Page 25 of Broken Moon

“When we get back to the pack,I want you to lose the weapons and the clothes, and I want to see for myself.”

I gulped. Literally and loudly,I gulped.

He laughed then, and some of thetension melted from his stare. He sighed, shook his head, then turned andwalked back the way he’d come. “We have a lot to talk about,” he called. “Stopstaring at my ass and get a move on, Ms. Silver.”

I scrambled after him,embarrassed, hurting, and elated.

Chapter Twelve

Wolves hated vampires, but theyunderstood them. Demons, however, were a whole different matter. Demons werepower-hungry, baby-killing, soul-stealing, evil-spreading, sadistic sons ofbitches.

Eli was the one to tell Jaredthat my dagger was a demon’s blade. “She should not,” he said, “be able towield it. As a wolf, it should burn her in battle. Yet she stands before us,nearly healed from beingstabbedwith it.”

Jared glanced at his own palm,which was still slightly black from the burns he’d sustained when he’d used theblade to try and kill the creature. Even though he’d simply wrapped his handaround the exsoloup’s as he’d stabbed it—or forced it to stab itself—the partof his flesh that touched the dagger had burned.

When he’d carried it back tome, it hadn’t hurt him. Only in battle does a demon blade burn a wolf. Not evenshifting had completely healed him.

“Put her out,” one of the packyelled, “before she leads the demons to us.”

From the corner of my eye, Isaw another wolf walking toward me. She was small and old, but something abouther caught my attention. My hackles went up, and I narrowed my eyes, watchingher as she drew closer. As another wolf in the gathered crowd voiced adecidedly rude comment about where I should go, the old lady wolf tossed half acup of water right into my face.

“Burn, demon,” she yelled,cackling.

The crowd gasped and thenquieted, waiting to see if I would indeed react to the holy water. I wiped thewater out of my eyes, then put my hands on my hips and lifted an eyebrow. “Ihave to say, guys, I’m feeling just a little unappreciated.”

“Enough of this,” Jaredgrowled. “She’s not a demon. She came here because I hired her to help find thecreature killing us. Go home, all of you.”

They dispersed quietly, some ofthem grumbling, none of them willing to go against the alpha. The two youngwolves who’d got in my face earlier were there, but they didn’t even look atme.

It was going to be a hard roadahead, getting the pack to accept me. It dimmed the joy of my coming shift, butit’d be okay. Eventually, after Jared officially welcomed me into the pack,they’d see me as one of them. Maybe.

I didn’t want to think aboutthe fact that Jared had never told me I’d be one of his pack. He’d said onlythat he’d free my wolf. But Lennon had promised—or warned—that his freeing mewould mean I was his. I’d believed her.

Jared might have other ideas. Iwas not confident enough to ask him. Not yet.

When we’d returned to the packthere was instant chaos as the wolves became aware of our run-in with thekiller. They wanted to know what he was, if their alpha was harmed, had thecreature escaped, and on and on.

When Jared had approached me, Iremembered his words in the woods and cut him off before he could command me toundress and show him my boo boos. My wolf was giddy at the attention from analpha and the coming possibilities, but my woman brain took over and demandedquite sternly that I calm the hell down before I got myself hurt. I’d learnedearly to guard my heart—especially from wolves.

After I’d stowed my variousbelts and weapons in my car, I’d stood beside him as he assured his pack he wasfine and told them the creature had escaped. He’d also assured them that wewould catch the bastard. We were the first wolves to have seen it, survived it,and returned to talk about it.

“It seems it can only hurt youif you’re shifted,” he told them, “so until we bring the bastard down, youcannot shift.”

The doctor and his nurse arrivedas the wolves were going back to their homes. After he had a murmuredconversation with them that I wasn’t privy to, Jared took my arm and led me tothe admin center, which housed not only meeting rooms and offices, but a smalldoctor’s office and clinic, as well.

“What about you?” I asked him, tryingto ignore the way the warmth of his hand sank through the fabric of my jacketand made my skin tingle. It was difficult to resist something I’d craved for solong—the touch of another wolf. I blamed my poor hobbled wolf for that need,but it wasn’t all her. “The creature had you for a few seconds. Do you feel anyeffects from that?”

“You no longer hate me,” hesaid, ignoring my question.

I swallowed, then shrugged. “Mywolf is making that hard to do. She’s too happy about your promise to freeher.” I grinned, going for casual and completely unaffected. I wasn’t entirelysure I was successful. “I guess she sees you as her savior.”

He glared. “I am no one’ssavior, Ms. Silver.”

I already noticed how he calledme“Ms. Silver,”when he was displeased or upset with me. “To my wolf,you’re a god, Alpha. She doesn’t agree with me that you’re a coldheartedasshole.”

He glared harder, but I saw Eliturn his head to hide a smile. “Eli,” he barked, likely having noticed thesmirk as well, “get Lennon and bring her to my office. We need to figure outwhat this creature is. She should be able to see something now that I’ve gottena look at it.”

“I know what it is,” I toldhim. “At least, I’m pretty sure I do. I’ll do some research to dig upeverything I can, but hopefully when I’m finished, we’ll know how to kill it.”