Page 94 of Taken by Moonlight

“We’re going to my room.” Felicia waggled her fingers. “Manicure time. You know, girlstuff.”

When we were halfway down the hall, she glanced over her shoulder. “Comeon.”

She ducked into the office with the banks of securityscreens.

“He won’t check your room to make sure I’mthere?”

“Hank is big, tough and dumb as a bag of rocks sometimes. If I tell him we’re doing girly stuff, he’ll avoid mybedroom.”

She went to open a door in the office, but I hesitated at the screens showing the ranchoutside.

At the front gate, a fight had ensued. Wolves tangled with each other in silent, fierce battle. A chill raced down myspine.

Earl Brown had not waited. Good thing Dante had been prepared, was accustomed to protecting hispack.

But Brown was a sly bastard. What if he managed to killDante?

Dante’s younger sister glanced at the monitors and paled. Then she gave an impatient tug to my arm. “Comeon!”

She opened another door, and led me down a short hallway to a steel door at the end. She punched numbers on a keypad and the door swungopen.

Once we were inside, she shut the door. Lights came on automatically. I gazed around. The room was narrow, and every single inch of wall space was taken by rows of guns. There were cabinets as well. I opened one and found magazines and boxes ofbullets.

“This is my brother’s armory. Only he, Gabriel and Alex have the keycode.”

Tilting my head, I folded my arms. “And how did you getit?”

She tried to look innocent. “Maybe I saw Dante enter the code when he wasn’t paying attention. Or maybe I swiped it out of his office when I picked the lock on hisdoor.”

More likely the latter. Dante wasn’t the type to be socareless.

She rummaged through a drawer, found a flashlight and flicked iton.

“The room is fireproof, and soundproofand…”

Felicia walked to the end of the room and pressed another keypad. Another steel door swung open, revealing a tunnelbeyond.

“The tunnel leads to the lodge. It’s an escape route foremergencies.”

Impressed, I stared into the inky darkness. “Where does it comeout?”

A small circle of light shone into the darkness as Felicia flicked on a flashlight she’dgrabbed.

“In the lodge’s basement, near the washers and dryers.” She grinned. “Dante figured none of our enemies would lookthere.”

Her grin dropped. “I can’t go back, but you should, Peyton. Dante needs you. He may not admit it, but he needsyou.”

I wanted to be there. “I may be more of ahindrance.”

“No.” She shook her head, making her short hair bounce. “He needs you. You can help him win thisfight.”

Woebegone big eyes met mine. “If Dante is killed, we’ll all belong to Earl Brown. I’d shift into a wolf and run away before I’d let that pig touchme.”

Shuddering, I stared at the darkness. “But you’re a wolf. You can rip people toshreds.”

She frowned. “You’re not exactly pudding, Peyton. You have your ownweapons.”

Holding up my hands, I laughed. “Yeah? I can barely punchsomeone.”