Page 11 of Under A New Moon

She heard the shower shut off, and tried to mentally prepare herself for her next sight of him.Be strong,she told herself.None of this lusting after the wolf nonsense! I don’t care how hot he is or how many muscles he has.She had a sneaking suspicion that little pep talk wasn’t going to work.

He came out of the bathroom still drying his hair. “Your turn,” he said.

She scowled at him, trying to ignore the way his muscles moved so smoothly and powerfully under his shirt as he rubbed the towel through his hair.

“I really don’t want to take a shower right now, I’d rather figure out what the hell is going on and why those wolves attacked us. And for that matter, whether they were after you or me.”

“If they decide to double back and come by here to check for us and start sniffing the doors, they will definitely smell you. You should know this already if you’ve been chasing shifters for a living. Go take a shower and we can try to figure out what is going on afterward.”

He was so frustratingly calm that she wanted to hit him again. Unfortunately, she had to concede that he was also right.Damn wolf. Why does he have to make such good sense?

He spotted her phone on the table and nodded at it. “Did you call your people to find out why they wanted me?”

She scowled. “I was going to, but it’s broken. I’ll have to contact them tomorrow from a secure line. I won’t call them from this place.”

He nodded. “Ok, well, no sense in wasting time, go take that shower.”

She glared at him.

His lips quirked in amusement at her stubbornness. “The sooner you get it over with, the sooner we can try to figure this thing out,” he pointed out.

She glared some more just to make her irritation clear, then huffed out a breath in disgust and stalked off toward the bathroom.

“You had better have left me a dry towel,” she grumbled as she passed him.

Nine

Galen

Darla disappeared into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. He can’t help but chuckle at her petulance.It’s really too bad she was trying to kill me, I really do like her. And her scent is just…irresistible.What I’d really like to do is just climb in that shower with her!He snorted out a laugh.All of this time I have been daydreaming about being with her and all along she was plotting to kill me. I wonder what prompted her people to target me?

He heard the water shut off. A few minutes later she came out wearing a towel around her head. He couldn’t hold back a smile at the sight.

She pointed at him. “Don’t say anything!”

He laughed out loud as she glared at him for it. “I wouldn’t dream of it!”

She sat at the little table and looked at him, frowning. He came over and sat in the other chair. “So you’re really a PEACE agent sent to kill me?”

“Well, capture or kill, yeah. It just usually works out to kill with you lycans. You guys aren’t really the surrendering type.”

He chuckled. “No, I guess we’re not. So you have no idea why they are targeting me?”

“No, like I said, they have a list. They send us after the one on the list they want us to go after next, and we go get them. They don’t actually tell us the specifics of whatever the person did to get on the list. It’s basically our understanding that these shifters in hiding are in hiding because of some crime they have committed and my division exists to capture these hidden shifters. Especially those that Homeland Security thinks are domestic terrorists.”

He frowned. “But I haven’t done anything. I haven’t committed any crimes. And I’ve never done anything to make myself a terrorist.”

She frowned back at him. “You must have done something, why else would you be out here without your pack, living alone, hiding that you’re a shifter from everyone you know?”

“I have my reasons, and they’re personal!”

“Look, if you want me to believe that my coming after you was a mistake, you’re going to have to come clean with me. Why aren’t you with your pack?”

He sighed. “We have different philosophies.”

She glared at him. “You’re going to have to be more specific than that.”

He looked up at her, annoyed. “Fine. My pack believes that lycans are better than humans. They believe there will be a war with humans and they want that to happen. In fact, they not only believe they’re better than humans, they believe that lycans are better than all other shifters as well and should rule over everyone. They send all wolves to mandatory training with this end in mind. They’re preparing for a day when a new Civil War tears apart this country now that the Veil has lifted. I disagreed with all of this and refused to go to the training camp. My father disowned me as a result, and I left the pack.”

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