Cynthia's Moon Ch. 03

"I've never been to a Hawaiian Hunt. Do you use a rabbit?"

"No," he smiled to her. "We use a snake."

"A snake? How is that a challenge?"

"Well it wouldn't be to catch one, but that's not what we do out here." He let Cynthia's expression fill with confusion before he chuckled and furthered his explanation.

"The snake is already hidden in the cane fields. There's two things to be done when you hunt the snake. Well, three. First of which is, finding it. Second thing is, when you find it, you must not show weakness when it challenges you. The snakes used for a Hunt are trained to spit their venom harmlessly at the skin of anyone who finds it that shows weakness, but the others do not know that. Finally, you must make the snake submit to your will. Enough so that it will relent to being your equal."

"Wow." She started to think this Hunt was a stretch more difficult than the Hunts used with foxes and rabbits in the continental United States and Europe. Her eyes drifted forward, curious as to how that tests one's prowess as a werewolf.

"Still confused?" He could tell by the tone in her voice and her ears blowing smoke as the wheels turned in her mind. She looked to him and nodded quietly.

"We believe that strength of our kind doesn't rest in who is the strongest, fastest, and most agile. We believe it to be the ones who are most confident in our beastly form. A snake can sense weakness, and any werewolf who couldn't stare down a snake isn't using all of the abilities that Mother Luna has equipped us with."

"You, I take it, have stared down many snakes?" She looked at him with a sarcastic grin. He grinned back at her.

"I am the one who trains the snakes. So unfortunately, I cannot participate. Wouldn't be fair to the rest."

Her tongue made a soft 'tsk' at the roof of her mouth and she looked back at the road. "Still, it's just a snake."

"A snake it may be, but it's a Najala (na-sha-la)." Markus corrected her. Cynthia's face knitted.

"A Najala?"

"A breed of venomous snake that grows to enormous size. A picture of a Najala was taken from a helicopter traveling over the Borneo River, and it was named Nabau by the natives of that area. It was swimming when the picture was taken. The venom can permanently blind a Were that isn't treated immediately. The one we have is about twenty-five feet in length, has the body thickness of a basketball, and enjoys eating baby goats for breakfast. I named him Nile."

"Like, after the Nile river?"

"Yep." He beamed proudly. He knew she was smart.

"What's the prize for charming such a beast?" She recalled that she was the prize at the first Pure Hunt she ever attended.

"An exclusive, all expenses paid weekend at the private cabin of the Alphas. Something they do every year to encourage friendly competition amongst the pack, but not so much as to invoke deep seeded hatred for one another like a woman coming out into our society would."

Cynthia blushed and lowered her chin in what looked like shame. Markus caught sight of this and looked over to her, not realizing that it was the case for her.

"Oh, Cyn. I didn't mean to insult you." His tone softened.

She lifted her chin and shook her head. "No, it's alright."

"No, it isn't. I'm sorry. This is why I don't like to say a lot about the people that I protect." He felt his chest fill with regret.

"You know, it doesn't offend me." She looked to him. "Do you know why I moved here?"

As the cane fields were cut in half by a gravel road leading to a shoreline estate, he slowed down once the manor was coming into view as to not cut up the detail on his truck.

"Why?" He was interested to know, and turned to see her while she spoke.

"I wanted to start over." She confessed, "My father put me in private college after my husband's death to have me learn whatever I wanted to and to keep my mind off of mourning him. Four years flew by so quickly, I didn't even know it until I overheard my father speaking of putting me in as a prize once again for a Hunt."

She sighed heavily, recalling how angry she had been at her father, treating her like a prize for advancement.

"Four years like clockwork, once my official mourning period was over, he wanted to put me back out on the market. When I told him and my mother that I didn't want to be remarried or mated, my father scolded me after I renounced my birthright. My mother was more understanding, but, I told her that I was taking a job in Hawaii. I put out applications for jobs outside of the continental U.S, Canada, and Mexico. I wanted to be as far away from a tradition that I was born into without a choice. So I can relate to how stupid the traditions are from the other side."

That was also why she liked Markus. She knew from the moment she set eyes on this handsome male wolf that he had been raised outside of high society. He was callous, calculating, observant, and free to do as he wished whenever he wished it. She imagined many of the women of high society would turn their noses up due to his humble beginnings, but that hardly bothered Cynthia at all.

"Yeah, well, tradition is what keeps us safe, secret, and stable. Without traditions, we would have devoured the world years ago and been at arms with the Kindred."

She crunched her face up at the mention of vampires.

"Let's... not get into them, shall we? So how did you become head of security? Must be in real good with the Alpha."

Markus nodded lightly.

"Yeah, I was fostered on the island since I was a kid. Never really knew my parents, didn't really care to get to know or find them. When I went into the military, I met Karus on the first day of basic. We were placed in the same unit and I saved his life during sentry overseas." He gripped the wheel tightly and let his tension pass alongside the memory.

"He was discharged and a few years later I returned. He accepted me like a brother and since I didn't really have any family to go home to, I took up the job of security when he settled down and mated Sara."

She was looking out the window while he spoke to her, but listened to every word until his brief story got into how he knew the Alpha. Looking over to him, she nodded lightly and stretched her hand out to rub at his leg.

"I think you're a great protector. He's fortunate. I remember my father cycling through bodyguards like undershirts."

Once hearing her explanation, he felt better about himself, and the comment. More so, he knew that Cynthia was not like other nobles who felt the need to just have power and treat everyone not of equal level like servants or beneath them. The estate was approached, and Markus slowed his truck to a stop at the security block that was set up where he asked. He waved to the two guards he had trained and hired, and crawled his truck on by when they let him pass.

Markus pulled up into the circle drive of the estate, where a valet was waiting. The house itself was mostly slate gray with a grand walk entrance that led people to a set of double doors in light oak and colored glass depicting a crescent moon on both doors, each of them pointing up. People walked along a line of blue and silver ribbons and a crushed velvet blue carpet that led them to the patio to the side of the house and wrapped around the back, all paved in stone. The patio itself overlooked the rocky edge of the beach that was down from the estate.

Markus opened the door to his truck and closed it. Giving him the chance to be a gentleman, she waited in the truck and watched him circle around to her side and open the door for her. Taking his offered hand in stepping out, she grinned and kept close to them as the sound of a gathering was closing in as he led her up to the patio.

"Are you ready?" He looked down at her.

"Born ready." She smiled.

He smiled back, and turned around the bend to enter the party area.

"They're here." Bridget said softly to Val and nodded into the direction of Cynthia and Markus. He felt his heart sink into his stomach when he spotted Cyn, who was 'the man-stealing bitch' according to Bridget. His hand was cold and clammy in the grasp of Bridget's as she was leading them to the patio to join the rest.