Moon Sworn (Riley Jenson Guardian 9)

"Tell me about it," Evin muttered, then added, "Hanna thought we'd better check, just in case there was someone here who needed medical help."

"Hanna?" The other man's gaze seemed to rest on me. I could feel the weight of his annoyance. "Isn't she the sister that went missing?"

"Yeah. We just got back. I asked Cathie to let you know."

"Well, she didn't." He stepped up beside me, surrounding me with his scent - warm spices and musky wolf.

"You really need to step away."

"And you really need to know that there's something else here."

"What?"

I glanced at him then. He was several inches taller than me, with dark hair and well-defined, handsome features. His shoulders were broad, his body lithe - the build of an athlete, not a bodybuilder. Something within me leapt and my gaze jerked up to his face, searching for a reason for the tug of familiarity. He was wearing dark glasses, so I couldn't see if his eyes were as dark as his hair. But part of me wanted them to be - expected them to be.

Except that he was a werewolf.

That bit didn't fit with what I was expecting.

I tore my gaze away from his and motioned toward the body. "There's something else here. An odd sort of energy."

It was thick and strong, and it felt like fingers of ice caressing my flesh, cooling the heat of sunburn, sucking at my strength.

It was also something I'd felt before, back in the times I couldn't remember. I had no fear of it, even when the slivers of pain began to stab at my brain - a pain that was scarily similar to the pain that occurred when I'd tried to shift shape.

Something had obviously gone seriously wrong when I'd hit whatever it was I'd hit.

"I can't feel - "

I grabbed Harris's arm, stopping him. His muscles tensed under my fingertips, but he didn't pull away. I pointed with my other hand. "There."

"What?" His voice was patient, as if he were dealing with a crazy person. And who knew, maybe he was.

Except that I could see it. A faint wisp of white hovering just above the victim's head.

"A soul."

"A soul? Lady - "

"Damn it, it's there. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

"Yeah, right. Evin, I think you'd better - "

"Sorry, Hanna," Evin said, and before I could react, something hit me over the head and the world went black.

I woke to darkness. I lay there for several seconds, staring upward but not really registering that there was a ceiling above me rather than sky and stars.

Then memory hit and I jerked upright. Only to wince in pain as my head protested the movement. I raised a hand and felt a bump the size of an egg on the side of my head. Evin. The bastard didn't have to hit me so hard.

I swung my legs off the bed. A dozen different aches awoke, and my skin felt like it was glowing. Obviously, the werewolf quick-healing thing wasn't working too well on my sunburn.

I was still wearing Evin's shirt, and his scent hung on the air. How could my own brother smell so familiar and yet so strange? It was weird, and I really didn't think it had anything to do with the lack of memory. It was something that went deeper.

Everything that was happening went far deeper than a lack of memory - of that I was sure. I just had to try to figure out the what and whys without raising anyone's suspicions in the process. I don't know why, but I had a bad feeling that would not be a good idea just yet.

There were voices in one of the rooms beyond mine, and it took me several minutes to realize it was probably the TV. I couldn't hear Evin moving about, but I could smell coffee, and my stomach rumbled a reminder that I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in a while.

I scrubbed a hand across my face. I felt grimy and achy, and I desperately needed a shower, food, and coffee. But more than anything, I needed to understand what was going on.