Page 96 of Black Moon

When Juniper let Linden go, he trotted over to me, his snout pressing into my thigh. I scratched his soft ears, and his tail thumped the ground. He made a soft, plaintive sound, but I didn’t think he regretted protecting his pack—just didn’t have to like that he’d had to.

“You did good,” I whispered, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of his head.

One of the older ladies from the Honeysuckle Inn, Greta, rushed out carrying what looked to be a hand-knit blanket in her arms. She came right over to us, holding the blanket up in time for Linden to transform back to a naked, handsome, sexy as fuck—

Not the goddamn time, Colt.

She wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, and he pulled it close around him, a little frown on his face.

“Knew you’d give that bastard what for, Alpha,” she said, reaching up to pat his cheek.

“Oh, Greta—” He grimaced like he was in actual pain, and I tilted in on the balls of my feet, ready to drag him to the clinic and call on Skye to patch him up. “I’m so sorry, but I’m afraid I’ve ruined one of your sweaters in the process.”

Holy shit. He’d just gotten into a duel to the death in the center of town, and he was worried about messing up a sweater.

I blinked, no thought in my head except that I was completely in love with him.

Fuck.

The look on Greta’s face was pure amusement. “Sweetheart, I was always going to knit you another.”

49

Linden

Standing in the middle of town with nothing but a blanket between my bare ass and the elements, a tiny part of me was questioning every single decision that had led me to that moment.

I had killed a man.

I was covered in his blood, naked, andI had killed a man.

But my pack was safe. Brook might not get better overnight, but I hoped that maybe he would sleep better, knowing that Maxim Reid would never come near him again.

The Morgan family might find a little peace in knowing that the man who’d kidnapped their son and brother would never return.

And the way Colt was looking at me, despite my dick dangling in the breeze, well...that made everything better, even the dangling part.

“Good job, doc,” Colt’s sister said, her lips turned up in a smirk. “Wouldn’t have guessed you had it in you.”

I shrugged, holding tight to the blanket to avoid giving her and her family any more of a show. “I vowed to protect my pack. It’s what an alpha is supposed to do, isn’t it?”

Greta snorted and waved a dismissive hand at the senator’s family. “Like some fancy Washington pack knows what alphas are really supposed to be like. Their alphas are only good for standing around looking pretty and smiling into cameras.” She nodded to Colt with a knowing look. “But you went out and found a real alpha. One who’ll do whatever the pack needs, not insist the pack do whatever he needs.”

Colt gave her his most dazzling smile, practiced for the camera for many years, I suspected, and inclined his head. “Turns out one or two of them aren’t so bad,” he told her, motioning to his sister. “But I’ve gotten an entire education on what alphas are supposed to be like in the last month.”

My cheeks flamed at the implication that somehow,Iwas what alphas were supposed to be. I was standing naked in the street, for goodness’ sake. But when Colt turned those big blue eyes back on me, I couldn’t have denied it for anything.

If he thought I was a worthy alpha, then maybe I was.

“Then you’ll be staying with us,” Greta said, voice dripping with smug satisfaction.

Once again, as he had every time someone brought up the notion of him staying, Colt hesitated. He bit his lip, and looked up at me through lowered lashes, and I could have melted into the ground from the heat in that gaze.

I was ready to offer him literally anything he wanted to make him stay, when I remembered: I still hadn’t actually told him the truth.

“I was lying,” I said, the words tumbling from my lips unbidden.

Colt’s brows drew together in confusion, and Greta gave a dubious snort.

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