Free The Midwife's Moon by Leona J. Bushman

front of him when she said this? She gave him a little nod as if to say, “I’m talking about people like the two of you,” and continued. He had no idea what the rest of her witnessing would be about and didn’t hear it. Screaming in his ear was the knowledge he’d been right before. All the angst he’d thought he’d run off came back in full force. Joseph was the guilty one .
    Joseph had made Lance’s mate into an aswan and left her to die or kill herself. The visceral reaction was worse than when Nolan had mentioned it. Even then it had been anger. But here, now, with the evidence, with his mate’s body language verifying Nolan’s and his suspicions, his body reacted harshly. A blackness started before his eyes while a wave of heartbeats pounded his ears. Revenge and the need to hurt Joseph swamped him. He took his hands out of his pockets. They needed to be freed. The bones under them started to crackle when a hand touched his arm.
    “Not yet, Lance,” Sherona said.
    When had she finished her testimony? He hadn’t seen her come around to him after speaking.
    He lifted his lip and snarled, and she hissed back.
    “Cool it, wolf!” she demanded. “You will only scare and endanger her,” she added in an under breath.
    Lance could feel his emotions back down as her hand stayed on his arm. All at once, the woman in front of him turned around and bared her teeth—and not to smile. She snarled at Sherona. His surprise couldn’t have been more complete than if she had turned into a mouse in front of him.
    “Lisa,” Sherona said complacently and in the same under-her-breath level. “I am helping him stay calm so he does not endanger himself or you. Do not let anger control you, or he won’t be able to calm down. He’s not used to such strong, alpha feelings. Give him time.”
    Lisa. Her name whispered along his spine the way the breeze did his fur when he ran. Cooling, soothing, and comforting. “Lisa,” he breathed. Her eyes turned to him, and he saw the confusion and momentary awareness before she nodded to Sherona and turned back to face the proceedings. He noticed she backed closer to him though. Conscious thought, or mate’s subconscious reaction? Lance didn’t know, but her closeness helped his anger to calm even as it revved up other areas of his libido. His cock rose up, throbbing. Its girth pulled against his jeans.
    “Oh God.” Sherona groaned, rolling her eyes. “Wolves and their mates,” she said and took her arm off him.
    Lucky guess, or did she know? He ached to touch himself.
    “Pay attention to the proceedings, wolf boy! You will get your chance to prove yourself if you can think with the right head,” Sherona told him pointedly.
    Heat crept up his cheekbones, and he had a moment to be grateful for his dark, bronzed skin. He tried to pay more attention to the proceedings. Apparently, Alex’s turn just started.
    “I don’t personally know the exact part he had in my kidnapping. I only know he called for an emergency meeting which left me alone at a time they knew Nolan would be occupied. I do know he was involved with the drugging of another werewolf not of our pack.”
    Loud murmurs interrupted her along with a few growls. Lance felt the tension rise again. Joseph would be lucky to make it through the trial alive. Any drugs administered on a were had to be strong, and if there was one which could bring them down, they wanted to know about it.
    “Roxy, under the guise of wanting something to help her pack heal when injured, asked my mother”—Alex swallowed—”to make a serum to work like a sedative. A long time ago, she had developed something which slowed down our healing by causing us to bleed a little longer. The purpose being to give her time to take care of certain injuries before our bodies could trap them inside us. At first, I was unaware of it.”
    Lance looked around at the group of werewolves who looked panicked. He’d known only because he had overheard and had