Hunter's Moon

with me in Las Vegas, I knew you were tailing me.”

She raised a brow. “Are you saying you let me catch you?”

“In my head, I planned on letting you get close, and then I was going to talk some sense into you.” The corner of my mouth started to curve up. “I never saw the Taser coming.”

I glanced over at her, encouraged when I saw her trying not to grin.

“You’ve got a hard head.” She gave me a little shrug. “I figured the Taser would help make you more manageable.”

I laughed and pulled her into my arms. “You like your men drooling on the pavement?”

Her eyes sparkled up at me. “I must confess, if I had known what a great kisser you were back then, I might’ve played things a little differently.”

I claimed her lips then, enjoying the way she moaned into the kiss as she welcomed my tongue’s exploration. When I drew back, she stared up at me.

“This is how we get past what happened.” I traced my finger along her jawline. “We just let it be. Without you attacking me, we never would have met.”

She stared up into my eyes, her fingers sliding up my chest. “You really are an amazing man.”

“You deserve no less.” I started to kiss her again, when my cell phone rang.

I knew who it was before I answered it. Adam had the team together. It was time to talk to Nadya.

I put my phone back in my pocket and caught Sasha’s hand. “There’s something else I probably should have mentioned.”

“Uh oh.” She gripped my hand a little tighter.

“General Sloan wants this to go down tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow?” Her eyes widened. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I haven’t even talked to Nadya yet, let alone figured out when and where we could do this and still keep her protected.”

“We’ve got to get Fonthill before he hurts anyone else, Sash. The longer we wait the worse he’s going to get.” I started leading her toward the dresser. “Adam’s got a team together, and they’re working on a location now. We need to head over to the ranch and talk to Nadya. You can make any adjustments to the plan you think are necessary.”

I waited for her to reply, but she got dressed in silence. Maybe she was already thinking about what to say to her sister, I didn’t know, but my stomach knotted with tension.

I’d just assured her we’d keep her only living family safe.

Even though I trusted my Pack with my life, Fonthill was a variable we didn’t fully understand. When Sasha turned to face me, I did my best not to let my concern show.

Deep down, part of me wanted to call the whole thing off. Let Nero handle their rabid dog. Then the visceral image of Barry’s mutilated body filled my mind, his face frozen in terror. I couldn’t turn my back and let that animal kill another innocent person when I had a way to stop him.

And with Sasha’s life being his bounty, I couldn’t risk him hurting her.

No fucking way.

She stuffed her guns in her holsters and straightened up. “Let’s do this.”

Chapter Forty

Sasha

By the time we pulled into Adam’s ranch, my nerves were fried. I kept expecting to see Fonthill’s psychotic smile lurching out from every shadow. We shouldn’t have been rushing into this. None of us had slept, and you could almost smell the adrenaline in the air.

This was how mistakes happened. Deadly mistakes.

Nadya came out of the house with Adam shadowing her. I glanced around for the other wolves, and Adam anticipated my question. “The others are around the dining-room table.”

I hugged my sister, closing my eyes and wishing we were back home. When I pulled back I forced a smile. “Good to see you.”

“Adam told me you were coming by to talk to me.” Concern lined her features. She probably knew something was wrong the moment she hugged me. “You’re upset.”

“I’ll be all right. Can we find a quiet spot to talk?”

Adam nodded. “Nadya’s room is downstairs. You can get down there without anyone noticing.”

“Works for me.”

We went back into the house, and I followed my sister to her downstairs bedroom. Once we were inside, I closed the door and sat beside Nadya on her bed.

A few small paintings of horses hung on the almond-colored walls, and the distressed-wood headboard on the queen-sized bed matched the large dresser that stood like a sentinel beside the door. “This is a nice room they gave you.”

Nadya started to smile. “It is. But I don’t think you came in here to check out my new digs.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Sorry.” I forced myself to look at her. “I’m still not used to you knowing what I’m feeling.”

“Nothing’s changed except that now you know about it.” She took my hand. “It’s not like I can read your mind, just your state of mind, I guess.” Squeezing my hand, she said, “So tell me what’s going on? I assume by all the muscle upstairs you haven’t caught the stalker yet.”

When did my baby sister grow up? “No, and the truth is he’s much more than just a stalker.”

“Is he a werewolf, too?”

I gave it a little thought. “Sort of. He’s been genetically enhanced, and a side effect of that is mental illness and death.” I met her eyes. “He’s already killed two innocent men, and he’ll kill more if we don’t stop him.”

“What’s that got to do with me?”

“Do you always cut right to the chase?”

She started to smile. “I’ve always wanted to, but until now I had to be careful.”

In that moment I realized that while I’d been keeping my conversion into a jaguar assassin a secret, Nadya had been keeping her own secret for years. How much lonelier had her life become when I pulled her out of the school for the gifted and jammed her into a world that wouldn’t understand her gift?

I could almost hear Aren’s voice telling me to let the past go. Damned wolf.

I told Nadya about Aren’s father having a twin brother and his connections in the military. And finally I couldn’t delay it any longer. “General Sloan thinks he can talk to Fonthill and get him to abandon this mission, but we need to get Fonthill out of hiding to do it.”

“And you think he’ll come after me.”

“I know he will.” I sighed. “This company who experimented on these werewolf military squads has also been experimenting on breeding psychic human women with shifters in the hopes of producing female shifters who don’t have to be bitten like I was.”

I paused, giving her a second to absorb the information. “Nero funded your school, Nadya. I don’t have solid evidence yet, but think they killed our parents to get custody of you.”

Her eyes shined with tears she didn’t let fall. “And when this guy found my name in your cell phone…”

“They know where you are now.” I swallowed. My throat suddenly felt scratchy and raw. “That’s why I’m worried. I’ve been inside Nero’s walls. I can’t let them take you there.”

She took my hand. “I trust you. If this is the best chance to get him before he gets us, then we should take it.”

“If the general can’t talk Fonthill down, then I’ll take him out, but I need a clear shot. Aren will have a few of the Pack in place just in case I can’t get position.”

“Sounds like you’ve got lots of fallback plans.”

“Don’t be so quick to agree to this.” I frowned. “None of us have slept. We’re not at our best, and Fonthill is a lunatic trained to kill. If anything happens to you…” I couldn’t finish.

Silence embraced us for a minute until Nadya got up.