Page 93 of Black Moon

I mean, if the senator had tried to drag Colt off unwillingly, it wouldn’t have gone how he expected, but heck if Colt hadn’t shut him down like a pro. I wanted to puff up like any man whose mate had just scaled the mountain of self-doubt and come out swinging.

The sharp rapping on the door froze me in place.

It was no one’s specific knock, and too fast and hard to be anything good. When the door banged open a moment later, booted feet running through the house toward us, I wondered if bad wouldn’t cover it.

Harmony Morgan practically fell into the dining room doorway, panting and wild-eyed. “Alpha. They—I—”

I turned and crossed to put a hand on her shoulder. “Take a second to catch your breath, Harmony.”

She shook her head wildly, but did gulp down a few deep breaths. Juniper came up beside me, holding out a glass of water, which Harmony snatched and downed half of. Finally, she turned back to me. “Reid. Maxim Reid’s in town. He showed up at The Cider House and demanded Brook. Or the alpha whostolehim, that sonofa—” Her jaw clenched, eyes glittering with barely-restrained bloodlust. “I was gonna—but Shiloh told me to come get you.”

“Where’s Brook?” I asked.

She paled, glancing over her shoulder like she expected Reid to appear there. “Home. With Mom.” Her voice lowered to a squeak. “Alone.”

I winced at the thought, but I wasn’t terribly surprised. Fortunately, I’d already considered that, in deciding what to do about Brook’s situation, and they weren’t all that alone. “You know where Zeke’s house is, right?”

Zeke’s house, by the happy coincidence of living in a small town, was three down from the Morgan place.

She nodded as she took another drink from the glass.

“Okay, go get him and take him home with you. Tell him what’s happening. He knew this was a possibility. He’ll make the calls he needs to on the way and make sure you all have the backup you need.” She stared at me, wide-eyed, continuing to nod.

I didn’t expect the Reids to attack the Morgan house—I didn’t think the Reids even knew exactly where the Morgans lived. But having them safe was for the best, and getting Harmony to go farther away from danger had doubtless been her sister’s goal in sending her to get me.

Shiloh had always been one of the smartest people in town.

But that left Shiloh in danger. And Talin, and Isaac who ran the grocery store, and dozens of other members of my pack who were just trying to go about their daily lives.

And there was me, who’d vowed just the night before to give up my life for the pack if necessary. Here we were, less than twenty-four hours later, and me with a chance to prove I’d been in earnest about it.

I put a hand on Harmony’s shoulder and looked her in the eye. “I’m trusting you and Zeke to take care of your mom and Brook, okay?”

She nodded again, her eyes steeling. “Yes, Alpha Grove.”

Rowan walked her out, and Juniper turned to me, a scowl on her face. “Linden—”

“I’m sorry to leave this on you, Juniper, but I’d appreciate it if you and Colt could see his family out.” As much as she’d hate it, it would do her good to make sure the Dohertys left town. It didn’t hurt that it would keep her busy and out of danger, since Juniper had a temper and was inclined to jump into fights.

And of course, it would keep Colt far, far away from Maxim Reid.

Juniper was not having it, though. She grabbed me by the wrist before I could turn toward the door. “That man murdered our father not one month ago, Linden. I am not losing you too!”

I smiled at her. “Of course not, Junie.” She wasn’t the biggest fan of the nickname, so I didn’t use it often, but this seemed like the time. I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I know what I’m doing.”

“What?” Colt demanded, going around to plant himself between me and the door. “Linden, you’re not going down to face a feral alpha. You saw what he did to Brook.”

“I did,” I agreed. “And last night I promised to protect my pack from just this sort of threat. This is my job.”

And his family be damned, I leaned down and captured his mouth with my own, wrapping one hand around the back of his neck and pulling him against me. Adrenaline was already coursing through me at the thought of dealing with Maxim Reid.

The man who’d kidnapped and tormented my friend. The man who’d murdered my father. He was here for me now, and I was going to walk right up to him. Junie was right, it was a ridiculous thing to do, but if I didn’t protect my pack, then Senator Doherty was right, and what kind of alpha was I?

Dad had taught me well how to defend myself. I tried not to think about the fact that Reid had bested him. Dad had gone to the Reids to try and talk them down, not expecting a murderous attack right off. I was not going to make that mistake.

Without another word, I headed for the front door, only stopping long enough to grab my keys from the hook on the way.

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