Hyena Moon (29 page)

In the midst of all of the planning, she'd said, "I know that lake like the back of my hand. Sek and I used to play hide and seek out there."

"Kess, this is a little more serious than a game of hide and seek." Alaric's voice had been serious, almost chiding, ever the Alpha.

Kess had smiled a hard smile. "Not the way Sek and I played." She'd spoken of entire weekends that they spent in leopard form, trying to be the first one to tag the other. They'd even invited some of the older leopards to join in the fun. It hadn't just been a game, it was a test in tracking, hiding, stalking and attacking. And avoiding, since they’d gone into werehyena territory. Now Finn understood how she'd been able to take him out so easily in their first game of snow assassin. She'd done it before. If the situation hadn't been so serious, he'd have laughed.

Now pockets of weres were set up all along the corridor she’d be running to make sure none of the hyenas escaped. Kess expected Samara to keep a few guards with her, but she intended to circle back around and take on the werehyena pack leader on her own. The bulk of the pack and its allies she’d leave to them.

His dad and brother and Masud were arranged in a similar position ahead of them. Before them were Bomani and the other wereleopards, spread high up in the trees in small groups. Finn knew that they were the last small group, designed to take care of anyone who got through. Kess didn’t want anyone circling her flank when she went after Samara.

Mebis had received word that Lenore was free—since he and Laila were staying human, they were in charge of the cell phone communication. They’d passed the word to each group and to Kess, including the news that Rafe had managed to kill Teresa, Samara’s right hand and favored child. Finn was impressed. He hadn’t expected the skinny kid to pull off the rescue, let alone take out his own sister. He wasn’t sure if any of that team would be coming back to help them. He thought Cormac might since it was Kess’ neck on the line, but it would depend on how messed up Lenore was. He didn’t count on it though, choosing to trust in the resources he knew they had rather than bet on one that may or may not show up.

They’d been in the glades for hours, building the traps at Mebis and Laila's instructions. Kess wanted them all in place well before Samara’s people showed up. She knew Samara pretty well—he wondered if she had werejackals to thank for that—and figured that the werehyena wouldn’t do any preliminary scouting or setup, confident as she was in her numbers. Samara would be betting that her trump card of Lenore’s safety would make Kess play fair. She was overconfident, thinking that she had the upper hand. Which she still did, if you counted sheer numbers, but it was still no reason to be so cocky.

Finn began to hear the sounds of weres fighting: the roars of the leopards, the barks of the wolves and those weird cries of the hyenas. The glades echoed with it and the sounds of bodies moving through thick underbrush and the crunch of vegetation being trampled. His sensitive nose already detected blood.

A black blur zipped past them, roaring out a greeting. Kess. Hyenas boiled up behind her and Finn was too damn busy to worry about anything but snapping jaws and furry bodies. He heard gunfire and reminded himself to stay well out of Laila and Mebis’ way. They were firing regular rounds; silver only worked on wolves and jackals, and even then, silver only hurt them. Silver bullets wouldn't kill unless the bullet hit true. Silver would have no effect on hyenas. They were good shots, but he didn’t feel like finding out how good. Hyenas started dropping, but more kept piling in as the ones that got past the others began to dogpile on them.

Mebis and Laila worked efficiently. When one was out of bullets, the other covered while they reloaded or pulled out a new weapon. There was not an instant where one of them wasn’t dealing out quick death. Finn knew the Keepers had a badass reputation but seeing these two in action startled him. It was nice to call your girlfriend an assassin, but seeing her using those skills was a little scary.

Finn had managed to take down two in the time it was taking Laila and Mebis to eradicate triple that. But that meant that the other hyenas were moving in on him, seeing him as the weaker opponent. Great. He didn’t want to back up much further since that gave the hyenas an opportunity to flank Laila and her brother, but he was running out of options. A ring of teeth and glowing eyes circled around him and he snapped and bit with bitter determination.

“Finn!” Laila screamed, firing into the group of hyenas surrounding him. That meant she took her eyes off of her own targets, intent on creating an escape for him. Two hyenas launched themselves at her, but Mebis fired twice and they both fell in midair, dead. Unfortunately this meant that Mebis didn’t see the one angling behind him.

