Page 101 of The Wild Moon
“That answer your question?” Aaron said, sawing faster with the knife.
I stared at him. “You sent your team afterLars?” I asked incredulously. “You know he’s an A–”
“A huge asshole who deserves all they’re giving him and more?” Aaron finished. “Yes. You’re right on all accounts.”
“Your team is that good?” I asked, closing my eyes as my wolf swirled inside me, circling, eager to get out.
“The best,” Aaron said. “I don’t go anywhere without them.”
My dadmusthave known that. He must have known what they were. But why did he link up with them? Why did he bring them along? And why did he want me to meet Aaron?
There were so many questions that needed answering. I turned my head to Aaron, wanting to pull out some much-needed information, but at that moment, my wolf went berserk.
I screamed, back arching high into the sky as the she-bitch inside me fought with all her strength to escape. Hairs on my arm lengthened. Then shrank. She wasn’t getting me without a fight. My fingers curved into claws and then back to human-sized once more. My face jutted forward and then back.
Something slapped me across the face.
Eyes snapping open, I glared furiously at Aaron.
“Get a hold of yourself,” he hissed, slurring his consonants slightly. “I didn’t go through all of this just to lose you now, she-wolf.”
I harnessed the rage inside me, from myself and my wolf at being slapped so casually, and poured it all into my control. I took her anger and stripped it from her, robbing her of strength.
She calmed, ever so slightly.
The bonds parted around my wrists at long last. I reached down to untangle my feet, to free them, while Aaron started cutting them.
“Damn silver,” I hissed, the metal braids icy cold to the touch as I pulled at them.
With both of us working at them, it took much less time to free my feet. I slid off the ritual slab with an audible sigh of relief and hurried over to Vir’s altar.
“No,” Aaron said. “I’ll handle him.”
“What am I supposed to do?” I snapped back. “I’m not helpless.”
Aaron and Vir spoke at the same time. “You need to go.”
“Gowhere?” I demanded angrily. “I don’t know where I am or where to go.”
There was a clattering of noise from the door. I crouched, prepared to spring at whoever came through the front entrance. Sparing a quick glance, I noted the rear entrance of the rectangular room was dark and empty still. That was probably where I would escape.
The first shape came through the huge entryway at the front of the temple, and I nearly leaped.
“Dave!” I hissed, rising from my crouch as the rest of Aaron’s team came in, all of them toting guns. They were armed to the teeth!
“We’re out,” Dave said, tossing his gun to the side. “One minute, maybe less. They’re all still up.”
“Very well,” Aaron acknowledged. “You distract as many as you can. We’ll handle as many as we can.”
He looked down at Vir. “Assuming you’ve still got anything left in you,” he added with a chuckle.
Vir’s answering growl shook the room.
“I’d say he’s still in the fight, wouldn’t you?” Aaron said cheerily. “Just like old times.”
“Yeah,” Vir said, muscles flexing. The bonds around his wrists tore with a shriekingsnapof overstressed metal. “Justlike old times.”
I opened my mouth to laugh, but it turned into a gut-wrenching cry of pain as my head erupted in fresh agony beyond my ability to control. My knees gave out, and I fell to the ground, narrowly getting one hand down in time to avoid smashing my face on the stone floor. A moment later, a familiar shape stepped into the opening of the temple chamber.
