Hunter Moon (The Moon Series) (5 page)

Popping up for a breath of air, Finn saw Rafe sitting on a chair, a worried look on his face. Finn swam over to the side of the pool closest to the young werehyena and leaned his arms on the side of the pool. “What’s with the furrowed brow? You look like a pug dog.”

Rafe threw him a look of annoyance, then dropped backwards onto the lounge chair. “I just got a call from one of the hyenas back home.”

“Yeah?” Finn ducked back under to slick his hair back, then hopped out of the water.

“Yeah. Something weird is going on up there,” Rafe said as Finn dried off and plopped into the chair beside him.

“Define weird. It’s hard to tell with you guys.” He grinned at Rafe.

“You suck.”

“So did your mom.”

Rafe pretended to gag. “Dude! Enough with the sex comments about my mom!”

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that your mom was a sucky pack leader. You’re the one who went all pervtastic with that comment.” Finn waggled his eyebrows, meaning exactly what Rafe had thought but liking nothing better than messing with the kid. “Paging Oedipus, party of one.”

“You’re hopeless. I’m going to talk to Kess.” Rafe pushed himself up.

“Hold up, hold up,” Finn said, putting up a hand to stop him. “I’ll be serious.” He waited until Rafe sat back down, looking at him dubiously. “So what’s going on at the ol’ homestead?”

Rafe squinted against the bright sun, finally closing his eyes against the glare. Finn passed him his shades. “Thanks.” He paused, then began. “Some strange stuff has been happening out by the lake—you know, where Kess and you guys fought my mom and the pack.”

Finn nodded. He remembered the area that Rafe was referring to. Not much out there but scrub land and a lake that probably held no appeal even for fish. But it was fine for weres to run around in animal form, although the animals that had once been there were all hunted out now. Not much traffic outside of weres visited the place.

“Yeah, I know where you’re talking about. What kind of strange stuff?”

Rafe shrugged. “The guy who I was talking to couldn’t give me too much. Strange people in town, but they didn’t stay long. And then a hyena went missing. Some weird prints and signs found out by the lake.” Rafe shook his head. “I don’t know what to make of it, but the guy who called me is pretty reliable. He’s not one to just make up stories or get spooked easy.”

“Can you trust him?” Finn knew that Rafe wasn’t what anyone would call well-liked after his betrayal of his mother, and the surviving hyenas were wary of the kid. It didn’t matter that Samara had gotten most of her pack killed off; what mattered is that Rafe had betrayed his pack leader. Most of them refused to even acknowledge Rafe’s existence.

Rafe nodded. “He’s an independent—didn’t get too involved with the politics of the pack and never really swore allegiance to my mom.”

Finn raised his eyebrows. “I’m surprised your mom let him stick around. She struck me as an all-or-nothing kind of woman.”

Rafe grimaced. “That’s a pretty polite way of putting it.”

“I’m a polite kind of guy.” Finn put his arms behind his head.

“You’re a tool.” Rafe shot back.

“That’s Mr. Tool to you. You’ve got to show respect for your betters,” Finn replied lazily, not at all offended.

“Anyway,” Rafe said, ignoring Finn’s creaky attempts at humor, “Mom kept hoping she’d get Shane to come around.” From Rafe’s voice, Finn knew exactly what Samara meant by coming around.

“I take it Shane never did.” Rafe shook his head. “So he’s been reporting back to you?”

“Not really. I mean, he only calls to let me know if something’s up. There aren’t a lot of hyenas left in my old territory, but there are still a few troublemakers. Shane keeps an eye on them, but so far everything’s been quiet.”

“Until now.” At Rafe’s nod, Finn grinned. “Sound like it’s time for a road trip.”

This sounded just like the thing Finn needed to distract him from the lack of his lady in his everyday life. A little mystery, a short trip up the panhandle, a new town to scope out. He was going more than a little stir crazy in the house, runs on the beach notwithstanding. He didn’t like admitting it, but he missed his brother and his cousin more than he missed Laila. He’d grown up with them, and with a very close-knit family. Being on his own was strange and unpleasant for him.

