Howling Moon (37 page)

The party had
ended shortly before dawn with everyone agreeing to meet back here at three for a full Thanksgiving dinner with each guest providing a side dish while Raphael cooked the main course, a honey-baked ham.

It took a long time for Cat to fall asleep. It felt good to be curled up with Raphael, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart beating, basking in his scent and the warmth of his body next to hers.

She loved him. It wasn’t just lust, although heaven knew that was part of it. But it was so much more: warmth, kindness, absolute acceptance, and mutual respect. Cat finally understood what her father meant when he’d said of her mother: “It was like I found a part of myself I hadn’t realized was missing.”

“You okay?” Raphael spoke into her hair.

“Fine.” She shifted her head to look up at him. “Happy even. Now tell me about this contest you and Raven were talking about.”

Raphael chuckled. “When Raven was a teenager, I was getting ready to put on some music after dinner, and he started giving me a hard time about one of the songs I like. So I threw one of the really bad ones he listened to in his face… and well, it just kind of moved on from there until now every year we compete to see who can come up with the best
bad
songs that have actually made it onto the radio.”

“The best bad songs?”

“Oh, yeah. Just wait till you hear it. I’ve got some amazing stuff lined up this year.”

“Oh, goody.”

Raphael laughed.

They lay together in silence. Everything was all right. She wasn’t even dreading the holiday dinner without her parents. Oh, nothing would keep her from missing them, but having Raphael here helped more than she would have believed possible. Eventually she dozed. For the moment at least she was happy and content.

It was the calm before the storm.

Raphael felt as
though he might smother from the power that surged and flowed in a skin-crawling rush in the close confines of the car. The days between Thanksgiving and the full moon had passed in a blur. Originally Raphael and Holly had been going to go up to the mountain alone. There had been a change of plans. Now they were the ones to meet Cat at the mall. He was driving the Mitsubishi at just above the speed limit. He didn’t want to get stopped by the police right now. Not with the sun lowering toward the horizon and the full moon calling for his beast to come out and play.

He was afraid. He could admit that to himself. He was afraid for Holly, afraid what losing her would do to his brother, to Raven, and to Cat. They loved her so very much. Losing Maria had nearly destroyed Jake. He’d have killed himself if he hadn’t had his daughters to think of, and the restaurant business to immerse himself in. Now his daughters were grown, gone, and had lives of their own. The business was crippled with debt. Raphael wasn’t sure his brother would be willing to go on if he lost youngest daughter.

He tried reassuring himself by saying that she had wolves in her ancestry for generations, and that three of the best healers in the world would be there tonight. But that didn’t keep his stomach from roiling, or his gut from clenching with fear.

The power surged, biting at his skin like fire ants. Raphael pressed the gas pedal farther to the floor as they cleared the outer edge of the city and merged onto the highway leading out to the mountains.

The drive seemed to take forever, until he could pull the car to a stop at the gate to Cat’s property. The sun hadn’t fully set, but it was sinking toward the horizon, painting the western clouds orange and blood red.

Cat climbed from the car, pulling the keys from her pocket. She unlocked the gate, swinging it open wide enough for the car to pull through, closing and locking it behind.

Gravel crunched beneath the tires as he pulled up the curving driveway to the front of the house with Cat following on foot.

Holly climbed from the car and started toward the meadow, walking as though bemused to where three large furred shapes waited in the shadows. Raven, Betty, and Tatya had changed early, hunted, and come cross-country in wolf form. Having fed, they would all three be at full strength when the time came. And the time would be soon.

In the distance the moon rose, its magic sliding in a smooth, erotic touch over his body, calling to the animal within. Raphael shuddered in response. It felt so good, so right to be here, tonight. He turned to look at Cat. She smiled, but strain showed around her eyes and he could scent the ammonia of her fear, see the pulse pounding in that slender throat.

Why don’t you go ahead and go on to the meadow. I’ve got to set the spell for the perimeter.

What kind of spell?

An aversion and an alarm. The aversion focuses and reflects fear. Any human or lesser Sazi who tries to come here will feel unreasoning terror to the point where he
can’t
continue.

The alarm.

That gives me warning in case someone does manage to breach the perimeter, so I can head him off before he sees something he shouldn’t.

Cat stepped forward, pulling him into a tight hug. He held her against him, his hand stroking her hair as he tried to comfort her, ease her trembling. “I love you, Raphael.” The words were almost desperate.

“I love you, too.” He put one finger underneath her chin, tilting it upward so she was forced to look him in the eye. “It will be all right” He forced confidence into the words, trying to make them both believe him.

“Of course it will.” She forced herself to smile up at him. “Now go set your perimeter and get your ass out to that meadow. I don’t want things to start without you.”

