Free Moon Dance by V. J. Chambers

It’s the wolf’s
nature to kill,” said Cole. “To people like Enoch, killing is
the only answer.
He and I used to be quite in sync with that notion, as a matter of
fact.”
    “ You know him,” said
Dana.
    “ Very well,” said
Cole.
    “ His group of wolves,” she
said. “They’re the ones you were in contact with when you were
locked up here.”
    He smiled. “Very good,
beautiful. Seems you haven’t lost your touch.”
    “ So, these are friends of
yours?” said Ursula. “Why would you give them up?”
    “ I wouldn’t have,” said
Cole. “Except for the fact that you captured me and put me in
chains.”
    “ But you called to warn me,”
said Dana.
    “ Yes, well, when I found out
they were planning an attack on this headquarters, I thought of
you, of course.” He curled his lip. “I don’t know if I could stand
living in a world in which you were dead.”
    Dana’s heart
lurched.
    “ But now?” said Ursula.
“You’re giving them up only for personal gain? Or do you care that
deeply about Gray?”
    Cole smirked. “Enoch and I
had a bit of a falling out after the situation at Hunter’s Moon
Farm. It did happen to involve my feelings for Dana.” He gazed
deeply into her eyes, and she felt hot all over. “But it went
further than that. You see, Enoch claims to want nature to take his
course, but he proves himself wrong by organizing something like
this. This isn’t natural. This is human oppression. He thinks that
because his quest to free wolves from the SF is noble, that it
justifies organizing and acting. But wolves don’t organize. They
don’t have objectives. And they don’t kill with guns. No, Enoch is
no better than the SF. You’re both controlling. I don’t hold with
that kind of thinking. In fact, my first attempt to create a pack
was the same kind of twisted logic. But I’ve rejected that way of
looking at the world. Being a wolf means being free of agendas and
causes. I haven’t supported him in quite a while, and I don’t care
what happens to him.”
    Ursula seemed to be absorbing
this.
    Cole stood up. “Well, thanks
for the pardon. I think I’ll be going now.”
    Ursula stood up too. “Hold
on a second. That’s all you’ve got? A name? Some
philosophy?”
    “ Well, I know that their
plan of attack is to take down the largest headquarters. West
coast. You guys. Probably the southern branch. The few small
branches out in the center of the country will probably crumble
after that, and it will just be a mop up. I know that he intends to
escape detection by pretending to be a group of wolf-hating
humans.”
    “ You have any idea when he
plans to do these things?”
    “ No.”
    “ You have any idea where he
is?”
    “ Not really,” said Cole. “He
and I don’t keep in touch. I only heard about his plan through some
mutual acquaintances.”
    “ Well, that’s not very much,
Mr. Randall.” Ursula didn’t look pleased.
    “ This the part where you rip
up my pardon?”
    She folded her arms over her
chest. “You really don’t know anything else?”
    “ Well, I might be able to
find out where he is, but I’d need to convince him that I was back
on his side, and I really don’t know…” He turned sharply to Dana.
“Maybe if I had your help.”
    “ My help?” Dana stood up
too. “What do you mean?”
    “ Well, as I said, part of my
falling out with Enoch had to do with you, and the way I felt about
you. If I could convince him that I—”
    The door to the
interrogation room burst open, and Avery rushed in. His face was
red, and he was out of breath. “What the hell, Dana?”

 
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    “ Brooks, get the hell out!”
said Ursula. “I told you that you’re not helping things with
Randall, didn’t I?”
    Dana chewed on her lip, staring at
Avery. He was so angry. Were they going to be able to fix this, or
did Avery see this as betrayal writ large?
    Avery stalked over to her
and took her by the arm. “Come on, we’re getting