Free Resisting the Moon: A Royal Shifters Novel by L.P. Dover Page A

there. “Let’s go to Amelie’s again and search around. If by the end of the day we don’t find anything new, I’ll let you use it. You don’t want to be like the walking dead right now, it’ll waste the rest of the day.”
    As much as I wanted to fight it, he had a point. Nodding, I stepped back. “Deal. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
    While I waited for him, I heated up my leftover steak from the day before and saved half for him, putting it on a separate plate along with half of my baked potato.
    He stopped at the door and lifted a brow. “What are you doing?”
    My stomach growled. “If I’m hungry, I know you are too. You didn’t eat anything last night, so I’m giving you half of my steak.” When he sat down, I could tell a smile was just beneath the surface. I passed him a fork and he stuck it in the meat. “When we get back to Wyoming, I’ll cook you a meal. I’m actually pretty good at it. So don’t judge me by this chunk of reheated beef.”
    He ate a bite and smiled. “So I’ve heard. Everyone talks about your cooking. I’ll admit, I was jealous when my brother told me you made him an apple pie.”
    I burst out laughing. “It was an apology for giving him a black eye. Don’t let him make you think it’s because he was special.”
    “I’ll have to tell him that.”
    We ate the rest of our food and I was glad to finally see a smile on his face. “Are you going to help me look through the house, or patrol the perimeter?”
    He got up and put his plate in the sink. “Both. I want to see if there are any new tracks. Maybe even a sign from Jaret. We still don’t know if they completed the bond.”
    “True. I didn’t smell anyone other than my family in her house.”
    “Then they must’ve been meeting at his place,” he said, opening the front door. “If only we could find it.”
    My phone rang and I quickly pulled it out of my pocket. “Blake, hey. Did you find anything on Jaret?”
    He sighed and I knew it was going to be bad news. “Are you sure his name is Jaret Bleddyn?”
    “Yes.”
    “Tyla, I can’t find anything on this guy. There is no Jaret Bleddyn in any part of the world.”
    Sebastian heard and looked dumbfounded. “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered, more to myself than to anyone else.
    “You’re not in any trouble are you?” Blake asked.
    “No, it’s not like that. I’ll be fine. I guess I just got his name wrong.”
    “And you’re sure you’re okay?”
    “Yes.” I laughed, hoping to appease him. The last thing I needed was for him to get involved with what we were doing.
    He sighed. “All right. Call me if you need anything else.”
    “Will do.” I hung up and slammed my phone down on the table. “Looks like we’re back to square one. My cousin is involved with someone she doesn’t even know.”
    We walked out to the car and Sebastian glanced at me from the other side. “We need to find out who he is, and fast. There’s a reason he didn’t want her to know who he was.”

    Amelie’s house was almost completely cleaned up by the end of the day, but I couldn’t find any more clues, other than a couple of pictures in her room of her and the mysterious Jaret Bleddyn. I was ready to head back to our cabin and try the stone. Surely, I’d have more luck with it.
    Sebastian had been patrolling the grounds for the past couple of hours, searching for tracks. If he’d found something, he would have been back long ago. The sound of footsteps scraped across the wooden porch and I rushed downstairs.
    “Did you find anything?” I asked, turning the corner into the living room.
    The man in front of me wasn’t Sebastian. He was a wolf, yet I couldn’t smell him. Tall, with dark green eyes and long, brown hair, the guy was dressed in dirty jeans and a plaid button down shirt. His eyes flashed when he saw me. “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
    He walked forward and I took a step back. “Who are you?” When I took another step back, a