Free Electric Moon by Stacey Brutger Page A

she wouldn’t back down.
    Raven picked her outfit with care, selecting clothing that
hid more than revealed. She couldn’t have this lunar craziness affecting her at
the meeting today.
    As if his going was a foregone conclusion, London waited for
her in the car, his bulk dwarfing the driver’s seat. Raven shook her head. “We’re
going to have to go shopping for an SUV if people keep showing up.”
    He only grunted and slammed on the gas.
    Tires spun.
    Gravel sprayed.
    No one could ever accuse him of being a talkative bastard.
    “I think the house is being watched.” She stared out the
window. Shadows moved in the trees as they roared down the driveway, the place
practically a hive of activity.
    So far, no one had threatened anyone.
    She was determined to keep it that way.
    “Daily.” He took a corner without braking, her poor car
nearly going up on two wheels. Raven watched the side mirror, half-expecting to
be followed.
    Nothing.
    “At least a half a dozen cars pass by the cameras every hour
since you’ve been nominated as a Region and those are the ones that I caught.”
He drove like the rest of the cars should get out of his way.
    Horns blared, tires squealed, and she opted not to look out
the windshield to preserve her sanity. “Because of the conclave?”
    When the traffic light turned yellow, instead of slowing,
London gunned the accelerator until the little engine screamed in protest.
“Conclave. Unclaimed female alpha. Your election and subsequent job on the
police force.”
    His ready answer made her blink. “You knew this would
happen.”
    A shrug was the only answer she received. “It’s my job to
know. You had other things to worry about.”
    Once again, Raven gave silent thanks to London and his calm
acceptance. She didn’t say anything as they parked the vehicle outside the headquarters
to Pak Pharmaceuticals. They made it in one piece and record time.
    The business name was boldly stamped above the door in large
white block letters at least as tall as her. It was not what she’d been
expecting.
    Research and development, the perfect place to create an
experimental drug and conduct trials, so very legal-like no one would think
twice.
    Her mind flashed to her case, and she wondered if her leap
of logic was a reasonable step or a way for her to unconsciously seek revenge
on the people who’d dared to steal Jackson.
    Raven craned her neck to scan the forty floors of the
high-rise. The building was deceptive. Despite feet of concrete and granite, she
could tell the place was teeming with shifters. From the quantity, she bet there
were at least half as many floors located underground.
    Sunlight sparkled off the glass. A level of pure concrete
separated every few floors. The place was a fortress dressed in disguise for
human sensibility. She had no doubt the place could withstand a full frontal
attack.
    To prevent aggression, meetings of pack leaders were limited
to the alpha and a second. The rules to brokering deals were sacred. If she
messed this up, she could be blackballed from working with other shifters in an
alpha capacity, which would leave her pack vulnerable.
    Nerves skimmed along her back as she stood on the sidewalk.
Her animals shifted in unease, but surprisingly remained dormant, possibly
understanding that they the need to remain hidden to protect her.
    She took that as a good sign, but not enough to relax her
stranglehold over herself. “Ready?”
    London grunted, still clearly not pleased with the lack of
security, even though he was the security. Since they were going into the
wolves’ den, she thought it best to be loaded with bear.
    Literally.
    When riled, London would turn into a full-grown Kodiak
grizzly. That she suspected he was a hybrid, genetically engineered, merely
increased his value in her eyes, though most saw it as a defect.
    Her pack was raised in the labs where each breath was a
struggled to survive. The shifter community fought amongst themselves, but