Page 8 of Feral Moon Rising
A different shadow crossed the alley’s threshold at the far end, less lithe than the usual panther shifter. Almost double my height, this shifter had to be half damn bear or some other cross variety.
“King Kong can step down for the night,” I murmured, knowing my voice would travel as my father had taught me, and nearly winced at the recollection, still painful at the loss after all these years. For myself and Blake both.Nearly.But I knew better than to show weakness in front of strange shifters. “My brother was date-drugged. I want to know the source.”
“Why?” Lionel stepped up beside his champion.
I let my eyebrows rise. “Why? So I can beat the shit out of them. Come on, Griffin. Tell me you wouldn’t do the same to your little brother's abuser.” I tipped my head to one side, meeting the panther’s eyes.
He watched me, humor slipping off his face at the mention of his invalid brother. A shameful mention, in his eyes, though I didn’t give a shit. The boy needed protection, not his brother’s disgust at his condition.
“Was Blake date-raped?” He laughed at the thought.
Hell, I would join him, thinking of the stripper humping away at him on the stage floor as the shift tried to force its presence due to whatever got injected into him. The same as Lottie, only she had nothing to shift into. Only drive us mad.
Bait.
Christ, it could have been so much worse if it hadn’t been us. If it had been anyone else. Shifter or human, she’d been left vulnerable in every way. I regretted my haste in marking her, but at least now she was ours. Mine, for now. Blake would mark her in time and then his claim on our mate would be uncontestable, as it should be.
“Cute. So, you know nothing about the person baiting shifters in your territory, Alpha?” I threw his term back at him, terms panthers hadn’t used in a generation, back when half of us had been wiped from the planet. “Leaves them with purple eyes.”
When Blake and I both lost our parents in a single night, and woke up orphans on a teen’s camping trip. The day we started to run together and never stopped.
That we also discovered our mate together sat well with me, strengthened our bond. If Blake could just get his stubborn head past that first part, he’d be able to see the same future I did for us all: the three of us heading to a state we’d never been to, slinking into the wilderness. Disappearing and forming a family there. We needed no one except the three of us.
Even as I formed the thought in full, I knew it as a pipe dream.
Fuck, I was as bad as Blake. Worse, maybe. Craving what we never had as kids.
“Are you accusing me of not having control of my territory?” Lionel roared loud enough to shake the buildings either side of us to their foundations.
I didn't move, just watched him, and nodded. Once.
“Something like that.”
Lionel didn’t move. His champion remained still. The alley fell into complete and utter silence. After a power move like that, he’d have to be careful the humans didn't call their police and force them out into the streets. Then what would their precious claw do for cover?
No, Blake, Lottie, and I would be much safer traveling small. We couldn't stay here, and from the closed look on Lionel’s face, I just wore our welcome right out.
Finally, he shifted, the shadows beneath his skin rippling until he prowled toward me on all fours. Only when he reached me, circling once, then stopping right in front of me, his black fur rippling again to leave him in human form, did he speak.
“You are strong and brave. But can you protect your wayward friend?” Lionel narrowed his eyes at me. Assessing.
“Can you let go of your hatred for your father in order to protect your brother?” I threw back at him, unafraid.
If I died here tonight, Blake would look after Lottie. My regret was that she hadn’t been fully herself off the damn drug enough to see me clearly. The edges of her eyes ... those were shrouded in that damn purple. It would be too long if I never saw eyes like that ever again.
“You walk a fine line, Alpha,” Lionel smirked. “Don’t you care if tomorrow dawns without you?” He nodded to his champion who stalked toward me, a knife glinting dully in his fist.
I shrugged. “I don’t care about your politics. We’re heading off soon. I just want to know if there are side effects to the damn drug, if she’ll be hurting tomorrow.”
“She?” Lionel’s smile widened impossibly.
Fuck.
Keeping my face impassive, I let my eyes half hood. “I assume you know nothing, then.” I turned my back on him and started my walk back along the alley. Which seemed a damn long way at this point. Too far. Hell, I'd never make it without finding a blade lodged in my back.
“Alpha,” Lionel sneered.
I stopped. Didn’t turn.
