Page 16 of Under the Moonlight

Xander didn’t even look up from his task as he answered. “No, I’ not a bounty hunter or a cop.”

“Okay. Then why were you following them here?”

He stopped pouring the coffee to look up at her, meeting her gaze. “They killed my family. Came through and slaughtered them while they were sleeping.”

“Oh, Xander, I am so sorry.” The way he said it, flat and emotionless, made her want to reach out and hold him.

He ignored her condolences, which didn’t surprise her. When she’d lost her parents in a car accident three years ago, she never wanted to talk about them. It was too painful.

“That’s why I was in the woods when you fell. I was following their scent and I saw Pax watching you. I ran after him, planning on ending it there, but when you collapsed, I couldn’t leave you.”

She had no idea why it had taken her so long, but the pieces finally clicked. “You were the wolf.”

“Yes.”

“I just…” She ran her fingers through her hair with a rough chuckle. “I feel like my head is going to explode.”

“You knew shifters were real, right?”

He sounded almost impatient with her and it rankled her. “Well, yeah, but—

“Then you shouldn’t be so surprised.”

The muscle in her jaw tightened. “Okay, fine, but all of the news stories paint you as warm and fuzzy toward humans. Why are they attacking us?”

“Most shifters are pro-human, but there is the occasional issue with shifters killing other shifters and even humans. There’s bad guys in the paranormal world, too, just like with humans.”

“Why are they doing this then? Why Kelsey, Sam, and Jill?”

Xander finished pouring the coffee and handed her a cup. “To punish me. After they murdered my family, I tracked them down one by one, making sure they never hurt anyone else. There were originally seven. Now there’s two.”

“You mean you’ve been killing them.” Her tone was whisper soft.

He hesitated. “Yes.”

Greer took a deep, shaky breath. He’d hunted people, correction, shifters down and murdered them. He was a regular Beatrix Kiddo.

God, I have feelings for a revenge killer.

She couldn’t dwell on what that said about her character. She needed to know everything; to sort it out in her head. “Still doesn’t explain why they killed Kelsey, and Sam. You had no connection to them.”

“It’s you. Somehow they must have seen me with you and thought that I might…feel something for you.”

Greer’s heart slammed in her chest, beating a tattoo against her breast bone. “Do you?”

“Does it matter? You think I’m a monster, right?”

Did she? She was scared shitless, no doubt about it, but not of Xander. That voice in her head that had told her to trust him before was still there, still convinced he was a good guy. A good guy vigilante who just happened to be a werewolf.

She set her mug down on the counter, and then stepped closer to him. “I don’t think you’re a monster. I…I can’t explain it, but I care for you too. I believe you would never hurt me.”

Tears spilled over from her eyes, trailing down her cheeks as the reality of what was happening crashed over her. Kelsey was dead. Sam, too, and now, Jill’s life was completely turned upside down.

And two dangerous supernatural creatures had her in their sights.

Without asking her permission, Xander reached out and gently hauled her into his arms. He held her against his chest, rocking her back and forth. His lips brushed the top of her hair and she leaned into him, squeezing his waist tight as she cried out. Sobs wracked her body as she completely lost it, breaking down like a freaking basket case because she could.

Because Xander, a man she barely knew, was letting her.

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