Finn barked, but Mebis didn’t speak wolf. When he finally did feel the hyena’s presence, it was already on him, latching onto his leg. Mebis shouted in pain and shot the thing in the face. They both went down. He was still firing, but with the thing’s teeth still in him, he didn’t have a whole lot of mobility. Several closed on him, but cautiously, wary of his guns and his unerring accuracy.

Until one of his guns clicked empty. He flung it away, trying to pull out another one while still firing the first, but two hyenas were coming for him. Finn saw him kill one, but the other bit down on his hand. Mebis screamed, but Finn saw the back of the animal’s head blow out as Mebis was able to pull the trigger of the gun in its mouth.

Finn and Laila made quick work of the rest, but he could hear more coming as the other groups drove the hyenas toward them. She was angry, a snarl on her face as she pried open hyena jaws from her brother’s flesh. Mebis was conscious, but bathed in sweat. Finn stood guard as Laila tore Finn’s discarded shirt into strips for tourniquets for her brother’s thigh and ruined hand.

Laila’s voice was dead as she ordered Finn. “I need you to change. You have to get him away from here, out of range.”

Mebis choked out a “Like hell, pest,” but Laila ignored him. Her fingers were busy, reloading empty clips, reloading her guns. Her eyes bored into Finn’s. She wasn’t asking him. She was telling him. He complied quickly. The look in her eyes told him that she wasn’t playing around. “Get him out of here.”

Finn grabbed Mebis, putting the wounded man’s arm around his shoulder so he could carry most of Mebis’ weight. The werejackal hissed, but didn’t pass out which Finn took as a good sign. “What are you going to do?”

Laila turned to him and gave him a rough kiss. Then she grinned. “I’m a Keeper, Finn. I’m going to do what I best.” The hyenas were coming and she sent him off with a wicked look. “I’m going to tear some shit up.”

The last thing he saw was her drawing another gun, the Dao swords still strapped to her back, her other hand holding one of the automatics she favored. Finn would have grinned if he hadn’t been trying to make better time. He almost felt sorry for those hyenas.

**********

Laila emptied her mind of everything except targets. She couldn’t afford to worry about her brother or Finn; she had to trust that they would take care of each other. Finn could get Mebis away; maybe even get him somewhere before he bled out. Mebis was a were which meant he healed fast, but not fast enough from were bites. He’d need a doctor. And transfusions. She stopped herself from thinking about it as five more hyenas came running out of the thick brush. They hesitated when they saw the piles of carcasses around her.

She bit her lip deliberately. No time to hold back, she’d need every advantage. If she went a little bit crazy when she tasted blood, then she’d use that. She bit down hard, then again on the inside of her cheek. She swallowed, tasting the metallic tang and waited for the tingling to begin.

Laila fired into one, dropping it. The other four were lunging at her, thinking she wouldn’t be able to handle so many targets, their bodies weaving and winding so it made it hard to tell which was which. Laila had no problems though. Everything was moving slowly, like a movie she was watching frame by frame. And she didn’t care what she hit, as long as she hit something.

She fired both guns, always moving and looking for new targets. When both guns clicked empty, she dropped them and drew the two Chinese broadswords from their sheaths on her back. Each sword was part of a larger whole and they worked in tandem as she glided through the mass of animals, dancing a violent waltz with the hyenas. They were trying to get away from her, which was stupid because nothing could escape her. She and Anubis collected everyone eventually.

A couple more came through, hearing their packmates’ dying yips and barks. Laila wasn’t worried, just kept going about her business of stabbing and cutting, slicing and twisting. She saw a black shape drop down from a nearby tree, caught the glint of green-gold eyes in the moonlight. She acknowledged her sudden ally but didn’t stop her dance. She swung the blade and a hyena’s head flew up, an arc of blood glistening black against the pale sliver of moon.

**********

Mebis was panting and Finn took a minute to rest against a tree. Even with Mebis trying to help, it was slow going as more and more of his weight landed on Finn. Mebis leaned against the tree, trying to recapture his lost breath. “You need to go back for her. Leave me.”

