Page 19 of Broken Moon

“Are you all right?”

“I…yes. I’m fine.”

Then I climbed into my car andwent to meet the alpha of the Stone Moon Pack.

Chapter Nine

He was pissed.

Shocker.

His guards—enforcers, warriors,mean damn wolves—were waiting at the gates when I arrived. Jared owned aroundeighty acres of land, a lot of it wooded, all of it private. All of his wolveslived in the town, though they went to the city for work, school, and shopping.It was necessary that they maintain the human illusion and most alphas forbadehomeschooling children because the baby wolves needed to know how to hide inplain sight with the humans. There were many rules when you were part of apack. You came when called, showed up for meetings, and were never away fromthe land for more than a day—with the exception of scouts or warriors—unlessthere were very good reasons for doing so.

Jared’s town was a small, quietvillage, its perimeter protected by scouts and closed by fences and wallswherever possible. Security guards were always on duty. The houses were similar,the streets were quiet, there was a shared pool, community center, park, andother shared amenities. If an outsider were peeking through the gates, they’dsee only a very nice little village in which they might be tempted to live.They’d be told, of course, that there were no available homes to buy or rentthere.

For a second, longing squeezedmy heart and my stomach hurt and I was reminded so vividly of my own lost packthat I wanted to howl with sorrow. Twelve years I’d been without a pack, andthe need to belong never left me.

“Three weeks ago,” Jared started,after I’d been shown into his office in the rather large administrationbuilding, “I had sixty-two wolves. I now have fifty-five. In three weeks,something has killed seven of my people.”

I took the chair he offered.“Where do you find them?”

He clenched his fists as hepaced. “In my woods.” He inclined his head at a tall black man standing quietlyagainst the wall, and that one went to the desk, picked up a tablet, andcarried it to me.

I waited as he flipped throughit, then he reached it to me. I couldn’t stop my gasp as I stared down at thescreen, horror squeezing my heart. I tapped the screen and went to the nextpicture, and the next, and the next. They were all the same. Images of deadpeople drained of all color, their eyes slitted and white, their mouths open insilent screams. Even their hair was white.

“Did it take their blood?” Iwhispered, horrified.

“No.” Jared took the tabletfrom my frozen grip and handed it back to his beta. He would understand thatdespite the lack of blood and guts and open, seeping wounds, what I’d seenwould have a profound effect on me.

Those were wolves, and I wouldfeel their deaths, even if they weren’tmywolves.

He blew out a deep breath,taking a moment to calm himself before he continued. “It takes their lifeforce. Sucks it out of them like a vampire stealing blood.”

“Does he take them as wolves oras people?”

“I believe he takes them aswolves.” His voice was hard, but the pain beneath that hard crust was asimmering soft mass. “Each one killed had gone into the woods to hunt when hewas taken. I believe he needs them as wolves, and that they shift to human formwhen he’s finished.”

“He’s taking their magic,” Irealized. “He’s stealing the part that makes a shifter shift, and…” I shook myhead, talking more to myself than to the alpha. “What does he do with it, andwhy haven’t we heard of something like this before?”

He nodded. “A monster like thiswouldn’t just suddenly exist. Unless…”

“Unless,” I said, “he existedin a different realm. A different world. The way the demons do.”

“And now he’s come to ours.”

We stared at each other for a fewquiet seconds as it sank into my overwhelmed mind that something had come toour world to kill our wolves.

“How do you want to start theinvestigation?” he asked me, finally. “Whatever you need, you have only to ask.I have forbidden my wolves to enter the woods shifted until this is over.”

“But they can shift here in town?”I asked.

“Of course.”

“You need to forbid that aswell,” I told him, climbing to my feet. “If you don’t feed it in the woods,it’s going to come here looking for what it needs.”

“Fuck,” he whispered, thenstared unseeingly over my head for a few seconds. Finally, he sighed. “Eli.”

His beta gave a nod and leftthe room.