Alpha's Moon (Shifter Ops 1)

My wolf relaxes in the presence of the pack. These are my brothers, for better or worse. They heard my call, and they came.

We point our noses to the moon and howl. They sing for a brother found, but I cry for what I’ve lost.

Sadie

Two days pass with no sign or word from Deke. I finally cave and phone a friend. Not all of them, just Adele. I can’t take a full Inquisition.

As soon as I open my door for her, Adele knows something is wrong.

“What happened?” she asks.

I press my lips together to keep the tears back, and she pulls me into a hug. “Sadie, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m okay,” I sniffle.

“No, you’re not.” Adele pulls back and studies me. “That asshole. I will end him.”

“No, don’t do that.”

“Tell me everything.”

So I do. I leave out the part about Deke being a werewolf, but I tell her everything else. The trip, the flirting, the wedding. The sex—of course I skim over those details. “We were all over each other,” I summarize, my cheeks hot.

“Hmm,” Adele murmurs, swirling her wine. Totally non-judgemental. “And he was a total gentleman?”

“Yes. I mean, he’s intense.” I blush red as Adele’s wine. “Especially in bed. But I liked that. Things were fine. He told me about his past, his arrest, and we talked about it. He has PTSD from his service to our country. Sometimes it triggers violence. I was willing to work through it with him.” Crap, now I have to tell her the worst of it.

“But then he…”

“He what?”

“It was the toy. The stupid jackalope. It’s been malfunctioning, and it went off in the middle of the night, and Deke...went crazy.”

Adele goes still. I swallow. “He didn’t hurt me. But he….he thought it was a threat. He wrecked my closet. And destroyed the toy before I could stop him.”

“Well.” Adele sits back in her seat.

“So that was early Monday,” I finish. “When he realized what he’d done, he was devastated. He told me he’s too dangerous, and he took off. I haven’t seen him since. I did leave a voicemail at his office.” There was no answer. I spent last night by the window, waiting, wondering who else to call. “It’s been two days. I’m worried.”

Adele rubs her forehead, an unusual gesture for her normally poised self. She looks tired tonight, the shadows dark as bruises under her eyes. “This is a lot.”

“I know.” I bite my lip, desperate to defend Deke. But I need a cool head to weigh in on things. My instincts when it comes to men are all messed up.

“You care about him.” The statement is more a question.

“I do. He’s...he makes me strong. He never tells me what to do. Never tries to control me.” Not like Scott and my dad. “He gives me space to be who I am. He likes who I am.” I search for words to articulate who Deke is to me. It’s impossible. A few days, and Deke has changed my whole life. “I feel stronger with him. But this violence in him… I know he won’t hurt me, but my instincts might be screwed up.”

“He has PTSD—it’s common in vets.”

“Yeah.”

“Can he talk to anyone about it?”

I shrug.

Adele’s voice hardens. “He needs to talk about it. He needs to do something to fix this. He’s dangerous. His first instincts should be to keep you safe.”

“I think they are. That’s why he destroyed the toy.”

“But you could’ve been hurt. He’s willing to fight others on your behalf. But will he fight his own demons?”

Outside, a truck with a big engine rumbles past my house. If Deke’s ride wasn’t parked outside my house, I’d run out to see if it was him.

But then there’s a knock on the door.

“Miss Diaz?” A deep voice calls. I head towards the door, peeking out the window as I do. It’s Rafe. A khaki-colored Humvee idles in the cul-de-sac, Lance behind the wheel.

Adele rips the door open before I can get to it. “What do you want?” she says in a frosty tone that would cow lesser men.

Rafe doesn’t cower. He does stand up straighter, like he’s in the presence of a commanding officer. “I’m here to pick up Deke’s ride.”

“Is he all right?” I quaver.

“He’ll be okay, Sadie. We found him, brought him home.”

I go and grab Deke’s keys, but instead of returning them to Rafe I grip them tight. “I want to see him.”

“I know you do,” Rafe says patiently. “But it’s not a good idea.”

“I just want to know that he’s okay.” My voice catches. Adele puts a steadying hand on my back.

Rafe angles his head to the side, a very wolf-like movement. His eyes glitter strangely in the low light. “Deke can’t be with you.”

Adele takes a breath, and I know she’s gearing up to protest, to defend me. Rafe holds up a hand, stalling her.