Broken Moon by Laken Cane

Chapter Twenty-Five

Dr. Hayes was standing in the doorway, with Belinda and Eli at his side. No one seemed to know what to do. I’d been dressed in a pair of slightly too large but soft pajamas, and I spotted my belts and weapons spilling from a bag on a little table at the foot of the bed. The hilt of my demon blade peeked from the bag and I breathed a little easier to see it. There was also a cloth bag into which I assumed my bloody clothes had been placed.

“What the fuck,” I croaked, my throat as dry as a cracked desert floor, “is going on? Rick, put that gun away. Detective,” I snapped, when he continued to stare at Jared, his gun pointed at the other man’s chest. “What are you doing?”

He ignored me. “Get her up, Ms. Shannon,” he told Lucy.

I felt better than I had earlier, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t still a whole hell of a lot of pain and weakness. My regular pain seemed worse, despite the fact that I no longer teetered on the sharp cliff edge of death, but I was likely just having a harder time dealing with it in my weakened state.

Lucy slid off the bed and took my arm, tugging gently. “Come on, Kait. The detective’s car is waiting. Let’s get you home.”

“Guys—”

“Kaitlyn,” Jared said, “Let your friends take you home. I will come to you. Right now, there is no convincing them that I mean you no harm.” Finally, he took his stare off the detective and looked at me. “You will rest. Tomorrow night, I’ll call you.”

I knew what he was saying. Tomorrow night I would be strong enough to shift.

The detective’s jaw bunched as he clenched his teeth. “If I see you near her house, I’ll arrest you.” Without taking his stare from the alpha, he grabbed my belongings and slung the straps of the bags over his shoulder. He then stepped to me and Lucy, and with her on one side and him on the other, they walked me out of the clinic.

I glanced at the alpha, and though he met my stare, his expression didn’t soften. His pack was in an uproar because of me. I’d brought human law enforcement to his land. Right about now, he was probably thinking I was more trouble than I was worth.

“They had an IV in your hand,” Lucy hissed, as they walked me slowly through the building. Detective Moreno had lowered his gun as we walked, but he didn’t holster it. “I took it out as soon as we got there. You seemed…drugged.”

I sighed. I’d explain when we were in the detective’s car and away from Shadowfield. There wasn’t a wolf in sight, but I knew they watched from the shadows that the lights couldn’t reach. Wolves didn’t need a lot of light to see by. “It’s dark,” I murmured, surprised.

“You were gone since this morning,” Lucy told me. She got into the back seat as Rick helped me into the front passenger seat, continuing to chatter. “You had the detective’s card on the fridge, so I called him and he came right away. He tracked your phone and that’s how we found you.”

I was barefoot, but they’d probably put my boots into one of the bags Rick had slung over his shoulder. He placed the bags at my feet, then pulled the seatbelt across my body. Though he had to feel my stare on his face, he didn’t look at me as he leaned over me. I got the distinct feeling that he was pissed at me for scaring him.

He smelled slightly of water and the subtle hint of soap, as though he’d been fresh out of the shower when Lucy had called him.

“I’m sorry, Rick,” I murmured.

The seatbelt clicked as it locked into place and he flicked his stare toward me as he pulled away. He said nothing, however, just withdrew, slammed my door shut, and strode around the front of the car.

“We were very worried,” Lucy said.

“Lucy,” I told her. “We’re going to have to set some rules. You can’t call the detective every time I go missing for a day. I hunt supernatural creatures, you know that. Shit will happen.”

“And I,” she declared, as Rick climbed into the car, “will be here to make sure you’re okay.”

I sighed. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

“Of course,” she said, satisfied. “Ash will be so glad to see you. He’s been pacing and staring at the door. Spooked me a little…”

“Explain,” Rick ordered, sounding so much like Jared that I stared at him for a few seconds, my eyebrows raised.

“There was a nasty creature Jared Walker hired me to hunt down and kill,” I told him. “You know what I do, Rick.”

“No,” he said, “I know little about your life, Ms. Silver. I know there’s a lot you don’t tell me. I know you see…spirits, and I know there’s a demon causing problems. I thought he’d possessed someone and had gotten to you.”

He cared about me. I reached over to squeeze his forearm and his whole body seemed to tense even as his arm jerked beneath my grip. I pulled my hand away. “Thanks, Rick.” I cleared my throat. “The creature. It was…vicious. I’ve been hunting it for days. This morning I finally found it, but I was alone when we fought. It nearly got the best of me. Jared and his people saved my life.” I hesitated, then, “He’s not going to hurt me.”

