Moon Sworn

And he knew it. The frustrated anger that just about fried my skin said as much.

“What about a compromise?” I said, desperately battling the urge to cross my fingers. To pray to the gods I didn’t believe in.

“What kind of compromise?”

“You have specialist consultants on the books. Dia’s one. Why can’t I be another?”

“Meaning,” he said slowly, “you’d be willing to come to murder scenes whenever required, to talk to souls?”

“Yes.” I wouldn’t like it, but I’d do it if it meant not having to risk life and limb every single day of my life as a guardian.

He studied me for a moment, as if judging my seriousness, then said, “That is a risk in itself. We both know that.”

Yes, talking to souls was a risk. They could drain me to the point that I might not be strong enough to get back from their realms. But the key here was finding a solution that suited us both—and offsetting a greater risk for a smaller one was one of those.

“It’s the lesser of two evils, Jack, and it gives us both something we want.” And it gave me the chance of an almost normal life. It gave me the ability to raise Liander and my babies and be a steady, regular influence in their lives.

He studied me for several more—very long—minutes, then a small smile touched his lips. “I knew this was coming. Especially given you’ve found your own replacement.”

Hope bubbled through me, but I stamped down on it. Hard. I knew fate well enough not to trust her so easily.

“Is that a yes?”

“It’s more an ‘I could live with a deal like that.’” He hesitated and studied me grimly. “Which is not to say that Director Hunter will.”

“But you’ll support the idea in principle?”

“Riley, I am many things, but I am not stupid. And I do not want to destroy what is left of the daytime division.” He smiled grimly, then added, “Nor do I wish to go to war with a man who was the finest cazador the council ever produced.”

I let go a whoop they would surely have heard in Sydney, then leapt forward, throwing myself into Jack’s arms. He caught me with a grunt, but his laughter ran all around me.

“Don’t get your hopes too high. As I said, it’ll still have to go before Director Hunter for final approval.”

“I know, I know.” But if Jack approved it, that was three-quarters of the battle. The Directorate might be his sister’s, but the guardian division was his.

“Then untangle your arms from around my neck and go help your brother clean up the house. Consider it your last official duty as a guardian.” He hesitated, green eyes suddenly serious. “Unless, of course, you want official status when you confront the bastard who kidnapped you.”

I stepped back, my joy suddenly tempered. “We’re going to do it on Jenson lands. Pack law will apply.”

He half nodded. “It still won’t hurt to have the Directorate behind you. After all, he kidnapped Evin and his mate, kidnapped and mind-washed you, and damn near killed Qui

“And it doesn’t matter which way I choose to apply it?”

“I don’t give a damn, as long as the bastard dies.”

“He will. He has to.”

Jack nodded. “Then go help your brother, and I’ll get the paperwork started. For both things.”

“Thanks, Jack. You’re the best.”

I leaned forward and kissed his cheek, and damned if he didn’t blush. “Just go, and let me get some work done.”

I gri

One more thing to attend to, and then my life was finally mine.

If I survived the encounter with Blake, that was.

Chapter 16

As eager as we all were to confront Blake, getting rid of him wasn’t simply a matter of walking onto Jenson pack land and challenging him. We had to stop his whole damn family, because Blake was simply one poisonous head on the Medusa. Cut him off, and another would grow in his place.

And whoever replaced him would probably be even more hell-bent on revenge.

To end the cycle, we needed to bring down the whole lot of them. Maybe then those who didn’t quite fit into the Jenson pack ideal could live free of tyra

So we spent precious time tracking down every one of his siblings and his get. Where possible, Jack sent out vampires to read their minds and gather information. It quickly became apparent that the Jenson pack’s change of fortune hadn’t come from good management but rather blackmail, robbery, and even murder. And as I’d suspected some time ago, Henry Bottchelli—the man who’d hired the red Mazda driver to follow me—was one of Blake’s aliases. He had several others, as did Tyson and most of his sons.

We worked practically nonstop. We gathered our evidence, we stuck our fingers into their bank accounts, and we raided their computer systems, and slowly but surely we got ready to snatch the whole damn lot of them.

When Jack wanted vengeance, he went all out. And with the force of the Directorate behind him, it was a pretty awesome sight to behold.

In the end, it took us nearly three days to get to the Northern Territory. Qui

The air was clean and warm, and it smelled like home. I inhaled deeply, loving the crispness of it, the way the flavors and the scents suddenly seemed all that much sharper.

It would be nice to come back here occasionally. Maybe once Blake had been dealt with, we could. After all, we now had a reason. We now had family.

You always had family, Qui

He was right, of course.

When you hang around on this Earth as long as I have, you get to know a thing or two. He smiled, but his dark eyes were serious. Whatever happens after today, Liander and I will always be here.

I know. And it warmed the places deep inside that had been cold and empty for so long.

A large black SUV pulled up. Evin and Lyndal climbed out. Evin smiled when he saw us, but then surprise crossed his features.

“No guns?”

“We don’t need them,” Rhoan said, his voice calm. Yet an undercurrent of violence and excitement rode through every word and motion. The switch to guardian mode hadn’t been flicked yet, but he wasn’t far from it.

“But the minute we enter pack land, he’ll know,” Lyndal commented softly. “He’ll have shooters in place.”

“Which is why,” I said, opening the SUVs back door, “we asked you to rent this type of truck rather than just a car. You know all the locations of the border guards. You, Lyndal, and Qui

His frown increased. “But we don’t use SUVs to move from location to location. There’s no need to, when a good run is the best way to get anywhere or to finish a shift. They’ll know something is up the minute they spot it.”

“Blake’s still doing his surprise inspections, isn’t he?” Rhoan asked, resting a hip on the side of the SUV and crossing his arms.

It wasn’t really a question, because we’d already gleaned the answer from the minds of his family.

“Yeah, but—”

“But,” I said, “a recent car accident mangled his leg, and even though he shifted to heal it, infection has set into the bone and he’s recently undergone a series of operations to fix it. He’s been ordered to keep off his leg as much as possible, in either wolf or human form.”

Which is why he’d been limping when he’d confronted me at the truck accident. And why he’d looked so beaten up.

Lyndal stared at us. “How do you know all that, when even we didn’t?”

“We’re guardians,” Rhoan said blithely. “We know all sorts of shit.”