Free The Midwife's Moon by Leona J. Bushman Page A

been extra careful not to get injured from that point on. That hadn’t been all he had heard. He worked hard to stay conscious and alert at all times around Boris and Roxy.
    “I found out when Boris attacked me and scratched me using a form of it. I nearly died. This happened when attempting to escape from Boris after my kidnapping, which Joseph played a large part in setting up,” Alex said.
    She went on to say more, but Lance felt the pressure of aggression around him. By the looks on their faces, it came more from his former pack than the original Wahpawhats. Joseph had attacked their healer. They were ready to lynch him right there and then, trial notwithstanding. It was a serious thing to attack a pack’s healer.
    Everyone in his old pack knew that if Boris had been involved, Roxy knew about it. Although he personally had had no problem in changing pack allegiance, there were still a few who hadn’t known Roxy’s true nature or had excused things from Boris as the price to pay for a strong pack. By the looks on their faces, many were thinking twice now. It didn’t matter to him what they all wanted to do, however. Joseph had abandoned Lance’s mate and left her to die or kill herself. For that alone, Joseph deserved pack justice, and Lance wanted to be the one to punish him.
    Sherona nudged him hard in the ribs with her elbow. “Pay attention to the proceedings. Your time will come,” she whispered.
    His heart leapt when Lisa gave Sherona a dirty look for whispering in his ear. Lisa might not understand it, but she reacted as a mate. His wolf howled inside him. Its sadness was quickly being replaced with frustration at waiting now that his mate stood before him.
    “You have heard the evidence before you. Do any deny his need for pack justice?” Nolan again. Sherona was right. He needed to pay more attention. He hadn’t seen Nolan move or realized Alex had finished.
    A lot of people murmured amongst themselves, but no one objected. “Then I will fight Joseph and—”
    “No!” Lance shouted almost involuntarily. The denial had risen quick from the deepest part of him. “I want to fight Joseph under pack law. His injustice to me and mine are just as great as yours,” he said to Nolan.
    The warehouse had silenced, and an itch started between his shoulder blades. All attention had transferred to him in shock and surprise. The moment froze in time in Lance’s memory. However, Nolan remained silent. Lance looked at him more closely and found himself being scrutinized by his new Alpha.
    Let him look. I have as much right as anyone. I need to fight for my mate’s honor, for the injustices done her. Nolan nodded at him, and Sherona put a hand on his shoulder as if they had heard his thoughts. He glanced over at Lisa, and she stared at him with a combination of shock, horror, pride, and questions—so many questions in her beautiful brown eyes.
    “Lance!” Sherona sounded more than impatient. “Get up there!”
    Lance moved to the circle designated and began taking off his clothes. He hadn’t thought to bring a nice change of clothes and only had the sweats he always carried in the back of the car. He wanted to look good when he went out for a drink later.
    “No!” A voice shouted from the back. “The weakling will lose, and this dirty roil-pam needs to be taught a lesson!”
    “Yeah,” another voice said. Lance recognized him as one of Roxy’s favorite go-to men after Boris. Ryan George. No immediate relations to the healer, but somewhere down the line they shared an ancestor. Ryan liked bullying some of the younger and weaker weres.
    There was a general outpouring of noise and confusion as the anger and emotions stirred by the events they had just learned began to come out. He ignored it and headed straight for his position. They had no idea of the true perfidy Joseph was capable of. If they knew, he would likely have died upon arrival. There were no words strong enough for a were who would leave a