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

The scents in the room sharpened one second before Tank bit out: “Wrong answer.” So I was ready. Ready to slam my free elbow into Marina’s midsection, to use my full weight to drag myself out of her grip....

Lupe’s voice whipped across the room, proving Tank hadn’t arrived solo. “Rune Pelletier, freeze!”

The command would have worked on most werewolves. But, of course, Marina wasn’t a werewolf. In fact, she laughed as if we were playing straight into her hands.

She laughed...and dropped her disguise. Or so I assumed from Ryder’s ten-syllable string of expletives. Tank kept his response simple: “You’re not Butch.”

Marina’s voice was now female. “You mean I’m not Rune Pelletier. Thank you for the true name. I’ll use it wisely.”

So names were powerful for the fae? Names...like my sister’s, which Marina had known from the first time I spoke to her.

Harper’s safety pulled at me like a magnet, but the immediate issue was Marina. I crouched at her feet, forgotten for the moment. Dismissed as a pawn no longer useful on a crowded chessboard.

My glance skimmed around the room, hunting a better weapon. Finding none, I snatched up the salt shaker and unscrewed the top.

That was plan B, though. Instead of tossing granules at Marina, I followed Lupe’s lead and dredged up a full name.

After all, Harper had called her history teacher Ms. Rothschild. It was at least worth a shot.

“Marina Rothschild, tell us where Butch is,” I demanded.

A peach-scented foot came down on my fingers as she laughed.

“YOU THINK I’D HAND over my true name? Amateur hour.” Marina’s words were light, but her heel ground into my bones. “That was an impersonation, little wolf. If you’d paid any attention to your sister, you would have realized I wasn’t her teacher. Too bad you don’t listen to her prattle.”

Harper didn’t prattle. But, yeah, sometimes she exploded into words that flowed over and around me. The fact I’d failed as a guardian stung as much as Marina’s foot crushing my hand.

I tried to cling to what was important, but I couldn’t. Couldn’t hold tight to faith that I was a proper guardian to my sister. Couldn’t hold onto the salt shaker either. Instead, it spun away from both of us, my final weapon lost.

My final weapon...but I had three allies behind me. I heard the faintest shuffling of werewolf footfalls, then silence as the sharp tip of a blade landed in front of my nose. “I wouldn’t,” Marina murmured. Not to me. To my allies.

And they didn’t. There was nothing but silence from the others as Marina toyed with her prey—me.

“For a wolf, you’re surprisingly blind,” she mused, tilting my chin up with her sword. I’d hoped the weapon was an illusion, but she must have had a real sword hidden away in her pajamas. Because even though she used the flat of the blade, the metal was cold and unyielding against my skin.

“Didn’t you wonder how Rowan assembled a harem?” she continued. “Didn’t you wonder how his pack became so skewed?”

“I thought that’s just how alphas were,” I admitted, fingers fumbling for the shaker while I strove to keep my chin steady. The salt was almost within reach. Almost....

I grasped at the glass container and it scooted an inch in the wrong direction. Away from me, away from Marina too.

“They were a little off from the start,” Marina agreed, seeming not to notice the salt shaker as I fumbled for it a second time. Her sword relaxed away from me as she spoke. “That gave me a toehold. It was simple, really. Find the cracks and push into them. Once the harem formed, it became simpler yet.”

The sword should have been my sole concern, but Lupe had provided words of wisdom during our short swordsmanship lesson. “Focus on your offense. If you play defensively, you’re sunk.”

So I eyed the salt shaker rather than the sharp blade now an inch away from me. The lid was off the former. Maybe....

I strained my shoulder reaching for it. But my fingers made contact. I couldn’t grab hold, not at this distance. But I could push it. And as the glass cylinder swirled toward a darkened corner, the contents spewed out.

“An outcast sub-pack,” Marina continued. “Their bonds taste so very good....”

Her smugness faded into a hiss. A few grains had touched her foot, an accident so minor I barely saw the salt strike.

Marina’s reaction wasn’t minor. She jumped backward as if the salt was a live wire. Her face contorted, for the first time looking something other than beautiful. Her sword was no longer at my throat.

And I scooped up salt with aching fingers. Reared back to fling the mound of granules at Marina...only to be slapped into stillness by Rowan’s voice.

“Stop.”

My arm wouldn’t move but my head could. Could turn to face the doorway, where my three team mates were now outnumbered by dozens of McCallister wolves.

I say wolves because their eyes glowed hungry. But they were human, most of them. Human and ready to take my team mates down.

Human and ready to defend Marina. After all, she’d tapped into their pack bonds as she’d so smugly revealed.

I had allies also. But we were outmanned and inside enemy territory.

Still, Lupe, it turned out, was the more dominant alpha of the two. Her rebuttal vibrated through my bones as she countered Rowan. “Athena, what you do next is your own decision.”

My decision. To lose the goodwill of the alpha who would decide whether I was allowed to spend another hour in my sister’s company. To cling to the tenuous possibility of connection I’d built with the Samhain Shifters, hoping they’d protect me from Rowan’s inevitable backlash. Could I really trust that someone other than me would watch my back?

Between me and Rowan, Tank nodded. As if he could hear my thoughts and was making me a promise. He didn’t dip his chin to hide his face either. Just stared straight into my eyes.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret,” Rowan snarled. “I’ve offered