Page 62 of Taken by Moonlight

Horrified, I stared at him. “How did ithappen?”

“She ran away to town to buy candy when I expressly forbade her after she was being punished for some minor infraction. She’s always been a bit wild, and her tutor struggled to teach her. The skins who took her mistook her for a wild wolf and put her in a roadside attraction. She stayed in wolf form the entire and as a result, became almostuncontrollable.”

“Poor baby,” I murmured. “How did you get her to settle down once you foundher?”

“I encouraged her to partake, hell, take charge of typical skin activities like the theater. She also likes to help the older females make quilts. Anything remotely human that she enjoys, I encourage her to do in order to keep her in touch with her humanhalf.”

“Because she’s more wolf thanhuman?”

“Because if she ever leaves this ranch and goes running as wolf in the wild, she will get shot if she doesn’t shift to human quickly enough. She already broke the law once before, soon after I got her here. She bit a human in Laramie. One more violation and the Council will order her execution.” Dante’s expression turnedgrim.

We fell silent again as we rode. The delicate harmony between shifters and humans was critical to surviving. The Council of Shifters had laws, and if shifters violated those laws, punishment tended to beextreme.

I ruminated over this for a moment as we began to ride again. The meadow grass grew half a foot high, and wind brushed over the tips. In the distance, jagged mountains showed their peaks. It was lovely outhere.

Wild.

Untamed.

Anddangerous.

“Felicia doesn’t easily trust, shifters or skins. I’ve been working with her in wolf form. She has a tendency to be vicious around humans when she’s in wolfskin.”

Dante stopped. Leather creaked as he turned in the saddle. “Peyton, I love her. She’s my sister. But never let your guard drop around her when she’s upset. Felicia shifts into wolf as a defense mechanism and unfortunately, her wolf thrives on sheer instinct. She can hurt you, even if she likesyou.”

“That’s why you don’t allow humans here on the ranch for very long.” I understood more fullynow.

He nodded. “It’ssafer.”

“Yet you’re allowing me to spend the weekend. No, you wanted me here, planned forit.”

Dante looked thoughtful. He stroked his horse’s neck. “You’re different, Peyton. Not reallyhuman.”

But it was more than that. “I’m not the only psi in Wyoming. Why me? Why spend all that money on me, Dante? And then protect me from the Browns by taking me here? What do youwant?”

I neededanswers.

I hoped I would get them soon, before my heart got even further engaged. Because I was falling for these three shifters and fallinghard.

And everyone knows when you fall hard, you can gethurt.

Badly.