Moonlight Kin 4: Tristan (17 page)

When did she start caring about him? She
couldn’t care about him. They weren’t even the same species.
For some reason that didn’t seem to matter to her stupid, stupid
heart.

Izzy had to get out of here. She couldn’t
face Tristan, not after what just happened.

His opinion of humans wasn’t going to be
changed by great sex, and she wasn’t dumb enough to believe that
what had occurred was anything other than a roll in the sack.

She listened to the shower. The sound sent
pain slashing through her. It was as if he was washing the whole
event away, washing her away. Maybe he was. If she were smart,
she’d do the same.

Izzy glanced out the window. It was still
daylight, but it wouldn’t be for much longer. She slipped off the
bed and quickly got dressed in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt.

Her gaze shot to the bathroom door. It was
still closed, and the shower was still going. Izzy grabbed her
purse. She quickly found her phone and hit the pre-programmed
number.

The phone rang...outside the front door of
the cabin.

Izzy looked up and found Stone standing in
the doorway, glaring at her.

“Looks like I got here just in time,” he
said.

* * * * *

Izzy grabbed her tote bag and threw what
little clothes she had inside it. “We need to hurry,” she said.
“Tristan will be out any minute.”

“The car’s unlocked,” Stone said. “You go
ahead. I’ll be right out.”

“Are you insane?” she asked. “Come on.”

“Just go!” Stone snarled.

Izzy cursed under her breath and rushed
outside. She threw her tote into the backseat of Stone’s car and
waited. When he didn’t come out right away, she went back in.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“Taking care of the problem once and for
all,” he said.

The blood drained from Izzy’s face. “You
can’t hurt him.” Just the thought of Tristan being hurt left her
feeling adrift.

“Yes, I can,” Stone said.

Izzy grabbed his arm and swung him around to
face her. “I didn’t mean it like that. What I meant was I don’t
want you to hurt him.” She didn’t want to stay with Tristan any
longer. It would just cause too much pain. But she darn sure didn’t
want to be part of any plan to hurt him. “Let’s go.”

His amber gaze hardened. “You wouldn’t be
saying that if you hadn’t slept with him.”

“How did you—”

Stone yanked her hair to the side.

Izzy slapped his hand away. “What are you
doing?”

“Looking for bite marks,” he said.

“Tristan didn’t bite me,” she said. At least
not hard enough to break the skin. “He’s not a vampire.”

“That hickey on your neck says otherwise,”
Stone said. “You’re a lucky lady. If he had bit you, there’d be no
getting away from him.”

What did he mean by that? And why didn’t the
idea frighten her more? “I don’t know what you’re talking about,”
Izzy said, glancing at the bathroom door. “Time to go.” If Tristan
found Stone in the cabin, there would be bloodshed.

“Go to the car, Izzy,” Stone said.

She wasn’t going anywhere.

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” he said.

Izzy put her hands on her hips. “I won’t, if
we leave now.”

Stone’s gaze locked on hers. “I have to slow
him down so we can get away. If I don’t, he’ll be on us
immediately.”

“And just how do you intend to do that?” Izzy
asked.

“I’ll think of something.” Stone glanced at
the small knife rack in the kitchen.

Izzy followed his gaze. “Don’t even think
about it,” she said.

“Wait in the car.”

“If you’re not out in one minute,” Izzy said.
“I’m leaving without you. I mean it.”

* * * * *

Tristan stayed in the shower until his skin
pruned. He couldn’t hide in here all night. He’d have to face
Isabel eventually. Better to do it sooner rather than later. He
would simply go out and tell her that they’d made a mistake—that
he’d made a mistake.

He shut the water off and grabbed a towel. He
was drying himself when his head swam. Tristan clutched the sink
and rubbed his temple. What was wrong with him? He didn’t get sick.
Ever.

Tristan glanced at the lodestone next to his
hand. It glowed bright as a star. He cursed and picked it up. The
Darkling had to be close. Really close. Tristan pulled the necklace
on over his head. He instantly felt better, but the magic in the
stone would only protect him for so long. He secured the towel
around his waist then reached for the doorknob.

“Isabel,” he called out.

There was no answer.

