Moon Shifter 02 - Primal Possession

joined them only a few months ago. New shifter males living in any areawere cause for concern by humans even if they weren’t a threat. And when a local, respected doctor—murdering son of a bitch that he was—committed suicide rather than go to jail for killing innocent shifters, including one of Ana’s sisters, some people in Fontana weren’t so convinced he’d been guilty. Liam was aware of all this only because of December and her brother. They had a better pulse on the town than any of them ever would.
    Noah frowned and the tenseness in him seemed only to grow. “But December’s one of us now. Wouldn’t the humans be more willing to accept our presence?”
    Liam’s heart twisted for the remembered pain he’d seen in December’s eyes a couple weeks ago. She’d come home from work and she hadn’t wanted to tell him, but he’d eventually gotten out of her that a woman she’d been friends with for almost a decade had come into her store to tell her what an abomination she was. Instead of telling them all that, he simply shook his head. “December’s lost some friends since she turned.”
    There was a brief silence before Connor spoke. “Right now the APL in our region might be inactive, but they’re still here. And Adler had a boss. According to Brianna, he pulled all the strings during their operations here, but Adler kept his identity close to his chest. The boss had a son Adler killed, but she didn’t know his last name. Adler was careful about keeping that secret.” Whoever Adler’s boss was had ordered the attempted kidnappings of December and successful kidnapping of Kat.
    That knowledge made Liam’s hands ball into tight fists. His skin pulled taut as his inner wolf instinctively primed for battle. The sharp scent of his own restrained rage was the only thing that allowed him to get his wolf under control. The time would come when that unknown bastard would feel his pack’s wrath.
    Connor’s voice cut through his thoughts, completely silencing his beast. “For the time being we’re going to watch and listen for any threats. We’re going to keep our guard up and quietly ferret out as much information as we can. However, we won’t be blindly attacking APL members.” He glanced around the room.
    Liam nodded even though his brother already knew he’d follow him into hell. If Connor didn’t want them taking any physical action against the APL, he’d abide by that. For now. Aiden and Noah also nodded.
    As they did, Connor continued. “I just got off the phone with Jayce about an hour ago and he has new intel. There’s been a report of someone possibly dealing vamp blood to humans. The APL included.”
    Liam straightened against the mantel. “Where?”
    “Out of Winston-Salem.”
    A little over two hours from where they lived. “How good is this intel?”
    Connor shook his head, his expression grim and weighted down with all the responsibility of his pack. “Don’t know yet. Jayce said he wanted to follow up on a lead once he got here, but if APL members are taking the stuff, it changes the playing field.”
    His brother didn’t say what they all already knew. Humans who ingested vampire blood gained superstrength. The effects didn’t last forever, but it gave them a shot of adrenaline and pleasure no manufactured drug ever could. It also dulled them to pain in a way that could become very dangerous. If APL members were taking the stuff, it put beta shifters—those weakest in the pack structure—at a much higher risk. It also put all shifters at a risk to underestimate their opponents. Liam had no doubt he could take on a handful of humans hopped up on vamp blood, but if there was a gang of them againstone shifter, even a powerful one, the odds of survival slimmed. “Shit,” he muttered.
    The others in the room silently nodded in agreement. If humans were taking vamp blood, Liam was damn sure vampires weren’t selling it to them. Which likely meant someone had captured a vampire and was siphoning the blood. Holding a vamp hostage was hard to do, but vampires weren’t pack oriented like shifters. If one had gone missing, it was possible no one even noticed.
    And this only created a new set of problems for shifters and all paranormal beings everywhere. As silence descended on the room, something icy settled in his chest, spreading slowly to all his nerve endings. Being newly bonded with a baby on the way ratcheted up his protective nature in a way he’d never thought