Finn knew that he wasn’t exactly alone. Kess was here and so was Rafe, and occasionally another wereleopard or two would drop by. But Kess was solitary by nature, and Rafe—while good company— was in high school most days. Finn was used to a constant roar in the house, to people coming and going, to loud voices and boisterous laughter. Everything was so quiet and still most days that he thought he was going to lose his mind.

“You want to come with me?” Rafe asked, clearly not trusting the werewolf’s intentions.

“Sure.” Finn gestured at the pool. “There’s nothing exactly urgent keeping me here. We’ll run it past Kess, get the car, and have ourselves a little vacation.”

“Vacationing in the armpit of the universe is not exactly my idea of fun, especially not when it includes trooping around a mosquito infested lake because some stupid hyena got lost.” Rafe’s mouth turned down in a frown.

Rafe’s white trash hometown wasn’t exactly going to be a thrill for Finn either—he’d much rather run down to the Keys or over to New Orleans to see Laila—but beggars couldn’t be choosers. “Come on, it will be fun.”

“For who?” Rafe asked sourly.

“For someone not us,” Finn conceded. “But it’s better than being bored.” He stood up, wrapping his towel around his neck. “I’ll go see what Kess is up to.”

“No pranks!” Rafe called after the werewolf as Finn opened the sliding glass door that led to the main house. “This is a business trip!”

Finn didn’t dignify that with a response.

Chapter Six

The next morning, Finn was talking to Kess about taking the one of the cars and heading out to investigate Shane’s hyena concerns when Rafe’s cursing broke the relative peace of the house. He smiled slyly. He checked his watch wondering how long it would take Rafe to make his way into the kitchen.

Kess looked at Finn dubiously. “What did you do?”

Finn tried to look innocent. He was pretty sure he failed utterly, but it sure was fun to try. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The wereleopard rolled her eyes, indicating her disbelief. Finn settled his arms on the kitchen island and waited, putting his finger in front of his lips to shush Kess.

“Pudding!” Rafe shouted, barreling into the kitchen, brandishing one of his sneakers. “Dude! You put pudding in my Chucks!”

Kess raised a brow at Finn, who tried to look ignorant of the accusation. “Finn…”

“What? I didn’t do anything!” he protested.

“What flavor pudding?” Kess asked him.

“Vanilla.” Finn furrowed his brow. “Why?”

Rafe barked a triumphant “HA!” and waved the shoe at him. “I knew it!” He dropped the shoe on the island in front of Finn. “You owe me another pair, man.”

Finn grinned. “Wish I could have seen your face!” he chortled happily, imagining it.

Kess heaved a sigh. “Are you two finished?”

“Finished?” Finn asked, incredulously. “We’re just getting started, right Rafe?”

Rafe grinned. Finn was glad he was getting the kid out of his shell, and he was more than happy to have someone to play pranks on. He thought he might miss his brother, Burke, but Rafe was serving as a welcome distraction from any homesickness the werewolf might have experienced otherwise. The hyena was a joy to torment, and the kid tried to give back as good as he got.

“Payback’s a bitch,” Rafe said, nodding.

Kess threw her hands up in defeat and left the kitchen.

“What’s with her?” Rafe asked, watching her leave.

“Who knows,” Finn said, completely unconcerned.

“You get the car?” Rafe asked, dropping the question of Kess.

Finn nodded. “Grab your stuff. We’re going on a road trip,” he said enthusiastically.

“It’s really not all that exciting.” Rafe said with an amused grin.

Finn waved away the young man’s words. “Exciting is where you make it.”

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“Dude, I thought you said this would be exciting.”

Finn watched as Rafe rolled his eyes. The werehyena answered defensively, “I didn’t say that. You did.”

“Well, I was wrong. This blows.”

