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

the McCallister compound. I nodded, expecting her to turn on her heel and lead Tank out of my life. Instead, she continued gazing at me, wolf alert behind her eyes.

“I want your promise you won’t injure my brother.”

Could I promise that? Should I promise that?

“Our purpose is defanging the fae,” I told her truthfully. “As best I can tell, your brother is an honest victim. But if he allies with them....”

“Then he’s an idiot who deserves what’s coming to him.” Jasmine nodded. “If he doesn’t, though, I want everyone off McCallister land by noon on November first. I’m not stabbing my clan in the back. I’m helping them.”

“You are.”

“Alright then.” Now she did turn on her heel, swiveling away from me.

And it hit me fully what I was setting up. Yes, a strike that might win the day...but also a nearly impossible situation for Tank to tiptoe through. My own experience within the McCallister compound hadn’t been good, but Rowan had kept me alive because he’d wanted something from me.

He wanted nothing from Tank.

“Be safe,” I murmured, hating the way my voice caught on the final word.

Tank heard, though. Heard and understood. Rather than following his guide, he pulled me into a bear hug. Wolf hug. Whatever. His bulk and scent enfolded me.

And, like I’d done with Harper, he made a promise we both knew was out of his power to keep.

“I’ll be fine.”

Chapter 36

I waited all day for Tank to contact me. Paced in my hotel room until management called to request I cool it. Bit my fingernails to the quick.

Or, rather, my wolf did. She wanted out. She wanted to follow Tank. She wanted. She wanted. She wanted.

“I want too,” I growled, swallowing down fur that tried to creep up my throat every time I inhaled too deeply. “I want to go back in time and fix the holes in our plan. Go in beside him. Go in instead of him. But we can’t. We can only move forward.”

Forward. Yes. Rescue. Now.

My fingernails, I realized, had thickened into claws while I wasn’t looking. I clenched my fists. Bit back the wolf. Calmed her with the rational, human understanding we both needed to nurture if we intended to help Tank.

“We have to wait.”

How long?

Her demand or mine? I couldn’t tell.

Wherever the thought came from, it had definite merit. Tank should have contacted us long before now. His silence said it all.

Still, I forced us to pause and consider what might have gone wrong. When taken at face value, the proposed timeline had been simple. Jasmine would smuggle Tank into the McCallister compound, sword and all. He’d find a way to send Marina back to the fae Otherworld. Then Jasmine would get him out of the compound and he’d give me a call for pickup.

Only, Tank hadn’t called. Not that evening. Not overnight. Not by dawn on Samhain itself.

No more waiting. Rescue, my wolf repeated.

“We can’t rescue him alone,” I rebutted. The wolf stilled long enough for me to reassemble the few belongings I’d scattered around the hotel room. The whole time, my mind whirled with options, not all of which terminated in dead ends.

Tank and I had agreed that I wouldn’t return to Rowan’s compound alongside him. It was too dangerous when the gifted bracer meant Marina knew where I was at all times.

But even if I couldn’t batter down Rowan’s doors personally, I could do something. I just needed allies. Powerful allies.

“The question is—how much will it cost?”

Doesn’t matter. Do it.

My wolf’s strength prompted me to dial one of the numbers I’d memorized. Tank’s friends. Harper’s keepers. The phone rang half a dozen times before anyone answered, long enough to raise a niggle of worry. The fact the speaker was out of breath when he finally picked up didn’t ease my concern.

“Who is this?” he demanded.

“Athena. Harper’s sister.”

A rustling as if the phone was being transferred. Then the same voice, more muffled as if from a distance. “Say something.”

Harper’s voice when she obeyed was clearer than his had been...and more feral. “You’re just trying to make me lose.”

Lose? “What are you losing at?”

“Athena?” Harper’s voice softened. “I’m winning at arm wrestling. Kira and I both are.”

A hoot in the background confirmed her assertion. Then a grumble emerged from the male as he took back the phone. “They’re cheating.”

Given what I knew about Kira, I wouldn’t be at all surprised by that fact. But I sidestepped the issue. “You believe I’m Harper’s sister?”

“Yes.”

“Then will you give me your alpha’s phone number?”

“Sure. Would have given you Gunner’s digits anyway. All you had to do was ask.”

He rattled off a series of numbers while I tried to work my head around the fact he hadn’t called his pack leader “alpha.” Still, I managed to commit them to memory. “Thanks,” I offered.

His answer was muffled as if he was speaking to someone away from the microphone. “I saw that!”

This time, the peals of laughter came in the unmistakable tones of my sister. I smiled as I hung up the phone.

MY SMILE DIDN’T LAST long. Going to an alpha for help was the last thing I’d ever thought I’d be doing. There would be strings attached when I made my request. No, not strings. Make that ropes. Huge, thigh-thick ropes like the ones I’d seen dangling from the sides of ocean-going ships.

But the emptiness in my gut forced me to grasp at any possibility of assistance for Tank. My inner wolf was adamant about the fact.

Still, I put off the unsavory task until I’d checked out of the hotel then driven aimlessly in my rental car to ensure Marina hadn’t sent someone to follow me. I was far enough from her current location that I hoped she’d ignore my movements. That did appear to be the case.

Finally, though, I couldn’t put off the call any longer. I pulled into a grocery-store parking lot, eying shoppers through the windshield until I was certain none were shifters. Then I