Free Once Upon a Haunted Moon (The Keeper Saga) by K.R. Thompson Page B

up at him. The cat on his chest shifted, seeming to come alive a bit more as its eyes narrowed.
    “Of course,” Rune grinned back. His eyes sparkled as black as obsidian. “Don’t you know that everyone has magic? It may be different than what you are used to seeing, but it’s just a matter of recognizing it. What’s your magic?”
    I rolled my eyes again and hoped the big goon with the Mohawk hair and the rows of hoop earrings would go away. We had things to do and people to find.
    One of the other boys, named Garrett, elbowed him, whispering, “Hey, man, quit hitting on the hot chick. You’ve got at least one wolf who isn’t liking it. I think she belongs to him. You don’t want to tick him off. I’ve seen him kill one of his own, you know…”
    Well, the “one of my own” had it coming, even though I still had nightmares about it nearly every night. But at least it had given me a reputation among the cats.
    I smirked. Let them think I was their worst enemy. That would be fun.
    “We’ll see,” Rune said, ignoring us both as his black eyes stared into Tori’s. The two of them were hypnotized by each other. Neither of them moved.
    “Have you guys seen Adam anywhere? We need to see what he wants us to do with some of the stuff at the fairgrounds. If this weather doesn’t change around soon, I don’t think we’ll be able to keep going with the powwow,” the last boy, Chase, spoke up, ignoring Rune and Tori, as he pushed Rune out of the way to come around him, “Tearsa called and is freaking out. She says she’s not coming up with the rest of the gear if the weather doesn’t change. She says her sound equipment doesn’t like rain so it really won’t do well with snow. Not to mention not many people are going to show up if another snowstorm hits…”
    “We don’t know where Adam is,” Erik said, “That’s what we’re doing, actually — looking for him. He’s missing.”
    Chase’s black eyes narrowed. “Do you think the blue one had something to do with it?” he nodded toward the remains of Wynter’s house.
    “We don’t know. Looks like she’s missing, too.” The edges of Erik’s mouth turned down, pinching his round face into a sharp frown.
    “She has strong magic. It still looks like a shack, even though it’s on fire.” Garrett noted.
    “Can you help us look for Adam or not?” Nikki asked impatiently, crossing her arms over her chest. It was fairly obvious she was tired of standing around watching a house burn as she listened to idle chit-chat. She was ready to go. She wanted Adam.
    “We’ll help you search for him. We’ll head north through the woods, and circle around. If there’s a trail, we’ll find him,” Chase said.
    Nikki gave him a small, tight smile, “Thank you.”
    “Sure,” he smiled back, and then looked over at Rune, “Hey! Come on, we’re leaving, Rune. Unless you’re planning on proposing, snap out of it!” he turned his back as he and Garrett started through the woods. Rune finally shook his head as if to clear it, and then followed behind the others.
    “Tori!” Nikki pulled her hand, “Let’s go!”
    “Huh?” Tori came out of her trance, looking shaken, “What did you say?”
    “I said ‘let’s go!’ Get his number or something if you have to, but we can’t stay here all day,” Nikki said crossly, still jerking Tori’s hand as we started through the forest in the opposite direction of the cats.
    We walked on foot for a few moments, and when it was clear we were out of hearing range, Erik stopped, and motioned us around him, “Okay, now that we’re alone. Let’s figure out what we’re going to do.”
    “I thought we were supposed to search the opposite way, and meet the Lakota guys as they came back around?” Michael asked, confused.
    “Something’s not right with them. I don’t know what it is, it’s just a gut feeling,” Erik shook his head, “Rune is always in charge. If he’s their alpha, there is no way Chase and