Page 23 of Under A New Moon

Her laugh was airy. “We fuck once, and suddenly, I’m some helpless female? You know I can handle myself. If it’s one of mine, maybe they’ll be reasoned out of it. Hell,” she said, listening intently for a sound from the incoming agent. “-maybe I can convince them it’s just me, holed up in the safe house. There’s more than a few ways we can play this.”

He gripped her tighter like he didn’t want to let her go.

“It’s okay.” She stroked his blond hair back. “I’ve got this.”

There was a pause before he finally relinquished her, but once he did, she was able to slip on her pants. He stood too and dressed as quickly as he seemed able.

Darla’s shoes were already on, and she squeezed the handle, pausing. “Don’t come out, no matter what you hear.”

When he stood, he came to her and leaned down so their faces were an inch apart. “I can’t promise that, Darla.”

She accepted his fierce kiss, the sorrow between them mounting. “Youhaveto-” she whispered, interrupted by another insistent kiss. She smiled but it turned down instantly when she broke away, thumbing his chin. “You have to trust me.”

“I do,” he said, tangling his fingers in her hair. “Of course, I do, I’m just- worried for you.”

“I know.” She touched his chest. “I feel it, too.”

Light came to his features but he firmed up with resolve before it manifested. “They’re here.”

A knock at the door verified his suspicion.

PEACE agents?Knocking?Something was definitely up.

Darla opened the bedroom door, mouthing ‘stayhere’, with a firm finger to the floor. She could almost hear him whine as he offered a puppy dog look, gripping the door as if to watch her go.

She pivoted, feeling his eyes on her before she rounded the corner.

He had to behave if they were going to get through this alive. She knew how hard it was for him to let anyone else take the lead. It was his alpha genes. Maybe, because he’d spent so long away from his kind, they had gone dormant, somehow. That was the only way to explain it. Any other alpha would have stormed the intruder, no matter what she said.

She was grateful to Galen. And not for just that.

Her body was deliciously sore from their excursions as she closed in on the front door. It wouldn’t stop her from being able to fight, however. That was so deeply ingrained in the fiber of her being, she’d been trained to attack in her sleep.

It was probably best she was dressed for this exchange, however.

The knock came again.

“I’m coming!” she said as if this were any other day. Maybe they had the wrong door. But Galen’s senses were keen. He’d have known if it were a civilian. There was no mistaking the situation. Her every nerve was on end.

She didn’t dare peek through the hole.

That’s how they got the stupid ones. They’d have the barrel of the gun aimed at it, and when something obscured the diffused light, they’d shoot. Luckily, they’d left the lights off before stumbling to the bedroom, so she could see two thin shadows cast through the crack underneath the door.

A single person, so far as she could see.

There could be more waiting in the wings.

But this one was on heels. Not exactly the best option for hand-to-hand combat. There were sparse few agents that ever wore them, and only one she could think of offhand. She stepped to one side, so if they decided to shoot, they’d miss. “Who is it?!”

There was a pause, then. “Darla?”

She held her breath.

“It’s Lily. You called me but I couldn’t pick up.” Another pause. “Will you let me in?”

Darla took in a controlled breath, then unlatched the door.

She peeked through the crack to find Lily, just as she said, alone with a worried look on her face. “Get in,” she said, ushering the agent in before shutting the door firmly behind them both. “Why didn’t you call?”

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