Page 8 of Under A New Moon

But she hesitated, and her moment passed. She'd find it again, but even while she traded blows with the werewolf, she still felt like she was holding back.

Two weeks' worth of interactions and a fifty-percent tip weren't enough to ingratiate this monster to her. Or was it?

He had changed up his routine. He used to walk past the diner every day and only come in once a week. Then he saw her. He began to come to her daily. She'd flirt a bit and have pleasant conversations with him.

But that was all gathering intel, part of the job: surveil, assess, eliminate. She'd watched him plenty. She'd known she was looking at a monster. And she had her opportunity to end him, but she wasn't taking it.

He was a good tipper and made pleasant conversation easy enough. Darla had seen him staring on occasion, but he didn't ogle her. He didn't hit on her. Why had he been so nice? Maybe he felt guilty about the things he'd done.

Had he done anything? Her superiors had told her to eliminate him, and yet she didn't want to. With any target, it wasn't like she took joy in killing them. She wasn't some sociopath looking to cause pain and suffering, even to shifters.

It was a job that she had to do to protect humanity from monsters. A job she was going to do to the best of her ability. And she had more than enough ability, so why was Galen still breathing?

She let another opportunity slip by. Then she heard something. It sounded like one of her traps going off. But that couldn't be. She'd chosen this area because not many people took this path, and she'd timed it over and over.

Galen was the only one to come this way at this time for two weeks straight. Someone had gone off-book. A civilian might have gotten tangled. Luckily, she hadn't made the trap fatal. She could release the person once she'd finished with Galen—if she finished with Galen.

Then she heard a growl. It didn't come from Galen but from behind her. She felt dread settle into the pit of her stomach like a cold lead weight. She'd been stupid. He had a pack, and he'd outsmarted her. And now she could die because she hesitated.

Galen seized her. This was it. She was dead. Everything she'd done, everything she'd accomplished, all of it was for nothing. She would die here.

Then Galen threw her to the ground as the new arrival attacked him. As jarring as it was being thrown to the ground, what was even more disorienting was the idea that the monster she'd been trying to kill, or at least intended to kill, had very likely just saved her life.

Things had gone from simple to very confusing in the time it took her to hit the ground. She rolled out of the way of another set of claws as a second wolf joined the fray. This time, she didn't hesitate. A few quick strikes and he was down.

She could hear more coming. Galen was grappling on the ground with the one that had leaped at him. No, the one that had leaped at her. And even as strong as Galen was, it looked like he was about to get his throat torn out.

Darla could turn around and run away. She was fast enough she could probably escape before the rest of the wolves arrived. They weren't hesitating like she had and could easily kill Galen, doing her job for her. It would be one way to deal with her lingering confusion about him.

She ran up, kicked the other werewolf in the temple, sending him sprawling. She reached down for Galen's hand to pull him up. She didn't know why she'd done it. It was almost automatic. This was the exact opposite of what she was supposed to be doing.

"Why is your pack attacking you?" she asked. She knew the others were closing in.

"These aren't my pack. Long story," Galen said. " And we don't have the time. Can I trust you to not stab me in the back until we take care of this?"

"Can I trust you?" she asked.

"We have to, or we're dead."

"I'll warn you before I try to kill you again," she said. If they survived, it would be the least she could do. She might even give Galen a day to flee before she pursued him again.

"I'm not looking to kill you," he said, turning his back to her as more came at them.

And she believed him. She had no reason to. She still wasn't sure why she hadn't left him to die, but there would hopefully be time to sort that out later once they had avoided being gutted by these other werewolves.

She knew not all the packs were united, but this seemed almost excessive. Galen was strong, but it didn't make sense to send this many wolves to kill one loner. Then a slight chill ran through her. What if he hadn't been the target?

While her questions outnumbered the werewolves coming to attack herandGalen, the questions weren't trying to disembowel her.

Galen and Darla fought side-by-side, more back-to-back, but there was no way they could win this. She had trained and worked hard to increase her strength and endurance, but she still had her limits.

"We have to run," they both said at the same time.

There was a gap in the waves of attackers leading to an alleyway. Galen must have seen it first, though, because he grabbed her wrist and pulled her in that direction. It could be a trap, but they didn't have a lot of options.

Seven

Galen

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