Page 26 of Moon Destiny

“We both need food,” he said quietly. “It’ll help with control. Then I’ll tell you how rejection works. And how we can rid ourselves of this desire.”

CHAPTER TEN

HUGH

Brooke ate her food, her anger fading in the wake of my show of submission. I didn’t mind showing her that. On the contrary, it had been almost…liberating. I couldn’t let my guard down with anyone else in the pack—with anyone else, period.

But I could with her. Because whatever else she was, she was my mate.

For now, at least.

With that heady realization, my beast perked up, once again pushing me to make our connection permanent.

It takes two, I told my wolf. And what was I thinking, really, to even entertain it? Brooke and I were a bad idea on several levels, not the least of which was her connection to Alex.

No, we were here in this restaurant so I could tell her how to end this thing between us. Neither of us had asked for it. She’d been clear she didn’t want it.

And yet…her arousal lingered. The blame for that fell squarely on me. I’d been foolish—childish—to taunt her the way I had, telling her she liked my orders. There was no excuse for it. I was, as she’d noted with mild horror, far older and more experienced. I was also supposed to be ending our entanglement, not encouraging it.

I ate on autopilot, hardly tasting the rich, cinnamon-spiked wine sauce the restaurant was known for. Brooke kept her head down, her long lashes shielding those incredible blue eyes. Some wicked impulse urged me to speak just to see them again.

I really couldn’t afford to be this stupid.

It was a good time for my phone to buzz in my pocket.

It was Tanner. “Any updates?” I asked, my voice emerging more gruffly than I intended.

“Yes and no.”

Brooke looked up with wide eyes.

That’s right. No more one-way conversations. Superior werewolf hearing was one of several reasons I avoided phone calls whenever possible. I didn’t need to hold the phone to my ear but I did it anyway in case the server made an appearance. Moving in the human world required a great deal of pretending.

“The trails went cold,” Tanner said, “but we recovered bullet casings from Dylan’s car.”

“You feeling good enough to run ballistics?”

“Yep.”

“Excellent. Take Shepherd to the office and make it happen. I doubt the rogues dumped their weapons, but there’s a slim chance we can match them through the database. It could give us a lead to track the bastards down.”

“You got it, boss.”

“How’s Dylan?”

Tanner chuckled. “Up. Bitching at everyone. Malcolm threatened to shoot him again.”

“Tell Dylan I’ll expect him back on patrol tomorrow,” I said dryly.

“Will do.”

I ended the call with a smile pulling at my mouth.

“You have access to the federal ballistics database?” Brooke asked at once. Her eyes were sharp, all traces of her flustered desire gone. She looked like the reporter she was, curiosity hovering around her like an aura. And damn if it didn’t make her even more attractive.

“I do.” There was no use denying it, especially when I was certain she’d dig until she discovered the truth.

She raised her brows. “I didn’t think private security companies could get that kind of access.”

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