Touch of Gray 4 - Runaway Moon Read online

  Currently, my stress level was through the roof, and honestly, I wouldn’t even know where to start telling him why I was so “wound up” as he’d put it. I missed Bryce. As pissed as I was at him, not having him around had been damn near unbearable. I loved him, and his absence was eating at me. We’d never been apart for this long. I sort of understood why he’d left, but the lack of contact pissed me off. Okay, fine, he thought it would be easier to leave us then to actually work out his feelings for my lover. Great. But to run so far away that even phone calls were difficult was unacceptable.

  Our whole lives, it had been me and him against the world. With him gone, it felt as if the whole world were against me. I loved Sebastian. Hell, I wanted him to marry me more than anything. But without my brother around, things between us had degraded. It was almost as if we needed Bryce as a buffer. He was part of our relationship. As fucked up as that might sound to anyone else, it was the truth. I wasn’t always as okay with him sleeping with Bastian once a month as I pretended to be, but I certainly preferred it to not having my brother around at all.

  On top of that, there was the whole crazy moon were-panther thing, and I was totally out of my element. I knew dick about shifters. I mean, I could kill one, but living with them, working with them, being their fucking guidance counselor because their alpha had taken a hike… That shit was not in my skill set. The problem was that these cats had nowhere else to turn. Their previous alpha had been a serious nut case, abusing and mistreating them. The other packs shunned our city because of it, and even though there had been a new sheriff in town, so to speak, the cats still weren’t trusted and they had no one to help them but me and Sebastian.

  Everything seemed to be crashing down around me, and I had no idea where to start picking up the pieces. Bryce was a selfish prick, and when I got my hands on him, there would be hell to pay. I was supposed to be the irresponsible one. Fuck him for stealing my title and doing what I’d have done if our roles had been reversed.

  Sebastian reached over and turned on the radio, the sound startling me since I’d been so lost in my thoughts. Glancing at the clock, I realized I’d been driving on autopilot for over an hour as I’d mused over all of the horrible things I’d do to my brother when we finally found him.

  “You’re speeding,” Bastian pointed out.

  Right. We were coming up on the Mackinac Bridge, so I must have been driving over the limit for a while before he’d mentioned it. Thankfully, we hadn’t passed any cops on the way.

  “That…is a big bridge,” Darla whined. “Do we have to cross that?”

  “Unless we take a hell of a detour, yes,” I told her. “Just lay down, and it will be over soon.”

  “That’s what he said,” she mumbled as she curled up on the seat.

  I blew out a snort. Fair enough.

  Sebastian reached over and took my hand in his, placing our entwined fingers in his lap. His grip was a little tighter than usual, and I figured he was nervous about the bridge, too.

  When I was younger, this suspension bridge used to scare the shit out of me. I’ll never forget the story about the wind gust that had knocked a Yugo off the side into the lake below. But our Mustang was solid, and there wasn’t so much as a breeze. Plus, I’d made this trip so many times it was just like any other bridge at this point. Just longer…and higher.

  As I drove, I wondered how the cats had gotten up here. Surely, if they’d taken off on foot, they wouldn’t have run the bridge. I’d imagine a pack of panthers scampering over the Mackinac Bridge would garner some news attention. Of course, they might have gone in cars in human form. If what Darla said was true, they might have heard the call but not been forced to shift so many days before the full moon.

  I wasn’t cut out for this shifter shit. I squeezed Sebastian’s hand and gave him a smile before turning back to the road. We’d eaten up a lot of miles while I’d zoned out, so I figured once we got over the bridge, we’d stop for food and I’d try to check in with Pops, though I had little hope of getting a call through.

  “Is this the UP?” Sebastian asked about halfway across the bridge.

  “Pretty much,” I said.

  “How long before we get there?”

  Sonofabitch.

  Chapter Four

  By three PM, we were finally approaching Copper Harbor, and I couldn’t wait to get out of the fucking car and away from Darla and Sebastian. They’d been antsy as hell for the last hour, both bouncing around in their seats, fidgeting and griping at each other. I wanted to throttle both of them.

