Electric Moon Read Free Page A

of her life, consuming
what little of her soul that remained. She caught the towel London threw at her
head and wiped her face, ignoring the way her muscles quivered.
    “You have the natural instincts. More importantly, you know
how to get out of the way. For a human, you’re good.” London lumbered closer on
silent feet, surprisingly light despite his bear counterpart, his thick brows
drawn down in a straight line. He didn’t bother to towel off his shortly
cropped black hair. No need. The big bastard didn’t even break out in a sweat.
“But instinct is not enough. Stop thinking human. Until you can harvest your
animal, you’re nothing more than dead meat.”
    His words condemned her, but his eyes urged her to push
harder. The ringing of the phone interrupted his scrutiny, and frustration
bubbled up in her when he strode away. How the hell was she supposed to learn
when no one could teach her?
    “For you.” Taggert slipped out of her office, holding a
phone in his outstretched hand. Although she rescued him from the slave
auction, he technically remained bound under contract until she could
officially claim him at the conclave.
    She rubbed her arms as his aura splashed against her body, her
skin tightening almost painfully. Snatching up the phone, she backed away as if
he were contagious.
    Except distance didn’t help.
    Every nerve in her body was aware of him. She eyed his
shaggy, sun-streaked hair and resisted the urge to brush it away from his face.
His experience as a slave had jaded him that she sometimes forgot he was close
to ten years her junior.
    “Raven.” She spoke into the phone, her clipped tone more
abrupt than she’d intended.
    “We have a case.”
    Scotts’ voice rescued her from getting even crankier on
everyone’s ass. For a chance at freedom without the scent of shifters driving
her batty with the need to touch, murder sounded like heaven.
    “What have you got?”
    “It’s a mess. One of yours. It appears to be a bomb. I need
you on this one. Consider this an official request. File the damn papers and get
down here.” Those papers were an application to join a national task force for
paranormals. Until she filed, she couldn’t officially assist the police as a
private consultant as she had in the past, not with the new laws just passed.
    The dial tone answered her before she could put up more of a
protest. He sounded frustrated and overworked, much like any cop, except Scotts
dealt with all the paranormal dreck that landed on the police’s doorstep that
even the paranormals refused to claim as their own.
    It was also their first case on the new squad. They needed
to close this one fast.
    She walked in her office and sat. The large desk provided little
protection against the future rushing toward her.
    Ignoring the way her fingers persisted in shaking, she
grabbed her gloves and busied herself working the leather over her hands. The familiar
action did nothing to relax her. “You heard.”
    “Sign these.” Taggert handed her a folder.
    Raven grabbed it automatically. When she saw the application,
she hesitated. If she took this final step, there would be no going back. She’d
be thrust into the spotlight, her whole life examined. But working with the
police to help the paranormals was all she’d ever wanted. All she knew. After
all the injustice she’d suffered from both humans and shifters, she never
wanted anyone else to feel there was no one out there to help them.
    “If you want to continue to work with the police, you need
to sign the forms.” He didn’t put any emotions in his voice, tidying her desk
as if he considered it his new den, taking over the hated paperwork she did for
her cases. “Those who voted for you won’t care if you take the job, but they
will expect their favors returned whether you are able or not.”
    Stifling a growl of frustration, she flipped through the
pages, noting Taggert had dotted every i and crossed every t ,
everything ever so legal like.