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

really big enough to be called a room, branched off the edge of my cell. Just a nook with a sink and toilet. No door. One towel rack.

The guys whose scent infused the space had left behind a bar of soap—used—and a grimy towel. Did they live out of suitcases to have been able to pack up so quickly? Get rotated through rooms without any say-so in the matter? I shivered but kept sniffing, hunting for something I could use to escape.

I found the one possible tool—a phone—by following converging scent trails. The beds, door, and bathroom had seen the most use, but one corner of the room was also frequented. Shifting to human form, I felt along the wall with my hands. Something fell when I touched it, banging painfully against my knee.

I only realized I’d been struck by the receiver of an old-fashioned telephone when a question emerged at knee-height. “What do you need?”

This was a female voice, but she sounded nothing like the submissive women I’d met so far within the McCallister compound. Instead, she seemed vaguely annoyed at being interrupted. I fumbled for the receiver. “Who is this?” I asked.

“Jasmine. And you’re Athena. I don’t have all night. Can we get to the point?”

Jasmine was a switch-board operator it seemed, even though I couldn’t see why we needed one in this digital age. Especially not one who was borderline rude.

Still, I stated the obvious. “I want to make a call.”

Jasmine’s voice turned cagey. “Who do you wish to speak with?”

I rattled off the number I’d memorized from Tank’s business card.

A pause. Then: “An outside number?”

“Let me guess. You have to ask your alpha.”

And...she laughed at me. “No. I don’t have to ask my alpha. I can tell you right now I won’t connect you. Don’t bother me again.”

SINCE THE DOOR WAS locked from the outside but could open at any moment, I shifted to wolf form and settled down against the barrier. And, thanks to my wolf, I slept, even though I was trapped in a tiny cinderblock room with no means of egress. Slept until the overhead light flicked on and my stomach started rumbling. Then I yawned, shifted, pulled on yesterday’s dress....and my door opened without benefit of a knock.

A woman stood in the open doorway, a bundle of fabric in her arms. She could have been the woman who’d offered me clothes last night or someone entirely different. Still, I was pretty sure she wasn’t Jasmine when she opened her mouth.

“The alpha requested you join him for breakfast.”

She didn’t offer her name, so I didn’t ask for one. Instead, I took a step toward the door, noting as I did so that a good night’s sleep had finally taken the twinge out of my ankle. “Perfect.”

The route to semi-freedom was open, even though there was a male standing guard outside it. That was a step up from the previous night when my nose suggested there had been no one close enough to hear me if I yelled.

But I didn’t make it to the hall after all. Because the woman sidestepped to block the exit, failing to budge as I advanced on her.

“You’ll need to change first.” As if on cue, the door closed, locking us back into the bedroom. “Here.” She handed over a bundle of fabric that did, indeed, seem large enough to cover an entire person, unlike the sad excuse for a dress I currently had on.

But when I shook out the silky fabric, I winced. “Uh uh.”

She leaned closer, peering at what I was holding. “What’s wrong?” Her head cocked.

“This?” I held up fishnet stockings and a thong in one hand. “I’m not wearing this in public.”

“There’s a robe.” The woman used long fingernails to pluck the rest of the fabric out of my arms. The silky garment that had made up most of the bundle turned out to be a coverup that was only borderline too sexy to be worn outside the boudoir. “No one will look at you in the halls anyway,” she continued. “They know you’re the alpha’s property.”

I most certainly wasn’t the alpha’s property. I was someone with two and a half days left to gather photographs and deal with Marina before returning to something that felt more important than a mere job. Regardless of my attachment to a group that was due to disassemble in half a week, I had no intention of staying put.

“I’ll go to breakfast in what I have on.” I kept my voice firm, taking one more step forward until I was just past the lupine comfort zone.

Up until this point, the woman had acted like a normal person, albeit a slightly dense one. But now her eyes fell to the floor, her tone turning into that of a submissive wolf being forced to stand up to someone stronger than herself. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

I felt like a bully. Still, I wasn’t about to back down. “Then Rowan will have to do without the pleasure of my company.”

We stood there for a solid moment before the woman risked a glance upward. Her face was pinched. “The alpha won’t like that.”

I hoped not liking my answer wouldn’t blow back on her. But this was the woman’s pack, not mine. I wasn’t about to start playing by Rowan’s rules.

“Too bad,” I answered.

And something flashed in her eyes. Something I couldn’t quite make sense of.

Then she shrugged and turned away from me. Knocked on the door and was let out by the guard, leaving without looking back.

DOLLING MYSELF UP SO I could eat with Rowan was, apparently, my only option for breakfast. Because the door remained closed after that for what must have been hours, until a woman—a different one, possibly?—showed up with another offer of clothes.

The selection this time was skimpier than the first time. There wasn’t even a robe to cover it. Just underwear and frippery.

“No,” I said simply, sending the clothes bearer away.

After that, I appeared