Hunting Ground [Claiming Series, #3]

- 6 -

The moon was bright, still nearly full. Asher and Kane decided they could all use some time outside while they waited to see what kind of news Julie could dig out of the medical examiner's office.

Kane slipped outside alone first, then returned to say there wasn't a whiff of vampire anywhere. "I think it's safe, but not everyone should go out at the same time."

"Tessa first," Mackenzie said. "I've never been keen on tromping through deep snow. Too bad we don't have skis."

Tessa went to get her jacket and gloves, and stepped outside with Kane, who was once again wearing the leathers she had first seen him in. no hat, no gloves. "Aren't you cold?"

"I can't feel temperature anymore. Hot or cold, it's all the same."

"But you said..." She trailed off, reluctant to recall the intimacy he'd cut to short so suddenly.

"I can feel your warmth. Human warmth. It's the only kind that reaches me any longer, and it's delightful.

"Wow." She waded through untrammeled snow beside him and looked up at the just-past-full moon. Right now it hung only a little above the trees, a huge silvery disk.

"What would you be doing it you were home tonight, little wolf?"

She kept her gaze on the moon as sorrow encompassed her. "Sitting beside the fire or maybe on the porch watching the youngsters romp."

"Why do you sound sad? You miss them?"

"Of course I miss them. What I don't miss is... Well, right now the adult pack is out running. Nights like this call to them. They'll cover fifty or sixty miles before the moon sets, howling to each other in beautiful harmony.

"And you couldn't go with them."

"No." She shook her head, trying to push away the sadness. "I never changed. Never. Most change by the time they are twelve or thirteen. I kept waiting for it to happen, but it never did. So all I could do was watch the ones who had recently changed. They weren't ready to travel such long distances with the pack. I was left to keep an eye on them because they are more adventurous than wise that age."

"And the rest of the time? Did they leave you out of everything?"

"Of course not!" Angry, she stopped and glared at him. "They included me as much as they could. In fact, I think some of the members of my pack even stopped shifting as often so they could keep me company. Do you know how that made me feel?"

"It should have made your feel loved and accepted."

She almost gasped, that stung so hard. "Who are you to talk about love and acceptance?"

"I loved once," he said simply. "For a long, long time. And then she died and I went insane. I know about love."

She felt about two inches tall then. Turning, she resumed her tromp through the snow, feeling like a bitch, feeling sorrowful because it was a moonlit night, and moonlit nights had become the gauge for how she measured her inadequacy. Snow crunched beneath her boots, her tread was heavy, and all she could hear in her mind were the calls of her parents, siblings and cousins as they joyously bounded into the woods under the brilliant silver light.

An arm closed around her shoulders. "It's all right," he said.

She jerked away, blinking back tears she couldn't quite explain. "It's not ok. Nothing's ok. I'm caught up in a war I don't understand, I was nearly killed just two nights ago, I'm living with vampires, and you keep...you keep...Damn it, Kane, don't touch me anymore if you don't mean it!"