Page 10 of Under A New Moon

“You know...all you abnormal metahumans.”

Galen’s face burned with irritation. He’d done nothing wrong, so far as he could remember. But that was an argument for another time. “What’s your name? Your real name?”

Her jaw slid to the side.

“Oh, come on. I’ll bet you know every dirty detail about me, miss bitch. It’s only fair.” He lowered his tone. “I’d like to know who beat my ass, fair and square.”

That seemed to soothe her hackles. Slightly. “It’s Darla.”

“Darla… what?”

An eyebrow rose. “That’s all your getting tonight, wolfman.”

He grunted and rubbed the back of his neck. “Fine. Shelly was prettier, though.”

She didn’t react.

This Darla was a hard nut to crack, for sure. He kind of liked getting under her skin, making her squirm, just a little. That pretty little woman from the diner was dead. This new woman, this ‘Darla’, could be anyone. And she had a foul mouth, to boot.

He wasn’t sure if he liked her better or not.

Time would tell.

And then, they heard the howl. Haunting. Melancholy. Wolves.

On the hunt. For them.

Eight

Darla

Galen sighed. “Look, I don't know what is going on with your people or why they told you to attack me, but we have bigger problems right now. We need to disguise our scents so those wolves don't find us. I'm going to take a shower with that very smelly citrus soap I can already smell in the bathroom, and you need to do the same. We can sort all of this out afterward.”

“You said they weren’t your pack, who were they? Why did they jump us?”

“I don't know, that’s more discussion for later.”

He started peeling off his shirt as he headed for the shower, giving her a clear view of some spectacularly fine abs. Her breath caught at the sight of his bare chest.Damn, he is fine.She shook her head.What are you thinking? He’s not fine, he’s a wolf! …he’s a fine wolf. Gah!

She threw up her hands in frustration and started pacing around the room, taking in the cheap furniture. There was a little table with two chairs near the front window, generic landscape pictures on the walls, and an ancient television sitting on a small dresser. At least the bed looked comfortable. It probably wasn’t, but it looked comfortable anyway.

There was something about this wolf. He clearly wasn’t used to fighting, which wasn’t the usual with the problem shifters she was sent to collect. He also seemed genuinely bewildered at being attacked by PEACE, which to her mind implied that he didn’t have a guilty conscience. So if he didn’t do anything to be guilty of, why was she sent to take him down? She needed to call in and verify this situation, it was sounding more and more like a mistake.

She pulled out her phone and cursed. The screen had a long crack down the whole length, and it wasn’t powering on.

Shit. It must have gotten damaged in the fight.

She tapped her fingers on the table in agitation. There was no way she was trusting this conversation to an unsecured landline phone.

I don’t dare leave either, not with those wolves looking for us. I don’t know if they were after me or him, but either way, there are too many to handle alone. I’ll just have to wait it out here with him.

She could hear splashing from the shower and couldn’t help but imagine how he would look, steam rising around him, rivulets of water running down those muscled shoulders and sculpted abs. And over that fine butt. She felt her breath coming faster at the thought.

Stop it!She scolded herself,what the hell is wrong with you! He’s a shifter, and a problem shifter at that!Still, he really was nothing like the other shifters she’d taken down. And what was with that fight? She had so many chances to finish him off, and didn’t.

I just don’t understand, why didn’t I do it? Why didn’t I take him down? I could have. It makes no sense. This isn’t like me at all. I really need to talk to HQ about this. Something is off about this whole thing.

She pulled her phone back out, fiddling with it, taking the battery out and putting it back, trying to power it on. Nothing. She huffed in frustration and dropped it onto the table. Still hearing the distracting splashing, she went to the room’s door and listened at the crack to see if anyone was moving around out there. Nothing. Back to the bathroom door. Splashing. Back to the front door. She realized she was pacing around like a caged animal and forced herself to sit down at the little table and at leastactcalm.

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