Hunter's Moon Read online

  “I don’t think so, but again, we’ll have to ask her when she gets here.” Angel glanced at her notes. “She’ll be here in an hour or so.”

  “One thing I don’t understand is why Straff returned to Whidbey Island. Surely he has to know that we’ll be hunting him down again?” Yutani was the son of the Great Coyote, and he was a brilliant man, if a tad volatile. He was also our IT guy, and had managed to find a way onto the Dark Web without being traced, which opened up a well of knowledge for us.

  “You say that as though we’re dealing with someone sane,” Viktor said. The half-ogre shook his head. “Straff is about as far from sane as I am from being a pygmy.”

  I repressed a snicker. “True that,” I said. “But Yutani raises a good point. If Straff’s on the island again, he has to know that we’ll be seeking him out. He can’t think that Cernunnos hasn’t found out that he escaped, can he?”

  It seemed ludicrous to think that Straff would be that oblivious, unless he was listening to the guard who had sprung him out of the dungeon. If she was still alive. There was a distinct possibility he had killed her. A sudden thought hit me, one that made my stomach lurch.

  “Do we have to contact Blackthorn again?”

  “Oh, yes. We’ll need to consult the King of Thorns again,” Herne said. “I don’t relish the thought, either.”

  The last time we had met, Blackthorn had shown too much of an interest in me, and I hadn’t forgotten the sleazy, creepy way he had tried to insinuate himself between Herne and me. Blackthorn, the King of Thorns, was Straff’s father, and to me, he had been more frightening than Straff himself.

  Angel’s cell phone rang and she glanced at it. “I set the reception phone to forward to my phone.” She moved away from the table to answer, while the rest of us continued to discuss Straff. But less than a minute later, Angel hurried over and turned on the TV.

  “Guys, that was Maria Serenades, the deputy mayor. She has what she calls some disturbing news and she wants to talk to us today. She’ll be here around three o’clock. She told me to turn on the television and watch the breaking news.”

  We quieted down as the newscaster came on. Marcy Winters—a ditzy bleached blonde for whom the song “Dirty Laundry” might have been written—faced the camera with a blisteringly cheerful smile.

  “Today, history was made when Frassáire—the spokesman for the Dakkar Mountain Dragon Clan—bought the entire town of Remington, a small mining town last occupied in the early 1920s by prospectors. Located near Monroe, the town has sat empty since 1941, when the last residents moved away, and has been up for sale the past ten years. Frassáire told our reporters that the Dakkar Mountain Dragon Clan plans to renovate it into a tourist village, with rides and vendors, where families can come to meet and interact with the Dragonkin. They plan to open by early April.”

  I stared at the screen. “What the everloving fuck?”

  Herne swore, hitting the table with his fist. “I talked to the governor a few weeks ago. I warned him this was going to happen.”

  At first, we had been worried that the dragons were going to take over by force, but as the weeks wore on and the dragons made themselves known but backed down in actual attacks, we began to suspect a more devious plot. Though the dead were walking—and they would as long as Typhon was around—we began to realize he was aiming to gain trust. He was a treacherous wyrm, and we had begun to suspect that Typhon and his dragons were going to try to insinuate themselves into society and then demand a seat on the United Coalition, much like the Fomorians had. Now, it looked like we were right.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked. “Can’t we stop them from buying up land?”

  “No, we can’t,” Herne said. “When I talked to the governor he assured me that his office would keep an eye on the dragons. And when I told him that the gods were looking for a way to drive Typhon out of this realm, he assured me that the state has our back. That the country has our back. The dragons are here on a worldwide basis, and pretty soon the countries will have to come together to decide what to do about this, and that’s just going to end up in one big clusterfuck. Pardon my language, but…we all know it. That’s one reason the gods have taken the reins of this battle.”

  I stared at the table. We knew for a fact that Typhon’s end goal was to enslave humanity as both servants and food, but we didn’t dare let that information loose to the general public or panic would ensue. Unfortunately, dragons were both crafty and charming, and they were quite happy to use whatever means possible to bring about their desired results.

