Cry Wolf

Charles looked at his father and waited for his judgment. Ru

Finally, Bran nodded. “I need you more than I need speed. It’ll keep a week.”

“What are you going to do about Asil?” asked Charles. “Despite the best efforts of the Reverend Mitchell, Samuel, and Doc Wallace, himself-the pack is pretty ugly right now. If you have to kill him, there will be consequences with the pack.”

Bran smiled faintly. “I know. Asil came to me a month ago complaining about his dreams and started asking me to put him out of his misery again. Not something I’d normally worry about, but this is the Moor.”

“Who is he dreaming of?” Samuel asked.

“His dead mate,” Bran said. “She was tortured to death. He won’t speak of it, though I know he feels guilty because he’d been traveling when it happened. He told me he’d quit dreaming of it when he joined our pack-but it started again last month. He wakes up disoriented and…sometimes not where he went to sleep.”

Dangerous, thought Charles, to have a wolf of the Moor’s powers out and about under its own direction.

“You think his death can wait?” asked Samuel.

Bran smiled, a real smile. “I think it can wait. We have an Omega to help him.” His father looked at Charles, and the smile broadened to a grin. “She’s not going to leave you for him, Charles, no matter what Asil says to tweak your tail.”

Charles’s living room, though expensively decorated, was still warm and homey, A

It had bothered her to be sent away-and at the same time she’d felt a rush of relief when she was alone in the truck.

Werewolves and violence, werewolves and death: they went together like bananas and peanut butter. It was better hidden here, perhaps, than it had been in Chicago, but they were all monsters.

It wasn’t their fault, the wolves here; they were just trying to live as best they could with this curse that turned them into ravening beasts. Even Charles. Even the Marrok. Even her. There were rules to being a werewolf: sometimes a man had to kill his best friend for the good of all. Human mates grew old while the werewolves stayed young. Wolves like Asil tried to force others to attack them because they wanted to die…or to kill.

She drew in a shaky breath. If someone had killed Leo and his mate years ago, a lot of people would still be alive- and she’d be a senior at Northwestern with most of a degree in music theory instead of a…a what?

She needed to find a job, something to give her a purpose and a life outside of being a werewolf. Waitressing at Scorci’s had saved her in more ways than just providing a paycheck. It’s hard to wallow in self-pity while you were working your socks off eight to ten hours a day. Somehow, though, she doubted there was a job here for a waitress.

The doorbell rang.

She hopped up and rubbed her cheeks briskly-but her face was dry. The doorbell rang again, so she hurried out to answer the front door. Contrary, she told herself. She’d been so glad to get a few minutes alone, and now all she wanted was a distraction.

She glimpsed a gunmetal gray Lexus before her attention was captured by the woman who stood on the porch. Her expression was good-natured and friendly. She had dark blond hair neatly French braided and nearly as long as Charles’s.

Werewolf, A

The woman smiled and held out her hand, “I’m Leah,” she said. “The Marrok’s wife.”

A

“Let’s go in and chat, shall we?” said the woman pleasantly.

A

“Come in,” she invited politely, stepping back.

The Marrok’s wife walked briskly past her and into the living room. Once inside, she slowed down, giving the room her entire attention, as if she hadn’t seen it before. A

Unless the whole examination was just a power play designed to make it clear that A

“You aren’t what I expected,” Leah murmured finally. She had stopped in front of a handmade guitar that hung on the wall far enough from the fireplace so that the wood would take no damage from the heat. It might have been an ornament, except the fretboard was worn with playing.

A

Leah turned to look at her, and there was nothing kind or friendly about her face now. “He had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for you, didn’t he? Had to go all the way to Chicago to find a baby, a woman who wouldn’t present any kind of challenge at all. Tell me, do you sit and stay when he tells you?”

The nastiness of the attack made it more personal than just a desire to put a lesser wolf in her place. Leah, for all that she was the Marrok’s mate, sounded jealous. Did she want Charles, too?

The door popped open, and a second woman came into the house with a wave of cold air and French perfume. She was tall and slender, like a runway model-she looked expensive. Her brown hair was streaked with gold highlights emphasized by gold glitter brushed across her cheekbones and, more heavily, over a pair of magnificent blue eyes.

A

“Oh, come now, Leah. ‘Sit and stay’? You can do better than that, darling.” Her voice was thick and purring with Southern charm. To A

“Leave, Sage. This has nothing to do with you,” commanded Leah sharply, though she didn’t seem inclined to take offense at the name-calling.

“Honey,” said the woman sweetly, “I’d just love to do that, but I’ve got my orders from the boss-a step higher than you.” Bright blue eyes slid over A

“Shut up,” Leah snapped, and power swept through the room, knocking Sage back two steps.

Fu

“You”-Leah had turned her attention to A

A prudent woman would have done it, A