Maybe she’d fallen asleep. It wasn’t late,
but he had kept her busy for well over an hour.

“Isabel,” Tristan said, then inhaled. The
scent of dark magic filled his lungs. Fear enveloped him as he felt
his muscles weaken.

He had to get out there and protect Isabel
before the Darkling drained him completely. Tristan called to his
wolf, but he couldn’t shift. Not with the Darkling controlling his
power. He tried again and managed to grow some claws.

Those deadly weapons and the lodestone around
his neck would have to be enough until he got to his sword. Tristan
shoved the bathroom door open and rushed out.

He saw the Darkling stumble as he drew
nearer. Tristan didn’t see Isabel. Where was she? Had it harmed
her? He managed to rake the Darkling with his claws. Tristan heard
a loud yip then saw a cast-iron pan coming at his head. He didn’t
have time to duck.

Colors exploded behind his eyes as the pan
smashed into him. Tristan dropped to the floor. He tried to rise,
but the Darkling hit him again. This time the colors dancing in his
vision faded to black, along with the world around him. His only
regret was that he hadn’t been able to save Isabel.

* * * * *

Izzy heard a loud bang and rushed back into
the house. She came through the door in time to see Stone approach
Tristan. He had a butcher knife in his hand. Tristan was on the
floor. Blood pooled around his head, and he wasn’t moving.

How had Stone overpowered him so easily? She
didn’t think it was possible.

Stone raised the knife over his head and
prepared to plunge it into Tristan’s bare back.

Izzy rushed forward and shoved him aside.
“What are you doing? Can’t you see that he’s down? He’s not going
anywhere.” Perhaps ever. Tears filled her eyes. All Izzy wanted to
do was get away, so she wouldn’t have to face the emotions Tristan
stirred inside of her.

Rage filled Stone’s amber eyes. “If I don’t
kill him, he’ll just keep coming after us.”

“You said you just wanted to slow him down,”
she said. “Was that a lie?”

His jaw clenched.

Izzy knelt down beside Tristan. “You told me
that we were better than the monsters,” she said, trying to swallow
past the lump in her throat. He was still breathing, but his
breaths were shallow. She hadn’t meant for any of this to
happen.

“We are,” Stone said, yanking her to her
feet.

“Then prove it!” Izzy shouted. “Come with me
right now. If you don’t, I’ll know you’re no better than them.”

She glanced down. There was so much blood. It
soaked his blond hair, turning it crimson. Izzy’s stomach
lurched.

“I’m going to be sick.” She stumbled to the
door, half faking and half telling the truth.

Stone swore loudly and dropped the knife. He
grabbed her by the elbow and shouldered the screen door open. He
led her down the stairs and over to the car.

“You’re an idiot,” he said. “You know
that?”

“We need to call an ambulance,” she said.
“This whole thing has gone too far.”

“You’re not calling anybody. That’s not a
human in there. It’s a monster.” He shoved her in the passenger
seat and slammed the door behind her. Stone ran around the front of
the car and climbed behind the wheel. “Buckle up.”

He threw the car into drive and mashed his
foot down on the gas pedal. The car lurched and the tires spun,
sending mud flying into the air.

Izzy scrambled to get her seatbelt on. “Do
you think Tristan will be okay?” she asked.

Stone glared at her. “I sure as hell hope
not,” he said.

Her heart sank. “We need to call for help,”
she said.

“I told you no. Do you want to get the
paramedics killed?”

“No,” Izzy said. Would Tristan harm an
innocent person? Normally, she’d say no, but there was nothing
normal about this situation. Wounded animals often lashed out at
the people trying to help them.

“Sit back and be quiet,” Stone said. “I need
to think.”

Izzy just couldn’t shake the image of Tristan
lying on the cabin floor. “Pull over,” she said. “I need to go
back. I have to make sure he’s okay.”

“No,” Stone said. “You need to calm down and
think. What do you think would happen if you went back there right
now?”

“I’d be able to check on him,” she said.
“Make sure he didn’t have a concussion.”

“Then what?” he asked. “You’d wait around
until he figured out that you called me?”