  “All right!” I yelled, finally at my wits end with both of them. “We’re almost there. Just sit still and shut up. Please.”

  I turned onto 26, headed toward Hunter’s Point and immediately noticed a problem. There was a Michigan State Police cruiser parked sideways across the road, blocking traffic.

  “Shit,” I muttered, slowing to a stop in front of the cop, who was getting out of his car.

  “What’s up?” Sebastian asked.

  When I looked over at him, I noticed his eyes had started to glow blue.

  “Fuck,” I said. “Put on your sunglasses. Now.”

  He didn’t argue, just slid the shades over the bridge of his nose. I exhaled heavily then turned to the window and smiled politely at the officer, who was now bending over to talk to me.

  “Afternoon, folks,” he said, tipping his hat to Darla in the backseat. “Road’s closed. Sorry, no one can get through right now.”

  “Well, sir,” I answered, trying to stay polite. “We really need to get to Hunter’s Point tonight.”

  “That’s not possible, son.”

  Damn it. This wasn’t good. We could park and walk it from here, but that would be at least three hours, and I didn’t think the cats would wait for me once the sun went down. I rubbed a hand over my eyes, careful to keep my tone neutral.

  “Is there another way around?”

  “The whole area’s been quarantined,” he said firmly. “No one is allowed in or out for the next few days.”

  I met his gaze, and understanding dawned. He knew about shifters.

  “There’s gonna be a hell of a moon show tonight, huh, officer?”

  He blinked, and I knew I was right. They were keeping people out in case the weres got too feisty. His mask of indifference never wavered, but his eyes narrowed slightly.

  “That there is,” he agreed. “You aren’t from around here, are you?”

  “No, sir,” I confirmed. “But I have family in the area. My brother and my grandfather are out there.” I nodded in the direction of the Point. “They’re expecting us.”

  “That so?”

  “Yes, sir,” I said. “I’m Cole Grayson. My grandfather—”

  “Jack Grayson,” he finished for me, his tone slightly exasperated. He leaned farther down and looked hard at Sebastian before straightening back up. “Good man, Jack.”

  “Yes, sir,” I repeated.

  The cop looked at the sky. The sun was still hours from setting, but the air had a heavy quality that made it feel as if darkness pressed in around us. I really, really wanted to get to the cabin before sunset and these bastard panthers shifted in my car.

  “You kids be careful out there,” he said after a minute. “The locals get kind of spooked when there’s a full moon. Shoot first, you get me?” He glared hard at Bastian, as if to drive home the point. He obviously recognized that my lover was a shifter.

  “I understand,” I said, my body finally relaxing. “None of ours plan on being anywhere near town after dark. I can promise you that.”

  He nodded again, tapped the roof of the car then headed back to his cruiser. After a minute, he backed it up, allowing us to pass.

  “He knows?” Sebastian asked.

  “It’s hard not to in a town as small as Copper Harbor. I’m sure a lot of shifters seek refuge out here, away from the bustle and crowds of big cities. And if there are more native weres, they’ll have felt the insurgence of cats over
the past few days, so they’ve probably put the local officials on alert.”

  “It weirds me out how many normals know about us,” Darla said softly from the backseat. “I’m always scared it’s going to get out to the public, and we’ll become hunted.”

  “Not enough people will ever believe it,” I told her. “Look at the legends about vampires and witches, ghost stories and alien abductions. They’re rampant, but the general public thinks they’re fairytales. Don’t worry, if dragons have been able to hide in plain sight for thousands of years, you guys will be just fine.”

  “Dragons?” she asked, her tone thick with surprise. “You’re joking, right?”

  “What? You’re a panther, and you think dragons are unbelievable? You just proved my point.” I turned to Sebastian. “Try to call Bryce again, please.”

