Hyena Moon, page 11
"Thanks." He downed his in one long pull. Lenore watched the muscles in his throat work as he swallowed. His pale skin positively glowed out here. She wondered idly if he used SPF125.
"No problem." She rolled onto her stomach, but kept her head turned so she could watch him. Rafe looked out at the ocean, seemingly entranced by the swimmers out there. She studied his profile for a few minutes, her eyes safely hidden behind her sunglasses. He looked thoughtful, but relaxed, more relaxed than she'd seen him at the house. She thought again about Cormac's warning to be careful around him, but she couldn't figure out why. If he was so dangerous, why was he staying at Kess' house in the first place? He didn't look dangerous to her.
Lenore had an idea. "Hey, can you do me a favor?" Her voice started him out of whatever reverie he was in. He looked at her, cocking a brow. "Can you put some sunscreen on my back? I don't want to burn." She'd already applied some, but it was possible she might have missed a few spots.
Rafe stared at her, looking like he didn't know whether to agree or run. Lenore waited for him to say something, then prompted, "Sunscreen's in the bag."
He blinked rapidly. "Uh, okay." He rummaged in the bag and came up with the bottle.
She felt him move her hair out of the way, his touch gentle. She pillowed her head on her arms so he had full access to her back. His hands were tentative at first, spreading the lotion lightly over her warm skin. His hands started out cool, but they warmed quickly. He began to press down firmly, working the sunscreen into her flesh with strong hands. Lenore sighed. It was like getting a massage. It was everything she could do not to curl her toes into the sand in pleasure.
"Do you need me to do your legs?" His voice sound kind of breathless and a little tighter than normal. She turned her head to look at him and saw that he sat on his knees beside her, carefully looking at the bottle in his hands.
Lenore fought down a grin. How nice of him to offer. "That would be great. Thanks." She put her head back down and concentrated on nothing but the sensation of his warm hands on her skin.
He started at her ankles, slowly working his way up her calves. He was being very thorough, making sure the sunscreen covered the backs of her legs completely before moving on to the backs of her knees. Lenore wiggled a little when he hit the sensitive spot behind her kneecap, laughing a little.
"Sorry about that."
Now Lenore's voice sounded a little breathy. "It's fine."
She heard him snap open the bottle again to get another handful of lotion. He had just begun to rub sunscreen in to the backs of her thighs when a new voice interrupted. "Hands off my cousin, perv."
Lenore rolled over to find Finn standing over them. Rafe had sprung back like she’d suddenly ignited. He looked uncertain as to what to do with his hands full of sunscreen. Lenore sneered, "God, Finn, give it a rest. I asked him to put sunscreen on me. That's all."
"Yeah, well, I can take it from here." He flung a spare towel at Rafe so he could wipe his hands.
"Ugh, no thank you. I can handle it." Lenore took the bottle from Rafe and finished applying it herself.
"I'm going for a quick swim to rinse off." Finn looked at the two of them, and then grinned wickedly. Lenore knew she was in for trouble. "Try not to molest each other while I'm gone."
She flung sand at him but he was too quick, already setting off down the beach toward the water. She looked over at Rafe who had been silent and saw he was a deep shade of red. "Ignore him," she told him. "He's an idiot."
"I should probably go rinse off too," he said, not looking at her.
Lenore tried for nonchalant, but it was difficult when all she wanted to do was smack the both of them. "'kay. And thanks for the sunscreen." She made a point to roll over before he left to join Finn at the water's edge. It had been going so well, too, at least until her idiot cousin came along and his big mouth ruined the moment. She would make sure Finn suffered for this stunt. Oh, yes she would.
Chapter Nineteen
The mall was pretty busy when she and Cormac dropped off Rafe and Lenore. They two of them were meeting up with a group of kids for a night out. Kess watched the group leave her sight. Rafe and Lenore looked safely ensconced with Nina and Rose, siblings of Kess' old friends, and a couple of their friends. Kess was glad she had taken the time to get back in touch with her old high school friends. It was good to reconnect with them, but even better because it opened the door for Rafe and Lenore to do something with kids their own age. She'd introduced Rafe to them earlier, but he hadn't been much for going out. That all seemed to change when Lenore arrived.
