Touch of Gray 4 - Runaway Moon Read online

  “Who’s there?” I called, my gun in my hand. It was pointed at the floor, but the safety was off in case I needed to get off a round quickly.

  “Cole?” Darla called from the other side. “Thank God. Please, let me in.”

  I knocked the safety into place but kept the pistol in my hand as I unlocked and opened the door. Darla came in, in full-on panther form, as well, and I wasn’t surprised. If Sebastian had shifted, it would make sense that the other panthers would have, as well. Not that any of this made sense.

  “You okay?” I asked, dropping to one knee in front of her and rubbing my hand through her thick fur.

  “Except for shifting a night early, yeah, I guess.” She knocked against me hard enough to push me into the wall. “Sorry, I didn’t know where else to go.”

  “It’s fine,” I assured her, getting to my feet and locking the door before turning back up the hall. “Come on upstairs. Bastian just shifted, too. Let’s go see if we can figure this out.”

  I led the way back to the apartment, cursing my brother for the millionth time for taking off on us. What the hell did I know about were-panthers shifting before the full moon? What was I supposed to do for them?

  The door was still open, and Bastian sat in front of it, waiting for us. His tail flicked in a manner that told me he was irritated. His icy glare turned from me to Darla and back again.

  “You touched her,” he said, his tone low and menacing.

  “What?”

  “You. Touched. Her,” he repeated, each word ground out angrily. “You put your hands on her.”

  “I just pet her for a second to see if she was okay. Jesus, what’s your problem?” I needed a drink. Bad.

  I walked past the moody cat and into the kitchen, and I heard his claws clicking behind me. Reaching into the cabinet over the fridge, I pulled down a bottle of whiskey, hoping it would help to clear my head.

  “Don’t drink too much,” Sebastian warned.

  I spun around to yell at him. Now was not the time for a lecture about my drinking. I saw Darla had followed us, and they both sat, stoic now, staring up at me.

  “May I ask why you’re so interested in how much I do or do not imbibe tonight?” I asked, as calmly as I could.

  “Because we have to leave,” he answered.

  “And where are we going?”

  “Bryce,” Darla hissed.

  “Excuse me?” I looked fully at her. “Don’t you think that if we knew where he was I’d have already dragged his ass back here?”

  “Bryce,” she repeated, her eyes narrowing at me. “He’s calling us. He pulled our beasts.”

  I looked back at Sebastian, and he nodded before huffing a breath through his nose.

  “Why would he do that? Is he in trouble?”

  “Get in the fucking car, human!” Darla screamed at me. “Our alpha calls.”

  “Darla!” Bastian yelled, turning and snapping his jaws at her.

  She hissed at him, and the two rose together, circling each other as if to start fighting.

  “Stop it!” I demanded over their growls and spits. “Right now. Bastian, do you hear the call, too?”

  He nodded.

  “Do you know where Bryce is?” I asked.

  “Not exactly, but I feel a pull, calling me in his direction.”

  “And where is that?” I tried for patience, but honestly, I was out of it.

  “North,” he said. “I don’t know where, but he’s north. Far north.”

  My mind spun. What the hell was Bryce doing up north? For a minute, I just stared at the panthers, trying to figure it out. The information was there, but it was just out of reach.

  “We need to go,” Darla said, her tail whipping in a fashion similar to Bastian’s earlier. “Why are we just sitting here? Our alpha needs us.”

  And then it clicked.

  “Sonofabitch!” I ran my hand over my face, realizing I hadn’t shaved in a few days when stubble scratched my palm. “Pops.”

  “What?” Sebastian asked, cocking his head to the side. “What’s pops?”

  “Not what,” I said, walking around them. “Who.”

  I went down the hall and into our room, the cats clicking their way behind me. Instead of answering, which I wasn’t really ready to do, I pulled a duffel bag out of the closet and started tossing clothes into it.

  “Cole?” Sebastian’s voice was gravelly, the tone a warning one.