“He let you track and fight this creature alone,” he said flatly.

“He didn’t know. He wasn’t in town when I started hunting this morning. He had no idea until it was over and I’d gotten my ass kicked.” I wasn’t about to tell them about the angry wolves, the time I’d spent in the rocky cell, or that Jared Walker was, in fact, a wolf shifter alpha. “The important thing is,” I told them, “that I killed the monster.” I turned to stare into the darkness outside the window. “It’s done.”

We rode in silence for a couple of minutes before the detective spoke again. “Ms. Shannon told me she’s the friend who had the dream about the abducted girl you were asking about.”

I turned to look at him. “Any leads?”

Lucy scooted up to the back of the seat. “It’s Lucy,” she told him. “I feel like we’ve been through some shit, and I’d like you to call me Lucy.”

I’d need to tell her as soon as possible that Detective Moreno was married and she should calm down.

“I’ve narrowed it down to a girl who was taken six months ago,” he said. “She’s the only redhead whose picture showed a gap between her front teeth.”

“Who is she?” I was so comfortable in the warm darkness of the car that I dreaded for the ride to come to an end. It reminded me of the parts of my childhood where I felt safe and secure. Riding in the back seat while my dad drove and my mother talked quietly, and all was right with my world.

“Her name is Marcy Davenport. She turned fifteen six weeks ago. Her parents have never stopped looking for her or believing that she’s alive. They live on High Street.” He looked at me. “That’s close to your house.”

I turned to look at Lucy. “Do you think that’s why you dreamed of her after you moved into my place? Because you’re sleeping close to where she lived?”

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Have you dreamed of her since that first dream?”

“Every time I go to sleep. I see the same thing—just like I did with you. She’s screaming, she’s in a…a box of some sort, and someone is coming. Someone who terrifies her.”

“Poor kid,” I murmured.

“Why her, though?” the detective asked. “What makes you dream of one victim and not all of them?”

She sat back in her seat, subdued. “Sometimes I think it’s because the person is dying, that things have gone from bad to urgent. I don’t know the reasons, though. I don’t know why I dream at all when the dreams don’t show me anything that will help me save them.”

“You may be seeing clues you’re not aware of,” Rick said, ever the detective. He parked in front of my house and turned the car off. “I want to take you to the hospital, but you’ll refuse.”

I nodded. “I’ll be fine. I need food and rest, and in that order.” I wasn’t about to tell him that on a scale of one to ten, my pain level was about a hundred. I was a little worried, actually. There was something going on inside me, something different, and because I knew the ways of the supernatural world, I was beginning to worry that a parasite from the exsoloup had crawled inside me and taken up residence.

“I’ve got the food part covered,” Lucy said.

“And I am enormously grateful for that,” I told her.

The detective opened my door, then reached in to release my seatbelt. “You’ve got no shoes and it’s freezing out here. I’ll carry you in.”

The detective carrying me was not the same as the alpha carrying me. I wasn’t sure why. It just wasn’t. “No,” I said, not meeting his stare. I made up a quick lie. “My feet are burning. I need to touch the cool ground.”

He frowned but didn’t argue. Honestly, he seemed as uncomfortable touching me as I was being touched by him. Maybe neither of us knew the reason for that.

He took my arm and helped me out of the car, and I couldn’t help but groan. I cut it off quickly for fear he’d shove me back into the car and force me to go to a hospital. My entire body lit up with red-hot pain every time I moved.

“Kaitlyn,” he said, as he helped me across my little yard and to my front door, “we need to talk about Jared Walker.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. He’s not breaking the law, he didn’t hurt me, and—”

“He’s not human, is he?” he interrupted.

Lucy hurried by us, her arms full of my belongings. She stuck her key in the lock and shoved open the door, then squealed as Ash jumped up to boisterously welcome her home.

“Let it go, Detective,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief as I stepped into the warmth of my home. My poor toes were frozen. I turned to face Rick, hoping he’d get the hint and stop talking about the alpha. “Would you like to come in?”

He studied me, his face grim, his eyes narrow, and I knew he wouldn’t let the alpha go. Not forever. Finally, though, he gave me a stiff nod. “Get some rest.”

“Detective,” I called, before he’d taken more than three steps.

He stopped but didn’t turn to face me. “Yes?”

“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you for…for everything.”

“Anytime, Ms. Silver,” he said, and strode to his car, got inside, and left.

I stood there staring after him until Ash skidded down the hallway, his pittie smile wide and happy, and forced my thoughts away from Detective Rick Moreno.