Electric Moon

WHILE
THE MOON’S CALL RIPS THROUGH THE SHIFTER COMMUNITY, A KILLER STALKS FOR PREY
AMONGST THEM. TEMPERS RISE, LUST EXPLODES, AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF EITHER CAN
PROVE TO BE DEADLY.

Raven’s very
private life explodes into the spotlight when she is nominated as a Region on
the paranormal police force. The secrets of her past are slowly being exposed.
With the safety of the pack paramount, she will do whatever is necessary to
protect them. In return, they are teaching her how to navigate the shifter community
and control the moon’s call where even the most innocent touch could destroy
her carefully crafted world.

SURVIVAL
WILL DEMAND THE ULTIMATE PRICE…

As she juggles
the demands of pack life and police work, the lines between duty and loyalty
blur. Shifters are dying in mysterious ways. Raven suspects something sinister
is destroying the pack from within. She must dig into the dark corners of the
paranormal world, secrets that they would kill to protect, and find the reason
behind the deaths before her pack becomes the next target.

S
TACEY
B
RUTGER

This is a work of fiction. Names,
character, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons
living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be used or reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or
electronic form in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the
author except in the case of brief quotations for articles or reviews. Please
do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials.

Copyright © 2013
S
tacey
B
rutger

Cover artist: Amanda Kelsey of Razzle
Dazzle Design (
www.razzdazzdesign.com
)

Photographer: Sanjin Pajo of Razzle
Dazzle Stock

Model: Jolien Delbeke

Editor: Jennifer Bray-Weber  (
www.jbrayweber.com
)

All rights reserved.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank all my fans for their support and you, the readers, for
giving me a chance.

A special thanks goes out to those who suffered through the first draft in
order to make this book better: Madeleine Kenney, Melissa Limoges, Angela
Rafuse, Jessie Teicher

You ladies rock!

And to my husband and family for believing in me.

Thank you!

 Chapter One

TEN DAYS UNTIL
THE FULL MOON

I
n
ten days, the conclave would decide Raven’s fate and that of her pack. They
just needed to survive that long. If that wasn’t bad enough, the full moon
would rip through the shifter community at the same time. Already the craziness
they’d warned her about during the lunar cycle threatened to sweep over her.

For she must be crazy to even listen to, much less agree to
help, the two men who’d broken into her house. They would jeopardize everything
she’d been working toward and possibly destroy the fragile pack she’d built. A
hum of electricity licked under her skin, aching to be released, but she shook
it off.  

She was a rare conduit, born with the ability to control
pure energy. Maybe the only one of her kind. That meant she couldn’t afford any
mistakes, couldn’t draw attention to herself, or others might discover the
secrets she’d been concealing for years.

Raw emotions had a way of wreaking havoc on her system,
triggering her powers. Being in a room full of shifters demanded complete control.
She couldn’t afford to turn everyone furry because she had PMS.

She’d learned the hard way to keep her emotions out of pack
decisions when Jackson had been taken from her by the pack that had abandoned
him. Her own fault really, because she’d hesitated to claim him when she’d had
the chance.

Dominic, the lone wolf who helped hold her small pack
together, had the right idea to pack his bags and disappear when the full moon
rose. He would’ve already been gone if it weren’t for these two intruders.

No dealing with the conclave.

No slowly going insane with the desperate urge to touch as the
moon madness spread from one shifter to the next. That her touch could kill if
she didn’t keep on constant guard merely made things a bit trickier. She shook
her head, wishing it were that easy to clear her mind.

Dominic and London stood guard behind the two men. London stared
at the back of Griffin’s head. One wrong move and she had no doubt the bear
would crush his skull like a watermelon.

“You need us.” Griffin stood in the middle of the library
like he owned the place.

His words were such a man thing to say, especially when they
were the ones asking for help. Their agitation battered at her like war
machines of old. Raven stiffened where she stood behind the massive desk, but the
distance didn’t help.

