Moon Glamour by Aimee Easterling (books to read to be successful TXT) 📕

two teams. Harper, Tank, Athena, and Kira against Butch, Ryder, Clara, and me. Let’s make it real.”

I opened my mouth to protest the girls being included in a werewolf challenge. But...Harper needed to be treated like an adult. And—

I shot a glance at Tank. He nodded, our communication fast and wordless. With both of us focused on the same agenda, the girls would stay safe.

Lupe ignored all undercurrents as she provided one final admonition. “Go for the torso,” she started. “A solid hit counts as a killing blow.”

“Chests,” Kira said. “Got it.”

But the torso had two sides. And Ryder, as I remembered a moment too late, had stabbed his alpha in the back.

He wasn’t beyond metaphorical back stabbings either. Which is a long way of saying—while our attention was focused on Lupe, the tattooed shifter struck.

I SHOULD HAVE REALIZED that Kira would be his target. After all, she was the only one on our team with swordcraft skills.

She was also a distance away from the rest of us, picking through the practice swords in search of a better blade, when Lupe set us loose. “Go!” our leader barked, and padded swords rose and clashed in unison.

What I hadn’t noticed until too late was the way Ryder sidled away from his group while Lupe laid out the game plan. How he’d slid around the edges of the game field until he was inches away from Kira.

I’d thought he was choosing weapons just like she was. That they’d each grab a sword and trot over to join their compatriots.

That assumption proved incorrect.

Because the moment Lupe spoke, Ryder dropped his sword and attacked using weapons he was more familiar with. One hand clamped down over Kira’s mouth. The other squeezed her sword hand until her fingers released.

Meanwhile, the thud of padded weapons all around suggested I was the only one who’d noticed. So I ran. Ran toward Ryder, the brute of a werewolf with a thrashing child in his grip.

She’d managed to wiggle free of the hand over her mouth by this point. But Ryder’s meaty paw had drifted lower. To her throat, a hold I remembered far too well.

Still, the release of her mouth allowed Kira to speak. “Ow!” she managed. “Get off me!”

Ryder didn’t. Instead, he growled out animal aggression turned vaguely human. “Do you surrender?”

“No!” She was furious. Scared but unwilling to bend. Her foot kicked out wildly. Ryder dodged, bearing down with his right hand until her words turned into a wheeze.

Then he latched onto the arm she was using to try to jab behind her. Twisted it upward.

I felt the pain in my own body as Kira shrieked.

I DARTED THROUGH A pool of air that smelled like blueberries. Marina. Was she responsible for this disaster? Was it possible that strange warmth while swimming with Ryder was a pack bond building between us? Could Marina have used that tenuous connection to manipulate the burly shifter into doing her will?

Or maybe Ryder really was an asshole. Either way, I needed to focus, not on the past, but on the present. Time to fix what could be fixed.

I’d dropped my own weapon in my initial shock, but Ryder’s was there on the grass waiting for me. My mind was unbelievably clear now. I scooped up the discarded sword, letting my momentum carry me into a slide between Ryder’s legs.

I was aiming for a literal low blow, but he deserved it...and Butch got there first.

I hadn’t even realized the elegant shifter was following. But his arm came out of nowhere, so fast I barely saw it moving. A sharp crack of fist hitting flesh. Ryder’s chin snapped backward. Kira was flung away from her captor rather than released.

Meanwhile, Ryder whirled to face his new opponent, already roaring. “What the fuck, man? I’m on your team!”

“Stand down.” Butch looked twice as large as he had previously, the stink of fur so strong that fluff seemed to line my nasal passages. Was that why he meditated all the time? To prevent himself from unleashing this inner beast?

I glanced sideways, checking on Kira. She was already surrounded by a huddle of teenagers. Tank stood between them and Ryder, his wolf rampant behind his eyes.

The girls were safe...but Clara would have a heart attack if somebody shifted. Harper might too since she’d only seen me furry when I was friendly. From the fur rising on Butch and Ryder’s arms, there was nothing friendly about their impending shift.

“How do you expect to win—?” Ryder started.

And I pressed between them. Ignored the way hairs rose on the back of my neck as the cold draft of alpha aggression bore down on me from both the right and left hand. I raised my padded not-really sword then struck with words instead.

“Kira is a child,” I spat at Ryder, willing him to remember what he’d said about her around the campfire. I had little expectation that it would work. But, strangely, it did.

Because Ryder glanced at me, peering down as if he was ten feet taller than I was. Our height difference must have triggered some werewolf instinct because the wolf receded. He blinked three times in fast succession then dropped his head into his hands.

“Shit.” Ryder’s scent morphed from anger to remorse in an instant. Like rotten peaches, sweet enough to attract wasps.

Taking a step around me, he headed toward Kira. Not the same Kira he’d battled earlier though. She’d found her feet and picked up a branch in place of a sword.

Now, she stepped away from the other girls, evading Tank when he tried to stop her. “Stay where you are,” the girl hissed at Ryder.

Not that she had any need to defend herself or her gaggle of friends. Butch and I were already moving back into position, ready to manhandle Ryder into submission. Tank was also striding into place, ready to fling himself between Kira and Ryder.

And none of that proved necessary, because Ryder had regained his humanity. “Right.” He stopped walking, scrubbing