“No way,” Finn heaved out, gulping in lungfuls of air.

A gun barrel was pointed at his face. “Go help her.”

Finn raised an eyebrow. He couldn’t hear signs of pursuit. That was good, he thought. It meant Laila was still fighting. It meant she was alive. “No offense, Mebis, but even with a gun pointed at me, you’re still less scary than your sister.”

The gun barrel dropped. They moved on.

Finn loaded Mebis into the car carefully and then climbed into the driver's seat. He glanced over at the werejackal; he was white, his lips colorless and pressed into a thin line. Blood soaked the makeshift bandages wrapping his hand and leg. He was breathing shallowly, but he was still conscious.

"You okay?" He said as he started the engine.

"Just drive the car," Mebis snarled. "I don't know what my sister sees in you," he muttered to himself.

Finn heard. He knew Mebis was in pain and was afraid for his sister—hence his pulling the gun on him earlier. "Hey, you might want to wait and insult me after I get you to the hospital." Sarcasm seemed the best way to go right now. He was afraid for Laila too, and for his father and brother out there. But freaking out wasn't going to do anyone a whole lot of good.

Mebis leaned his head back against the seat while Finn got them out to the main road. "I should be with her."

Finn barely heard him, his voice was so faint. "Dude, if anyone will be fine, it'd be your sister."

Mebis swung his head around, the better to glare at Finn. The werewolf saw the angry expression on the other were's face out of the corner of his eye. Mebis opened his mouth to speak, but Finn cut him off, eyes not leaving the road. "I know she's your sister, and I know you're worried about her. It's your job to protect her—believe me, I understand that. But Laila is the most amazing person I've ever met. She can handle this. She was born for it."

Mebis looked at him curiously, and then subsided. He looked thoughtful. "You really like her, don't you?"

Finn nodded, eyes front. "Just don’t tell her that."

Mebis snorted.

"What are we going to tell the docs once we get you to the hospital?"

"I got mauled by a dog." Mebis edged around in the seat, clearly trying to find a more comfortable position for his leg.

"Think they'll buy that?" Finn looked over at the Keeper.

Mebis gave him a look that conveyed just how stupid he thought Finn was. "You'll want to clean up before we get there."

"Huh?"

"Unless you want to tell them you ate the dog that mauled me, you might want to wipe your face." Finn's face was liberally smeared with hyena blood.

He took a look at himself in the rearview mirror, then grinned. "Oh. Right."

Chapter Forty-Two

Kess waited while Laila dispatched the final hyena. Kess had killed two, but Laila had racked up an impressive body count. The Keeper leaned over her knees to catch her breath, hands full of sword. The blades dripped dark blood onto the soaked earth. Kess had no idea how they would ever be able to hide this. So much for low profiles.

“Thanks for the assist,” Laila said when she got her breath back.

Leopard Kess nodded, then took off. Laila knew what to do, they all did. Now it was Kess’ turn to face Samara. She would put an end to all of this stupid, pointless bloodshed, one way or another. Kess was stunned at how many hyenas Samara had summoned. She hadn’t even known there were that many in the state, let alone Samara’s city. And they were dying because their pack leader was too damn obsessed to know when to stop. Samara and Sekhmet had been perfect rivals. Both of them were headcases.

Kess made her way back to the appointed meeting place, knowing that Samara would still be there. She thought superior numbers guaranteed her the win and she would want to savor her victory. Plus, Kess had done something to ensure the werehyena stayed, if only to lord it over Kess when the leopard was brought back by her pack.

They had spoken earlier in the evening and Kess had once again offered Samara the rite of challenge. But the werehyena had refused. Kess knew she was waiting for Rafe and Teresa to show up with Lenore. That was when Kess had told her about the death of her daughter.

Kess changed back into human form before she entered the clearing. She wanted to give Samara one last chance to stop of all this before anyone else had to get killed. She was not going to give the werehyena Miami under any circumstances, but maybe Samara would realize that it came at too high a cost and give up. Kess hoped so, but she doubted Samara would be so reasonable. Not after all of this.

“Samara,” she said, meeting the icy blue gaze of the older woman. “We can end this now, without anyone else getting hurt.”