The alpha in her said leave them to their fate, but her
conscience wouldn’t let her take the easy out and turn them away out of hand.
Not this man. Not with their murky past tying them together. They’d both been held
prisoner, caged and awaiting death at the hands of a human psycho who thought
it was his duty to cleanse the earth of paranormal filth.

Or it was until she killed him.

When she’d demanded help, the rogue had offered it without
reservation. She owed it to him to at least listen. “Tell me again.”

“If you want your wolf back, you’ll need help navigating the
shifter world without appearing weak.” Griffin’s chest expanded impressively,
his hands on his narrow hips, all arrogance despite his exiled status. Ballsy,
too, breaking into her home by just walking through the front door and making
himself at home.

His brilliant green and yellow eyes drew her gaze, the
combination disconcerting. Instead of being ringed by a second color, normal to
most rogues, his eyes were completely splintered to show both man and wolf in
full command.

The feat of control amazed her since most people would go
insane being permanently stuck in such a condition. His all-wolf attitude
reminded her of another.

Jackson.

She swallowed hard, remorse and betrayal too close to the
surface for her to think rationally when Jackson trotted through her mind. She
didn’t question how Griffin had learned about her predicament. No doubt he’d
seen the police cart Jackson away in chains, stealing him right from under her
watch.

Apparently, she was the only one unaware that when a shifter
was taken into custody, their alpha automatically received notification.  

It should’ve been a mere formality.

Instead, his pack had purposely retrieved him before she
could claim him for her own, and she had no one to blame but herself.

“And you want protection for yourself and Digger in return
for your assistance.” The slim, silent man who lingered in the shadows all but
disappeared despite the daylight streaming through the windows.

“Just until the conclave ends.” The hardness of Griffin’s
voice grated on her ears, a man used to issuing demands, but the brutal white-knuckled
grip on his hips gave him away.

So much rested on her answer.

“Why didn’t you disappear when you left the caves?”

Griffin clenched his jaw, refusing to look away or speak. Bruises
dotted his face. The matching set London and Dominic sported were already
fading. Stubble lined his strong jaw, shaggy dark hair fell into his eyes, both
making him appear like a disreputable thug one would encounter after midnight
on an abandoned street.

At his continued silence, Raven sighed.

Make that an obstinate thug.

There was something calculating about him that warned her
not all was as it seemed. Being a helpless female and all, no doubt he wouldn’t
share it either, not until it came and bit her on the ass.

By avoiding her questions, he wasn’t leaving her any choice.

“Because of me.” Digger stepped forward, a painful limp to
his leg. The man was dark, part Hispanic if she had to guess, and well past his
prime. “I can be of value to you.”

“Quiet.” Griffin barked the one word.

She tensed at the lash of the command. The old man ignored
the gruff order and stared at her levelly, a natural calm surrounding him. “I’m
a doctor.”

Raven’s heart skipped a beat then dropped somewhere in the
vicinity of her stomach to boil in acid. Fear burned over her skin, biting at
her flesh. Though innocent enough, his words presented a real threat that said
kill him now before it’s too late. “No.”

The expression on his face was that of a kicked puppy, but
she refused to relent. No one was experimenting on her again. Images of the
cold stone walls of the labs flashed through her mind, the sharp smell of
chemicals, the repeatedly painful injections they used to try and alter her DNA
until she’d learned to fight back.  

She’d survived, a miracle in itself, one that a number of
people wanted to reverse if they ever got their hands on her again. She was too
dangerous to let live, not with all the secrets her body harbored.

“But—”

“We only need to stay long enough to heal,” Griffin
interjected, as if afraid of what his companion would reveal.

“Raven–”

“I’m fine.” She waved away Taggert’s concern, wincing when
his chocolate eyes splintered yellow as his wolf rose with the call of her power.
Despite her determination to protect him, with every exposure of her gift, the
ties that bound him to her wound tighter.

Taggert had been a slave when she’d accidentally bumbled into
an auction and claimed him. And until she could officially make him part of her
pack, he was vulnerable.

