Page 119 of Blue Moon Mistress

They’re shellshocked.

It takes a minute for them to move, but Johnny stands, “We’ll have to take my truck. Should we get a hotel?”

“It’ll be better if we stay with Elaria.”

Thomas lets out a frustrated sound and heads to his room.

Chase gets on the phone and tells his partner there’s an emergency as he disappears into the back to pack an overnight bag.

Joshua takes my face in his hands and turns it up to his. “Promise me you’re going to be okay. If they try to take you away from us… I don’t know what we’ll do.”

“I know. That’s another reason they’re not likely to kill me. They might notknowyou’d hurt them, but there’s the possibility you’d try to tear them to pieces. And in close quarters, you might take a few of them out before they could stop you.”

“They’d have some time before that happened. There’s still ten days until we might change.”

His conviction settles in my stomach like a leaden weight. “You never turned when the moon wasn’t full?”

“I have.” Chase says, dropping his bag at his feet. “They’ve been lucky. And I hope to God, we continue to be lucky.”

“We could change without the full moon?” Johnny looks too freaked out.

I wish they’d already known. “It’s uncommon, but severe trauma or grief or anger can make it happen.”

“Pure rage.” Chase agrees. “The strongest emotions, or the sudden need to protect yourself…”

Joshua looks at Chase like he’s trying to do the math. “When did you…?”

Chase looks at me and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes before he twists his head to the sides, cracking his neck. “When I was seventeen.”

“You were a wolf when you were seventeen?” Thomas looks a little lost, but he’s been with Chase the longest. “How did I not know that?”

“Because I don’t like to talk about it. But I guess you guys should know.” He sits down and it looks like his jaw is clenched tight enough he might crack teeth. “I was changed when I was fifteen. A wolf attacked me at summer camp. I don’t want to go into what happened that night. But when I was seventeen, there was a car accident. A drunk driver… It killed my little brother.

“Grief wasn’t enough to force the change, but when the judge acquitted him.” He shakes his head. “Let’s just say I’m very lucky my mother didn’t let me be in the courtroom that day. I was a wolf for three days.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because I killed him.” He looks up, his eyes startlingly clear. “I hunted him down, I drove him into the woods and I stalked him for three hours. I wanted him to feel terror and pain, and then I tore his throat out and left him for the scavengers.”

“Jesus.”

“I’m not proud of it, and even though there’s no way they could charge me for it… I don’t exactly want to advertise it.”

The others grimace, but Thomas nods and he looks at me. “He deserved it. And if those witches try to kill you, I know I, for one, am going to wind up a wolf because of it.”

Picking up the three bags piled on the floor he snatches the keys out of Johnny’s hand. “You two,” he looks at Joshua and I pointedly. “Get dressed and pack your bags. I want to get this over with.”

Chase gives me a sheepish smile and hands over the folded stack of my missing underwear. “We’ll do the treasure hunt I had planned next time.”

Packing isn’t a problem for me. After all, I hadn’tun-packed in the first place. And Joshua doesn’t get distracted as we pull on our clothes. He spends the whole time scowling at the floor and I know he’s working on figuring out what they’ll do if they don’t like the coven’s verdict.

“Hey,” I touch his arm as he pulls a change of clothes and stuffs it into a backpack. “I know you’re used to taking care of everybody, and that you’re good at it.

“But… you gotta stop treating this like a normal problem. Witchy things are different. Take a back seat on this one.”

“Easier said than done.”

When Johnny comes after us, he looks a little surprised we haven’t gotten distracted enough to tease. “Everything okay in here?”

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