#7 The Twins of Satin Moon

Chapter 23: Hunter

“Maizey! It’s me.” I held my hands up in surrender as Maizey screamed. I didn’t mean to scare her when I walked through the lab doors, I had thought that she saw me through the glass.

“Hunter! Jesus Christ!” She was panting and holding her chest. I resisted the urge to light up like a Christmas tree at the sound of my name.

I had thought no one would be in today since it was Halloween. I had always liked good ol fashion costume parties, but this year I wasn’t in the parting mood. I was craving my mate especially hard today, so I thought I would go to her office and lay on the floor to surround myself in her scent. I didn't care how pathetic it made me look.

Ryker was the only other person in the lab and I rolled my eyes at how obvious that was.

“I’m sorry I scared you, I thought you saw me.” I pointed at the all glass wall.

“I was focused on my work. I didn’t expect anyone to be here. Well, anyone besides my bodyguard here.” She nodded towards Ryker and I felt my jaw hit the floor.

“You…”

“I’m not stupid, Mr. Greyback,” And we were back to that, “I know you kept bodyguards around me even after I told you not to and I know that Ryker is one of them.” She turned towards Ryker,

“No offense, but you are the least interested and least passionate science guy I know. You have to be a mathematician.” She called out my inside man.

“Yes! Thank you. I told Al….Mr. Greyback that I wasn’t a scientist but he just said that I was close enough.” Ryker totally called me out. Maizey rolled her eyes,

“I had you pegged for weeks now.” She shrugged, "The only thing that stumped me was that when I asked who's from here you didn't answer."

"I lied. Figured it would help with my cover." Ryker answered, looking guilty.

"Well I was immediately suspicious of anyone from the reservation, so that was probably a good idea." She nodded with an amused expression.

Ryker softened at knowing his Luna wasn't mad at him. He talked a big game but he was really just a huge teddy bear. Maizey turned her eyes back on me.

"I thought anyone who knew you would be on your side but it turns out that Pen might hate you more than I do." She smirked and I felt more guilt ravish me.

I shrugged but chose to ignore her. I didn't have the right words and I really wasn't in the mood to lie to her tonight. Pen was a good wolf and a smart girl, she probably sensed my bullshit from a mile away. Not to mention she was already extremely loyal to the Luna from the moment she found out Maizey was a scientist.

That's the exact reason why she wasn't picked to be the inside man, we were sure she was more loyal to Maizey then to me and would never rat on her. Not that I blamed her.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her instead, “I thought my sister was taking you to a party.”

I knew Mel and Maizey had been hanging out the last month now and, honestly, I was glad for it. Mel made sure that my mate was happy and reported back to me. Even though my sister was royally pissed at my decision and agreed with it about as much as Toby did, she still felt sorry for me.

“I don’t like Halloween.” Maizey said with a far off expression before returning to her work, “What are you doing here?” She asked, without looking at me.

“I needed some privacy.” Not a total lie.

“On the robotics floor?” her voice sounded suspicious. I saw her eyes glance up at Ryker.

“He didn’t tell me that you were here. I had no idea. They report to my friends, Miles and Toby. Do you remember them?” I paused and she nodded, “I knew you wouldn’t feel comfortable with me being in charge of your security so I left it up to them. It’s none of my business what you do, I just want you to be safe.”

“You’re lucky I like Mel. She’s the one who convinced me not to ditch my bodyguards. You should thank her.” I had no idea what Mel said to her, but I was definitely going to thank her for that.

“I will.” I nodded, just watching her as she worked.

Her eyes were scrunched together, a little wrinkle appeared on her forehead as she focused. I noticed this out of touch expression she got on her face whenever she was focused on her projects, like she was in another dimension. She was also light and airy, I could practically feel her euphoria. This was truly her passion and her happy place. How dare I take that away from her?

“I’ll leave you alone then.” I sighed and walked towards the door.

“Mr. Greyback?” Her sweet voice called my attention back.

“Yes, Miss. Grace?” I matched her tone.

“Happy Halloween.” She smiled ever so slightly at me.

“You, too.” I grinned back.

