Page 171 of Moon Claimed

“What are you doing, dog lover?” Valerie spat. “Keep moving.”

Spice.

The black wolf was here. Behind me. Behind the stewards. With the Luthers.

As I inhaled again, my insides froze to ice.

He was moving closer.

To the scent of vanilla and cut grass.

ToRhona.

“Come on, Andie. We’ve got to go,” Billy said, half apologetically.

Ears buzzing, I stumbled forward, hunching slightly as I extended a claw and began to saw at the ropes. The angle was awkward, but my claws were powerful and sharp, capable of slicing through bones.

Picking up the pace, I sawed harder.

“Slow down,” Valerie snapped.

“I only have two hours. There’s packing to do,” I caught the ropes as my hands came free.

Ready?I asked my wolf.

Rhona betrayed you. Leave her.

But my mind was cast back to that moment after Herc’s death when we sat together in his office, holding hands. The split second where Rhona decided to take a tranquiliser dart for me rather than save herself. We’d climbed under the blankets after scattering some of Ragna’s ashes and spoke of our mothers until near dawn.

I can’t,I thought to her.

Whirling, I ripped the guns from my captor’s clutches, bursting forward at a speed just within human confines.

Their shouts rang after me, but I ignored them, sprinting toward Rhona.

The spice grew stronger.

He was closing in on her.

The stewards turned at the shouts behind me, rearing back and eyes wide as I catapulted through their midst.

“Move,” I told them in a voice only half mine.

He was too close.

But how was he getting so close to Rhona while Sascha remained back with the other Luthers?

I shoved through the final row of stewards.

27

The Luther marshal.

His spice scent filled my nostrils. My body ached with the need to shift and protect.

His yellowed eyes locked on mine.

“Rhona,” I called low.