Moon Shifter 02 - Primal Possession

still a weird thought. One she hadn’t totally adjusted to. Since she couldn’t shift yet, she didn’t really feel like she was a shifter. It didn’t matter that her healing abilities or her life span matched Liam’s—the reality hadn’t quite set in yet.
    They quickly dressed and hurried downstairs. Kat sat perched on the edge of the couch with a coffee cup in hand. She nodded at the television, so December and Liam sat next to her. “This is a replay from earlier,” Kat quickly said as Liam turned up the volume.
    Wearing a green peacoat and white scarf, a pretty blond reporter stood in front of the Fontana sheriff’s department, microphone in hand.
“Is there a cover-up going on in the Fontana Sheriff’s Office? Some people think so. With the recent rash of animal attacks in the surrounding areas, some locals are crying foul play. Others are more insistent that Sheriff Parker McIntyre is covering up for the Armstrong pack because his sister is now married to one of their pack members….”
    December felt the blood drain from her face as the woman continued talking. As the reporter spoke, Liam squeezed her thigh gently.
    “This will pass. It’s probably some APL members trying to stir up trouble,” he murmured.
    She gritted her teeth. “They do it because your Council doesn’t do anything about it. They never speak out when these people talk trash. If we have no one to defend us, people are only going to hear one side. And now my brother’s name has been brought into it. That reporter basically called him corrupt!” December and Parker and even Liam and Parker had gotten so much closer this past month, and she hated the thought of anything tearingthem apart. And she really hated the thought of anyone targeting her brother because of a bullshit newscast.
    “I’m going to call him.” She pushed up and stalked from the room before Liam could stop her.
    After December disappeared into the kitchen, Liam looked at Kat. “Did the newscast say anything else?”
    She shook her head and bit her bottom lip. He knew what was on her mind and he also knew it wasn’t his business, but he decided to plunge ahead anyway. “Jayce gets back in town today.”
    Instantly she bristled. “So?”
    He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you going to pretend you don’t care?”
    She gritted her teeth and turned back to the television. “Things would never work between us.”.
    Liam didn’t know about that. “You’ve got to know how he feels about you. When you were taken—”
    “I don’t
ever
want to talk about that,” she snapped.
    He shook his head and stood. Jayce had been gone the past month taking care of business with the Council and other packs, but would be returning in a few days for indefinite leave while he trained Erin, the she-wolf Jayce believed was an enforcer. Liam wasn’t sure how or why Jayce thought she was, but he did know that Jayce could have demanded Erin move up north and undergo the training there. He hadn’t. Instead he’d opted to move to Fontana on a semipermanent basis and everyone knew why: to be close to Kat.
    After everything Kat had been through, Liam had now come to think of her as a sister and he just wanted her to be happy. Even though she’d been getting stronger and was now learning to protect herself, lately she’d been acting strange. Disappearing at odd hours.
    It wasn’t his business how she handled her stress andfor all he knew, she had a new lover. Though he really doubted that, since he couldn’t scent anyone on her. She wasn’t causing the pack any problems, so he had no reason to bring it up to his brother, but he’d definitely noticed her absences.
    When December stepped back into the room with a frown on her face, he shoved those thoughts away and hurried toward her. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her close. “What did he say?”
    “He said the newscast is just a stupid way to increase ratings and that I need to stop worrying and let him handle it.” She snorted softly. “Like that’s going to happen.”
    Liam held her tight. “Your brother’s right. I’ll call him later and see if he knows more about who leaked this info to the press.”
    He’d thought their battle with the APL was over, but it looked like it had only been dormant for a while. If they thought they could start shit using the media as an outlet, they were in for a surprise. The past month his pack had been gathering intel on all known APL members in the surrounding areas and