I started walking away when I heard her phone ring and she answered it. I don’t know why, but something made me pause just before stepping onto the elevator. I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“You’re telling me this today, of all days?” Her voice was high pitched and shaking.

“I don’t give a damn about the population! This wasn’t his sentence.” She actually sounded scared, like really, properly scared. Watcher started whimpering in my head and I moved closer to her.

“No, hell no, I’m not doing that. You need my address for that right? Then he can find me. No, f**k that.” I was not liking where this conversation was heading.

“Yeah, sure you’re sorry. This isn’t my version of justice. Go to hell.” She was crying now, I could tell.

Her voice cut out and then I heard the doors to the lab slam shut. I ducked into the first door I could find, not wanting her to think I was eavesdropping. I mindlinked Ryker to stay with her. He kept the link open so I could see what was happening. She ran through the lobby and burst outside. Instead of getting into her car, she broke down into loud, painful sobs.

I couldn’t stop myself anymore and I couldn’t contain Watcher. We ran down the steps faster than the elevator could carry us and flung outside to our mate. She was sitting on the sidewalk, her arms wrapped around her knees, sobbing. I shooed Ryker away, knowing she didn’t need an audience. I sat down next to her and put my arm around her.

Well, that was clearly the wrong move. She jumped up and shoved me away.

“What are you doing?” She yelled at me through her tears. It was dark out but the parking lot was ablaze with street lights, so I could clearly see her bloodshot eyes and tear soaked face.

“Something's wrong.”

“No s**t!” She screamed over top of me, “What do you care? You hate me, remember?” Her words slapped me across the face.

“I don’t hate you, little red.” I couldn’t handle it anymore. She blinked at me and shook her head quickly,

“No, no, don’t do that! Just because I'm crying and you feel pity for me doesn’t mean you don’t hate me. You hated me this morning and you’ll hate me tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.” She was shouting at me mercilessly and I deserved every second of it.

“Maizey, please, tell me why you’re crying. Let me fix it.” I was begging her.

“I don’t need you to fix it!” She yelled.

“Maizey….”

“My father is getting out of prison tomorrow! He was sentenced to 20-35 years and he’s getting out in 9, how's that for the justice system? Good behavior and overcrowding are apparently good enough reasons to let out an abusive, kidnapping, psychopath.” She was still screaming at me but now I knew her anger was somewhere else.

She was pacing the sidewalk and I stood back, letting her move freely. She kept yelling,

“He killed my family and he’s just going to walk!” Uhm what?

“He’s getting out in nine years for murder?” I brought her attention back to me. She laughed without humor, her face was wild.

“No, not literally. He killed my childhood, my brothers’ childhood, and my mother who technically killed herself, but who's counting anyway?” She was speaking with a bitter tone and sickening expression.

“Matt told me that his mom died.” I said, remembering a teary Matt one night around a drunken campfire.

“That sounds nice, she died, like it was an accident or cancer or something. No, she didn’t just die. She hung herself from a tree in our backyard.” Maizey snapped, “Two days after my father was sentenced.”

Something clicked in my head then. I stormed up to her and grabbed her wrist. She screamed at me again and fought against my grip.

“Did he do this? Answer me honestly.” I waved her left wrist in her face, my thumb pointing to the jagged scar. She was still glaring at me but I didn't care, that was her normal look for me anyway.

“Yes, he did, when he threw me through a glass door.” She snatched her hand away and pulled her hair to the side, “Same as this.” I saw another large, angry scar where her neck met her shoulder blade. “And this he did with a beer bottle on a particularly drunken night.” She spun around and pulled the collar of her shirt down, revealing her shoulder where a half moon scar was. “Can’t forget about the time he tried to strangle me with a shoestring.” She tied up her hair again and revealed a thin, red scar around her neck.

“Maizey….” I was starting to feel sick, light headed, enraged. She snarled at me,

“No! You wanted to know! What about the dozens of burn marks on my back from his cigarettes? Or these!” She held up her shirt where large, round marks covered her stomach, “From a fire poker!”

All I could see was red, blinding, pure rage was building from deep inside me.

“He kidnapped me! He abused me! That’s why he’s in jail.” She yelled , throwing her head back and screaming to the sky.