Moonshadow (Moonshadow #1)

“Werewolves by law are required to register with the National Health Service and cage themselves during the full moon. There are public cages available for those who don’t have the ability to build one for themselves. Those that don’t cage themselves run wild. They’re undisciplined and chaotic, like rabid dogs, and they hunt down animals to feed on—rabbits, deer, unwary humans. They don’t break into houses to attack people.” He set his mug beside hers. “The ones that broke into the pub here did so for a reason. They were acting under orders, which means they were the Queen’s Hounds.”

Under the blanket, the monkey was shivering. She put her head in her hands and said telepathically, Isabeau has a legion of werewolves?

Yes, but her werewolves don’t need the full moon in order to change. They can change at will, and they band together and strategize. Gawain believes they can telepathize even in their bestial form. He paused. That means either her Hounds were searching for Robin, or they were searching for me. Since we killed all of them, we can hope that nobody else has become aware of your presence yet. Switching to verbal speech, he said softly, “You still have time to back out and go home.”

“LA isn’t my home,” she muttered. “It’s just a place where I stayed for a while.”

Lifting the edge of the blanket, she looked at the creature nestled inside. Large dark eyes watched her from the deep shadow. The filmy cloudiness had vanished, and he watched her with sharp intelligence. She noticed his skewed eye had straightened. If that could heal, it must have been damage he sustained in captivity.

With a gentle finger, she urged him to open his mouth, and he did so obligingly. A new bud of flesh had appeared at the stump at the base of his mouth. He was regrowing his tongue. He was still too thin, and he needed a series of meals to correct that, but he was healing. Maybe as he recovered he would begin to speak again.

Watching her, Nikolas said, “You’re not going to leave, are you?”

“Nope,” she said. “Although I’m going to leave here.”

Setting the monkey on the ground, she pushed stiffly to her feet. Now that the battle was over, she was beginning to feel every bruise and ache. Sharp pain radiated out from her weak side, and somehow her shoulder had gotten wrenched. She wrapped her arm around her torso protectively.

The tea had given her a small boost of energy, but heavy exhaustion dragged at her, and she knew she had a limited amount of time before she had to go horizontal.

Nikolas had straightened to his full height when she had, and he was watching her sharply. He took a step closer until she could sense his body heat along one side of her body. “You said you weren’t bitten, but you were hurt, weren’t you?”

“Soft tissue stuff,” she said in brief reply. “I strained old injuries. I’ll be okay, but I need your help. Would you carry my luggage down to the car? I can’t stay here.”

“Of course you can’t. Let’s go get your things.”

The police had the front of the building cordoned off, so they walked together around to the back entrance. Maggie broke away from her husband and a cluster of neighbors to hurry over to them. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did,” she said to them. She looked at Sophie. “You risked your life to save mine.”

Guilt gnawed at Sophie, much like the corrosive spell. If she and Robin hadn’t been at the pub to begin with, the attack would never have happened. She met Nikolas’s eyes and saw a dark understanding. Then she turned to Maggie. “I’m glad there was something I could do. I can’t stay here tonight, so I’ll get my things.”

“Of course you can’t, love, but where will you go at this time of night?”

“I’ll go ahead and go to the cottage.”

Maggie’s expression creased. “It’ll be cold, and the bed will be unmade, and you won’t have any supplies with you. And I don’t like how isolated that old moldy place is.”

“It’s all right,” Sophie told her. “It doesn’t matter. I like isolation. It’ll be a roof over my head, and I can get groceries in the morning.”

“I’ll stay with her,” Nikolas told the other woman. “She won’t be alone.”

He would? Sophie raised her eyebrows as she looked at him pointedly. Thanks for asking, asshole.

He looked magnificently impervious to her speaking glance. Actually, truly magnificent. His innately elegant, erect carriage and the imperious tilt of his head drew glances from everyone around them. The fact that Sophie was affected by it irritated her to no end. With an effort, she had to restrain herself from making a face at him.

“Well… all right,” Maggie said reluctantly. “But at least let me gather some things together for you, love.” As Sophie started to protest, the other woman insisted. “Just a small box to get you started.”

Let her help you. Nikolas’s deep telepathic voice sounded unexpectedly in her head. It’s a small thing, and it will make her feel better about your leaving.

Sophie glowered at him, and when that look rolled off his broad shoulders too, she said to Maggie, “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”

“I won’t be just a minute.” Maggie hurried into her shattered kitchen, muttering under her breath at the mess.

Silent as a wraith and just as deadly, Nikolas followed Sophie up the stairs.

There was no need for her to unlock the door to her room. Like the front entrance to the pub, there was no door. She paused in the doorway to take in the mess inside.

The furniture had been knocked askew, and the bed had been shredded.

She took in a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder. Nikolas’s expression was grim. He nodded in the direction of the rest of the hall. As she looked down the hall, she realized all the other doors were still intact and closed.

Her stomach clenched. Either the Hounds had been hunting for the puck, or her, or both.

Nikolas said, “Let’s hope this cell of Hounds didn’t have a chance to relay information up the chain of command.”

He didn’t sound very hopeful, and she didn’t blame him. It sounded too much like unrealistic optimism to her as well.

She limped into the destroyed room. Since she’d been planning to stay only for one night, she hadn’t unpacked very much, and the pieces of her sturdy Samsonite luggage had been knocked around, but at least they were intact. Picking through the mess, she collected the rest of her things—a cell phone charger, clean set of clothes for the morning, and her travel toiletry bag.

Straightening with an effort, she pressed a hand against her aching side and said breathlessly, “Okay, I’m ready.”

Nikolas had collected her suitcases. He waited by the door, watching her with an inscrutable expression. As she reached him, he picked up the luggage and led the way down the stairs.

Maggie greeted them down below. She held a cardboard box. Sophie caught a glimpse of tea bags, a bottle of milk, and a loaf of bread tucked inside, along with other items. Maggie said, “It’s not much, but it will get you started in the morning.”

“It’s terrific, thank you.” Sophie set her toiletry bag on top of the box and accepted it. “It was kind of you to think of this with so much else going on.”