She had called him. Izzy had only wanted help
with getting away, but would Tristan see it that way once he
recovered—if he recovered?

Izzy thought about what Tristan had told her
about his job. He was paid to eliminate any and all threats to the
Moonlight Kin. This move certainly put her in the threat category.
Tristan didn’t strike her as being very forgiving.

Perhaps the Death card had been referring to
her death after all. Izzy pictured Tristan’s cold slate eyes and
felt fresh tears burn her eyes.

Stone looked at her. “Now you finally
understand why I wanted to kill him.”

Izzy glanced at him. “Just because I
understand your reasoning doesn’t mean that I agree with you,” she
said, angrily wiping the tears away before they could fall. “My
name is Izzy, not Buffy. This isn’t the movies. We’re not
Slayers.”

His amber eyes narrowed. “Speak for
yourself,” Stone said, then clutched his head and groaned.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine once we put more distance
between us and the monster,” he said.

She pointed to his bloody shirt. “Tristan
wouldn’t have done that to you if you hadn’t attacked him.”

“Stop giving the monster a name,” he
said.

“I didn’t,” Izzy said. “That is his
name.”

“You just couldn’t keep your legs closed.
Could you?” he asked in disgust.

Izzy’s face flamed.

Stone hit the steering wheel with his fists.
“I should’ve killed him when I had the chance.”

He might already be dead.
A wave of
pain followed the insidious thought.

“Listen, I don’t know what happened to you
before we met, but I can tell that you’re carrying a lot on your
shoulders,” she said.

Izzy had thought she and Stone were alike,
two lost souls trapped in a world full of monsters. Now she knew
that wasn’t the case. Something had pushed him over the edge long
before tonight.

She’d have to live with what she’d done to
Tristan. If it turned out that he was dead, then she’d accept the
consequences of her actions, even if that meant her death. If
Tristan was still alive, then she’d cross that bridge when she got
to it.

“I appreciate you getting me out of there,
but I think when we get to town we should split up.”

Stone yanked the car over to the side of the
road. “We aren’t going into town,” he said.

Izzy’s stomach pitched. “Where are we
going?”

“To my house to lay low for the night,” he
said.

“I thought you said that you lived in an
apartment in town,” she said.

He glanced out the window. “That’s what I
told you at the time because I didn’t know you.”
Didn’t trust
you,
was left unsaid.

They drove to one of the wards that had been
devastated by Hurricane Katrina. There’d been so many that Izzy
wasn’t sure which one they were in. Most of the people who’d lived
in this one hadn’t returned. The houses were still boarded up, and
spray-painted signs covered many of the outer walls. It reminded
Izzy of a warzone.

Stone drove down the deserted street to the
last house at the end of the lane. He pulled into the driveway.
Unlike the other homes they’d passed, this one’s lawn was neatly
trimmed, and plywood didn’t cover the windows.

Flowerbeds lined the home’s foundation, and
the shutters around the windows were painted bright lavender. Stone
didn’t strike Izzy as a lavender kind of guy, but she didn’t know
him well.

“We should be safe here until tomorrow
night,” he said, killing the engine.

“What happens tomorrow night?” Izzy
asked.

Stone looked at her. “We leave town for
good.” He swayed on his feet when he climbed out and had to catch
the side of the door to steady himself.

“You sure you’re okay?” she asked. “Do you
want me to take a look at that wound?”

“I said I’m fine,” he snapped, then moved
toward the door.

The stench of death punched Izzy in the face
the second she stepped out of the car. She nearly dropped her tote
in an attempt to cover her nose.

“What’s that?” she asked.

Stone’s confused expression cleared. “Oh, an
alligator wandered into the backyard. I had to kill it.”

“Is it lying in the backyard now?” she asked.
“Because that will only draw more of them. They can smell decomp
from quite a distance.”

“No, I shoved the corpse into the shed until
I can dispose of it properly,” he said, then continued toward the
front door.

“Don’t you mean carcass?” Izzy asked.

Stone hesitated. “Yeah, sure,” he said, then
added, “Stay out of the backyard. There might be more of them
hanging around.”

Izzy stayed by the car.

He noticed she wasn’t beside him. “You
coming?” Stone asked.