8: Marked By The Moon Pack

Weeks Later...

"Ximena! Help! It's going to crash." I winced as the weight overpowered me. A bit longer, and they would drop from my hands, crashing against the floor. 

Ximena rushed over and helped me lift the two boxes of herbs from my hands into hers. Business was flourishing. The doctor had become an illegal phenomenon amongst the wolves of New York.

The warehouse now had windows and paint on its walls and standard furniture. With Ximena's help, we had evolved into accepting house calls. This warehouse became our secret base, and our major clients were the rogues and deserters being hunted down.

She placed them on the storage shelves as I unboxed the set we would use for the week. 

"Did you really restock Nightshade poison, Cara?" She asked, holding up the glass with shiny black content. 

"If I didn't have it weeks ago, I would have come out dead with a bullet lodged in my skull and heart. It's a lifesaver."

"Yeah, the irony." She placed it back on the showcase, eager to talk. "What if more cases like his come back? Do you plan to stop their hearts with nightshade every damn time?"

"Ximena, I'm not an expert in demon. I'm just a doctor for werewolves, and I hope we never see more of it." 

That silenced her, and we got to work. After the shelves had been cleaned and occupied, I worked on the books, calculating how much we had left. There was a lot of profit. It made me smile and also made me wonder if this is what I would keep doing in the long run.

Ximena grabbed her day's cut from my hand, but I didn't let go of the other end. She knew if she used her wolf's strength, she'd tear it up.

"What else is left to do, Cara?" She sighed in exasperation.

"Cover for me all night." 

She groaned. "I would have to do all the work. No, anything else?"

"Just this once, Ximena." I shook my head as she contemplated while holding my stare. Today, her choice of fruit embroidered on her dress was apples.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. Just pray to the Goddess that we don't have any demon-attacked werewolves calling in tonight." She took the money as I released it; wearing a big smile while she still sulked.

I wrapped her in a bear hug. She struggled and struggled and finally gave in to my rare display of affection.

"You seem so happy I could puke, Cara. And to think that's supposed to be me." 

I frowned instantly and came to my senses. "What? Me? I'm not happy. You are seeing things." 

She rolled her eyes, coming after me from a totally different angle. "Okay, but haven't we made enough money to start something else already? The city is getting dangerous each passing day. I don't think we should do this forever. You?"

I dusted my palms on my thighs, resting on the arm of a sofa at the centre of the warehouse and avoiding her question. 

"Since you have it all figured out, what's next for you?"

Ximena didn't hesitate to show me a job vacancy post on her iPhone, but it wasn’t just any job. The Eastmoon Palace was on the lookout for a nanny. They were offering a million dollars because this nanny would also become the wife of the Lycan King. The same one who's going around killing wolves like a mad man.

"You can't be serious."

"I knew you wouldn't like the sound of it, but I gave it a shot. The results would be announced at midnight."

"How could you?" I felt slighted for Marc and all the others with a target on their backs. "You would willingly offer yourself to be married to that monster? Marc would be so disappointed in you right now, and for what it's worth, he might have died by your Lycan King’s hands already!"

"Disappointed in me for trying to make an honest living, Cara?" She scoffed.

"There's nothing honest about slaving yourself to a cruel King!"

I felt him walk in. Ximena's eyes darted to the height ducking into the building dressed in black. He looked better each time I saw him without those black veins running underneath his skin like webbed vines. 

Ian, the brother of the wolf tycoon who almost ended my life, if I didn't find a way to save his blood, joined us. He approached us with a powerful gait, standing taller than both of us.

Ximena mumbled, leaving with anger still coursing through her. "Well, the reason for your happiness is here. I'm out."

Ian kissed me on the cheek. No matter how hard I tried not to, I smiled at his affection. This was only a bad idea when you used your patient as a rebound. 

Yes, Xander Kovani still ruled my mind, and even though he rejected me, it wasn't easy to let him go. He loved me, that I knew, but I also knew his father had wanted him to mate with the North girl. So, I accepted my reality because I never had a place in his life.

What Ian and I had was just a fling that had happened out of the blue. He was my first kiss and the remedy to all the heartache Silver Eye caused me.

"We made a deal, Cara Smyth." He kissed the back of my hand like the playboy he is.

Did I mention these brothers and the moon pack knew all about me? Apparently, Marc had given up my information to save himself again, but I forgave him because I knew he had no choice. They were the only ones on earth who knew I had escaped the Kaine House to become this.

"I can't recall agreeing to this deal." I handed him his tea made from Yarrow leaves.

He made a face. "I would only take my meds if you agree to go out to dinner with me? Does it ring a bell?"

"Ian, this isn't a joke. You have to take your meds. It's a miracle you are still alive."

"I know. I know." He rolled his eyes playfully. "Just agree, and I would make all your worries disappear."

I giggled. "Alright, Ian. I'll go get changed." 

I rushed into the bathroom, took a shower, and changed into a blue body con knit dress with a halter neck. He literally couldn’t take his eyes off of me when I returned and we left the warehouse together. Ximena had watched us subtly from a corner in the space. I was still angry at her, so I didn't bother to say goodbye.

Minutes later, we arrived. Ian had made a reservation for us at a fancy restaurant downtown. This was new to this fling. I didn't know what to expect tonight but I enjoyed the scenery. 

While waiting to be served, he taught me a few Moon pack unique symbols because that was how their pack communicated.

He trailed the tip of his finger along my palm, forming a symbol. "This is the raven sign. It's a warning that death is near to whoever receives it." 

The way he said it sparked fear to life inside me. Death was a sore topic for me. 

He proceeded to draw a heart inside my palm. "This one is simple."

"Love." I whispered, staring into his eyes and hoping I was wrong.

He nodded. "Yes, this is the love sign. It means I love you, Cara Smyth."

I drew my hand back instantly, gasping inwardly at his sudden revelation. He couldn't love me. We had just known each other for a short while. It was a fling. Nothing more.

I shook my head, stunned. "Ian, you can't love me."

"It's crazy, but I've been in love with you since I opened my eyes and saw you beside me." He stammered, trying to make sense of everything he was saying. "Of course, I only realised my true feelings now, but..."

His words vanished. He could only return my stare, and I wanted him to say something as much as I wanted him to stop talking.

"Ian?"

And just like that, he fell to the ground with his eyes wide open as life left him. He was dead. I shot to my feet, screaming along with everyone else around me. 

My mind reeled back to Dax, the wolf Tycoon of the Moon Pack. If he heard I was the one with Ian today, I would never survive it. Instinct set my feet in motion, and I ran. I fled the scene, hailed a taxi, and went somewhere far away before taking another taxi to go home, just in case I was being followed.

I was still shaken up by his death, which proved beyond reasonable doubt that the curse was true. But why hadn't it affected Xander? What should I make of this?

I rolled up the gate of the warehouse and walked inside. Everywhere was eerily silent. The lights were also off. It wasn't until I had kicked something like ice-cold flesh that I rushed to switch on the lights. 

Ximena laid dead on the floor. Her lips were parched, and her skin had paled like snow. A bottle of Monkshood poison laid broken next to her head. It looked like suicide but someone had done this. 

I slid to the floor, crying so hard my chest hurt. Ian was gone, and now Ximena and every other person in my life would pay the price. 

The tears stopped when I saw the raven sign drawn on a tiny paper in her lifeless hand. Lines interwove to form the shape of a bird.

Death was near. The Moon Pack had marked me, but then, it was Master Kaine waiting right outside the warehouse in a Bentley Bentayga