“You’re such a worrier.”
“Only with you.”
He said the best things.
The two men on the radio claimed our attention for the next hour as they took numerous callers with opinions on the subject. It was entertaining, for the most part, until one man came on over the air breathing heavily.
“I got one,” he said to the host. The thrill and vindication in his tone sent chills through me. “I woulda thought it was just a big dog running through the alley before that white one showed herself on the news—”
“Grey,” I said, getting worried.
“I’m telling the others to listen,” he said.
“But when I saw it, I knew. I shot it and it turned into a f—” an annoying bleep covered the speaker’s word, “man as it fell down. Butt naked. I called the cops, said what happened, and they said they’d send someone over. Only it wasn’t just the cops who showed up. It was the Feds too.” The man was talking so fast and in the background, his steps echoed. He was running. Why?
“They circled him, guns drawn. The guy pulled himself off the ground and growled at them. Dumb sh—. He didn’t even try to hide what he was. They shot him up, but not to kill him. When I saw them dragging him into the back of one of their vans, I bolted. I’ve got pictures of this sh—.” The radio’s censors bleeped it out again, then went straight to commercial.
Neither Grey nor Carlos spoke.
“Is it one of your kind?” I asked.
“We don’t think so. No one has reached out to us. We’ve sent a call to report any injuries and instances involving humans.”
A minute later the radio host came back on air.
“Our anonymous caller has sent over his photos. They’re on the station’s website. Check them out, but hurry because I don’t think they’ll be there long.”
Talk turned to government conspiracy, and Grey reached over to turn the radio off.
“Winifred and Gabby checked the images. They believe it was an Urbat, one of the few remaining in the city, according to Gabby.”
Grey spoke with quiet regret, an emotion I didn’t share.
“They killed Ethan,” I reminded him. “They tried to take Gabby and me. Don’t expect me to pity them.”
“Not them. You. The six of you. If your purpose is to maintain balance between humans, werewolves, and Urbat, I think we’ve just made your job a lot harder.”
I sat back against my seat and looked out the window. He was right. We’d started a crap storm, and it was only going to get worse.
Appendix
The Judgements:
Hope — Gabby, recently reluctant mate to Clay [Book 1: Hope(less)]
Prosperity — Michelle, mate to Emmitt, son of Charlene [Book 2: (Mis)fortune]
Wisdom — Bethi, mate to Luke [Book 3: (Un)wise]
Strength — Charlene, Emmitt’s mother, wife to the werewolf leader Thomas [Book 4, (Un)bidden]
Peace — Isabelle [Book 5: (Dis)content]
Courage — [Book 6: (Sur)real, anticipated release early 2016]
The lights Gabby sees:
Werewolf — Blue center with a green halo
Urbat — Blue center with a grey halo
Human — Yellow center with a green halo
The Judgements:
Charlene — Yellow with a red halo
Gabby — Yellow with an orange halo
Michelle — Yellow with a blue halo
Bethi — Yellow with a purple halo
Isabelle — Yellow with a white halo
Olivia — Yellow with a brown halo
Note from the Author
One more book. Yep, that’s it. Then the series is over. If you’re not ready to say goodbye to the characters you’ve fallen in love with, be sure to check out the Judgement of the Six Companion Series, written from each man’s point of view. Thank you to all of the readers to demanded more! The Companion Series was written just for you. :)
Want a chance to win a signed paperback of one of my books? Then don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter at http://melissahaag.com/newsletter. I love doing random drawings from my mailing list!
And I will be forever grateful if you’d leave a review or tell a friend about this series. Your support keeps me writing.
Happy reading!
Melissa Haag
Clay:
Finding Isabelle and Losing Gabby
Scene Extra from (Dis)content
“She’s stopped moving,” Gabby said from beside me.
Squeezed into the car parked in a busy shopping area, our tensions were still high after our run in with Isabelle.
Gabby rested her head against my shoulder, tickling my beard with her hair. Over the last few weeks, since she Claimed me, we hadn’t had the time to talk about where we were in our lives or what we wanted from the future. It wasn’t something I would have normally thought of talking about, until this morning. Seeing Gabby crumble to the ground and being unable to do anything about it had ripped me open and left me raw. Her nearness helped ease some of the concern I still felt. But I knew my tension would remain until Gabby and I were back home and she was safely going to school once more.
“I think we should give her a little while to calm down,” Bethi said from the seat behind us.
I didn’t need to turn to look at Luke to know what he was thinking. He’d been vocal since shaking Bethi awake that we leave Isabelle alone. Bethi had been just as adamant that we retrieve her.
“There are Urbat not far from where she is,” Gabby said. “I’m not sure how long we can wait.”
“Keep an eye on them,” Bethi said. “We can’t let them get to her.”
Gabby inconspicuously laced her fingers through mine. I gently squeezed her hand, giving as much comfort as I was taking. Every night when we lay in bed together, I told her that I loved her. She no longer tensed up at the words. She’d accepted me, despite what I was sure was her accidental Claiming of me, but I knew she wasn’t yet ready to be my Mate.
Mate. The idea of a permanent bond with Gabby still made my heart race, as did the idea of losing her. I turned and pressed my lips to her forehead. This morning had been too close.
We sat quietly for almost an hour before she spoke again.
“We need to go know. They turned back and are heading right for her. Something must have tipped them off.”
Grey started the engine and backed out as Gabby gave him directions. Her heart accelerated, and I knew she saw was upsetting her. When I gave her hand another light squeeze, she turned to meet my gaze. Worry flooded her soft brown eyes while the scent of her light fear teased the air.
“It’ll be all right,” I said quietly as we pulled into the parking lot of a hotel.
I would make sure of it.
As soon as I opened the doors, I could smell the others. According to Bethi, these were the ones after the girls. The same ones who had sent a wolf to challenge me for Gabby. My canines lengthened at the thought of anyone trying to take Gabby from me.
“Two of them,” Carlos said, already heading for the hotel doors.
Grey waved for us to follow Carlos. Reluctantly, I let go of Gabby’s hand. I would have rather had Gabby stay in the car with Grey.
“This isn’t a good idea,” I said, walking close to Gabby as we entered the hotel. Fear still drifted from her, clouding her usually sweet sent.
“I agree,” Luke said.