A Werewolf's Moon (The Council) Read Online Free Page A

me. This guy missed the memo. I dialed Henry ’s home number.
    It rang. And rang. And rang. And for the love of god, rang some more.
    I hung up, and repeated three more times . I was going to be dinner if someone didn’t answer the damn phone…
    “Hello?”
    “Thank god!”
    “ Pepper ?”
    I paused, “Quinn? Why are you at Henry ’s house?”
    “No reason…other than I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you.”
    The vampire edged closer and I yelled into the receiver. “Well, you better get your eyeballs down here. I’m about to be sucked dry by one of Dmitri’s leaches.”
    I slammed the phone down, pointed the squirt bottle at the vampire, and smiled. “We’ll be having company soon, so if you’d like to make yourself comfortable until then, I’ll keep my holy water to myself.”
    He started laughing, and stopped abruptly when Quinn appeared beside me.
    Okay, so another thing the werewolf was good for: pest control.
    The vampire hissed and I squirted the bottle in the air again. “Don’t flash your fangs at me,”
    Quinn growled. “What’s the problem?”
    “She called you?” the vampire snorted. “What are you?”
    “Not human.”
    “Shit,” he dropped the smooth talking, Dracula act and grinned. “I thought I was the only guy like me in this Podunk town. Good to meet another vamp. I guess we could share her. Oriental might be a nice change from my usual American fare.”
    I gasped, backing up until I hit the wall behind the register, still pointing the squirt bottle at him.
    “I’m not a vampire. I’m a werewolf,” Quinn said, very calm and cool, like there wasn’t a lunatic trying to eat me. “And you’re hunting in a public place.”
    “Since when do you make the rules?”
    “Since he’s the prince,” I thought was pretty brave, standing up to the blood sucker, threatening him with a squirt bottle. It was a red letter day, as long as I lived to see the end of it.
    “Prince?” he asked.
    Quinn frowned. “Who turned you?”
    The vampire propped his hands on his hips and shook his head. “Don’t know. I was on my way home from work a couple weeks ago. Woke up like this in a dumpster.”
    “Do you remember anything?”
    “ Nah, came at me from behind.” He sighed. “I never wanted to be like this, but I’m making the best out of it. Did you know I can go in the sunlight without burning?”
    Quinn smiled down at me, “Go to the back of the store.”
    “What?” I thought I made it clear I wasn’t the kind to follow orders. “Why?”
    “Go,” his tone dared me to argue with him.
    “Fine,” I slipped along the wall, around the counter and darted behind him, heading for the back of the store. As soon as I was out of the way, I heard a few grunts, and the sound of something heavy hitting the floor. The vampire hissed again, and then it was silent.
    I went back to the register to find Quinn and the vampire had disappeared.
    “I hate the crazies.”
    I screamed, whirled around, and rapid fired my squirt bottle. “Damn it, Quinn!”
    He stared at me, face dripping wet. “You okay?”
    “Yeah, peachy keen.” Aside from nearly having a heart attack, I was fine. “Sorry about the water…
    He nodded, wiping a hand over his face. “I’m hungry.”
    “Uh…okay.” So getting rid of a vampire wasn’t a big deal.
    “Do you,” he shoved his hands in his pockets. “If you’re hungry, we could go get something.”
    I smiled, thinking that this shy act might be a ruse to make me more comfortable around him, but I couldn’t say no. “Sure, I can close early.”
    I quickly shut things down and locked the store up. It wasn’t hard to pick somewhere since Minnie’s Diner was the only place in town. Lucky her, she got all the business.
    “Does that happen often?” I asked, feeling like I was going to burst with nervous laughter if I didn’t say something to him. Quinn and I never strolled around town together or went to dinner. It wasn’t like we were