Finn and Rafe walked Rafe’s old neighborhood cautiously. It was dusk, the light fading into russet shading at the horizon. The streetlights—the ones that were still working—began to glow as the pair ambled down the street. Finn gave Rafe a curious glance, wanting to see how the young werehyena was handling being home.

Rafe slouched along with his hands shoved into his pockets, but with his head held high. Finn shrugged. He looked like a normal teenage kid to him, not really bothered by any kind of emotional turmoil.

“So you used to live around here?” Finn hadn’t ever seen the house where Rafe grew up.

“Yeah,” Rafe said, jerking his head to the left. “That house over there. The shitty little yellow one.”

Finn stopped to take a look. The front yard was made up of dirt and dead grass. The house was a small ranch affair with a gravel drive. The gutters sagged in a number of places and the stucco planters that lined the front of the house were full of weeds and the desiccated corpses of plants. One of the front windows had a broken glass pane, so a board had been put up to cover it. No lights were on; not surprising since no one lived there anymore.

“Ah.” Finn wasn’t really sure what to say. “Um, it didn’t look like that when you lived there though, right?”

Rafe took a moment to survey the place, then answered. “There were usually more beer cans in the yard.”

Finn let the matter drop. “So this Shane guy lives out here?”

Rafe shook his head. “We’ll get to Shane later. There’s someone else I want to check with first.”

“Why? What do you think you’ll find?”

“Information.” Rafe took another look up the street, his topaz eyes narrowed. “Shane—he’s the guy that called me about the strangers in town and the missing hyena—is a good guy to go to, but he’s not hooked into the remaining pack like some others that are still around. Maybe they know more.”

“You sure he’s not overreacting?” Finn hoped this trip hadn’t been a wild goose chase.

“He’s not the type. He was always pretty steady. If he’s thinking something’s off, then it doesn’t hurt to pay attention.”

“And you think just walking down the street is going to drum up this information?” Finn had serious doubts about Rafe’s detecting skills.

“Yeah, I figured we’d just wander around until a clue falls from the sky as if sent by God.” The werehyena rolled his eyes. “Seriously? You think I’m that stupid?” Finn opened his mouth to reply, a wicked gleam in his eyes, when Rafe said, “Don’t answer that.”

“Okay, fine. So what are we doing?”

Rafe didn’t answer, just kept leading Finn down the block. Eventually they stopped in front of a cinderblock ranch in only slightly better condition than Rafe’s old house. Rafe dodged around old bicycles and random yard detritus on his way to the front door. He tried the doorbell, but it gave an anemic buzz, so he knocked twice on the door.

“Oh, this doesn’t scream please murder me at ALL,” Finn muttered as he joined Rafe on the stoop.

“Shut up,” Rafe hissed as the porch light came on. The light bulb flickered, its days numbered.

It took several minutes for someone to answer the door. Finn gave Rafe the stink-eye as they waited. Rafe raised his shoulders in a what can you do? gesture. When the door finally opened, it revealed a bitter looking woman old enough to be Finn’s grandmother. The years had weathered her, wearing away most of the unnatural beauty possessed by all werehyenas, but Finn thought he could see a shadow of the hottie she once was in her bone structure.

“Hi, Ms. Colleen. Can I speak to Audra?” Rafe asked.

Ms. Colleen gave Finn a sour look before eyeing Rafe up and down, almost as if she didn’t believe it was him. “What you doing back here? Thought you left with that fancy woman for Miami.”

“I did,” Rafe said, ducking his head a little. “I came back to check out some things.”

“Like my granddaughter?” the old woman said tartly.

Finn could swear Rafe reddened a bit. “No ma’am. Just wanted to talk about what’s been going on in the neighborhood lately. You know, try and catch up.”

They waited while the old lady made up her mind. Finn was beginning to think the arctic ice floes were going to melt and refreeze by the time she made her decision when she finally invited them inside. “I’m Finn, ma’am,” he said, as he entered the small foyer.

“I didn’t ask,” she returned, leading the way into the house. “Audra! You got company!”