Page 156 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

Dad had taught me that each supernatural race had some sort of inherent conflict it struggled with. Angels had their lack of emotional range—they were built to be warriors and tended to be colder and more closed off, making them seem heartless at times. Vampires were born or turned with humanity, but they had a thirst for blood and power that was always at war with their empathetic side. The list went on and on.

For silver wolves, strength and weakness were tied to the same thing: the moon.

The larger the moon, the more powerful we were, but the less the moon glowed until it waned to a new moon, the weaker we were. Our power grew and lessened. Naturally, our kind had dubbed the full moon “the silver moon.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Julius growled as his nose wrinkled in disgust. “Your power is the only reason you kept escaping.”

“That’s not true.” Strength was great, but that wasn’t how I’d survived. Maybe it had been at first, but not now. “I have a mate and friends who love me and would sacrifice anything to keep me safe. Because of that, we brought you with us. You should remember that, since you were afraid of being killed.” He needed to come to grips with the fact that we’d saved him.

He thrust out his chest and remained silent.

Yeah, this was pointless. Me holding him here would only make things worse with us relationship-wise. “I’m going to let you go, but if you treat anyone in this house, including me, horribly again, then I’ll kick your ass. You can be angry, stomp, cry, or scream at the moon, but not at any of us. Got it?”

Just when I thought he wasn’t going to acknowledge me, he negligibly nodded his head.Got it, he linked with me, probably not wanting Griffin to hear.

I wanted to roll my eyes at his childish antics, but I’d scolded him enough for one night. I wasn’t his parent, after all, and he was an adult. I couldn’t help but wonder who’d raised him. Someone had put a roof over his head, but he was packless and had abandonment issues, so they’d messed with him. That was the one thing I knew for sure.

Not wanting Griffin to chime in, I linked with my mate as I released my hold on Julius.He said he got it, using our strange bond.

Of course he did.Griffin wasn’t pleased.

None of us were happy at the moment. Too much shit was going on, and even though we’d gotten closer to the bad guy, we still had no clue who we were up against. Time to try to gain some knowledge. “So…we’re here, and you’re safe,” I said to Julius. “Who’s trying to kidnap me?”

“That information is the only reason for all of you to keep me around.” Julius sneered. “I’m not telling you a damn thing until I learn more about who created me. If you want information, then I need mine first.”

Dear God, this was going to be never-ending. But I wanted to try to cooperate with him—after all, he was my brother.

Rosemary stepped into the room. Her face was set into her customary mask of indifference.

“Is everything okay?” Griffin asked as his shoulders sagged. Lately, it seemed like we couldn’t catch a break.

“Yeah.” Rosemary arched an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t walk in like this if there was something we had to address.”

And there was my blunt angel friend. She could come off as aggressive, but I found her refreshing. She didn’t shy away from the truth or confrontation. “I think what he meant to ask was is there something you need?”

“No.” She pointed at Julius. “I figured I could take him to sleep in my room. I can keep an eye on him.”

That, actually, was the best plan. We couldn’t trust Julius, so we needed someone to watch him. Since she was the strongest of us, it made sense. I was just glad she’d offered instead of one of us having to make the request. “Okay, you know where the extra covers and pillows are if you need them.” Under normal circumstances, I’d have offered to get the blankets and help out, but I was exhausted; I wasn’t sure how I was still standing. Before I could crawl into bed, though, I needed a shower. Being locked in that cell for half a day hadn’t been pleasant—the entire basement had smelled like piss and body odor.

“Or he could just sleep on the floor without any luxuries.” Rosemary shifted her weight to one leg as she looked at Julius with cold disregard. “I mean, after all he’s done, that’s better than he deserves.”

I didn’t have the energy to argue with her, nor was she wrong. I turned and headed toward the bathroom and waved a hand. “Do what you have to do.” At the end of the day, as long as he was safe, that was all that mattered. Maybe being a little harder on him would make things more bearable for him. He seemed to struggle with us being nice, like he was afraid that we’d take it back.

“Come on, Beta,” she teased. “Let’s get you settled.”

Juliusharrumphedbut followed the angel out of the room.

I’m going to make sure he doesn’t cause any problems. I’ll be back in a minute,Griffin linked as I made my way into the bathroom.

Don’t be long.I needed him after the day we’d had. For a second, I’d thought that I wouldn’t be able to make my way back to him.

I removed my pale pink tennis shoes and socks and relished the cool gray tile that my feet now touched. Walking past the dark granite bathroom sink, I turned on the shower and pulled off my clothing.

Steam billowed from the top of the glass door of the shower, and I climbed into it and let the warm water hit my tight, sore muscles for a moment before quickly washing myself. Even though I wanted to stand in there forever, my body required sleep.

After getting clean, I wrapped a fluffy white towel around myself and strolled back into the bedroom. Clean clothes in hand, I dropped the towel right as Griffin came into the room.

He shut the door quickly and took a rapid intake of breath before the spicy scent of arousal hit my nose.I’m so damn lucky,he rasped.

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