So there was the link thing. And the sex thing. Was that why she was so restless?
Across the table, Kitani changed her position for the fifth time in as many minutes. When Jessie followed suit, the Were shot her an understanding smile.
“The moon calls and makes us all antsy. The closer it gets to full, the worse it is.”
Damn.Jessie had been totally focused on Kade. She didn’t want to think about the full moon and what it would bring.
Much better to see if the piece in her hand really was a bit of ocean.
* * *
Zach spent the rest of the night doing his damnedest to avoid contact with any other living soul. The fact that he managed it only pissed him off more because it meant that people were avoiding him, too.
Having returned to his room, he cast his mind outward. The Weres were curiously absent. He usually felt them in the dining room, on the porch, and in the kitchen. They were always in the kitchen. They’d stripped his fridge and freezer in record time. But they weren’t there now. And when he dropped his still shaky walls for a quick search, he found them on patrol. Why were so many out there?
The answer constricted his heart. This was D-Day. Kade must think Braden would try something. Laura was still vulnerable. But surely Jessie was out of danger? So long as she made the transition into wolf tonight, that is. Or whatever she would call herself. Would she be a Sabre?
The moment Zach dropped his walls, Jessie shone like an emotional beacon. She was in the house. Which meant he was stuck in the bedroom for the moment.
While he waited, he and Buffy shored up the mental bricks until the world around him was a blank slate. It was better that way.
And when Jessie came upstairs for a shower, Zach escaped to the yard. Cara, of course, knew where he was at all times, through her blue-eyed crew. He needed Buffy’s help to keep his walls strong, and, to be honest, he’d never been able to tell Willow anything at all.
The cat, the donkey, and the dog followed him as he moved about the yard. Like the previous day, this one continued unseasonably hot and sticky. Menacing clouds climbed the sky—they would eventually break with one helluva storm.
Zach restacked and counted the remaining hay bales—he needed to get the horses onto that pasture sooner rather than later. He left the donkey happily cleaning up the alfalfa leftovers in the hay shed. The only thing Willow liked better than boots was alfalfa.
One nosy Familiar down...
Buffy and Spike continued on with him as Zach eyed the sky and took another stab at draining the puddle in front of the barn. The act of digging a trench into the grassy spot proved far too boring for Buffy who wandered off to select a sunny spot for a nap.
Spike lay in the yard as Zach pruned the hedge along the front of the house. It had been growing like a mad thing over the last little while. The donkey finished the alfalfa feast and moved on to a dessert of branches. This brought her dangerously close to the line of clothes and boots that littered the porch. It appeared the Sabres had not yet learned their lesson about leaving apparel within donkey reach.
Zach contemplated moving the footwear indoors but decided, perversely, that he wouldn’t. He left Willow to whatever chaos she deemed necessary and headed into the barn.
Spike watched him go but seemed disinclined to move. That was fine with Zach. He needed to brood, and it was best done solo. The barn was dark, quiet, and refreshingly cool. It was an old gambrel-roofed structure with a substantial loft. Its four stalls, lined with sturdy planks about five feet up and topped with bar sections, stood along the back wall. Good, strong stalls, but he seldom used them. Horses were happier outside.
A long counter ran along the side. Tools covered the wall behind it. The center of the barn was large enough for his cube van, but at the moment an ancient lawn tractor sat with most of its components on a tarp around it.
Willow had done a decent job of mowing the lawn near the house, but in places it was more prairie than turf. He’d picked up the last part he needed for the tractor right before all this craziness happened. Time to put it all back together.
He was standing at his tool bench when a form appeared, silhouetted against the daylight. With his walls as high as they were, he’d sensed nothing. So it startled him.
One glance at the newcomer and he turned back to searching for his crescent wrench.
“Didn’t think it was possible to sneak up on you,” Kade said.
Zach couldn’t believe the guy dared to seek him out.Bloodyasshole.He added another few bricks to his walls. “What do you want, Kade?”
“I’m counting on you to know if Braden tries again.” The big Were’s eyes flared gold.
“Don’t you have your werewolves out on patrol?”
“We are not wolves,” Kade growled. “And yes, I do, but they can only cover so much ground. Are you really that locked down?”
Zach gritted his teeth. “Yes. I’m really that locked down. And I have good reason to be.” He refused to look at the Were. It might not end well for either of them.
Kade didn’t immediately reply. “Okay,” he finally said. “But if you can do regular sweeps, that would be helpful.”