  “Just shut up a minute,” I snapped. Looking at the clock, I groaned. It was already ten. There was no way I’d be able to drive eight hours straight tonight.

  “Look, I know where he is,” I said to the panthers. “But we can’t just leave right now.” I held up a hand to stop their arguments. “It’s too far to get to him tonight. If you really feel him, you should know that. We’ll get some sleep and head out first thing in the morning. Darla, you can take Bryce’s bed. Bastian, you can have ours. I’m gonna crash on the sofa.”

  Darla glared at me, but when I didn’t move, she huffed and padded down the hall toward my brother’s room. Bastian jumped onto our bed and watched me as I packed.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” he asked.

  “Wasn’t planning on it,” I answered honestly.

  “Bryce has been gone for months, and you’ve known where he is this whole time?” he asked, obviously not letting this go.

  “No. I didn’t figure it out until you told me he was up north. I guess I should have realized it. I mean, if I needed to run away, I’d go find Pops, too.”

  “Who’s Pops?”

  “Our grandfather.”

  “I thought your family was dead?”

  I glared at him, and he ducked his head, dropping it to his paws with a mumbled apology.

  “Our parents are dead, thank you, but my dad’s father is still alive. He lives in a cabin in Hunter’s Point, completely off the grid. No electricity, no phone, not even running water.” Damn it. For not wanting to get into it tonight, I was certainly letting him drag information out of me. “Look. It’s late, and if we want to be on the road at first light, we need to get some sleep. Or at least, I do. We still don’t understand what’s going on with you guys or Bryce. I need to be alert in case any other weird shit happens before we find my brother. Okay? So please, just drop it, and let me get some rest.”

  Bastian jumped off the bed and walked out of the room. I heard him head toward Darla and figured he’d just sleep with her tonight. That was fine. In contrast to actual panthers, were-cats liked to be together when they shifted. It would probably be a comfort, since they were so freaked out at the moment. Truth be told, so was I, but my anger at my brother was strong enough that it currently outweighed the weirdness of the cats shifting early.

  I’d been so worried about Bryce, and this whole time, he’d been just a day’s drive away, locked up in a shack with our recluse grandfather. And now, he was calling to the clan. Was he trying to take them away from me, too? Was he purposely calling Sebastian’s beast because he knew he had a hold over that part of him? I was going to shoot him. Not kill him or anything, but maim him, maybe.

  My phone started ringing, and I ran to the kitchen to grab it, looking to see Bryce’s number on the home screen.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I yelled into the receiver.

  “That how you talk to your grandfather, boy?”

  “Pops? What’s going on?”

  “Your brother can’t come to the phone right now, but I figured I’d better call you.” The reception was terrible, and I barely heard Pops over the static on the line. “Bryce is going a little nuts out here.”

  “Yeah, so are the rest of the cats,” I said.

  Sebastian and Darla ran down the hall, both skidding to a stop in front of me. I nodded once to let them know it was about Bryce.

  “I think you need to get out here,” Pops yelled over the crackling. “I don’t know anything about calming down shifters. In my day, we just shot ‘em. I’d rather not do
that to your brother if I can help it.”

  “Oh no,” I countered. “Feel free. He’s earned it.”

  “Cole. Look, I’m losing you. How soon can you get here?”

  “We’re leaving at first light,” I said.

  “Make it sooner if you can,” he responded. “See you tomorrow.”

  The phone went dead, and I stared at it for a few minutes before shaking my head and looking back at the panthers.

  “Bryce?” Bastian asked, his tone cautiously hopeful.

  “Yeah,” I said with a nod. “Look, it’s at least an eight hour drive then another hour on foot to reach the cabin. I have to get some sleep. I’m gonna pop a sleeping pill and knock myself out, okay? You two stick together. If anything happens, come get me up, but try to let me rest. I know you’re both anxious to get to him.” So was I. “But I’ll be no good to anyone if I’m a zombie tomorrow.”