  I turned onto Harbor Coast Lane and followed it down to a scenic turnoff before pulling over to kill the engine. Bastian shook his head before stowing his phone in his pocket. I hadn’t really expected anyone to answer, but I wouldn’t stop trying. It was a long walk through some dark forest land, and if the Point was full of weres, I wasn’t sure I wanted to wander around too long.

  We all got out of the car. Darla and Sebastian immediately walked into the trees without waiting for me. That was fine. Though they had beasts to help, I knew these woods like the back of my hand and they wouldn’t get too far without me.

  I popped the trunk and loaded a duffel with weapons, ammunition and a few blades, unsure what we might come across once the sun went down. I slung the bag over one shoulder, my pack of clothes over the other, then followed the funky bunch into the woods.

  It had been years since I’d been out here, but muscle memory took over as I got deeper, and I took point ahead of Bastian and Darla, leading them toward my family.

  The trees were so dense hardly any sunlight filtered through to the forest floor, and several times, I almost missed the carvings Bryce and I had placed on trunks, pointing the way to Pop’s place. It felt as if we’d been walking for over an hour already, but there was no sign of the cottage yet. I pulled out my phone and cursed at the dead battery signal that flashed back at me.

  “Toss me your phone. My battery’s dead,” I said, holding my hand to toward Sebastian.

  He threw me the cell then took the lead, his draw to his alpha apparently strong enough that he didn’t need my landmarks to find him. I tried calling Bryce again, but just got the busy tone letting me know there was no cell service in the area. I opened the text messages instead, hoping it would send if the phone caught the barest of signals while we walked.

  It hadn’t been my intention to read Sebastian’s private messages, but once I opened a text screen for Bryce, a page of recent notes appeared.

  I never meant to hurt you. Please talk to me.

  Do you want me to ask you to marry me? Would you feel better if I told you to just leave Cole and come live out here with me?

  Blood pounded in my ears as I stood frozen, staring at my brother’s words to my lover. What the hell? Sebastian’s response did nothing to ease my anger.

  Of course not. I don’t want to marry you. I don’t want to marry him either. At this point, I’m about ready to leave and let you two have each other. Whatever all of this is, it’s not actually about me and I’m done. Please stop texting me. If you want to help, call Cole.

  “Hey, Bast,” I called, not looking up from the message. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  “Like what?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused as he came back to me.

  I handed him the cell, staring at him expectantly.

  “Why are you reading my texts?” he asked, his voice flat.

  “Because that’s the point right now?” I said, through gritted teeth. “If you must know, it was an accident. I was going to text Bryce. I wasn’t snooping. Of course, I didn’t realize there would be anything in there you’d want to keep hidden from me.”

  “How much did you read?” There was no emotion in his tone or his body language. We could have been talking about the weather.

  “Just that,” I answered, pointing. “I mean, how much worse could it get? You don’t want to marry me. I suppose I knew that considering how many times you’ve turned me down. Am I supposed to be relieved that you don’t want to marry him either?”

  “You aren’t supposed to be anything,” he shot back, his eyes flashing and giving away some of the anger he was holding back. “Since you read three out of about a hundred messages, I wouldn’t expect you to fully understand the scope of the conversation. I’ll be happy to fill you in later, but for now, can we please keep looking for Bryce? The sun is going to set soon, and if I’m going to shift, I’d like to be closer to my alpha.”

  “Are you going to leave me?” I asked, unable to hold back the question. I’d already lost my brother, I couldn’t survive losing the love of my life, too.

  “Damn it, Cole.” Sebastian cupped my cheek in his palm, his actions at odds with his words. “Stop being a fuckwit. Please. My cat is about to crawl out of my skin to get to its alpha, and we don’t have time for this argument right now. I love you. I have always loved you. I’m not going anywhere that you aren’t going to be, too. But at this specific moment in time, we have to move.”

  When we found Bryce, I was going to beat the shit out of him. It didn’t matter what else had been said in those messages. He’d told Sebastian to leave me and run away with him. That was unforgivable.

  “Bastian, I don’t understand what the fuck is going on between you two,” I yelled, not willing to let it go. “He hasn’t spoken to me in months, but he managed to get a hundred messages to you? You have to realize how fucked up this is. I mean…what the hell am I supposed to think?”

