Page 26 of Moonlight & Mayhem

Mayhem stood again, and Chris pointed at him. “I swear to God, Silverfang, sit down.” Mayhem growled, and Chris smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile. “You want to try that again?” Moon’s wolf stirred as Mayhem stared at Chris and then slowly sat back down.

Howler coughed into his fist, and it sounded suspiciously like a laugh. “Your VP is terrifying,” he muttered to Tempest.

Tempest looked proud. “That’s why she’s my VP.”

Chris turned toward Moon. “Can he be left alone?”

“No.” Mayhem’s eyebrows lifted. Moon sighed. “Medically.”

“Sure, Doc.” She ignored him.

Chris considered the problem and then nodded. “Then church comes here.”

Mayhem groaned. “Fantastic.” Chris walked out, and Tempest followed her.

Howler paused beside Mayhem. “You all right?”

“Other than being poisoned, targeted by some ancient psycho wolf cult, apparently magically tethered to a woman who keeps threatening me with sedatives, and bullied by the Dark Chaos VP?”

Howler smiled. “I’m asking medically.”

Mayhem glanced toward Moon and sighed. “I’m alive.”

“For now,” Moon muttered.

Mayhem grinned. “She worries.”

Howler slapped his shoulder. “Good luck.”

“You’re leaving me?” Mayhem asked.

“With these women on the warpath?” Howler looked toward the hallway where Tempest and Chris had disappeared. “Absolutely.”

“Coward,” Mayhem mumbled. Howler laughed and shook his head at his VP on his way out.

Moon stared after him. “I like him.”

“Of course you do.” Mayhem reached for her, and Moon stepped away. His expression changed. “Moonlight.”

“I need to think,” she insisted.

“You think better holding my hand,” he said.

“That isn’t how thinking works,” she countered.

“Seems like it should work that way,” he said. She glared at him and Mayhem smiled. Then Moon saw the black veins darken, and her amusement disappeared.

“Damn it.” She grabbed his hand, and the reaction was immediate—the darkness receded.

Mayhem watched his arm. “Still think the mate thing is optional?”

Moon’s chest tightened. “I think whatever they put inside you is using it.”

“That isn’t what I asked,” he said.

“I know.”

His thumb brushed over her knuckles. “You’re still scared of me.”