  They both nodded their large block heads before walking back to Bryce’s room. I headed for the kitchen and took a PM pain reliever with a shot of honey whiskey then went to bed.

  Thoughts kept trying to creep in and keep me awake, but I forced them away, focusing on breathing deeply until the pill took effect. I hadn’t been lying. I would be useless if I didn’t get some shuteye. Finally, after what felt like an hour I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Three

  A heavy weight on my lungs woke me from dreamless sleep. When I cracked open an eye, I saw two massive black, furry heads resting on my chest. At some point during the night, Darla and Sebastian must have crawled into bed with me. They were a warm comfort for the moment, Bastian purring contentedly and Darla curled up against my side like an electric blanket. In a half-sleep haze, I ran hands over their heads.

  The sun began to peek through the bedroom window, and suddenly, I was lying between two very undressed humans instead. Not quite as comfortable.

  “Hey, guys,” I said softly. When they didn’t react, I raised my voice. “Rise and shine, naked persons.”

  Darla stirred first, turning to look at me then down at herself.

  “Shit,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. It was Bastian’s idea. I didn’t know we’d shift back.”

  “It’s okay,” I assured her. “But we should probably get going. Do we need to pick up clothes for you on the way out of town?”

  “Nah, I’ll just take something of Sebastian’s. You’re right; I want to get on the road.” She slipped out of bed and headed into the hallway. A minute later, I heard the bathroom door close.

  “You’re bringing girls into my bed, now?” I asked, wrapping my arms around Sebastian and holding him closer. “Am I just not enough for you anymore?”

  “Your jokes aren’t funny,” he said, snuggling into me. “I wanted to be with you, and she wanted to stick close to me. That’s all.”

  “I’m glad you shifted back,” I told him. “I was scared you were going to be stuck for a while.”

  “Me, too,” he admitted. He yawned, rolling out of my arms before sliding off the end of the bed. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt then rummaged through a basket of clothes he’d never gotten around to putting away. “Can I borrow a belt for Darla? Any of our pants are going to be too big for her.”

  “Yeah, take the one out of the drawer,” I said, pointing toward the dresser.

  “No,” he argued. “That’s… She can’t wear that one.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because every time I look at her in it, I’ll think about you spanking me with it.”

  Oh. Right. I’d forgotten that was why he’d put it in there in the first place. In a moment of weakness, he’d convinced me to use the belt on his ass, and ever since, he’d considered that his special belt. My little masochist.

  “I love you,” I said, climbing out of bed and walking over to wrap my arms around him.

  “I love you, too,” he said, kissing me firmly but quickly. “So are you going to tell me what’s going on with Bryce?”

  “Yeah,” I promised. “When we get on the road.”

  I’d fallen asleep dressed, so I just pulled on my boots and went out to the kitchen to make coffee. It would be a long day, and I’d need caffeine to make it through.

  * * * *

  By seven AM, we were all in the car, headed north toward Hunter’s Point, a dense forest in Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or the UP as natives to the state call it. Usually, it was an eight-hour drive for me, but since the trunk was loaded down with every weapon I owned, I really didn’t want to get pulled over. With stops for food and bathroom breaks, the trip might take as much as ten hours. And we’d have to hike once we got there, since there were no roads running through the park. There weren’t even real paths leading to Pop’s cabin, just random landmarks Bryce and I had added on various trips to help us locate the place faster.

  “Can you tell me what’s going on now?” Sebastian asked.

  “Okay,” I agreed as we pulled onto the highway. “So Pops is our grandfather on our father’s side. He’s been living off the grid since right after Bryce was born. He used to come visit. Then after our parents were killed, he split time between here and there, so we could stay in high school in Detroit. We spent the summers up there learning to become exterminators. Then, after I graduated, he went home for good, and Bryce and I stayed here, opening the office with our friend Landon, before he took off, too. We try to get up to Copper Harbor every few years to check on Pops. I don’t know why I didn’t figure out that’s where Bryce would run to.”

