Hunter's Moon

Sasha

I kept my Glock aimed at Sebastian’s forehead. “I should turn you over to the police right now.”

His intense gaze never left my face, the single visible sign that he was even mildly concerned at having a gun pointed at his head. He was the same height as Aren, but Sebastian was built slim and lean. Aren had broader shoulders, muscled and strong, while Sebastian’s torso was sleek like a jungle cat. I wished I wasn’t comparing them in my head, but it was tough not to, even at a time like this. They were the only men I ever thought I loved.

Sebastian opened his hands to show me he was unarmed. “Handing me over to human authorities will not correct this situation.”

“And tossing an innocent man out of a building does?” I tightened my grip on the gun. “Who sent you here?”

“Fonthill is unstable. Nero has determined he must be silenced.”

“Again, how does killing an innocent man stop Fonthill?”

“Collateral damage, I’m afraid.” He shrugged matter-of-fact without a trace of remorse. “He might have witnessed Fonthill shifting into a wolf. We couldn’t risk that he had.”

I fought the urge to pull the trigger. “So you killed him just in case?”

His eyes narrowed. “I did what had to be done, what I am trained to do. You have no room to judge me, Carina.”

I cringed, hearing him refer to me by the pet name he used when we had been together.

“Don’t call me that.” I lowered my gun but didn’t put it back in the holster. “So Severino put a price on my head with this guy, and now he’s sent you to take his bounty hunter out. Am I next on your hit list?”

Sebastian raised a brow. “No matter my answer, would you believe me?”

“I wouldn’t.” We both turned to see Aren rounding the corner. Even in our current situation my pulse raced when he came to stand beside me.

“What you choose to believe is of no importance to me, wolf.” A muscle jumped in Sebastian’s cheek as he turned toward me again. “I would think you might be anxious for my assistance in this matter, since your wolf has apparently not been much help in stopping Fonthill.”

Aren slammed Sebastian back against the building, pressing his forearm into Sebastian’s windpipe. Equally as quickly, Sebastian retrieved a switchblade from his pocket. The blade sprung out, and he pressed it to the base of Aren’s neck.

“Call off your dog,” Sebastian wheezed.

I stepped between them. “Enough.” I shot each of them a glare. “Both of you back off.”

Aren jerked away from Sebastian, leaving him to cough and gasp for air. With a sigh, I holstered my weapon.

“We can’t stay here.” I glanced over at Sebastian. “But we do need to talk.”

He cleared his throat, but his voice still sounded raspy. “Meet me at Lulou’s restaurant at seven p.m.” He rubbed his neck and added, “Alone.”

Before Aren could protest, Sebastian walked around the corner of the building. He started to follow, but I caught his elbow. “Let him go.”

“You’re not thinking about going tonight…” He searched my eyes, then shook his head. “Fuck. You’re kidding. Sash, you could be his next target!”

He cursed under his breath, walking away from me. He pivoted back, looking a little more controlled. “He’ll take Fonthill out of the picture and then finish what Nero’s bounty hunter started.”

“I need intel from Sebastian, and I’m going to get it. This is about my life, my sister, and my parents. It’s my risk to take.” We remained in a silent standoff until I couldn’t take it any longer. “This is something I have to do.”

His jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything else. We walked around the hospital and blended in with the controlled insanity out front. A police officer was conducting a witness interview while the medical examiner’s office took photos of the crime scene. Weaving through the onlookers, we made our way back to the Lexus. It wasn’t until we were inside that he met my eyes.

“I’m sorry I lost my head, but I don’t want you to meet with Sebastian, especially not alone.”

I took his hand. “For what it’s worth, I don’t like it much more than you do, but I’ll be ready.” He stared out the front windshield. “I need to see this through.”

“I know.” He gripped my hand tighter. “I’m still not going to like it.”

“Fair enough.” I almost smiled. “Let’s get out of here.”

He nodded and started the car. My blood pressure leveled out once we were out of the parking lot. “Any interest in lunch? I’m still starving.”

“The gore that dropped at our feet didn’t ruin your appetite?” He merged onto the freeway with a hint of a smile.

“Police work numbs you after a while.” I shrugged. “Not to mention I’ve got an iron gut.”

Aren glanced my way. “Thoughts on what we should do about Fonthill?”

I sighed. “He’s obviously deteriorating and getting careless. Now that he attacked the gas station owner and let his face be captured on the security camera, not only is Sebastian after him, but the police are on his tail too. No doubt the cops are assuming Fonthill is the most likely suspect who pushed the guy out the hospital window, but if Severino gave the order to take him out, Nero has much better resources to track this guy than we do.”

“So you’re comfortable leaving him to Sebastian?”

I shook my head. “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just thinking out loud.” He pulled into a burger joint and turned off the engine. “Do you have any paper in here? Maybe we should make some notes.”

Over lunch, we drafted a few ideas.

With full bellies and a few leads to follow up, we drove around the area surrounding the service station. I was hoping we’d get a few clues where Fonthill might be staying, but we came up empty. He could’ve been anywhere.

Aren was less than chatty, still stewing about my dinner meeting with Sebastian. If there were some other way I would take it, but for now, I needed to play by Sebastian’s rules.

…

Back in our hotel room, I worked at my laptop, logging into my faux PI account in LexisNexis again to check for any other sightings or police reports that might involve Fonthill. The first time I ran into him was on Virginia Street, the main drag in Reno, so maybe he had a room at one of the casino hotels. It’d give him cheap rates, and make it easier to hide amongst all the tourists and gamblers.

While I researched, something hit me. Aren was still on the phone with Adam, but when he finished, he came over to sit beside me. “What’s up?”

“I just realized that we never found out if Fonthill bit that guy. What if something shows up on the autopsy?”

He thought about it for a second. “I’ll give Jason a call. He can check into it. If he has bite marks like Sebastian claimed, we wouldn’t want them swabbing the wounds for DNA, but the guy wouldn’t have experienced any real physical changes until the full moon. It takes that long whenever we convert a woman.” He paused for a second, brow furrowing. “Unless Fonthill’s altered DNA warps all that.”

I should’ve been focusing on Fonthill, but my attention was stuck on women being converted. “So your Pack only bites women? Men don’t get ever turned into werewolves?”

“No.” He shook his head. “We’re not trying to create a shape-shifter empire like Nero. We’re a family.” He came over to sit beside me. “And we don’t run around biting just anyone. This isn’t like what happened to you.”

He took my hand, our fingers lacing together. “In the Pack, we’re raised to believe that when you find your true mate, there are no secrets. She knows your true nature, and in order to have children, she has to be converted. The only way to do it is through a bite.”

On the surface it sounded noble. I rubbed at the scar on my collarbone. “What if she’s not keen on becoming a shifter like you?”

His gaze locked with mine as he lowered his voice. “No werewolf from my Pack would bite his mate against her will. It’s the ultimate sign of trust, but only if she chooses it. Once she’s bitten, we have a celebration and