Still only a slave.

He reluctantly did as bided, leaning against the wall,
angled so his whole attention was centered on her. His eyes locked on her in a
way that felt like a caress.

At the phantom touch, the animals at her core crept closer
to the surface, battling to rise. Not willing to release its hold on her, the
current thrummed under her skin. Breathing a little too fast, she bit back the
pain as energy danced over her body in retaliation.

When her animals surface, her abilities as a conduit went on
the fritz. She could have either one or the other, and she’d yet to find a
balance to keep each side happy. The battle would only continue to worsen until
one side won.

The energy finally relented, settling heavily in her bones
in a way that ached, a punishment for daring to defy it. Though she worked hard
at control, it remained elusive at times when her gift thought it knew what was
best for them.

She was walking blind in the shifter world. She needed help
before she got them all killed. If this man could guide her around the many
obstacles, could she really turn him away?

Both intruders were malnourished, skinny to the point that
their bones poked from beneath their skin. Each needed to gain at least twenty
pounds. As she studied the two of them, she had no doubt Griffin passed what
little food he could afford to Digger.

Griffin radiated distrust. He was vigilant, half-ready to
pounce at the first sign of aggression. He could’ve continued without her aid,
but he’d swallowed his pride and came to her for help because of his friend.

He would be trouble.

Danger increased for everyone when her developing powers
were exposed to others. If they learned about her true nature and betrayed her
secrets to the world, she’d be hunted in earnest.

A whiff of cedar curled around her.

His scent.

She stared hard at Griffin, wishing she could see through to
the truth of him.

“Raven. Don’t.” Durant spoke for the first time, a tiger
that seemed to take up most of the room even though he didn’t move from his
spot lounging behind her. He happened to be the last shifter who’d asked her
for help, and she’d ended up claiming him.

She couldn’t afford to add any more people in her pack. She
was already too entangled in the shifter world for her comfort.

“They need help.” Exhaustion pulled at her. She needed rest
after burning out her power so recently. She needed peace to keep the beasts at
bay. She had a sinking feeling she wasn’t going to get either until after the
conclave. “You can’t ask me to ignore them. If they leave here, they’re as good
as dead.”

Durant leaned forward in the chair, elbows on his knees,
that intense stare of his hypnotic if she wasn’t careful. “You have enough
troubles with the conclave. If the council discovers you’re harboring rogues,
they could deny your petition.”

She shuddered in response to his words. Not only could she
lose her petition for pack status, she’d lose her claim of ownership on
Taggert. He wouldn’t survive going back on the market.

Everything was within her grasp...if she was careful.

Neither Digger nor Griffin spoke a word of protest, already
accepting defeat.  

“What information can you give me that none of the others
can?” If they knew a way that could garner Jackson’s freedom from his pack,
they might be worth the risk. Her pulse leapt at the possibility of getting him
back where he belonged.

Griffin lifted his chin. “My father is the leader.”

Stifling silence descended.

Raven slowly blinked, then blew out a breath. “Well, hell.”

“That only makes them more trouble.” Durant glared at
Griffin, a hairsbreadth away from physically reaching across the space
separating them and ripping out his throat. “Any information you need on the council,
I can provide.”

“How?” The last thing she wanted was to pit the men against
each other, but she couldn’t let such an opportunity pass and he knew it.

“
Talons
has been selected to host the conclave.” He
clamped his mouth shut after he spoke.

The news surprised her, and she twisted to face him fully. Though
it had to be a major coup, Durant didn’t seem pleased to have his club chosen
for the honor.

And the bastard hadn’t told her, especially after his
lecture to her about keeping secrets. Her fingers tensed as the beasts at her
core flexed their claws. She eyed Durant, battling to keep her temper in check.
“And when were you going to tell me?”

Her power rose then fell abruptly when the overwhelming smell
of so many shifters buffeted her in such a crowded space. Their animals called to
hers. The temperature in the room quickly became stifling as her animals clawed
their way to the surface.