  Now that I knew, I felt stupid for not realizing it. The kid had no other friends, and Pops was our only family. Where the fuck else would he have gone?

  “Cole,” Bastian asked tentatively. “How did your parents die?”

  “Now’s not the time for that,” I snapped, gripping the steering wheel so hard the leather creaked audibly in my hands. “I can’t… I don’t want to get into it. Please.”

  “Sorry,” he said, resting his hand on my thigh. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  I blew out a sigh and squeezed his hand gently. It wasn’t his fault, and I shouldn’t have yelled at him. But I didn’t talk about my parents, if I could help it. Maybe, Bryce could tell him someday. It wasn’t a story I shared.

  “Hey, Darla,” I called toward the backseat. “Have you heard from any of the other panthers yet? If you shifted, they probably all did, too, right?”

  “I’d imagine so,” she answered. “When I shifted early, I came straight to you guys, but no one called after I left your office yesterday. If they’re feeling what I’m feeling, they’re probably all on their way to Bryce, too. The call was so strong. The men probably felt it first, and that’s why they disappeared. It’s the only thing that makes sense, if you can call it sense.”

  “Why wouldn’t Sebastian have felt it sooner?” I asked.

  “Because the weaker ones would have been called easier.” In the rearview mirror, I saw her shrug. “Female weres have a stronger resistance to mental attacks, and since Bastian is our beta, he’s stronger, too. If Bryce sent out a call, the weakest of the cats would have been affected first, then down the line. Since I would have been beta if Bryce’s beast hadn’t chosen Sebastian first, my constitution is on the same level as his.”

  She didn’t sound angry or even disappointed. I wondered if that emotion was buried inside her, though. It had to cut deep to be the strongest female of the pack and have the alpha choose another male, one who couldn’t produce offspring.

  “Bryce has been gone for two full moons, and he hasn’t sent for us before now. Do you think the call went out because of the lunar convergence?” Sebastian asked.

  “Probably,” Darla answered.

  “What’s this stuff about the moon?” I asked, unsure why an eclipse would affect the cats so strongly.

  “Well, it’s a cluster of activity all at once,” Darla explained. “This month is a blood moon, and then there’s the eclipse, and on top of that, this month is the
closest the moon has been to the Earth in over fifty years. That messes with our beasts pretty badly. The orbits being so near each other probably helped Bryce call our beasts and force us to shift early. And again, the males would have responded first since their panthers are always closer to the surface, even in human form.”

  “So basically,” I said, hoping to understand everything she’d told me. “I’m driving you two into a hotbed of lunar activity that will make your cats crazier than they usually are?”

  “Pretty much,” she agreed.

  Great. Every month, just before the full moon, Sebastian went sex crazy. It was all I could do to get him out of bed. If there would be a flurry of solar activity as they expected, I’d either have a panther on my nuts for four days or he’d fuck the ever-loving hell out of my brother. I wasn’t sure how I felt about either of those options. I’d just gotten him back to myself. It would be difficult to hand him over to Bryce again.

  “How long until we get there?” Sebastian asked.

  “Five hours and if you ask one more time before we hit the UP, I’m locking your ass in the trunk for the rest of the trip,” I said, glaring over at him.

  “Just curious,” he said. “Geez, why are you so wound up?”

  There were a million answers to that question, and none of them were appropriate to share with Darla in the car. I just clenched my jaw and stared out the windshield. Once we got out of the mitten, I’d be able to pick up speed. In the almost twenty years I’d been making the trip to Copper Harbor, I’d never seen a cop after crossing the Mackinac Bridge into the UP. It was just the lower part of the state I had to worry about. Luckily, traffic was light so we were still making okay time, but I didn’t want to hear the funky bunch ask “are we there yet” for the next five hundred miles. I’d muzzle them both just to be safe if I had to.