Free Moon Dance by V. J. Chambers Page A

away from
him.”
    She let herself be dragged,
feeling the familiar tug of connection now that they were close.
Avery was her mate. She loved him. She hated that she had hurt
him.
    “ Hold up,” said Ursula. “Let
go of her, and get the fuck out of here.”
    Avery stopped, stunned. He
looked at Ursula in disbelief. “What do you mean? You brought my
wife down here and forced her to confront the man that nearly
killed her—”
    “ Am I done?” Cole held up
his pardon. “Can I go now?”
    “ You see what you’re doing,
Brooks?” said Ursula. “You see?”
    Avery let go of Dana. “I’m
trying to protect her. I’m trying to protect my family.”
    Cole went over to the guard
at the door. “Unlock me, why don’t you?”
    “ Wait,” said Ursula. “I want
to know more about what you were saying before. About how you could
find this Enoch Bordon’s location.”
    “ You don’t need Dana, then,”
said Avery. He reached for her again.
    Dana ducked away. “No, he
said he needed my help to do that.”
    Cole rattled his chains at
the guard. “Let me out of these, maybe I’ll talk some
more.”
    “ Why is he getting out of
his chains?” said Avery.
    “ I got myself a pardon.”
Cole gave him a nasty grin.
    “ You didn’t,” said Avery,
glaring at Ursula.
    Ursula ignored Avery. She
nodded at the guard. “Go ahead. Let him out.”
    The guard busied himself
with Cole’s shackles.
    Cole was still grinning.
“Well, I don’t know if it would work, and it probably wouldn’t be
easy. I’d need Dana to come with me. It would sort of be…
undercover work, I guess. But I think if I had her, Enoch would
believe me.”
    Avery whirled. “Come with
you? You and her? Together? Alone?”
    Cole glared at Avery. “I
don’t see why it’s such a big deal, Brooks. You two are mated,
remember? It’s not like she can actually cheat on you.”
    Oh. Right. Dana had
forgotten about that. The mating bond she had with Avery would mean
that letting any other man touch her would cause her extreme
pain.
    “ Unless you’re afraid I’ll
mate her away from you,” said Cole. “And I wouldn’t worry about
that. Not my style, raping women to make them love me more.
Besides, I’m in no rush to be bonded to your brat.”
    Brat?
    Piper.
    Dana turned to Avery. “Who’s
with the baby?” In periods of high stress, Dana always referred to
Piper as the baby, even though she was two years old. It was habit,
something burned into her brain from when Piper was
tiny.
    “ You did not just say that I
raped her.” Avery’s teeth were clenched.
    Ursula got in Avery’s face.
“Stop it. Don’t engage with him.” She whirled to face Cole. “Would
you do it? Would you find them for us? I know you said you don’t
like the SF, so once you’re free, I don’t suppose you’d have any
reason—”
    “ I’d do it,” said
Cole.
    Ursula turned to Dana. “And
you? Would you help?”
    Avery’s nostrils flared.
“Dana, if you go away alone with him, you and I are done, you hear
me?”
    Dana clenched her hands into
fists. “Who’s with the baby?”
    Cole’s hands were no longer
shackled. He stretched his wrists. “Am I free or not?”
    “ You’re letting him go?”
said Avery.
    “ Who’s with the
baby?”
    Ursula clutched her head.
“If I let you go, will you come back? Will you come to my office
tomorrow morning to talk about this undercover work?”
    “ Sure,” said Cole. “You
believe me, King?”
    Dana grabbed Avery. “Avery?
Is Piper alone or not?”
    Avery shook her off. “You
can’t believe anything he says.”
    “ Go,” said Ursula. “Go,
then.” She waved her hand at Cole.
    Cole hesitated, his gaze sweeping the
room, settling on Dana. Then, he looked away and left.
    Ursula turned on Avery. “For
fuck’s sake, Brooks, you have any idea how much you screwed that
up?”
    “ Me?” said Avery. “You just
let him go.”
    “ My office, Brooks. Now.
Come with me. We’re having a long chat.” Ursula took him by