Full Moon Rising

shinbone. He’d somehow managed to wrap a tourniquet around his thigh, but even so, he’d lost a lot of blood. I wondered why the baby vamps hadn’t sucked it up

The woman hadn’t escaped so lightly. Her shirt had been ripped open and her breasts deeply lanced. The vamps had suckled her like children would their mothers, and from the look of it, they’d bled her dry

I squatted beside Vinnie. His gaze, when it met mine, was distant, shocked. “They followed me in when I opened. I didn’t even see them.”

I placed my hand over his. His skin was cold. Clammy. “I called an ambulance. They won’t be long.”

“Doreen? Is she okay? God, what they did to her—”

I glanced at the dead Doreen. Saw the echoes of terror in her lifeless blue eyes. What a goddamn awful way to spend your last moments

My stomach stirred and rose. I swallowed back bile and squeezed Vinnie’s hand. “I’m sure she’ll be okay.”

“What about the others?”

I hesitated. “If I go check, will you be okay?”

He nodded. “Me and Doreen, we’ll just wait here.”

“I won’t be long.” As I rose, there was an audible snap of bone. Gautier, finishing what I’d started

Not that snapping vampires’ necks actually killed them, but it certainly incapacitated them for a while. Long enough to drive a stake through their black hearts, anyway. Though Gautier didn’t actually need to disable any vampire while he used the stake—he just enjoyed it. Enjoyed seeing the fear gather in their eyes as he raised the stake and drove it into their hearts. Which probably meant he was extremely pissed off at me just then, because I’d knocked both of the baby vamps unconscious, thereby robbing him of his pleasure. Why he was breaking their necks was anyone’s guess. Maybe it was habit

Maybe he just liked the sound

I walked on past him like there was absolutely nothing wrong, like it was an everyday occurrence that rogue vampires were executed in my presence. Any other reaction could be deadly, because he was watching me like a cat does a mouse

And I had no intention of ever being Gautier’s mouse

The distant wail of sirens bit through the silence as I squatted beside the three other women. All three of them were badly cut, and at least two of them raped. And as the soft squelch of wood being pressed into flesh, past bone and into heart whispered across the silence, part of me was fiercely glad. Those bastards didn’t deserve a fair trial or justice. They didn’t even deserve the quick staking they were being given

The emergency crews finally arrived. As Vinnie and the women were tended to, I made a statement to the cops. Gautier flashed his credentials and walked out. But the look he gave me as he wrapped the shadows around his body suggested he and I were going to be at odds for a while yet. No real surprise there

As soon as I was able, I picked up my handbag and got the hell out of there

The night air was sweet compared to the nightclub, and I breathed deep, letting it fill my lungs and sweep away the foulness. Blood still rode the wind, but that was natural, especially since a lot of it was now on me

What I needed was a nice hot shower. I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed home barefoot

But I’d barely gone a dozen steps when the wrongness hit again, this time stronger than before

I stopped and looked over my shoulder. What the hell was going on? Why was I feeling this when the situation inside the club had been sorted?

Then it hit me

The wrongness wasn’t coming from the club or the night. It was coming from a more distant place. A more personal place. A place that was forged from the bond of twins

My brother was in trouble

Chapter 2

Panic surged. Ten guardians had disappeared under suspicious circumstances in the last few months, and only two of them had been found. Or rather, only bits of two of them had been found. I swallowed heavily. My twin couldn’t be the eleventh. He was the only family I had left since our pack had thrown us out. He was the only person who meant anything to me, the one person I couldn’t live without. Losing him would kill me as surely as a silver bullet

I took a deep breath and tried to calm my fears. Rhoan wasn’t hurt, and he wasn’t dying, because I’d have felt either of those

He was just in some form of trouble, and, my fault or not, he’d been in trouble most of his life. He could handle it, whatever it was

The last thing I needed to do was panic. But I could check. I retrieved my cell phone, pressed the vid button, then quickly dialed my boss, Jack Parnell. He was the current head of the guardian division, and one of the few vampires I actually liked. The other, Kelly, was a guardian and one of my few friends. Not only were they both nice, but they actually bathed like regular people

Jack’s bald features came online. He gave me a toothy grin, but there was an intentness in his green eyes that belied his jovial expression

“Nice to see you’re unhurt after your evening jaunt,” he said, his tone cheerful and gravelly. “I’ll expect your report in the morning.”

“I’ll write it up at home and e-mail it in. Tell me, have you heard from Rhoan?”

“About two hours ago. Why?”

I hesitated. I had to be careful what I said, because no one at the Directorate knew Rhoan and I were related, let alone twins. The fact that we shared the same last name was no clue, simply because every individual in a wolf pack shared the same surname. So everyone in our pack, related or not, had Jenson as a last name. And whenever someone new came into the pack, they legally changed their names to the pack name. It was the one way to differentiate origins between packs that shared the same coat color

Most of those at the Directorate actually presumed we were lovers simply because we lived together—a theory neither of us corrected because it was far easier on us if they believed that. Of course, if they actually knew anything about Rhoan, they would have realized how unlikely our being lovers was

I wasn’t sure what Jack believed—he’d never said anything about the two of us, never asked anything about our situation. He gave the appearance of not caring either way, but after working for him for six years, I knew that was never the case

“You’re aware that werewolves often know when pack mates are in trouble?”

He simply nodded

“Well, I’ve got that feeling now, with Rhoan.”

“Life-or-death-type trouble?”

“No.”

“Is he injured in any way?”

“No. Not yet.”

He frowned. “So you simply feel he is in trouble?”

“Yes.” Felt it through every fiber, and as strongly as I could feel the heat of the moon

“I don’t disbelieve you, Riley, but as he’s not overdue, I prefer to wait. The mission he’s on is a delicate one, and sending rescuers in could make the whole thing fall apart.”

Like I cared about anything but my brother…

I took another deep breath and blew it out slowly. “But given the other disappearances, isn’t it worth checking?”

“The others disappeared from a specific area. Rhoan’s mission shouldn’t take him anywhere near it.”

“So you know where he is?”

“Yes.” He hesitated. “Though you and I are both aware he doesn’t always report changes of direction.”

Wasn’t that the truth. And if he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, then finding him was going to be a whole lot of fun. “When will he become overdue?”