Page 66 of Broken Moon

I shouldn’t have been able tohurt him, raging wolf or not. Not like that. And he was suspicious—I didn’trealize exactly what he was thinking—what they were all thinking— until one ofthe warriors muttered,“Demon wolf.”

And then I saw the truth inJared’s eyes. He believed it, as well. They thought I was some sort of demon,not only because I’d killed the exsoloup when it was said that only a demoncould, but because my newly shifted baby wolf had hurt him. Badly.

Everyone knew I’d scarred myprevious alpha, had marked him though I hadn’t even found my first shift whenI’d done it. They knew I fought the monsters, that I saw spirits, that I had alittle something extra inside me.

I thought of my affinity forthe demon blade, the fact that I’d actually knocked a boss demon from his bodywhen my blood had mixed with his knife…

“Fuck,” I whispered. Maybe Iwasa demon wolf.

Jared stood, and his eyes, ashe stared down at me, were very deliberately empty. “My warriors will see youto Shadowfield, Kait. Go be with your mother and…” He raked his stare over myrapidly healing body, a body that was healing about a hundred times faster thanhis, even though I was not shifted. “Rest,” he finished. He backed up a fewsteps before bursting into his shift, and then he wheeled around and racedaway, blood flying.

He would heal.

But things were differentbetween us—and not good different. Could I shift and not try to kill anyonenow? I didn’t know. I thought I could, because I saw things more clearly now. Ihoped I could.

I could control my wolf becauseI was my wolf. Simple as that.

I didn’t want the warriors togather around me and lead me to Shadowfield, and they didn’t want to. “Turnaway,” I told them sharply, when I felt their intrusive and hostile stares onmy naked body.

They would not turn away,though, and I was forced to hunt for my pile of clothes as they watched me, mychest tight with frustration and embarrassment. But finally, I stood straightand proud and refused to give them permission to humiliate me. I dressedslowly, dragging my clothes on over the blood—some of it mine, most of itJared’s—and in the end, all of them were looking the other way—except for one.

The warrior who continued towatch me was a man about my height, with light blue eyes and neatly trimmedfacial hair. He looked vaguely familiar to me—but I thought maybe I rememberedthe look in his eyes more than his face.

Once I was dressed, I walked upto him. “What’s your name, wolf?”

He curled his lip. “Why? So youcan go whine to the alpha?”

“Oh no. I can take care ofmyself, which I think I just proved.” I moved a little closer. “I kicked theshit out of your alpha, asshole. Do you really thinkyouwould stand achance against me?”

He wavered. He put his stare onsomething else, and he didn’t open his mouth again. When I turned to stridefrom the clearing and they all—six of them, though somehow it had seemed likemore—started to follow me.

“Tend your alpha,” I snapped.“I have a car.” When I jogged from the area, eager to be alone, they stayedput.

I needed to be alone to think.I’d gotten my shift. I’d fought the alpha. I felt different inside. Stronger,definitely. And I just needed to be alone to think about it. The pain I’d livedwith for so very long had simply disappeared, and as strange as it seemed, theabsence of it bothered me. It was going to take me a little bit to get used tomy new normal.

I wasn’t worried about myalpha. He would be fine. But I was worried about whether or not he would pull aThorne and cast me from the pack before I’d really even gotten in. I didn’twant to live at Shadowfield, but I wanted badly to belong to a pack. Even ahostile one. They’d come around when they figured out I wasn’t a demon, wasn’tgoing to hurt them, and wasn’t going to betray their alpha.

I was not my father—speaking ofthings I needed to think about.

When I reached my car andclimbed inside, I picked up my phone to check for messages, and discovered thatI had fourteen voicemails and twenty-seven unread texts.

Before I could read them, myringtone sounded. “Shit,” I muttered, feeling guilty but unsure why.“Detective. What’s wrong?”

He didn’t even bother asking mewhere I was or why I’d been incommunicado. “I found her, Kait,” he said, andthen he grunted like the air was knocked out of him, and for a few seconds,there was only silence.

“Detective,” I said, a littletoo loudly. “Rick, what’s going on? Who did you find?”

Before I could ask again, hecame back to the phone, sounding just a little winded. “The redhead Lucydreamed about. Marcy Davenport. Your demon led me to her. Not directly, butshe’s here. He told me she was.” He hesitated, and I knew whatever was comingwas absolutely going to be bad.

“Tell me,” I said.

“He possessed Lucy, Kait.”

“What the hell,” I murmured,staring unseeingly through my windshield. “What thehell?”

“There’s no time,” he said. “Thegirl’s here, somewhere. The demon’s here, and he wants you. You have to comeand figure this shit out before he kills us all.”

Son of abitch.