Hyena Moon (21 page)

"She wants you to come home."

Teresa's words punched him the gut, hitting him in a place that he wasn't even aware existed. His mother wanted him home. His mother wanted...him. He couldn't even begin to process it. He'd spent so long thinking that he'd have to prove himself to her to get to come home--this new twist had him floundering.

"Why?" It was the only thing he could think to ask.

Teresa rolled her eyes. "Because you're her son, assclown. Because you belong at home with the rest of us." She slid closer to him so she could look in his eyes. "You're not a leopard, Rafe. You're not one of them. You belong with us. We're your family."

He looked down at his feet. He hated to admit that she might have a point. He'd been allowed the run of the house, but he knew he’d never really fit in there. He’d seen the sideways looks, all the suspicious glances leveled at him. Meetings were held behind closed doors so he couldn’t eavesdrop. There was a guard assigned to him now. He'd always be an outsider, despite whatever Kess said. He was really little more than a hostage. He wasn't part of her clan and he never would be.

But did he really belong with the hyenas? They were matriarchal creatures, with the females, as the consistently bigger and stronger animals, controlling the pack. He wasn’t sure he had a place there either. He didn't know what he could offer them. Did his mother really want him back? She’d spent most of his life ignoring him, as though wishing he’d just go away. When he finally had, did she regret her decision?

"It's only a matter of time," his sister continued, leaning back on her hands, "before they throw you out. Before they turn on you. Kess thinks she can get something out of you about us--why do you think she's being so nice to you?" She waved a hand at him. "The clothes, the nights out, even that cute little girl out there. She's softening you up, hoping you'll tell her what she wants to know."

Rafe poked at the tile floor with the toe of his shoe. He didn't want to think of his summer here like that, but it did seem like it was too good to be true. Things like this didn't happen to him. He wasn't lucky like that. Kess had let him have his freedom, had given him clothes and spending cash and even introduced him to Lenore. But in his experience, you didn't get something for nothing. He of all people knew that everything came with strings attached.

He thought again of his time with Lenore. Could she have been playing him all along? On Kess' orders? She had seemed so nice, so genuine...

Teresa's voice was in his ear, hissing like a serpent. "Come on, Rafe, you can't possibly expect a pretty little thing like her to really be interested in someone like you, can you? It's a setup."

His topaz eyes met his sister's blazing blue. "She's playing you, Rafe. They all are."

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Kess and Cormac walked slowly after Rafe and Lenore. It was early evening and they had thought a night out would be a nice change. Kess had been craving black beans and rice—now that she was back, she was indulging in all of the flavors she’d been missing for nearly two years—and it was decided that they would go out to dinner. Cormac had seemed a little disturbed when it had turned into a kind of double date, but Kess had said it was a good way to keep an eye on the pair, specifically Rafe. He’d allowed it.

The sun had set, but there was still the warmth and light of summer lingering. Kess liked this time of the year. She took Cormac’s hand in hers and walked with him, enjoying the clear humid night. They hadn’t gotten to do a lot of this—boyfriend/girlfriend stuff—because of all of the craziness surrounding her return to Miami. She’d wanted to show him so much of her city, but a lot of their time seemed to be taken up with strategy meetings, planning sessions, and preparations put in place for when she went back to school in North Carolina. They only had a few weeks left; she should make a point to take him around to see the good stuff.

She watched Rafe and Lenore. They walked side by side, not touching, but close enough that they could be. He’d grown since he’d gotten here—he was taller than she was now—and he’d filled out. He was still pale as rice paper, but that was now due to complexion rather than illness. Lenore said something and he laughed, his hair shifting away from the scars on his face. He seemed more at ease now. They made a cute couple.

Kess reminded herself that Rafe and his motives were still suspect, especially since Mebis had caught him watching them at the coffee shop. The werejackal had pointed out Rafe sitting outside with the glib remark, "Looks like you've got yourself a stalker," and tried—and failed—not to look too smug. She and Mebis had continued their meeting, but Kess had been watching Rafe carefully since then. It appeared more than likely that he hadn't just been abandoned in Miami.

