Marked by the Moon by Lori Handeland Read Free Book Online Page B

you judge and jury?”
    â€œMe.”
    Huh. He sounded just like Edward.
    â€œYou felt the madness as soon as you awoke, didn’t you?” he pressed.
    Alex glanced at him and told the truth. “Yes.”
    He continued to stare straight ahead as they ran much faster than she ever had with much less huffing and puffing.
    Certainly Alex had kept up with her training. If she wanted to best supernatural beings daily she didn’t have much choice. She could run ten miles without collapsing, sprint one hundred meters in thirteen seconds; she’d had instruction in Judo, and she could fight with every kind of weapon. Her father had been very thorough.
    However, she hadn’t kept up this well. No human being could. The virus in her blood was obviously good for more than a full moon fur coat.
    â€œWould you execute an insane person for listening to the voices in his head?” Barlow continued.
    Alex didn’t answer, because her answer would give her away. Despite her new abilities, her conflicting feelings, she still didn’t consider a werewolf a person.
    They came around the corner of yet another empty building and stopped. Five guys stood between them and Alex’s cargo van.
    Yesterday Alex would have run the other way. She was interested only in killing werewolves, not stupid kids trying to be tough. Today she wanted to fight, even before she sawthat they’d managed to get inside and were using their switchblades on what few clothes she owned.
    A growl rumbled from Alex’s throat. Barlow cast her a quick glance. “No,” he said.
    â€œThat’s all I’ve got in the world.”
    â€œYou don’t need it anymore.”
    â€œThat isn’t the point,” she snapped.
    â€œ Don’t shift.”
    Alex had been inching forward, longing to plant her fist in the face of a guy who was shredding her underwear. She paused though she wasn’t sure why. Something in Barlow’s voice, in the tone of his command, made it difficult for her to disobey.
    â€œYou’re too new,” Barlow explained. “I can hold them off while you change, but once they’ve seen us do that, we’ll have no choice but to kill them all.”
    Alex frowned. Since when did a werewolf care if he had to kill people?
    â€œWhat do you suggest?” she asked.
    Barlow cracked his knuckles, and his smile gave Alex a shiver. He might wear a veneer of humanity. He might play at being calm, reasonable, in control. But that smile and the flash in his eyes revealed the truth.
    He liked violence as much as the next werewolf.
    â€œLet’s kick their ass,” he said.

Chapter 4
    Alex moved into position with Barlow as if they’d been fighting together for years.
    The five young men dropped everything but their knives and approached holding the weapons as if they knew exactly what to do with them. Alex wasn’t worried. Knives were made of steel, not silver; any wound they might have the good fortune to land would heal.
    The boys rushed forward, and Alex decked the guy who’d dared to finger her pan ties. He flew off his feet and smacked into another one. They hit the pavement; their knives clattered every which way, and they lay still.
    Alex glanced at her fist. She could get used to this.
    Hyped, she bounced on the balls of her feet, spinning toward a third guy. She caught the scent of steel and jerked away an instant before the knife slashed her cheek. Barlow tackled him, and the two went down in a tangle of arms and legs.
    A wild punch caught Alex on the chin. Her head snapped back, but she didn’t go down.
    â€œWhat the hell?” the guy muttered; then his eyes widened as Alex started to laugh. The blow hadn’t even hurt.
    He turned to run, and Barlow kicked the kid in the chest. Alex sidestepped as the boy sailed five feet and landed in a heap. He didn’t move, either.
    The one Barlow had tackled lay immobile, the fifth—
    â€œWatch