Cat walked up to the house, letting herself in the front door. She still wasn’t completely comfortable being naked in front of many people. She judged it to be much better to change here, privately, and join the others in cat form. Moving through the house by moonlight, she crossed to the French doors, sliding them open for her eventual exit. She stepped away from the windows, into the deep shadows of the living room area, and stripped. She folded the clothes, stacking them neatly on the fireplace mantel, then stepped to the center of tire room and called her magic.

Always before there had been a shock of pain when she called the power to change. Tonight, it felt natural, right, and good. There was no flash, no smell of burning or ozone. One moment she was Catherine, the next, the cat.

On silent feet she padded out of the house. She moved with casual grace, leaping easily from the edge of the deck. She didn’t run until she heard the first of the screams.

Cat nearly flew across long grass shadowed by the shifting clouds. She felt Raphael’s spell slam into place like the closing of a vault door, felt him shift forms and run full out toward the field.

They arrived at nearly the same time from opposite directions, joining the others to form a rough circle with Holly at its center.

Holly was writhing in the tall grass, screaming as fast as she could draw breath. Her bones broke and rebroke as her body started to change, then shifted back to its familiar human shape. Thick gray fur sprouted from her skin, only to pull back and recede below the surface. She struggled onto her hands and knees, the whites of her eyes a solid red from ruptured blood vessels. Throwing back her head, she howled, her face elongating, reshaping.

Cat felt Raphael pull power, pull strength from her and throw it into his niece’s body. This time when her legs broke they stayed in wolf configuration, while her upper body stubbornly remained human. He pulled again, desperately dragging every ounce of their combined energy out and throwing it into her.

Cat’s eyes dimmed. She stumbled, falling gracelessly to the ground. Nor was she alone. Betty collapsed in a dead faint. Cat forced her eyes open. She watched in terror as Raven threw everything he had into his cousin, again and again, until there was nothing left for him to give and he, too, fell unconscious.

Tatya staggered, but stubbornly remained upright. Cat could feel her pulling power from somewhere beyond their circle, pulling it, and shoving it into the bloody mess in the center of the circle that was neither human nor wolf and barely breathing.

The clouds parted, the light of the full moon shining full on the thing that was Holly. She gave one last, lingering scream as the moonlight dragged the wolf from her skin. But it didn’t move.

Consciousness faded to black.

Catherine had no idea how long it was before she felt Raphael’s, presence in her mind. Knew he was alive and moving. She hurt. The pain wasn’t localized. Every cell of her body ached equally, and there were no words to express the exhaustion she felt.

Are they… It was hard to form a coherent thought to form the words. Speech was definitely beyond her.

We’re all alive. More or less. Eventually we’ll even be all right. Can you move?

Not yet.

Stay still then. Rest. You need to eat. There’s a cooler in the trunk of the car with meat in it.

Just like last month. Cat closed her eyes.

Cat awoke to the smell of meat. Someone, probably Raphael, had placed a huge chunk of uncooked hamburger beneath her nose. Before she even opened her eyes she snapped up a mouthful. It tasted wondrous, and the fact that it was fully ground meant that she could swallow without the exertion of chewing. A good thing since she barely had the strength to open her jaws.

She felt Raphael’s hand stroking her fur. “You’re going to be all right, baby, and so are Holly, Raven, and the others.”

“You?”

“I’m fine. Tired as hell. But I’m fine.”

Cat forced her eyes open. The moon was still up, but it had moved well across the sky. Lucas sat not far away in human form.

A silver-gray wolf Cat assumed must be Tatya lay with her head across his lap. He stroked her fur with slow, even movements of his left hand while he fed bites of burger to her with his right.

“Lucas?”

“He knew Tatya was in trouble, so he had Peter take over the hunt and came. He wasn’t the only one, either.” Raphael nodded in the direction of a pair of traditionally marked gray wolves, one male, one female. “Jake forced his way through the perimeter to get here.”

“But you said – “

“That lesser wolves would be overwhelmed with fear.” There was pride in Raphael’s voice and expression. “He was. He came anyway.”

It was hours
later when Raphael left to go to breakfast with Holly and Jake. Both Cat and Lucas thought it was a bad idea, but Holly and Jake were family, and they wanted him there in case things went badly. So he went. Lucas took the keys to the Mitsubishi to drive home the three healers, who barely had enough strength to walk themselves to the car. Cat was left alone in the empty house, waiting for Ivan. It gave her time to get dressed and to think.

She was running out of time. She could feel it. Jack was out there, somewhere, just waiting for her to let down her guard. And while she loved Raphael, and Holly, she’d let everything with them distract her from what needed to be done. If Jack struck now, she wasn’t ready, and she needed to be.

The crunch of gravel outside let her know that Ivan had arrived. Good. That meant she could get down to business.

Cat locked up the house and joined Ivan at the limo.

