Broken Moon by Laken Cane

Chapter Thirty-Four

I’d been floating for about an hour, not quite asleep but not yet willing to completely awaken. I smelled food cooking and knew that despite my orders to the contrary, Lucy was in the kitchen cooking.

My stomach growled. I sighed and opened my eyes, staring up at the ceiling in my pleasantly dark bedroom. Someone had drawn the blackout curtains after I’d fallen into bed. Maybe I had—I couldn’t remember. I wasn’t even sure how long I’d slept, but it felt like a long time.

I rolled over and grabbed my phone off the nightstand, frowning when I saw it had been turned off. I knew I hadn’t done that—I never turned my phone off. Ten seconds after I turned it on, my ringtone sounded.

I put it on speaker and placed it back on the nightstand. “Mom,” I said. “I’m fine.”

“I know, honey. I’m in the kitchen.”

I shook my head. “Then why are you calling me?”

“I needed to see if you were awake and ready to eat. Also, I have to tell you something.”

I groaned. “Maybe keep whatever it is to yourself for another day or twelve.”

“No can do, Kaity. Listen, I’ll bring coffee and a pastry and Lucy will bring your tray as soon as everything is done. I have to get back to the…um, to Shadowfield. Jared is going to drive me out to the house to…oh hell, I’ll just come there and tell you.”

She disconnected the call and sixty seconds later was walking into my bedroom with a cup of coffee and a plate of warm, flaky yum. “I told Lucy to send one in, and she reminded me that you like to overeat.”

I scooted up in bed and took the coffee and the plate. I snatched what looked like an enormous, iced bear claw off the plate and took a bite, and my taste buds woke up and cramped so violently that I nearly spilled my coffee.

My mother rushed to the windows to pull back the curtains, letting bright sunlight into the dark room. She came back to the bed to peer down at me, then slipped into my bathroom to fetch a hand mirror. Mostly I ignored her, because I was so busy stuffing carbs down my throat.

She held the mirror up and for a second, I stopped chewing as I got a look at my face. “Damn,” I said, then resumed eating.

She nodded soberly. “When I first saw you, I have to admit I was totally—”

“Don’t say it.”

“—buggin. For some reason, the gunshot injury healed much faster than your poor face. But look at that face, Kait. I believe he beat you with a weapon those horrible men made themselves, and likely it had some silver in it. So it’s going to take a little longer for those awful bruises to fade and the swelling to go down. Honestly, that’s a good thing.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “How so?”

“That detective keeps coming by to check on you. He saw you after you were shot and pummeled half to death. If he sees you now…” She tilted her head and looked at me doubtfully. “Maybe we can make him believe you weren’t as badly beaten as he thought. He’s going to wonder, isn’t he, Kait?”

I shrugged. “Yeah. Maybe I can stay away from him for a few days.”

She sniffed, crossed her arms, and shuffled from foot to foot, avoiding my stare. “I think you should probably stay away from him forever, Kaity.”

I frowned. “What? Why? Because he’s not a wolf and we shouldn’t get close to humans?” I leaned forward. “Lucy’s human, mom.”

“It’s not that. I’m just going to tell you. The reporters got your picture when you came out of the house carrying that poor girl. They’re wondering who you are and why you were there with the detective who called it in.” She took a deep breath. “They’re saying you—the mystery woman—and he are having an affair and that his wife tried to kill herself because of it.”

And I could tell from the way she wouldn’t quite look at me that she wasn’t sure if those speculations were true or not.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered. What if Beth saw that on the news? Of course she would see it. “I’m not having sex with Detective Moreno, Mother.”

“Good. You can’t screw married men.”

“Mom.”

“Here. Look. This is why a person might wonder.” She brought up a picture on her phone. “There are a dozen or so of them on the Internet, but this is the one that stands out.”

I couldn’t tell by her voice if she was proud or dismayed. I took her phone and peered at the screen. The photo was shocking in its rawness, a moment that captured a few things. The abducted Marcy Davenport, tiny and half hidden behind my borrowed coat, being carried from the house of horrors. The woman who carried her looked like a victim herself, and half feral.

I held the girl close to me and my eyes were swollen and black but still held a look of something distinctly not human. They’d blame it on the way the light hit my slitted eyes, but I knew better. Anyone who knew wolves existed would know. My wolf was not even trying to hide as I carried Marcy from that house, and she stared from my eyes with a cold, wild glow, daring anyone to harm her charge.

My face was a mask of blood. Swollen and broken, my eyes half closed into slits, slits that damn glow shone from anyway, and absolutely I could understand why people would wonder. I don’t think I was recognizable in the photo.

The camera had caught the detective with his right arm around me and his left hand cradling Marcy’s skull, as though to help me carry her. His stare was on my face. There was something in his eyes, in his face.

“The way he’s looking at you,” my mother said. “I mean…you can see it, can’t you? Why a person might wonder…”

I shoved her phone at her. “We’re friends. I looked like death and he probably thought I was dying. I mean, look at me.”

“Hewas looking at you,” she said softly, then leaned over to give me a quick hug. “And it was a look of more than friendship. You have to be more careful, Kait. And not just with human…friends. You’re not invincible, even with your wolf out of her prison.”

“Knock, knock,” Lucy said, hurrying into the room, pushing a small cart. Ash was at her heels. He had abandoned me for a chance at the food she’d been cooking. I couldn’t really blame him for that. He leaped up on the bed and grinned at me, his tongue lolling.

“Oh, before I go,” my mother said, patting Ash’s head, “you were looking for a good home for this little baby. I know a woman who—”

“No,” Lucy and I said at the same time.

My mother laughed. “Fine.” Then she sobered. “When you’re feeling better, we need to talk about the current situation. And Adam. That’s far from over. He’s going to—”

“Mom,” I interrupted. “Later.”

She glanced at Lucy. “Yes, that’s what I said. When you’re feeling better.”

“Mrs. Silver,” Lucy said, “are you sure you won’t stay and eat with us?”

“No, no. I have a busy day ahead.” Then she hurried through the doorway and was gone.

“Lucy, you shouldn’t be cooking and carrying on. How are you?”

“Oh I’m fine. The doctor fixed me right up. It wasn’t really that deep a cut, Kait.” She sat on the bed beside me. “I have to tell you something.”

My phone rang. “Oh,” I said.

“What?” Lucy frowned and tried to get a look at my screen. “Who is it?”

“Mayor Hedrick.” I swiped up. “Hello?”

“Kait. Are you up for a little ride to the city?” He hesitated. “I saw the news, and I know you’re injured—Rick thinks I should give you some time and I absolutely will, of course, if you need some time. But I feel like this is a good time.”

“Can you give me an hour?”

“Of course, Kait. I’ll send a car in one hour.”

“I’ll be ready.”

“Wonderful. Wonderful.”

I disconnected the call and put the phone on the nightstand.

“What’s going on?” Lucy asked, her eyes big. “Here, eat. It’s getting cold.”

“I’m not sure. He wanted to give me a gift for helping with Noah.” I picked up my fork and began to eat, suddenly ravenous. “Thanks for taking care of me, Lucy. You said you had something to tell me. Go ahead.”

She nodded. “So I had a dream…”