Free Hyena Moon by Jeanette Battista

was painfully aware of the lack of her, even though they shared a room.
    "You looked like you had something on your mind. Care to share?" She snuggled against him. Cormac smiled. Kess knew how much he liked physical contact. She was trying to make up for lost time.
    "Talked to my family." He nipped at her neck. "My sister wants to come down."
    "Mmm?" Kess had the half-lidded eye thing going on that made Cormac think of a housecat stoned on catnip. Then she seemed to realize what he had said and her eyes opened wide. "That's so not a good idea."
    "I thought the same." He knew Kess liked her space and he and Finn, not to mention Rafe, all crammed in the house had to be wearing. Not that the house was small--it was a mansion modeled on a Mediterranean palazzo and had numerous bedrooms. You didn't have to see anyone else if you didn't want to, but for someone used to quite a bit of room, it had to be difficult.
    Kess sat up, looking at him. "Too dangerous right now."
    Cormac nodded. "That's kind of what I told her."
    "How'd she take it?"
    Cormac ran a hand through his hair, and then rubbed the back of his neck. "About as well as you'd expect."
    "Ouch." She snuggled into him.
    "Yeah." He kissed the top of her head absently, his mind on his sister.
    Kess gave him one of her looks, specifically the one that said he was being ridiculous. "But you still feel bad about disappointing her, right?" She paused, searching his face. "You're such a good brother."
    "She's having a tough time. I just wish there was something I could do. She's driving my folks nuts." He paused and looked down at her. "I'm worrying too much about this, aren't I?"
    She smiled. "Maybe a little." She kissed him to take what little sting there may have been out of her words. "It's one of your more endearing qualities really."
    He placed a kiss in her palm, her hand warm in his. "Thank you."
    "Sometimes you have to make the hard choice—I think you told me that once." Kess threaded her fingers in his hair. "And she will get over this. Lenore thinks you hung the moon. She's just fifteening all over the place. It happens." She pressed her mouth to his.
    When she let him breathe again, he whispered, "You make a very compelling argument." He pulled her close to him, eradicating any space between them. "Allow me to retort."
     
     

Chapter Eleven
     
     
    Lenore looked out the window of her bedroom. The trees were a deep green, covering the mountainside like a spiky curtain. She thought that the mountains must resemble the backs of hedgehogs, if hedgehogs were ever green--all prickly and needley. It was the same view she'd looked at for the past fifteen--almost sixteen--years. It left a lot to be desired now.
    She flopped on her bed, landing on her back amidst a flotilla of pillows. She was bored. So very, very bored. Lenore flipped onto her stomach to check her alarm clock. It was early afternoon; surely Wyatt would be up by now. She needed someone to do something with. Even Cormac and Finn had gotten to go on vacation with Kess. She wished that she got to go with them. It wasn't fair that she was stuck here in the same place, with the same people, and absolutely nothing to do.
    Lenore snagged her phone from the bedside table and texted On my way over to Wy. She was done with waiting around. Even if they only hung out at his house, it was still better than staying here. She ran a brush through her honey colored hair, grabbed her bag and headed down the stairs to find her mother.
    Emmeline was in the kitchen, as she always seemed to be. Lenore's mother loved to cook--she even had a successful dessert business supported mostly by word of mouth--and she'd tried to interest her daughter in the finer points of cooking, but Lenore wanted none of it. She burned pans of water. She set potholders on fire. She wished she could be more like her mother, but cooking just wasn't in her skill set.
    She watched as her mom slid a couple of pies out of the oven. Lenore sniffed the air;