“Did she survive?” Ivan asked softly as he swung open the door.

Cat nodded wearily. “Yeah, but it wasn’t easy. We’re all pretty wiped out.” She climbed in, taking the seat nearest the cab of the vehicle.

Ivan leaned his head through the door as she settled into her seat. “Lay down, rest. It’s a long drive.”

It was excellent advice. So she tried. She lay down on the long bench seat and closed her eyes. Unfortunately, while her body was utterly exhausted, her mind kept racing.

She hadn’t heard from Jack. That was both refreshing and oddly alarming. Yes, she had been doing her exercises religiously. And the necklace Ivan had given her seemed to help as well. Still, something was going on. Cat could
feel
it. A sense of impending doom pressed on her, making her drive herself ever harder at her lessons, and her plan.

Information was pouring in from the spyware she’d planted with the e-mail from the charity she created donating to Jack’s campaign. Every night she and Raphael worked their way through it all, sorting the wheat from the chaff. By far the best information came from the computer of Jack’s personal assistant. Muriel Spenser had access to
everything,
although it appeared that she was on a vacation. She hadn’t logged in for a number of days, which was perfect. Cat checked, double-checked, and triple-checked every bit of information she could gather. As unlikely as it would seem, Jack apparently only used one attorney for all of his business: Waters.

The file was the key. Then again, it always had been. She’d been creating the replacement paperwork, aging paper and labels with the aid of a sunlamp. Raphael had used dots of paint on the glass of her photocopier to create spots and flaws on the copies that were identical to those of the original. It was meticulous work, but it wasn’t
difficult.
Raphael’s old evidence kit had provided forensic evidence and samples that could be switched out with those in Jack’s files. The problem was the video. She needed to find something appropriate to switch it out with. But what?

Cat felt the jerk of the wheels as they went from gravel to the smooth pavement of the interstate. Eventually, the gentle whir of tires on asphalt and the rocking of the car lulled her to sleep.

She dreamed of her mother. A part of her knew it was a dream, and was desperately sad at the same time she grasped onto the image.

They were in the kitchen at the beach house. The thin white lace curtains were blowing in a breeze that had the tang of saltwater and seaweed. Morning sunlight gleamed off the white tile surfaces. Janet was bustling around, popping bread into the toaster and gathering up a pair of cups to pour coffee for her daughter and herself. She wore her usual weekend garb, a
man’s denim shirt tied at the waist over a tank top and matching shorts. She was barefoot, as well.

Mom?

Janet turned and smiled, fine laugh lines appearing at the co
r
ners of her wide blue eyes. She handed Cat a mug filled with stea
m
ing coffee.

“Sit down, darling. We need to talk.”

Janet gestured to a stool at the breakfast bar.

“Shh. We don’t have a lot of time and I’ve got a lot of things to tell you.” She took a quick sip from her coffee mug. “First, quit beating yourself up about being angry with me. If I had had any sense, I would’ve told you about my past myself. It was a rotten way for you to find out, and I’m sorry.”

Cat blinked several times. Apparently her mother was just as blunt in dreams as she’d been in real life.

“And yes, we would’ve liked Raphael. A lot. He suits you. Don’t let people give you a hard time and tell you to wait. Life is too short to waste time worrying about other people’s opinions.” Janet set her coffee mug onto the counter and walked over to stand inches away from Cat. She took her daughter’s face in her hands. “Don’t worry. You
can
do this. And the answer to your problem? It’s in your mem
o
ries of the attack. You just have to be willing to look at it.” She leaned forward to kiss her daughter on the forehead, and was gone.

Cat woke with tears streaming down her cheeks. She rummaged around in the back of the limo until she found a box of tissues. She spent the rest of the drive to Denver having a really good cry.

Ivan reached behind him to slide open the glass partition that divided the driver and passenger areas. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Cat answered. “Crying helps sometimes, and I’ve been needing to for a while.”

“If you say so.” He sounded doubtful.

His tone of voice made her smile. “I do.” She scooped up the pile of used tissues and dumped them into the waste can.

“We’re almost to the mall,” Ivan announced. “And I am done here. I would rather not go just yet, but the Chief Justice needs me elsewhere.”

“I’ll be fine, Ivan. Really.”

“You are sure?”

“Positive.” She put a smile in her voice. “But do me a favor. Come back for Christmas?”

“I can do that.” His eyes met hers in the rearview mirror, his expression serious. “Be careful, Cat. Take no unnecessary risks. And if you need help, you will call me,
right!”

“Right.”

The mall was just ahead. Ivan caught the green light. Flicking on the turn signal, he turned the car into the driveway, slowing to a stop at the main entrance. He game around the car, opening the door for her. She climbed out. Stopping beside him for a moment, she got up on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thank you so much for everything,” she whispered.

“It has been my pleasure.”