent hit him. He'd gotten used to smelling people since his change hit; it had been annoying and distracting at first, and sometimes just plain gross, but he'd learned to ignore people's scents as a matter of course. Kess, Cormac, and Finn's scents had taken some getting used to, as familiar as he was with werehyenas, but now they were like background noise in his nose.

This one was different. There was the girlish scent of baby powder, a clean smell, undercut by a resinous honey scent. She smelled kind of like a meadow. It was different than anything he'd smelled before, so clean and so...pretty. There wasn't another word for it that fit so well.

He found himself following along behind the small group, led by his nose. He tried to look cool about it--no need for anyone to think he was stalking the new arrival, which he wasn't doing. Rafe just wanted a better look at the person to whom this scent was attached.
Once I've gotten a good look, I'll go back to watching TV. I just want to get a look
. It was just new, that was all. The allure of the scent would fade once he got used to it.

They had stopped in front of a closed bedroom door on his side of the house. Kess and Cormac and Finn stayed in bedrooms on one end, and he was all by himself on the other side. Kess had mentioned that this was Sek's wing, but what that was supposed to mean was as beyond him as reading Egyptian hieroglyphics. He knew Sek had been the clan leader before Kess, and that he was her brother, but that was about it. There was only that one weird conversation on the dock, but Rafe still wasn't sure what she'd been talking about. Even his mother with all her spies hadn't known what had gone on between the siblings. All he knew was that Kess didn't often come over to this side of the house.

He tried to make it look like he was just going into his bedroom. He didn't want to look weird or anything. It was bad enough that he felt kind of like a stalker. He watched the three of them carefully, trying to figure out the interpersonal dynamics. Cormac looked tired. The girl with him looked tired as well and a little worse for wear, with worry lines in her forehead and around her mouth. Kess kept herself at a remove from the two, seeming to not what to get in the way.