Page 49 of Under A New Moon

“Act cool, Darla. We’ll find out what they want soon enough.” His grip tightened around her shoulder possessively. “It’s better if we don’t make any sudden movements. We’re in their territory and they’ve got the drop on us.”

Her nerves would be the death of her.

Darla saw neither claw nor hair as she pushed past Galen. Despite his protests, she spun in a fast circle, searching for those unwanted stares that made her skin crawl. “Quit being cowards and get the hell out here!”

He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her in. “What the fuck are you doing?”

A quick twist and yank freed her from his grasp. She jogged a few paces towards a line of bushes. “What are you waiting for, huh? You want a piece of this?! Well, come and get it! You’re not getting the fucking drop onme.”

She felt his anxiety mount.

She didn’t care.

Darla would prefer they came out in full form, blazing for a fight. That’s what would make sense. That’s what she knew. But this- lingering, this stalking, it made her feel like the prey she really was.

I hate this,she thought, planting her feet in a fighting stance.And I won’t allow anyone make me feel this way ever again. “What are you waiting for?!

“Let’sfinishthis.”

Thirty-Nine

Galen

From out of the shadows and the brush, an incredibly large wolf lunged and bowled over Galen. In an instant, Galen was also in wolf form, and the only way Darla could tell them apart was the size differential.

Bad wolf big.

The tussle was over way too fast and didn’t have Galen as the victor. The new wolf clamped down on Galen’s throat and forced him to the ground, holding him there.

Letting go, the big wolf shifted into his human form, and Galen did too.

“Hey, dad.” He said sheepishly.

“Dad?” Darla wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or terrified.

He looked back at her and said, “Not your dad. You can call me Armand.”

Then he turned his attention back to his progeny. “On the other hand, you can call me the angel of death. Thirty-five years later, and this how you learned to fight?”

Galen rubbed his throat a bit and cleared it before he spoke. “Well.”

He didn’t get to finish because Armand wasn’t done giving him the business. “And your stealth is absolute garbage. I heard you two numbskulls a mile out. You know that? I could have found you with a blindfold and a nose plug. Where’d you learn how to sneak? Marching band school?”

“I don’t think that’s a--”

He wasn’t done. “And your crowning achievement tonight was that you brought a helpless human along with you. Here. Into our woods. Boy, are you just that fucking stupid? What was she supposed to do, blow a dog whistle?”

“Would that work? Do you have one?” Darla already had her fill of this were-ego.

Galen very subtly waved his hand at her and shook his head no.

Please baby, this is not the time or the man that you want to talk to like that.

Armand pointed a finger right at Darla, “Lady if I were you, I’d pipe down and listen up. Your continued presence here will be at my discretion and mine alone.”

“I suppose pants are at your discretion too. Do all wolf dens double as nudist colonies?”

He smirked at her wit and even chuckled, but the look in his eyes let them both know he was not amused in the least. “Humans lost their connection with nature a long time ago. We didn’t. Out here, you’re the one that looks different.”

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