Lori Handeland - Marked by the Moon

Alex didn’t think so, but still she nodded.

“It’s the price we pay for immortality.” Daniel laid his hand atop hers, and Alex’s throat went thick. She must not be as over the choking fit as she’d thought. “It’s a very high price.”

“What if the guy—” Daniel lifted a brow. “—or girl you killed deserved to be dead?” A thousand times over.

“Ah, Julian’s method,” he murmured. “A very—”

Together they said, “—bad man.”

“You still killed a human being,” Daniel continued. “Your soul is no longer white.”

“It ain’t black, either.”

“Perhaps,” he said, though he didn’t sound convinced.

“You agonize over who you killed,” Alex murmured. “So you have no peace of mind.” If that was the case, it was going to be a very long eternity for Daniel.

“No,” he said. “Well, yes. I do agonize over the person who ensured my immortality, and I always will. But that isn’t the loss of peace I’m talking about.”

“What is?”

His eyes met hers and within them she saw a stark fear that gave her an unpleasant little jolt. “We’re hunted, Alex.”

“The Jäger-Suchers. ”

“We can never be completely at peace because there is always someone—” He took a breath. “—many, many someones, and they aren’t all Jäger-Suchers, who live and breathe to kill us.”

You’d think Alex would be happy to know that she’d struck fear into the hearts of werewolves everywhere. Strangely, she wasn’t. She felt like Godzilla, stomping on all the little racing ant-people.

“You’re safe here,” she said soothingly.

His dark gaze seemed to bore into hers. “Are we?”

Did he know?

That was impossible. If Daniel thought she was working for Edward, he certainly wouldn’t be this nice to her. No one would be.

The reminder of the second reason that she was here, and what she was supposed to do once she had what she’d come for, made Alex’s stomach pitch and her skin crawl.

She had a sudden image of Edward Mandenauer and a posse of J-S agents descending on Barlowsville, shooting wolves like fish in a barrel.

Alex gave a mental wince. She should probably stop being so buddy-buddy with the enemy.

“You don’t think you’re safe?” she asked.

Daniel shrugged. “I know Edward.”

“Personally?” Alex’s voice lifted with surprise, and the older man smiled.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Alex opened her mouth to ask for this story, forgetting her resolve to stop befriending every werewolf that sat in her station, and Daniel’s smile bloomed, happiness lighting his eyes and causing his slightly slumped shoulders to straighten. However, the expression wasn’t for Alex but for the young man who’d just walked through the door.

“Wow” was all Alex could manage before the new arrival’s gaze went to the counter, zeroed in on Daniel, and the same smile blossomed all over his face.

The guy was Calvin Klein model handsome—with feathered black hair, deep blue eyes, chiseled cheekbones, and a body that would make a werewolf jealous. Hell, she was.

He wore a blue, white, and black plaid flannel shirt over what appeared to be an extremely tight white wife beater. She had time to wish it was warm enough in here to take off the flannel before she was distracted by how he filled out his jeans.

He strode straight for Daniel, and the older man stood, waiting for him with obvious pleasure. Alex figured he was Daniel’s son, or maybe his grandson, produced before whatever tragedy had made Daniel choose to become a werewolf. Though what could have induced this specimen to become one, too—and hide himself away here in the Arctic when he could be strutting shirtless on a catwalk somewhere—Alex probably didn’t want to know. Then Hot Guy reached them, cupped Daniel’s jaw, and planted one right on his lips.

Alex blinked. Then she blinked again. Then she glanced around the coffee shop, but no one appeared as shocked by this as she was. She suspected they’d seen it before.

Eventually the new arrival stopped giving Daniel the tongue and lifted his head, meeting Alex’s eyes and winking. “Probably want to close that mouth, ma’am, ’fore you catch flies.”

He had the most gorgeous southern accent, incongruous with the flannel shirt and heavy boots he wore, and the land of ice he’d just walked in from.

“I—uh—yeah,” Alex returned. Why she’d thought all werewolves were straight she had no idea. In truth, she’d never thought much about werewolves beyond how she could kill them.

Daniel turned, stars in his eyes, goofy smile on his lips, and the young man reached for Daniel’s hand with a gesture Alex found very sweet. They stood there, the tall, muscular, youthful demigod and the short, skinny, dapper old gentleman, both grinning like idiots. Alex just hoped Daniel didn’t get his heart broken anytime soon. She didn’t want to be here to see it. She liked Daniel.

And since when did she like a werewolf?

“This is Josh,” Daniel said.

“Hi.” Alex offered her hand. “I’m—”

“Alex.” Josh placed his palm against hers. His was toasty warm, despite having just come in from the cold without gloves. “I know.” He shrugged, and his lips quirked engagingly. “We all do.”

“Right.” She’d met them in the town square while naked. That should bother her, but it didn’t. There were a lot of things that used to bother Alex that didn’t any longer.

“We’re off to the market,” Daniel said.

“We need to get some hamburger,” Josh informed him.

Alex hoped hamburger was actually hamburger around here.

“Don’t you have a job?” she blurted.

Daniel cast her a quick glance, and she realized she might as well have asked: Is he your boy toy?

But Josh just laughed. “We own the movie theater. Don’t have to go in until later.”

“There’s a movie theater?”

“It’s a town. Why wouldn’t there be?”

Considering that the inhabitants of this town liked to spend their evenings running on four paws beneath the light of the moon, Alex didn’t figure a theater would get much business.

“What do you show?” she asked. “ Wild Kingdom kind of stuff?”

Josh’s forehead creased. “What?”

“Caribou? Rabbits? Whitetail? Maybe some zebra and antelope to jazz things up?”

Josh glanced at Daniel, who shrugged. “She thinks we show films of prey.”

Understanding spread over Josh’s face, quickly followed by confusion again. “Why?”

“She’s still new.” Daniel patted Josh’s arm. “She’ll catch up.”

“Catch up?” Alex echoed. “To the caribou?”

But the two were already headed for the door.

“See you tomorrow!” Daniel called as they left.

“You seem worried.” Rose had left her perch at the cash register to join Alex behind the counter.

“I hope he doesn’t get hurt.”

“Hurt?” Rose repeated, appearing genuinely puzzled.

“Young guy, older man. Usually doesn’t last.”

Rose laughed. “They’ve been together since 1783.”

“They—What?”

“You thought they met here?”

Alex wasn’t sure what she’d thought.

“You know,” Rose said quietly. “We’re people most of the time.”

Alex tilted her head, studying Rose’s serene face. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“You think we’re different than other people? We really aren’t.”

“You turn into wolves beneath the moon, Rose. How different can you get?”

“But when the moon is down, we’re just like everyone else.”

“Order!” Joe sang.

Alex began to load her tray. “You sure don’t eat like everyone else.”