Page 18 of Bad Moon Rising
“You’re a…” Her breath hitched, and she touched her throat. “No. But your teeth and body… You didn’t turn into a wolf, though.”
“Turning into an animal is fiction. Also, we’re lycanthrope, not werewolf.Thisis what we turn into. The A.W.L’s name is stupid. And wrong.”
She reeled back, palms against the shelving unit behind her as if she were using it to remain upright. “Oh my God.”
“I didn’t hit you yet, did I?” Cooper shouted back.
“Is this a training exercise again?” Roman called out as he scanned the hangar. Nova pointed to the nose of the plane, which was where he, too, detected Cooper.
Cooper yelled, “If you’re dead, then I guess it was an effective exercise.”
“You’re saying our truce is off, and we’re back to trying to kill each other?” At the sound of Nova’s gasp, he leaned over and whispered to her, “You’re going to be okay. I won’t let him hurt you.”
“Maybe I can help.” She smiled, showing her own elongated canines, which for a female were smaller than a male’s, but no less dangerous. He didn’t think she was aware she’d done a partial shift to her primal form. He could count on one hand how many females he’d seen like this in his entire life—one. His mother.
Everything about her kicked up in potency, including the intoxicating scent unique to her. Breathing in the luscious smell made him dizzy, tipsy even. It activated primitive urges—protection, aggression, and mating. He imagined knocking Cooper out and taking Nova against the wall. Mere moments is all it’d take to be deep inside her, hearing her scream in pleasure.
She’s injured and amnesic, so that’s a definite no.
His protective instinct ramped up. This was beyond dangerous with a human nearby. If Cooper hurt her, even accidentally—which was more the kid’s speed—Roman might lose his mind. He liked Cooper’s gumption and didn’t want to hurt him.
“Stay here. This is decent cover if you don’t move,” he rasped, low. “We don’t know what you’re capable of. It’s not worth risking it.”
“I can fight. I’ve got skills.”
Her fearlessness made him smile. With a small touch to her cheek, he whispered, “I respect your skills,tesoro,but you’ve done enough for one night.”
He scooted to the nose of the plane at top speed, pinning Cooper by the chest against the metal side of the hangar.
“Who’s your friend? Looks like a she. A curvy, sexy she in leather,” Cooper said in an American accent. He stared in Nova’s direction, undaunted by the fact Roman held his chest in a vise. He seemed confident Roman wouldn’t hurt him, acting as if he was unaffected by him without glamour and in his primal form. How annoying.
Worse, Roman battled the urge to rip Cooper apart for noticing Nova.
“Roman’s got a girlfriend,” Cooper goaded in a sing-song voice.
“We don’t do girlfriends. If you know anything about us, you know to never mess with our females.” His voice was a rough growl.
Cooper’s face paled. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.That’s more like it. That’s the fear I deserve.Cooper smelled like he hadn’t showered in a few days. The partially grown beard might be an indicator of how long.
Roman said, “I refuse to repeat this conversation about you laying off all of this bullshit. This is your last warning. Next time, I’ll kill you.”
“You said that the last three or four times. Why don’t you just do it? You got some sort of no-human-killing rule? Or are you only allowed to murder people if the Crown says so?”
He’d used his persuasive tone two months ago to ask how Cooper knew who he was and who he worked for. Cooper had quickly confessed he’d received an anonymous tip. “Did you figure out who’s feeding you information about me?”
Cooper shook his head. “I’m here to warn you. Someone close to you wants you dead.”
“What makes you say that?”
The small, scruffy man did as much of a shrug as he could manage while caught in Roman’s grip. “Who knows about you? Who could say exactly where you are right now or that finding your plane is the best way to find you, even if they didn’t know exactly where you’d be in Berlin?”
Very few people.
“You’re one of the good ones, Cooper. This is too dangerous for you. Go back to New York and return to being a cop.” Roman released him and squeezed his shoulder. He lowered his voice to the soothing, mesmerizing tone he used to do voice coercion. “Forget about the woman with me. Go to sleep. Wake up in an hour, and go home.”
Cooper conked out like a robot whose batteries had been removed. Roman resumed his glamour, picked him up, and moved him well out of the plane’s way.
“Can we review the stuff about an Anti-Werewolf League again?” she asked.