It had taken the combined efforts of Kess and Lenore to get Cormac to agree to the outing though. Kess had let Lenore handled the pleading and wheedling, which the girl was remarkably good at. Kess had handled the security arguments, assigning a guard to watch the group unobtrusively. Lenore would be in a large group of teens, in a public place. Cormac and Kess would be at the same location, a phone call away. And if the intel Kess was getting from the other cats was accurate, the hyenas were gathering their numbers for a full scale attack; they wouldn't want to waste resources or risk retaliation before they were ready. Cormac had grudgingly agreed.
Kess slid her arm through his and tried to lead him away in the other direction. She had hoped they could catch a movie themselves or do something else suitably coupley until it was time to meet back up with Rafe and Lenore, but he was still watching after the gaggle of teens with his eyes narrowed. Kess watched him watch them for a few moments before interrupting his staring.
"What exactly are you hoping to accomplish with the glaring?" She nudged him in the ribs to get his attention.
He blinked, and then looked down at her. She smiled up at him, hoping to get their night underway on a good note. "I still don't like this,” he muttered.
Kess felt her smile fall away. So much for the two of them having a nice night out. She tucked herself closer to him and began to walk, trying to move him along with her. She had to stop after a few steps because it was like towing an anchor. She sighed. "What don't you like?"
He looked down at her and she knew from his dark expression that she wasn't going to like what he had to say. "Rafe hanging out with Lenore."
Yep, that was what she thought. She tried to be reasonable, to reassure him. They'd done everything they could think of to protect Lenore, short of locking her up in the house for the duration of her stay. "They're with a group of kids in a public place. Nothing is going to happen."
He shook his head and she poked him. Head shaking was not going to cut it--this was a conversation that had been building for weeks. "She's only going to be here a little while longer. It wouldn’t be good for her if she got…attached."
Kess cocked her head and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Attached? Really? That couldn't possibly why he was behaving this way. "Seriously? That's your reasoning? That can't be all there is to this." She knew it wasn’t, but she wanted Cormac to admit it.
Cormac rubbed the back of his neck, a sure sign he was thinking something over. She waited him out, until finally he said, "Fine, Kess. You already know it. I don't trust him. And you shouldn't either."
She began to walk slowly and he followed after her. She waited until he was beside her to sigh, "We've been over this."
He gave her a look like he was assessing whether she'd suffered some kind of head injury in the last ten minutes. His voice was a growl. "That doesn't keep it from being an issue." He stopped, raking his hands through his hair. "You're the clan leader! If you're wrong about Rafe, the damage he could do is serious. How can you just ignore that possibility and act like there's nothing to worry about?"
Kess looked at him, trying to keep her temper. "Because I don't think I'm wrong about him, Cormac. What has he done since he's been here that makes you think I'm wrong?"
"Besides the fact that he's a hyena? The son of the woman who wants to kill you? Or how about because he disappeared on us in the swamp and four hyenas magically appeared?" His voice was fast and low. Kess pulled him over to the side, away from people walking. If they were going to have a conversation about the were situation, it would probably be better if they had some cover.
"Cormac, I…" Kess began, but he cut her off.
"Kess, he's a hyena." Cormac's voice was surprisingly gentle. "From a pack that wants to take over your territory..."
"From a pack that abandoned him. Just to clarify." She shouldn't need to keep bringing that up with him.
"...from a pack that left him here, maybe to spy on you. Or worse." He stopped and gave Kess a warning look. "I don't want my sister involved. I don't want her getting hurt."
"Rafe isn't a spy." Kess could feel her shoulders tense and she tried to relax them. They were getting into topics she thought best left alone.
"How do you know? Laila didn't trust him."
