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

you an easy two years, but I could instead force you into the harem. Do you want to be pawed by a different stranger every night or will you...”

Whatever he intended to offer, I didn’t listen. Instead, I flung the salt into Marina’s face.

Chapter 33

Marina screamed and Rowan roared. The air reeked of fur. From us. From them. I blinked against the awfulness and found Lupe and Tank four-legged, holding the doorway against an unbeatable tide of wolves.

“Give me anything you want to keep, A-bear,” Ryder suggested, voice surprisingly calm as he brushed past me in human form. He grabbed a chair and slammed it against a window. When that didn’t work, he grunted and hoisted up the small but solid desk to repeat the move.

Ryder was right. The windows were our only way out. And Marina was already rising, with no puddle of salt left to throw at her....

So I joined my team mates. Tossed my jacket to Ryder then shifted. Dove at the fae with teeth bared.

Marina tasted foul. Like rotten fruit writhing with maggots. And I didn’t get the impression the chunk I’d taken out of her thigh really harmed her either. Instead, I barely dodged the hand that lashed out, grabbing for my muzzle....

I sidestepped, kicking with my hind feet. Not at Marina, at the ground. The sandy scatter of salt granules sprayed upward, not enough to injure but enough to push her back.

One step. Two. Enough, barely.

Because delay was all Ryder needed. The window shattered. “Move it!” he roared.

He was still human. Weighed down by various shed possessions plus a wooden chair leg. He used the latter like a club as a McCallister wolf tried to enter the room from outside the window. His furry foe yelped while Ryder roared a second time: “Any day now would be nice.”

Obeying, though, meant leaving Rowan’s horde of wolves to tear at our hindquarters. Lupe and Tank backed toward me. I joined them, shoulder to shoulder. A rush of air, then the desk landed between us and our foes.

We spun and ran, three abreast as if our muscles were wired in synchrony. Leapt through the space where window glass had recently blocked our egress. Sprinted after Ryder, who seemed to know where he was headed.

Before we got there, Marina’s voice spiraled upward, the scent of maggoty peaches flying off her. “You are mine, Athena D’Argent. Stop where you are.”

Rot choked me. Pushed into my lungs. Swiveled my body backwards....

Then Tank was pressing me forward with the mass of his furry body. The maggots in my lungs wriggled once then receded.

A car door opened. I leapt inside.

RYDER NAVIGATED OUR retreat like a race-car driver on crystal meth. And, as distance yawned between me and Marina, I finally found myself able to catch my breath.

To catch my breath and shift, looking frantically for a cell phone. I hadn’t toed Marina’s line, so she’d go after my sister....

Tank was ahead of me. “Code red,” he barked into his phone. That must have been what he asked Ryder to carry for him. He’d chosen his phone and I’d chosen my leather jacket, a gift from my mother that even now lay crumpled on the floor at my feet.

And why was I thinking about phones and leather jackets when my sister was in danger? “Harper?” I asked, not wanting to intrude, but needing confirmation.

Tank nodded, gaze distant as he pressed the phone closer to his head.

“On it,” an unfamiliar male voice crackled through the speaker. “We’ll report if there’s any problem. I don’t expect one. She’s right in front of us.”

The call ended and the car swerved, pushing my naked shoulder into Tank’s equally naked chest. Then his arm was around me, holding me safe and still as he swiveled to peer backwards.

“Three cars,” he told Ryder.

From the front passenger seat, Lupe’s voice was calm as she interjected: “Take a left.”

Tires squealed, but this time my torso didn’t move. Just my stomach, sloshing in the direction the car had been going before settling into our new trajectory.

Tank’s phone rang. The instant he accepted the call, I grabbed it out of his hands. How could I not when I’d heard Harper’s voice?

“No, I won’t!”

“Give her the phone,” I demanded, hoping Tank’s friend would obey me. And he did, without question. Another crackle, then my sister’s refusal echoed in my ear.

“I don’t know you!”

“Harper.” When she didn’t answer, I yelled it. “Harper!”

“Athena?” The sounds of struggle faded. “There are strange men....”

“They’re friends. I need you to go with them.”

“Get on the highway,” Lupe said from the front seat. But Ryder didn’t signal and change lanes. Instead, he waited for the last possible instant before spinning across oncoming traffic. Tank’s arm was all that prevented me from flying into the window.

And...all of that was irrelevant. Because my sister, for once, wasn’t willing to heed my advice.

“I don’t want to leave! Clara knows where I am. When she stops being mad, she’ll call me. And my phone is inside the house.”

I considered sending her in to get it. But Tank’s head shook. There wasn’t time. Plus, if Nick got involved....

“Listen to me,” I said instead. “It’s important you go with these men right now. If you do, I’ll give you a”—I paused, trying to think what Harper wanted—“a puppy.” Which would mean I’d be the one with a puppy when she went back to school in less than a week. But I’d manage.

Only—“I’m not twelve.” From the tone of Harper’s voice, I was losing her. Losing my ability to manage the situation.

“They have a sedative,” Tank murmured in my ear. “If necessary, they’ll use it.”

No. That wasn’t happening. My sister wasn’t going to wake up woozy, kidnapped by strangers....

Instead, I promised what I knew Harper wanted far more than a puppy. What she wanted, but I had no idea how to give.

“I know you hate vacations with your father,” I told her. “If you go with Tank’s friends now, I’ll find