  “Basically, they’re creating an amusement park and making themselves into a spectacle. On the surface, it seems so undignified,” Yutani said. “But they’ll be able to disarm people. Can you imagine the children begging to ‘go see the dragons’? We’re talking Jurassic Park all over again, except this isn’t fiction, and we aren’t the ones setting up the disaster.”

  “Yes, we are,” I said. “We aren’t stopping them from building it.”

  “What can we do to stop them?” Angel said. “It’s not like the old days when you could scream ‘illegal immigrant’ about somebody coming over the border and slam the door shut on them. The world is more interconnected, and that’s a good thing. Generally. But it also makes it easier for a group like the dragons to wedge themselves in.”

  Herne shook his head. “My guess is that there are laws in place about this, but they’re being overlooked because dragons have money. You can bet that every dragon on this planet has amassed a fortune, and the moment someone who’s both greedy and powerful gets wind of that, the kickbacks are going to be enormous—” he paused as my phone rang.

  I glanced at the caller ID and groaned. “It’s Saílle.”

  The Queen of the Dark Fae seldom contacted me unless she wanted something, or something so serious had happened that she had to bring me in on it. I was half–Light Fae, half–Dark Fae, and on my way to becoming a goddess.

  When I first arrived at the agency, both the Queens of Light and Dark had ignored me. In fact, I had been pariah, a stain on their heritages. Half-breeds, whether the other half was human, Fae, or other Crypto, were excommunicated. But the moment they found out I was engaged to Herne and that I would take my place as one of the Fae goddesses, both Névé and Saílle had done their best to woo me over. I walked a delicate tightrope between the two and felt like I was one step away from tumbling to the rocks below, because with those two, there was no safety net involved.

  “Hello?” I had neither the energy nor desire to play their games today.

  “Ember, we need to talk to you and your agency about this dragon news. Those beasts cannot be allowed to have a foothold in the land. They’ll—”

  Before she could finish, I cut her off. “Queen Saílle, we just heard about it and we’re discussing what to do now. Trust me, we aren’t happy about it either. If you have any ideas beyond taking a nuclear bomb to them, please let us know.”

  “Don’t you shush me, girl!” Saílle’s voice thundered over the phone so loud that everybody in the room heard and turned to stare.

  I stifled a laugh. We were probably going to need their help and I couldn’t afford to alienate her. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long morning.”

  She let out a sigh. “I realize that you’re probably busy and I’m interrupting a meeting, but please tell Herne that we—we being Névé and me—want to meet with him at the first available opportunity to discuss this travesty.” And then, she abruptly ended the call.

  I turned back to the others. “That was Saílle. Guess who’s not happy over the announcement about the dragons and wants to meet to discuss strategy?”

  Herne groaned. “Wonderful, just wonderful. That’s all we need.”

  I sank back into my seat as the others continued to speculate over both Straff and the dragons. Some days, it just didn’t pay to get out of bed.

  Chapter Two

  While Herne went to contact his parents about the news, the rest
of us wandered off back to our offices and desks. I slumped in my chair, staring at the mess of files and papers that had cascaded off my desk. Since the first day I came to work for the Wild Hunt, everything had seemed so immediate and dangerous. But my life had probably always been like that. I just hadn’t realized it.

  I’m Ember Kearney, and I’m a tralaeth. That means that I’m half–Light Fae, half–Dark Fae, and a pariah from both courts. Half-breeds, whether crossing courts, or crossing races—such as half human, half Fae—aren’t acceptable in the glittering world of the Fae. We’re considered tainted, because most of the Fae are so freaking elitist that they consider themselves the shining stars of the world. Turns out? Not so much, but they’re not about to admit it.

  My parents were murdered when I was fifteen. Star-crossed lovers don’t always get happily-ever-after, and in my parents’ case, that ending was a bloody, vicious one. My paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother colluded to have them murdered. And it worked. They would have killed me too, except that I happened to be at school. I came home to find them lying in pools of blood.

