Moonshadow (Moonshadow #1)

Sophie used the time to regroup as she considered everything they had discussed.

She did not have the highly developed truthsense that many of the Elder Races acquired with experience and age, but she still didn’t believe they had lied to her. They had a dangerous enemy, who was also the one responsible for abusing Robin.

Nikolas had believed she’d helped to attack him. It explained why he had responded the way he had, both two weeks ago and just earlier. It didn’t make him likeable or friendly, and it certainly didn’t make him any less dangerous, but knowing that did ease her tension.

Suddenly the plate of beef stew and homemade bread that Arran set in front of her smelled appetizing, and she thought she might be able to eat at the same table with the two males after all.

When the food arrived, Robin began to tremble so violently he almost slid off her lap.

She offered him a piece of the fragrant bread. He nearly bit her fingers as he snatched at it. “I’m going to put some stew in a dish for you,” she told him gently. “Since you’re in the form of a dog, you’ll be more comfortable eating on the floor.”

As he worked at gulping down the bread, she lifted him onto the floor. When she straightened, she caught Nikolas watching her, his expression inscrutable. His close attention made her uncomfortable. She decided the best thing to do was to ignore it.

Ladling stew onto her bread plate, she picked out the choicest pieces of beef and potatoes as she said to Nikolas, “One thing rang true out of this. I asked for a vision of my near future, and you were in it. And now we’ve done it. We’ve met. So that bit is over. We can all move on and go our separate ways.”

She set the filled bread plate on the floor, and Robin attacked it. It was hard to watch him bolt the food while his body still trembled. Her eyes prickled with a flood of moisture, and after a moment, she had to look away—back at Nikolas, as it happened, who had not stopped watching her.

“Why are you in England?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”

Blinking away the wetness, she focused on her food. “That’s a long story. The short version is, I’m on vacation for three months. I’m here to see if I can somehow get into the old Weston manor. If I can, then I’ll inherit it and the grounds, along with an annuity. Kind of kooky, huh?”

While Nikolas hadn’t picked up a utensil yet, Gawain ate with a kind of single-minded attention that said he thoroughly appreciated a hot, filling meal. Gawain asked, “What do you do in LA?”

“I was a witch consultant for the LAPD,” she told him as she slipped another piece of bread to Robin. She hesitated. She should make herself talk about it. It’s just a thing that happened in her past. Say it. Be done with it. Move on. “There was a shooting. I was involved. I needed a break, so when this opportunity came, I leaped at it.”

Nikolas said, “You were shot?”

How had he known to ask that question? She glanced at him. She didn’t mean to meet his eyes, but she did, and the shock of connection was there again, jolting her down to her shoes. Clearing her throat, she said in a husky voice, “Yeah, I was. I got over it.”

Even to her own ears, she could hear the lie in that. Of course they heard it too. Plunging onward, she said, “You never told me who your enemy was.”

“Some names you don’t speak in public,” Nikolas said quietly.

Her fork paused in midair as she absorbed the implications of that. She reached out with telepathy. How about telepathically?

Some names shouldn’t be spoken telepathically either. His mental voice was a deep, true baritone. Not if all of us are going our separate ways. The wisest thing, by far the safest thing, would be for you to give Robin over to us and go back to your own agenda.

But she wasn’t exactly talented at picking the wisest or the safest thing. She looked down at the puck. Robin had finished eating, and he moved to lean against her ankle. Bending down, she looked into his filmy eyes and said softly, “Robin, I made you a promise that I would make everything okay. That hasn’t changed just because I know you’re not a dog. Do you want to go with Nikolas or Gawain, or would you rather stay with me until you’re feeling better?”

He didn’t answer her in words. Instead, he stood against her leg, begging for her to pick him up. As she gathered him into her arms, she felt his belly, which was visibly rounded after his meal.

Straightening, she looked at Nikolas and Gawain. They were both watching her with troubled frowns. She told them, “He’s staying with me for now.”

Nikolas’s frown turned fierce. “You’re making a mistake.”

Her voice turned cool. “I’m making a decision to honor a promise I made. That’s never a mistake.”

“No, but you weren’t in the possession of all the facts when you made it.” Nikolas nodded at Robin. “He’s been involved in our war in some way, and that could be very bad, for both you and for him.”

She didn’t waver. “I knew about the rope when I took it off his neck. I knew I had a major problem with whoever had created it, and I made the promise to him then. You’re choosing to withhold information from me that could be useful, but that doesn’t actually change a thing.”

Gawain rubbed his face. “We’re not telling you anything, lass, because we’re trying to protect you.”

“I should have added one more thing to my list.” She gave them a cold, thin smile. “Don’t try to protect me in spite of myself.”

Quick anger burned in Nikolas’s dark eyes. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Yeah, well, whose fault is that?” They looked at each other but remained silent, so she stood and hoisted Robin under her arm. “Glad we got a chance to clear the air. Thanks for supper. Good-bye.”

When she walked away, neither of them tried to stop her. She wasn’t surprised. She hadn’t expected them to. They might have cleared the air, but that was all they had achieved.

Because they knew as well as she did: the enemy of her enemy was not necessarily her friend.





Chapter Six





Back in her room, Sophie set Robin on the bed and paced. They might have cleared the air, but the aftermath of the confrontation with Nikolas still leaped in her muscles. She was wound too tightly, and after that horrible nap, she was never going to get to sleep.

She almost scooped up her purse and keys to leave, but running into Nikolas had been a strong wake-up call. Instead, she sat at the old, worn armchair tucked into one corner of the room and pulled out her colloidal silver. Not the water-based colloidal silver that she had used on Gawain. This time she pulled out another vial from her suitcase.

Robin had curled up on the bed, but when she uncapped the vial, he sat up to watch her. His eyes seemed brighter and more focused.