Moon Tortured (Sky Brooks Series Book 1) by McKenzie Hunter Read Free Book Online

to ignore his attentive gaze.
    “You shouldn’t stay up here the whole five days. You’ll go crazy. It’s a huge house. We have a game room, library and a gym. You are welcome to use anything you like. Since you are going to be here, you might as well enjoy yourself.”
    It was interesting the way he made it seem like I had a choice in staying. If I left, a weird androgynous orange-headed vampire would try to attack me again. If I managed to survive, I would be face-to-face with two very angry werewolves. I wasn’t sure which scenario was the least appealing. “I’ll be fine.”
    “Joan won’t allow you to stay up here the whole five days.”
    “You all sure have a lot of rules for your so-called guests to adhere to. Can’t I just stay up here and be left alone until this Josh arrives?” I snapped and immediately regretted it. It was pointless for me to take out my frustrations on the one person who definitely didn’t deserve it. “I appreciate the offer but I’ll be fine up here. It’s a really nice room,” I continued in a gentler tone. It would have been unnecessarily cruel to tell him that I didn’t want to be around the were-animals.
    “She doesn’t want you to feel like you are being imprisoned.”
    “What is Joan, the house mother or something?” I asked half-jokingly.
    He didn’t even crack a smile. “No,” he stated tersely as he looked at me with impassive eyes. It was obvious he didn’t plan on elaborating.
    “Let Joan know that she shouldn’t worry about me. I am okay.”
    “That won’t stop her. It’s just her way,” He admitted with a half-smile.
    I shrugged, too engrossed in my food to answer. He was right, the food was very good or either I was too hungry to care. It really didn’t matter; my stomach was speaking to me, and the food was just what it needed.
    “Are you the coyote who came to my house?” I asked between bites.
    He nodded. A coyote was supposed to be the smaller version of the wolf. Steven’s coyote hadn’t gotten the memo. I vividly remember his massive form ripping a vampire to shreds and I only knew it was a coyote because his nose was slightly longer than a wolf’s.
    “Are you the youngest member of this pack?” I asked taking in the full effect of the nonthreatening teen who sat in front of me. Now showered, shaved and groomed, his youthful appearance was more apparent.
    “I’m the youngest of primary-ranked members of the pack. I turn eighteen in three months.”
    “How do you become ranked?” I asked, placing the empty plate on the table, sitting back on the bed and folding my legs under me to give him my undivided attention. The gentle teenager didn’t seem as reticent as the others. Perhaps I could gain more insight into the Midwest Pack.
    “It’s based on dominance.”
    “So whoever’s the meanest and the toughest wins,” I stated casually. That would explain why Sebastian was the Alpha and Ethan seemed to be the second runner up.
    “Mean doesn’t have anything to do with it. It’s a combination of things: mostly fighting ability, skill and beast control. Were-hyena’s are usually mean—really mean, in fact; but they are rarely ranked. Jackals and lynxes are tough but are not always the strongest.”
    “What’s your rank?”
    “I’m fifth and new to the position. I transferred from the Southern Pack about a year ago. I’ve been in this position for little over six months.”
    “Why did you transfer?”
    He shrugged an answer. Good grief they didn’t like giving out information.
    “Where is the guy whose place you took?”
    “The grave,” he stated in a flat voice.
    I snapped my mouth close once I realized it was hanging open. Forcing the look of shock off my face, I searched for a good follow-up question. What was a good follow-up to a response like that?
    “Old age?” I asked, trying to pull off blasé and failing terribly. I wasn’t prepared to react to a statement like that.
    He shook his head slowly; his face, for a