  Angel’s mother had offered me a place to live, so I went to stay with Mama J. and my best friend. They helped me keep sane, but they couldn’t take away my anger. Luckily, I had finally managed to have my revenge—and never let anyone ever tell you that revenge isn’t sweet. It doesn’t stop the pain, but it does give a certain feeling of closure.

  After college, I went on to become a freelance investigator. I took care of goblin problems, I cleared out nests of sub-Fae who were causing havoc, and in general, I kept to myself except for Angel. She became my best friend when we were eight years old, and she’s still my best friend. While our lives are slowly leading us in different directions, we’ll always be sisters of the heart.

  A year and a half ago, her little brother went missing. Long story short, I found him safe, but the resulting cascade of events led to both of us working for the Wild Hunt. And that led to me dating Herne, my boss and a god, and that led to him proposing and me accepting and now we’re engaged. I bought a house, Angel moved in, and our lives have been charging ahead ever since. We’re both happy, in love with our respective partners, and if we have to save the world every now and then? Well, so be it.

  I sat down on the floor of my office and started sorting through the chaos. I didn’t want to think about going after Straff a second time. The first time had been bad enough, but at least this time, we knew what to expect, especially with his father. Psychos like Straff were bad, but Blackthorn was far more cunning and cultivated, and his agenda was driven by ancient, treacherous forces.

  As I sorted the papers into different piles, I heard a noise at the door and looked up. Yutani was standing there, frowning.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Heard from my old man last night.”

  I stopped, setting the papers back down as I scrambled to my feet. “How did it go?”

  Yutani was still getting used to the idea that the Great Coyote was his father. What that meant for his own evolution remained to be seen. Yutani was a demigod, thanks to his parentage, but he’d shown no real sign of any powers he might have gained from the Trickster, except for chaos following his heels.

  Yutani shrugged, then tiptoed through the maze of paper on the floor to sit down on the loveseat at the back of my office. The room was small—it wouldn’t have been big enough for a bedroom, really—but it served its purpose.

  It was pouring outside. I had opened the blinds on the window that overlooked the alley, and now I could see the rain coming down in sheets, steadily hissing as it sputtered against the concrete below. I turned on the overhead light, and leaned against my desk, staring at the paperwork spread out before me.

  “He just shows up without warning, expecting me to drop everything and hang out with him. I have a life. He never seems to acknowledge that. To be honest, I feel like I’ve backslid in my emotional growth since he showed up.” He sounded more upset than I had thought.

  “Has he ever talked to you about being your father? I mean…about what that means for you?” I asked.

  Yutani shook his head. “No, and every time I try to bring it up, he just blows me off and acts like it shouldn’t matter. He’ll be like, ‘Let’s go grab a beer’ and when I say no—I’m finding that not drinking at all is better for my addiction than giving in now and then—he acts like I’m a killjoy. His life is a whirlwind because that’s all he is. But I need more than chaos, and I can’t seem to make him understand that. He just blows me off and accuses me of being too linear.”

  I could tell this was bothering him. I dusted my hands on my jeans and carefully picked my way through the paper maze to sit beside him.

  “Can your aunt help? She has to know more about the story surrounding your mother and the Great Coyote. Hell, I don’t even know if your mother’s still alive.”

  Yutani gave me a long look. He was tall, lean, and muscled, and he had the most beautiful eyelashes that I had ever seen—long and silky, just like his hair.

  Yutani was Native American, and he came from the Southwest. While he kept his private life private, we all knew that he was a Top and into the D&S lifestyle. He was an expert at kinbaku—Japanese rope bondage—and there was a sensuality to his movements that was hard to ignore. Early on, before Herne and I started dating, I had briefly toyed with the idea of getting involved with Yutani, but I wasn’t submissive, and any relationship other than as friends would have quickly imploded. For that same reason, when he pursued a good friend of mine—Raven, one of the Ante-Fae—she had quickly pushed away his interest.