He seemed to genuinely like Lenore though, and that was something she hadn't expected. But Lenore would be headed back north soon, to get ready for school, and Kess thought Rafe's true colors would show once she'd gone. She was going to have to make a decision about what to do about the werehyena very soon.

Lenore saw something in a shop window and called Cormac over to have a look. Cormac dropped Kess’ hand with a smile and went to see what his sister was pointing at. He was also the most relaxed she’d seen him in weeks. They should definitely get out more.

Rafe dropped back to walk next to her. “Hey, I need to talk to you about something,” he said, hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“Be right back, guys,” Kess called. Cormac waved and Kess followed Rafe down a quieter side street. She took a good look at the area, but didn't see anything that set off her warning bells. Still, she kept her focus wide, alert for anything out of the ordinary.

He turned to her when they were about halfway down. It wasn’t busy, with most of the shops being closed, but it was hard to talk over the sounds of the city itself. “What’s up?”

Rafe looked down at his feet, at the dumpster farther down the street, at the walls of the buildings. Finally he came out with it. “I’m thinking that I should maybe go back home.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. This was the last thing she expected to hear from him. She gave him her full attention. “Okay,” she said, not hiding her doubt. “I mean, you’re free to go home at any point, but do you really think it’s safe for you there?”
Especially after staying with us for so long?

He shrugged and her eyes narrowed. There was something he wasn’t telling her about this decision. Not that he owed her anything—Kess didn’t think she had any right to anything from the kid. But this idea to return to the hyenas seemed to come from out of nowhere and it didn’t feel right.

“It’s just…maybe I should be back with my own pack, you know?” He shrugged again and looked at the wall.

Kess eyed the scarred young man. His profile stood out against the gathering blackness like a stamped image on a coin. She knew there was more to it than what he was saying. “Sure, Rafe, if that’s what you want…” Had he found out whatever he'd been left here to find? She'd been careful around him, making sure sensitive information was locked up tight and that any meetings held were off-property. Or was something else going on? What had happened to change things?

She heard a slight scuffle of feet behind her and smelled a new scent. She turned quickly to look, arms coming up in defense, and caught a glimpse of Rafe’s shocked face as she did so. Something heavy and hard crashed into her skull right above her ear. It sent her to the ground, setting off a light show inside her head. Someone kicked her in the stomach and she curled into a ball, trying to protect as much of herself as possible. Kess tried to see who was attacking her. She got a confused glimpse of red hair and pale skin, but it wasn’t Samara. Then a bat slammed into her forearm where it was protecting her head and she cried out.

"Wait! Stop!" Rafe cried out, but Kess was too busy trying not to have her brains bashed in to see what he was blathering about.

“What’s the matter, princess?” A face swam close to her, but Kess didn’t recognize it. The girl was about the same age as she was and ridiculously lovely. Hyena. “Thought you guys were quick on your feet.” The girl slammed the bat into Kess’ shoulder.

“Come on, Teresa,” Kess heard Rafe say before Teresa kicked her again in the ribs. Ah, Rafe’s sister.

Kess heard Cormac’s voice calling from out on the street. Another kick blasted the wind out of her, but Cormac’s voice sounded closer now.

"Come ON!" Rafe's voice was urgent.

The bat hit the concrete with a hollow sound, followed by the sounds of people running away. Kess lay there for a while, just trying to get her breathing back on track and waiting for the explosions to stop behind her eyes.

She tried to get to her feet, but all she managed was an unsteady crawl to her knees. At the motion, her stomach rebelled, and she retched onto the street. Kess coughed, feeling like her head was going to drop off her neck and shatter like an overripe melon on the ground beside her.

