Lover's Instinct: A Moon Shifter Novella by Katie Reus Read Free Book Online Page A

bloodied fists. He was young, maybe no more than thirty. “Where’s Antoine?”
    Dark eyes flashed with annoyance. “I asked you a question.”
    Reaching out, Nikan grabbed the guy by the neck and lifted him off the ground. The lupine shifter struck out with a fist, but Nikan seized him by the wrist, released his neck and whipped him around, shoving him against the open door before he could defend himself. Holding him by the back of the neck, Nikan slammed the alpha’s face into the door.
    Bone crunched as the door cracked under the impact. The guy let out a brief scream before Nikan slammed his head against the door again. Then he passed out. Blood spurted everywhere, dripping down the door, staining the plush carpet.
    The action was violent and brutal, but Nikan scented someone else inside and he’d needed to take this guy out first. He couldn’t be distracted or risk being taken on by more than one unknown threat. Not with Esperanze so close.
    “What the—” Out of the corner of his eye Nikan watched as another man rounded the corner of the room.
    Hating to leave Esperanze exposed for even a second, Nikan knew he had no choice but to venture farther inside. Turning toward the other male who looked almost exactly like the shifter he’d just knocked out, Nikan ducked as the guy threw a punch.
    It was a solid throw, but Nikan was older and a hell of a lot faster. As he dodged to the side, he came back up with a fist of his own. Connecting with the guy’s jaw, he didn’t use all his force. He wanted one of these guys conscious.
    The guy’s head snapped back and he stumbled but didn’t lose his footing. “Who the hell are you?” he snarled.
    Nikan quickly scanned the room. Antoine sat on the bed staring at him, his face covered in blood and bruises, though he was already healing. A chair was turned over and the covers were slightly messed up, but there wasn’t damage to the room otherwise.
    Keeping the majority of his focus on the shifter, Nikan launched himself at the guy. He punched him in the stomach this time. As the guy groaned and swung out, Nikan grabbed his arm, wrenched it back and slammed him face first onto the bed.
    Antoine jumped up and gave him space. Before Nikan could start questioning the shifter he scented Esperanze getting closer.
    Damn it!
    “What happened? What did they do to you?” Her panicked voice rolled over him as she moved into the room, hurrying to Antoine’s side.
    The shifter Nikan had pinned wasn’t struggling, but he was tense, no doubt waiting to make a move if he found an opening. Nikan tightened the grip he had on the back of his neck.
    “I owe these guys some money. They were here collecting, that’s all. Just let him go. This is my fault,” Antoine said quickly, but there wasn’t much conviction in his voice.
    “Is that right?” Nikan leaned down and growled in the guy’s ear.
    “Yeah, now fucking let me go,” the dark-haired shifter snapped.
    “Who’s your Alpha?”
    “No one! I don’t answer to anyone and I’m not doing anything wrong. This vamp can’t pay up so me and my brother roughed him up.”
    Without responding, Nikan reached into the guy’s back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He tossed it to Esperanze who caught it with a squeak of surprise. “Will you memorize his ID?”
    She flipped open the brown leather wallet. After a few seconds she nodded again then gave it back to him.
    “I’m going to let you up, but if you make one wrong move, I won’t give you a warning. I’ll just kill you.” With Esperanze so close, Nikan was barely restraining his inner wolf from taking over and attacking this unknown threat.
    “All right,” the guy said.
    As soon as Nikan let him up, he jumped over the bed, putting distance between himself and the three of them. That was fine with Nikan. He wanted this guy as far away from Esperanze as possible. It was taking all his control not to shift to his wolf form.
    “You’re gonna pay for this,” the guy said