Moon Thrall by Donna Grant Page A

you say that?”
    “He’s proving it to you every day, Skye,” Solomon said as he leaned against the doorway. “He patrols all night, only catching little naps when we make him take a break. He’s hardly eaten in days. Like all of us, he knows the attack is coming, and he wants to make sure there are no surprises.”
    “Which will happen if I leave.”
    Solomon nodded his head once.
    Skye looked at each person in the room. “There has to be something we can do to get this attack over with. If we wait too long, we won’t have the other weres for help.”
    “She’s right,” Kane said as he walked into the room. “They’re already getting antsy. Griffin is keeping them here for now.”
    Minka leaned forward and propped her elbows on the table. “I didn’t come just to play cards, Skye. I came here because I have an idea. One that I think could get you out of this mess.”
    “Took you long enough,” Solomon mumbled.
    Skye watched the two of them, wondering if Solomon disliked Minka as much as he put on. Or if there were something more there. Skye was beginning to think there was something more.
     

C HAPTER T HIRTEEN

    Court stood back by a stand of trees and stared at the house he’d grown up in. There were many good memories there, but it was the night their parents were murdered that always came to mind when he looked at it.
    He loved coming home, but it was hard. Their family had been shattered in one night because of a vengeful Voodoo priestess who didn’t want the five factions to have any type of peace.
    Delphine had gotten her wish with his parents’ deaths. Now she needed to die. If she wasn’t causing problems with the LaRues, she was messing with the Chiassons. So far, neither family had lost another member to Delphine’s attempts.
    But how long could their luck hold out.
    Then there was Skye.
    Court blew out a deep breath. The woman was constantly on his mind. He thought about her even in sleep. Her laugh, her lips turning up in a sensual smile, her long black hair, her smoky eyes. Her body.
    She drove him mad with desire. He craved her, yearned for her. Burned for her.
    Being around her so much over the past days had been the sweetest kind of torture. He would find ways to get as close to her as he dared. Occasionally, he’d let their hands brush. He even sunk so low as to touch her hair when she passed. Each time he returned from a patrol, he fought not to go to her, to pull her into his arms for a kiss as Myles did Addison.
    Court grew hard just picturing Skye in his arms, imagined kissing her slowly, seductively, passionately. It was why he chose to patrol all night, because he couldn’t be in the same house as her and not go to her.
    He wasn’t fighting it. He wanted to go to Skye. Court knew making love to her would be amazing. But she was being hunted by the vamps. He had to concentrate on that threat.
    There was a slight movement to his left. Court shifted his gaze and saw Kane walk silently around a tree. Kane came to stand beside him, and for long moments, neither brother said a word.
    “How many more nights are you going to spend out here watching the house?” Kane asked.
    Court took immediate offense. “I patrol.”
    “In between staring at the house and thinking of Skye.”
    Court didn’t bother to deny it. But he didn’t want to talk about it either. “How long to do you think Riley will stay?”
    “As long as she needs to.”
    “She’s done you good.”
    Kane lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “Riley is a strong woman. She’s a Chiasson. But she also needed someone. She’s not as happy as she makes out.”
    That made Court frown. “Is it her brothers?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t ask questions.”
    “Which is apparently exactly what she needs.”
    “Yeah,” Kane mumbled. After a long stretch of silence, he said, “I don’t know if we would’ve acted any differently than our cousins if we’d had a sister.”
    Court grunted. “I’ve thought the same