  “Cole, we can’t do this right now,” he pleaded. “My beast is about to burst free any minute, and I can’t promise that I’ll be able to control it enough to keep from running. I don’t want you alone in the woods with other weres roaming around. We can fight later, okay?”

  Oh, we’d fight. That was for damn sure. Me and Bryce and Sebastian were going to have one hell of a conversation when two-thirds of us weren’t furry. Or maybe, I’d just stay up here with Pops and they could run off and be together.

  “How long has this been going on?” I asked as I walked with Sebastian.

  “What?” Sebastian asked, his panther’s tone creeping into his voice.

  “The secret talks between you and Bryce. How long has he been trying to take you away from me?”

  “For fuck’s sake, Cole!” Bastian rounded on me, his fists clenched and his eyes glowing the bright blue of his cat. “That’s not what any of this is. You can’t just jump to conclusions about something you know nothing about. Bryce doesn’t want me. Not really. He wants—”

  “Hey, can we please stop with the chick-flick shit?” Darla snapped, cutting Sebastian off. “In case you two haven’t noticed, we’re surrounded by weres, and I’m about to shift. Bastian, perhaps, you should drop your guard and turn, too.”

  We both stopped and looked around. I couldn’t see anything in the woods, but Sebastian’s low growl let me know he sensed whatever Darla did. Something was obviously out there, and from their reactions, I guessed it wasn’t anyone from their pack.

  In an instant, my cats shifted, loud roars issuing from their maws. Answering howls filled the air around us, and gooseflesh broke out on my arms. Shit. Shit. Shit.

  I dropped my bags, ripping open one of the duffels and pulling out a sawed-off shotgun, preloaded with rock-salt rounds. I didn’t want to kill anyone, but I needed some kind of deterrent. After shoving as many more shells as I could grab into my pockets, I walked as calmly but determinedly as I could in the direction of the cabin. I couldn’t run. The weres would sense it as weakness and attack me. Hopefully, they were just inquisitive at the moment. I didn’t want to give them an excuse to come after me.

  Finally, with my panthers at my heels, we reached the familia
r clearing and the cottage. The yard, such as it was, was filled with panthers. My brother’s pack sat in a tight group, each turned toward us as if they were a welcoming committee.

  “Better get in the house, son,” Pops called from the open front door. “I think the cats have some business to attend to.”

  With a quick pat on Sebastian’s head, I left him with his clan. I was pissed at him, but I needed him to know I still cared what happened to him, and since we were surrounded by shifters, I wasn’t going to whisper words of affection that would carry to their fuzzy ears.

  As I neared the steps of the cabin, I noticed my brother off to the side, his green eyes fixed on me. I stopped in front of him, dropping to my knees and placing my hands in the fur around his neck. We held each other’s gazes for a full minute before I stood. I glanced up to see Pops shake his head at me, but figured I was a little old to be grounded for my actions. Looking back down at Bryce, I winked then reached back and socked him in his furry fucking muzzle.

  “Guess we’ll talk later,” I called to him as I climbed the steps and walked past Pops into the house.

  “You boys are going to be the death of me,” Pops grumbled as he closed the door behind us.

  Chapter Five

  “So, Pops, how’s tricks?” I asked, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a beer from a cooler. It was warm, but it was booze, so that was okay with me. “Your grandson can’t even be bothered to run into town to get you ice?”

  “Don’t need ice,” he growled back. “Bastard got electricity installed while I was out of town two weeks ago. There’s a goddamned refrigerator on the back porch.”

  “No shit?” I put back the warm can and went outside to get a cold one. “You want one?”

  He grunted in reply, which I took to mean yes, so I grabbed two bottles before going back inside and sitting at the table. Pops joined me, and we drank in silence for a few minutes.

  “You okay, boy?” Pops asked finally.

  “Fucking spectacular,” I answered, raising my bottle in salute to him. “You?”