Again she heard footsteps, but this time it was Lenore and Cormac. Their voices were mixing together in a huge babble of sound that Kess didn’t feel like deciphering. In the back of her mind, distant from the parts of her that hurt so bad, she wondered what had happened to Rafe. Why hadn’t he stopped Teresa? Had he tried—was that what the shouting was? He hadn’t hit her, but he hadn’t physically stopped his sister either. And then he'd left with her. She was confused and couldn’t put the pieces together in any way that fit.

Unless it had all been a setup. All that talk about wanting to go home; what if it had all been a ploy? A way to teach her a lesson? And she'd walked right into it like a moron. With her brains bouncing around her skull it was hard to think, so she filed this away for later.

“Home,” she murmured, wanting nothing so much as to be somewhere safe and away from possible prying eyes. She felt Cormac gather her up, and she put her head against his chest and listened to the steady heartbeat there.

As he helped to walk her to the car, one thought nagged her. What had Rafe been doing here all this time? Was he really a spy, or had the damaged young man that had been at her house for a month been the real Rafe? And if that was the case, then what had happened to make him go back?

Congratulations, Kess
, she said to herself.
You finally found someone with a more messed up family than you.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"What the hell did you think you were doing back there?" Rafe shouted at Teresa, too angry to be afraid of her.

She spun the wheel, guiding the car onto the highway and hit the gas. The lights of Miami became smaller and smaller in their rearview mirror as she took them home. "Duh, Rafe. What did it look like?" The grin on her face was feral and very pleased.

"I didn't get Kess alone just so you could take a baseball bat to her!"

He was furious. He knew what this was going to look like: he'd gotten her alone deliberately so his pack could try and take her apart. It didn't matter that he hadn't known about the attack—it would look like he did. He had no choice but to go with Teresa after that, especially since he'd just told Kess he'd planned to return home to his pack. They would never believe Teresa had acted alone.

"I didn't see you trying to stop me, baby brother." Ter's voice was a whipsnap.

He bit back his angry words. He'd tried to stop her with his words, but knew that if he'd touched her, she'd have turned the bat on him. Teresa wasn't finished though. "It almost sounds like you're upset about what happened to her. But that's not the case, right Rafe?"

He said nothing, choosing to stare sullenly out the window. Rafe kept flashing back to Kess huddled in on herself, lying in the street. It bothered him to think of her that way. She'd tried to be fair with him and she'd gotten blindsided for her troubles. He could never go back there now. He had no more choices left to him, except to go home and make the best of it there. Teresa had made sure of that.

Then he had a thought that made his stomach sink all the way to his feet. What would Lenore think?

**********

Rafe was apprehensive when Teresa pulled into their driveway. It wasn’t just because it looked like there was a party in full-swing at their house—he’d been present for plenty of those. And while it usually meant that he’d be getting humiliated at some point in the evening, it wasn’t anything new to him. What was new was the very idea that he would be welcomed back into this house and into his mother’s good graces. Finally.

There were a bunch of cars parked outside, some on the curb, uncaring of the tire treads they’d leave in the scrubby grass. People spilled out of their small ranch house to mingle in the yard. He could hear music blaring from the speakers in his mother’s old stereo from inside the house. Beer cans were beginning to litter their yard in twos and threes; by the early morning he’d probably be kicking them out of his way.

The partygoers were all hyenas, all part of the pack that his mother controlled. Everyone they passed greeted Teresa, offering her booze or a toke, but she waved them off with a smile. A few greeted Rafe and he nodded back, trying to keep his head down and not attract attention. He followed in Teresa’s wake as she wended her way through the yard full of gorgeous werefolk.

Rafe had never understood why hyenas were, physically, the most beautiful of all of the werecreatures out there. Not that the weres he had met so far were unattractive or ugly, it was just that the werehyenas had all been gifted with striking good looks. All of his mother’s pack looked like they should be walking a runway somewhere or staring vacantly out of a magazine cover. Was it a way to make up for what they wound up turning into? A natural advantage to make sure that they bred true? A kind of protection because people didn’t suspect someone that beautiful could turn into something so not?