Lori Handeland - Marked by the Moon

Werewolf hunter.

“I loved her.”

Alex pulled her gaze from that of Alana Barlow—on a merry-go-round, riding a horse, in the sandbox—all ages, all sizes, all Alana, all the time. There was even a collection of snow globes on the only table in the room, each one surrounding a different reflection of the beautiful, dead blonde.

Cade had pulled on a pair of sweatpants he no doubt kept in the house for the times he came here and… what? Beat off in the middle of her shrine?

“This is sick,” Alex murmured.

A terry-cloth robe hit her in the face. “You’re sick. You disgusting, filthy Jäger-Sucher.”

Since the room was cold and her goose bumps had goose bumps, Alex put on the robe. “I guess all the cats are out of their respective bags,” she said.

Cade knew who she was—or close enough—and she had a pretty good idea who he was.

“Bet you were pissed when Julian took that bullet instead of me.”

“Pissed isn’t the word.” With the speed she still hadn’t quite gotten used to, he reached over and backhanded her so hard she not only flew off her feet but smashed into the wall.

Several of Alana’s pictures tore free and skated through the air to join her on the floor.

“Bitch,” he muttered. “See what you’ve done?”

A blow like that would have killed Alex if she’d been human. As it was, he’d merely knocked out a few of her teeth. She spat them on the floor and wondered if she’d live long enough to grow them back.

Alex gathered the photos and stood. “Where’d you get these?”

She was half afraid he’d say the place was Julian’s; then she’d really be creeped out.

Instead he snatched the pictures from her hands. “Don’t touch her,” he said. “Never touch her.”

Alex had to bite down on her lip to keep from saying that Alana was ashes, and they were a little hard to touch. She figured a comment like that would be the quickest way to lose another couple of teeth.

“I thought werewolves didn’t show up on film?” she said instead.

Another great reason to become one. No more pictures. Alex had never been a fan. Smile for the camera. Look pretty. Be on .

Alana didn’t appear to have any problem. From the number of photos, and the visible joy on her face in every one, she’d adored the camera as much as it had adored her.

“I asked for old photos from her Gramma, then made copies. Told her I was going to give them to Julian as a gift. Once he was ready.” Cade tacked the fallen pictures in the exact places they’d fallen out of. “I never thought he would be.”

“He isn’t,” she said. “Don’t worry.”

He rounded on her with a snarl. “He made you like her. Like us. Then brought you here . Why would he do that? He’s lost his mind. He’s lost his balls. He isn’t fit to lead.”

Alex didn’t like the sound of that. Not fit to lead usually led to some kind of coup. And in werewolf land, that meant a challenge. Although why worry? She didn’t think Cade could kill Julian.

Then again, she hadn’t thought Cade could kill anyone.

There was a lot more to Cade than any of them had been aware of. She needed to discourage a coup— along with hatred of Julian. If she had a snowball’s chance, she’d even have tried to convince him she wasn’t evil incarnate—but she knew better.

“He wanted me to suffer,” she blurted. “Killing me was too easy.” His eyes narrowed, and she hurried to add, “Not that he won’t eventually.”

“I don’t see you suffering. In fact, you fit right in with no trouble at all. And now you’re his mate. He’ll never kill you.” He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “So I have to.”

Cade had planned this well. She was naked—or near enough. She didn’t have a gun, a knife, a silver anything. And she’d returned to human form, where she was only a slightly faster, stronger woman, and from the speed with which he’d smacked her, not as fast or as strong as him. Shifting into a wolf would take too long, especially when he could do so in an instant.

Alex glanced at the windows; she couldn’t help it. But they were shuttered and—

“No one knows where we are.”

Her gaze met his, and she caught a trace of the madness he’d kept so well hidden lurking behind the eyes of a man she’d begun to think of as her friend.

“If they come to my place they’ll think we went running together. They’ll wait until tomorrow to worry.” He smiled, and the madness blossomed. “By then it’ll be too late.”

“Julian will know. He’ll figure it out.”

“He hasn’t figured anything out so far. I have my brother as convinced of my peaceful nature as anyone.”

“Love is blind,” she said.

“And pretty damn dumb.”

She had to keep him talking. If he was talking to her he wasn’t killing her.

“You murdered my father.”

Alex hadn’t meant to say that. Bringing up death at all was probably a bad idea. But she’d opened her mouth, and out it had come.

Cade had been staring at a montage of Alana in a sky-blue dress, hair piled on top of her head and messily hanging about her ears. Kind of like Cade’s.

She’d never gotten a look at his ears in this form but —

Alex frowned. She had seen his wolf ears, and they’d been as intact as hers.

“Charlie?” Cade turned away from the wall. “Never met the man.”

Could Cade have found a way to heal silver? Who the hell knew?

“Why would you think that I’d killed Charlie?” he mused.

“If you didn’t kill him, then how do you know who he is?”

“Julian has a dossier on you.” His head cocked. “From your lack of surprise, you knew that.” He lifted his gaze to the ceiling, tapped his finger against his lip. “You’re searching for your father’s killer. You think that he’s here. Why would you think that?”

His head lowered, his eyes falsely wide, his mouth in a sarcastic o . “This has Edward written all over it.”

Alex didn’t comment, because it did.

“The old man pulled a fast one. He’s been trying to find us for years. He never would have been able to.” He clapped his hands. “But then Julian became obsessed with you and his revenge. So Edward lay in wait. He used Julian’s pain to his advantage, let you become the perfect little spy.” Cade began to grin. “I wouldn’t put it past him to have leaked your identity to Julian in the first place.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. She wouldn’t put it past him, either.

“Then he tells you your father’s killer is here, and the next thing you know you’re volunteering.”

Close enough.

“This is fantastic.” He laughed. “I won’t even have to deny killing you. You’re a spy. They’ll give me a goddamn medal.”

“Julian won’t.”

Cade’s laughter died, and he shrugged. “He’s a fool. Lets Alana run off and be killed by you. Then tries to get cutesy, to punish you, and he ends up mated to you. Everything he touches turns to shit.”

“He saved your life.”

“And I thanked him. Am I supposed to be his slave until the end of time?”

“I think, yeah.”

“I think not. He doesn’t want to rule the world, well I do.”

Uh-oh, Alex thought.

“I’ve been waiting and watching for a weakness.” His gaze met hers, and he smiled. “Now he’s got one. Once I kill you, he’ll be writhing. I should be able to challenge him and win.”

Alex blinked. Hell. The coup really was on.

She had to do something. She didn’t want the village under Cade’s thumb. He was nuts. And what about the Inuits? They’d be nothing but a smorgasbord.