  “My mother? Yes, she’s still alive. What can I say about her? My aunt Celia raised me. When the village burned down, Auntie left and took me with her. We left all of our family—including my mother, who is Celia’s sister—behind. They blamed me for something I couldn’t control. Their anger left a bad taste in my mouth for anything concerning family.” He dropped his head back, sliding down to rest it against the sofa.

  I wasn’t sure what to say. I had loved my parents, but they had been taken from me far too early. On the other hand, I had quite willingly killed my grandfather when he threatened my life, and I’d do it again if I had to.

  “Are you afraid of what you might find if you explore your lineage? The Great Coyote’s a walking time bomb, in my opinion.” I felt bad even saying that, but it was the truth. I blamed Coyote as much as I blamed Yutani’s mother for abandoning him. The Great Coyote owed it to his son to help him grow into his powers, whatever they were. Hell, we didn’t even know if Yutani could be killed. The gods were immortal. Herne was, although he could be severely injured. But we had no clue regarding Yutani’s lifespan.

  “What are you thinking about?” Yutani suddenly asked me. “You have a strange look on your face.”

  “I’m thinking about…” I paused, searching quickly for something that wouldn’t spark off more anger than Yutani already have. “I’m thinking about immortality. What if Herne was decapitated? If the gods can’t die, what would happen to him? Would he carry his head around? Would his attacker be unable to actually cut off his head? Or would the head just miraculously reattach?” As the words came out of my mouth, I realized how bizarre they sounded.

  Yutani sputtered, then began to laugh. “Oh, my side, I’ve got a stitch,” he said, grimacing as the laughter continued. He was trying to get himself under control when Talia peeked into the office.

  “What’s so funny? I could use a laugh too,” she said.

  “Ember was thinking about cutting off Herne’s head to find out what would happen,” Yutani said between great gulps of air. He must have been wound tight to find what I said so funny.

  I gave him a pointed look as he began to collect himself again. After a moment, he let out a long sigh. “All right, I’ll stop. But seriously, what a question to ask.”

  Talia caught my gaze. “Anything going on that I should know about?”

  I shook m
y head. “I was just wondering—if the gods are immortal—then what if somebody cut off their heads? Oh, never mind. I’ll ask Herne,” I grumbled, now feeling ridiculous.

  But Talia paused, cocking her head. “That’s actually an interesting question. I’m not sure it’s one I’d pose to Herne, but hey, he would be the one to give you a definitive answer.” She stared at the stacks of papers on the floor. “I take it you were either cheering and ran out of confetti or the same thing that happened to our desks happened to yours?”

  “I swear, I want to grab up every paper on the floor and dump it on Herne’s desk.” I sat down on the floor again, handing Yutani a bag of rubber bands. “Here, make yourself useful. As I hand you a stack of papers, band them, please.”

  He grudgingly began banding the stacks of papers as I handed them to him. Talia went back to the office they shared.

  When all the papers were neatly sorted and the stacks bound together, I sat them on the small filing cabinet to the side of my desk, pushed back so they wouldn’t be easily knocked over. “I think Herne should just hire someone to go through this mess and make sense of it all.”

  “Why don’t you tell him that? He might listen to you,” Yutani said. “I think he’s worried that someone from the outside might let it leak that our accounting wasn’t up to par. That’s bad for business.”

  “Our business is to primarily keep Saílle and Névé from killing one another, and everybody around them in the process,” I muttered. “I didn’t sign on to take care of dragons and deal with crazed serial killers.” I paused, realizing how surly I sounded. “I’m just tired. The whole mess is wearing on me. We no sooner had dealt with the Tuathan Brotherhood when the activity with Typhon arose.”

  “I know battle fatigue is a real thing,” Yutani said. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, and be careful about taking it out on others. If you need to, why don’t you talk to that shrink that Raven went to? He seemed to have helped her a great deal. And Rafé, too.”