Of course he'd bring up Laila. "Um, Laila doesn't trust anybody--she's an assassin. And she's a complete pain in the ass, so not helping your argument there." Kess wrinkled her nose at the thought of the Keeper. She wasn't fond of the werejackal and not just because she'd killed Sek.
"That doesn't mean her instincts are wrong. Or that mine are." Cormac sighed and leaned his head against the wall. "There's a lot we don't know about this kid."
Kess moved closer to him. "So mine are?" She overrode his protests. "My instincts are telling me that Rafe's a good person. I'm not going to treat him like an enemy when he hasn't proven to be one."
Cormac dropped his head down to hers, his eyes an intense, wicked silver. "I'm not talking about that. He's Samara's son, Kess. He's not your do-over brother."
"What did you say?" She could tell her pupils had grown larger, a sign of her were nature asserting itself.
"I'm saying that he's a likely enemy, not a chance for you to work out your family issues." His voice was hard and he wasn't backing down.
She reared back. "I'm not doing that."
"Aren't you? He's not therapy, Kess. You need to see him for what he truly is--and some of his behavior has been sketchy--and not for what you want him to be."
"And what is he?" She put her face close to his. "Samara's son? A damaged kid? A criminal mastermind?"
Cormac's eyes flared. "A danger to your safety--to all of ours." His eyes dimmed and he brought himself under control. "You're thinking he's like you when he isn't!"
Kess took a step back, trying to reign in her animal side. Her leopard self felt very close to the surface, not surprising with how keyed up she'd been since the night in the Everglades. When she felt her vision return to normal, she took his hand. She wanted to choose her words carefully so that he would understand where she was coming from. "Mac, remember when you first figured out I was a leopard?"
He nodded. "Still one of the best of nights of my life."
Kess ducked her head shyly, still not comfortable with all the compliments he threw at her, but she was trying to get better with them. She continued. "You and your family accepted me--you all gave me a chance. You didn't just throw me out or make me leave or try and kill me. Even when Sek showed up, you didn't force me out. All of you backed me up." She paused, shaking her head. "But you didn't know me. You had no idea if I was good or bad or a spy or whatever. You took a chance. On me. I'm just asking that you do the same for Rafe. His mother left him with us, thinking we were going to kill him. Come on, Cormac--the kid hasn't had it easy. This could be our chance to help."
Cormac stroked her cheek, palming it in his hand. "Kess, I realize you want to help him and I love you for that. But his situation is different from yours. You were running away from your brother. He's directly involved with a rival pack that's in a territorial war with your clan. There's a lot more at stake if we're wrong."
Kess took a deep breath. "I'm willing to take that risk. And it seems like your sister is too."
Cormac's eyes darkened. "She's too young to know any better."
Kess put her hands on her hips. She knew he wasn't going to like what she had to say next. "Now you sound exactly like my brother. Nice."
"Don't you EVER compare me to him!" Cormac had never shouted at her, but he did so now.
Kess flinched but didn't back down. A few people passing turned to look at them, but no one stopped. She grabbed Cormac by the arm, moving him toward the parking lot and the car. This was a conversation better had in private.
When they were close to it, she whispered, "Let me tell you something, if you try to keep her from hanging out with Rafe, you're just making him more attractive. She'll sneak around behind all of our backs; she'll manufacture reasons to see him just because he's off-limits."
He pulled away from her and continued on ahead of her. "You don't know that!"
Kess put on a burst of speed and cut him off, blocking his way to the car with her body. "Of course I do! She's already snuck off from your parents to come down here!" She took a breath. "She's a fifteen year old girl. So was I when Sek started following me around, monitoring my every move, telling me who I could and couldn't see. I snuck out at every opportunity. I lied to him about who I was going to be with. I wasn't going to let him control me. If you try it with Lenore, she'll do the same thing."
"She wouldn't do that. Lenore's a good girl!"
Kess went still. "And I wasn't?"
"You know what I mean." Cormac reddened.
