Under the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

screen. “That. It’s…unsettling.”
    He blew out a breath. “Well, nothing we can do about it now. I guess we wait for the meeting and see what’s what.”
    She rebelled at the idea of sitting back and doing nothing, but there was a more immediate concern. She raised her eyebrows at him. “You’re coming to the meeting?”
    “If you are, of course I am.”
    “But why?”
    He looked at her, something churning deep in his eyes that she hadn’t seen there before. “Leech, Quinn.”
    “I told you, he won’t come now.” She moved to shut down the computer, unsure why she was so agitated about him being here that long. He usually stayed for only a week at a time, close to the new moon. She could handle being with him for a week, since he was more of a constant presence than an interference. But clearly that wasn’t going to be the case this time.
    “I don’t care. He could capture you now, hold you until the moon’s full again. I’m not taking a chance.” Nick stood to pull on his jacket. “I have to drive to Marion to pick up a few things. Don’t look at me like that,” he said when she frowned. “It wasn’t on the way, and I had to stop here and see you. I’ll be back before you close. Stay around people and don’t lock me out.”
    Quinn wasn’t sure which was stronger, her annoyance at his high-handedness or the warmth of knowing he’d been in such a rush to check on her in person. “I’ll have your room made up for you.” Her dad had always kept a couple of rooms above the bar ready in case of severe weather or stranded motorists, but to save money when he died, Quinn had made them into her personal living space. When Nick was here, he stayed in the room farthest from hers and closest to the outside door.
    “Stay around people,” he ordered again, and she rolled her eyes.
    “I promise, Dad.”
    His glower made her grin, but it fell as soon as he disappeared through the rough wooden door into the darkness outside. The noise and movement in the bar faded around her, and she slipped back to when they’d first met. She was twenty-three, Nick twenty-one and fresh from Protectorate training. Quinn had just helped a friend escape from an abusive boyfriend. She’d been pretty cocky back then, high on exploring the extent of her abilities. Using shields and telekinesis, Quinn protected the friend and her kids when the boyfriend tried to stop them, so they were able to collect all their things and get away without him following. Quinn remained behind as the friend fled to a shelter. Turning the tables on the bully had been fun. She’d tested the limits of her element control, setting him on fire without letting him actually burn and sucking enough air out of the room to make him think he was going to suffocate.
    But of course, she’d been stupid and arrogant. Her friend disappeared into the system, so the boyfriend came after Quinn. He was smart enough and knew enough about her to wait until the new moon, when her only defense was physical. She hadn’t seen it coming, foolishly closing the bar alone while her father was away at a convention. The boyfriend had shoved through the door as Quinn was locking it, knocking her back onto the floor. She’d stared up past his passionless face at the rage in his eyes, and cold, foreign fear paralyzed her. Somehow, when he reached to grab her shirt, his fist cocked, she’d dredged up the strength to fight back. The fiasco had earned her a broken arm.
    Nick arrived a few days later, informing her that her mother had called the Society, who contacted the Protectorate. Quinn wanted to be furious, but she wasn’t stupid. Besides the fact that vulnerability and nervousness had become her companions, she was a young, unattached woman. Why would she fight having a hot, rugged, mysterious guy at her side? Especially one who drove a muscle car and wore a beat-up leather jacket, trappings she knew were meaningless, but damn, they were hot.
    At first, Nick stayed