Page 9 of Forsaken By Night

“Excuse me,” Nicole said, “but how is any of this even possible?”

“Magic.” Aylin remained plastered against him, her entire body shaking, but her voice was strong and sure. “The mystic-keeper at ShadowSpawn could make you believe that one person had turned into another.”

Skepticism flashed in Nicole’s expression. Despite all she’d seen since becoming a vampire and joining MoonBound, she still insisted that science could explain everything. “Mystic-keepers often use hallucinogenic herbs to...”

The sound of Nicole’s voice faded in his ears as Hunter stared at the wolf bed. This was bad. Really bad. The damage someone could do while wearing Hunter’s skin could be—

Skin.He sucked in a sharp breath.Skinwalker.

Holy shit. Neither magic nor hallucinogenic substances had done this. A vampire shifter had. A vampire shifter he’d banished long ago for impersonating another clan member.Son of a bitch.

“This wasn’t a result of magic or chemistry,” Hunter blurted, interrupting Nicole’s lengthy explanation about how hallucinogens worked. “It was a skinwalker. It’s possible he’s the one who brought in the wolf while disguised as me and who then attacked Nicole in the guise of a female.”

Nicole groaned, but not from pain. “Please don’t tell me a skinwalker is what I think it is.”

Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that, and he felt a little bad, because her science-brain wasn’t going to handle this well.

“Skinwalkers come from Native American lore that originated with vampires,” he explained hastily, anxious to go find the bastard. “They can shape-shift into animals, but usually only their own totem animal.”

Aylin pulled back. “But not all of them are limited to shifting into beasts. Before I was born, my father executed a skinwalker who could impersonate humans and other vampires.”

“I banished one from MoonBound,” Hunter said, his voice bitter to his own ears. “But maybe I should have taken a cue from your father.”

Riker frowned. “Are you talking about Lobo?”

“Is that the strange guy who lives in the woods with a wolf?” Aylin asked.

Hunter nodded. “That wolf has to be the one he brought in. It’s the only thing that makes sense. He shifted into me so he could get inside.”

Nicole considered that. “He must have come back this morning to check on the wolf while disguised as someone else. But why was he naked? And female?”

“Does it matter?” Riker helped Nicole to her feet, keeping one arm protectively around her. “He attacked you. He’s going to answer for that.”

“He’s got alotto answer for,” Hunter said.

The door burst open and Aiden’s lover, Takis, jogged inside, his dark hair hidden under a Seattle Seahawks cap. “Sir, we’ve tracked Nicole’s assailant into the forest. Should we follow?”

A mental image of Lobo kissing Aylin popped into Hunter’s head and triggered his prey drive. “We don’t follow.” He started toward the armory. “We hunt.”

5

Lobo had spent the last sixteen hours pacing the length of his tiny cabin. It wouldn’t be long before Hunter and a team of his warriors showed up at his door to drag him back to MoonBound, but he wished they’d hurry. He needed to see Tehya, and the only reason he wasn’t freaking out right now was that he sensed that the wolf was alive.

The puzzling thing was that she felt different, her energy muted and scattered. It was as if she were half a world away and in no one particular direction.

Beneath his camo pants and T-shirt, his muscles twitched with the desire to do something more than pace around like an idiot. Every time he glanced at the door, scratched up by Tehya’s claws, he had to clench his fists to keep from ripping it open and racing to MoonBound. But the coming confrontation with Hunter needed to happen here, in Lobo’s own territory.

Oh, having the home field advantage wouldn’t help him win a battle—he’d be outnumbered and outweaponed, and he wasn’t planning to fight anyway.

Forcing Hunter to come here would make MoonBound’s chief see Lobo as more than a banished outsider. Hunter would see Tehya’s food dishes and toys. He’d see the rug in front of the woodstove where she liked to lie after coming in out of the snow or rain. He’d see how much Lobo loved the wolf and would, Lobo hoped, understand the forbidden lengths he’d gone to in order to save her.

But, damn, the wait was torture. And he knew torture.

He eyed the jar of hooch he’d gotten from a hermit near the Washington-Idaho border last winter, but before he could calculate how much he could drink and still remain civil when Hunter showed up, the sound of a branch breaking just outside froze him in place. A heartbeat later, something scratched at the door.

Tehya.

The scratching noise sounded again, high up on the frame. If it was Tehya, she was up on her hind legs.

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