(FREE TO READ) Bad Moon

chapter 36 ; spell

"I'm worried my men alone won't be enough. If that phone call held even an essence of truth, a war between wolves has just begun. Without Leo, that leaves only me and Imani defending the West. Two of us, in arms against half of the United States. And Jaylin...If they take him, it'll be all for nothing. Just another innocent person, lost to their backward logic."

Tisper was afraid to ask just what he meant. She was afraid to know what might happen to Jaylin. So she didn't question it. She stood up and held out her hand. "Then get off your ass and give me the keys."

Quentin furrowed with a look that said what for?

"Don't give me that broody face." She wiggled her fingers. "I know sleep deprivation when I see it. You need brain function, and no offense but you don't look so pretty with bloodshot eyes."

Quentin surrendered his keys into the palm of her hand and pushed himself up from the ground. "Try not to break anymore windows."

Tisper cracked the door open and slid herself into the driver seat, adjusting the mirrors to her liking. "Maybe later. Right now we need to take back wasted time."

"Where do we start? If he was anywhere in Washington, we would have found him by now."

"Then maybe he's not in Washington," Tisper said simply. "Details. I want them. All of them."

Quentin didn't evade her like she thought he would. He took the passenger seat and relaxed against the headrest. "Details," he said. "Alright. I can do that."

Tisper felt something of a resolve, turning to adrenaline in her bones. And though she feared for Jaylin, she knew there was only one way this was ending and it would her way. With Jaylin, safe and alive and smiling.

She turned his key in the ignition. She could feel the purr beneath her feet, and in that moment, Tisper took back every bad thing she'd thought about cars.

She pressed to the gas, veered from the parking lot, fishtailing the curb on her way out. The car jounced back onto the street so hard Quentin had to grip the roof to keep from launching out of his seat, but as she glanced over, Tisper saw his look of panic crack into a genuine grin—the first one she'd seen all day.

"This," he said, "is why I brought you."

-

There was something about wolves.

The way they paced, the way they stalked and sniffed and respired. Each breath came in hard gusts—tired expiration, boredom, uncertainty. They'd all gathered under the table—all twelve of them, some lying down, some walking, walking, walking along the hardwood. Each weighty, lumbered footstep drove Jaylin's nerves wild. Then there were times where he felt a breath on his leg, a wet snout on his ankle. He felt like bounding out of his chair. He wasn't sure why; they didn't seem aggressive, but desperately, Jaylin wanted to run from the wolves.

Ziya was across the table, talking. She hadn't stopped talking. She only shut her mouth to take a bite of chicken, chew, swallow and then she was speaking again.

Jaylin hadn't touched his food.

"It really is remarkable how they are. There's an understanding among them. They all have different personalities, you know—each one of them. Some love, some fight. Some cater to the others when they're ill and some rebel completely against their Alpha."

Jaylin jerked his foot away from the tickle of a curious snout. "They have an alpha?"

"Her name is Mayla. She doesn't much like to be around the others. She comes out of her room on occasion, to make sure the Omegas are behaving."