Red Moon Rising

2. suspicion

"Nope!"

Cameron gives me a sly look and I smile softly back. But I can't stop thinking about the trap in the woods. It was so far inland. His expression shifts suddenly and he looks at me curiously, but I only shake my head and mouth later. Tyler has had a terrifying night, and he doesn't need to sense the fear of two adults facing something bigger than themselves.

"Tyler is pretty fast. I had to work hard to keep up with him." His head snaps up and he beams at me.

"That fast, huh? Tyler, are you going to be a runner like Layla someday?"

Tyler smiles shyly at me and tucks his face back into Cameron's shoulder without a response.

He receives one final transfer into the arms of his dad, who kisses all over his dirty face before tucking him into bed for a well-deserved sleep. I don't think his parents got a moment of sleep all night. In fact, looking at Cameron, I'm not sure anyone did.

"Did you feel it last night too?" I ask as we walk back toward my house.

"Yeah," he sighs and the smile on his face falls. "It's the worst moon I've ever felt. And the color...have you ever seen an eclipse like that?"

"No."

"What's going on, Layla?" He throws an arm over my shoulder and tugs me close, and I feel an overwhelming urge to melt into him and let my exhausted limbs rest.

"We need to talk to my dad. I found a trap."

"Fuck," he straightens. "Where?"

"I'll take you there, but you might as well call Tom. Not that he'll believe us."

"Maybe if he lost a couple toes to one he'd take it seriously." Sheriff Bartels is a nice enough guy, but nothing ever comes of it when he investigates disturbances at the border. We follow protocol and call him, and he makes the forty-minute drive from Grand Marais to mhmm and ah, I see at our list of complaints and suspects, and then he drives back up the shoreline and we never get a call. Just once, I want to catch one of the fuckers on our territory, in our jurisdiction. Maybe we'd never be able to punish him, but at least it would make the paper. Right now, every law broken at the expense of the Rust Cove pack is tucked quietly inside Sherriff Bartels head, never to be spoken of again.

When we round the corner of my driveway, Cameron removes his arm and gives me a wink. The garage door is fully open and my dad is layering crisp white paint on dissembled cupboard doors splayed out on sawhorses. He's wearing the same pair of jeans and shirt that he wears for every paint project, and at this point his outfit has taken on the look of a Jackson Pollock painting.

"Hey Cam, hey Layla. How'd the run go?"

"Tyler did great. I haven't talked to the others yet so I'm not sure how things went for the rest of the kids. Listen, dad," I pause and he rests a paintbrush on the edge of his tray. He knows me well enough to know that what comes next isn't good. "I found a leghold. No tire tracks or footprints, and I couldn't even pick up a scent."

"Where?"

"Two miles from the border. Tyler walked right over it; I don't know what would have happened if he'd been caught." The full weight of that truth is beginning to settle heavy in my stomach, and I wonder if any of the other runners came across traps while they were tracking their wards.

"I called Tom – he says he'll be here at 10:00."

My dad shakes his head and sighs. "Not good enough. The other packs will be here at noon and I need him out of here by then." He begins painting again and then pauses, tossing the brush back at the tray and sending a splatter of white paint onto the garage floor. "Fuck. If someone steps on a trap while they're visiting or god forbid encounters a hunter we're going to have a serious issue."

Cameron runs a hand through his hair. "I explained that today is a delicate situation and he seemed to at least consider taking that into account." He laughs softly and looks at me. "Layla, will you check in with the other runners? Get Pauline and Patrick and meet me at the ranger tower; I'm going to need some extra hands when Tom gets here."

"Sure thing. I'll get the word out that the woods are off limits until we can give them a thorough search."

"Thanks." I like the way his face turns a little red when I kiss him on the cheek and wave goodbye to my dad. My dad has known that we're together for a long time, but Cameron is still his deputy and I know it makes Cam squirm a little to be affectionate with me in front of him. But today is the summer solstice ceremony, and Cam and I are going to be matched together. Eventually, he's going to have to get used to it. Besides, my dad couldn't be happier—we're two of his favorite people.

I find Pauline in front of the lodge with a small group of other runners who returned from tracking their wards. No one else saw any traps, thankfully, and everyone made it back safe. I can't believe we were this lucky. I fill her and Patrick in and let them go ahead of me to the ranger tower. The runners disperse and I'm standing alone by the thick log columns of the lodge when I think again of the unease that I felt last night. I haven't said it out loud, but I know both Cam and my dad were thinking the same thing. This doesn't feel like another hunter taking a blind shot at picking us off. It feels like the beginning of something else, something larger. When I close my eyes for a moment, head swimming with exhaustion, I can still see the liquid red of the blood moon drowning out the darkness.

It's only then, in the moment of stillness, when I hear the rumble of oversized truck tires spitting up gravel on the entrance road leading off the highway. Tom wouldn't get here this quickly, and it's too early for any visitors to arrive for the ceremony. These are other guests—unwelcome guests, I realize, as I spot the blaze orange hats rising over the dash of a jacked up pickup truck. Hunters.

XX

Okay sorry to be confusing but...I have split these chapters into smaller parts! I've realized as I've been writing that some of them get waaay too long, and Wattpad recommends posting in smaller pieces, so.