"No. No, I don't know what you mean." She felt a watchfulness in her stillness, like she did when she was a leopard, stalking her prey. The silence grew heavy, almost as if it was another participant in the conversation. When Cormac didn't answer, she walked the rest of the way to the car and leaned her back against the passenger door.
She watched him slowly walk over to join her. He leaned against the car, an arm's length between them. "You can ask Rafe to stay away from her. He owes you that much."
She didn't turn to look at him, choosing instead to watch the parking lot. "I won't ask him to do that. Lenore would still come looking for him and what could he tell her? Whatever he says will make her more likely to go off on her own. This way, we can keep an eye on both of them." And I'm not going to ask him stop being friends with her, she thought to herself. Rafe wasn't a threat to Lenore. Of that, she was certain.
"Then as clan leader, what do you propose we do to ensure my sister's safety?" Cormac sounded tired.
She knew she didn't have an answer that would satisfy him, but she gave it her best shot. "We watch them. I've already got folks looking after Rafe and I know you and Finn are basically Lenore's bodyguards while she's here." Kess took a moment, and then continued. "You could stop keeping things from her and just tell her what's going on down here."
He shook his head, not looking at her and Kess backed off. Way off. She knew better than to press her point further than she should when he was like this. Lenore was his family, not hers, and he was the only one to decide how to handle her. And she didn't want to make things any more awkward between the two of them.
She felt his hand tentatively take hold of her. Kess glanced over as he raised her hand to his mouth, brushing his lips lightly across her knuckles. "I'm sorry." His voice was so quiet she had to lean in to catch it. He pulled her closer and she let him, but not for the first time she wondered if coming home was going to cost her more than she was willing to pay.
Chapter Twenty
Lenore pulled her feet up beside her on the couch, watching as Rafe fiddled with the DVD player. She liked watching him, especially when he didn't know she was doing so. She wasn't able to do it often because, if there was one thing the boy was clued into, it was eyes on him. But when she was able to watch him unobserved, she was able to see the natural grace of him, without any of the awkward diffidence and shyness that he had most of the time.
He turned around, remote in hand, and she smiled at him. She itched to push the black hair out of his face so she could just stare at the almost sharp planes and angles of him unhindered. He gave her a tentative smile back and came over to join her on the sofa. They were alone, which gave Lenore a thrill. She had him all to herself. Kess was busy with some of the other wereleopards and Cormac and Finn had gone off to do wolfy things.
This was the first chance she'd gotten to be alone with him, without her brother or Kess staring at him over her shoulder. She planned to make the most of it.
"You ready?" he asked, pointing the remote towards the console system. When she nodded, he hit Play.
Lenore reached over and dimmed the lights. She was hoping the darkness might give him a few ideas. She turned her attention back to the screen, but she was very conscious of him perched only a foot away from her. Rafe and Finn had gone to the grocery store and Rafe had gotten them a movie, so she was hoping to see something with a lot of action and stuff blowing up. Instead she heard a flowery score and was treated to the view of an Italian countryside at sunset. She frowned. Unless said countryside was turned into a blazing crater in the next scene, she had the horrifying feeling she was going to have to sit through a schmoopy cinematic love-fest.
No luck with the burning crater. Lenore sat back with a sigh. Rafe couldn't possibly like this stuff, could he? If he'd gotten this romantic comedy for her, Finn should have been able to tell him otherwise.
Finn.
Of course her cousin would think this was a hilarious joke on both of them. He knew she hated these kinds of movies. She had to get him back for this. She began to plot ways to make Finn suffer for inflicting this exercise in questionable taste upon her.
She and Rafe sat in silence for the first half hour of the movie. Lenore snuck sidelong glances at Rafe and he seemed just as bored as she was. They both fidgeted, rearranging themselves on the couch, readjusting pillows and limbs in an effort to stay awake. The only bright spot in all of it was that she managed to edge closer to Rafe, so that their shoulders touched. She'd hoped that he'd put his arm around her, maybe lean into her a little bit, but he held himself stiffly, as if afraid to relax even though nobody was around to see them.
